Drackos
Legendary
Hi all. Before you post I do ask you read everything I'm writing here thoroughly to properly engage with it. This began as a stream of consciousness but I also wanted to use it as an opportunity to tell everyone what to expect going forward in the Ninja World. It's also a chance for you guys to say on site your own thoughts on it. So read what I have to say and let's chat. This will probably be a long one.
The Outer Lands, Expeditions, and Group Activities
We'll open with the first major change in the Ninja World: the Outer Lands. 8 months ago I asked the community a question: "How would you all feel about exploring a new continent in an expedition like manner? i.e. landmarks are locked until an RPer explores it with an appropriate mission/following a story? Or would you rather just have everything open from the get-go?" This question followed a few weeks of brainstorming where I wanted to guide the Ninja World to. I knew the story would inevitably go west. There's always been the question "What is beyond the lands to the western mainland? Does the world simply loop around to Tobusekai?" My response has always been no.
The feedback I received was entirely, and this is not an exaggeration, entirely in favor of expeditionary missions. There was not a single vote/input that indicated they wanted a more guided experience (as opposed to an 'open world' experience where the story is entirely open). Thus, expeditions were born. Over the next several months I worked on the missions. A series of 15 Expeditionary Missions that, as a collective, would guide roleplayers through the lands of Kamiyasumi. The story would be told from two perspectives: the treasure/adventure seeking Champions of Humanity and the Akatsuki, an organization serving the grand design of a mysterious villain in the Ninja World, Imeroth. The Outer Lands as a whole would continue the story from where it left off before: the world on the verge of an event that would distort "reality."
Expeditionary Missions were designed with very broad objectives in mind. The first was to build defenses. I will never defend the idea that this was an engaging or highly interesting part of the story. But no story is written with all highs. If a story was all highs, then there would be no real highs. This is why we have the introduction, rising action, and climax. Because these components give a defined build up to the story and gives it meaning. Now the first problem with many of these missions is that they didn't actually build defenses. I won't pick on anyone in particular but one of the first protests made is how many other types of defenses are there other than walls? My response: are traps not defenses? Are towers not? Golems and other automatons? I do concede that it wasn't interesting; but the interesting aspect of the story is something that you ease into. The other issue raised was the quantity of missions required for each Expeditionary Mission/Operation.
This was difficult to balance and I was very ready to adjust as required. I didn't want a single person grinding out the entire Operation alone, hence the first increase. But I also didn't want them to drag either, hence why I decreased it. But the overall requirement was never particularly high if there was engagement with it. If an Expeditionary Operation required 10 missions (this was roughly the average number between all expeditionary missions) and 5 Champions of Humanity were participating then that's only 2 per person. That's not particularly high and it spreads out the spoils evenly for people.
Now onto rewards. These I kept hidden. I keep rewards hidden for a good reason - I like surprises. When someone begins a Sage Mission or a Special Mission I don't tell them their exact reward. Sage Missions are somewhat transparent; people know that if they pass their likely to get a Sage Weapon. Special Missions have some ambiguous reward attached to them. Maybe a unique type of biography or ability combination. But it is never explicitly stated either and is usually driven by the story itself. Similar logic is applied to Expeditionary Operations - surprises are good, at least I think. It also keeps the immediate focus off the rewards. People are more likely to enjoy the journey rather than just rushing for the end goal. If there is overwhelming opinion that trends in the opposite direction I'll be more transparent with rewards.
However, I'll give a little bit of a taste of some of the rewards that would have come with the Expeditionary Missions:
Since we're on the topic of rewards might as well segue into Rifts. So Rifts are a concept that I began working on very slowly after the Irkalla Raid. The first major piece of feedback I got was, 'We liked this, but make it for fewer people.' Okay, that can work. Being me and the particular asshole that I am I don't like just introducing them instantly. I plan ahead and had other things I wanted to work on, especially with Sage Missions ongoing parallel to the Underworld Raid and subsequent arcs. I also wanted more time to digest the Raid, see its pitfalls, see its successes, and go from there. And I like introducing things with story rather than just spontaneously. Sue me. So Rifts. What the **** are Rifts?
"Rifts will becoming to the NW in the future. These are planned to be 3 RPer activities similar to the raid we had but for fewer people. The term "rift" will make more sense in the future when it's released in the proper context."
A Rift is a higher difficulty activity designed around 1-3 roleplayers, though leaning toward the 2-3 part of the scale. I won't make many meant for a single RPer because the Dark Tower does exist for a reason. These are similar to the raid in that they are high difficulty enemies designed with particular loot pools. Some of this "loot" is unique to the "encounter" (i.e. a necklace that belongs to a witch). Others have more generic loot pools. Maybe you win a Tier 4 ability, like EIG and permission to put it on your biography. When I designed these I was less inclined to give away specific canon biographies. That hardly seemed organic and there are other complications with that as well. Though it isn't impossible either.
Rift Mechanics:
What is a Rift, then? A Rift will be a pocket in spacetime that an RPer can enter. Why there are spacetime pockets in certain landmarks will make sense in the future. I don't want to spoil that, though even just saying this will probably give some people who have been keen on following the story clues into what might be happening. These pockets will take someone either into the future, past, or something else entirely to face off against a single boss or a series of bosses (or other 'encounters,' like a puzzle). Rift will be a 1-3 person activity and leans toward 2-3. Succeeding will feature unique rewards while failure will be met with nothing.
Now these are logistically challenging. First off creating a unique boss isn't an easy undertaking in itself. When I make bosses for the Ninja World I try to take stock of what are particularly dominant fields right now. My boss can't be a pushover but also can't be unbeatable. Sometimes a boss's deficiency might be a story mechanic as well, i.e. the introduction of God-Slaying Tools. However, for Rifts these bosses will largely be unrelated to the overarching story. They might be tangentially related through smaller regional stories (see more on this below), however. But overall these bosses will be designed less with gimmicky mechanics (i.e. having a GST, though this might happen once or twice) and more with clearly defined weaknesses that a RPer can engage with on their biography. I also want to reward people for fulfilling certain roles in their endeavors. Hence the Tier 2 GST - clearly defined roles that give insane benefits to a particular "specialization." Healer, tank, DPS are the buzzwords that pop up here.
Now the term lockout pops up here as well. What is a "lockout?" This is a time period you have to wait before you can engage the Rift again. Now consider the Irkalla Raid, a 9 RPer activity (was flexible) that took about 6 months (9 if you consider storylines for some people). This was for four bosses. The raid took longer as well because it was a logistical hurdle for 9 people. Though I just want to be clear at no point did my own response pace slow down during it. There were periods where the raiders just couldn't get a move out, once again owing to their larger bloated size. I also have to consider my own, my mods, and my sensei's sanity. Burnout is a real thing. So I don't want people failing (or succeeding, these things will be repeatable) and just running up to them again a few days later. I need to make sure other people have a chance and I need to make sure I, and my surrogates, have a chance to recover a bit.
Remember this isn't a video game. Real humans are here maintaining things, however slow that might manifest (and rightfully frustratingly so). Sometimes it's a struggle especially when we have our own jobs, lives, and loved ones to tend to. Please be nice. We do try - I consider the NW to be my baby at times. I really do care and what you to have fun.
So yeah, that covers Rifts. I hope they'll be exciting.
Regional Storylines
So I experimented this a little while back with regional storylines. It didn't really generate much interest. This was an event that took place during Arc 21 when a rebellion took place in LoK's village, the Village Hidden in the Valley. Only two people participated in the sensei run missions in that region. Just two.
Yet a few weeks ago there was a sudden outburst of interest for these types of stories. Okay, fine. But I was puzzled by this. Why? Remember, these things do take some time and energy to create. One of the responses to this strange conundrum was that it was related to the 'main story.' Well, okay. But why is that an issue? Is this not an interconnected world? Didn't we move away from a Ninja World with separate storylines so we could integrate it into one "timeline."
This is one of the more open ended parts of this. I do want to capitalize on more areas of the Ninja World, especially on a regional level. But I also like having an interconnected story. So maybe a regional warlord in the Land of Fire rebelling against a capital might trigger a famine in the far west where grain is no longer flowing to because of the rebellion. Currently I'm in the planning stages for regional stories. Your feedback here matters.
Final Thoughts
I'm always open to hear feedback (hence this thread) or privately in DMs. I'll probably add more to this as time goes on. But I wanted to talk about these things since they're fairly recent events.
The Outer Lands, Expeditions, and Group Activities
We'll open with the first major change in the Ninja World: the Outer Lands. 8 months ago I asked the community a question: "How would you all feel about exploring a new continent in an expedition like manner? i.e. landmarks are locked until an RPer explores it with an appropriate mission/following a story? Or would you rather just have everything open from the get-go?" This question followed a few weeks of brainstorming where I wanted to guide the Ninja World to. I knew the story would inevitably go west. There's always been the question "What is beyond the lands to the western mainland? Does the world simply loop around to Tobusekai?" My response has always been no.
The feedback I received was entirely, and this is not an exaggeration, entirely in favor of expeditionary missions. There was not a single vote/input that indicated they wanted a more guided experience (as opposed to an 'open world' experience where the story is entirely open). Thus, expeditions were born. Over the next several months I worked on the missions. A series of 15 Expeditionary Missions that, as a collective, would guide roleplayers through the lands of Kamiyasumi. The story would be told from two perspectives: the treasure/adventure seeking Champions of Humanity and the Akatsuki, an organization serving the grand design of a mysterious villain in the Ninja World, Imeroth. The Outer Lands as a whole would continue the story from where it left off before: the world on the verge of an event that would distort "reality."
Expeditionary Missions were designed with very broad objectives in mind. The first was to build defenses. I will never defend the idea that this was an engaging or highly interesting part of the story. But no story is written with all highs. If a story was all highs, then there would be no real highs. This is why we have the introduction, rising action, and climax. Because these components give a defined build up to the story and gives it meaning. Now the first problem with many of these missions is that they didn't actually build defenses. I won't pick on anyone in particular but one of the first protests made is how many other types of defenses are there other than walls? My response: are traps not defenses? Are towers not? Golems and other automatons? I do concede that it wasn't interesting; but the interesting aspect of the story is something that you ease into. The other issue raised was the quantity of missions required for each Expeditionary Mission/Operation.
This was difficult to balance and I was very ready to adjust as required. I didn't want a single person grinding out the entire Operation alone, hence the first increase. But I also didn't want them to drag either, hence why I decreased it. But the overall requirement was never particularly high if there was engagement with it. If an Expeditionary Operation required 10 missions (this was roughly the average number between all expeditionary missions) and 5 Champions of Humanity were participating then that's only 2 per person. That's not particularly high and it spreads out the spoils evenly for people.
Now onto rewards. These I kept hidden. I keep rewards hidden for a good reason - I like surprises. When someone begins a Sage Mission or a Special Mission I don't tell them their exact reward. Sage Missions are somewhat transparent; people know that if they pass their likely to get a Sage Weapon. Special Missions have some ambiguous reward attached to them. Maybe a unique type of biography or ability combination. But it is never explicitly stated either and is usually driven by the story itself. Similar logic is applied to Expeditionary Operations - surprises are good, at least I think. It also keeps the immediate focus off the rewards. People are more likely to enjoy the journey rather than just rushing for the end goal. If there is overwhelming opinion that trends in the opposite direction I'll be more transparent with rewards.
However, I'll give a little bit of a taste of some of the rewards that would have come with the Expeditionary Missions:
- In aggregate there was 150,000 Kumi to split amongst RPers between all the missions.
- A permanent 25% Kumi and Ryo increase to missions completed in the Outer Lands.
- A teleportation network setup throughout the Ninja World (connects to all marketplaces; added anyway with the end of EMs).
- A set of unique Void Infused Artifacts that could tap into the Spacetime Network and give a bio Minato-esque abilities (limited FTG) in the Ninja World.
- Utu/Suen (this one varied a little bit, wasn't a universal reward)
- Atavistic Flame, master rank (connected to the Monks).
Since we're on the topic of rewards might as well segue into Rifts. So Rifts are a concept that I began working on very slowly after the Irkalla Raid. The first major piece of feedback I got was, 'We liked this, but make it for fewer people.' Okay, that can work. Being me and the particular asshole that I am I don't like just introducing them instantly. I plan ahead and had other things I wanted to work on, especially with Sage Missions ongoing parallel to the Underworld Raid and subsequent arcs. I also wanted more time to digest the Raid, see its pitfalls, see its successes, and go from there. And I like introducing things with story rather than just spontaneously. Sue me. So Rifts. What the **** are Rifts?
"Rifts will becoming to the NW in the future. These are planned to be 3 RPer activities similar to the raid we had but for fewer people. The term "rift" will make more sense in the future when it's released in the proper context."
A Rift is a higher difficulty activity designed around 1-3 roleplayers, though leaning toward the 2-3 part of the scale. I won't make many meant for a single RPer because the Dark Tower does exist for a reason. These are similar to the raid in that they are high difficulty enemies designed with particular loot pools. Some of this "loot" is unique to the "encounter" (i.e. a necklace that belongs to a witch). Others have more generic loot pools. Maybe you win a Tier 4 ability, like EIG and permission to put it on your biography. When I designed these I was less inclined to give away specific canon biographies. That hardly seemed organic and there are other complications with that as well. Though it isn't impossible either.
Rift Mechanics:
What is a Rift, then? A Rift will be a pocket in spacetime that an RPer can enter. Why there are spacetime pockets in certain landmarks will make sense in the future. I don't want to spoil that, though even just saying this will probably give some people who have been keen on following the story clues into what might be happening. These pockets will take someone either into the future, past, or something else entirely to face off against a single boss or a series of bosses (or other 'encounters,' like a puzzle). Rift will be a 1-3 person activity and leans toward 2-3. Succeeding will feature unique rewards while failure will be met with nothing.
Now these are logistically challenging. First off creating a unique boss isn't an easy undertaking in itself. When I make bosses for the Ninja World I try to take stock of what are particularly dominant fields right now. My boss can't be a pushover but also can't be unbeatable. Sometimes a boss's deficiency might be a story mechanic as well, i.e. the introduction of God-Slaying Tools. However, for Rifts these bosses will largely be unrelated to the overarching story. They might be tangentially related through smaller regional stories (see more on this below), however. But overall these bosses will be designed less with gimmicky mechanics (i.e. having a GST, though this might happen once or twice) and more with clearly defined weaknesses that a RPer can engage with on their biography. I also want to reward people for fulfilling certain roles in their endeavors. Hence the Tier 2 GST - clearly defined roles that give insane benefits to a particular "specialization." Healer, tank, DPS are the buzzwords that pop up here.
Now the term lockout pops up here as well. What is a "lockout?" This is a time period you have to wait before you can engage the Rift again. Now consider the Irkalla Raid, a 9 RPer activity (was flexible) that took about 6 months (9 if you consider storylines for some people). This was for four bosses. The raid took longer as well because it was a logistical hurdle for 9 people. Though I just want to be clear at no point did my own response pace slow down during it. There were periods where the raiders just couldn't get a move out, once again owing to their larger bloated size. I also have to consider my own, my mods, and my sensei's sanity. Burnout is a real thing. So I don't want people failing (or succeeding, these things will be repeatable) and just running up to them again a few days later. I need to make sure other people have a chance and I need to make sure I, and my surrogates, have a chance to recover a bit.
Remember this isn't a video game. Real humans are here maintaining things, however slow that might manifest (and rightfully frustratingly so). Sometimes it's a struggle especially when we have our own jobs, lives, and loved ones to tend to. Please be nice. We do try - I consider the NW to be my baby at times. I really do care and what you to have fun.
So yeah, that covers Rifts. I hope they'll be exciting.
Regional Storylines
So I experimented this a little while back with regional storylines. It didn't really generate much interest. This was an event that took place during Arc 21 when a rebellion took place in LoK's village, the Village Hidden in the Valley. Only two people participated in the sensei run missions in that region. Just two.
Yet a few weeks ago there was a sudden outburst of interest for these types of stories. Okay, fine. But I was puzzled by this. Why? Remember, these things do take some time and energy to create. One of the responses to this strange conundrum was that it was related to the 'main story.' Well, okay. But why is that an issue? Is this not an interconnected world? Didn't we move away from a Ninja World with separate storylines so we could integrate it into one "timeline."
This is one of the more open ended parts of this. I do want to capitalize on more areas of the Ninja World, especially on a regional level. But I also like having an interconnected story. So maybe a regional warlord in the Land of Fire rebelling against a capital might trigger a famine in the far west where grain is no longer flowing to because of the rebellion. Currently I'm in the planning stages for regional stories. Your feedback here matters.
Final Thoughts
I'm always open to hear feedback (hence this thread) or privately in DMs. I'll probably add more to this as time goes on. But I wanted to talk about these things since they're fairly recent events.