There's been a lot of issues with this, and the recent two in particular have done nothing but reinforce my opinion on this. A random mugging? Not worth calling in five people. If a guard responds, that's fine. If they get beaten, that's fine so long as nothing like kidnapping and such is forced on them. Calling in numerous reinforcements when it looks like you might lose creates an environment where crime rp is, quite simply, impossible - and while I understand that Regalia is a military city, there's plenty of cases where realism is sacrificed for the sake of roleplay.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort the vigilant shield are making to properly guard - I really, really do. They've got limited resources and people, but they're still doing a good job - a wonderful one, even, especially given what they've got to work with.
I just don't think that every minor infraction that isn't behind closed doors - and even some that are - should be punished with instant guard attack, and I very much don't think that guards should be unable to lose a fight because of ooc reinforcements. I agree that say, an unplanned vampire attack or noble kidnapping is worth calling in multiple guards over.
For the sake of making crime rp on the surface possible without the result, every single time, being getting arrested by 5+ guards, I personally believe that they should only be able to do so when the situation is beyond "This guy mugged this other guy, and our guard got beat up a bit."
Your guards aren't untouchable any more than our criminals are. If you lose a fight - and yes, this is possible - then put a warrant on them or something instead of turning it into chaos for the sake of making sure they get beaten then and there.
You can warrant them, or even do something fun that creates more interesting rp for everyone involved, like launch an investigation and search for information, uncover lies and find the culprit and do all that fun detective work if it's something like a noble attack. I for one would love to see a person getting interrogated for information they're withholding because you found out they're lying or something. That sort of thing is what makes for great guard rp for everyone involved, criminal and guard alike. The way it goes currently just makes for chaos and ooc salt. If people honestly tried, investigated, hunted and sleuthed, and even resorted to things like hiring criminals to help them, I would LOVE for Hiesir to be taken down, even by common thugs in the sewer tavern, or for her disguise to be found out and her arrested. That sort of rp is amazingly good fun and just being a part of it is great. But so far attempts to take her down have been 50% metagaming, 50% long planning that ends up amounting to nothing, and 100% brute force.
To recap. If someone's trying to kidnap or maim (especially if they're trying to do so to a guard) without it being an arranged thing, then yes, calling in reinforcements is quite reasonable. If they're just going to attack you so you don't arrest them and then bolt before it gets ugly, then there really should be no need. Roleplay intelligent guarding. Investigate and sleuth and stuff. Don't just call in reinforcements whenever things aren't going the same way, and I can all but guarantee that the vast majority of the time you won't have to deal with it happening to you. The ability to call reinforcements in over minor things or losing a fight for once is abused and drowns any chances of crime rp, it's why I stick to the sewer 99% of the time.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort the vigilant shield are making to properly guard - I really, really do. They've got limited resources and people, but they're still doing a good job - a wonderful one, even, especially given what they've got to work with.
I just don't think that every minor infraction that isn't behind closed doors - and even some that are - should be punished with instant guard attack, and I very much don't think that guards should be unable to lose a fight because of ooc reinforcements. I agree that say, an unplanned vampire attack or noble kidnapping is worth calling in multiple guards over.
For the sake of making crime rp on the surface possible without the result, every single time, being getting arrested by 5+ guards, I personally believe that they should only be able to do so when the situation is beyond "This guy mugged this other guy, and our guard got beat up a bit."
Your guards aren't untouchable any more than our criminals are. If you lose a fight - and yes, this is possible - then put a warrant on them or something instead of turning it into chaos for the sake of making sure they get beaten then and there.
You can warrant them, or even do something fun that creates more interesting rp for everyone involved, like launch an investigation and search for information, uncover lies and find the culprit and do all that fun detective work if it's something like a noble attack. I for one would love to see a person getting interrogated for information they're withholding because you found out they're lying or something. That sort of thing is what makes for great guard rp for everyone involved, criminal and guard alike. The way it goes currently just makes for chaos and ooc salt. If people honestly tried, investigated, hunted and sleuthed, and even resorted to things like hiring criminals to help them, I would LOVE for Hiesir to be taken down, even by common thugs in the sewer tavern, or for her disguise to be found out and her arrested. That sort of rp is amazingly good fun and just being a part of it is great. But so far attempts to take her down have been 50% metagaming, 50% long planning that ends up amounting to nothing, and 100% brute force.
To recap. If someone's trying to kidnap or maim (especially if they're trying to do so to a guard) without it being an arranged thing, then yes, calling in reinforcements is quite reasonable. If they're just going to attack you so you don't arrest them and then bolt before it gets ugly, then there really should be no need. Roleplay intelligent guarding. Investigate and sleuth and stuff. Don't just call in reinforcements whenever things aren't going the same way, and I can all but guarantee that the vast majority of the time you won't have to deal with it happening to you. The ability to call reinforcements in over minor things or losing a fight for once is abused and drowns any chances of crime rp, it's why I stick to the sewer 99% of the time.