TDS had rules that would have been fine in 2004, made up by people that would go a month or two without coming to a run. That's not a flame to them, they had things that were more important than Dynamis to them, pretty much a black and white issue.
When joining, you declared a main and an alt, it was set in stone, end of story. I came to the shell about a month after it formed, when Perfect broke. I was 4/5 on NIN, which was my main, only other job i had over 65 at the time was SAM, which i had gotten the only 2 pieces from overflow in Perfect that wouldn't have just been stuff to store away. So according to the rules, i was NIN main, with no secondary. In TDS i went on to get my fifth piece as well as relic belt from CoP zones, and i am very grateful. I was with the shell until the very last run, of which the final 3-4 weeks we could barely get 18 ppl to show up.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that these lotting rules aren't meant for long time, dedicated members. While you could look it at from Lavi's point of view and say that only greedy ppl would get whatever set they are coming for and leave the shell, you can look at it from the perspective that once you get your relic set, you basically will be nothing more than an endentured servant for the rest of your FFXI dynamis career. I know you can talk about overflow and whatever, but just take a look at Lavi, 11 months, and not complete on WHM. There are some jobs that are more rare than others.
In reality, what this did was make us have a revolving door membership. It was out of the question when several people brought up discussing a system to be put in place of changing your main or secondary. Pretty much every shell that i know of has a system in place like that. Like Courtney said, people want to feel like they are burning time, xp, gil, etc. for a reason. Loyalty is only going to take most people so far before they are going to draw a line. Basically, some ppl got what they wanted and left no doubt, but i'd say a large number simply realized there was no future goal there to accomplish. It's like if you were working at a job and they told you that there was zero chance of you ever advancing, ever getting a raise, basically you're at a dead end. But hey, if you are having fun and helping others then it shouldn't matter right? That's not being realistic.
Add to the fact that in the last couple months we had alot of runs that were being sponsered by members working on relic weapons. Those that sponsered collect all the coins that drop, so those members that all they had to look forward to was meager coin sales are now SOL.
I'm all for loyalty, but people often forget, that it goes both ways. I didn't enjoy seeing brand new members getting AF from Xarc their first run, or getting a CoP relic cape/belt right after they joined, when it could have gone to the member that has been showing up every run for 9 months who has levelled up the job and can equip said item, if only they had been allowed to change what job they lot on. In that situation, you are not being loyal to the member that has been loyal to the shell.
Lavi, i have no idea why you passed lotting something that you had every right to lot on, but that was your choice, no one elses. The shell could have broken the next day for all you knew. I understand you feel like you were robbed, but honestly, what else did you think could have happened to the shell other than re-forming? People were dropping left and right, the final runs having barely 16 ppl show. I'm not a huge fan of this new shell's lotting rules, but it was either that, go somewhere else, or not do Dynamis period. You chose a 4th option, a big universal "FUCK YOU" to all your former shellmates. That's your right to do though. If you didn't mean it as a general statement to everyone involved, you could've said specifically who you had a problem with and gone from there. Until i hear otherwise, i'm assuming that i, and everyone else that went to the new shell, is a "GREEDY F*CK" that wasted 11 months of your life.
