December 31, 2020

[2020] What happened this year to Rayque?

It's that time of the year again! It's time for another summary!
This year marks the 10th summary on this blog. As always, the Rayque3 Staff wishes you a great 2021!

2020 to me has been a pretty good year, for a change. It's been an incredibly productive year, although expensive. Regardless, among the specific milestones achieved this year are some pretty significant ones...

Anyway, let's get to those statistics of 2020.

The Youtube Department (Rayque3 Staff)

General
- Our twelfth anniversary!
- Reached 13.000.000 total upload views!
- Reached 11.800 subscribers!

Interestingly, 2020 is tied with the previous two years with only seeing two officially published videos. Four particular videos that were scheduled for 2020 have been pushed back to next year.

The two (short) videos that I mentioned last year, which were expected to be release in early 2020, have been postponed because my copy of that game has been quite literally stuck in the United States since February. The delivery is still going to happen, and when it's here, I definitely have some catching up to do...

The two other videos that were planned were actually for November/December this year, but I simply couldn't find time to start working on them. I'll probably get to it early next year.

The following numbers are approximated to improve readability.

Analytics for this year (+% compared to gain in 2019)
- Obtained 460.000 views (+3%). Previous year: 440.000 views (-45%)
- Obtained 2800 likes (+15%). Previous year: 2400 likes (-23%)
- Obtained 160 dislikes (+9%). Previous year: 150 dislikes (-48%)
- Obtained 260 comments (-31%). Previous year: 380 comments (-15%)
- Obtained 530 shares (-35%). Previous year: 800 shares (+2%)
- Obtained 200 subscribers (-30%). Previous year: 300 subscribers (-51%)

With the new Youtube analytics starting this year, they made it a lot more cumbersome to retrieve these numbers.
I can no longer find the data regarding favorites, even those for previous years seem no longer accessible.

Top 10 Most Viewed Videos for this year
1. [+2] Mario Party 7 - All Mini-Games (125.000 views)
6. [+0] Donkey Kong 64 - All main bosses (14.000 views)
10. [+0] Sin & Punishment 2: Successor of the Skies - Isa & Kachi Mode (4000 views)
Top 10 viewed countries for this year
1. [+0] United States - 145.000 views (32%)
2. [+0] Japan - 40.000 views (8,75%)
3. [+0] United Kingdom - 23.000 views (5,0%)
4. [+0] Canada - 20.000 views (4,5%)
5. [+1] Brazil - 14.000 views (3,1%)
6. [-1] Mexico - 13.000 views (2,9%)
7. [+0] France - 11.000 views (2,5%)
8. [+0] Italy - 10.000 views (2,3%)
9. [+1] South Korea - 9.400 views (2,1%)
10. [-1] Germany - 8.800 views (1,9%)
Traffic Sources for this year
1. [+2] Suggested videos - 150.000 views (33%)
2. [-1] Youtube search - 130.000 views (29%)
3. [-1] Homepage - 110.000 views (24%)
4. [+0] External - 17.000 views (3,7%)
5. [+1] Playlists - 13.000 views (2,9%)
Did you know...
- That Mario Party 7 - All Mini-Games returns to take the title of our most viewed video for the year? Last year, it was dethroned for the first time by this year's second and third placed videos. What a tenacious video.
- This is the first time in five years we've seen a growth in total views for the current year, compared to the previous?
- Surprisingly, despite that our Subspace Emissary video has almost the same amount of views as last year (which was our most viewed video of 2019), Mario Party 7's video has more than doubled (!) in views this year. That increase in views was enough for it to become our most viewed video of 2020. Aside from that, most of our other videos in the top 10 saw a significant drop this year, such as our Kirby's Return to Dreamland video. There's also one particular unlisted video, released this year, that climbed up all the way to the top 15 most viewed videos of 2020. Perhaps if it saw an official release it would've reached the top 10, but the video's reason for being was so insignificant and impulsive that even Luxatus doesn't know about its existence himself. Sssh!

The MapleStory Europe Department

General
- Reached Level 251!
- Eight consecutive years of using my Ribgol Sword!
- Thirteen consecutive years of playing EMS on my Hero!

Obtained
- Finished my Mu Gong Soul Collection!
- Obtained the Our Time With Maple hat!
- Obtained a second Cursed Kaiserium!

Upgrading
- Upgraded my Union to a Total Level of 7232!
- Got my Adele to Level 200 during the Adele Training Support event!
- Got my F/P to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Marksman to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Night Lord to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Evan to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Mercedes to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Wild Hunter to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Demon Avenger to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Kanna to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Reached 20 Enhancements on my Amaterasu's Belt!
- Cubed four additional items to triple %-STR!

5th Job - V-Matrix
- Obtained Sword Illusion!
- Maxed out Rope Lift!
- Maxed out Sword Illusion!
- Maxed out my other Enhancement Cores for Raging Blow / Final Attack / Rage Uprising!
- Raised Erda Nova to Level 21!
- Raised Will of Erda to Level 21!
- Raised Combo Death Fault to Level 23!
- Raised Blitz Shield to Level 23!
- Raised Body of Steel to Level 24!
- Raised Erda Shower to Level 24!

Miscellaneous
- I've managed to solo Chaos Root Abyss and Normal Lotus for the first time!
- Completed all objectives during the Mark of Honor 3 update!
- Completed many of the 1000 kill achievements, including Horntail and Pink Bean!
- Accumulated a whopping total of 7.560.000 Contribution for the FallenAngel guild in total, with a perfect Contribution score of 1.830.000 Contribution this year! Once again another perfect year - hopefully I can pull it off again next year!

It was a good year for World Tour updates. I'm a huge fan of the Phantom Forest revamp and the additional Nobunaga chapter with the Mark of Honor 3 update. There's been plenty of hints towards Neo Tokyo's inevitable return, including Japan Maple M showing good prospects with its Neo Tokyo update, complete with an updated edition of the original  Auf Haven Circlet, Auf Haven soul and revamped mugshots / NPC designs. In addition, Veracent's return has become more apparent with the revamped familiar system continuing the Monad storyline. Gimme more of this good stuff!

Did you know...
- I'm only a few weeks away from reaching Level 252? Like last year, daily coin grinds during Summer/Winter updates are an excellent and reliable way of getting EXP. It looks like I might hit 255 next year, which would be great to unlock access to Limen with its raid bosses. A Genesis Two-Handed Sword would make a fine addition to my collection...
-  I currently have 304%-STR? Ever since I got all of my items to Legendary last year, my cubing efforts have been very productive. I'm currently upgrading the equipment with two %-STR lines into ones with three %-STR lines.
- I currently have 225 Star Force? With only my Amaterasu's Belt reaching 20 Enhancements this year, my total Star Force count has barely moved. In total I've spent over 70 billion (!) mesos for three 20-starred items, and lately I've refrained from doing enhancements simply because it's currently not worth the expenses.
- According to my Excel sheet, I've shuffled my Inner Ability 3307 times since I got it to Legendary? As usual, still no progress. In total, these rolls are worth over twenty-three million Honor EXP! The rolling continues...

The LEGO® Department
General
- Still working on the Hailfire Droid (MK. 2) project!
- Still working on the Constructor (MK. 3) project!

While I declared that I would finish the Hailfire Droid this year, the only reason why that didn't happen was because most of my time went into the Xenoblade Definitive Edition article instead. I will get back on that further down this post. But because the article has priority, it has hindered my work on my MK projects. 

That said, I believe the Hailfire Droid is about 85% done. There are only a couple of small bits left to add to the main body. The remaining final 10% are panels to cover up the wheels. I still need to figure out how to approach that.

I was planning to write some blogposts about the Constructor this year, but that has to wait until after the Hailfire Droid is finished. Despite that I haven't worked much on the physical model itself, I have been planning and ordering parts throughout the year in the meantime. I just don't have the time for the actual process of building, is all.

Regardless of progress on either projects, I have done 35 Bricklink orders this year. To put that in perspective, I did more Bricklink orders this year than I have in total between 2012 and 2019. Through that process, I've gained invaluable knowledge and experience regarding shipping costs and additional fees I need to be aware of in order to keep the order costs at a minimum. Consider it min/maxing on Bricklink. Granted, not all of this year's orders were strictly for parts, but the once discouraging process of ordering parts on the platform is no longer a burden to me.

Obtained
Three of eighteen parts from #8322 Mokarr. There, that's the only thing worth mentioning. Everything else pales in comparison.

Nah, just kidding. 

It's definitely one of the highlights of the year, though. Still can't believe it, it's been that surreal. I feel very fortunate in life to have obtained some of its parts. Going from a childhood desire, to somewhat of a running joke on my blog since 2015, to ultimately getting somewhere... My hunt for the shark continues. Cheers!

Aside from that, here are some other personal favorites of mine that I got my hands on this year:
#80104 Seasonal - Lion Dance (2020)

You know, something's funny: when the Lion Dance set was announced last year, I joked around with my friends that it's a herald for good fortune given my history with MapleStory's Chinese Lion Costume. Good fortune indeed...

I'm also very happy that Nintendo has finally licensed some LEGO® stuff. The licensing for actual LEGO® toys (instead of games) was long overdue. I really hope that they're going to continue with other themes after Super Mario. I mean, the Mario figure is basically a modern equivalent to the Kek Powerizer. Makes you wonder if they're going to return build-able track racing with Excitebike or F-Zero. They'll have to do Pokémon at some point, right? Right!? 

If only they could bring back CCBS with Metroid... So many creatures and characters to choose from.

Last, but certainly not least, I've started to delve into the world of Q-Parts, which are often parts in certain colors that have not been officially released through retail sets. I didn't start collecting Q-Parts for the sake of collecting them. It's simple: some parts come in colors that I need, and they happen to be Q-Parts. By all means, it's just a coincidence.

What is also a coincidence is that both my Hailfire Droid and Constructor now contain Q-Parts. I'm seriously not doing that intentionally, by the way. However, the idea of requiring myself to include at least one Q-Part in each major project is starting to grow on me, so I might consider that for future MOCs. I have bought Bricklink's entire stock for one particular Q-Part this year, but that's for some special non-MK project, after I've finished the Constructor in 2022...

The Xenoblade Definitive Edition Article
A special section, just for 2020. Earlier this year I started working on a dedicated, arduous and long journey of an article to discuss the differences between the original Xenoblade and its recent Definitive Edition. People who have been long-time followers of our Youtube channel and blog know about my complicated relationship with the original game, and to say that the Definitive Edition and this article made it worse is an understatement.

Truth to be told, I greatly underestimated the time and effort that goes behind this article. For the past 6 months, I have barely worked on anything else. I've lost track on how many hours I've spent on it, but it's been over 700 hours. While I have already formed my conclusion near the end of last Summer, all of that information needs to be converted into written text in order to share that with the world. And that is indeed the most difficult and time-consuming part of it all.

The many delays that my article went through is all on me. The reason behind that is simple: the scope of the project has expanded several times, and one might argue that it's been blown out of proportion. However, I won't compromise on the article as I had good reasons to increase its scope: there are some serious issues with the Definitive Edition that needs to be addressed. If they didn't change so much with the DE, I wouldn't have had this much work. My draft is currently closing in on 40.000 words, and I suspect the full article will contain almost double that amount.

So, when do I expect the article to come out? I don't think I can publish the article early 2021. However, I do think that I should be able to release it during the Summer of 2021. This also means that until then, I'll continue my daily efforts in writing and this will also influence my ability to work on my LEGO® projects and such. Either way, the article is coming.

Other

General
- With the end of Windows 7 at the start of this year, it was time to upgrade to a new PC! The specs on this thing should be enough to get me through the entirety of Windows 10. Remember, I fried my original Windows 7 with Borderlands 2, and thus I ended up needing a replacement...
- Speaking of Borderlands, the third main installment has been out and it's a blast. I love the new gameplay additions with the frequent updates and the transparent communication in patch notes. The game is definitely a fun experience. FL4K is basically Zer0 but replacing his melee attacks with shotguns. Lux and I have also checked out that final Borderlands 2 DLC and we've also started playing through The Pre-Sequel's base game.
- Still playing Team Fortress 2, currently Level 145. 603 hours of Demoman, 193 hours as Engineer. It seems like I'm going to reach Tier 2 on Casual Mode somewhere next year. My Strange PDA has reached Epic-rank!
- I've received my physical copy of Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX, and it's definitely been the best overall package of the three Azure Striker Gunvolt games so far. Gameplay is great, level design is cool, a really good soundtrack and the best ending sequence in the series. I'm very much looking forward to Gunvolt 3 next year!
- I have played some Xenoblade 2 before the release of the Definitive Edition, but I have also picked up the original and Xenoblade X again to provide additional information on the article.

I really don't like the new Blogger interface. It's a mess as some features require more clicks to use. It's less intuitive, the interface can't handle large blogposts as well and the HTML coding has become unstable. I had to fully redo my LEGO® Inside Tour blogpost yesterday because the entire HTML code became a spaghetti. I literally did not touch that blogpost in years and just the new interface alone screwed it up retroactively. There's probably some other blogposts I'll have to double check and repair them where necessary. One of the few positives about the new interface are the new options regarding the sizes and placement of images, but that's pretty much all there is to it. There's also the ability to add special characters and emoji's. I suppose I no longer need to copy paste from Word 2007. Cool, I guess. 

Blogger, your new interface receives a 💩.

As for next year, hopefully...
- I'll have the Definitive Edition article out, and time to finish the Hailfire Droid. Not impossible by all means - I just need to spend enough time on them. I've been itching to work on the Constructor again, though...
- We'll have more videos out on our Youtube channel?
- Will it be another successful year on EMS?
- Will I be able to obtain more of Mokarr?

That's it for this summary! Took me about eight hours to complete, give or take.
Luxatus Patella and I wish you a fantastic 2021!

That's it for 2020! I'll see you guys again next year!
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