[Uchiha Miroru]

Super simple suggestion- could we make it so that you simply gain one new nature at Chuunin and Jounin instead of raising to 2 and 3 respectively IF not already there? Chakra Affinities are so prohibitively expensive already- paying 1500 for an EARLY Chuunin nature instead of an EXTRA nature is a really, REALLY rough sell.

If this is working as intended, that's fine, but I feel like there'd be more room for people to expand their repertoire and stand out more if buying a new affinity wasn't both the most expensive purchase possible as well as the most (debatably) pointless before Jounin.

I appreciate your time and consideration!

[Necro]

Not staff but allow me to weigh in on this suggestion. For a long time, the site has been pushing away prodigy characters, and removing this restriction fosters that mentality. I can be completely wrong but this is solely my interpretation. Also, coming from a member who plays a character that cannot purchase elements but has to acquire them from PCs or B rank or higher hunts/missions/events, I say that this restriction is fair and acts as a balancing factor to prevent the meta. Especially since the power ceiling is per rank, take it from this standpoint: Say a Genin with 4/5 basic natures goes against a Jōnin with only 1-2. Both are spec in Ninjutsu primary. The latter is going to still whip the floor with the former. This is roughly the same with Genin and a Chuunin only taking ranks and specs as factors and nothing else.

The site emphasizes in IC progression and allows 'freebies' if you do the work/job. While it doesn't support those that go above and beyond, the mere merit of achieving the feat is something to note. So, while this suggestion is a good example of feedback quite relative, there is also the mechanical balancing and still trying to make efforts to maintain a standard/fair playing field. Again all of this is to avoid prodigy characters and of course, my example excludes many other factors but is in bare essence what it means by progressing the ranks instead of maxing power early. There is a lot more balancing insight so I welcome further input on this, my opinion is merely just a hypothesis(?) to as why we shouldn't do this.

Again, it is a good suggestion, especially looking at it from IC standpoint, but the OOC balancing act is part of why we can keep it enticing for long-term stays rather than "beating the system" early. This is just my viewpoint only backed by my understanding and does not represent the views of others. That said, I did take others' efforts IC in consideration as to not void earlier rank-ups and prevent a sea of "I did the work, gib more power to my character" similar-esque kinds of appeals. Don't get me wrong, I'd love this for go-getters and reward them but for the sake of fair play and balancing, I have to disagree with this suggestion. Again, not coming from staff or any other inputs but my own interpretations of the rules meticulously put in place.

Please don't let my words bother you as again, I'm for it but I'm also very much against this suggestion. But I do wish to see input from the more discussion based seminar as I am interested how this suggestion plays out.

[Uchiha Miroru]

Nah, you're good! When I say "I don't see any reason not to do this", it's literal- it means I, personally, don't see any reasons yet. I'm never opposed to getting perspective that makes things make more sense! I'd definitely be interested to hear more thoughts and staff's stance, even if it's just "nah fam dat shizz workin as intended"!

[cocoa]

Hi Threnody, sorry for the late reply on this. I just wanted to jump in and confirm that this is the feature working as intended.

Necro's logic is largely correct. While we love encouraging site members to build their characters and have a good time, we also want to avoid people "maximizing" their characters or making them overpowered the way they might through grinding in a video game. 

Elemental releases are supposed to be one of the more complex and difficult to learn things on site. Characters learn releases relatively slowly and with a lot of effort. This is from a lore standpoint, as learning affinities aside from your birth one is supposed to be hard. There are also balance reasons, though - elemental releases allow individuals a much broader suite of counters to potential opponents. If you have katon And raiton And doton And fuuton, there's a lot less an opponent can send your way without being countered.

As such, buying an elemental release early is meant to be more of a narrative/prestige thing. Your character gets the boon of being considered impressive for learning another elemental release at their rank, something which is relatively rare. It's kind of like having a growthspurt in middle school, and you get to be the tallest one for a while, but then everyone catches up by high school and you're just kind of average.

For players who intend to stay at their rank for a while this becomes a little more worthwhile - you get more bang for your buck if you get to be the chuunin with three affinities for years!

However, I understand that's not for everyone, and I understand this makes it slightly less appealing to purchase affinities, especially if you're a player who likes to go through ranks quickly, but rank-rushing is a feature that, while we aren't going to prevent it as players have agency over the way they want to tell their stories and have fun, isn't something we want to tacitly encourage either, for realism's sake. 

As with all suggestions we will definitely discuss among staff, but I wanted to assure you that this wasn't an oversight and was the feature working as intended. Thank you for the question!

[Uchiha Miroru]

Okiedokie! I super appreciate the confirmation that this is precisely how it's intended to be functioning! The explanations as to why also help a ton, and give me more insight into how everything is intended to progress!

I know having someone bring up "I don't agree with how y'all doin stuff" is always a bit of a tense thing to address, and I super appreciate the delicacy in how both you and Necro addressed my curiosity and suggestion. You provided everything I needed, and knowing this is just how it was all intended is perfectly fine by me!

Thanks again, both of you!