It isn't often that I make threads like this. The last time I invested myself so heavily in Discovery as a player to write such a thing was probably back in 2015. Maybe earlier. I want to reiterate what I just said, that I'm typing this as a player, not a developer.
I was present, at the Great Hunt event, as one of you. I did act as a liaison between staff and players on our team, much as I assume @Victor Steiner did on the Bretonian side. I'm not disappointed because anyone played dirty, ganked anyone, didn't follow the rules, et cetera. I'm disappointed because both sides had given up before the event was even run. I'm disappointed because I witnessed both parties today allow their actions to be defined by a predetermined decision that everyone was out to get them, nothing mattered, and that it isn't even worth it to try.
In the first phase of the event, we witnessed Bretonia swoop up the pod in a surprise kill a tractor it in. Up until this point, things were going pretty well. When the tables turned, I dropped PMs to the staff letting them know that there was essentially no chance for a random outcome if the people attempting to chase the pod were continually disrupted. When this happened, I witnessed nearly every person on the Gallic side resign themselves to defeat, a few even logging off, accusations of bias, and that the team generally didn't care about Gallia. Now although I could understand that, given that it was nigh impossible to cruise back up to the pod carrier to attempt to cap it back (I'm told the pod carrier, Y'berg, also cruised, but I have no proof of such).
I could understand it, but I didn't much care for it. I didn't care for it because the proper, levelheaded thing to do, would be to come at it with a clear head because, my god people, we're playing a videogame here. It was a loss, and it wasn't much fun, but that's hardly the end of the world. The fact that the people I was playing with were so grief stricken over the whole ordeal was not comfortable, at all. Nobody wanted to make an effort to improve things, they just wanted to be upset.
Despite the accusations of bias, devtonia, et cetera, we had a redo, wherein the staff, in a timely manner, went on to correct every major, visible issue plaguing the event. On the spot. No more disrupting the attackers, no cruising, calling for sides to be balanced, and a thirty second delay when the pod changed hands. I even took it upon myself to tractor the pod and not immediately run for the Dublin hole, instead choosing to dodge for a good ten minutes or so. Right about then I noticed something alarm. Bretonians were dying, but despite them having the numbers, and it being a respawn event, nobody was coming back.
I decided to hand the pod to someone who I knew was a significantly worse pilot than myself, who was then able to thrust all the way from Poole to the Carillon in Dublin with a mere three fighters chasing him, which were quickly dispatched. Bretonia had more players, and was able to cruise up unimpeded, but didn't even make an effort until the last second and even then with only a fraction of their forces. I don't need to read minds to know that much the same thing was happening on the Bretonian side as I saw on the Gallic side earlier. People quit. People, I'm sure, were distraught and enraged over the 'loss' that had been 'forced' upon them when an attempt was made to rerun the event to be more fun for all parties involved.
Why?
I want to know how and why someone can be so incensed and defeated over being given a level playing field. We've held a number of these story events so far and never once in old Admin team style have I faulted the players. We as a team have always been more than willing to take responsibility for our mistakes and work to better ourselves through them. There was an effort made to correct issues on the spot in a timely and professional manner, and I think our team, who I was not representing at the time, did a damn good job of it. This one? This one isn't on them.
I didn't see that same effort from either team today. Not the one I played with, and not the one I played against. And that, I don't think, is a good state of affairs.
