BoBCats,

It has almost been six years since we started on this adventure. We've encountered our fair share of highs and lows together. Truly, I am grateful for everything we have done together as a community. I hold these memories close to my heart and want to carry on making more pleasant times for everyone. Watching us grow over time has been a pleasure and I want to continue on that pathway. That said, I would like to announce Beast of Beyond's official revamp.

As many of you know, Beasts of Beyond was created back in 2018 with haste. While we have grown and adapted to make up for that rush, there were a few issues we encountered in our time that could not be remedied. After discussing these things deeply with staff and poking you guys over time on your opinions on how things are going, we feel that we have solidified a way to create a firm foundation for a new world. Along with that, a few changes to our platform, Discord, and how we run things overall. I will explain each aspect in depth below.

As always, we do value community input and want to encourage discussion. Please comment your thoughts on each topic if you have anything you'd like to contribute or ask.

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I'd like to start with the most pressing issue... Beasts of Beyond has ran on Simple Machines Forums (SMF) 2.0 for almost six years now. Our users have gotten used to the platform and found it is comfortable. Even so, SMF has upgraded to 2.1 and is in the process of creating 3.0. The last update to 2.0 was in 2021, leaving us behind by two years, and potentially more if we do not upgrade. While I would love to stick with SMF, I have been running into issues with upgrading to 2.1.

Three of our key modifications are out of date and cannot run on 2.1 without changes. Those being post templates, BBCode template coding, and subaccounts. I have managed to get BBCode template coding working, but the ability to save post templates and switch between accounts is something I will have to commission. After consulting some coders, the estimate for work is around $850 and it would take several months to finish. This does not include the other fees I have to take to keep the site hosted.

We can try to fundraise to stick to a familiar platform and upgrade our modifications accordingly. It may take some time, but I do believe we could do it. That said, there are other options.

Another option would be switching platforms. There are multiple options, but I have greatly considered MyBB and Xenforo as possible additions. MyBB is free, while Xenforo is paid forum software and is significantly pricier than what we are dealing with now (especially if not self-hosted). To make things simpler and easier to read, I will include a table pointing out the difference between each platform below.

Our final option is to stick with 2.0 and pray that things will get updated eventually... Truthfully, I do not see this happening though. The modifications mentioned have been abandoned and not updated within years. It is highly unlikely that something will come to replace it, especially so quickly. I worry that sticking with 2.0 will cause us to lose out on modern technology and, in the end, be more trouble than it's worth. While I love SMF, I cannot help but prioritize what is best for us.

To see our options, please check out the table below.
Please discuss our options and vote for your preference within this topic.

Awhile back, the community voted on whether we should raise the age limit to Beasts of Beyond. Raising the limit from 13+ to 16+ was highly favored. When we officially decide on the site's platform, we will be switching over to sixteen years or older. 

Since we are raising the age limit, we would also like to introduce a list of topics that require a trigger warning, along with banned topics. Previously, we ran under 13+ regulations, but since our new age limit is in a weird in-between spot, we'd like to flesh out specifics to make things easier for everyone. If you'd like to suggest topics to require a trigger warning or be banned completely, please contribute to this thread.

With everything below also, we will be updating our 'Guides' tab. This will happen after the platform change. We would like to hear what guides need to be updated and need to be added here.

Beasts of Beyond would like to introduce a new world for animal roleplay. Before you worry, old characters and concepts are more than welcome to be included. A few changes include:

Group / Map Creation:
While there is a general idea in mind, the new groups will shape the map. Similarly to how groups were established previously, users will have a chance to introduce their own groups and ideas to be developed into official groups. While there are no set rules for creating a group, all other site rules do apply and users must acknowledge that any groups made official become property of Beasts of Beyond, subjecting them to alterations over time (especially with leadership changes).

We will also be welcoming former groups, including official groups, to be included in this. Current leaders of these groups have priority, but if they do not wish to proceed or have fallen inactive, then their revamp is up to the community.

If you want to submit a group for consideration, please post your ideas in the board and then submit them for the future vote within [url=https://beastsofbeyond.com/index.php?topic=29924.new#new]this thread. There is also a thread for general brainstorming and idea dumping here.

I look forward to seeing your ideas!

Base Lore:
Our current lore is based on a post-apocalyptical situation that spans into fantasy. We have decided to switch our focus to fantasy completely.

To accommodate for many religions and backgrounds, we have decided to avoid the idea of introducing a God or multiple of them. Instead, the idea of a local deity has been proposed. Simply, this nature-based deity is the driving force behind shepherding humans away from the land. This allows human items/accessories to still get onto the land, along with animals from human-based backgrounds (such as former pets).

The nature deity has no name yet, but their design idea is currently a large owl that surveys the land and watches for any potential threats. They can be seen in quick glimpses, but do not make any sound due to their silent flight. Very rarely, they may speak, but not through their own vessel. Instead, they take control of other animals and speak through them.

This deity has a few assistants to help them. Each assistant will have a very subtle marking or mutation to dictate they are a servant to the deity. To start, there will be a representative for the land (badger), sea (otter), and sky (undecided). As Beasts of Beyond expands to use more NPCs, then there may be more added.

Within the base lore, we would also like to include the transfer of old/current characters and groups. There are multiple options to do this, such as the deity moving them to the new setting, or an unknown force teleporting them elsewhere. We are open to more suggestions from the player-base as this concerns your own characters and groups.

We would like to discuss this more in depth, including fleshing out character designs. Please contribute your thoughts here.

Questing / Classes / NPCs
With the addition of the new lore and the NPCs that come from it, Beasts of Beyond would like to reintroduce questing, along with 'classes.' These are completely optional roleplay options, as they do not influence main plots whatsoever. Instead, they are a way to gain extra currency or powers for your characters. More information will come out about this later on.

Powers / Bodies / Mutations and Currency:
Powers, bodies, and mutations have been needing to be redone for awhile now. The same goes for the currency system, as these go hand in hand. Until we know which platform we are choosing, nothing is set in stone in the long run with this. Nonetheless, changes need to happen with both systems.

At the moment, currency is hyper inflated. This may be due to post templates providing extra gems. In some cases, this hyperinflation may even provide an unfair advantage, such as one character having all the powers. We want to rework the site currency and correct the scale of pricing so that the shop is fair to everyone (gems that have been acquired through donations will not be removed), along with potentially setting a limit on how many powers are allowed per character. Not only this, but changing, adding, and editing powers so they cannot be overpowering. This is something we want to discuss as a community before proceeding, so please put your general thoughts here.

The Discord server(s) need a lil tune up! Mainly, channels and how the server looks in general. We also need to purge some older/inactive members to keep things fresh, but this will be very very very limited.

Ideas for this will be discussed more on Discord to centralize the discussion a bit more around those who use that platform, as not everyone does. Please check our Discord for a channel discussing this topic.

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Overall, I hope everyone is open to these changes and is willing to discuss them with the community to make sure everyone is satisfied. I cannot thank everyone enough for sticking with us over the years. Hopefully, these changes are welcomed and will improve our community and our experiences.

If you have any additional comments, questions, or concerns, you are more than welcome to contact a staff member, post in the Helpful Hub, or within #questions-and-suggestions on Discord.

Thank you for reading,
Orion