All sorts of players have left Lusternia because they can't get involved in the other aspects of Lusternia, due to combat being all pervasive. This change just reinforces the attitude that PVP is all the game really is about despite the advertisements. Hell, Lendren can't even get a play going because PVP trumps all. Maybe if you actually played the game you would see more of what goes on.

Heck if you didn't mind paying the power you could still use the mechanic to raise your entire org to Demigod status. Raise to VA, strip VA, get 50% of the power back, next novice please. This change doesn't stop a damn thing other than slapping the people who earned VA through a means other than Top Tier combat in the face.

I had actually considered that as an option, yeah.

Just raise a person and then immediately strip VA from them.

Oh, I know macro balance is a near-lost cause at this point. But from an incentive standpoint, it's lovely. It means that future or current combatant who wants VA is "somewhat" less likely to just hop to the dominant org, and more likely to try for an org that isn't as strong.

I would "next novice that exits the portal of fate will be VA" just for the lulz.

Yes because being inactive a few months means I have no idea what Lusty is like, smartass. Trust me, I know and again, I can't say that I've seen waves of people leaving because their org was behind in theatre and literary achievements. Getting raided day in and day out, logging in to pure-grief can cause people to stop logging in, period. Lendren is still around and quite active, so I don't know why you're mentioning him. A lot of players have had various ceremonies and 'rp' activities interrupted due to a call to defend or whatever. Of course it's annoying but that's more of an issue with individual players that have little restraint. In summary, pvp'ers bring a lot more to their orgs and are inspiring when active and helpful. People like playing for the org that's beating everyone down.

Edit: Sorry for the continous derail, but when Celest was actually dominant, it rarely had less than 30 people logged in during peak. You'd notice however that during the eventual downwards spiral, you'd be lucky to see 20 or so. Orgs flourish when they have combatants carrying the weight.

Rather, aim for the organization with a VA that appears to be the easiest to displace.

Which very well could be in the strongest organization.

Remember that all orgs will be capped at 3, maaaaybe 4 VAs. That includes the weaker ones, too!

Glom's VAs could actually all be easily displaced except Sidd. Magnagora's, maybe Thoros could be. Serenwilde, all could be. Celest has a few free slots, but once they catch up...

(Hey Iasmos, how long do you think you can hold onto VA once you get it?)

Not many people that would 'benefit' from this talking (As in, people who play Celestians).

I don't like this, I think it's unfair on people who have VA already for RP reasons and horridly unfair on newer people or the people currently aspiring to get VA.

There are PLENTY of other options, too, my current favourite is the 'raising each new ascendant costs more', but here's another: Currently holding a Domoth for your City or Forest generates power, what if we reverse this for ascendants? We make it so if an ascendant holds a domoth for their faction then the faction loses power and this goes up exponentially with each ascendant that has held a Domoth in, say, the last 10 IG years. This way people are 'punished' for having active ascendants but not for having RP ones, or old ones.

You could add differant spins on this if you're worried about Glom raising many ascendants and only have one or two go for Domoths, for instance raiding ethereal/elemental/cosmic will mark you in a similar way to having had held a domoth in the last 10 IG years, or something like that.

I can see the need for this, but I agree that it seems unfair for existing vernals

Also dislike how it discourages ascending people for RP reasons.

This.

Honestly, this sounds like an outgrowth of "We have too many demigods" because if Vernal didn't give demigod, it would be Fearaura and Aegis and cults. Maybe I'm underestimating aura and aegis, but if it didn't give demi how much would it actually affect combat? It's a bunch of RP married to a nice pvp buff, and the pvp buff seems to be bringing the whole package down.

I can't see how reducing the number of VA's will suddenly reduce the number of fighters in the big bad glomzerg.

If anything, now I'm more inclined to just raise all our fighters, strip them of VA, then bam, all good. All this change does is give orgs a way to make someone a demi for 500k power.

Seriously, screw aetherbashing. Nexus bash them to Demi! In fact I would sell demigod to anyone who can gather 500k power (themselves or in a group).

This is true.

Agreed. So now instead of working towards actually earning Ascendant, we just have to collect 500k power in order to bring in another Demi.

Never under estimate the power of pissed off players to find a loophole.

Okay, this made me grin.

Market Selling Demigod - You or a group, that supports you, put in 500,000 power to the Gaudiguch nexus and donate 250,000 gold and we will make you VA for a day.

Ah, but I never said that at all. I'm fully aware that anything approximating macro level balancing is utterly F-bombed for the forseeable future, and this change, or anything of the nature isn't going to change that. If I could convincingly tout otherwise, I should be running for office, instead of whittling my life away on a text game.

But, what it will do, in the long run, is provide just a smidge of an incentive for spreading out. This is not a bad thing.

And again, no to grandfathering. It's a silly thing that circumvents the better part of the purpose.


As for the demi-machine argument, the admin could always say "don't do that". And anyone who enjoys not having their ire would say "ok". Unless they want that. Then they would say "whatever". And people would do as they will. Demi is sort of the requisite at this point anyway.

Again, how does it give an incentive for spreading out? When the orgs are at 3 apiece, it's all replacement. Replace the VA in the org you want to be in, tada.

Also, when we strip 4 people of VA, that's 2 million power right there.

We can use that 2 million power to immediately raise 2 VAs.

Then strip both of them for 1 million more power.

... and raise a third VA.

Strip it for 500,000 power.

3 free instant demigods, PLUS a gain of 500,000 power.