It's not an IC problem. It's an OOC problem with IC results. Just because a mechanic was long known to be flawed, doesn't mean abusing it is okay. Why does suddenly the fact that people pushed buttons IG automatically legitimize the act? All abuses, prior and future, are the result of IG buttons being clicked on.
The fix isn't even complicated. Remove Jonsu from the game and the situation fixes itself. The seditioners will still be able to form their schism without having recourse to a lame loophole that autoomatically grants them total authority over the temples, treasuries, and followers of most of the continent.
The mechanic is not flawed in that it works in the manner the designer wanted it to. The mechanic is only "flawed" because SA tried to create a structure counter to how the system worked. If they had used a mechanic counter to it intention, then now as before action will be taken by the appropriate team, which is not the Dev's. We don't make decisions about cheating, exploitations or social contract violations. There is group with the Tools needed to investigate and take action.
I've left the game, but I'd just like to point something out regarding "things were done in-character and are okay".
There were many, many issues with Thulsoma, one of which was that-one-game-feature-that-allowed-Thulsoma-to-raise-a-huge-army-despite-being-a-one-region-realm (I forgot, long time ago now). That mechanic was changed because, while it was a valid game mechanic at that time, it was deemed to have been used in a manner that was detrimental to the game.
Precedent, therefore, exists, for changing mechanics when it's shown that they are too troublesome. Of course, Thulsoma wasn't deleted and Morek still had to war with it for a few weeks, but at least the mechanics were changed for the betterment of the game. In the same manner, I do hope the dev team looks into the 'game-able' mechanics that came into play here, so that in the future, Battlemaster players would not be unduly punished by a handful of people who are good at powergaming (especially in an SMA island).
It was changed because it was used in a way that was never intended. The system allowed it, but it was not within the design parameters or the intent of the feature. That is different from deciding the feature was simply detrimental, it is more akin to a bug. But with that said of course we look to refine the mechanics and if something is problem change it. However even if things are changed we don't go back and erase the results that were previously yielded.
No doubt there is scope for discussion in changing the way religions work in order to allow for different forms to be supported by game mechanics.
DEV Team is not always right...
Nor is the mob oddly enough
