NW == 0 if one side becomes dominate. Yes yes, there can be dominance every so often - but what it really comes down to is, if one side is dominate NW becomes a lost cause. It becomes a failure for FC.

We're (we're as in the people who play this game) are apparently supposed to 'war' over land. Well, you very well can't 'war' over land unless there's something to 'war' over. If one side continually procures more land and even -more- land, then naturally FC is going to figure out some way (CC) to take it back. To make NW balanced. If they do not, then people get upset. People start to quit.

"What's the point of my level 200 character being clan if Omni owns most of the land? They have all the land for buff towers. Their characters are more powerful."

"What's the point of my level 300 character being omni if Clan owns most of the land? They have all the land for buff toewrs. Their characters are more powerful."

"I think I'll go try out Star Wars Galaxies."

No matter what we do, no matter how strong we are, the game will always -balance- out. Heard of game balancing? Well, NW will always be -balanced- and if it is not, then people will grow weary of AO. They introduced NW for the sake of amusement to the higher level characters for the most part. One can only do so many raids. So here comes NW..... well, NW isn't going to do it's job very well if one side takes over the map, now is it?

NW won't make money if there are no wars. That is, no wars initiated to take over more land. If one side becomes domniate, then people will either 1) lose heart and say "oh well, we tried." or 2) say "what's the point of taking over yet another base? We already have 15% side xp bonus and access to all high lvl mobs."

..... once that becomes reality, then it would be a very unfortunate thing because NW would then become a waste of time, energy, and money to everyone, including FC.

So naturally CC is introduced as a 'balancer' but it's not a local balancer restricted for individual wars. It's not an equalizer in the strictest sense. What it is is a balancer in the broadest sense. If NW is not balanced - if Omni doesn't have 55-60% of the land (as THE corporation) and clan (as the opposers to the 'system' and underdogs) have 40-45% then what happens? A break down of the story line. Clan can't have it all. Omni can't have it all. If one side appears to dominate over the other then CC comes into play. CC is there to -balance- the game. Forget what is technically fair and unfair. It's -unfair- to a business to have something as large as a booster pack launched before Christmas become a flop. A failure. To ensure that that doesn't happen, FC will keep it balanced. Oh, it'll seem like at one point that clan dominates...... and then it'll be omni...... etc.... but on average, it'll be balanced. That's the way to keep people fighting over the land. It's the hope. If there's no hope on either side, for more, then there's no NW. If there's no NW then what are the higher levels doing w/their time besides raids on high lvl mobs? What are the older players -really- doing? Nothing...

And that cannot be.... not for FC. If it's to be a long term game then it's to have long term goals, and if we go w/the story line, the long term goal for each side is to become dominate. If one side suceeds in that..... then eventually the game becomes unbalanced.

Do I sound like a broken record? Yes I do because it will BE an endless cycle whether we like it or not. If people get used to that idea then the game becomes less of a source to ***** about. "Boo hoo, CC is unfair to us." Well, yeah... now it is because that's the way it has to happen for now until it becomes otherwise. When it does, it'll cease to be unfair until it needs to be unfair again.

If anyone thinks that because of the strengths and intelligence of their side, that their side will eventually dominate.... well, I think that they're truly mistaken. This game is about building a character within a story line. A story line, of which depends upon the quality of two factions: Omni and clan. If there's no equality, there's no story line. And the game becomes boring; nothing to work towards.

So what is CC? CC is simply a balance to NW. It'll always be there as long as NW is and you'll always wind up in PW when you're defending/raiding a base in EFP. That's the way **** is. Well, at least IMO.

If we accept that fact and realize what we're actually doing - what we've always been doing (finding amusement in an MMORPG) then we'll all become less stressed out when CC isn't as cracked up as we thought it'd be during a time when we expect it to.

Although it would be nice if CC became less obvious as to FC's motives. :P I mean, how can I convince myself that I'm fighting for something real and true when everyone but those in my guild are being transferred elsewhere while my base is under attack? :P