Xalphox

@Jack

I want to weigh in publicly as some folks are out on manoeuvres. There are certain topics that must be treated with deference in polite society and one of them is the topic of rape. It's not a topic that must be wholly off limits - war is hell - but, on the exceedingly rare occasion it is a topic touched upon, there is a way to frame it that treats it with the respect it is due, and having read the character biography (spoiler: the admin team do not and have never reviewed character biographies) I thought it was a tactless and excessively detailed way to approach it. I imagine it would have been deeply traumatic to come across were you or somebody close to you were a victim. Certainly I read it and as others in my circles can attest immediately went to have a cigarette. Rape isn't a shortcut to making your character more interesting. The fact that they have hidden the complaint thread has drawn accusations of censorship or that they have something to hide: this is nonsense and indeed would defeat the purpose of hiding the offending character biography in the first place; it was disgusting and nobody should accidentally stumble across it. That this is controversial is bizarre to me: it was the right decision. I would have absolutely made the same decision. Well done to Orwell and Misty for sticking to their guns.

Is this for passive or for combat?

Very Vladimir Putin but fine by me and somewhat canonical

Given dvn has given the nod, PK is reversed. For future PK appeals, if the admin who issued the PK agrees that it should be reversed, it can be assumed to reverse unless an XA decides to intervene.

PK reversed in that case

@Minyari How do you feel about this? Default will be that the PK is reversed if there isn't a response within 24 hrs.

I've given it some thought, bounced it off a couple of folks, and have came to the following conclusions: The GAU is too overpowered. It does far too much damage against NPCs - which is why the admin team upped the number of bugs. However, that rebalancing was superficial: whilst the MI-DPS-to-arachnid-health ratio levelled out, it meant that anyone not sat behind a GAU 19 had to contend with an ocean of arachnids where one step could have made the difference between safe and taking 1,000dmg. Gr4ss has also sent me a picture of 5 Tiger Elites reaching the line of the MI: 2 at the same time is pushing it (if a single Elite makes the line you are basically guaranteed a wave of deaths); 6 is unreasonable: In light of that, I'm reversing this PK.

I've been asked to review this. I have further enquiries to make before I can make a final decision, particularly with the XAs as I'm very interested to hear how they've came to the conclusions they have, but I am leaning towards agreeing with Australis that there was an unreasonable quantity of bugs: I count around 50 NPCs in the video, I have it on good authority that the wave in the video was made up nearly exclusively of Tigers which have 5x as much HP as a Warrior (and do much more damage), and therefore the MI were facing down the equivalent of at least 250 warriors. Further - a field of Tigers is not how the NPC was designed to be used: they are the most minor of boss caste, but they are still a boss caste - and more than 1 or 2 Tiger Elites, particularly in the middle of a field of other arachnids, is patently unreasonable, and was guaranteed to fuck someone up: they are effectively cavalry, designed to break a line, and the only tactics available to the infantry are either to reinforce and emplace further (not practical in the heat of combat) or hope to hell they see it and pump out damage quickly enough to take it down before it reaches them. If 50 tigers, 3 elites and 3 tankers is the answer, what is the question? The players were holding their own because they had made the sound tactical decision to entrench themselves: this should be rewarded, not punished. And by my reckoning there wasn't enough time to retreat to the silo at the point the wave began, and even if they had, the MI would have been trapped with at least 3 tankers bearing down on their position. Do any of the admins disagree with this assessment? If so, why?

@Odin Your ban to defend fella

Given Valk has acknowledge there were lag issues I'm inclined to sustain this appeal.

My understanding is that Reverend has checked the logs - and can't see any evidence of that. I'm afraid in light of that, I'm going to have to decline this appeal.

We don't review them routinely - only when we need them