by Lord Mercat » Wed Feb 06, 2013 4:42 pm
I've been doing a lot of reading up on the whole LCC project, and there are a lot of things I like- the lore, the setting, all the great MOCs (especially the MOCs) but there seems to be one major problem with the whole project. That is- the project has essentially devolved into much more of a two faction game- with the outlaws on one side, and loreos, lenfald, and garheim on the other. There is almost no competition between these three (loreos, lenfald and garheim) factions, as all of their efforts are almost entirely devoted to beating up on the outlaws- which would be fine, excepting that the outlaws have the smallest number of active members, and don't really seem as if they have enough people building mocs to represent themselves well as all the other factions have ganged up on them (look at the latest global challenge- the outlaws had 7 entries, while the other 3 factions had 9, 12, and 14 for a combined total of 35 entries) . Now I'm all for the great good vs evil contest, but quite frankly the outlaws aren't numerous enough, and those opposing them are far too numerous. Even the latest global challenge is essentially "beat up on the outlaws" Its like I'm watching the reverse of the classic evil empire storyline, with the ragtag group of heroes as the villains, but while still maintaining that "good always wins" mantra. I don't think it really works well. For all intents and purposes, Loreos, lenfald, and garheim have become sub-factions of the larger Kingdom of Roawia faction. There is nothing but a very mild friendly rivalry between those three. IMHO, for this project to shine its brightest, there needs to be actual competition between the four factions. With all these treaties, and beating up on the outlaws, it really is far from what it could be, there's no nuance to it, its far too black and white. Basically, its like you have California, Nevada, Montana, and Cuba as your four factions. 3 of them are part of the same country, and are all far greater in number and power than the fourth faction.
Also, I am not trying to say that the factions should be in open war with each other, but I do think there should be some animosity between them (not between the actual members mind you, just the factions themselves) otherwise it lends itself to being either frustrating (as one of the outlaws, or boring, as one of the other three.) Now, I apologize if I upset anyone, but this is my honest take on this project. What I think could solve this problem though- would be to have the assault on the magic islands that is currently going on be a huge failure for the kingdoms (without influencing the actual contest or anything, just as a general storyline event) and then have a large fallout between the factions over who is to blame, shattering treaties and making this more of a four suit game.
Anyway, just thought that needed to be brought up, again I apologize if I've upset anyone, but I am trying to give honest criticism of an issue I've noticed. This is pretty much the only thing preventing me from joining at this point.
