Faction imbalance - where do we go from here? - IDEAS FOR RYZOM

Yaandor

There seems to be a general push towards "the old ways are best" from what I can see (just my impression).

That is why my sig block reads as it does; those who do not feel that way generally feel that it's not worth putting any effort into suggestions that will be ignored, so you will not hear us speak up. Then again, for most of my friends who came from Arispotle and those who started not long after Merge, "the old ways" were more egalitarian, less "RP or die!", and not all that fond of PvP; the polar opposite of what the more vocal "old ways were best" crowd say.

Yaandor

I feel like there's pressure to force me into some kind of adversarial relatioship. Join a nation! Join a faction! Do PvP! All of this seems to based on the historical lore.

Well, one fanatical extremist interpretation of lore that is regrettably common amongst those that attend these forums, yes. However, if you get away from the small-but-loud self-entitled authoritarian crowd, you will find a much more "Do your own thing" lack of pressure. It really depends on which part of the community you interact with.

Yaandor

However, the current situation makes nonsense of those notions. The Kitins have invaded and are a threat to all Homins. The whole notion of picking sides and competing against each other is suicidal at best.

You'd think so, but apparently some feel otherwise. The lack of notable kitin activity has cause the "I *must* fight something!" crowd to see other homins as the only viable target for their aggression as they refuse to accept that the world is not as it was and that you can't just shank people in the street with impunity like you used to. Those are the folks that want to return to the past because allowing the world to move into the present would lead to a near-future where their behavior considered unacceptable and they cannot handle that. To them, it's better to turn the clock than to evolve.

Yaandor

For those reasons I play a neutral. I don't even feel any urge to join Marauders or Rangers; both are organizations with their own goals and agendas and can't be trusted.

Again, it really depends who you deal with. Some Marauders are really into the Might Makes Right aspect as it gives them a way to grief others CoD-style while avoiding a CoC violation under the "I'm just RP-ing!" umbrella. Do not trek through PR as that type of Marauder often logs in for no purpose other than to troll Uni and camp PR just to grief people. But there are also Marauders who simply want the challenge of being forced to avoid cities and/or the advantage of more/better TP locations in PR who are actually quite nice and helpful (and also hunted by the type of Mara mentioned above). Likewise, Rangers are mostly "Neutral with 250/PR TP" folks with only one militant "Play my way or you are a lazy lore-hater!!!1111" type that I've seen. There is enough diversity within each that I would hesitate at guessing their agenda.