Not even sure why the Devs put up with all this

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

Classic could be a real bitch. I know Quellious, my old server, went through phases of domination and then dethroning. And really, what can you do about a zerg guild? Zerg is zerg. The only tactic has *always* been to figur out a way of knocking from their cheaply purchased perch. Either via a temporary dethroning alliance (how we did it on Quellious) or shunning them until people no longer really want to join them.

As to loot rules, again, TMO seems to enjoy taking every bad idea from classic and making that it's SOP. For the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would want to join a "loot council" guild. I have never seen one that can't be traced to extensive, and humiating, demends for cyber on demand in exchange for a spot on the award list. But maybe that is what turns the people in TMO on. Maybe they like to cyber fellate an officer in order to get their pixels. I don't judge. Life is full of mystery and wonder.

But these are not anything that should bother you. There are so many kinds of players on this server. You say you just started; I would wait till you get to the point you want to raid before I got too worried.

As to what a gm can do? That is tough. The things you mention are all issues that happened in classic. But I would say, the GM's have a right to make the server as dynamic and chaotic as they want. The "veteran players" say they will leave, but they won't. Not in any significant number. In any event, who would care if they did? So what? They are just farming at this point anyway, they are not contributing to the community in any way. What is needed is more new players. And that would be the argument for radical end-game solutions.

I have never understood why GM's didn't become more of a pain in the neck to zerging, loot counciling, cyber demanding guilds. Take control of a NPC. Give it an ae rampage. Give it a damage shield that casts an ae gate spell. Have some fun. The Lords of P99 will whine, but that is how they play the refs, and is just a bunch of nothing. They will fight on.

Messing with top guilds *is* classic. Before SOE demanded that # subs > anything else, GM's used to fuck with guilds that got too comfortable with their routines. Just randomly port groups to Odus always worked pretty well. Oh, and put a npc with an instan recast DT in the fire pot room. That one always is good for a laugh and a few deleveled zergers.