Simply by reading these forums one can see how spirited the players in our community are and can potentially become. Tapping into this visa the frustration of denied gratification is how you keep players returning to a stalled base capture for hours on end. Pretty simple and it works. Negative motivation is cheaper and simpler than positive motivation. The emotional results are like drinking or drugs. But, you walk a fine line controlling the consequences because of how volatile people potential can become under stress before anyone realizes it.
It might be time to dial back the requirements to capturing bases a little and swing the pendulum in favor of the capture. It's obvious we have no lack of ability at defending by virtue of the community's current levels of internal infighting and antagonism towards each other. A hoard that works taking a field is one that doesn't stall out for hours each day over a single field. Our current evolution of hoards is large stagnant groups of players stabbing each other repetitiously in the back for hours on end. Then ongoing acrimonious, vial personal attacks in the forums blaming each other for the douchbaggery our current evolution of hoards has created because the steady state of game play is stalled base captures.
I seem to remember the utopian goal was to create combat opposed to avoidance. Unintended consequences don't care about utopian goals where human nature and passions reside.
We went through this a few years back when the defenders were being frustrated into similar acrimonious conduct in our forums. And our hoards were happily avoiding each other and rolling territory at will. Our hoards still avoid each other but, are stalled and acrimoniously frustrated along with those defending against them for hours on end doing very little but douchbaggery. So today to break the stalemate, bring a super mega hoard. I don't think we have enough guys for that anymore as the next hoard evolution.
If you want the ability for small groups to break off and do small group things with a reasonable chance of quick success. You will have to accept then that the hoard will roll territory as a consequence of easing back the capture requirements. Large frustrated groups of people can only exist together politely with each other for a limited shelf life. Then the frustrations become the driving force in their decisions illusory or real.
