I do not understand one thing.
Some guys as expressed before want frequent missions and squad action that creates a more colloquial environment; both a camaraderie as well as a culture of behaviour and excellence, group play etc. At the same time some squads like the V dudes and others are insulted and said to be using numbers to win the war instear of skill and good game play. How does that come together. You want squad operation and missions, but insult squads and players that do missions.
What the V dudes did ... as well as the Alchemist and other large squads did was to take large numbers of unskilled players and rolled base after base. This works very well as there is no way to stop such a large group. Players are not going together and sit in a tower 30+ strong in the off chance they will be in a position to intercept a mission. Even if only 10 of those 30+ hit their target you can make it work. Had the V dudes or any other large group used tactics and split their forces to try and take 2 or more bases at the same time, there would have been chance to defend in some places and maybe stop one prong of the attack, or more if the defensive side could get organized quick enough.
Having a "chance" draws people into the battle. Always being over whelmed by numbers causes players to stop defending (or attacking if the attack force is the one being over whelmed) and in frustration, quit. It's no fun being crushed all the time, on top of that, it gets boring wining all the time with out opposition and so again we lose players. The "honorable" and classy thing to do is to make mission fun for both sides. It is a game and we are all here to have fun right?
Agreed on the PM rants. At long last, I finally get the difference between the way you guys look at it and the way I do. To you, ganging and vulching is on par with cheating. To me, it's not. If that's all you do all the time, bad form for sure, but I don't consider it on par with bona fide cheating. While I don't generally go out expressly looking to gang and vulch, if the opportunity presents itself and it makes sense for my side, yeah I will.
From within the context of the game, I just see it as the player's responsibility not to up into a vulch, and not to dive into a cloud of red alone and expect anything other than the obvious.
My humble opinion on violence in the real world is it shouldn't be used in half measures. If things are at the point where violence is necessary, there's no such thing as overkill.
Wiley.
I wouldn't say it's like cheating, but I would say it is like poor play.
Look at it this way. NFL no longer has a cap and one team buys up all the best players. Now they win every game including the Super Bowl. While it isn't cheating, it is hardly fair. But hey, it's only a game. How long would the NFL last? how long before all those fans start watching hockey instead?
This game can easily be looked at much the same way. If your always in the horde no body ( or very few) are going to want fight against you so you have less fun as there are fewer targets. Or if your on the other side you get frustrated (especially newer or less skilled players) of always looking for a fight and mostly only finding the horde to go against. While it's not the "hordes" (or those players that are making up the horde) responsibility to ensure others have fun in this game wouldn't it make sense that if they showed a bit of class, or honor it could help make things better all around?
Is it honor that makes me look down at 5 guys chasing a single con and say "naw, I'll hold off and wait for the next guy". Is it honor when I see a lone guy flying along and I tell my wingman "you get him I'll fly high cover". I don't know, but I think it makes it more fun for all involved.
What can be done? I don't know, it may be too far gone to be brought back with out some major help. Maybe HTC is going to have to step in with a few rules to "guide" game play beck to a more "player friendly" state.
When I first started there were players that you looked up to. You knew who the better fighters were, the guys who ran the best missions and so on. They were helpful and considerate. They had no problem teaching you how to fight, plan, bomb, or execute any of those. Today we have braggarts, chest thumpers, and general A holes creating a toxic playing arena. It is surprising any new players stay after their 2 weeks are up.