I also have something to chime in on about the tonal issues, which is slightly hypocritical of me considering I've been an enabler for, and am not bothered by, a darker tone in general. And I think part of the problem has been how, up until now, with a lot of the major game wide events (or at least the ones I've observed, keep in mind I've been a sporadic player) it rarely feels like the players actions affects all that much that's happening overall at times. For the bigger sweeping plot of things, in consideration of Calice, this makes sense: it's going to take baby steps to get to her. However, when it was the Antithesis/Nemesis plot that turned out to have mod plot, I think part of what bothered players was how futile any action they took was, and then in the end turned out their presumption was wrong, which would've been an okay twist of it wasn't for the fact that their presumption was "we have to stop him to save our friends and the death o the world by eternal night and cold or its over infestation by demons". And then at the end of it there's an indication they're supposed to feel bad about their actions. Which isn't necessarily wrong, but altogether its a hard pill to take. Because even after the end of t, that kind of event breeds a sense of oppression from the setting that is more fitting for a horror game: it's a painfully lose/lose feeling and can make the players feel stripped of autonomy. It's also what may have helped propagate the idea that the great majority of NPCs were hostile to the outworlders: Hoovesweek was our primary view of their opinion. So while Hoovesweek may be the minority, they're all we really saw. This doesn't mean the NPCs should have some kind of 'hooray for the new ponies' party every month, but I feel clarifying the position of most setting natives helps a great deal to alleviate what could be construed as an oppressive tone.

I'd still say this isn't, by itself, wrong, but after that: the players desperately needed a victory that could be considered a game wide victory. Which I'd argue they did get with the event with Tirek. And, if I'm to be honest, I feel like this should be a genuine upswing that the players should start to get to keep momentum on. While Im not saying the players should just be given victories, I think it'll help to have more events where there's a clear possibility for victory and growth.

Thank you for your time.