k, no way im reading this whole thread but look at it this way.

1 group of people choose to ally themselves and divide and conquer everyone else. everyone else eventually organizes once in a blue moon because they get sick of it. sometimes when they organize they win, sometimes they don't. however, they never can sustain such a close alliance long term because they are all separate entities with their own goals/politics in mind.

i think this age in particular everyone who was half decent give it the old "f*ck it" card. if the top 3-5 kingdoms just wanna circle jerk all age and ally each other and actually have fun spamming the paradise button then that's their deal. i get to war. i get to have fun. i don't have to deal with as soon as getting land having to worry about politics or whatever shenanigans are going to come down the pipeline.

sure, the game "needs" competition. every game does. but make competing easier and more worthwhile than it is now. right now if you don't have friends you're food. im not even talking about the 24 other mates in your kingdom. you also need an additional what is it 75 mates just to have even terms (50 if you dont wanna count mercy)? then they all better be good and willing to cf each other no matter what - or also farm out to each other if needed or play as a singular entity. also that isn't even including all of the ongoing funkiness this age with kingdoms multi-ing, farming to friends, fake warring, etc. where mod reaction has been spotty at best. so f*ck it. if 1 entity of players wants to just have their own little house to themselves where they can dice all age they can have it.