Best Of

Creeping Doom was very much a problem. Far too powerful and overtuned. Because of lag. That's it...not because of the skill, not even really because of the slew of Wyrdenwood that went that specifically to take advantage of the fact lag would be bad (bad faith as pointed out, maybe, but honestly that's just being smart. I cannot fault anyone for thinking ahead when something IS going to be an issue, same reason why raiders don't just waltz into guard stacks to chase people down, they KNOW what's going to happen...), but the skill itself is fine. I mean maybe that bleed+stun+so many able to go off so close together is an issue, but...no, it was entirely the lag at fault with this event. I have confidence it will be addressed, the prior Ascensions were FAR better on lag than my first (the one Kelly was raised as Kaimanahi), just a matter of tweaks required. Even WITH the lag, we managed to wrest the staff away from Equinox at least twice, just couldn't get to where it needed to go before timing out, dropping, and @Ciaran grabbing it again (good work there, by the way, Creeping Doom would've been irrelevant without it, so MVP goes to him on your side more than not). @Uzriel had the staff in my room NEAR a node (also good work, I couldn't get my CARRY to work at all once in the room...), but Kethbit spawned and massive lag, was one of those that sprawl you, we were both locked down and unable to even stand up (I kept trying to get up and move in and out so my old Death Medallion would remove it, but no luck), so timed out.

Without that lag, Ascension would've been over far, far sooner than it was. Where the victory would've gone had things gone optimally on the side of the world's state, I will not get into. It's not all that relevant as results are ultimately all that matters in any battle, not the circumstances before reaching them quite as much. But it's done and cannot be honestly redone. Even if that was the decision gone with instead, it'd never go quite the same and still always feel just a bit off. What was done may not be everyone's ideal (I'm all for just TA'ing everyone with a Medallion, just to spite those that wasted everyone's time getting that honour then quitting the game instead of trying to improve it for others :P ), it IS fair to the only two that mattered. No, not you or you or you, or even me...those that had the active Seals this time around, and the two that had the closest-to-victory points. That lag was the enemy more than Souless was the real culprit, that we got anything instead of oh....NO ONE gets TA (which they could've also done, that would've been horrible too) or the whole issue just resolutely ignored instead of an active, actual result to show consideration to the efforts put in by all, is enough. The next Ascension, as there will be more, hopefully the hardware and software issue that caused the lag can be fixed or vastly mitigated, and we can do better. You still are playing, you still have importance to the world of Lusternia, embrace that. All else...ultimately...isn't so important. The only ones that should have a say in this latest affair, lies far more with @Parhelion, @Ixion, @Orael, @Aonia, and other unseen admins. They seemed to go with a decision that would be the most fair to all, given everything that went into it, and the real monster that ruined the experience for everyone being overcome in some fashion beyond ignoring it was a problem (i.e. the lag) It's a novel solution since we've never had two TAs at once, so why not, this wasn't a normal Ascension given the delay from the usual time of the year it was held and whole new Seal added to Avechna. That it was lag/aeon that messed things up...a certain sense of irony at least is present, even if it's frustrating as shit and undermined all efforts put into this thing by both sides involved.

But you all gotta stop lashing out at everyone else. It was the lag at fault, no one intentionally interfered with or threw the game, yes there was the usual metagaming childishness that springs up EVERY Ascension to mess with things, but that's just part of it. Creeping Doom was horrid to deal with, but it's not even the skills mechanics fault, nor those that used it...everything was because of lag. And the admin have done their best to make up for it as they could without breaking immersion (I mean besides an anomaly being involved, very nature is a nonexistent...but we'll all overlook that :P ) and a solution was arrived at with the intent to treat everyone involved fairly. The intent is important, why punish someone for that? Can they do better? Offer ideas, maybe they can...or maybe use said helpful suggestions to make things even more fun and interesting the next time around. And next time WILL come.

Fix the lag, best as is possible...over a hundred people were online this time, unprecedented indeed...and we may find things far more entertaining here on, using this as a learning experience, rather than a lynching or finger pointing opportunity. Just chill out...this is still a game, an escape, and something we all should be enjoying.