The Transition Project reflects our commitment to improving gameplay, increasing fairness, and creating sustainable systems that enhance the overall experience for both new and veteran users. Here's a brief overview of what this encompasses:

Spell and Potion Overhaul: We’re moving away from general access and toward systems where characters earn spells and potions through class participation, purchases, or other achievements. This brings added weight and value to each character’s build.

Sub-Accounts for iNPCs: Instead of using banners and shared profiles, users will now be able to create dedicated iNPC accounts. These sub-accounts allow more customization and a clearer separation between a user's main character and their secondary ones, helping bring iNPCs to life in a richer way.

Inventory System: Potions and spells will be tracked through an actual inventory, adding depth and clarity to what characters can use during moderated events and scenarios. This removes the need to cross-reference lists and makes moderation smoother.

Character Longevity and Flexibility: By giving users the option to transfer between schools or eventually swap main and iNPC roles, we’re promoting character longevity and reducing burnout. This also protects existing in-character relationships and world continuity.

These changes are not just structural — they reflect a philosophical shift toward more immersive, character-driven storytelling. We're building a foundation to support years of roleplay growth and community development.

This thread serves as a place for users to ask question (respectfully) about the changes that are happening. Link to the FAQ post.

Thank you for creating this thread. I think it is definitely needed. Your FAQ explains some reasoning that I think was missing in the initial posting. I have a few questions about the implementation of the new systems, and I understand that not everything is in place, it would be nice to have a clearer picture. Staff are asking players, some that have spent years creating characters in some way, to now change whole designs. This is being done in small snippets and can be quite frustrating when we don't know how this one decision will affect our character entirely.

For an overview for my understanding, the main changes to systems are as follows:

PC
-Homework is now not optional in the sense that you do not have to do it to gain spells. You either have to do homework or spend quite a lot of money for spells. Yes, I understand that it will be a pick and choose, and you cannot have everything, but it still costs quite a bit for even one spell as a higher year. 7 weeks for one spell is... a lot.
-Homework, from a comment on the discord, may not become easier in every subject. Many Prof's have not announced homework changes as of yet.
-House points will not be able to be gained for previous years homework (this has always be the idea forward, but just a note for reference for other players).
-Prodigal learners can no longer apply for spells from higher year homework, but an easy pass in that current years subject and exams (OWLs and NEWTs).
-Restricted spells can no longer be written out, but only bought. You can gain all 10 spells offered for that subject.
-Special talents like Metamorphamagus and Parselmouth have lost special advantages of restricted abilities. They used to be the only characters able to have all 10 spells if you had the restricted ability but now everyone does.

iNPC
-They will have a separate account
-This gains these characters things like a wand, pet, and individulised spells and potion list.
-They gain no money.
-You have to do homework again with this character or again, spend money to gain spells.

Firstly, I would like to thank staff for their hard work. Transferring all the items and updating all the homework are no easy feats. I am curious though, of the timing. Why not wait until after graduation? Or give people a bigger heads up, say in January? Like "oh, in May/June, this is what will be happening. This serves as an announcement that you will not be getting spells upon graduation". Many people relied on the auto-graduation of spells, and only having six weeks to do a years worth of homework when many haven't been updated, isn't the best of timing.

I have quite a few worries about the homework system (not in becoming simpler, I am all for that, so thank you Profs). I am concerned that homework has always been optional, and is now not. It feels like we are being forced into it, not once but twice. You say that homework will become easier, and for some subjects it already has, but that is still double effort and time spent. It still costs me. I want to point out that all these changes have done is increase costs (spells, potions, items for inpc) but not earnings. Someone more economically savvy may be able to put it into better terms, but how is the above a good thing? It will take weeks and weeks to save for one spell, and then do it for two...?

I would also love to point out that clearer communication on subjects and if and when they will be updated would be fabulous. Some subjects have been updated then rolled back, or no timeline put forward. How are we able to form clear opinions and make appropriate decisions if staff do these things without telling players? I understand that a lot of staff are new, but a few announcements would be really handy. Another note about the homework system, for both PC's and iNPC's is that I have heard a players go "Well, I guess my character is an idiot now", which doesn't inspire a lot of good feelings...

For restricted abilities, I understand that you cannot monitor someone gaining all the spells, and this is a possible decision of why you have allowed them to gain all 10 spells. Would it be possible to be able to write them. I feel it is now slightly unfair to use an ability slot and have to spend money to gain spells. Over 105 galleons if you want all 10. I would love there to be a writing option, and a purchasing option. Like the homework system.

With inpcs, I like they can can gain things like wands and more flavour. I do not feel that great about being told I need to do homework twice, or just spend the limited money we get on our pc for our inpc. Spells are already expensive enough for one character, but two? Many people don't have time for all the homework either.

I understand that changes to races/talents are in the works. I know they have been for a long time. This would be great, especially for the less powerful ones, like I mentioned above. At the moment it is very demoralising to have something taken away from an already underpowered talent.

Overall, these are my main concerns/frustrations. I feel communication, especially earlier communication, would serve the player base better in understanding and feeling better about these changes.

Beatrice has expressed a lot of my own concerns very neatly. Just a few things to add, all said in kindness;

What was wrong with having iNPC trunks being updated alongside PCs where homeworks/graduation would've granted them automatically like they were prior to the update? As Beatrice said, doing homeworks twice for both an iNPC and PC account would be very time consuming and resorting to spending quite a lot of galleons in a sense would limit players and the variety of items they can use. Doing homeworks once for PC, updating their trunks upon getting higher than a T and then easily updating an iNPC trunk to reflect that works out a lot easier, no? It would save time and galleons for players and perhaps staff as well.

Needing a whole separate account with a whole new email for iNPCs feels a little too much for me. I know they play into security and multi-accounting prevention but I'd struggled to spare an email that didn't have sensitive info attached to it just to make an iNPC account for the site. This is a hot take but I felt more comfortable using banners to differentiate between iNPC and PC without the need to log out and back in again to change characters. People may disagree with me and that's okay! I know some people like this change and I'm happy for them. I just find it a little tedious since I've everything already organised and easy to access from my PC account. If needing a whole new account for iNPCs is necessary, could sharing login details with your own PC not work? As in, keep the same password and email but pick and choose who to enter the site as upon logging in (since iNPCs are still in a way attached to their respected PC). I'm not tech savvy so maybe the reasoning for this is crystal clear for some, but from my own surface level viewpoint (and as someone who's never been entirely sure of how info works on the site), I just don't quite understand. As a small side note, I'm curious to know more on how security and data works between accounts. A better sense of how personal info is handled might help me understand the need for a separate account (aside from independence from PCs) for iNPCs This point is more of an understanding thing rather than a critique.

I completely agree with Beatrice about the announcements. As far as I could see, the iNPC sub-account transition in particular came from absolutely nowhere. Unless it was exclusively discussed on Discord. Which itself doesn't help players like myself who can't/don't use Discord. In hindsight it feels like we were left in the dark until the very last second and with the wave of announcements that implied that this change is somewhat mandatory, I felt very forced into it without any prior preparation or knowledge. This might be a grievance that only applies to me and while I appreciate all the hard work and time spent on these changes (I really do mean that! That'll never be disputed) I'm still struggling to adjust and remain open-minded about a major site change like this.

I'd love to hear more on the process and thinking behind these changes. The site and the team(s) are made up of very talented people who contribute so much that it's hard not to be curious. I hope I didn't come off strongly. This is all just me being intrigued and anxious about these changes. Everything here is said with upmost respect and kindness

I asked these questions in discord but was told I should also put them here as well. So I am doing so! I believe my question has already been answered but I'll just put it here as well in case you want to read it and don't have discord! I don't really need a response (unless you are intending for iNPC sports teams to go up against PC sports teams in the future).

If stat points gained from official wizard sports (duels/broom racing/quidditch) are no longer shared with your iNPC, how do iNPCs get stat points (other than at the end of the year)? For PC's you have 3 chances to earn a stat point from a win + other options sometimes like certain errands or events etc... maybe. But for iNPCs you only have 1 chance now to earn a stat point from a win (summer games). Isn't not sharing the stat point win giving your iNPC a disadvantage now? I understand not sharing spells/potions your PC earned bc iNPCs can also get spells/potions from doing homework on their own. But iNPCs can't get extra stat points unless it's through their PC wins. Other than the 1 summer game.

I think it would be better if iNPCs have at least 2 more chances to earn stat points throughout the year if you're going to remove the chance to gain 4 stat points by not having it be shared anymore. Since up to this point, iNPCs had 4 chances to gain stat points throughout the year (3 from PCs and 1 from summer game). If you remove this and only give them 1 chance (summer games) that sucks. I mean unless you're already discussing other ways to give iNPCs a chance to win an extra stat point throughout the year with other new options. Then that's fine. But to remove it entirely and not give them any other chances kinda blows imo since when you're used to getting fair treatment for both PCs and iNPCs and then it's taken away, it kinda sucks.

Therefore, I'm wondering if we can still have the stat point shared, even though spells/potions aren't anymore. Since that was the original system which worked out really well imo. Changing it into only having the summer game be the only way for iNPC to get stat points is bad, at least imo. Just saying, why not leave it the way it originally was unless you had plans to change it into something else and still give the same benefits as before. You know what I mean?

Someone pointed out to me that iNPC sports teams would be going up against other iNPC sports teams so it would still be a favorable balance despite not being able to get stat points from wins anymore. If that is the case and will forever be the case, then I can see the logic in this. Having iNPC sports teams ONLY go up against other iNPC sports teams is fine. But only if they NEVER go against PC sports teams bc they would have an unfair disadvantage against PC sports teams as they have more chances to obtain stat points whereas iNPCs do not.

However, if at a later date, there is something where an iNPC sports team goes up against a PC sports team, I'd say either give the iNPC sports team an advantage over the PC sports team to even out the fairness or rework the system and give the iNPC sports team the points they should have gotten from the original system to balance their stats out with the PC sports team they are going up against.

Firstly, I would like to thank staff for their hard work. Transferring all the items and updating all the homework are no easy feats. I am curious though, of the timing. Why not wait until after graduation? Or give people a bigger heads up, say in January? Like "oh, in May/June, this is what will be happening. This serves as an announcement that you will not be getting spells upon graduation". Many people relied on the auto-graduation of spells, and only having six weeks to do a years worth of homework when many haven't been updated, isn't the best of timing.

The recent changes to how spells are acquired through homework have been a long-standing goal for the site. For years, we allowed players to receive spells automatically at the end of each school year, regardless of class participation. This was intended to be a temporary solution, born out of necessity—namely, the significant delays we faced in completing the lesson catalog across all years and subjects.

Completing that catalog was a much more difficult process than anticipated. While some professors were consistent and reliable, others experienced delays due to life events such as finals, illness, childbirth, and other legitimate (and I will admit sometimes less legitimate) priorities. Additionally, staff turnover often created further setbacks. In some instances, we had to ask team members to step down due to extended inactivity or a lack of progress. Incoming professors inherited classes in various stages of completion, and outgoing professors did not always meet their obligations in their final months. Onboarding often further delayed new professors that took over subjects as those that engaged in best-practice updated the current lessons and then started to make new lessons.

In theory, the project to complete all classes should have taken about 37 months. In reality, it had taken significantly longer. During this time, we couldn’t require homework or purchases as the only means of acquiring spells because not all classes existed. For many spells, purchasing would have been the only option and we didn’t think that was fair.

To avoid burning out our staff and to offer some consistency to players, we chose generosity. We did not want to place new professors under pressure to rapidly "catch up" incomplete lessons, nor did we want to punish players for delays that were out of their control. However, this has unfortunately led to a culture where spell acquisition required nothing from users.

That expectation is something I deeply regret, but I cannot linger on that. Now the full curriculum is available and we are transitioning to a model where players must actively think about the spells and potions they obtain. This is accomplished by:

• By completing the relevant homework.
• By purchasing the spell in the shop.
• By using a Prodigal Learner ability.
• Via errands in a new system that is under discussion in staff.

Homework is no longer "optional" in the sense that players can no longer expect to receive spells for free. Rather, homework is now one of several valid methods to earn spells—in a system were all methods require consideration and effort as originally intended.

This shift is a major undertaking. Updating inventories and trunks, transitioning systems, and supporting a broader range of player customization has created a tremendous workload for our staff. It has been exhausting. While this work ultimately expands design space and player creativity, the process has been more challenging than we anticipated because we honestly expected positive reception from users. While the reception has been overall positive, there is anxiety associated with seeing members upset that has effected some of our less tenured staff. As for myself, I have had to split my time between community management and project management.

To be candid, I sometimes regret launching the full trunk transition. But I remain committed to it—because the end result will be a better, more sustainable, and more immersive experience for all of us. Further, it will greatly reduce the workload for Index as trunk updates were one of the most time-consuming tasks for the Index team with the highest opportunities for error. This will give us additional development space, allow sports to balance spells more effectively and makes concepts such as sub accounts feasible long-term. Keeping track of trunks across separate accounts would be incredibly challenging so was not truly feasible in a large community, but now we are able to give members iNPCs with independent systems that give them a rewarding experience members had been asking for for years.

I have quite a few worries about the homework system (not in becoming simpler, I am all for that, so thank you Profs). I am concerned that homework has always been optional, and is now not. It feels like we are being forced into it, not once but twice. You say that homework will become easier, and for some subjects it already has, but that is still double effort and time spent. It still costs me. I want to point out that all these changes have done is increase costs (spells, potions, items for inpc) but not earnings. Someone more economically savvy may be able to put it into better terms, but how is the above a good thing? It will take weeks and weeks to save for one spell, and then do it for two...?

You're right: the way homework interacts with spell acquisition has shifted significantly. While homework was previously optional in practice due to system gaps (incomplete lessons, unfulfilled requirements), the intention was always to make it one of the primary ways players earn spells. What we’ve done now is re-align the system to reflect that long-standing design goal—now that the lessons actually exist and the infrastructure is finally in place.

It’s true that this shift represents a visible "cost" to players in terms of time and effort—particularly if you’re trying to maintain both a player character and an iNPC. The concern about rising costs (be it spells, potions, or items) without a parallel increase in earnings is very real, and it’s something we’re monitoring carefully.

However, here’s how we’re trying to balance things:

Multiple paths to spell acquisition now exist: Homework is just one. You can also purchase spells, earn them through Prodigal Learner abilities, or eventually through new Errand systems we're developing. You don’t need to double-up on every path—you can mix and match depending on your playstyle and time.

Homework becoming easier is part of that balance. We understand that if it's going to be one route to acquisition, it shouldn’t feel punitive. Recent adjustments are aimed at streamlining expectations while preserving meaningful engagement. It is important to remember that iNPCs won’t need full inventories, the same can be said of PCs. They’re not expected to be duplicates or completists. If you’re building an iNPC, the intent is that you’ll curate a unique character with signature spells/items—not necessarily mirror your PC's loadout.

Site economy concerns are valid, and we do want to address them. While stipends aren’t being expanded to sub-accounts, but we have ways for members to earn additional income—through errands, bounties, and house cup awards being alternative means of fiscal remuneration in addendum to the core homework system. In the meantime, we understand the likelihood that community solutions will also spring up (like potion funds or spell-sharing systems between players, when appropriate).

The goal isn’t to create a grind. It’s to give spells and potions meaning—by ensuring they’re earned, selected intentionally, and not just mass-applied to everyone by default. That kind of system supports better storytelling, customization, and progression.

I’d like to pose a counter-question grounded in the economics of scaling, which is common not just here, but across most progression-based systems in games and roleplay mechanics.

In general, cost is intentionally scaled to reflect both character maturity and the potential impact of the spell or item. Newer players encounter low-cost options (typically equating to one week’s stipend), and cost increases with each year as characters gain access to more powerful spells. This is a standard approach in game design—whether we’re talking about gold, XP, skill trees, or gear upgrades. The progression is structured like this:

Meanwhile, lower-utility or flavor spells—like "fish to flower"—are deliberately priced much lower, since they aren’t mechanically impactful and mostly serve RP flavor.

So here’s my question in return:

What do you believe is a reasonable cost structure?

If 1 week per year-level feels like too much, what would be a sustainable and fair balance that still rewards progression and encourages intentional builds, but doesn’t feel like a grind? While this is a common metric, in fact in games such as DnD the XP grind is triple per level exponentially rather than a static gain, which I personally feel is too much of a grind.


I am actively monitoring the effect of PCs as well as iNPCs and the impact of site economics. We’re open to dialogue. It is very likely prices will change. In my experience it is easier to reduce costs than raise them.

The goal isn’t to punish or gatekeep—it’s to support meaningful character development and economic stability.

I would also love to point out that clearer communication on subjects and if and when they will be updated would be fabulous. Some subjects have been updated then rolled back, or no timeline put forward. How are we able to form clear opinions and make appropriate decisions if staff do these things without telling players? I understand that a lot of staff are new, but a few announcements would be really handy. Another note about the homework system, for both PC's and iNPC's is that I have heard a players go "Well, I guess my character is an idiot now", which doesn't inspire a lot of good feelings...

You’re right that communication around subject updates and homework expectations has not always been as clear or consistent as it should have been. Specifically recently because there was a lot of positive energy because of these changes that prompted them to try to do even better, but they did so in haste and when they were asked to give members time to react to the impending changes, they reverted the changes without full, clear communication. That’s on us, and I take full ownership of that. They were new, should not be blamed and I should have been more on top of them. If I need to be asked to step down over it, I will after the transition project is complete.

I’ve already apologized both verbally and in writing and I am certain those new professors have seen each one as well as each reminder of user frustration. I want to reiterate again: we made changes and reversals in some areas without adequate notice or timelines, and that left people feeling unprepared or unsure of how to move forward. I apologize once again. That was not the intent, and I genuinely regret the confusion and frustration it caused. There is no excuse, merely an explanation of the matter and again an expression of my personal short-coming.

To address more directly the workflow:

I’ve asked staff to leave lessons in place when they know an update is coming to give players a window of time to complete homework before any change is made. The suggestion is 1 week, but the specific time is not mandatory. An example of this would be "I am going to be updating Charms Y3, L2-5 next week. If you are working on any of these lessons, please be prepared to submit your HW by June 8." This tells players what lessons are being changed, grants a period of time to complete them if they have the lesson partially completed and they have a clear deadline date to complete the partially completed lesson or choose to do the new homework.

This has always been our best-practice, it will be reinforced with onboarding, there will be ongoing reminders and this best practice will be placed in clear workflows. Going forward, we will work to be clearer and more proactive about communicating lesson changes.

On the emotional impact—that sense of, “I guess my character is an idiot now”—I hear them. However, this is an emotional reaction that is not based on the actual changes. A player that knew an array of spells does not suddenly forget all of them. That is why we have the transition project. There is no sudden loss of spells. We are offering the opportunity for members to swap out certain abilities because they have changed to a great enough of an extent that we felt forcing members to keep something that is no longer what they applied for would be unfair. I suppose the elective choice to drop prodigal, which is their choice, could be conveyed as a loss of intellect but this change is completely optional. They can choose to keep this ability, it is very valuable and offers more for less work in its new form. There is no RP, automatic O grades and the user gets the OWL and NEWT for the subject. Prodigal was not a heavily used ability, I invite users to take an inventory of when the last Prodigal Potions was completed.

The system is meant to be flexible and offer multiple ways to show character growth, not to invalidate anyone’s roleplay or choices. Whether through homework, purchasing spells, or using ability slots like Prodigal Learner, your character’s intelligence or capability isn’t tied to one path. This is why we have worked so hard to make sure that what a player presently has continues to be theirs, this transition project has been a lot of work for staff and in other communities all we did with similar large changes was offer a bulk sum of money based on year that did not equate to having everything in previous years (or levels). What we have done here was a lot more time-intensive in hopes of not leaving members with that sentiment.

Our intention is always to enhance player agency, not undermine it.

For restricted abilities, I understand that you cannot monitor someone gaining all the spells, and this is a possible decision of why you have allowed them to gain all 10 spells. Would it be possible to be able to write them. I feel it is now slightly unfair to use an ability slot and have to spend money to gain spells. Over 105 galleons if you want all 10. I would love there to be a writing option, and a purchasing option. Like the homework system.

That is correct, we are not able to reasonably monitor if someone gets all of the spells so utilized a prerequisite system. We gave these spells a nominal cost (compared to their relative year) rather than offer a written option for a few reasons.

• Members were not using the written option. The restricted section has been used by a total of 10 members ever for a total of 30 spells/potions, with the most being done by Kit Paine (9).
• This becomes an additional place for Professors to observe as we attempt to streamline and to the best of our ability automate processes so things do not get missed or overlooked because this community is very large and it has resulted in needing a very large staff team that ends up bloating the clerical processes.
• Due to the fact that there is a cost as well, we decided to try and treat this more as a gate for unique spells that would be found very rarely in the setting that these members can invest in all of the restricted options for a subject.

With inpcs, I like they can can gain things like wands and more flavour. I do not feel that great about being told I need to do homework twice, or just spend the limited money we get on our pc for our inpc. Spells are already expensive enough for one character, but two? Many people don't have time for all the homework either.

There have been several questions raised regarding the financial systems of iNPCs, specifically in terms of spell and potion acquisition and whether second accounts should receive stipends or share resources.

There is no intended option for a member to get spells or items for free on a second account simply because they already earned them on their first. This undermines one of the core intentions of this system: choice. Players are not meant to have everything on every character by default. The separation of iNPCs into their own accounts is intended to reinforce individuality in builds, promote creative character development, and deepen gameplay investment.

While not directly asked here, it had been asked in other spaces: Why Not Give iNPCs a Full Wage? I feel like there is inferences of this.

Giving iNPCs a full wage essentially creates economic duplication. After 6 months, a user could earn double just by virtue of longevity—not effort or contribution. There is no way to guarantee that these second wages would only be used on the iNPC. Many players will funnel that income into their PC, gaining an advantage in a system where others are already making tough trade-offs with limited funds. That is inherently unfair.

So, what are the options?

1. Obviously the system we have as it is being offered.

2. Economic Firewall: Remove all forms of currency trading. No potato peels, no galleon transfers. Each account would be entirely self-contained. This would require eliminating systems many players enjoy and removing flexibility. But it would ensure clean economic boundaries. Pros: total fairness. Cons: reduced community-driven economy and collaboration.

3. Symbolic Income (Illusion of Wages): Introduce a small stipend (e.g., 1 sickle/day) to simulate income for iNPCs. This creates several problems, as we already know that some members will be investing this money into their main account, making iNPCs an investment still. I am not a fan of tricking members and this is what this would be. Further, it would create some economic unfairness between tenured members (who already have the most by virtue of the fact that they have been here and have saved and gotten a bunch of spells and potions they never worked for) and new members that do not get this secondary option for an additional nominal stipend and did not passively get all those potions and spells. Further, this opens up the door to graduated members making the same request (an income for their adult character) and we have to remember that they can have an iNPC as well. This would give graduated members a distinct additional advantage over newer members. I honestly do not feel that this is healthy for the systems and it would heavily benefit a member such as myself with a graduated character.

3. Community Solutions: Continue fostering community funds (spell funds, broom funds, club stipends, etc.). These have organically developed already and can serve as support mechanisms for players managing dual accounts. I personally do not encourage these despite allowing them. I understand the pros that this is decentralized and flexible. However, these funds result in unequal access, are dependent on social networks and require the trustworthiness and continued activity of strangers beholden to nobody. There have been instances where members have fallen short of expectations, so I can only express caution here.

I understand that changes to races/talents are in the works. I know they have been for a long time. This would be great, especially for the less powerful ones, like I mentioned above. At the moment it is very demoralising to have something taken away from an already underpowered talent.

I am assuming this is in reference to the fact that metamorphmagi for example can get all 10 restricted transfiguration spells and potions. While there are intended changes for this, we need to prioritize the present work projects and we need to involve relevant stakeholders (namely, captains) into this. I do not expect this effort to be smooth, with all the kindness I can muster, there are strong opinions and I do not know of the intended changes will come to fruition because it does need to get through other groups.

I'm not ignoring the last 2 posters. I am tired and need to sleep. I worked an 8 hour day, then I spent 3 hours working on this 3.4k reply and another 3 actually doing site work. I will have to address the other posters tomorrow.

I have another thought. I don't like the fact that adults do not get paid for their jobs. In real life when you are an adult you get paid for whatever job you are doing, that's just how life is. So imo I think once you become an adult and have an actual 'job' you should get paid for that job in galleons, sickles or knuts. It only makes sense imo. Not getting paid for your adult 'job' just doesn't seem to make sense to me. Like maybe you can go to gringott's and claim your 'job money' there. Or get the 'job' money from Ministry of Magic page somewhere. Not getting paid as an adult when you have a 'job' doesn't make sense to me. So, is it possible for staff to consider paying adults when they get a 'job'? Maybe not right off the bat (since that could be more like internship in the real world where you don't get paid) but after a year you should be able to get paid like students do. In reality it would be the opposite. Students would not get paid but adults would. Because otherwise, it's like you're intentionally making people feel as if adults suck and you should just quit as soon as you become an adult bc you won't get any money and won't be able to purchase or do anything regarding money after that point. It's just my own personal opinion.

OR if you insist on not paying adults anything, once you have your new PC character created (since you can create a new one once your student and inpc character graduates) and your new iNPC character created, when they eventually graduate too, you'll now have 4 characters as adults (2 PC characters and 2 iNPC characters). But then you won't have any income source again for the adults. If you do a new PC/iNPC character again, can you still have your previous ones continue at the same time? Like if you changed the system to pay adults for their jobs, it would make people want to play the original characters more and not create more and more student characters. Bc it seems as if you get more advantages being a student and almost none being an adult (when it comes to $). Unless there's a way for adults to earn $ on a regular daily basis like when they were students.

What was wrong with having iNPC trunks being updated alongside PCs where homeworks/graduation would've granted them automatically like they were prior to the update? As Beatrice said, doing homeworks twice for both an iNPC and PC account would be very time consuming and resorting to spending quite a lot of galleons in a sense would limit players and the variety of items they can use. Doing homeworks once for PC, updating their trunks upon getting higher than a T and then easily updating an iNPC trunk to reflect that works out a lot easier, no? It would save time and galleons for players and perhaps staff as well.

The old system—where iNPCs received automatic spell/potion updates alongside the PC if the PC did the homework or graduated—was never the intended permanent model. It was a temporary convenience put in place because the homework system wasn’t complete. Not all classes had published content, and the full infrastructure to earn spells properly just didn’t exist yet.

Now that the core class structure is (finally) built out, we’re moving into the phase that was always meant to happen: each character earning their own content. That includes spells, potions, and abilities. The new system isn’t just a tweak—it’s a return to the original vision: spells should be tied to the actions of the specific character, not granted passively just because another account earned them.

Further, while making sub-accounts has been a part of the community vision for years, this is the first community I have managed where the sub account does not start completely over. The fact that a Y3 can make a Y3 iNPC is something huge that is not done in most communities. We did this to encourage longevity and to make sure that we did not have a dense young population and a diminished older population.

Here’s why the old approach was retired:

1. Account Separation Demands Individual Records
iNPCs now have separate accounts with their own inventories and abilities. Carrying over all spells from a PC defeats the purpose of making them distinct. They're no longer “side characters”; they're standalone characters with their own development paths.

2. Eliminating Passive Advantage
If iNPCs automatically got what the PC earned, it creates a "two-for-one" advantage for players with multiple accounts. That creates a gap between members who only have one account and those with more—and over time, that inequality undermines fairness.

3. Encouraging Unique Builds
Part of the new system’s philosophy is about intentional character development. Instead of giving everyone everything, players are encouraged to build characters with focused, unique strengths. This applies to iNPCs too—earning spells and items independently promotes choice and diversity rather than blanket sameness.

4. Reduced Staff Work in the Long-Term
It may seem like more work now, but maintaining separate, inventory-based spell systems (rather than big text trunks) actually reduces long-term staff workload. The old text-based method was time-consuming and error-prone. Moving toward item-based spell records, where each item has an ID and an audit trail, gives staff better tools for tracking and verifying everything without deep manual review of every trunk edit.

5. Tied to multiple PCs
Players change PCs, want to (and sometimes can) tie their new PC to their former iNPC, with spells and items being on the iNPC from the former PC, there is going to be a disconnect anyways unless we are now suggesting that we need to offer the new PC the stuff that iNPC has. This is very hard to track and manage. It is also very labor-intense.

6. How would adult accounts play into this? Seriously, why would iNPCs get all of this and not your graduated ones? Now we have to consider the balance of a graduated member with an iNPC that is also earning, in addition to an adult, their student and their student's iNPC. They have quadruple earning potential as some of the most wealthy members in the community because they have also been a part of the site for nearly a decade.

We Do Know It’s an Adjustment
Yes, doing homework or spending galleons for both characters is more effort. That’s why players are given choices:

• Do the homework (even simplified ones),
• Use the Prodigal ability,
• Save up and purchase key spells,
• Focus only on a few key spells if you're not planning to duel/quest heavily.
• Not every character needs everything. That’s part of the design now. And yes, we’re also looking at adding alternative methods (errands, limited events, etc.) to earn rewards and spell items in the future.

This change may feel like a loss at first, but it's actually a shift to a more deliberate, fair, and scalable system—one that aligns better with how the site is evolving.

Needing a whole separate account with a whole new email for iNPCs feels a little too much for me. I know they play into security and multi-accounting prevention but I'd struggled to spare an email that didn't have sensitive info attached to it just to make an iNPC account for the site. This is a hot take but I felt more comfortable using banners to differentiate between iNPC and PC without the need to log out and back in again to change characters. People may disagree with me and that's okay! I know some people like this change and I'm happy for them. I just find it a little tedious since I've everything already organised and easy to access from my PC account. If needing a whole new account for iNPCs is necessary, could sharing login details with your own PC not work? As in, keep the same password and email but pick and choose who to enter the site as upon logging in (since iNPCs are still in a way attached to their respected PC). I'm not tech savvy so maybe the reasoning for this is crystal clear for some, but from my own surface level viewpoint (and as someone who's never been entirely sure of how info works on the site), I just don't quite understand. As a small side note, I'm curious to know more on how security and data works between accounts. A better sense of how personal info is handled might help me understand the need for a separate account (aside from independence from PCs) for iNPCs This point is more of an understanding thing rather than a critique.

If the broad consensus is that members do not want these changes — no sub-accounts, no itemized inventories, and no shop — then I am prepared to halt the current work and revert to the original framework. But I ask you to seriously consider what is being lost: character development potential, systems for differentiation and identity, and long-requested feature expansion. The progress being made is meant to serve the long-term health and creativity of the site.

Email/Access Suggestions
For those struggling with creating new emails:

If you use Gmail, adding a period (.) anywhere in the name tricks the system into accepting it as a “new” email, but it will route to your same inbox.

e.g., username@gmail.com → user.name@gmail.com

You can also add a number or variation to your existing email (e.g., username1@gmail.com), create this email with the same password so you can access the email for this account as needed.

While the platform does not currently validate emails, I strongly caution against using fake or inaccessible addresses. You won’t be able to recover your account if something goes wrong but for the sake of transparency, this is an option.

Data and Security
There is no shared data layer between PC and iNPC accounts. They are entirely separate entities — no auto-synced inventories, permissions, or finances. There is no invisible link. These accounts are as distinct as you and the next player. This approach, while manual, was chosen because we have no other option. We have no subaccount or character-switcher module. But even if we had one, I do not know of any sub account module for phpbb or xenforo that did not require a new email and shared progress. In fact every system I have seen players start as day 1 characters on their sub account, us aligning with present year is a lot of extra work for us but something we felt the community would value.

I completely agree with Beatrice about the announcements. As far as I could see, the iNPC sub-account transition in particular came from absolutely nowhere. Unless it was exclusively discussed on Discord. Which itself doesn't help players like myself who can't/don't use Discord. In hindsight it feels like we were left in the dark until the very last second and with the wave of announcements that implied that this change is somewhat mandatory, I felt very forced into it without any prior preparation or knowledge. This might be a grievance that only applies to me and while I appreciate all the hard work and time spent on these changes (I really do mean that! That'll never be disputed) I'm still struggling to adjust and remain open-minded about a major site change like this.

Many members had suspected we were moving in this direction for some time, especially as we increased our focus on iNPCs — from forming a dedicated iNPC Team to expanding their setting, lore, and bringing their mechanics in line with PCs. These steps were not taken lightly. Over the past several months, we’ve worked to equalize systems so both iNPCs and PCs could participate in things like official abilities, events, and errands with a sense of greater impact and equity in their potential to have specific builds or abilities.

That said, you're right: the sub-account rollout did catch some off guard. While there were active conversations happening in staff areas, that didn’t translate into broad awareness prior to release. I want to be transparent — I can’t fully apologize for how we rolled it out, because delaying changes for the sake of theoretical acclimation creates its own problems. Announcing changes and then withholding access for months creates confusion, frustration, and second-guessing from all angles. We made the decision to move forward because the framework was ready, the interest was extremely high, and members had been asking for these features for years.

Unfortunately, a small but vocal minority responded with sarcasm, snark, or mockery. While not representative of the whole community, those reactions have had a real impact. They demoralized both myself and the staff who put a tremendous amount of time and energy into this effort — much of which could have been spent elsewhere. I want to be honest in saying that I will think carefully before investing in sweeping site-wide projects again once this transition is complete. It was about 5 years ago the last time I considered sweeping change in this community for the sake of reference.

The reason the iNPC account transition happened alongside the spell/potion trunk updates was not to overwhelm anyone — it was because interest and demand were at a peak. Many were ready to dive in, and we aimed to meet that enthusiasm. That said, it’s now clear not everyone was aligned in expectations, and that has naturally led to some confusion and fatigue.

Going forward, I don’t anticipate any additional large-scale rollouts in quick succession. Staff and developers are actively regrouping. We’ve heard the feedback loud and clear — that consistency, communication, and manageable pacing are crucial. We’ll carry that with us into every step from here.

One quick question regarding daily scholarship money that I just thought of. Since iNPCs are now standalone characters not tied to PCs and they do not share anything with PC's anymore. Since iNPCs are still students just like PCs, I think you should give iNPCs a daily scholarship money just like PCs because as you say iNPCs and PCs are different from eachother now. So therefore, iNPCs should be able to collect their daily scholarship as well as long as they are students. As for WHERE iNPC can collect their scholarship money, you can have them collect it on whatever school board they belong to aka foreign school.

The iNPC stipend question was answered in this FAQ post, it's #5 and #8 if you want to see the reasoning that's already been given.

If stat points gained from official wizard sports (duels/broom racing/quidditch) are no longer shared with your iNPC, how do iNPCs get stat points (other than at the end of the year)? For PC's you have 3 chances to earn a stat point from a win + other options sometimes like certain errands or events etc... maybe. But for iNPCs you only have 1 chance now to earn a stat point from a win (summer games). Isn't not sharing the stat point win giving your iNPC a disadvantage now? I understand not sharing spells/potions your PC earned bc iNPCs can also get spells/potions from doing homework on their own. But iNPCs can't get extra stat points unless it's through their PC wins. Other than the 1 summer game.

You’re right in your understanding that currently, iNPCs only gain stat points from official sports participation during the summer games, whereas PCs can earn stat points from up to three wins per year. The prior system, which mirrored PC rewards onto iNPCs, was feasible when both were part of a shared account and infrastructure. With the creation of separate accounts, however, the goal is to create more distinct experiences—your iNPC is their own character now, with their own development arc and participation path.

Further, users that are not in a sport team get 0 additional points beyond the stat gains at the end of the year. Teams with more dedicated users, more coherent teams and higher-level players, are also at an advantage for winning those stat points in the first place. An issue that sport captains are well aware of, but the challenge we are faced with is the need to have a reward that great enough to ensure activity. Even when adventures have been offered with a dynamic experience, players would often join and fizzle out a week later. Participation, timely posting and working towards a victory in exchange for one of the most powerful awards we offer (a stat point) is still not always sufficient in pushing members to remain timely and engaged. I know captains in the past have seriously discussed alternatives to remove stat gains entirely but at the time we were not able to come up with a viable solution. I have one in mind now, but I need to finish the transition project.

I think it would be better if iNPCs have at least 2 more chances to earn stat points throughout the year if you're going to remove the chance to gain 4 stat points by not having it be shared anymore. Since up to this point, iNPCs had 4 chances to gain stat points throughout the year (3 from PCs and 1 from summer game). If you remove this and only give them 1 chance (summer games) that sucks. I mean unless you're already discussing other ways to give iNPCs a chance to win an extra stat point throughout the year with other new options. Then that's fine. But to remove it entirely and not give them any other chances kinda blows imo since when you're used to getting fair treatment for both PCs and iNPCs and then it's taken away, it kinda sucks.

Therefore, I'm wondering if we can still have the stat point shared, even though spells/potions aren't anymore. Since that was the original system which worked out really well imo. Changing it into only having the summer game be the only way for iNPC to get stat points is bad, at least imo. Just saying, why not leave it the way it originally was unless you had plans to change it into something else and still give the same benefits as before. You know what I mean?

That said, your concern is very valid: losing the additional stat point opportunities without any form of replacement can feel like a nerf. The current thinking is that iNPC sports teams will only be matched against other iNPC teams, so while the volume of stat points earned may be lower, the playing field remains even. No one will be entering a match with an unearned advantage based on account type.

Someone pointed out to me that iNPC sports teams would be going up against other iNPC sports teams so it would still be a favorable balance despite not being able to get stat points from wins anymore. If that is the case and will forever be the case, then I can see the logic in this. Having iNPC sports teams ONLY go up against other iNPC sports teams is fine. But only if they NEVER go against PC sports teams bc they would have an unfair disadvantage against PC sports teams as they have more chances to obtain stat points whereas iNPCs do not.

However, if at a later date, there is something where an iNPC sports team goes up against a PC sports team, I'd say either give the iNPC sports team an advantage over the PC sports team to even out the fairness or rework the system and give the iNPC sports team the points they should have gotten from the original system to balance their stats out with the PC sports team they are going up against.

If we were ever to allow crossover matches between PC and iNPC teams, yes, balance would absolutely need to be re-evaluated. Nothing like that is currently planned, but if it ever becomes a consideration, fairness would be a top priority. But I feel it is prudent to remind you that we have plenty of members not in any sports, they earn no additional stat points. But you have given a compelling reason for us to seek a way of doing away with stat point rewards, something we will consider when we have a viable alternative.

I have another thought. I don't like the fact that adults do not get paid for their jobs. In real life when you are an adult you get paid for whatever job you are doing, that's just how life is. So imo I think once you become an adult and have an actual 'job' you should get paid for that job in galleons, sickles or knuts. It only makes sense imo. Not getting paid for your adult 'job' just doesn't seem to make sense to me. Like maybe you can go to gringott's and claim your 'job money' there. Or get the 'job' money from Ministry of Magic page somewhere. Not getting paid as an adult when you have a 'job' doesn't make sense to me. So, is it possible for staff to consider paying adults when they get a 'job'? Maybe not right off the bat (since that could be more like internship in the real world where you don't get paid) but after a year you should be able to get paid like students do. In reality it would be the opposite. Students would not get paid but adults would. Because otherwise, it's like you're intentionally making people feel as if adults suck and you should just quit as soon as you become an adult bc you won't get any money and won't be able to purchase or do anything regarding money after that point. It's just my own personal opinion.

You're absolutely right that in the real world, adults working jobs get paid—and not compensating adult characters on the site can feel contradictory to both realism and fairness, especially when students earn passive stipends simply for existing. So why don't adults get paid?

The answer is partially practical and partially philosophical:

OR if you insist on not paying adults anything, once you have your new PC character created (since you can create a new one once your student and inpc character graduates) and your new iNPC character created, when they eventually graduate too, you'll now have 4 characters as adults (2 PC characters and 2 iNPC characters). But then you won't have any income source again for the adults. If you do a new PC/iNPC character again, can you still have your previous ones continue at the same time? Like if you changed the system to pay adults for their jobs, it would make people want to play the original characters more and not create more and more student characters. Bc it seems as if you get more advantages being a student and almost none being an adult (when it comes to $). Unless there's a way for adults to earn $ on a regular daily basis like when they were students.

We're absolutely re-evaluating how adults function in this evolving system. While we may not introduce full daily stipends for adult accounts, we are exploring alternative income pathways and opportunities. This may involve errands or event-based bonuses. We already have passive income modifiers tied to special race perks (goblin), but other potential opportunities may be considered. And yes—we’re also open to creative proposals that give a sense of earning without automating income streams.

Regarding Multiple Characters & Longevity
If a player chooses to move forward with multiple PC/iNPC combos over the years, their original adult characters can absolutely still be used. The current intent is to allow players to build a living story across time—and yes, part of the question we’re still exploring is how to keep older adult characters viable without financial stagnation.

Regarding Choosing to Keep Only an Adult Character
This has not happened because our systems are intended for students that live and grow. This may become one day an alternative option for members once there are more adults to interface with. If someone wanted to stick with just their adult, we would address how to preserve their income.

One quick question regarding daily scholarship money that I just thought of. Since iNPCs are now standalone characters not tied to PCs and they do not share anything with PC's anymore. Since iNPCs are still students just like PCs, I think you should give iNPCs a daily scholarship money just like PCs because as you say iNPCs and PCs are different from eachother now. So therefore, iNPCs should be able to collect their daily scholarship as well as long as they are students. As for WHERE iNPC can collect their scholarship money, you can have them collect it on whatever school board they belong to aka foreign school.

Why iNPCs Don’t Receive a Daily Scholarship (Stipend)
While it’s true that iNPCs are now becoming standalone characters with separate trunks, spells, and progression, they are still tied to the same user. That means any stipend given to an iNPC is, effectively, a second daily income for the same person.

We don’t currently allow this for several reasons:

It unfairly advantages users with multiple characters over those who choose to focus on a single one.

It risks economic inflation, especially for players who accumulate several alts (PC + iNPC + adult characters).

There’s no realistic way to ensure that money earned on the iNPC account isn’t used to fund the PC’s growth, which breaks the intended design of having to make strategic financial and ability choices. The only way I could fix this is to block the ability to trade and players enjoy the ability to trade, even unintended trades like potato peels. I could have stopped the potato peel work around a long time ago but did not because of how many members enjoy it. The other option is to BAN members for trading funds within their own accounts. Something that is very hard to track and manage, exponentially increasing staff workload and basically placing a temptation in front of users so we can ban them when they falter. while not entrapment, it does not feel good.

We Do Acknowledge the Challenge
You’re right to point out the costs have gone up — more spells to purchase, more trunks to maintain, and potentially more errands or classes to complete. iNPCs can feel like real, active students, and it makes sense that players want them to have real access to the same economy.

That said, the current system is designed to encourage careful investment and planning, rather than ownership of everything on every character. The idea is that players decide which characters specialize in what and accept some trade-offs in building their story.

Why Not Just Tie It to the Foreign School Board?
It may set a precedent that leads to calls for adult stipends, multiple PC stipends, etc., which we're trying to avoid to maintain fairness and challenge.

It adds complexity to moderation and balance, since it becomes harder to track and regulate funds flowing between accounts.

For now, iNPCs will not receive full stipends — but we are exploring lighter, optional, and task-based alternatives to make gameplay feel rewarding, especially for those who are investing heavily in their iNPCs. Your input strengthens that conversation.