Good lord, this is still going on? anyway...
Deer in the headlights... hmm, no... not quite. The fact is we know that at least 5~6 of the 8-10 stones we purchased were from legit players. the other 3~5... maybe not, but none of the mules we purchased from were obvious bazaars for RMT (ie. they didn't have Cassie's earring/Strider Boots/any other obvious RMT items in them, nor did they have the engrish comments RMT bazaars so often have).
I realize that most of you feel no legit LS in their right mind would sell an ulli stone, but we know this is not the case based on the majority of our autumn stone transactions. Yes, chances are one or more of the stones came from RMT, we aren't so dumb not to realize that is a risk... but the majority have not been... and we try to take measures to decrease the likelihood that lvl 1 bazaar purchases where we do not get to talk with the seller are RMT as well (or at least I do when I'm on). As for names... These stones have not all been purchased recently. its been a rather spread out habbit. Maybe someone could name off the last 1-2, but beyond that I doubt anyone remembers b/c frankly we didn't anticipate we would be asked to justify our actions to QCDN, and its been too long to remember most of the names casually.
I know this point has been beat over and over again, but when the LS discussed stone purchasing as an option we discussed the situation in sky and decided it was worth the risk. We are not ok with buying from RMT, many of us do not like that it is a risk... That said, we feel we can reasonably minimize that risk... and so we are willing to take it from time to time. This is not something we are proud of... but frankly we wouldn't be proud to kill ulli either. Sky is simply too old hat for us for it to be a source of pride, challenge, or anything else. Even the speed kill kirins are simply a way to insure we spend no more time up there than we must to fill in a few gear gaps for new jobs/new members.
Also, another point that I have not seen posted is that we do not buy all of our stones (we actually DO camp ulli, zomg). Do you see us in sky all that often, if at all? No... not really. For one, it's true that we don't go there all that often, maybe once a week on average... but also, when we camp, we deliberately start during a time that not many NA are up there (b/c of how late it is... or because it is midday and ppl are at work) and when not many JP are on (b/c most of them are still at work... or they are sleeping), in order to avoid wasting our time going up when half of what we want to do is being done by other people.
Lastly, to all those who have lost respect for the LS... or feel that this fact invalidates all that we do: while i'm sorry to hear this is how you feel, because we do take pride in the fact that we are (were?) held in high esteem... we don't actually play this game to earn your approval/respect. It is certainly something we value but... believe it or not, we play to have fun, like everyone else. Ulli isn't fun to anyone, but it really isn't fun to people who have killed him hundreds of times already... and if there is a way to use our work from one activity in game to reduce the redundancy and demoralizing boredom involved in another, it is something our leadership is going to consider doing.
Is it a cop out to buy stones, from legit sources even (the whole weak-sauce thing that’s been mentioned)? Maybe... idk. To me, and this absolutely would apply to any other group... there is a point in time where one earns the right to say that it is a given that they can fulfill the requirements to get to __________ without actually having to do it.
We, as a group, have nothing to prove when it comes to sky... we KNOW we can do it. We, as a group, decided to buy stones on occasion; and we, as a group, do what we can to avoid questionable purchases. That is good enough for most of us. It does not cross our definition of ethics, though it may come close... And well- If you feel it is immoral to take a risk... and if you feel these reasons and attempts at controlling who we buy from are not good enough for you... There is nothing really I can do for you
