Hello Everyone! This is a Voice Report I have been looking forward to releasing since I first applied for the position. It has been an incredibly long and complicated road to reach this point, I am pleased to discuss the release of Custom Disciplines. Inspired by the concept of multiclassing, this system is an “endgame” type customization for well-established members who want to take even more control of their characters.

Custom Disciplines Summary

The discipline system is an incredible tool to help classify and define what the “type” is of any character. In many regards, they operate as our true “class” system for building out a character. Besides having some absolutely brilliant selectable options for all our members, it is also especially helpful for new members who are looking at how they want to build out their characters. Creating a new character, especially as a new member is far from an easy task, and our selectable options provide a very wide range of character archetype fantasies you can utilize.

However, as you get more established and comfortable in the club, you may find that the combination of feats you get, and the description of what the discipline is doesn’t quite vibe 100% with what you are going for. I have seen so much chatter about wishing to combine a feat from X discipline with one from Y discipline. I feel this constantly when looking at my own characters.

Starting at Equite 3, you can now request to build out a custom discipline, using any of the established discipline feats for your order type (Force user, non-Force user). There are also new unique options only available by creating your own custom discipline. A total of 11 new feat options, including several based around the long-requested “Beast Master” concept. This means for both Force users and non-Force users, there are 22 possible feats to use. This means there are over 200 possible combinations for both paths!

To see all available discipline feats check out the Disciplines Wikipedia page.

Custom Disciplines Process

This section will go over the process while also referencing several new policies in effect. Those policies can be found on the wiki.

All members EQ3 and above can request a custom discipline. You can request one for each of your available character slots.

This means EQ3 and EQ4 can have a maximum of four (4) customs at a time. Elders can have five (5).

Once you hit your max amount, you will have to begin to pick which previous custom you would like to replace.

We would like to ask that you please also only submit one custom discipline at a time, however, we can’t stop you from rushing them all in. Just know it takes us time. We are expecting a pretty big floodgate moment here at launch.

To help slow things down a bit, we also have a frequency policy. For each of your character slots, you can request one new custom discipline every 30 days.

Example: If you had two character slots, and created one on the first of the month, then the second on the 15th, you would need to wait 15 more days to replace one, then another 15 to replace the other.

There are some further leveling-up restrictions in place as well. All discipline feats are tiered, split into levels 1, 2, and 3 (I, II, and III). The normal discipline structure is level 1 for Journeymen, 2 for Equites, 3 for Elders. As customs can lead to some pretty powerful combinations this changes for customs.

Equite 3 can have any two level 1 feats. Equite 4 can have any level 2. Elders can have any level 3.

When you are ready to request your custom discipline, make sure to use the discipline wikipedia page as a reference to see what each feat does at each levels.

To make your request, head to the Custom Discipline Request Form.

You will be taken to a page with some identifying questions:

Beneath that there are a few important fields for setting up your discipline, including its name, and blurb.

Discipline Names should reflect the concept/archetype you are going for. They should be similar to the other Discipline names. They have a max count of three words but it is highly suggested to keep at two max.

Due to the possibility of overlap on Discipline names, we will add your dossier pin to the end of each of your custom disciplines. So it will be Discipline Name (PIN). While not most ideal, this will let us correctly link the feats to the right custom discipline.

Discipline descriptions are not required. If used it should somewhat mirror the other disciplines, be no more than 150 words, and if possible include which two feats the discipline is using.

Following the first page you will be taken to a secondary screen to indicate if you are using this for a Force user, or non-Force user.

Then you will be allowed to select which two feats you would like to use. This is a drop down selection, so it is highly recommended to check against what is listed on the Disciplines wikipedia page to make sure you know which feat you would like to use.

Once it is submitted we will be alerted and get to reviewing the applicable bits that need review, and creating the discipline for your use. Once it is created we will notify you.

From there it is as simple as selecting the discipline like any other from the list on in the CS wizard. As seen below a completed request has been processed and the discipline is now active on the CS.

Custom Disciplines FAQ(ish)

Why now?

It took a lot of testing on the site to find a path forward for this to work, without breaking everything and without making a massive nightmare for James. He recently completed work on changes to requirement groups across the board for the site, this allowed us to proceed with a very manual process so it can happen.

EQ3 is high! Is it fair?

Yes I know. Discussion on the starting level for this system happened multiple times and we had multiple options on the table. We wanted it accessible while still being a major thing to unlock, and also be balanced with load on how many are hitting the Voice Staff. This is what was ultimately picked following the discussions for launch.

EQ3 only gets level 1 feats?

Yes. The combinations for these can be pretty powerful. The cost of customization to start is a bit of power.

Why can’t we pick from both Force users and non-Force users options?

This would be a one way street win for Force users, as non-Force users can’t use any of the ones thats modify Force powers. Add in the fact that Force users already have a pretty big leg up in terms of character power levels, this was the sweet spot for balancing these.

I have a cool idea for a discipline feat, how do I suggest it?

Awesome. Check out the custom disciplines policy section on the wiki and then send an email to the Voice staff.

Isn’t this kind of clunky?

Yes. I know. A major priority here was balancing cool new functionality for members with not making James murder everyone and finally hit the delete button for the site. The CS system itself is a beast of complicated interactions, and this proved to be an effective and manageable way to get this available without breaking everything.

Even as is, it is still possible it might break everything.

I requested a custom discipline and it's taking forever. What is up with that?

This is a very very manual process. The Voice staff is small and we have lives (allegedly). We also might make mistakes in creating your custom that then have to be fixed. Please be patient with us and remember we too are people. Be kind rewind.

Feat Fixes

Lastly, I very quickly wanted to cover some fixes to a few feats in our system. Thanks to the same requirements update James provided, we now are able to get rid of the feats that had duplicate copies to account for unlocking different levels based on mid tier ranks.

This means some feats have been marked inactive, and a main one is live to use. In this case I used the most used version of the duplicate feat as the active one. This also means no longer needing to remember to reselect a feat when you move between those restrictions.

JM and EQ level characters using Accelerated Healing I, JM and EQ level characters using La Resistance I, and EQ4 level characters using Matter Bender I will want to update their selection.

Disclaimer

While this has been in process for a very very long time, and we are incredibly excited to offer this new option for characters, please remember this is a new process, and very manual. Despite testing for functionality, it is possible (and likely) we might run into unforeseen issues along the way. This might lead us to pause this system from working for a time. We want to make sure the normal functionality of the site, and the CS system work correctly over this working. If things start breaking or start causing issues on the backend for James we will have to reevaluate.

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