Aotearas

I'll have you know that the provided picture is of chinese cultural influence, not japanese. The dress depicted in the image in particular is an easy giveaway as it's a Cheongsam (also known as qípáo), a traditional dress originating from China. In addition, the phoenix is a prominent symbol of chinese folklore and whilst also used in japanese folklore (no wonder due to the long history of cultural exchange when China was the dominant culture in east asia) is much less prominent. A proper japanese-themed image would be something like this (and the troubles I go through lecturing the uninitiated is truly something to be appreciated here, I'm searching through MLP fanart ffs): Depicting humanized versions of the show characters in traditional yukata garbs. Or alternatively, something drawn in a traditional japanese art style like Sumi-e: Here shown having drawn inspiration heavily drawn from the videogame "Ookami" (whose entire art and graphic design is done in sumi-e). A game which by the way (and this is the second reason why I even bothered looking through MLP fanart) is getting a HD remaster to be released on Steam early December this year (three or so weeks) for 20 bucks and is a game that is well and truly worth the money (a steal for what you're getting, even if you aren't hardcore into japanese folklore the game is great, hell the soundtrack alone is worth shelling that money out!!!) if you like action-adventure games such as "The Legend of Zelda" (really, think Ookami as in Zelda, just with japanese folklore instead of Hyrule). So, there you go: the more you know and buy Ookami. /lecturemode

Part #2: The Hindenburg is very, very quickly growing into my most liked tier X cruiser. Just plain reliable and the joy tingling through your loins when you see a broadside is to be felt to be believed! Didn't even shoot a single HE shell in that game, much to the chargrin of that poor Khaba. And the finishing touch: Kraken numero due. Best light cruiser in the game! Also a little division highlight as we killed ten enemy ships between the three of us and if it weren't for a last second kill from the Atago we would've accounted for ALL our team's kills just among our division. xaxaxa

How do we know that's really you MrConway and not a group of hamsters wearing your skin in office using a stolen password to infiltrate the community? Especially after the rundown we just recieved from Tuccy!? Tell us something only you would know! Also, why can't I like Tuccy's comment? Is this all part of the hamsters' agenda to divide and conquer the community? Is it already happened?!?

Had plenty great games today, so I'll have to split the report a bit ... here part #1: I have no business liking this ship as much as I do (though apparently I'm ranked #7 on the EU server for this particular ship and almost all my games in her are solo), but I actually enjoy this little party boat. So as I bring her around on another merry round of seal-*cough* checking out the daily win and a slow, comfortable start for the gaming session at low tiers -> *BAMM* Kraken. Onto the next cheeky bit of fun: Another ship that I just adore. This little firespitter is just pure fun to play. Would've been a Kraken too if the game didn't suddenly freeze-up midgame just when I had the perfect position to kill several ships and secure the Kraken, forcing me to kill the game via Taskmanager and log back in. Thankfully a fire set on the closest BB killed it and the other ships were far enough away that I must've gotten unspotted again, because miraculously I actually returned to a still floating ship. Actually had another chance at the Kraken since the enemy Atlanta, in a move possibly only appreciated in the porno-industry if you catch my drift, fled to the furthest corner of the map he could find after he lost a good chunk of his HP (whilst I had to actually move right into the teeth of 3 BBs, a DD and a cruiser to desperately defend our base, talk about a difference in attitude ...) and I had just about caught up to firing range before the game would end and started raining shells, but literally at the last second our Colorado snatched that kill away. Not mad about it though, since I had actually asked my divisionmate in the CV not spot him until I get in range so I could get the fifth kill ... hence I wouldn't really have much right to get miffed at the Colorado getting the frag. Still would've been a nice way to finish the game. Part #2 coming up whenever the forum decides to no longer throw a hissy-fit I suppose.

No word back from @MrConway yet. I fear the hamsters have rebelled against the starving conditions and eaten all WG staff sent to investigate. Sadly I barely knew ye so can't really provide much in the way of an appreciable eulogy in the wake of his untimely demise ... do any of his colleagues @Kandly or @Tuccy would want to say a thing? Maybe an embarrasing office story to remember him by?

No doubloons discount on De Grasse for whatever reason, premium time discount not available for doubloons ... guess I can keep my doubloons for now. Also, and this is so typical WG EU, I completed the Black Friday mission "A Bit Of Profitable Finances" long before it was even announced on the portal.

Same here, I apologize everytime I detonate someone. At least there's one thing I can be ahppy about WG making such a mess of the clan battles. With zero motivation to play that sharade, I no longer have to hog my Juliet Charlies and put them on all my DDs. It's refreshing to play my Khabarovsk without getting detonated for a change.

Any news from the IT front?

Someone should tell those peeps that just because we can't see their windows, we ain't stopping licking around until we find one.

Or: How Wargaming didn't get my doubloons. So, having seen the new deals on the premium shop, I was oggling that 90 days of premium time with the 15% discount. Considering I have plenty doubloons sitting around and my premium time from the super container I had a bit over a week ago is going to run out in a couple days, I thought I might aswell go for it ... ... only to find that the offer doesn't exist for purchase with doubloons, only via real currency. Now, considering I don't exactly feel like throwing money at Wargaming given how dissappointed I am with a good couple of WG decisions as of late, I have resigned to only spending whatever doubloons I have left (since WG already has the money for those in their bank accounts, might aswell use it), but NOT giving them additional money until I see WG doing something to fix the issues that I'm having with the game (and frankly WG's gameplan, so tough luck for me here, but we digress). In short: I'll hold onto my doubloons for now. I know WG won't care much since they technically already have all that money, so consider it another notch on my WG naughty list. If WG wants make that naughty list shorter, I have a simple suggestion: Make every basic bundle (premium time, signal flags, camouflages, ships) you're selling in the premium shop also available for purchase with the equal value in doubloons.

Another funny thing: a couple premium ships are discounted for purchase with doubloons via the techtree (completely unannounced of course, 'cuz WG), but the equivalent ships for purchase in the premium shop with real currency are NOT discounted. What gives WG?

Fake News. It's not German, thus it has to be a fabrication. QED

Funny you mention that. I just checked to see if the De Grasse is discounted, but apparently not. The Dunkerque however is ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm just waiting for the NA offers to show up, fully expecting that.

Imo as long as they keep it to one simple message I have no issues ignoring it. If they start spamming the chat, then they get a report for misbehaviour in chat (we have a recruitment forum for that stuff after all). Funnily enough, I've only ever seen German clans do that so far (in this game that is)

I have suggested a community peer review for reports a couple times beforehand, not unlike say what CS:GO Overwatch does. Players could sign up for the program and be given anonymized replays along with a brief summary of the alleged transgression (would require reports to actual contain such) from reports to see if anything worth reporting happened (misbehaviour in chat, teamkilling, griefing) and make a make a recommendation on if the report is legit or a false report, which would then get passed on to WG support to determine any necessary penalty, or perhaps WG could simply make it a multiple choice option to recommend say: false report, no penalty, warning, penalty (with penalty severity increased incrementally for repeat offenders). The program would incentivize players by giving out weekly or monthly rewards, but also requires players to fulfil a quota of reviews (no simply signing up and getting rewards for zero effort). People who judge those reports correctly more often than not get promoted to a higher reward tier (the more correctly you judge, the more rewards you get from the program and the more anonymized reviews you get to judge (also allowing you to raise in status even faster for more rewards)). Reports from those participants also get higher priority so they're handled faster. People who judge reports wrong more often than not get demoted to a lower reward tier or ultimately removed from the program. Reports that have been determined as false reports result in penalties to the player who sent the false report (repeat offenders can get their accounts suspended and ultimately banned if they can't take the hint).

Reminds me how yesterday someone else was accused of cheating because he detonated someone despite the victim (supposedly) using the anti-detonation signal flag.

Ran into @Troublemaker_CRO and @ghostbuster_ on the wrong team today. Sadly I was in an Ibuki (not exactly a spectacular ship) and busy playing peak-a-boo with their Fletcher on A cap after everything else either left or died except one lone Lion, one guess how special that game result was, especially after the enemy team was busy unloading into me as I saw that Priority Target number jump ... guess everyone else on my team was hiding (which would be the apt description of how my typical teams were today). Troublemaker in particular enjoyed lobbing presents my way and ghostbuster ... well he did what a Minotaur does and I was on the recieving end two or three times. Tried to fight back a bit, set Troubleaker on fire and chug my own presents into ghostbuster's fog of war but ultimately I was playing hole plugger and that doesn't exactly end in great numbers to brag with. In the end our team still won though, so I guess I drew enough attention away from everyone else.

Welp, since the server hamsters are apparently either striking or stroking and I don't quite trust the game server to behave much better, I'm busy downloading Brütal Legend that you can get for free at Humble Bundle within the next ~20 hours so be fast!! Booya! ... HOLY MOTHER*BLEEP* SH*BLEEP* !?!?! The bloody starting menu presentation is already brilliant AF! I will enjoy this!

You got lucky then. For me it's taking ~2 minutes to load a page. If I don't get a 502 ... @Kandly, @MrConway, any word on this? Did PETA assault your server host? Are the Hamsters okay?

Alright, maybe someone ought to tell the technician that with feeding the hamsters, I didn't mean get them drunk on vodka until they pass out. Right now this forum is like wading through molasses ...

Seems like the feeding is going along. Forum is getting more responsive again for (still slow, but at least I don't have to wait ~3 minutes for a page to load).

Yup. Had a couple insane server lags. Jumpdrives for everyone.

Wibble.

Aww damn now I have to watch that movie again ... Funny how Pascal reminds me of myself when I get a bunch of whacko randoms on my team though.