Hey all,

I'm a new mod for ZoE2, along with UnKnown_Drive.  You've probably noticed that the leaderboards have been given a significant facelift in terms of aesthetic and some changes have happened.  While you can thank Drive for the aesthetics, I'll go over the functionality/submission changes + additions:

1. All versions of ZoE2 are now ranked on the same leaderboards under RTA. This is the big one. Essentially, the current community came to an agreement that it would be best to unify all versions. This allowed us to get rid of a bunch of categories that had 0-1 runs in them and help the board look cleaner overall.  Don't worry, you can still indicate which version you're running along with your platform (so you can still have the best time on that version), but it won't be ranked separately. Whatever ends up being the fastest version will just be the definitive version to run in the end. Hopefully this change will foster competition amongst runners and help us all strive to figure out what the fastest version of ZoE2 really is.

2. NG+ Jehuty variations are subcategories All the NG+ frames function differently enough to still warrant keeping them separate. Naked would probably (obviously) edge out the other versions so the variations will still be ranked separately.

3. Jehuty Ver. 2 category now exists This was something I felt should have been on the board from jump, so there it is.  Ver. 2 functions a bit different from Damaged and Naked; curious to see what will happen with the cata if/when more time is put into it. Get in there and do some Ver. 2 runs!

4. NG+ Rules have been made more clear In most of the current runs for NG+, players have been starting with no subweapons, even though in the previous rules it stated you could start with all subweapons.  So moving forward, the rule phrasing will be that the run starts on "sub-weapon equip", indicating that you can start with all subweapons.  This clarification should help newer runs, and really push some of the NG+ times to be faster.

5. Still no Extreme category I had thought about adding this, honestly. For transparency's sake, my modding/speedrun background is primarily in the Devil May Cry series, and my general observation is, typically speaking, runners don't tend to stick with the harder difficulty categories because they're longer and well, very punishing to grind out. Their longevity is questionable, and that's if there's any interest at all (DMC5 did not have anyone mention DMD interest for 6 months, as a recent example). I'm definitely open to having the discussion to put Extreme on the boards, as I'm sure the other mods are too. Personally I just don't want it to be one and done times, but I'll definitely go with whatever the community decides.

That's about it.  Any questions, feel free to ask!  Much love.