viperc48: Yeah I think the main reason for ENC and the test version of Cyberpunk THING is because most of us weren't satisfied with the gameplay in vanilla Cyberpunk. Combat was way too easy, enemy variety was a downgrade from Witcher 3, and enemy AI was noticeably worse. I've always felt that the factions should have been more distinct and different in terms of abilities, strengths and weaknesses etc. Enemy abilities like Sandevistan, Camo and Netrunning were criminally underused, and I've discovered plenty of cut content around enemy AI. It seems to me that the devs lacked the freedom to develop enemy AI and factions to their fullest potential, perhaps so as to not intrude upon the power fantasy envisioned by their management.

While ENC was originally designed with a vanilla plus approach (meaning the same damage scaling and TTK as vanilla game), the collaboration with b for the test version of THING gave me a lot of perspective on balance and has certainly challenged me to up my game so that enemies are not only able to survive but also thrive in the low TTK environment. Enemies being able to react quickly, dodge, and even responding differently to player's actions such as activating berserk. Thanks to b, I've also received a lot of inspiration from other games such as Ghost of Tsushima and TLOU2, which are known to have a brutal combat system, and this is the new philosophy behind ENC - levelling the playing field. 

The constant flow of feedback from test players has been invaluable and it's been a pleasure watching experimental/WIP mods like Chipware and Better Netrunning coming together to form a fun cohesive experience that never stops challenging the player.

Seijax: For me, it's all about gameplay variety and immersion. Cyberpunk 2077 is an expansive game, with a wide breadth of systems to interact with and possible approaches for the players to take, but my experience playing the game was that some of these mechanics were simply less impressive than others. Why rely on cyberware and environment to set up a ricocheting shot around an obstacle, when a similar weapon could instead simply shoot right through any kind of hindrance on its own?

When I try to play using game mechanics of which I like the concept but I'm underwhelmed by the practical applications, I can't help but try to help the underdogs. So I explore alternative implementations, tweak, enhance and expand the mechanics in new directions, until I find results that I consider still entrenched into their starting niches, but with performances that are more in line with what players could expect out of the alternative options available to them.

I may have started from the most obvious example, but over time I've tried to experience all the options offered by the game and found several others that could have used some enrichment (or streamlining) and went to see what I could do about them. It helps that the collection maintains an open dialogue on feedback and suggestions, as many people notice more than a few things and sometimes inspiration strikes in unexpected ways.

Phoenicia: I fell in love with Cyberpunk since watching those first gameplay trailers. Like probably many other people, I was a bit disappointed after lots of what they promised ended up being undelivered, and at some point decided to just take matters into my own hands, writing mods with stuff that I would personally feel like had been missing, or would want to play with.

Especially when it comes to cyberware, I feel like there are lots of cool concepts that could have been added that I wanted to try out. I really wanted to make sure everything is balanced, and not just straight up better versions of existing items. I'm definitely a fan of new content adding more options to the player - new items that allow players to experience different playstyles - and I'm really wary of making sure new stuff is not just straight up better than anything in vanilla.

I'm also looking forward to writing more mods that expand on difficulty/complexity of combat encounters (hopefully some of those mods will get released in the near future). Have to say, it's been really fun to collaborate with the WTNC team while working on my mods. With big mods, it's quite difficult to test everything out by myself, and this huge community was extremely helpful for gathering feedback and finding bugs in test versions of my mods before I could officially release them.

Deceptious: Since I got started I wanted to make mods that felt like they were just a natural part of the game/world. But I also want to make mods that all work together, to complement each other! That extends to other modders' creations; it's always a shame if one mod has to be picked over another, especially if they actually offer more/different things to the player.

The WTNC project and team are on the same page! Working to make a hugely impactful collection that really expands on the world CDPR gave us, without fundamentally breaking it, while taking care to make sure everything in their mod list works well and smoothly together.

Misoru: My favorite character in Cyberpunk 2077 is Night City. Every NPC, every datashard, every gig - it all stacks up to build this insanely deep, living world. The goal with my weapons is to add to the world in the same way, so that they feel like they not only belong in NC, but naturally expand it. "How does this weapon fit?" That's the driving question I ask with every concept - how does it fit in terms of presentation, gameplay, and world implementation? Each weapon starts as an idea in one of those areas, and is built out from there.

For example, in Tyger Cache, I wanted to add a weapon to the Tyger Claws' dojo you visit during a gig. I thought about what defines a dojo: martial arts, tradition, and honor. That last one stood out because the Tyger Claws aren't shown to be very honorable in 2077. But what if they used to be? That led to the idea of a weapon from a more honorable, possibly forgotten past. Visually, I went for a "retro-Tyger Claws" look by incorporating a blue-and-yellow color scheme seen only rarely in their vehicles, heavy weathering to show age, and a traditional Japanese pattern to tie it all together. I chose the Tamayura as the base weapon since it's an older model from a Japanese manufacturer, which fit the concept perfectly.

For gameplay, I wanted to recreate the feel of an honorable samurai duel, like something out of a Kurosawa film. But how do you do that in a fast-paced and chaotic game like Cyberpunk 2077? I settled on a mechanic where attacking an enemy triggers a "duel": increasing damage dealt to and taken from that enemy, while reducing damage taken from others - making the fight more focused and intense. Put that all together and you get Bushido!

And a quick shoutout to my personal favorite: Trailblazer from Nomad Cache. I won't spill too much other than to say it shoots fire and lightning, blows up your enemies, and sports some preem racing stripes.