@tosbosshunter13 I quit the game before R8, and in doing so gave up my membership to Crimson—no use trying to hold a spot for someone who wasn’t going to play any time soon, so I resigned. During my membership there was never an instance of abuse or exploiting. Sure, from time to time there was drama, but most of it was respectfully kept between members.
The video of the member you posted was after I had left, so I can not vouch for their actions. I can’t watch it right now but judging from the details I read, I would side with you though and say that it was intentional exploiting. If the skill cap states that 5 is the maximum, then anything you do to break that cap would be an exploit, as the rule has clearly stated a maximum.
As a Thaum FF I often relied on Swell Body + Ngadhundi in later levels—it was unclear if the interaction was a bug or a feature because it worked exactly as mechanically expected: new max hp, degenerates post Swell expiration based upon perceived HP losses. A lot can be said for the interactions between skills in ToS—there are some “mechanics” that shouldn’t appear to work, but clearly do, and it has led to some interesting takeaways. Take Barrage + Feint for instance: how does lowering enemy evasion result in massive gains from the specific skill Barrage? Mechanically it isn’t sound, but in practice it performs and created an entire meta. Were all Ranger Rogues exploiters? Doubtful, which is why I was comfortable using the Thaum FF mechanic as at least its interaction was plausible on paper as defined by the rules of the skills. I say this because there is plenty in ToS that may be broken, but understanding the difference between an interaction and something that breaks a skill is important. Since the skeletons have a cap, then anything performed to break that cap would be an exploit. If someone accidentally ran around with 6-7 skeletons then it could be understandable if reproduction was simple enough to be an accident, but anything higher displays intent for abuse.
In all, Crimson has always upheld high standards, and the expectations for its members are equally high. I would not be surprised if the member in question from your video was kicked. The kind of player who would exploit once is likely to be the type that would do it again—getting caught is no excuse because it is the willingness to perform the action that is the fault.
But, to stay on topic—I don’t see Crimson having any reason at all to crash a battle, even if only to fight fire with fire, nor are the members I recall the type who would stoop to such levels.
