On the best friend thing, I'm sure everyone has lots of different opinions but when I was thinking about it, I think a choice to decide the best friend would allow people more freedom than having it triggered by stats. I know for myself if there was a certain best friend that I wanted, I'd constrain myself to choices that I knew increased friend points with them as opposed to letting whatever would come naturally for my MCs happen. It would require us to make certain choices to get the outcome we want instead of being able to experience a variety of the different scenes you've written! In addition, it would make it a lot easier for multiple playthroughs to be able to make a choice as opposed to building up to it, especially since the books are long (this is a good thing!) and HG doesn't have a save system implemented. That's just my two cents!
Also I love Wayhaven and I'm excited for the progress you're making on Book 3!
Yeah, I really think this is the way I'm going to go. The readers definitely seem to think this is the way forward to.
Wayhaven was supposed to be more choise based than stat, and I know I would do the same as you and restrict myself to certain choices to get a certain path, which I REALLY don't want for this game! I want people to just be able to play how they want.
Definitely have to remember to go with my initial instincts on these kinds of things for the future! :D
Thank you so much for the message! :)