Sled, having started back in one of the Air Warriors, the simplest way I can put it that's halfway coherent is this:
The "war" used to a premise for the fights; now, it's an excuse to avoid them. Where we used to have massive aerial engagements taking a base, now it's a 10 to 1 mob attacking a base, while a 10 to 1 mob attacks their base. I used to fly in missions that would turn into monstrous furballs as defenders upped like mad to meet the incoming raid. Now, with the huge maps, the path of least resistance is the one most followed.
Anyhow, that's how I see it. There are, of course, exceptions, but it seems that things overall have declined. It also appears that as the MA populace grows, or rolls over, the newer players learn via the "monkey see, monkey do" principle, and what they learn, the next newbs will see, and so on, until there are 700 people in the MA who haven't a clue as to what it's like to actually fight other people. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
