[kidriot]

I'm gonna give my thoughts on the issue (for whatever they're worth). Bear in mind I have no control over the rules of Community Clash. I only provide articles and reviews on the subject.

To expect one person - in this case Torkz - to properly scout out outfits that are going to participate in the CC, every week, to ensure outfits are fielding primary members is absurd. Community Clash runs on a minimum of resources. One person writes the rules and one person enforces them during a match. Stack community stuff (that's done for free and willingly!), family, work and even play time, not to mention other responsibilities on top of outfit scouting is expecting a lot from 1-2 people. It requires a team of people to stay on top of this and I don't even think MLG will be fielding that team to ensure the stability of the matches.

The primary issue I'm seeing with the people TGWW fielded is they weren't viewed as primary characters in the outfit. They're a group of friends who bounce factions and outfits because they all play similar styles instead of being one outfit who focuses on one faction. You can't blame them if they want to fight people of their caliber in the air for creating such a situation on Mattherson, but I can see where problems might arise. The only plausible way this could or could not be acceptable is if there was an official ruling by MLG (governing body) and SOE (designer). This won't happen for a very long time.

Community Clash is a community run effort by very few people to ensure a quality, stable and entertaining platform for outfits to run competitive matches. Competitive in this sense of the word simply means that - competition. There are no rewards for winning a Community Clash. You could even say that the matches aren't 100% fair because spawn beacons and squad deploy aren't working and I'd agree with you, but we're not the makers of the game only players. So what options do we have? Should we postpone all further Comm Clash matches until this gets worked out? No, because we could be waiting a long time and the arguments presented in this thread are proof that people want to compete. People want to fight outfit vs outfit, not because there's future glory or money or prizes to be won, but because we're competitive players by nature and we like the thrill of the challenge.

If I were in TGWW's shoes I'd have done the same thing. Bring my 12 best friends that not only play with us on a consistent basis, but play against us when we want to feel challenged in the air. They could have simply invited the "ringers" to the outfit a few days before and it would qualify those people as outfit members, even if they were a low BR. Can every outfit do this? Yes. Should every outfit do this? No. The only reason it worked in TGWW's favor is because they've all worked together before. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision. TGWW has stated they knew exactly who to bring to the match which gives the impression that some experience and preparation went into the CC. If it had been cross server people joining, say for example, FC decides to fight for NNG then I'd have to call those players ringers in the true sense.

Some outfits run a strict policy regarding membership. Your character in the outfit must be your primary character. We ran Recursion like that when we started to get more recruits and NUC runs like that. Do Recursion and NUC have players in other factions? Yes, but they're not their primaries. Some outfits are run like communities where it's acceptable to have members in various outfits and the outfit runs like a hangout - where people can play there when they wish. TGWW seems to run like that and there's nothing wrong with it. You can't expect all outfits to have the same structure. If you all agree that all outfits shouldn't be forced to run the same way then you'd have to agree that what TGWW wasn't wrong.

What prevents outfits from simply getting the best players on the server to fight under one banner for a CC? Simple: teamwork and cohesion aren't guaranteed simply because you have the top killers on a server. In TGWW's case of bringing in friends it worked, because they have the experience of playing together, in other cases it would be an absolute disaster.

The last CC wasn't tainted at all. Mistakes were made on both sides and TGWW capitalized on the TR outfits not protecting their most precious resource in The Nexus: their Sunderers. How you go about protecting the Sunderers and ensuring you have forward spawns is up to the individual outfits. The TR got outplayed in the air and paid for it dearly. It was a close game till the later part of the second half when VS began to run away with it. It was due to the freedom allowed to the Liberators because TR wasn't able to fight them in the sky. If you argue those points then you're arguing something completely different than the primary issue. The primary issue being discussed is, "What makes an outfit an outfit?"

The answers for that question vary and in varying allow for more expectations and potential for dynamic play on both live servers and especially in The Nexus where there's no outside influence.

People get testy when they lose. They sometimes get bitter and that's ok, but it shouldn't devolve into the shit flinging I've read in these forums.

Let me ask you guys this, if TR had won do you think the arguments posted in this thread would even exist? Go back to the drawing board, learn what you can from this match and move forward. That's what winners do every time they lose.