Many people joined the game, vets in particular, because of the amazing trailers that consistently showed intense vehicle warfare, drones, a variety of weaponry, and a sense of meaning in the eve universe. Much of this has been lacking but we still played because of our hope for the future. We tried to get more people in on the game because it was still fun, if not hard to understand at first, and the next generation of dust mercenaries were in it for the squads, corps, teammates and friends. As the vets slowly trickled away when they saw their original motivation getting farther and farther off (ex. tankers, dropships, non ARs) the newer mercs continued to establish their place in the community. Unfortunately the new matchmaking seriously discourages any squad formation and I fear this will drive off many of the new generation of dust mercs as well. Because their motivation isn't for the future of the game like the vets was, its for the here and now.
If we are to keep the playerbase going we need to pull together as a community. A good place to start is on the forums, where devs see our thoughts because devs are also a part of this community. We have to unite and push proper feedback, as Wang has been begging us for. Real numbers, ideas, examples, and circumstances for anything we post about instead of straight trolling. Is it realistic to expect this? maybe not. But we should try. Because the devs are trying their best to get us playing the game, and we should try our best to help them improve it and keep their jobs. Alot of them are pretty cool, yeah?