The end of an era
Apr. 22nd, 2004 02:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustThings fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
- 'The Second Coming' by W B Yeats
RO. Last Sunday's siege.
And the last siege, perhaps, for a long time.
When I logged on, everyone else in the guild was gathered at the flower girl in Prontera. It turned out that the Prontera castle maps were down.
Ragnarok Online is hosted on a number of servers, all handling different maps. And the game has experienced server problems during past sieges, usually affecting the Geffen maps. This was the first time it had happened to Prontera, and there were many people sitting idly in town, unable to get to the Prontera castle maps. A significant number were logged on to their secondary characters, since their primary characters had been in the castles when the maps went down and were now stuck in limbo.
A couple of my guildmates decided to go skirmishing in Al De Baran, and since there was nothing else to do, I joined them. Unfortunately, once I was there I stepped in a warp leading to the Prontera castle maps, and the game froze on me. I had to log back in on my secondary character, my acolyte Sirius. Since there wasn't much I could now contribute to the fight, I returned to Prontera to hang out with those who were still there.
About a quarter of the way through the siege, the gamewide GM announcement flashed up - "The [Valkyrie Realms 3] castle has been conquered by the [Novae Inflammo] guild."
Hell, I thought, the maps must be back up. I switched back to Ash - or tried to. No go. Logging back in to Sirius, I found that everyone else had the same problem. The castle maps still seemed to be down.
So how come Novae Inflammo was there?
Debate ran hot. Rumour had it that some members of Novae Inflammo had been in the castle maps when they went down, but it was uncertain why they were able to remain logged in and active. It seemed vastly unjust that they could attack castles with impunity while the defenders were unable to do anything to stop them.
And then it happened again: "The [Valkyrie Realms 4] castle has been conquered by the [Novae Inflammo] guild."
Valkyrie Realms 4 had belonged to No Love, one of our allies, and also the guild who was holding the record for longest current occupation of a castle. For 76 days they had held against all comers, and now, just like that, their dream run was over.
I was outraged and disgusted. While I could be philosophical about the loss of our own castle - hell, it wasn't like it could get any more trashed - I was upset on No Love's behalf at the loss of their hard-earned record. A lot of people put in a lot of hours, week after week, to achieve that. And through Gravity's incompetence and Novae Inflammo's dishonourable actions, it was now gone.
When Novae Inflammo took Valkyrie Realms 5 - the castle of Slaughtered Saints, another ally of ours - that was when I snapped. I remember yelling things about having no respect for Novae Inflammo, and how they were so dead. I was furious.
Many others were unhappy too, particularly those from guilds who were meant to be defending a castle, but instead were forced to sit helplessly in town. Even those without castles said it was a low thing for Novae Inflammo to do, especially in going after so many castles at once.
Not everyone agreed - some said, "You'd do the same in their place, wouldn't you?" It's a hard question to answer. I know I wouldn't attack our allies, and I'd like to think that even with our enemies, I would realise it was dishonourable to attack when they couldn't defend. But the truth is sometimes you just don't know what you'll do in a situation unless you're there. Novae Inflammo were there. And they made their choice.
When Novae Inflammo went on to take Valkyrie Realms 2, the castle belonging to The Blue Hearts, no one was really surprised.
Since there was nothing else we could do, Leena offered to help me level in Glast Heim. But we weren't there for long before the word came through that the Prontera castle maps were up. I switched back to Ash and prepared for revenge.
In quick succession, we got our castles back - The Blue Hearts, Slaughtered Saints, and Shin Ravenloft. Then things went to hell again as The Blue Hearts went for No Love's castle as well, and Elf took over ours. Basically, Prontera had descended into anarchy. The server problems had messed up any chance of prepared defences, and now it was a free for all.
We took our castle back from Elf, but couldn't hold it when they returned with reinforcements. Slaughtered Saints were having trouble holding their castle too, and when it became clear we couldn't get our own back, our orders changed to assisting them. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful there as well. By the siege's end, only No Love had managed to regain their Prontera castle - the others were lost by their original owners, except for Valkyrie Realms 1, which Ordinatio Wasa still held.
So for the first time in 41 days, Shin Ravenloft was homeless.
But the events of that day had greater repercussions than the mere loss of our castle. Certain people in the guild fell out over a dispute regarding the siege, which resulted in one of them quitting Shin Ravenloft. A couple of others left to take a break from it all for a while. Our numbers are down and the atmosphere is subdued.
The plan is to take it easy for now and focus on helping our allies, as we did in the early days of the War of Emperium, before we acquired a castle of our own. That seems to be the best thing to do - we need to rest and heal, or else risk fracturing completely.
I don't mind - much as I love WOE, that last siege burned out something in me. It's a blow to lose our home, and it's a blow to see the guild going through such troubling times. Right now it feels like things will never be the same again. But we're still here, and somehow, I trust, we will find a way.
One chapter closes; another begins. And only time will tell if the golden age of Shin Ravenloft lies behind us or before us.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
- 'The Second Coming' by W B Yeats
RO. Last Sunday's siege.
And the last siege, perhaps, for a long time.
When I logged on, everyone else in the guild was gathered at the flower girl in Prontera. It turned out that the Prontera castle maps were down.
Ragnarok Online is hosted on a number of servers, all handling different maps. And the game has experienced server problems during past sieges, usually affecting the Geffen maps. This was the first time it had happened to Prontera, and there were many people sitting idly in town, unable to get to the Prontera castle maps. A significant number were logged on to their secondary characters, since their primary characters had been in the castles when the maps went down and were now stuck in limbo.
A couple of my guildmates decided to go skirmishing in Al De Baran, and since there was nothing else to do, I joined them. Unfortunately, once I was there I stepped in a warp leading to the Prontera castle maps, and the game froze on me. I had to log back in on my secondary character, my acolyte Sirius. Since there wasn't much I could now contribute to the fight, I returned to Prontera to hang out with those who were still there.
About a quarter of the way through the siege, the gamewide GM announcement flashed up - "The [Valkyrie Realms 3] castle has been conquered by the [Novae Inflammo] guild."
Hell, I thought, the maps must be back up. I switched back to Ash - or tried to. No go. Logging back in to Sirius, I found that everyone else had the same problem. The castle maps still seemed to be down.
So how come Novae Inflammo was there?
Debate ran hot. Rumour had it that some members of Novae Inflammo had been in the castle maps when they went down, but it was uncertain why they were able to remain logged in and active. It seemed vastly unjust that they could attack castles with impunity while the defenders were unable to do anything to stop them.
And then it happened again: "The [Valkyrie Realms 4] castle has been conquered by the [Novae Inflammo] guild."
Valkyrie Realms 4 had belonged to No Love, one of our allies, and also the guild who was holding the record for longest current occupation of a castle. For 76 days they had held against all comers, and now, just like that, their dream run was over.
I was outraged and disgusted. While I could be philosophical about the loss of our own castle - hell, it wasn't like it could get any more trashed - I was upset on No Love's behalf at the loss of their hard-earned record. A lot of people put in a lot of hours, week after week, to achieve that. And through Gravity's incompetence and Novae Inflammo's dishonourable actions, it was now gone.
When Novae Inflammo took Valkyrie Realms 5 - the castle of Slaughtered Saints, another ally of ours - that was when I snapped. I remember yelling things about having no respect for Novae Inflammo, and how they were so dead. I was furious.
Many others were unhappy too, particularly those from guilds who were meant to be defending a castle, but instead were forced to sit helplessly in town. Even those without castles said it was a low thing for Novae Inflammo to do, especially in going after so many castles at once.
Not everyone agreed - some said, "You'd do the same in their place, wouldn't you?" It's a hard question to answer. I know I wouldn't attack our allies, and I'd like to think that even with our enemies, I would realise it was dishonourable to attack when they couldn't defend. But the truth is sometimes you just don't know what you'll do in a situation unless you're there. Novae Inflammo were there. And they made their choice.
When Novae Inflammo went on to take Valkyrie Realms 2, the castle belonging to The Blue Hearts, no one was really surprised.
Since there was nothing else we could do, Leena offered to help me level in Glast Heim. But we weren't there for long before the word came through that the Prontera castle maps were up. I switched back to Ash and prepared for revenge.
In quick succession, we got our castles back - The Blue Hearts, Slaughtered Saints, and Shin Ravenloft. Then things went to hell again as The Blue Hearts went for No Love's castle as well, and Elf took over ours. Basically, Prontera had descended into anarchy. The server problems had messed up any chance of prepared defences, and now it was a free for all.
We took our castle back from Elf, but couldn't hold it when they returned with reinforcements. Slaughtered Saints were having trouble holding their castle too, and when it became clear we couldn't get our own back, our orders changed to assisting them. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful there as well. By the siege's end, only No Love had managed to regain their Prontera castle - the others were lost by their original owners, except for Valkyrie Realms 1, which Ordinatio Wasa still held.
So for the first time in 41 days, Shin Ravenloft was homeless.
But the events of that day had greater repercussions than the mere loss of our castle. Certain people in the guild fell out over a dispute regarding the siege, which resulted in one of them quitting Shin Ravenloft. A couple of others left to take a break from it all for a while. Our numbers are down and the atmosphere is subdued.
The plan is to take it easy for now and focus on helping our allies, as we did in the early days of the War of Emperium, before we acquired a castle of our own. That seems to be the best thing to do - we need to rest and heal, or else risk fracturing completely.
I don't mind - much as I love WOE, that last siege burned out something in me. It's a blow to lose our home, and it's a blow to see the guild going through such troubling times. Right now it feels like things will never be the same again. But we're still here, and somehow, I trust, we will find a way.
One chapter closes; another begins. And only time will tell if the golden age of Shin Ravenloft lies behind us or before us.
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 04:39 pm (UTC)But the guild really does need a break from castle defence for a while. With everyone getting busier and studying for exams and such (both US and Australian players), the whole guild really needed a break from it all.
Showing up twice a week to defend a pile of e-bricks does get really exhausting.
We'll be back.. hopefully with a Geffen or Payon fort and with the ruins of some high profile guild behind us (preferrably Elf) :3
no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 11:35 pm (UTC)Someday, though...
no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 12:38 am (UTC)Off topic but, if it was in China, ppl would have lodged a complaint against the company already. Since last year, there has been a couple legal cases related to the lost of virtual properties in network games. One guy sued a gaming company for the lost of some high level equipment due to theft. The company lost the case because they could not prove that their security system was perfect at the time the incident happened, and the court decided that though they were virtual properties, players' time, efforts and $$$ were spended to acquire them, therefore it's interchangable to real life values and is under the protection of the law. :P Decision was that the company must restore the items to the player's account and responsible for all the legal cost incurred. The company appealed, but I don't think they got anything reversed.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-26 12:07 am (UTC)We *will* return!
no subject
Date: 2004-04-29 05:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-29 08:56 am (UTC)Wow, a lot more people than I expected read the RO stuff. Glad you find it interesting. I'm feeling kinda calmer about the bug thing now - I was pretty pissed at the time (and Novae is still dead meat), but I can be more philosophical about it now.