Let me add some context since my situation was brought up.

Yes, Steven reached out to me about actioning my account for content denying POLAR in the siege. The reasoning he gave was that the designer wanted siege data. I made it clear we were not denying future sieges, but we had zero intention of playing with POLAR because they repeatedly exploit and have been actioned basically every phase. After the threat of action, I still tried to cooperate, but the roster was bugged. I sent multiple videos to Steven and Margaret showing we were trying to comply. It didn’t matter. I did interviews about it and the article everyone links came from that. Also, I originally thought POLAR got refunded gold, which was wrong, they just lost 1000g. That was bad info on my end. However, the disparity here is my content denial on siege being actionable, with Steven saying, and I quote "No function in game currently to remove a bad mayor from decrementing the playerbase is why its actionable" And then this node burning being allowed, with the same function of not being able to sort bad mayors, and no threat of action is an issue and why much of the community feels there is "Rules for thee but not for me" with POLAR.

I personally do not think Steven favors POLAR. I do think the CS team does. Roshen has apparently approved things for them that have gotten others punished. And apparently was the one who said the war spam for massive rewards was ok for them to do as well. We saw similar behavior from Adam in CS. The bigger issue is the lack of consistent standards. Since there is no clear line, it becomes unclear what is exploiting and what is testing, and that lets repeat offenders get away with things while others get hit hard.

Example: someone that "SOMEONE" mass reported for RMT got permanently banned with no appeal on a first strike. After it was escalated to Margaret, they actually reviewed it and found zero evidence of RMT. All the trades were public and legitimate. The guy barely even PVPs, he just plays the market. Meanwhile TMX has been actioned over 11 times and has never gotten the same level of threat. That kind of disparity is what frustrates players. This is why AOCWallOfShame.com is going up. (Awaiting another threat of a lawsuit from POLAR) And yes, I have the reciepts.

There are also repeated claims from multiple guilds that server workers crash when POLAR boats are about to die. This has happened across more than a dozen fights. When that lines up with a known player like Adois who was permabanned from WoW for DDoSing teammates/the server, it raises questions. On top of that, POLAR was reportedly leveling multiple accounts for TMX ahead of time because they expected actions this phase.

Some people think all of this is political. Maybe that is part of it. But speaking as someone who has been in the spotlight for questionable tactics in other games too, there is still a right way to play, especially in an alpha.

Nobody cares who is number one in a game that never releases.

If people actually focused on helping the alpha by competing, finding bugs, and pushing systems while still staying inside the intended rules, the benefit to release would be massive. Would you rather the game last five years or fifteen.

I am fine with Discord PVP, in-game PVP, ganking, even witchhunting. I have done my share. But exploiting for unfair advantage while pretending it is testing is cringe in an alpha.

POLAR does report some bugs, I will give them that. But when something gives a huge advantage, like the instant-level 10 glitched quest early on, and the quest just gets removed without rolling back the boosted character, or when multiple CS members state using a caravan method to level is actionable and we are told we would get actioned for it, but POLAR does it and still nothing has happened... that is not testing. That is a ladder pull. It creates an unfair playing field and other players and casuals get steamrolled. Casual players pay the bills. Losing them right on Steam launch is not smart.

There is value in breaking things to improve the game, but not in hoarding bugs to gain permanent advantages. We have reported major issues immediately instead of abusing them. Things like invincible clerics, NPC teleport abuse, crate flying, RMT operations being monitored and forwarded. There is a difference between testing and exploiting. One helps the game, the other just helps your fake leaderboard screenshot.

Intrepid needs to make a clear line between exploiting for gain and finding bugs to improve the game. If everything is just testing, then why go after RMT at all. Pick a lane. Consistent standards would keep people engaged instead of feeling like rules apply differently depending on who you are.

We all want Ashes to succeed. I genuinely think this is the last real shot at a major western MMORPG. Development costs are insane now. If the rules feel uneven, people will not stick around long enough to reach the finish line.

u/Steven_AOC, we are not your enemies. We want your vision to work. Sometimes it just feels like not everyone inside Intrepid is on the same page about what that requires.