I wanted to take some time to clarify things a bit more. Estarra and I both understand that the recent bugfixes to retirement are not easy to take. It is certainly not our intention to cause frustration or upset anyone. I'm not posting with any intention of changing your feelings about the change but only so that you can at least understand why the changes were made.

Part of the lack of communication is due to an explicit directive of IRE to not discuss how retirement values are calculated. This has obviously backfired in this situation because had the calculations been public knowledge, both the aethergoop and the other major error fixes likely would have been caught shortly after implementation. That doesn't make it easier to swallow, I know, but unfortunately, there is nothing we can do at this time to change this.

As pointed out to me, our HELP RETIRE states that roughly 50% of your skills, credits, and artifacts count towards retirement. The other major issue that was fixed was that 100% of your artifact values were being counted towards retirement. We've corrected that. That change is what is likely resulting in the biggest decrease in value.

Again, we understand that this is a bummer and is disappointing to you. It doesn't bring us any joy or pleasure to have made these changes. Hopefully, you at least understand the reason for the changes.

Penned by My hand on the 17th of Urlachmar, in the year 521 CE.