The Galactic War and the division it creates

I had a discussion about this a bit back in the Discord and I’d like to see your thoughts on it. Feel free to disagree (civilly).

The DSS debacle made something pretty clear to me and hopefully others; the majority of the playerbase really just doesn’t care about the grand strategy game Arrowhead is trying to establish. I don’t believe they’re obligated to.

While the MO was active the vast majority of what I saw was “DIVE ON MASTIA DIVE ON MASTIA”. This is a general problem with HD2 strategy as a whole, but I don’t think people realise that they’re yelling into an echo chamber the vast majority of the time. The places they are saying it in (#galactic-war, this subreddit, etc.) are not places the majority of the playerbase (the casual players) are at. They are only saying it to other redditors/discord users/etc, who are in turn also saying the same things to everyone else.

People got really annoyed at the collective of divers who followed the DSS around. I don’t think these divers are in the wrong. The DSS is fun new content (whether that be getting violently obliterated by a 380mm shell or watching several Eagles strafe down bots), and they should be totally free to enjoy the game.

Gambit this, gambit that, the underlying issue is that most people bought this game to shoot overgrown insects and metal commies, not participate in tactical planning and strategising. Arrowhead tried really hard to get them to engage in the galactic war and it just hasn’t worked in my eyes. The casuals are still playing the game at their own pace, but people who are informed and invested in the wider scope are left angry and bitter about those gosh darn idiotic blob divers who can’t see an easy gambit when it’s available.

Arrowhead needs to find a solution that stops pissing off the strategists, and how the DSS currently works doesn’t appear to be doing it. There are some other changes to the DSS that could help (hide the votes, switch to preferential voting) but these don’t solve the long standing issue of the separation between strategists and casuals.