I'm wondering about official stances regarding this.

 

Since story mode is being removed as introductory part of game, what exactly happens to things referenced inside of it? Such as carnival, cube, big shady thing that gave the cube and such. There are many things which community considers as cannon, so what is going to happen to that. For example Carnival is currently evident in scene for example and explained in R&D. Spiral and cross are displayed and written about in scene and feature a inner magic document. But what about certain things inside story that aren't pointed out elsewhere, such as cube and those tutorial shades that hint important thing about root concepts of MD and possibly supplement the Genesis?

 

I'm wondering how will this change that A25 brings influence the research work since quite a lot of info can simply vanish by removing of story. I find story quite informative research-vise in between meeting Land Guardian and before waking up in wooden room with Marind (that's where it gets super weird). So what will the change bring?

the current story (story mode and current game intro), will be present as a secondary quest, one you can start at a later time, after you already visit part of the land. The story will come as a sort of dream, a dream explaining why soe things are as they are.

Being a side story allows it to be disconnected from the current reality of md, while still being connected to its past.

 

 

Lets say a25 brings an other layer of interactivity in the beginning of the game, one that will focus more on keeping new players active and involved, and only later, much later, the current story mode will be unlock-able some way.

 

At least this is the current plan

 

The new s25 also allows multiple starting points, allows user created beginnings of md, and i am planning to monitor these and put forward those that result in the most player retention.

 

The current story mode is ancient and regardless how interesting it might be, its so disconnected from actual md , that it created a huge gap where everybody ends and quits.

I must say, plan sounds awesome. Changing the intro to be more friendly while still retaining the research hints in separate loosely connected form is just perfect solution. I'm also liking the multiple starting points which allow for the meaningful customization of player's beginning inside the game.