[mefdinkins]

Think of it as... there's a bunch of 'golden rules.' Don't train each other, don't interfere with the other guild. The rules change, sometimes a practice that is okay gets changed with an explicit rule or after a suspension which invoked a unique interpretation of the rule. The game is incredibly complex and parties min/max so sometimes absurd tactics become the regular practice. Microsecond advantages like Alt+Tabbing or WandCorpsePreTargeting become the norm and CSR re-actively make policy adjustments affecting players engaging in these behaviors.

Beyond that, you have to be relatively experienced to understand all the in game mechanics. Both Awakened and AM have practice servers where you can learn how to pull in TOV and test out aggro and other in game mechanics. Despite all this, a player peaking his head around a corner or /Q'ing in the wrong spot can kill a whole raid. People say it's the leaders but it's the level of competition and desire for self preservation that leads to the top raid entities for getting very close to the line and pushing each other towards or over the line at every opportunity. This isn't a game where you can watch an instant replay in slow motion and see exactly everything as it unfolded. Raiders record their pulls, people dissect what happened, question where mobs came from and where they were going - then often make split second decisions on whether a potential violation occurred and how to rectify that violation. This often happens when one guild is actively raiding and the other is actively Sherlock Holmes'ing the evidence to see if a potential violation occurred.

Just this past week I'm sure that Am/Aw engaged in 'negotiations' and discussions over the rules being followed on Lord Feshlak, Vulak, Lady M, and Yelinak. I'm sure there was a few other instances that led to the parties engaging each other saying, "wtf happened" or "are you really going to kill that?" or the famous "comcede" shouts. The stakes are generally pretty high in these scenarios but you do not want to risk being wrong or get taken advantage of.

Many of the rules have been changed/created in an arbitrary manner. I'm not bashing staff, I am an attorney and I believe a lot of rules and laws are arbitrary. The GMs have more important things to deal with and there's not a great working relationship between Aw/Am. The standards for what is right or wrong constantly change. Before, you could resolve an issue by conceding a mob - yet Aw was suspended in an unprecedented ruling for training CSG despite the fact that the mob they interfered with and trained were both conceded. Aftermath was suspended for not tracking CSG's mobs. Do you think AM would have sent one message with a spawn time if they had any inclination their behavior could be interpreted as violating server rules?

If you look at the nature of the in game mechanics and the level of competition. You would see that people with the purest intentions are still very at risk of violating the rules. Aw/Am are smart enough to realize it's better to raid for 30/40 days than kill a single Vulak.

So please recognize that the nature of EQ on P99, the level of competition, the mechanics of the game, the ever adjusting rule set, and the enforcers of the rules then tell me you can't comprehend how a guild could violate the rules unintentionally.