Best Of

I'll echo Xenthos' comments. Transparency in decisions and discussions should be what the admin shoot for, and the free-flow discussion is better suited in a chat based model than a forum post model. As a recent returnee, I thought the forum posts were mostly dead and there's this "unofficial Discord" that looks pretty rough and unmoderated. I think it's in the interest of attracting new players and keeping the old ones to have an officially supported chat server where clear lines of responsibility are held. Sum up the Discord chat with a tl;dr post into the forums, sure, but make clear where the official lines are. Would likely have helped the whole situation here from bubbling over.

Having friends or....frenemies? IC on both sides I do feel drawn to contribute a few of my feelings in this conversation, having a bit more time today.

I have not read each post, even if I try to keep apprised of the forums, and I do applaud the Devs trying act to fix a situation that has led to strain relations OOC after this ascension. My feelings on who is raised, Ixion or Choros, are indifferent as I have not known either long enough to really make any comments. I do feel, however, at the moment that the people are being trampled on both sides of the line; unfortunately for this beautiful world.

This may have been mentioned before, but a few things crept on my mind that concern me greatly.

-For most of the ascension seal events, the alliance was 4 vs 2. Until Hali's betrayal of Magnagora, this is a situation that led Glomdoring & New Celest to work twice as hard to achieve anything at all. I cannot even relate the frustration that I am certain was felt whenever competitors would come within inches of grasping a win only to have it taken away by a few points. Multiple times after said losses, shouts were heard from the victors - Often Magnagora -, ruining any attempts at good sportsmanship. I was not present for every seal, but I do recall that the few I was awake for had acts like these which only further fed the animosity vs a competition that many may have viewed as one-sided by a landslide since it's beginning.

-The ascension event itself, even if both sides worked extremely hard, was a culmination of all that had preceded it in its victory. Which feels like one of the main reasons people do feel cheated a bit out of the opposing team ascendant being raised. By succeeding in the battle itself, though Hallifax had betrayed by then, I feel that the competitors who had endured all the gloating that came before from the other side found vindication of all of their efforts in having done their best regardless of the situation.

-The strong stance adopted by Parhelion & Choros that fed the fire after the decision was taken by the administration. Threatening to reject people that had worked hard to see him succeed and be raised if they had a disagreement with his words or expressed their feelings of being trampled on after the work put in to stand a sporting chance from this 2 vs 4 ascension (seals included in this). Many may also have been concerned over newfound friendships both IC & OOC being affected by strained relations with Hallifax due to his words. I do wish Choros had not placed himself in such a position or shared words that were hard for many to read.

-The lag situation that needed to be addressed and the final event - ascension - that was so hampered by it that it became an unfair advantage for both sides, as bad as it ended up being. Had the opposing team held the staff in those last minutes, Glom & Celest would have been in the same situation. The northern alliance, as expected, felt cheated by the win due to how terrible it was in the last moments. Raising someone from the opposing team, however, has instead shifted the feelings of powerlessness to the side of those that won; nullify all of the efforts placed to be able to stand up to an opposition that outnumbered them from day 1 in the seals events.

-The concern, that I have found in many people, that had the situation was reversed - Cel, Glom, Halli lost & Mag, Seren, Gaudi won - the southern alliance team's ascendant would not have been raised. I find it unfortunate that I have not seen the re-assurance, perhaps I missed it, that had the winning team lost, their ascendant would have been raised just as Magnagora's Ascendant is being treated. For too many, unfortunately, it comes across as preferential treatment and I feel that is something that may need to be addressed.

I do not believe a perfect solution will ever exist for this extremely controversial event. I do feel strongly, however, that the entire ascension timeline should be considered when making the decision to essentially pronounces a tie over the ascension and take agency away from the players for the final result. Even if lag had ruined much of that control in the first place, lag evenly affected both parties. I suspect a second ascension could not be held without a repeat of the latency issues since fixing that will require an intensive amount of work.

I wish best of luck to the Devs in whichever solution they choose to uphold and find it unfortunate that so much emotional bruising has been ongoing since the ascension's end.

I do wish to ask everyone that was affected on either side to remember why they love this game and to take a moment to read the beautiful storytelling that has been woven in each of their respective orgs. From the depravation of Magnagora to the sanctity of New Celest, there is so much to this gorgeous game that raptures the mind and allows one to live their dreams. Please do not allow that beauty to be tainted from the unfortunate mess of ascension and continue to enjoy the artwork that is Lusternia & the Divine that tend to it.

Thank you for reading
-Afollia

Editing : Fixing grammar

Please don't retire If game things are stressing you out too much, just take a few days break. I think it's just during Ascension time that emotions are high everywhere. Usually we're cool peoples!

Synl said:

There's some bleeding of ic and ooc motivations here. So definitely hard to say you should or shouldn't be upset for supporting choros vs attacking Ixion. Probably back to normal in a week or so. Personally I think it's really naive for any one from Halifax or Celest, icly, to think the Glomdoring was supporting them for the sake of friendship. Mutual enemies etc is clearly the more obvious goal? But I'm also not Shadow Court, so just thinking out loud.

I wasn't part of any IC ascension discussions, as I knew I would be stuck working whether I liked it or not. However, there have been IC overtures made between Shadow Court and Board before and after the change, and I don't think it should be assumed as naivete or an assumption of friendship. Pragmatism was definitely a big part of what discussions I was involved in IC, with touches of spite and other longstanding emotions that were not neutral. I'd be more willing to be detailed in character, but it's too late at night for me to talk through Allie's motives OOCly.