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Troi

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Apologies for making you feel hurt. After all these years I didn’t know you were one of us, and yea Zaph is too. I hope you get back into the discord soon because we be in there jamming.
Nah it's all good lol I thought I vaguely addressed you like that before years ago but I don't think you responded so I left it alone. ._.

And one of you is... Slightly inaccurate but I will take it! I will take it!
So now you segregating black people in what you want me to say? Still sounding racist there....
HOW DID WE GET HERE.
Jesus Christ what is happening.
Don't even worry about it.
Moxxi being racist and wanting me to be too. I ain't about that
STOP THAT.
Sounds like a normal afternoon for moxxi
STOP THAT BUT IN BOLD.
Fall back off my girl, or I’ll need you to drop a thread
This is the energy that is needed around here but I don't know about that "girl" part. This account has been in some devious hands, my friend.
Yes, I agree 1000% A Yaadie Rift, if you will.

Amazing. It's like finding a shiny Pokémon. You should join the Discord and come chat w/ me and AJ.

LET EM KNOW !
I believe I asked LoK privately and didn't get a response so I left well enough alone.
Well.. this is a lot .-.
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Lucidus

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Nah it's all good lol I thought I vaguely addressed you like that before years ago but I don't think you responded so I left it alone. ._.

And one of you is... Slightly inaccurate but I will take it! I will take it!

HOW DID WE GET HERE.

Don't even worry about it.

STOP THAT.

STOP THAT BUT IN BOLD.

This is the energy that is needed around here but I don't know about that "girl" part. This account has been in some devious hands, my friend.

I believe I asked LoK privately and didn't get a response so I left well enough alone.

You must be registered for see medias
Bread is fire tbf
 

Zaphkiel

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?
 

Ańbu Juniør's iconAńbu Juniør

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?

Before I comment on the points you listed, I will say I enjoyed how rifts were before the game died. They were super cool, and I liked that there were lower difficulty ones for weaker people so they could take part comfortably.

Now onto the points.

1) I don't think they need to lean too heavily into the WSE story, but it would be cool to have some themed ones where it isn't just fighting alone, but having varying mechanics (Similar to how the champions of humanity group had to heal the divine core while fighting Phetra, or switching between locations when fighting Falnir in order to gain certain buffs in order to do damage to certain enemies). I'm a bit mixed on rolls, but the idea of stat requirements for certain things could be cool, as it will make people think about who to recruit for their team when challenging a rift, while solo players could default to a roll for lacking stats or figure out some other way.

2) I briefly touched on it above, but I'm all for stipulations in some of the rifts or fights. Maybe not all of them, and possibly making it so that succeeding at these challenges could give maybe an extra reward or some boon in the rift.

3) For people who don't have a lot of time to invest, I think it would be great to have some rifts where it is just a simply fight, such as with the Kurama and Hiruko rifts that we had. Some folks just wanna throw down and test their strength against strong opponents. We can bring some cannon and out of cannon characters, and maybe even have some rifts involving individuals from the WSE timeline like Sai Inuzuka (Only one I could think of lol) or possibly some of the Voidlords and whatnot.
 

Zaphkiel

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Before I comment on the points you listed, I will say I enjoyed how rifts were before the game died. They were super cool, and I liked that there were lower difficulty ones for weaker people so they could take part comfortably.

Now onto the points.

1) I don't think they need to lean too heavily into the WSE story, but it would be cool to have some themed ones where it isn't just fighting alone, but having varying mechanics (Similar to how the champions of humanity group had to heal the divine core while fighting Phetra, or switching between locations when fighting Falnir in order to gain certain buffs in order to do damage to certain enemies). I'm a bit mixed on rolls, but the idea of stat requirements for certain things could be cool, as it will make people think about who to recruit for their team when challenging a rift, while solo players could default to a roll for lacking stats or figure out some other way.

2) I briefly touched on it above, but I'm all for stipulations in some of the rifts or fights. Maybe not all of them, and possibly making it so that succeeding at these challenges could give maybe an extra reward or some boon in the rift.

3) For people who don't have a lot of time to invest, I think it would be great to have some rifts where it is just a simply fight, such as with the Kurama and Hiruko rifts that we had. Some folks just wanna throw down and test their strength against strong opponents. We can bring some cannon and out of cannon characters, and maybe even have some rifts involving individuals from the WSE timeline like Sai Inuzuka (Only one I could think of lol) or possibly some of the Voidlords and whatnot.
On that a majority of us agree. There wasn't anything game-ending or otherwise inherently wrong with Rifts, which is why it remains an option as is. This is simply a revitalizing effort to sort of boost Rift activity for the next and coming arcs, as they will (and always have) be key to how the story unfolds.

1) That is the general idea that this was going for: a team based experience, something to write a whole bio history out of. Heavily story-based Rifts would not be so common as to become tiresome, instead they would sprinkled in between other Rifts that may have minor story details involved. Also, when you think of rolls in Rifts, what part makes you uncertain of including them?

3) An interesting idea, for sure. A more straightforward option. Do you think the concept of Dungeons would fit this? Because I have thought about it, too.
 

Zatanna

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?

Im only commenting from a game design perspective, but you should aim to choose what you want Rifts to be. Eg do you want them to be ways for people to get abilities/kumi/prizes? Do you want them to be end of quest/story events? From there, after deciding what you want them to be, you can then design them around what can be done. You have made a point (from what i can read into from your post) that you want rifts to have internal story and narrative or connect with the main NW storyline.
is there going to be pre-requisites to get into rifts? to actually have some relevance to the story? why would a character that just spawned, suddenly go into a rift to fight someone they dont even know? etc.
I like the idea of Rifts not just being straight forward fights and actually having roleplaying mechanics, this would be a good addition.

I dont think rift enemies need to be super high teir bosses, at least like, if you have end game abilities, a full bio, I dont think you should be struggling against even the toughest rift boss. This is just my personal opinion but there is a reason theyre called end game abilities. If you get the highest abilities but still struggle to kill a boss, IMO it just doesnt make the end game abilities feel that rewarding. What ends up happening is what I personally feel was an issue with the last NW story, where things get to cosmic scale enemies, and youre like, well im just a regular ninja.
I know this might not be a popular opinion, or some people might say that the difficulty is the fun bit, but im just stating for me personally, my view. I play RPGs and D&D to beat the enemies and to win and get the end game abilities. Not to fight god and struggle.
If I want to struggle and fight super high teir enemies, Ill do pvp.

I have other opinions but I dont know how to phrase them right now.
 

Zaphkiel

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Im only commenting from a game design perspective, but you should aim to choose what you want Rifts to be. Eg do you want them to be ways for people to get abilities/kumi/prizes? Do you want them to be end of quest/story events? From there, after deciding what you want them to be, you can then design them around what can be done. You have made a point (from what i can read into from your post) that you want rifts to have internal story and narrative or connect with the main NW storyline.
is there going to be pre-requisites to get into rifts? to actually have some relevance to the story? why would a character that just spawned, suddenly go into a rift to fight someone they dont even know? etc.
I like the idea of Rifts not just being straight forward fights and actually having roleplaying mechanics, this would be a good addition.

I dont think rift enemies need to be super high teir bosses, at least like, if you have end game abilities, a full bio, I dont think you should be struggling against even the toughest rift boss. This is just my personal opinion but there is a reason theyre called end game abilities. If you get the highest abilities but still struggle to kill a boss, IMO it just doesnt make the end game abilities feel that rewarding. What ends up happening is what I personally feel was an issue with the last NW story, where things get to cosmic scale enemies, and youre like, well im just a regular ninja.
I know this might not be a popular opinion, or some people might say that the difficulty is the fun bit, but im just stating for me personally, my view. I play RPGs and D&D to beat the enemies and to win and get the end game abilities. Not to fight god and struggle.
If I want to struggle and fight super high teir enemies, Ill do pvp.

I have other opinions but I dont know how to phrase them right now.
All of these points are amalgamations of opinions from other players as well as myself. They aren't necessarily what I, alone, want to do. It's more of a question, or poll, to NW players on what they think of Rifts and how would they like to see it change (if at all).

Yes, story-based Rifts would have pre-requisites that tie to the main narrative. As to the relative strength of bosses, I think it's fair to have high-risk bosses as well as low-risk ones. It's just a matter of spreading them out evenly among the ranks of Rifts.
 

Mirai

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?
Right so after reading this, going back to our interview and also reading some of the comments so far- one thing we can all agree is that Rifts are genuinely a great addition to the game. It provided a unique challenge at various levels of difficulty; but of course there are some that can be fleshed out a lot more. One of those Rifts for example is the Kurama one, which in its description had implications that we could explore the Rift, but all it was is a giant Bijuu battle and that it. I believe honestly, all these ideas can easily coexist. One suggestion, for me - is seasonal/rotational rifts.

These are specific one time rifts that appear every so often, like every two months or so- that offers a unique Rift that doesnt exist and rewards special perks/prizes upon completion. Taking the Halloween event as a direct inspiration, you can introduce the same roll based interactions in both story and battle mechanic. Like imagine its like now, Holiday season and a weird but fun rift opens up and you get to face go to an alternate version of the Land of Snow, exploring but also reminding players they are trying to find the way to get to the North Pole, eventually having to face Santa Clause lmao.

It would keep things unique in the seasonal rotated rift, while during the these- regular rifts will run, featuring either more general boss rush battles like the Kurama one, but also have other higher scaled ones with the similar story/lore tied Rifts which encourages exploration. It would still have enemies, which if like if you fail to roll a good enough number- enemies will spawn due to being alerted of it. I do believe all the suggestions can coexist to some capacity, but instead of trying to cram it all into one rift, you provide the variety. Some are straight to the point battles, probably offering more standardized pool of prizes, while the story based one might have a unique prize for interaction and succeeding in rolls to find better loot etc.


There just needs to be some proper balance and I think youd have a solid framework for newer rifts.
 

Skorm

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?
Yes, you've interviewed me, i feel special until i just read you interviewed several people. Now i feel less special :(.

1). dependin the narrative of the NW in the future if there are to be arcs, more delegates - same as before this feels like it is very relative to that. If we get no arcs, more delegates but instead an NW as it is right now but with rifts, i believe they need to be the focal point of story. I don't believe it to be the case, so in general, i think each rift should have their own story and maybe even have the ability to evolve or being affected by the events of the NW, like changing one or two of it's bosses to an Arali or CoT when it was their time to shine in the main focal point of the story. I don't want them to be too much integrated either because, to me, their purpose is to serve as a dungeon - it's own thing in it's own bubble but could be influenced heavily on the world's changes.

2). I feel like this is less of importance to be very honest but if done well could be used in conjunction with what i mentioned above, that rifts could/should be influenced by the status of the outside world. I do also believe that this points touches on an idea i had which is multi-ranked rifts where one can pick a difficulty which then reflects on the challenge and price pool. The core abilities of the encounters stay the same but maybe limited to.. ionno A/B-rank abilities or something similar. I realize though it might be too much to ask for but i don't think it is compared to having alot of rifts being of different tiers. Sidenote, i want to be able to use my godslayer tool in rifts and not just raids.. >_>

3). I think we can include some more chance into the NRP, but it does limit everyone who isn't part of the Discord unless you specifically approve a website for dice rolling.

4). Yes, it's democracy or treason. Fufu.

I dislike the lockout factor entirely and would much rather see it removed.
 

Ańbu Juniør's iconAńbu Juniør

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On that a majority of us agree. There wasn't anything game-ending or otherwise inherently wrong with Rifts, which is why it remains an option as is. This is simply a revitalizing effort to sort of boost Rift activity for the next and coming arcs, as they will (and always have) be key to how the story unfolds.

1) That is the general idea that this was going for: a team based experience, something to write a whole bio history out of. Heavily story-based Rifts would not be so common as to become tiresome, instead they would sprinkled in between other Rifts that may have minor story details involved. Also, when you think of rolls in Rifts, what part makes you uncertain of including them?

3) An interesting idea, for sure. A more straightforward option. Do you think the concept of Dungeons would fit this? Because I have thought about it, too.

What makes me uncertain with rolls is Rifts is that fact that I'm incredibly unlucky and no rolls would go my way lol. However, if rolls are built into a certain Rift's mechanic, then I wouldn't mind trying it.

Dungeons could fit depending on what you're trying to do or how you construct the event. For example.

Year 480 – The Eight-Tails goes on a rampage in the Lightning Mountains and leaves much destruction in its wake until it eventually disappears without a trace.

This could be a straight up Tailed Beast fight.

Year 552 – Sai Inuzuka, the 29th Daijō-daijin, receives envoys from a faraway continent that has no concept of chakra. They depart Chungsu laden with gifts and escorted by shinobi tasked with mapping the mysterious land; none are ever heard from again.

This I feel could be more of a dungeon-esque setting that you could set up anyway you want as we don't know why the escorts never return or are heard from ever again.

Perhaps we could see the return of some older WSE NPC characters like Cassandra and/or Takauji Ashikaga.
 

Lucidus

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?
1 - This is a very DnD approach which I normally would be in support of, if done well, this could be a good addition and encourages team work, having a variety of different styled rifts like this could be a strong edition and reminds me of something akin to solo leveling with Jinwoo entering different gates and entering a different world kind of vibe. If there was a section you were stuck on and had to leave it means creating additional activity in the NW trying to find team mates that make up for an area you lack in to help you in the rift. The puzzles and trials could make for some fun RP moments as well and it means no rift is the same with just a different boss. Varying levels of these rifts would be desired for all levels of RPers I hope.

2 - This is also a good idea, but I think it shines more as a unique mechanic for varying rifts and every rift. This feels like a very MMO style mechanic so having it be a mechanic of certain bosses rather than entire rifts could be a fun way to introduce this, if you had rifts which could potentially have a selection of bosses and not just a set one, then it could make having these mechanics come up quite fun and interesting.

3 - This one I don't have much of an opinion on, it feels faster just from reading it, but I don't recall experiencing the halloween rifts so I will refrain from giving an opinion.

4 - I think having this option is good for feedback and new ideas, having to put all the creative flow on yourself can be a burden, allowing the community to help and pitch their ideas can allow their creativity to be put to good use. I don't think this idea needs to take too long, I would say you have a good idea and base for rifts already and use this thread with ideas to make tweaks and changes here and there, or brand new ideas entirely.

Overall, I think a combination of 1 and 2 would be a good idea, mixing these two idea's could create some solid and fun rifts and create great interactions between RPers, but I do not think every rift should be like this, some rifts should, perhaps smaller scale rifts could go by current standards with a few changes so the rifts don't feel completely drawn out. Especially those with less time on their hands, it would feel sucky to spend a large portion of time getting and grinding through a rift to fail and then be locked out for a week. I am not against this, but not every single rift.

I didn't really experience rifts unfortunately, I did not have the power or understanding at the time to attempt one, but from what I understand they went down well. A variety of rewards available at rifts and potential drop options are always fun to see, having more unique reward options for difficult rifts would be fun :)
 

Zaphkiel

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Right so after reading this, going back to our interview and also reading some of the comments so far- one thing we can all agree is that Rifts are genuinely a great addition to the game. It provided a unique challenge at various levels of difficulty; but of course there are some that can be fleshed out a lot more. One of those Rifts for example is the Kurama one, which in its description had implications that we could explore the Rift, but all it was is a giant Bijuu battle and that it. I believe honestly, all these ideas can easily coexist. One suggestion, for me - is seasonal/rotational rifts.

These are specific one time rifts that appear every so often, like every two months or so- that offers a unique Rift that doesnt exist and rewards special perks/prizes upon completion. Taking the Halloween event as a direct inspiration, you can introduce the same roll based interactions in both story and battle mechanic. Like imagine its like now, Holiday season and a weird but fun rift opens up and you get to face go to an alternate version of the Land of Snow, exploring but also reminding players they are trying to find the way to get to the North Pole, eventually having to face Santa Clause lmao.

It would keep things unique in the seasonal rotated rift, while during the these- regular rifts will run, featuring either more general boss rush battles like the Kurama one, but also have other higher scaled ones with the similar story/lore tied Rifts which encourages exploration. It would still have enemies, which if like if you fail to roll a good enough number- enemies will spawn due to being alerted of it. I do believe all the suggestions can coexist to some capacity, but instead of trying to cram it all into one rift, you provide the variety. Some are straight to the point battles, probably offering more standardized pool of prizes, while the story based one might have a unique prize for interaction and succeeding in rolls to find better loot etc.


There just needs to be some proper balance and I think youd have a solid framework for newer rifts.
Seasonal or rotational Rifts can be looked at yea. They would be not much different from current Rifts, just on a limited time gate.
Yes, you've interviewed me, i feel special until i just read you interviewed several people. Now i feel less special :(.

1). dependin the narrative of the NW in the future if there are to be arcs, more delegates - same as before this feels like it is very relative to that. If we get no arcs, more delegates but instead an NW as it is right now but with rifts, i believe they need to be the focal point of story. I don't believe it to be the case, so in general, i think each rift should have their own story and maybe even have the ability to evolve or being affected by the events of the NW, like changing one or two of it's bosses to an Arali or CoT when it was their time to shine in the main focal point of the story. I don't want them to be too much integrated either because, to me, their purpose is to serve as a dungeon - it's own thing in it's own bubble but could be influenced heavily on the world's changes.

2). I feel like this is less of importance to be very honest but if done well could be used in conjunction with what i mentioned above, that rifts could/should be influenced by the status of the outside world. I do also believe that this points touches on an idea i had which is multi-ranked rifts where one can pick a difficulty which then reflects on the challenge and price pool. The core abilities of the encounters stay the same but maybe limited to.. ionno A/B-rank abilities or something similar. I realize though it might be too much to ask for but i don't think it is compared to having alot of rifts being of different tiers. Sidenote, i want to be able to use my godslayer tool in rifts and not just raids.. >_>

3). I think we can include some more chance into the NRP, but it does limit everyone who isn't part of the Discord unless you specifically approve a website for dice rolling.

4). Yes, it's democracy or treason. Fufu.

I dislike the lockout factor entirely and would much rather see it removed.
So more Delegate action, dynamic rift parameters and multi-rank Rifts. In the worse case scenario I or the proctor of the Rift would roll for someone who doesn't have access to or care for the RP Discord.
What makes me uncertain with rolls is Rifts is that fact that I'm incredibly unlucky and no rolls would go my way lol. However, if rolls are built into a certain Rift's mechanic, then I wouldn't mind trying it.

Dungeons could fit depending on what you're trying to do or how you construct the event. For example.

Year 480 – The Eight-Tails goes on a rampage in the Lightning Mountains and leaves much destruction in its wake until it eventually disappears without a trace.

This could be a straight up Tailed Beast fight.

Year 552 – Sai Inuzuka, the 29th Daijō-daijin, receives envoys from a faraway continent that has no concept of chakra. They depart Chungsu laden with gifts and escorted by shinobi tasked with mapping the mysterious land; none are ever heard from again.

This I feel could be more of a dungeon-esque setting that you could set up anyway you want as we don't know why the escorts never return or are heard from ever again.

Perhaps we could see the return of some older WSE NPC characters like Cassandra and/or Takauji Ashikaga.
Both of these examples are not actually far off from what I've been cooking these past few months. As for bringing back fan favorite NPC's, that could also be arranged.
Post automatically merged:

1 - This is a very DnD approach which I normally would be in support of, if done well, this could be a good addition and encourages team work, having a variety of different styled rifts like this could be a strong edition and reminds me of something akin to solo leveling with Jinwoo entering different gates and entering a different world kind of vibe. If there was a section you were stuck on and had to leave it means creating additional activity in the NW trying to find team mates that make up for an area you lack in to help you in the rift. The puzzles and trials could make for some fun RP moments as well and it means no rift is the same with just a different boss. Varying levels of these rifts would be desired for all levels of RPers I hope.

2 - This is also a good idea, but I think it shines more as a unique mechanic for varying rifts and every rift. This feels like a very MMO style mechanic so having it be a mechanic of certain bosses rather than entire rifts could be a fun way to introduce this, if you had rifts which could potentially have a selection of bosses and not just a set one, then it could make having these mechanics come up quite fun and interesting.

3 - This one I don't have much of an opinion on, it feels faster just from reading it, but I don't recall experiencing the halloween rifts so I will refrain from giving an opinion.

4 - I think having this option is good for feedback and new ideas, having to put all the creative flow on yourself can be a burden, allowing the community to help and pitch their ideas can allow their creativity to be put to good use. I don't think this idea needs to take too long, I would say you have a good idea and base for rifts already and use this thread with ideas to make tweaks and changes here and there, or brand new ideas entirely.

Overall, I think a combination of 1 and 2 would be a good idea, mixing these two idea's could create some solid and fun rifts and create great interactions between RPers, but I do not think every rift should be like this, some rifts should, perhaps smaller scale rifts could go by current standards with a few changes so the rifts don't feel completely drawn out. Especially those with less time on their hands, it would feel sucky to spend a large portion of time getting and grinding through a rift to fail and then be locked out for a week. I am not against this, but not every single rift.

I didn't really experience rifts unfortunately, I did not have the power or understanding at the time to attempt one, but from what I understand they went down well. A variety of rewards available at rifts and potential drop options are always fun to see, having more unique reward options for difficult rifts would be fun :)
1 - Yes, we do seek to cater to all skill levels, and the story potential of these type of Rifts would rarely depend on a player's arsenal or abilities, but rather how well they work together and solve problems to achieve an objective.

2 - Not all Rifts would have these unique modifiers. The idea of selectable bosses is a new one, though, and is worth some brainstorming over.

4 - This is the longest and most tedious of the possible paths. I'm reluctant to go this way, too, because it would mean Rifts being out of commission for even longer than now.

Ah, so a manageable blend of narrative/exploratory Rifts and the standard Beat-Em-Up encounter. Not a bad play, honestly. May even be the best way forward. And we have also been looking into unique rewards apart from the loot tables you see now. The new Rifts that emerge from this discussion would be the testing grounds.
 
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Alternative

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Okay, straight faces now.

I've been hard at work brainstorming ideas for Rifts that would give them a little more umph, both story-wise and game-play wise. Some of you might remember a short interview from myself a couple months ago about Rifts about what you liked, disliked, and what direction you would like to see them go in. I got a lot of varied responses, but every one of them was valid in the sense that this is a unique sandbox of a players that we have. No one's the same, and what works for one wouldn't necessarily work for the other. With that in mind, I present a quick peek at what myself alongside LoK have been working on. Below are some possible directions Rifts could go in:

1) A stronger focus on narrative Rifts that have an internal story, like a mystery, or connect with the main NW story in varying degrees. They become larger, with a variety of locations to visit, objects or people of interest to interact with, as well as puzzles and trials that rely on dice-roll mechanics and stat checks. Example: "This door will not budge unless by someone of great strength. Requires a 7 or higher in BDY, or a roll of 90+ on a 1d100". Players should not expect to enter a Rift and immediately encounter the final Boss.

2) We keep Rifts straightforward: from the moment a player enters, usually, they are presented with the main objective of the Rift, but with a few additions. Mainly, there would be unique stipulations on the Rift that could change anything from the Boss's stats to the terrain itself. These would be notes like, "Ensure that no more than 5 innocent people die during this Rift." Success or failure with these stipulations would then influence the remainder of the Rift with modifiers such as, "(Boss) is enraged that you let the innocents die. Gains +30 DMG..." The main idea behind this would be to allow for unique challenges within the challenge of a Rift itself to keep players creative and engaged.

3) Similar to the Halloween Rifts, we combine the idea of interaction rolls with stat checks and tie them strictly to the Boss or main objective of the Rift. This means from the moment of entering, all interactions are centered around the Boss and what they are doing either to the terrain or the players. Like with the previous route, these would be more linear, with little chances for exploration.

4) We make an official thread and poll, where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions on what they would like to see with Rifts. At the end of the poll we would get to work merging the applicable ideas and mechanics into one final, polished system that's designed to appeal to the general player base. As you can imagine this would take a while, but the outcome could be just what players are looking for.

Along with some other suggestions like harder enemies and a 1 week Rift lockout period instead of 2, what are your thoughts on Rifts?
First off I'll preface my opinions as someone who hasn't done a rift before, so take that as you will.

1. I do agree with AJ here where the rifts don't need to have some incredibly overarching story, but some sort of narrative element is always appreciated. I think having some rifts based on story elements or faction bosses in the NW would be interesting at the very least, maybe even some sort of alternative universe if things played out differently. With stat checks, I'm worried its going to lock people out of certain rifts, though I'm all for it if that's the game plan you want to go for.

2. Big fan of this idea, adding stipulations to keep in mind when fighting always keeps people intrigued. I think so long as you're not forced to adhere to these guidelines during the rift in order to complete the rift, it's definitely a good thing to include. I would also be inclined to maybe suggest secret stipulations (i.e. use less than x amount of chakra) that are incorporated into the story or description of the rift boss to keep some element of the puzzle solving aspect into the fight, even including some unique prize if you're able to adhere to said stipulation.

3. Not so sure about what this entails since I wasn't around for halloween rifts, but time-limited rifts seems fun.

4. Not sure if this is necessary tbh, there's always here and discord to circulate more ideas.
 

Kooljay

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Just throwing my 2 cents in... If difficulty and balancing the RP so that it can be engaging for the top tiers as well as the average tiers is a such a hot topic, why not offer difficulties for each Rift and scale the rewards accordingly.

B Rank: Meant to be a challenge for Chuunin level characters. Winning offers lower ranked rewards like up to 1500 kumi, regular leg weights, soft body modification, ancient contract, curse mark, promotion to Jonin, etc. Tier 1 or 2 abilities or characters. The awards can be determined by rolls. Tier 2 awards have t chance of being awarded. And an extremely small chance at something tier 3. This allows newer players to partake in the NW, test their abilities, gain new abilities, and get a challenge possibly a sense of accomplishment if they win. It might also introduce lesser used abilities to newer players and add diversity to the RP if they keep it.

A Rank: Meant to be a challenge for the Jonin level accounts. Winning offers middle of the line awards. The top awards of B rank are the most common and lesser awards of A rank. Can win up to 3000 kumi or tier 3 abilities/characters, voids. As well as an extremely small chance at a tier 4 character/ability or character exclusive ability weapon to go on their bio, randomly decided cap breaker. This makes it something worthwile for the average player.

S Rank: Top Tier and meant to be lore accurate difficulty of the rift. Made for the more advanced players or anybody wanting to test themselves. Common awards are tier 3 awards, voids, random cap breaker. Can win up to 5000 kumi or tier 4 character and abilities, an additional core ability. And an extremely small chance of winning a tier 5 bio/abilitiy.

If somebody already has that reward then they can redeem it for half the sell price. Overall the idea can also be combined with other ideas.

Another idea I think would be interesting would be rifts that pulls people into climatic battles of the original story with the requisites requiring a focus on actual roleplaying and restricting the player to using the abilities the actual character would use as well as attribute points reflecting their abilities. For example, one rift could be where the player is two tomoe Sasuke. The objective of the rift is to last 6 turns against Orochimaru. Or you're 6 paths Naruto and Sasuke going against Kaguya. The win condition being to seal her with Six Paths - Planetary Devastation. Give somebody a MS Sasuke bio and have them survive a 5 kage summit gauntlet. Its lets people play with or face off against bios people would otherwise never or rarely use. Lore-wise the rift could just be a pathway to an alternate universe.

k bye
 
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Python

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ive was inactive for all NW stuff, so dont really have any notion of anything but things getting levelled out for everyone sounds best way for everyone to enjoy the NW events
 

Zaphkiel

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First off I'll preface my opinions as someone who hasn't done a rift before, so take that as you will.

1. I do agree with AJ here where the rifts don't need to have some incredibly overarching story, but some sort of narrative element is always appreciated. I think having some rifts based on story elements or faction bosses in the NW would be interesting at the very least, maybe even some sort of alternative universe if things played out differently. With stat checks, I'm worried its going to lock people out of certain rifts, though I'm all for it if that's the game plan you want to go for.

2. Big fan of this idea, adding stipulations to keep in mind when fighting always keeps people intrigued. I think so long as you're not forced to adhere to these guidelines during the rift in order to complete the rift, it's definitely a good thing to include. I would also be inclined to maybe suggest secret stipulations (i.e. use less than x amount of chakra) that are incorporated into the story or description of the rift boss to keep some element of the puzzle solving aspect into the fight, even including some unique prize if you're able to adhere to said stipulation.

3. Not so sure about what this entails since I wasn't around for halloween rifts, but time-limited rifts seems fun.

4. Not sure if this is necessary tbh, there's always here and discord to circulate more ideas.
Faction bosses and similar NPC's are quickly rising to the top of most people's wish lists. I'm taking notes... As for special stipulations, they would never be restrictive to the point where a player could not finish a Rift. Instead they would be optional objectives that would grant additional rewards at the end of the Rift of even during, in the form of a gameplay feature.
Just throwing my 2 cents in... If difficulty and balancing the RP so that it can be engaging for the top tiers as well as the average tiers is a such a hot topic, why not offer difficulties for each Rift and scale the rewards accordingly.

B Rank: Meant to be a challenge for Chuunin level characters. Winning offers lower ranked rewards like up to 1500 kumi, regular leg weights, soft body modification, ancient contract, curse mark, promotion to Jonin, etc. Tier 1 or 2 abilities or characters. The awards can be determined by rolls. Tier 2 awards have t chance of being awarded. And an extremely small chance at something tier 3. This allows newer players to partake in the NW, test their abilities, gain new abilities, and get a challenge possibly a sense of accomplishment if they win. It might also introduce lesser used abilities to newer players and add diversity to the RP if they keep it.

A Rank: Meant to be a challenge for the Jonin level accounts. Winning offers middle of the line awards. The top awards of B rank are the most common and lesser awards of A rank. Can win up to 3000 kumi or tier 3 abilities/characters, voids. As well as an extremely small chance at a tier 4 character/ability or character exclusive ability weapon to go on their bio, randomly decided cap breaker. This makes it something worthwile for the average player.

S Rank: Top Tier and meant to be lore accurate difficulty of the rift. Made for the more advanced players or anybody wanting to test themselves. Common awards are tier 3 awards, voids, random cap breaker. Can win up to 5000 kumi or tier 4 character and abilities, an additional core ability. And an extremely small chance of winning a tier 5 bio/abilitiy.

If somebody already has that reward then they can redeem it for half the sell price. Overall the idea can also be combined with other ideas.

Another idea I think would be interesting would be rifts that pulls people into climatic battles of the original story with the requisites requiring a focus on actual roleplaying and restricting the player to using the abilities the actual character would use as well as attribute points reflecting their abilities. For example, one rift could be where the player is two tomoe Sasuke. The objective of the rift is to last 6 turns against Orochimaru. Or you're 6 paths Naruto and Sasuke going against Kaguya. The win condition being to seal her with Six Paths - Planetary Devastation. Give somebody a MS Sasuke bio and have them survive a 5 kage summit gauntlet. Its lets people play with or face off against bios people would otherwise never or rarely use. Lore-wise the rift could just be a pathway to an alternate universe.

k bye
Though this already exists in the current Rift setup, a more nuanced approached to the varied skill levels of players is rarely a bad thing. We'll definitely be considering multi-ranked Rifts.

And as for these story events, or 'Canon Events'... stick a pin in that, we might circle back on it.
ive was inactive for all NW stuff, so dont really have any notion of anything but things getting levelled out for everyone sounds best way for everyone to enjoy the NW events
More accessibility. Got it.
 

Detective L

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Faction bosses and similar NPC's are quickly rising to the top of most people's wish lists. I'm taking notes... As for special stipulations, they would never be restrictive to the point where a player could not finish a Rift. Instead they would be optional objectives that would grant additional rewards at the end of the Rift of even during, in the form of a gameplay feature.

Though this already exists in the current Rift setup, a more nuanced approached to the varied skill levels of players is rarely a bad thing. We'll definitely be considering multi-ranked Rifts.

And as for these story events, or 'Canon Events'... stick a pin in that, we might circle back on it.

More accessibility. Got it.
Agree with Python on accessibility, been out of the NW for a while, so it'd be good to ease back in.
Good suggestions across the board - and on the activity of the members in the discussion! Excited to see what you'll come up with.
 

Ańbu Juniør's iconAńbu Juniør

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Personally, to challenge myself due to hos strong my character has become, I do like attempting to Solo rifts to see how well I can do. It is fun and engaging to be in those situation where, even for all my power, I can still be pushed be it by a stronger enemy of certain mechanics
 

Detective L

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Personally, to challenge myself due to hos strong my character has become, I do like attempting to Solo rifts to see how well I can do. It is fun and engaging to be in those situation where, even for all my power, I can still be pushed be it by a stronger enemy of certain mechanics
Not everyone can spin as fast as you do ;_;
But fair, those solo ones looked great - excited to have a chance at a rift myself this time round.
 
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