Why focus on storylines while still in alpha? And will any of these storylines repeat once 1.0 or full live release happens?asked by Adamant1

You mentioned earlier when you introduced regen and the Ibrahim spheres, it was in time and place three years ago. These are story moments of where we are now in our sliding timescale. These aren't things that just repeat.

Some of the stuff, I think, we had things like Siege of Orison, which were single events that we would repeat because it was a fun game experience and stuff like that. So I think it'll probably always be kind of a balance of that.

Like Mine on the Line is kind of an evergreen location. It's not an event. It's a permanent addition. So we're trying to balance between these story moments that you're experiencing right now with repeatable content that will live on.

That's not different than any other MMO. When you play the level 10 quests, they happen much earlier in the ongoing saga, but they're always still going to be there, playable. So this content is designed to always be there.

Yes, I think for the most part.

In the groundwork that we're laying with this new content, even if there's a story mission attached to it, we're taking the content itself and figuring out how to reuse it in a repeatable, playable experience. So there might be more event-type stuff coming this year, but anything that we do, we're hoping to build into it so that the players will keep getting to enjoy and have fun with it.

But I think what Adam might have been asking is, is this the 1.0 story or is this something else? This is something else.

This is our 2025 storyline.

And to his question, why? Why tell a story when you're in alpha?

Well, part of it is this is giving Narrative a chance to be in alpha as well. We've been learning so much in these past four months, now that the mission tools are in, now that the streaming content tool's in, that we've been able to really ramp up how we deliver. And you're going to be seeing that more this year. And we've run into issues that we've been able to sort out with this earlier content and explore as we build up to our 1.0 content.

And it's a thing, too. We've been working with the designers and stuff like that. Part of it is that giving the narrative wrapping to why you're doing something makes the doing something a little bit more engaging. So part of it is, again, in this push for greater engagement in the experience, let's add a story to it. So it's not just, hey, we introduced this thing, go have fun. There's a reason around doing it, driving players to go play. Why not add another layer?

Yeah. And I think it's a little bit of a thank you to the players who are playing it right now. You're playing in alpha, you're experiencing our game in development, and as part of that, you're getting to experience the Regen Crisis, which players who hop onto the bandwagon three years from now won't. So, good for you.