The game has reached another period of comfortable steady state where waiting for the enemy to make the first large move has settled in. Milling around and avoiding each other in less than multi versus few is the normative. Casual observation shows a polarization of one group has air to its back while the other has auto defenses to it's. Meeting as equal groups between fields other than by caprice is the exception to the rule unless more often it's many chasing the few. Altitude is now a safety buffer rather than a group wing strategy to save hoarded capped fields.
The almost every night vTard hoard was the height of the last disruptive period. It's self definitive by how the words and concepts of "NOE" and "hoard" has now been relegated to a similar social evil as "cheater" visa community peer pressure. And to some degree synonymous for how effective a tactic they are. Who wants to be lame now by upping large scale anything to stomp on anyone in sneaky secrecy? Yes we still do it some because for most, how else will you ever capture territory. But, a social stigma is attached to it like being a conservative christian. The whining was legion for a few years in here up to and after the vTards achieved the pinnacle of their era. Yes we now have comfortable little fights where the field and town gets de-acked three or four full times over several hours while the town going white flag is ignored like gentlemen not looking when a lady has a ward robe malfunction.
Now we have tanks that can main gun wing shoot air attackers and be their own air defense. So GVers are off hiding in the trees plinking at each other instead of playing WoT. At least they are in our game hiding in the bushes plinking at each other and racking up amazing single shot main gun kills against fighters. It's almost not worth trying to get close enough to tanks with an IL2 or Ju87G2 so the rounds can penetrate tank armor. When you are close enough for penetration and pull the trigger, there's a loud boom and you're back in the tower. Or when you jabo them, their mobile ack battery mows you down. I didn't know that all german tanks were each issued 3 wirbel winds to protect them from fighters in WW2. I didn't know that many were produced.
We are in the middle of a comfortable boring steady state period of gamey counter point bliss. No one or group is doing anything outrageous or greify in a large scale ongoing manner to make us angry. Piss us off so we saddle up in righteous ire to go stomp them or inspire us to emulate their naughty success. Look how fast we righteously turned "NOE" and "hoard" into the worst evil since Barney's theme song and Anita Hill.
We have absolutely no definition for when it's a good acceptable action in this game to launch a hoard, fly it NOE to a target, and capture it. And look at how many less missions are run now opposed to 2002-2009 when NOE and hoards were S.O.P. if you wanted to get anything accomplished. FBDred on the knights has been reduced to begging while 02 to even 09 his missions were packed thrillers.
I hope Hitech throws a monkey wrench into this soon and shakes things up so we have something more to accomplish every night besides maintain our current game's status quo. Or the next irritating bunch of greifers begins assaulting our staid established boring state and kicks us in the collective rear. Gotta admit no matter how irritating the vTards were. At least they were little energizer bunnies about it and we responded to it with energy. We need our collective batteries charged or kicked.
