I am making this post because of all of the misunderstandings, misinformation, and misinterpretations over the months at what some people still believe to be fair play or what some people believe to be a punishable offense. No, I am not a GS or GM and have not been asked to do this by either. I am simply a concerned player.

In reality, there is no excuse to be uniformed of the rules. All the information is available for free. All you have to do is look for it. However, people choose to ignore it. Why? There could be a few reasons why one would want to strive for ignorance.

1) They hope that ignorance grants immunity from the rules.
2) They don’t care about the rules or believe they are above them.
3) They believe they know everything, making any actual learning impossible.

Whatever the reason why people continue to make no effort to understand and abide by the rules, the purpose of this post is to remove all excuses, no matter how seemingly valid to the offender or reporter, of not knowing the rules.

Additional Note: This is not the 'epic guide' that I refer to in my signature. This was simply something that I felt the need for so I quickly logged on for a few screen shots and than wrote this up.

What is an exploit?

An exploit can be defined as doing anything that goes against the intended purpose of a game mechanic. This may include, but not limited to, using skills to bypass NPC guards, passing through or standing inside solid objects, or climbing walls that were intended to be unsurpassable. The general rule to abide by in this would be that if it doesn’t look normal when you do it, than you probably shouldn’t do it. Exploiting the game also includes performing actions that intentionally impede game play. Impeding game play includes, but is not limited to, purposely causing mass amounts of lag or spamming trade, battle, or party requests.


Part I - About Spawn Points

A spawn point is a general position that players spawn on upon death. By general, I mean that if they move an inch, they are still on a spawn point. Note that when I say spawn point, I do not refer to a point in which you load when you /town or get killed inside a dungeon. I am referring to places inside your base where you end up after death outside of dungeon.

It is illegal to kill people while on the spawn location. It is easy to tell what is the spawn location. They are always protected by NPC guards. Using a skill such as Evolution or Stealth to reach the players inside of the guards is an exploit. Why is this an exploit? Because it is a game mechanic and intended purpose that players be safe on that spawn point. By even going inside of that area, before you even attack players, you are going against the intended purpose of a game mechanic and therefore exploiting.

Note that an NPC guard is not the same as a spawned guard. Moving past or even killing spawned guards is not illegal. If you have trouble telling the difference between a spawned guard and an NPC guard, there are a few key factors to each. Let’s start with pictures.

These two guards here are NPC guards. Note the light blue name with a yellow name underneath it.

  
These are NPC guards put in place by SonoV, just as any other NPC such as a Weapon Merchant or Gatekeeper. Other ways to distinguish them from spawned guards is that if they are of your own faction, you may click on them and a talk window opens. If they are the opposing faction, they will run up to you and do critical damage for your exact total HP, killing you instantly. It is illegal to move past the ones at a spawn point and be inside the area that they protect.

Next, let’s take a look at spawned guards. These guards follow the same color code as regular mobs, such as blue for a few levels below you, orange for a few above, and red for several levels above.

   
Some of these guards are put in place by Aeria staff and some are natural mob spawns and both are not a built in game mechanic. If you are the same faction as these guards, you may not interact with them at all. If you are the opposing faction, they behave like regular mobs and may be attacked and killed. There is no rule in place about these guards. Run past them if you want, kill them if you want, and attack enemies on the other side them if you want. This is not an exploit.

Part II - About Portals

We all know that it is illegal to kill people who have not loaded, but there’s more to it than that. Not quite sure what is legal and what isn’t when it comes to portals? There are a few things to remember when determining whether or not your actions or the actions you witness are allowed.

After loading in a portal, your opponent has no indication that you are loaded unless you move, use a skill, talk, use an emote, or shoot off a firework. As you have no actual way of knowing whether or not an opponent has loaded until they have done one of these things, you may not, under any circumstance, attack them, even if you’re standing there waiting for ten minutes. Additionally, you are responsible for allowing players enough time to assess the situation and leave back through the portal.

Standing inside the portal is not allowed. This is an exploit. By standing inside of the portal, players may not attack you without running through their own portal and leaving the area. Even by going inside of the opposing faction portal and not attacking, you are exploiting because you cannot be attacked by some people. If you are using the terrain to prevent others from attacking you, that is an exploit.

Standing behind or beside the portals is also not allowed, even if there is plenty of room for opponents to attack you without running through their portal. The reason for this is that your opponent must turn to see you, which constitutes as movement and makes them fair game. This is an unfair advantage and does not give people room to defend themselves. Remember that it is your responsibility to give people time to assess the situation and leave back through their portal. If you hide behind the portal and wait for them to turn to see you, you are not allowing them time to assess the situation.

Preventing people from using the portals is also not allowed. If someone is running for a portal with intent to leave a zone, you are not permitted to bar them from doing this. This also includes killing those from using a Gatekeeper to leave a PvP zone. If you attack someone headed for the general direction of an exit, you are taking a gamble. If they were in fact on their way out of the zone, they may report you for impeding game play, which, remember, is defined as an exploit.

Using AoE skills at a portal is highly discouraged. Though not directly illegal so long as your target is fair game, you take a gamble when you AoE at a portal. At any given time, an illegal target could load in and get caught in your AoE. There is no such thing as an accident when it comes to this. If you hit an illegal target when you AoE at a portal, it is an action that you chose to do of your own volition and have committed an illegal action all the same.

The best way to prevent yourself from getting banned at a portal is to simply stay far away from them. If you’re not near them, you won’t accidentally do something illegal and get reported for something that happened in the heat of the moment. Be smart when you PvP. Reduce the risk of behaving illegally. Don’t gamble with your account.

Part III - About Altars

The rules on this are simple. The altars were intended to be solid objects and therefore being inside of them is an exploit. There are actually two exploits here. First, it makes it difficult for opponents to target you. As explained before, using the terrain to prevent others from attacking you is an exploit. Additionally, you are standing inside or passing through an object that is intended to be solid. Therefore, being inside of a portal is two counts of exploiting.

Aeria staff is well aware of the fact that some skills pull you inside of it. They are also aware that this is involuntary and unpreventable. However, they are also well aware of the fact that after being pulled in, staying in there is a completely voluntary and deliberate act. You cannot use the excuse that you were pulled in unintentionally. You chose to stay inside of the altar even though you had the opportunity to get out of it. When you get pulled in, move out immediately before you continue to attack it. Expect no mercy from enforcement staff should you get reported for being inside of an altar.

Part IV - About Bases

In general, being inside of the opposing faction base is perfectly legal, with a few exceptions.

As said before, bypassing the intended purpose of a game mechanic is an exploit. NPC Merchants are placed in game for the purpose of players having a place to buy and sell goods. If you kill someone interacting with an NPC, you are bypassing that purpose and exploiting. It would be wise to just stay away from the NPCs to avoid any accidents.

Remember also the rules of Part I and II. Do not enter the area protected by NPC Guards. Do not kill illegal targets at portals or prevent people from leaving the zone.

Other than the activities described in Part I and II and killing at NPC merchants, being inside of bases and killing the opposing faction there is perfectly legal. Though an inconvenience, it is not an exploit.
There it is in black and white. "Baiting" does not exist as a defense. You choose to break the rules. You choose to exploit. Aeria staff will never take the issue of baiting into consideration as a defense. If someone is trying to get you banned, don't be stupid enough to fall for it. You really want to get banned for being incapable of behaving intelligently and taking someone's bait hook, line, and sinker?

However, that is not to say that baiting itself is not an illegal activity.

What does this mean for you? It means that if you see someone attempting to bait you, they are performing an illegal activity and you may report them. However, it does not mean that you may take matters into your own hands and rise to the bait. Do not attack an opponent who is baiting you. Simply take a screen shot and report it. Remember, two wrongs does not make a right. As soon as you take the bait, you will be subject to discipline as well. Again, be smart when you PvP.

In Closing

By following these ethics and rules outlined, you will never be reported and banned. Good luck, have fun, and earn your faction some bless

As a final note, if any information is incorrect in this, please notify me and I will edit the OP.