There already exists a Kusari discussion chat with faction leaders, and a few other representatives / lore knowledgeable people.
The Development Team used their advice and input to shape our plans for 4.88.4 (released January 2016), and have built future plans (for direction, not railroading) off of realistic possibilities from that. As we get closer to the release of 4.89 Initial, we will again review plans with them.
It is important for us to talk to factions. Numerous times, we have changed our plans based on the feedback we receive. However, it is hard for us to account for the changes of leadership, drama, officialdom status, in-game occurrences, more drama, and other player-based fluctuations, hence the slight separation between NPC Faction Lore and Player Group Roleplay. The former provides a foundation and objectives, while the latter gives life and depth.
So to respond precisely to the original post:
(10-18-2016, 12:55 PM)Yaoquizque Wrote: Given how successful this civil war thing has been, could we have some insight about what Dev team is planning, granted they planned anything at all?
Will the Exiles/Imperials cease to exist as a NPC faction?
Sarcasm detected? Either way, the civil war was initially actually very successful after the release of 4.88.4. The unfortunate happenstance of the {343} being grieved into nonexistence is a shame, but does not directly affect our plans. And yes, plans we do have. While some storyline developer predecessors of mine did accumulate an unsavory reputation for ignoring factions and working on whims, the current story planning group does its best to have plans for all seventy factions of the game. Including Kusari.
At this point, whether the IKN will win or lose, the will indeed cease to exist as they are merged back into the KNF. If they win, of course, the KNF as a whole will change slightly, but the end result is mostly the same.
Quote:1) War against Gallia.
The Republic dies and the Empire is restored. Kusari sides with Liberty / Bretonia against Gallia. While this makes sense lore wise, it's probably a not so good idea. GRN has almost no allies and a lot of enemies already. And it doesn't seem GRN is really active, so how giving them even more things to shoot would improve things?
2) War against Liberty.
The Imperials disappear. Kusari either becomes a Gallia protectorate or is partially annexed. Kusari sides with Gallia against Liberty (potentially Bretonia). Due to the weakened state of Kusari military, Shikoku is probably partially invaded by Liberty. Gallia sends assets to attack Liberty from Kusari borders.
3) Keep the civil war going.
Lol, Kusari is boring anyway.
Options 1 and 2 will only make Kusari a worse place, as you'd likely have Valors and Overlords (or both) flying into the extremely weak and divided House. That would almost certainly be no fun for many Kusari factions. Anyway, at this point, Gallia is trying to focus all of its efforts on killing Bretonia. They're letting Kusari try to handle their own mess right now and are happy as long as the Lyonnais-Rishiri trade corridor remains untouched - a sleeping dragon which both IKN and BD are wise to avoid waking. Meanwhile, Liberty is also focusing much of its efforts against Gallia, along with the HF Legion to an extent. Kusari would get nowhere attacking Liberty (Gallia knows that, and regardless, they're not a total puppet state), and Liberty has no intention to have another war.
Option 3 is what will be pursued, however not for too much longer. When one of the three sides is eliminated, there will be something ("Option 4", if you will) that occurs to give Kusari a lot to do and give them a direct external foe to fight. During the time until then, I ask that you have patience.
