I need to get this off my chest...

[Magus]

I don't think people really understand what's at stake with the LAW vs NB assault. If Babylon loses, everything they've worked so hard to create, months of work, thousands of words of writing, will be all for naught. I mean, it's clear LAW wants to wipe them out, or at least do a significant dent in them. When Sasuke left the fight out of stress, he was abandoning everything he's worked so very hard for entirely out of OOC reasons. Hell, he's risking getting his character branded as a traitor or a coward. Sure you can argue that could be an interesting storyline, but does anyone care if he WANTS to tell that story? I mean, he was the biggest innovator of the NB storyline for a while there. I'm pretty sure he had long term plans he's leaving behind.

Some say this is a PVP site, I quite disagree. We have PVP rules, but they are near the bottom for a reason. New members aren't required to know the combat rules at the start for a reason. Roleplaying comes first. The rules of conduct come first.

People may argue that Thaal's metagaming was justified because they would use the foreknowledge to get some more allies to fight with them, well WHO GIVES A FLYING SHIT?! They're fighting for everything they've worked so hard for, have a little bit more empathy for their goddamn story a little maybe? We're not playing stratego here; no matter what IC reason people may have, you're still stomping all over people's hard work and all I ask is people have a little more respect for that.

You make some good points, Guu, but I disagree with you on a couple of fundamental ones. I think people know perfectly well what's at stake. That is literally the point of a base assault, isn't it? To wipe out your opponent? Or at the very least, to set them back.

Also, it's a little tiring to keep hearing 'metagaming' being used in reference to 'surprise attack.'

Without getting into the minutae again (seriously, it's all been talked to death) there's nothing meta about planning a surprise attack unless the character isn't someone who'd do that - and Thall is a cold, calculating man perfectly capable of capitalizing on an opponent's weakness, up to and including quietly massing an army. Doing 'the polite thing' and warning players OOC that it was coming would be metagaming.

I'm not about to make a judgement about if it's the way we want to go or not - I'm not on staff and can't make that call - but given the current ruleset, we need to accept that this is happening and will continue to happen, and that it's weird to demonize a group in spite of playing within the mechanics of the game we all signed up for.

And all is not lost for NB either. This is their chance to pull off a clutch play; who knows? Maybe the LAW overreached and is about to get the smackdown of the century?

Either way, currently, NB and the LAW are the stars of the Omniverse - all eyes on them. That's pretty cool, isn't it? And I think the players on either side of the conflict are strong enough writers to overcome any obstacle, including defeat.