@KoL@Lonewolf685@TheWindelWell, I am disappointed, I had hoped we were on the "alright, we'll fast track you through the plot cause things are winding down". I kinda feel like everyone's getting punished because one plot important character (I am gonna say that one very significant track of the roleplay got slowed down by a particular character vanishing for a month at a time not once but five separate times) was slow to post.
I thought it was gonna be "Alright, all relics you could get, form up, laser beam of friendship for the plot resolve, when the great monster or whatever shows up at eerily the same time as the relics forming up. Maybe one or two boss fights with secondary antagonists like Librarian and Yggdrasil first."
Me and Flame consistently had posting time turnarounds of a day or two when we were in that same plotline together. And on the collab we were going back four or five times a day at each other. There was still interest.
As far as the Luke metaphor.. I don't feel like Luke. I feel like I'm Nien Nunb who decided to say "I'm not the best pilot, maybe you should let one of those seven Jedi you've got over there fly? I'll figure out something else to help by doing." Or, as Monkey said,
"Between Titania, Asgard, Solanne, Fei, Si, Lorelai or Durgan, take your pick, I'm utterly irrelevant in this conflict." I tried quite a few times to make my character relevant, but they didn't work. I'm not smart enough to come up with a smart solution. My attempt to harass the Imperator, failed. Attempt to infiltrate the palace, failed. Rexicorg, well, at least I lead Chen to the right place, but Monkey was worse than worthless, getting Chen injured and alienating Ruxen. Attempt to set up a second identity to sneaky sneaky, failed. Attempt to rescue the Librarians, hahahaaaa failed. Attempt to get information from Yggdrasil, failed. Attempt to rescue Alex, failed.
All of Monkey's actual accomplishments, could have been achieved by a air-scooter with a GPS. But it's not for lack of trying. I tried pretty hard, too hard sometimes, getting told "No you can't have that power." I feel like me and Monkey tried really really hard, but we just never mattered anyway. Maybe Monkey could have achieved some things if she had taken a legend relic, but that felt like I wouldn't be helping the plot along as Monkey. Maybe Monkey could have mattered if I was a smarter player. But I feel like if "initiative" is one of the things you're measuring for whether or not we earned it, I hope at least Monkey earned her share. You might feel otherwise because she was "abandoning" the main plot, but I felt that was the only way she could make a difference. Her only arguable success from earlier was going where there were no strong NPCs to overshadow* her, by skipping Arcadia and Exilia and heading to Rexicorg. I thought joining the heist would be a way for Monkey to make a difference without having to suddenly spike up in power to stand at the likes of Asgard's side.
*And then Ruxen still swooped in and KO'd the monster which I had intended for Monkey. So, that didn't entirely work. :/
TL/DR: I'mma sad Monkey. But that's not likely to change how things shake down.