Drakar does a Podcast

So, I will edit in the video once it starts, and I'm bored and I know people will prooobably not watch it (not the first time).

However, it's about the site and if anyone is interested, PM me, go on the chat, skype me if that's your option, etc. It's essentially me rambling, and hopefully not just me rambling, on about the site and some ideas. Hoped for some Q&A, or within the video questions will come up that people will post answers to. And if this causes you to ask your own questions after watching, you may ask them here of course.

Added the link to the video, however it is starting in just a moment.

I am really, really thrilled that we have members who care enough and are opinionated enough to take initiative and do a podcast like this.

I know its a little late but I don't like the idea of crafting

Now that we finished the podcast! I would like to know if anyone else has questions directed towards me, Tyler, Greenman, Lenny, or the staff!

Now where's our Redman?

Ya know. When y'all were talking about classes and whatnot, it reminded me me of something. In the beginning of KH 1 and 2, you have to make a choice between a sword, a shield, and a wand. You remember this, ya?

Anyways, you have to pick one that you think is important, and one to give up. This ultimately changes what your initial stats are when you begin the game. Would there be a way we could implement this as a class system of some sort?

Zyv and I talked about that, but for a different system. Theoretically, we might be able to implement something here, but with all the passives given based on the tier of you attributes, it'll be a little bit trickier.

If you guys stick with how ST points work rn, you could give a head-start for the one you choose and a delay for the one you sacrifice. I assume you wouldn't debuff your stat, just make it take longer. Or jack-it and take nothing and sacrifice nothing.

I.e

Take wand + 3 ST to Magic
Sacrifice Sword - 3 ST to Strength. Not so extreme, but you probably get me.

We can't go below 1, and all characters start out with a base 1. Having weighted stats, in this system, wouldn't add depth, only complexity. One of the changes being worked towards is an easier to digest system.

I'm not saying the tier, it would be the same as having more ST, it just makes tiering up harder.

However, condensing the points is more useful than adding this as another complication.

I would like to take this moment to address why Replicas are not a normal race, since it has come up.

We measure races by the standard set by somebodies, who are the vanilla example of a race. Somebodies get four elements that they can master (and can use all other primal elements). Among these mastered elements can be one advanced element. They are the only race capable of earning Keyblades. They have one skill tree to start, and an additional one on reaching tier four. While difficult they can also attain a more advanced form of immortality versus a standard Heartless. They can not get Nothing as an element in any form, but somebodies can choose between Light and Darkness as a Heart element. Somebodies with Darkness can control Heartless, as well.

Now, the balance is somewhat shaky between the primary four starting races, but we've determined that this balance largely evens out. Races that are considered advanced are not within the normal bounds of that shaky balance. For reference, those four starting races are Somebodies, Nobodies, Pureblood Heartless and Emblem Heartless.

Versus a Somebody: A Replica can use every single element that is not a combination element without restriction. Their only primary element is Nothing. Like Nobodies they start with two skill trees and can gain a third. However, as most Replicas will start with a false Keyblade they usually have three skill trees on creation, without having to go through the rigorous process of getting an actual Keyblade. While they can be created without a Keyblade, we do not assume they will opt out. Further, if they make contact with any individual they can also completely copy any of that individual's skill trees as long as they aren't linked to a Keyblade, and by doing so can temporarily disable the entire skill tree they copied. Even further still, they have a berserk mode that pushes their physical statistics to a limit when their rage breaks, but leaves them in a mental state where they are totally unable to cast magic. No other race possess these advantages.

However, their Keyblades can not permanently destroy Heartless as they are just replicas of actual Keyblades. Also, if they are destroyed, a Replica is permanently gone. Thus, Replicas are advanced. While I am not opposed to making them a normal race, they will be seeing an incredibly heavy nerf should that come to pass.

As for Dark Replicas: our website takes place ten years before the start of the normal KH timeline, and doesn't include Xehanort, Seeker of Plot Holes. As such we had to come up with a contrived fan-fiction-esque reason for Emblem Heartless to exist at this moment in time. The general idea was that, seeing as Replicas are essentially shells of Nothing, and Emblems are essentially shells of Darkness, that perhaps Emblem are a failed variety of Replica. Of Note: Emblems are the only race without a prestige class. Dark Replicas were conceived for them, so that they something to ascend to and versus a normal Replica, Dark Replicas are incredibly High-Risk, High Reward. More details on what exactly they are capable of will be released as they come closer to being rolled out.

I hope this explanation suffices!

Ultimately, our goal is to make the system less complicated. We're working on rewording everything into...English.
Harlow's been working on the technical aspect on it and so far it's doing well.

As far as Tier gaps go, we've been doing our best to figure out a solution that's fair to everybody. Yes, we know we messed up when we gave Betas a booster. Staff is working out a reasonable plan.

Raids aren't mandatory. I designed the system for the users to have options without them getting murdered. There's a reason why I put up the signup: People drop topics, and it's disruptive. Every Raid thread lasts two months. No more than two. So far, I have 25 different bosses, ranging from Weak (about T1-T2) to Epic (beyond T5.) There's no excuse or reason why anybody would or should be worried about facing a Raid-- even if you fell in battle, a Raid boss is an NPC, and personally, I will never, EVER allow any of the NPC's I control to kill a player. That just wouldn't be fair. You can still fail the Raid, don't be wrong, but dying to an NPC out of your control seems unfair, and I won't condone that.
It's NEVER too late to join a Raid thread. I never specified you couldn't join after it had begun: if anything else, I allowed people to join into Raids to replace any members that may fall off. So there's never an excuse for a Raid to completely die off.

Yes. I designed the Raid system to reward players based on several different aspects. Yes, Raid bosses (and Raid Mobs) can and will damage the world if you don't keep their attention. Sometimes, it's just unavoidable. It wouldn't make any sense for there to be a big-ass monster (or several reasonably smaller monsters) running around and things not get broken in some shape or form. It's up to the team to work together as much as they can to minimize the damage.
Raids can effect the way the plot goes, if there's enough shit going down. If worlds get swallowed or really messed up, obviously it's going to effect the future.

I'm already working on materials for *IF* we put in Synthesis.

The only Event that's happened, really doesn't effect the main storyline. It was just something to give people something to do for the 12th year of KH's release.

As far as site plot, we're not doing anything. It's too early. We haven't been up long enough to really feel like there's a need to start up a major site plot as of yet. We're trying to allow people to begin their own stories, before we start shoving them up into a dead end.

We have classes, guys. Check the Meta topic. It's not really MANDATORY to have a class, but it gives you a general idea of what kinds of fighting types there are.

Pinky, you're missing the point of moving past these scheduled things that people will feel are events. It isn't that it is, it's the ideals of the members that are a result of past experiences or assumption about the future. We need to slowly but surely move to where things feel natural and just...happen. Raids are still like events right now, and they will succeed eventually. The first might fail, but that doesn't mean it fails as you have realized. Just because people drop topics, doesn't mean we can't work towards progressing the community to form better habits.

I'm not disregarding the past site in this podcast, so it's something about events that the majority have experienced. You need to have more faith in the community, we need to progress. Eventually, members need to start doing more exploring and establishing, but it doesn't have to be everyone of course. That also means members need to take these sort of things in like they are breakfast, not have event-like raids every two months at x amount. We need to get to a point where members start communicating and doing things that are more natural rather than forced on them.

I feel the need to stress the need for communication. We need to bring members together, not just throw stuff on them. We need to reinforce their ability to do things and instead of making them react to stuff, form things around what they can do. Think not about what you can do to the members, but what the members can do themselves and what they can do for the site.