Simply Dominion

To begin with, I am certainly not the right person to be addressing Yakisoba's blog entry "The politics of Cervantes" which is essentially all about Dominion. However, I am writing on behalf of Wussking and Lezard, both of whom I know very well in person.

I would have preferred to maintain silence on this issue (since Tsubaki mentioned that the entry is written strictly from their point of view), if not for the fact that there are elements of personal attacks in it, coupled with a flaming war going on in the forum. I would like to ask all Dominions to not partake in this flaming, and allow me to address the issue here. My take on this may not represent all of the Dominions, but, I hope that it is enough to stop this whole hoo-ha.

1. History regarding the ‘Dominion vs Yakisoba’ War.

I do not have any recollection of Dominion openly declaring ourselves to be Yakisoba's rivals (I use the word rival in one of my entry earlier simply because Tsubaki mentioned it in his entry). The statement is debatable but it is definitely unfair to paint Dominion as the aggressor when in fact, we never have intention to be one. We simply do not wish for the Cervantes to be dominated by one faction, and works towards gaining a healthy playing ground for all, be it friends or foes.

2. On Wussking's ban.

To set the record straight and to stop all speculations on what happened to Wussking, he was indeed banned. Strangely though, Yakisoba's members came to know about it way before Dominion's members did. I would not question where they get this information from, but would rather address what really happened that resulted in his ban. Wussking did not bot and his only mistake come from using a gaming keyboard which xtrap did not has any issue with. He did not bypass xtrap intentionally, like what some has speculated. He has, in fact, only 1 level 100 character when he got banned from suspected botting. Straight after he got banned, he sent ticket(s) to IAH to investigate his case. He maintained his silence even to Dominion's member to prevent the faction from getting flustered by his ban. But nevertheless, Yakisoba caught wind of it, and use it to their best advantage.

This is perhaps only known in our faction, but a week after his ban, Wussking came back and resume duties as the leader (not in name). Even though his ban got him thinking about quitting for good, he did not take the easy way out. Instead, he picked himself up and came back to start from square one. I will not tolerate any personal insults on him, and no one has the right to judge him if they do not know him personally.

3. Dominion's series of abuses.

It is indeed not possible to transfer leadership by normal means. But Dominion did not go through any illegal means to get this done. We simply submitted a ticket to IAH, stating our valid reasons, and requested for the change of leadership. With Wussking's ban, we were unable to truce any factions that warred us. It was simply done out of necessity. If IAH has refuse to assist us, we would have opt for another option; re-creating a faction. We did not, ever contacted any GM and ask for special favors. GMs only manage the game, and they are probably not the decision makers. I, for one, did not understand what Tsubaki was trying to hint at.

I must admit that Dominion did abuse the bug that allowed us to transfer members without the 7-day penalty. I was not in favor of exploiting this bug, but the abuse from Yakisoba got so bad that half the time we were trying to fend them off. They took advantage of their 65% HP boost and went around hunting and killing Dominion's members, especially those that were doing afk-leveling. We have already admitted our defeat and requested for a truce. They did not grant it to us, and simply use it to their advantage. Yet, our policy has always been to maintain our relationships cordial. We were repeatably reminded not to kill on sight, unless provoked, which happened almost one hundred percent of the time. Then again, I would like to thank some of the Yakisoba's members, who kindly left us alone. On hindsight, the so-called ‘faction bug’ might not even be a bug at all since it has been known to many and I am sure IAH would have solved the issue or rectified it if they wanted the bug removed.

4. On Boss Raids against Dominion.

It is a known fact that Yakisoba monopolized bosses to prevent other factions from getting uniques and elites for their level 100s. You can refute me on this, but I have evidence to show otherwise. Tsubaki had also conveniently forgotten that they had 65% HP boost advantage for a week, which allowed them to kill on sight and to gain full access to the bosses.

5. Colony war 290607 and 050807.

Dominion had a BBQ session on 290607, which saw us ending the war with 0 colony. It was a crushing defeat, and those who attended the BBQ felt so bad, most left with a heavy heart. We logged in towards the end of the war to check the status and to witness insults being broadcasted. The attacks on us worsen our guilt of not attending the war.

This might have prompted the leaders to take a more drastic course of action for 050807 colony war. I was not involved in planning for the war, thus I am unable to reveal what prompted the ally and friends to work together. But many a times, what you reap is what you sow. I will not and do not wish to bad-mouth against any group but would like to put a simple point across in retrospect of what has happened. If what you have done thus far had been respectable in the eyes of others, we wouldn’t be witnessing such a situation of today.

6. The use of a Factionless member for resurrection purposes.

We did not rely on the use of a faction-less player to focus on resurrecting our members, it just so happened that the said player was paying the penalty of leaving a faction, but wanted to help out in the war. That is certainly not exploitation of any bug whatsoever. Simply a strategy that is very much part of the game.

7. Conclusions.

Dominion's main priority in game is to have fun, especially among friends, as simple as that. :)