(02-28-2014, 09:26 AM)McNeo Wrote: Zoners only have something to lose because they were given things in the first place.
Like a bunch of ships, some of which were caps, that nobody could fit in anywhere else, looked cool, and people went "why not?". The lore surrounding Zoner neutrality was, last I checked, based on being useful to all the conflicting parties, so those parties had more to lose than gain by becoming hostile.
Zoners, and other factions as well, have unfortunately treated their given neutrality as a right, not a privilege. There are exceptions but when you've a fallback position of a fleet of battleships capable of matching a house power, belonging to a faction of folks who just wanted to live peacefully where nobody would bother them, why would you not use them?
And giving the Zoners that position was a mistake. Taking it away is a good move.
People have become accustomed to Zoners acting in such a manner, and the Zoner players have become used to being able to do so, perhaps to the point where the majority do not remember a time without battleships. But even then, this has always been tried; the AW, an old Zoner faction, used to use an Outcast Ranseur while claiming to be neutral to the Corsairs. The only thing stopping the Corsairs from acting on it, was the fact that at the time, they could not easily match this level of firepower (they had to use the Osiris, because the Legate did not exist). When the Corsairs did try to act on it, the Zoners fought back; within their rights to be sure, but it should not have been within their capability.
Zoners should not have this firepower. You have the freedom that other factions lack, and very few people go out of their way to shoot you. I have lost count of the amount of Zoner battleships that I've seen floating around Liberty, occassionally even declaring their own little localised no fire zone right outside a base like West Point. Battleships make people think they are big men - naval factions have enough of a hard time policing their own "I've got a bigger ship than you so Im a higher rank" breed of independent player to be spending time dealing with odd Zoner rubbish floating about.
Well that is your opinion. Would you consider seeing it from zoner side? Would you consider a change that can maintain a status quo ? Allow Zoners to keep their capital ships but keep the lolwutry in check?
And those zoners cap supporters, would do you consider his views? Would you be willing to sacrifice something as to not allow the misuse of zoner caps?