Look at the Resistance. Everybody complains of their inactivity, how they are useless, how they must just die. But they are one of the key components of the board. Time and time again their usefulness has shown through, and they have done the unbelievable.
Then there's the LZA. People always complain that it is just a shell of its former self. It is much more than just a shell, it has taken its original purpose of defending LTU and Vets and defeating the Resistance, and shifted its aim to include a wider variety of people. We now have a functioning battle school with over 25 participants.
Moving onward, there is Sin. Yes, they seem to come and go much like the tide, but they exist none-the-less. It has members that are willing and loyal, and that's what counts, and makes a good faction.
Going back to my first point about LTU, it was that people want to bring an element of fun back to the boards. Well, many of us have tried to train newer users, to welcome them – and make them good LTU citizens if they wish to be. This brings me to the fourth LTU faction, Evolution.
Amidst claims of making the boards better and wanting to add an element of fun back, they've done nothing that regular factions haven't. The only thing they've accomplished so far is have thebrain31 try and use the faction as a ploy to kick me out of the LZA on one of his own personal vendettas, and their other leader Mike8787 impersonating me and undermining both LZA and Sin. I really do not see the purpose of this fourth faction, of which I deem the Resistance to be better than (and those of you that know me should know that it is rare – if never before seen – that I deem the Resistance to be better than another faction).
If we want to be like the days of old, then don't go making a new faction to try and slaughter the old ones. Also don't go and try and wipe the current factions off the board either. What has happened, is that over time, people have formed friendship bonds and vendettas. Where before people used to fight because they honestly wanted to take out the Resistance or LZA or LSA, or any other faction – it has turned into a much more personal match.
Just look at thebrain31 and me. Long ago, it was never personal, it was just another chapter of the Resistance vs. LZA. But look at what it has become – it has boiled down to me vs. him. And it has turned that way with many people. Not too long ago there was Whitesburg and abyss. And there are tons of personal feuds that go on day by day.
Back then, it was not as personal. Your faction was like your family, and when your family was attacked, you fought back. When a member of your family left for the other side, you expressed anger at the other side more than the individual. When you gained another member, you expressed gratitude towards him, and welcomed him into the group. It is not this way anymore. People have gotten to a point where they leave a faction because they think they are worthless. Factions do not function without good, hard working people in them. It's as simple as this equation:
A group of people banded together under a common cause + Hard work + Time + Effort = A Faction
Yes, I know many of you are going "How stupid is he?". Well, that's another thing. I'm using my old LZA vs. Resistance experiences because that's what makes my point the best. The LZA used to flame the Resistance as a whole, calling them lazy, trying to drag them out to fight. The Resistance would complain about us not being good enough for them, and we would argue back and forth, and a war would pop up every now and then – but it would be a fun war with old school attacks and a near debate going on within. This was what I used to find fun. Over more than a year, we've fallen off this mark, even though two of the factions that lived during that era remain. To get back on track, we need to put more respect into wars and each other – and start making our factions like our families.