another mage in agreement with Giant Dong...reassigning mages to different battlegroups midcampaign makes for more time spent on chat as well as more time spent trying to find battle group hunting buddies. The relationships we mages have developed is an asset to keeping us active. Maybe shorten the campaign length instead of changing battlegroups each round? As to lag and the beacon list, well, where does one start?
At least with long-beacon-list-lag, individuals have some control over the amount of lag (potentially) they encounter: self-cull one's friend list to lessen lag. But as others have no dobt mentioned, having an everchanging beacon list not of your own doing is incredibly frustrating. Much of the recent changes to the game seem to support individuals who are mainly concerned with their individual scores and climbing the leaderboard versus team scores.

Thanks for listening, and of course, thanks for creating a wonderful game and online presence for many of us mages!

GiantDong

-All of these changes appear to push the game toward the casual user and away from serious play.

Really? Finally? I might have to give the game a second... errm... Fourth? Yes, fourth chance.

Lazarus
Really? Finally? I might have to give the game a second... errm... Fourth? Yes, fourth chance.

Not in any good way. The point system is still as flawed as it ever was.

Thank you for taking the time to describe the issues GD. I'm not a high scorer but I've enjoyed the challenges but don't feel motivated by this format. Too many people to connect to. Just not as interesting.

Love your opinions! The only part I disagree about is the:

"-All of these changes appear to push the game toward the casual user and away from serious play."

I am a casual player. I play often, but I do not devote my life to it. I am extremely disappointed with the changes, and I truly hope the developers understand the true feelings of the players. If I had joined this game during this week, I would have most likely turned around and walked out the door because there is no social aspect anymore. There is no tactic. Why do I care about a person who will not be in the same group in a few days? Thank you GD!

Spot On

Anvar
What do you mean?

Meaning that invested time and luck in where you happen to live play the biggest role in the scoring. Skill doesn't play that big role, nor is the playing field even for everyone. (not that time invested shouldn't play a role)

My answer and Lazaruses are related to ancient gripes we've had with the system dating back to beta.

I think I figured it all out GA is trying to get most of the ancient players like me to quit cause if we are gone the lag theoreticaly should go down along with the number of beacons. it would fix most of their problems. fixing these problems would make it more appealing to new players.