December 31, 2021

[2021] What happened this year to Rayque?

Another year's end, another summary.

This year marks the 11th summary on this blog. I have now been blogging for over a decade!
As always, the Rayque3 Staff wishes you a great 2022!

2021 has been an exceptionally busy year. So busy in fact, that I haven't even been able to finish my main goals for the year: the Definitive Edition article and my Hailfire Droid. Unfortunately, due to my declining health, the amount of work I can do on anything has become limited. Lately, most of my time during the day is spent sleeping... and for the few hours that I am awake though, I seem to have the same working deficiency of when I had a burnout in 2014.

That said, I'll share some information about the work that has been done on these projects, what I had planned for the year and what has been delayed to (hopefully?) next year. While I usually prefer to avoid mentioning my declining health, I do believe that in case of this year it helps to bring some insight, context or explanation to the situation.

At least this year's summary is extra thick. Anyway, let's get to those statistics of 2021.

The Youtube Department (Rayque3 Staff)

General
- Our 13th anniversary!
- Reached 13.400.000 total upload views!
- Reached almost 12.000 subscribers!
- Uploaded 21 videos this year!
- Published the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 100% Walkthrough series (Luxatus Patella).

This year marked the return of walkthroughs made by Luxatus Patella! Or well, at least, that was our plan.

Luxatus caught me by surprise when he presented a complete walkthrough series for HP3, out of nowhere. Fun fact: he tried to deliver the series on April Fool's Day, but he couldn't finish the series in time. Usually, he tells me when he's about to work on a video in advance... but I suppose it was special occasion this time.

Now, I did say walkthroughs. Plural. Truth is, something unexpected happened, so we had to put a project on halt for the time being. I'm afraid I can't spoil any beans, or tell you what happened. However, I expect to be able to share more with all of you next year. Stay tuned.

Earlier this year I've also held a recording session for a new entry in the Multirandomness series. I've been working on it for the past couple of weeks, and I expect to have it released before Spring 2022.

The following data is simplified in order to improve readability.

Analytics for this year (+% compared to gain in 2020)
- Obtained 300.000 views (-35%). Previous year: 460.000 views (+3%)
- Obtained 2400 likes (-12%). Previous year: 2800 likes (+15%)
- Obtained 100 dislikes (-38%). Previous year: 160 dislikes (+9%)
- Obtained 300 comments (+15%). Previous year: 260 comments (-31%)
- Obtained 430 shares (-19%). Previous year: 530 shares (-35%)
- Obtained 150 subscribers (-31%). Previous year: 200 subscribers (-30%)

Top 10 Most Viewed Videos for this year
2. [-1] Mario Party 7 - All Mini-Games (40.000 views)
7. [-1] Donkey Kong 64 - All main bosses (6.500 views)

Top 10 viewed countries for this year
1. [+0] United States - 100.000 views (34,5%)
2. [+3] Canada - 24.000 views (8,1%)
3. [-1] Japan - 19.000 views (6,4%)
4. [-1] United Kingdom - 14.000 views (4,8%)
5. [+0] Brazil - 8.600 views (2,9%)
6. [+0] Mexico - 7.900 views (2,6%)
7. [+0] France - 6.800 views (2,3%)
8. [+0] Italy - 4.900 views (1,6%)
9. [+1] Germany - 4.800 views (1,6%)
10. [-1] South Korea - 4.500 views (1,5%)

Traffic Sources for this year
1. [+1] Youtube search - 110.000 views (39%)
2. [+1] Homepage - 90.000 views (30%)
3. [-2] Suggested videos - 38.000 views (13%)
4. [+1] Playlist - 17.000 views (5,9%)
5. [-1] External - 10.000 views (3,5%)

Did you know...
- This is the first time since 2016 that we've uploaded more than a handful of videos? Between 2017 and 2020, only two or three videos were officially released on the Rayque3 Channel each year.
- With the release of the Harry Potter 3 walkthrough, it's been five years since Luxatus Patella was last seen working on a walkthrough? Additionally, it's been also five years ago since his Harry Potter 2 walkthrough, and six for HP1.
- This is the third time Mario Party 7 - All Mini-Games isn't our the most viewed video of the year? Ever since its release in 2013, this video has been consistently the most viewed video of the year until 2018 and 2019. Last year, it reclaimed its spot as our most viewed video - losing to the Subspace Emissary video in 2021.
- Assuming the past annual growth rates remain consistent with next year, our LEGO® CITY Undercover video should reach 100.000 views in 2022? Additionally, our Subspace Emissary video is expected to hit 1 million views, making it our third video to ever hit that milestone! WarioWare: Smooth Moves - All Microgames is expected to reach 100.000 in 2023, and the first part of Luxatus' Croc 2 Walkthrough should reach 100.000 in a few years...

The MapleStory Europe Department

General
- Reached Level 260!
- My 9th anniversary for Ribgol!
- My 14th anniversary of playing EMS!
- My 5000th day in-game!

In-depth articles
- Changes to Enrage: the 1/3 Split
- Revamped Blink: the floating mechanic

Obtained
- Obtained the Magic Eyepatch!
- Obtained the Commanding Force Earrings!
- Obtained the Dawn pet!
- Found my first Ribgol Sword as a drop!

Upgrading
- Upgraded my Ribgol's Additional Potential to Unique!
- Upgraded my Reaper's Pendant to Legendary Potential!
- Upgraded my Magic Eyepatch to Legendary Potential!
- Upgraded my Commanding Force Earrings to Legendary Potential!
- Improved the Additional Options on all of my main gear; every item has at least 4% All Stats!
- Finished scrolling my Magic Eyepatch!
- Rescrolled my Amaterasu's Belt with better scrolls (ICOG → Premium Attack).

5th Job - V-Matrix
- Maxed out Erda Shower!
- Maxed out Body of Steel!
- Maxed out Blitz Shield!
- Maxed out Combo Death Fault!
- Maxed out Erda's Will!
- Maxed out Blink!

5th Job - Grandis Force
- Raised Cernium's Symbol to Level 4!

Union
- Upgraded my Union to a Total Level of 8070!
- Got my Kain to Level 200 during the Kain's Road of Remembrance event!
- Got my Lara to Level 200 during the Lara Adventure Support event!
- Got my Beast Tamer to Level 210 for its Skill Link!
- Got my Soul Master to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Cannon Shooter to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Demon Slayer to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Kaiser to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Phantom to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Mechanic to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Xenon to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Paladin to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Aran to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Striker to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Mihile to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Blaster to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Dark Knight to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Ark to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Buccaneer to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Bowmaster to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Pathfinder to Level 200 for its Character Card!
- Got my Dual Blade to Level 200!

And remember... I don't actually grind my mules to Level 200, unless it's for event loot or if I receive a Tera Burninator. Why spend time grinding if you can get them to Level 200 by feeding them free Storm Growth Potions? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Miscellaneous
- I've managed to solo Normal Damien for the first time!
- Accumulated a whopping total of 9.385.000 Contribution for the FallenAngel guild, with a perfect Contribution score of 1.825.000 this year! Once again another successful year... can I pull it off again in 2022?

Maple's year has been an interesting one, for sure. It started with the exciting upgrade for Showa and Kaede Castle, but a sudden turn of events caused a turmoil for MapleStory's future. The way I see it, the Korean community overstepped a boundary they should never have crossed, as they've opened a Pandora's Box. While that may be a controversial take on the matter, let me try to explain why I would say something as outrageous as this.

It is everyone's good right to demand change. It is the right thing to desire improvements on something you're passionate about. However, it is foolish to believe it is possible to make a deal that'll benefit the community more than it does the company. Not even legislation will be enough to make a difference. It's naive and idealistic to a fault.

Yes, Nexon does listen every once in a while, and they will consider to implement player-suggested solutions from time to time. However, for each request or demand, a debt must be paid. The greater the demand, the larger the debt. Asking for too much from Nexon is never going to end well. Because by the end of the day, they will give you what you wished for, and that is not the same thing as giving you what you want. Learn from Ninjago: Skybound.

So, for the next few years, the state of the game is a complete mess. Everything will be revamped, everything is subject to change, and it will take forever for the game state to become stable. By the end of it, nothing where the game should be improved on happened. And all of this, for what? Everyone knew that a computer's RNG can't be trusted, so what was the point of calling Nexon out for it? You're demanding the company that invented the modern gaming monetization industry to tone it down. Seriously though, what did the community expect to happen?

You wanted rates to become public knowledge? Obviously Nexon won't publish the original rates, so they would resort to change everything so that things can be presented in a better light. You wanted representatives of the community that can communicate whatever we need? Tough luck, the right people will never be selected, as it's all just a sham. For the few legitimately good requests that were made, Nexon outright gave a public statement that they refuse to do it. And all of this is already buried deep by the sheer volume of updates, as there's no better way to overshadow underlying problems of something than to churn out so much content that you have no choice but to like it. And none of this should come as a surprise. If baffles me that those who protested thought it wouldn't end this way.

The game has always been this way ever since its inception, and that will never change. The video game industry has always been a brutal competition, and companies who participate will have to do anything to stay afloat. Legislation won't change this, and neither would corporate restructuring. Like I said: for each demand, a debt must be paid.

Let this instance be a lesson. It can't be undone. Nexon will make the absolute most out of this, and we're going to be be drowned in updates as they're forcing years worth of updates in just a matter of months. Who's to say that the now-implemented live monitoring can be trusted, and that Nexon wouldn't further develop it into something far worse (i.e. personalized RNG or selling player behavioral data to third parties)? The KMS community misplayed their hand and we are all damned long-term for it. As the saying goes: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Nothing in life is free; even a free-to-play game has to make their dough. Have we learn nothing from the Donxon campaign in 2014?

That said, of course I'm always going to be interested in what Nexon has in store for MapleStory's future updates, regardless of what happened behind the scenes. Unfortunately, it is very likely that some of Maple's intended roadmap had to be changed in order to meet the recent demands of the KMS community. I wonder if we'll see less 5th Job content in the next coming years because of it, and if development on any World Tour content had to be halted until further notice. Either way, I'm very curious to the Adventure revamp. I need to know more and I wanted it yesterday.
It goes without saying that I will write a full blogpost of it when it's here, as that's what I do on this blog.

Oh, I should probably mention that this year saw a country-wide "hellban" (which is not a Maple term you hear often these days...) for any players in The Netherlands. Ya know, that affects my account and many other Maplers that I know personally. Some didn't take the news all too well, but honestly speaking, it won't affect me that much. For whatever reason did a good number of concerned players ask if I would quit or if this would hinder me greatly. Hmm. Certainly, it would slow me down as certain shortcuts are no longer available for the time being. But ask yourself this: has anything ever stopped me from enjoying this game and continuing the journey to achieve my goals? Most people forget that compared to the apocalypse that was the hackwave of 2012 or the wasteland caused by the migration purge of 2016, this so-called hellban is nothing. The Maple Nerd aint going anywhere, as I'm here to stay.

Did you know...
- I did not expect to hit Level 260 this year? Last year I mentioned to expect to hit 255, but with this year's generous compensation and an abundance of grind-heavy events, I managed to get much more out of this year than I expected. I would love to hit Level 270 next year to unlock Hotel Arcs for the next Grandis Symbol, but I'm afraid I would have to settle with 265 as a reasonable goal. Hopefully I can get my hands on a Mitra's Nodestone, then?
- I should hit Level 261 towards the end of January? As has been common for several years, the large Summer/Winter updates are generous with their EXP rewards. With Level 250 Growth Potions now being a common reward, one gives about 25% at my current level, which does add up when taking the daily 1% from coin grinding into consideration.
- I currently have 300%-STR? Yes, it is lower than last year's 304%, but context is important. I am still in the process of rolling three %-STR on every equip (which requires me to temporarily lose %-STR by rerolling items), but my base damage has gone up due to a combination of new items, Grandis Force and this year's compensation. The latter allowed me to obtain 4% All Stats on all of my Amaterasu and non-KMS accessories, which is easier said than done.
- I currently have 236 Star Force? While not much of a leap from last year, most of the extra Star Force was gained by replacing my Mark of Naricain and Rex's Perfect Red Earrings with my Reaper's Pendant and Commanding Force.

The LEGO® Department


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

Let's talk about my progress on the MK. Series.

MK. 2 - Hailfire Droid
We're almost there.
Last year I've stated that the Hailfire Droid was about 85% done. 
At the time, this was indeed true. It didn't take long for me to work around the issue where the overload protection of the Power Functions battery box kicked in. However, I was not satisfied with how the Hailfire Droid felt when driving, and the frame was too bulky in certain areas.

While the build was sturdy, I felt that I should do better with it, and that I can do better. The building experience left a lot to be desired, and it was extremely fiddly to get all the wiring done. I took some months off from working on the Hailfire Droid and focused to spend time on my Constructor - then it hit me.

2020 saw the release of large Technic frame pieces, which I ordered in bulk for the Constructor. This year continued the archetype with "flip flop" Technic beams, which came in two different lengths: 11 modules and 15. Having bought plenty and building some Constructor prototypes, I realized that these pieces were exactly what I needed for the Hailfire Droid. The perpendicular Technic holes on these allow for lighter, sturdier and compact builds. In the past, Znap was used by builders to create perpendicular holes, but these new beams are almost an upgrade in every way.

The release of these flip flops came with an interview about them. While no hard promises were made from the Technic department, I'm going to gamble on common sense and wait for LEGO® to release shorter flip flops with a length of 5 and 7 modules. The moment these parts are confirmed heralds the completion of the Hailfire Droid project.

The model itself has gone through several complete redesigns in 2021. The part that probably got redesigned the most this year is the frame that holds the wheels. This frame needs to be connected to the Hailfire Droid's head, and the arms that connect these two together has always been a challenge. I believe it'll be interesting to write about how much went behind optimizing this part of the build, as it greatly affects the smoothness of driving and how easily the model (or the parts inside) can break if it's not designed well enough. That said, the Hailfire Droid is becoming as good as it gets... as it has been pushing the limits of what can be built with conventional LEGO® pieces for a while now.

MK. 3 - Constructor
For the first time in about two years, I got back to working on the Constructor again. Truth is, I initially planned to finish the Hailfire Droid before going back on the Constructor, but the itch was too strong. Not that it was a bad thing, given the aforementioned Constructor prototypes helping to retroactively improve the Hailfire Droid's design by using the new flip flop beams.

That said, it's been well over five years since my last blogpost about my progress, and I've been meaning to write updates for several years now. Five years worth of progress does really make all the difference, as the Constructor is currently in its "third generation". You see, the Constructor originally used pneumatics to operate its play features ("first gen Constructor"), but I dropped that in favor of using linear actuators in 2019 ("second gen"). I haven't gotten to write anything about the actuators but even they have been dropped for a completely different solution (see image). There's even more to it... and I will write all about it, in due time.

I probably won't get to to that blogpost until I'm done with most of my "backlog". The backlog being the aforementioned Multirandomness video, Xenoblade Definitive Edition article and my work on the Hailfire Droid. In that order.

But for what it's worth... the Constructor is at a point where I'm far more confident about the project being possible. Yes, that's been a problem along the way, too. I think that the best way to write the Constructor blogposts would be to write in chronological order of events. Y'know, to guide you through as if you were involved with every step on the way. That way it's much easier to understand some of my decision making, and why the model is as it currently is.

What a sight to behold... I hope I can complete it one day.
Obtained
Early this year, I've managed to obtain another Mokarr part!
One step closer, but still far away from completion...

Still hard to believe I got my hands again on something Mokarr, given the nigh-impossibility of it all. Even better, I got my hands on more unreleased Galidor parts! While I haven't been able to write about it, in a way it was for the best. With more information about Galidor surfacing every once in a while, I managed to obtain more information about a certain part in this bulk of unreleased parts.

You see, in the bulk that contained the Mokarr claw, there was a pair of arms from an unknown figure. There was no information on what set this could've been from... until an employee that worked on Galidor shared some prototype images online a few months later. Now that I know from what figure these pair of arms came from, it's going to be much easier to write something about it and expand the collective knowledge on unreleased Galidor stuff. But that blogpost's going to be for another day. Not sure when though. But for now, my hunt for the shark continues...

As is tradition, here are a few sets that I got my hands on this year that are my favorites:


Most of my attention this year went to buying parts on Bricklink. Not all parts are for the MK projects, as sometimes I'll just buy parts because they are simply interesting, regardless of if I'll ever get to use them for MOCs. Speaking of parts... I'm very much looking forward to next year's selection. There seems to be an emphasis on pieces for building larger-scale figures, in order to evolve the current standard for building figures with the new "SCCBS".

While I can see the potential of SCCBS and remain open-minded to it, it is already made clear that it's here to expand the library of System parts, allowing for far better and exciting toys. But by the end of the day, it just aint the same as CCBS or Bionicle. Speaking of the latter - I'm not holding much hope next year's 90th anniversary set. I did my part, despite not expecting much from it. Even if it were to win, a System-based figure won't do it justice. Themes such as Bionicle and Galidor lives and dies by its composition. Thus, the only way for it to work in System form would be to replicate their look & feel. And in order to achieve that, you would need a bunch of new parts (great example), and this would require a lot of new injection moulds... and at that point, you might as well bring the old parts back in production.

To me, LEGO® is at its best when it does not shy away from its comprehensive building system. It has such a fascinating diversity of different niches and it's all part of one ginormous compatible system. My biggest fear is that long-term, the drive for traditional System products will eliminate any ventures into non-System territories. System sets will always be on shelves, and it will continue to be better each following year. The same is true for Technic. However, that is where the current product offering ends. For fans such as myself, when it comes to those non-System ventures, there's no longer something substantial on the market. We're not even allowed to have a single CCBS set each year, and even when offshoot niches happen, they are simply too safe. Remember: it's not about part cost (i.e. the most expensive piece for them to manufacture, with an alleged quarter million dollar injection mould, is System), it's about being smart with your part usage to offset that cost. That is why Bionicle was profitable, and why Galidor was not.

The Xenoblade Definitive Edition Article


It was my plan to have this article out last Summer, and that didn't happen. Truth to be told, I haven't worked on it since February. A lot of different things happened, and I ultimately chose to focus my efforts on other things, such as spending more time with friends and family, find a much-needed-distraction, or to make progress on the Hailfire Droid and Constructor. Days became weeks, weeks became months. You know how it works.

The main difference between before and after February is quite simple. Before, any bit of spare time went into the article without problems. This made progress on it go swiftly, as there was pretty much a constant daily dose of work done. With a few thousand words a week, I found the Summer release to be more than reasonable. However, something in February happened that pretty much shattered me, as it worsened my already-declining health. This affects my ability to work on everything, not just only this article. My main focus for the past ten months has been to recuperate from my loss, and every attempt to do anything, whether work or recreation, has become difficult.

That said, I do believe it's time to get back to working on it. First I am going to spend the next few weeks on finishing the next Multirandomness video, and then I should have more than enough time to dedicate some of it on the article. While I'm not going to make any promises on when it will be done, I will tell you however what is left for me to do.

There are three chapters that I've yet to finish writing about: story differences, soundtrack and Future Connected.
The story differences chapter is arguably the one that demands the most amount of time, given the requirement to evaluate fourteen hours of cutscenes and dialogue. It is easy to point something out and say "look, it's different!" to someone casually, but it is a whole different thing to formally explain to a large audience why something is different and why it matters. Examining the soundtrack won't take long - the most challenging part is finding the names of certain instruments when pointing out differences between the two scores. Future Connected is probably the easiest chapter to write about, since there's not much to compare it with, and I've been generally positive about it.

When all of that is done, the article should be around 80.000 words. That is the first draft, and I'll have to double check the text for spelling errors, make sure the information is factually correct and clean up redundant bits of information. Then I'll have to add lots and lots of pictures, but thankfully that shouldn't be much of a problem.

Other


General
Against my expectations, the future for my Wii seems bright again! Several years ago, my previously-repaired Wii started to show its age. It could no longer connect to my DS, and the Wii Menu slowly started to corrupt, until it could no longer boot up. I tried to get it repaired again by Nintendo, but they could no longer offer any more repairs, so they sent it back. This year, I took a closer look at my Wii with some of my friends to see how much of it was salvageable. The solution to this conundrum was only found as a team effort, as it took all of our individual expertise to find a potential root cause, and then a potential solution. Conventional modding couldn't be done on my Wii. We literally had to resort to the latest advancement in modding technology to get it to work, since the entire Wii's operating system was unusable. With my Wii's save data extracted from what is otherwise a dead brick, I can now potentially inject this save data into a donor Wii, or try to repair my Wii's operating system. I haven't been able to make time to try any of these next steps yet, but I'm at least glad to see that holding onto my Wii has paid off. I'll see what I can do next year.

This year was full of surprises when it comes to trying out new video games. Earlier this year I got myself a physical copy of Hyper Light Drifter, and I finally received my long-awaited pre-order for the Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection. Additionally, I've started to explore more of Inti Creates' recently published games. A friend of mine has been trying to convince me to play their other works for many years now, and I've somewhat opened up to that request. By March 2022, I should have most of their games physically on my Switch, and I'll make time to play them after I finished the article. That and we also had Metroid Dread this year, which brought back some of that old school Nintendo goodness.

Borderlands 3 released some good stuff in 2021, and I hope that Gearbox will continue to update it. Unfortunately I'm not expecting much anymore for the third main game, since they've focused their attention on their next spin-off. Speaking of which, Luxatus and I have also played through the entirety of the first Borderlands game.

Team Fortress 2 is finally releasing updates again! Altitude is one of my new favorite maps, and I hope they will add it to the Attack/Defend rotation after Smissmas. With 659 hours on Demoman and 211 hours on Engineer, I hit Tier 2 on Casual earlier this year. Now, I'm Level 60. My Strange Wrench is close to Epic, so it might rank up next year. By the way, I've been considering to make a fun and insightful video on TF2, and maybe I'll get to it in 2022. I've been trying to have a good TF2 video on our channel since 2011, and I might just have finally found the way to do it...

As for next year, hopefully...
- I'll have the Definitive Edition article out, and finish the Hailfire Droid?
- We'll have a healthy amount of content released on our Youtube Channel?
- Will it be another successful year for EMS?
- Will there be more Mokarr!?

That's it for this summary! This took me several days to write...
Luxatus Patella and I wish you a great 2022! Cheers!

That's it for 2021! I'll see you guys again next year!
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