Hello there ;)I think it's better to set a date for the release of the update instead of saying soontm every time, it worked before, and it kind of gives some peace of mind to everyone, I think :P
TLDR: July 20thI didn't want to overpromise and underdeliver, so I hope people understand.I'd been thinking about the date for several days, and it always seemed to work out around that date.I want to mention more about what I'm doing and what to expect for that update:
New Quests and new wenches
It was mentioned that new wenches were not as much of a priority as improving the "old ones", but I kind of wanted/needed to add a few more :P and also improve the current "old wenches", especially the "5 OGs" that were added with Yuriana in early versions (Cathryne, Celia, Delilah, Jeanne, Hazel). I hate that the wenches in the Christmas patch are, in some way, more developed than them.
At least for me, the new stuff is a "big deal" since it pushes the story more, so it does require some new videos too. I like how it is working and evolving, but this is the thing that I prefer people to check when finished, rather than me telling everything about it.
This is the main thing taking most of the time since its add new voiced dialogues, scenes, videos, quests, etc. O.o My objective is for everything to be voiced and working even with old saves.
Voicing more dialogues and/or adding/tweaking others.
I think the voiceless dialogues give the mod more of that "BETA" feeling, as if they were a "bug". Now when I'm adding new dialogues I always voice them once set instead of leaving them for later, before I was waiting for the AI tools to improve and I think currently they are good enough, later on they can be improved if needed but as mentioned I think it's better to avoid dragging this for later, it takes more time but the mod will feel complete and working as intended.
I'm also improving how Yuriana works as a follower in several situations, like blocking, getting hit, and hitting, etc. I would like her to be more unique even outside her quests, this is something I want to improve for all wenches, and it's more related to an Immersive Wenches update I have in mind. So for now it's just Yuriana.I guess this is a bit hard to show in a screenshot, even worse since I was using floating subs, but you get the idea. :P
I was replaying the mod a lot, and I'm adding more dialogues here and there, especially related to some situations that should be somewhat important to the wenches and to help the player not get lost or where to find them. I also try not to overdo this since I think it's better if they talk more outside their quests too.
The change of how the archetypes work, no longer labeling the dialogues like this [Guardian] for example, is actually giving me a bit more freedom in how to set stuff and making more "neutral" options feel as real/valid options, giving some "mixed" options possible like choosing to be a pervy guardian, which is the most requested thing :P or be a "good" Tyrant. That kind of thing.
Balancing, Loot, enemies, etc.
Mainly changing how the effects in the mod work, most auras will be nerfed, some more than others, but also the curse effects will be nerfed (a bit :P). Tweaking some other spells of the wenches so they feel as if they fit for vanilla Skyrim (high)difficulty at least.Balancing the archetype effects, too, and adding the option in-game to disable them if needed.
Tweaking some enemies, changing their behaviour, and changing the loot, mainly reducing a bit of it and adding more variety and randomness. Improving some locations, like adding more keys in the wenches' dungeon, balancing enemies, adding a list and info for the Immersive Wenches found there. Several tweaks in general here. All of that is pretty much changing numbers and other stuff that I check while I test other stuff, and I think it's worth mentioning.
Dealing with the Known issues of the previous version.
For me, the main issue in the previous version was Yuriana and Ashra not reacting to each other after they meet, even if it was not a "game-breaking bug," it felt odd since the "main story" of the mod is pretty much this, also adding the option for the slave route too, and making that route a bit more complete.
Most of the Known Issues are fixed/been fixed but as I mentioned in a previous post, everything related to Jack and the cannibal's dungeon won't be touched yet to avoid breaking stuff. I prefer to dedicate time to this, and it currently works well enough. Custom homes for the wenches and a better outfit system will also have to be dealt with later; I may even deal with this in an Immersive Wenches update.
Summary
2.0.3 is not a remake of the mod like 2.0.0 was, but several things will change according to feedback or my own play testing. It also pushes the story of the mod further, and I think it could show people where I'm going with how the main quest/story of the mod will work. The idea is to set stuff as complete and working to move on to other stuff, and so on.I guess it's fair to mention that after this, I want to focus on the slave training system, but I will leave that talk for later :PI hope this post gives a bit of insight into what I'm doing. Before making this post, I wasn't really sure what to post, since I thought the most important thing was to talk about the update and set a specific date for it, so I may as well do that.Thanks for the support, and as always, feel free to ask questions or provide feedback ;)
PD: Leaving this AI Wench Slop here since now that I have the date announced, I feel a bit freer to post other random stuff :PEthel: "Y-You want to see them, r-right...?"