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Re: Announce post #3343: Oblivion's Portent & Lexadhra, the Indelible

While She aligns Herself with Spirit, Her tastes and interests are vast...

Can we clear up what this actually means? Because, if I'm being honest, the vibe over in shadow tether right now is pretty gutted. And while, in my heart I want to believe that this borderline throwaway sentence is a signal for us to start fudging with the tether RP lines, and that the real vibe of this god is to be a shift to a more goal/objective-oriented Aetolia (which is why she's shoehorned into Spirit; Shadow has Bamathis and Ivoln on it), if that was the intention of this god/character, this can't be the way it's communicated. You gotta blaze that thing in the sky in bright neon letters, sign it with fire, declare it from the mountaintops. This is way too subtle.

Because the reality of the situation, right now, is that "Lexadhra is a Spirit god" god immediately piped IC, all of Shadow immediately started digging in their heels, labeling her the enemy, and have dropped all intent to engage with her on that level. And you can't really blame them--we've never been given, in years, any indication that this is the way things can or will be. That when something is labeled "spirit," they're wholecloth the enemy. No matter what you put in a help file, no matter what line you tag on the end of an Announce, the immediate reaction, and probably a longlasting one, is going to be the one that's presently happening.

In my heart of hearts, I want my first paragraph to be correct, that that was the intention of this new god. I feel this way for a lot of reasons. One is that Shadow's pantheon is just kinda thin on the ground right now. Several of them are old concepts that show their age--most of them aren't piloted by an active player. So of course I'm going to be huffing the copium of "wow I hope this isn't how everyone seems to think it is, because that would really suck."

It'd really suck for Spirit to have a monopoly on "hey, you know what, Varian sucks!" too, which they kinda do at the moment**.

I've been disappointed by things in the past few months that turned out to be unfounded, but the level of faith it requires for me to be like "It's cool, guys, she's Spirit but she's gonna be down with smoking cigarettes and stuff" to people is just way too high at this moment, especially since the heels are already dug in deep, and loosening them from RP, just because she was already stated to be a Spirit god, is going to be a massive uphill battle (if that was even the intention).

**edit: I can't emphasize enough how concerning this is, and some of us are a little concerned that "spirit/shadow" is going to be dumped for Varian/AntiVarian and BL/Spines is gonna get shoehorned into that, which, plz don't, I beg of you.

Tetchta

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

Nalibhtavi didn't kiss me.

Tetchta

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

I low-key dislike it when people write on public posts picking on people who would rather choose to hunt rather than joining a fight. You really gonna shame people for making the personal choice in trying to pursue level 200 by making them feel like they're obligated to entertain you at a foci fight? That's some attitude and low hanging fruit you're batting at, man.

Elene

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

Hot take, but I don't think Whirran's behavior is reprehensible. That's probably not surprising coming from someone else who plays an asshole character, though. It's completely In Character and people should stop assuming malice just because a character's actions are disreputable or disrespectful. It is ridiculous how many arbitrary expectations people are projecting here. Nobody is entitled to a peaceful bashing experience if they do things that create PK cause or stand in places that create that cause.

To use this latest example that folk are kicking around: Isia knew what she was doing. She doesn't have a right to bash in the Vortex without being PKed. The rules don't have a footnote that says 'except for Isia'. It's nobody's fault but her own that she is using an Open PK zone to grind to 200 in the last few levels that represent the most significant part of the grind - and, as it would so happen, allow for the highest losses. That's her fault.

We all seem to agree on the above paragraph, based on post history in this thread, which means what this is really about is what Whirran shouted. I don't think he shouted anything over the line. He hit a character where it hurts. Maybe that character will think better of crossing him next time. He didn't need a reason beyond 'Isia is in Vortex' - but he sure as hell outlined one to the entire world and that is villain shit. It's more roleplay than we often see surrounding our PK and he added it as an optional special sauce. Going to the forums and decrying him for taking an extra step to make the game more atmospheric/IC seems like a weird plan, to be frank.

I also feel there is a difference between politeness and sportsmanship. If you can't handle an antagonist getting loud and saying antagonist things, maybe this game isn't for you? I think anybody decrying him in this thread is trying to enforce boring politeness, not nuanced sportsmanship - and that is my pet peeve.

Edit: Got rid of this oversized smile emoji. because it was messing with line spacing.

Iesid

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

I feel like establishing a good, healthy IC/OOC separation used to be so common in Aetolia that everyone took it for granted - this thread, as of late, really suggests we ought to bring back the practice.

my IC/OOC separation is so good that they used it as the conceptual basis for the tv show Severance. i don't even know who all of you are.

Alela

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is the worst conversation on the Citadel. I don't even really know where to start other than to echo Lin here and say that there's a massive amount of work I think people should be doing (that they aren't doing) to at least try to have some IC/OOC separation. Look, nobody's expecting perfection on that front, but sweet mother of Varo, I swear that some of y'all ain't even trying.

I also have to say that it seems like some of y'all are intentionally being petulant and unproductive. We all gotta swim in this pool, can you put in an effort to not take a massive dump in the water when folk are posting in good faith?

Tetchta

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

I feel like establishing a good, healthy IC/OOC separation used to be so common in Aetolia that everyone took it for granted - this thread, as of late, really suggests we ought to bring back the practice.

Lin

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

These fking mobile forums are my pet peeve. What is this non sense?

Bulrok

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

I think there's a big difference between a fanatical character making a post essentially claiming PK on anyone who trashes Varian versus your average Shadow/Bama person making the push to 200. Man, who knew Aetolians got so testy when it came to their PVE? With the current setup for how things are in terms of consumable buffs, that's really up to the players themselves to weigh the options between getting involved in IC conflict that takes away from the goal of 200, or choosing to let it slide and fight another day.

Being a villain with the intention of making other players miserable (openly stating you're trying to prevent them from getting to 200?) isn't being a villain. That's just being an asshole.

MY pet peeve is on the similar vein - in that bashing to 200 sounds miserable. If you want to maximize your $$$ investment to get the most out of your chocolates/chalices/knives/etc, you essentially need to focus entirely on bashing and distance yourself from any sort of RP that may take up precious time. Hot take, but I think it's a terrible thing to encourage people to push RP to the back burner and have them play a single-player PVE game for a bit, reward them with some RP event tailored to them and then they can continue playing the multiplayer version of Aetolia.

Would love to see the option available to pause consumables so people aren't forced to choose. Hell, put a cooldown on it so people can't just toggle it on/off all willy nilly. CONSUMABLES PAUSE [buff type], and it'll say something like "By doing this, you will be unable to resume being under the effects of this consumable for a minimum of 30 MINUTES" or something.

Sryaen

Re: Mildly Irritating: Aetolia's Pet Peeves

Hey there, I'll keep this short. (Yes I mean it this time.)

1: omg people are talking about me when I'm not even here, I'm so popular! I will be accepting expressions of adoration through donations of grimstim pills, chocolates, phoenix hearts, but not your firstborn. No firstborns please.

2: On a more serious note, I've said it here so many times now I don't know how else to say it really. Whirran is a jerk. A complete and utter fanatic and a jerk. He's vindictive, underhanded, rude, all these things to people he doesn't respect. That's the character I've made. Lots of you don't like that or don't seem equipped to deal with that and assume it's malicious or personal. It's not. Maybe you think I'm not playing a villain how a villain should be played. But it's my character to play, not yours. Plenty of people, on both tethers, who give Whirran a chance and rp with me enjoy our interactions quite a bit, and have gotten to see beneath the exterior personality of the character. Other people put me on ignore just because I shout in character things they don't like. If you're not equipped to handle a character personality that you dislike, you do you. I'm going to keep playing the character I find compelling. That's the way it is.

3: To address the most recent example of this, I'll give some context. I killed Isia in vortex. She shouted that it didn't matter and I didn't accomplish anything. I retorted that I absolutely did, since the goal was to kill her and stunt her progress towards her goal, which is 200. That is her goal which she said Whirran had no impact on. Factually, that's just incorrect. His goal was to sabotage her because he doesn't respect her and she's an enemy and he wants to sabotage the things she strives for. I shouted all of this entirely in character, for everyone to hear, because again. It's not a secret that in character Whirran is a jerk. These motivations are not OOC driven hate. These are plain, obvious in character motivations, in response to her in character taunts and stated in character goals. The idea that it's somehow rude of me to say I want to sabotage her in character stated goal is absurd. Be offended on her behalf if you like but at least get the facts right.

4: As a final note, I'll mention here that I sling my mud and take my lumps in character. Considering how many issue threats I get or how many times I'm mentioned here for essentially the same complaints, I really wish folks would do the same.

Thanks.

Whirran