Faction Pride

[Garamore]

Theres a number of order people who love a fort/keep defense. It can be 80% aao to order, pop a ram and within 5 mins its 20% aao to destro. This has the biggest impact on the game at the moment. RvR is super dull with 80% AAO and you cant take keeps/forts with 20% aao as most nights theres only 1 org destro wb and a bunch vs keep hugging sweaties organising the slayer kill grounds that mean the /5wbs just melt.

This just leads to no/boring RvR

[NSKaneda]

As far as I realize that I'm just one of many on the battlefield and my idea of what is entertaining might not align with other people ideas: combat, in general, is fun when it's unpredictable to a certain degree. Combat, as in both orvr and scenarios, cities and forts included. Easy defences, quick pvdoor or mindless farm gets old really, really fast and is as forgettable. Valiant last stands, wins against all odds, little miracles that turn the tide - those are the moments I play for. When you stick to your guns and see things through.

Faction pride, as you can guess, plays major role in this. While seeking "fair fights" and "combatting boredom" is commendable in the spirit of the sentiment it can as easily take away the element of surprise and unpredictability as it can be that "little miracle that turns the tide" - because it all boils down to intent. Sometimes it can be proverbial Rohan charge at sunrise that people talk about for days, other times it ensures that planned battle takes place at predetermined battlefield - and when it repeats itself over the course of weeks a pattern emerges that sours the whole experience because, let's be honest here: why bother? If there is nothing one can do to change the outcome... When playing a game with marked cards the only way to win is to leave the table. "Easy wins do not bring joy" as the saying goes.

We all play the game and almost all of us have toons on both sides - it's only logical. Just as the fact that the essence of the game lies in character progression - gotta gear up to pwn, right? And frag those noobs that get farmed in the process - don't hate the player, hate the game.
That's a short term goal.

We all play the game and almost all of us have toons on both sides - it's only logical. Just as the fact that the essence of the game lies in having fun - and you can't have fun when there is no one to play with - with each easy win, with each side swap to farm a bit more, with each pre-planned week long city farm, with each voice premade farming noobs in pug we loose a player. Sure, one noob less versus that little pile of crests or river of renown or just feeling better - easy math, right? Only it adds up over time. And healthy game that is as attractive to noobs as it was to us all those years back when we started playing it is the long term goal.

Faction pride can be cheesy (limburger level ) but it brings players together, gives them sense of purpose, especially important when the game starts being repetitive over long periods of time and is a form of self-applied control measure - an alternative to it is xrealm lock.

We all play the game and almost all of us have toons on both sides - but that doesn't mean that we should be side hopping two-three times an evening. Stick to your guns, see things through and fight for your realm of choice for the evening - because, ultimately, realm is people fighting side by side.