First of, a thank you!
The comments and DMs from members and mods I have received have been so helpful and kind. Even my silly brain that's hard to get through to has to admit that I must have done something right so far, judging from your words <3 I can't thank you enough for this, and all the patience and trust you have in my silly worlds. If you are unsure what I mean you may want to read this post first.
The path forward
To preface this, no final decision has been made yet, but I want to let you in on the current state of our brainstorming! I am currently in contact with a small group of mods and members where we are sharing ideas and discussing ways to change up RA to make it more managable mentally and work load related. This and feedback from the last post has lead me to come up with a plan to ease my mind for now:
October 2024
Throughout october, we will be laying out the plan, down to the nitty gritty tiny details. This will hopefully reduce the initial information overload for new members, and also allow me to refocus on fewer things. I can already tell you some small things that are currently being heavily considered:
On Species
- archived species would not be deleted/unusable or isolated from the main focus species lore wise. The goal is to put a main focus on one realm (with multiple species still), while the others will still exist but take more of a backing role
- The term "archive" is only used for lack of better word, what it would boil down to is these realms are more difficult to access in-lore, but not impossible, so that all existing plots and pairings can be kept as they are. This would be worked towards via event, and will get a nicer term + explanation.
- they may still receive adoptables and MYOs may still be created if mods (present or future) would be willing to still approve these non-main realm species. If this is the case, there would likely be a overarching MYO slot for these non-main realm species. If no mods can be found to approve them, the existing slots would still be approved by me, until used up.
- there may still be events focused on non-main realms in future, if a mod would like to run one or my workload allows for it
On Traits
- traits belonging to side species would be hidden with the toggle for visual clarity unless a user choses to see them as well
- trait items belonging to side species would either be deleted, meaning you would be able to create any side species design with any trait without items
- OR these trait items would persist, but be in a special hidden interdimensional shop that offers all the side items. In this case, they would also need the hide functionality.
- existing seasonal traits will persist, more may be added. They may be getting an additional system tying them into lore. They might be changed to cover traits that have been desired over time (such as different wings on beastlings), which could now be created due to less species conflicting with them/causing confusion.
On Transformations
- transformations for side species would still exist but be hidden with the toggle for visual clarity.
- new transformations may exist if useful to tie species together
- the Ascended transformation in particular is up for debate because it conflicts with new traits such as wings. We are still discussing this.
On Pairing
- Due to the system being very messy/confusing on both user and mod end, crossbreeds and glitches would be disabled.
- Pairings between species with similar subtypes would still be able to create hybrids (eg. Arma Caeli, Night/day born)
- Pairings between species with differing subtypes can pair but the offspring would be one of the parents (eg. beastling vulpel x vesperus)
- there is potential to rework glitching to still allow for "re-rolling" traits or something, but this is tbd.
- existing crossbreeds could remain or be changed to have new traits that fit their design (up to user)
- existing glitches would likely be changed to have the new trait that fits their design
New possibilities
- the focus on one main realm that is magical allows for potentially tying in seasonal traits with companion elements and magic
- currencies could be less generic, more in line with lore of the main realm, adding more flavour
- streamlined shops, easier to find items
- more unique fun systems to work with, as they would not need to be accessible to 16 species anymore
- professions could be extended, perhaps even more can be used
- a proper map of the main realm with clickable locations, neopets style.
At the end of october, I hope that we can come to a decision on whether the plan thought out in october will be coming to fruition, or if it's better to stick with what we have / something else. Regardless of what happens, we will be thinking of ways to compensate for things + might ask around when the course is more clear in November.
If it does happen, the event schedule of RA will have to be adjusted a bit in the following months:
November/December 2024
Events would have to be shifted around a bit:
- November's species release (Ravorbis) will need to be pushed back, because it would be better to release them under the new plan.
- Around the start of November I want to post more information on our plans, so that you all are aware of them beforehand.
- In exchange, there should be a different event that gives me the space to work on the changes for the rework. This event will ideally lead into January with some lore related to the planned changes.
January 2025
If the changes are mostly done, we would go and put RA into maintenance so that me and mods who'd like to help out can start getting the changes on site. I would like to take a full month for this simply because I imagine there would be a lot to change and edit/move around. I also would like a couple people look around for spots that I may have missed without any pressure. During this month we might host some event via discord, which will also probably see some slight changes, Or take a break for a month, let's see :D
I really hope whatever we chose to do, that RA will still be enjoyable to everyone! o7
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