Yes that's what make Siege great, we do have a lot helpful players. It's funny to hear crafters ask, "Any VvV on, who can come kill me?"
Yes on normal shards, that's all fine, but on Siege, it's a little different, as new players and returning players like to start in Britain, Trinsic or Vesper. They don't know what goes on and if on Trial account, they can't use GC and ask for help.
I really believe we need short timer for this flaging.
I've been reluctant to say anything about the VvV system and how it might affect Siege because I just don't play there that much anymore, even though I've kept my houses up and do log in almost daily some weeks just to do some minor puttering around.
It seems to me that these are the activities that VvV has the potential to affect in a bad way on various shards, especially if the people doing these things are not conscious of the system being in effect, which is the case for a lot of people who have been actively playing but haven't put in a lot of time to stay on top of publish notes and player postings here and elsewhere and even more so people who have been away for any length of time and who just come back and plunge into things:
- Stealing refinement components in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew. What a mess if you just stole one and can't leave town by recalling/gating because you're flagged for stealing.
- Getting and turning in BODs and bribing smith/tailor NPCs for better BODs in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew. Note that some people turn in BODs in specific towns that are part of the governor system in order to gain in loyalty in the city in order to be able to run for office, vote in elections, and/or purchase city banners.
- Applying armor refinements at one of the designated NPC tailor, smith, or carpenter shops. (Note: On Siege, for blacksmithing refinements, you can go to Cove which isn't a VvV city. However, for tailor refinements you go to Occlo and for carpenter refinements you go to Yew.)
- Doing the new merchant quests if your origin or destination city is Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew or if you want to give the goods to Slim the Fence in Occlo.
- Escorting NPCs for compassion gains. If you accept one of the quests without knowing that the destination city is in or going to be in a battle, you would have to cancel the quest and wait 5 minutes to even attempt to find another NPC going to a different city.
- Turning in lost items for honesty gains in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew. People who use Forensic Evaluation skill to more precisely determine where to return the lost item get larger honesty gains, which helps them lower their NPC purchase expenses.
- Receiving or turning in fish monger quests in Britain, Jhelom, Moonglow, Skara Brae, or Trinsic.
- Starting/ending the Naturalist quest for rare-colored seeds in either Britain, Jhelom, or Occlo.
- Visiting NPCs in Occlo, Vesper, Britain, Jhelom, and Trinsic as part of doing the Collector's Quest.
- Doing the quest to contribute to the Britain Public Library or the Last Words quest for a strong box.
- Doing either of the quests to gain access to the Citadel or get the quest item from Travesty for a strongbox.
- Doing the Vile Poison quest to be able to make bone machetes to enter Blighted Grove. (You have to go to Jhelom to visit Iosep the Exporter.)
- Visiting Pepta the Royal Taste Tester in Britain to do her quest for Pepta's Satiety Cure .
- Visiting Patricus the Trader on the Trinsic docks as part of the quest to become human again.
- Doing any one of the three bard mastery quests with NPCs at the Conservatory in Britain.
- Visiting Britain, Vesper, and Jhelom as part of the Lost in Transit quest.
- Doing the Guilty quest starting with Natalie in Skara Brae.
- Doing the Unfading Memories quest starting with Emilio the Tortured Artist in Britain.
- Doing the Ghost of Covetous quest starting with Ben the Apprentice Necromancer in Minoc and ending with Andros the Blacksmith in Minoc.
- Doing the Aemaeth quest that uses NPCs in Jhelom (Aurelia and the Skeleton of Szandor).
- Doing the Doughty Warriors quest that uses the Kane Master of Arms NPC in Trinsic.
- Doing the Honest Beggar quest that uses the Evan the Beggar and Regina the Noble NPCs in Britain.
- Doing the Honor of the DeBoors quest that uses the Derek the Merchant and Jack the Loan Shark NPCs in Trinsic.
- Visiting Trinsic, Britain, Skara Brae, Minoc, Occlo/Haven as part of the quest to get the Cloak of Humility to complete the Virtue Armor suit.
- Visiting Trinsic, Britain, Jhelom (among many other places) to finish the Exploring the Deep quest.
- If the turkey nest event makes a return, visiting that ornithologist NPC in Jhelom. (Not quite sure I got that right, but I know he's in Jhelom!)
- Using the inns in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew.
- Using the banks in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew.
- Using the stables in Britain, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew.
- Using the fighting pit in Jhelom to train a character.
- Using the arcane circle at the West Britain Bank to get a level 6 spellweaving focus.
- Buying from (or, other than Siege/Mugen, selling to) the NPCs in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew.
- Visiting a mage guildmaster to pay to have Mage Armor property added to or removed from an item. (You can only find mage guildmasters at some magery shops. Have not yet researched where you can find all of them.)
- Donating to the Britain Public Library for items.
- Begging from or asking for Halloween treats from NPCs in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew.
- Entering/exiting Heartwood in Yew to do crafting or other types of quests (e.g., quest to access Twisted Weald) or to beg for the items that are only available from the elves.
- Visiting the town stone in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew to set your trade deal buff.
- Dropping items in the trade minister's box in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew or dropping off pets at the trade minister's hitching post to build up town loyalty.
- Purchasing a banner from the trade minister in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew .
- Donating gold to the town finances in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew .
- If you are a citizen of Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew, using a ballot box that the governor of the town placed at the town stone.
- Reading the governors' message board in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew .
- If you're a town governor in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew, meeting with citizens to give them a title.
- If you're a town governor Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew, holding a player-run event in your town.
- Passing through Occlo to get to the arena.
- Visiting the EM Hall in Britain on Siege (not sure where it is on Mugen).
- Visiting Blackthorn's Castle if you don't recall into the dungeon via a corrupted portal and then walk up to the castle level.
- Attending an EM event held in Britain, Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Occlo, Skara Brae, Trinsic, or Yew
I have a friend who is trying to come back and play during the RtB promotion. She has a character on Siege that is logged out at one of the inns in a town that is part of the VvV system. I've told her let's not even bother with Siege right now because with our luck, we'll be trying to get her out of there and safely to a house when the battle will kick off in that town and we'll both end up orange. It's just not worth the hassle to try to play there under those conditions. I have to wonder how many other people are telling friends the same thing right now.
I hope it can be worked out I know I'm leery of playing on Siege at this point because of the implications of being unwillingly drawn into VvV. I have no intention of interfering in VvV fights and I don't think anyone else in my guild does either. But we now have to think even more carefully about spending time there and doing things away from our houses.
And again, I really wasn't going to say anything and was hoping the dust would settle a bit and things would work out. But it's definitely been on my mind because it really feels like now Siege is a place I really don't want to spend much time on and maybe it's time to just pack as much as possible in the bank there and walk away because I don't want anything to do with VvV on Siege. I play a crafter and do PvM to support the crafting and that's it. PvPing there isn't even in my sights and most likely never will be.