May I ask? If this is/was so, doesn’t it require to have a steady growth of this game ( that is: new players coming in – also above the t3 brink) to get a situation again that is like- as you say - “when most of us started”. Will this game ever get back to a situation alike? Maybe with players that started in a time of destroyers and do not know about ‘glory old times’? Maybe that is what devs try to accomplish a broader player base by making this game attractive to more sorts of gamers? Think about it!
I am well aware, that those times do not come back. But I was also part of the process how it was changed.
I also came into a game, that had an older playerbase from the alpha. There are always generations. But this should continue. Atm. its a widening gap.
But this has nothing to do with squads. You are talking about players who begin to play. They are not in T4&T5 immediately, nor should they be.
There is now a way bigger “development road” for the player, to learn roles and classes and gameplay.
Squads have to do with social interaction primarily. If you have friends, and you can play together with them, in the same game, it increases your interest in the game. Modern games all try to increase the multiplayer experience. Squads are getting bigger. 4 people is usually the average, 5 occasionally like in BF series. more than that still doesnt work out, except in organized play (tourneys, special events, etc.) and usually, if you have 5 people, you can still split to 2 and 3.
Recently, SotF tried 6 player squads, but the games are too long for that mode; still, on special events and custom servers you can go up to 100v100.
I am not against squads in lower tiers, i am just rather for squads in higher tiers. And I can understand, that the game has changed, that today, not T3, but T5 is the endgame tier. When we started, you only had to get to T3, anything above that, even as it existed, was not important until the first Sec Cons started, and even after that, it was more or less T5=Sec Con.
Pulling away vets from lower tiers had positive and negative effects.
And to make my emotions and motivations about this clear:
SC started liberal in these regards. It represents very much a game, that, when it arrived in open beta, was simply missing on the market - server side battles ensured no cheats, low spec graphics ensured wide playability, f2p model - which didnt start so well historically as we all hoped - allowed playing for free and sparing people the hussle of DRM, and all this was welcoming for investment, if you were used to what you payed as hardcore gamer for things like eve, and you had fps physics while flying, and the game was 12v12, instead of usual 4v4 titles when it came to fps flying aswell, and their lore was even colorful but still not overdone. nice artwork. very geeky.
Imho their biggest mistake was, they were too pricey. They should have had more inbetweens. It was also early way too grindy and not new player friendly, at all. But all these negatives also hardened the population, and made them really faithful for years.
Btw. it also had competitors or predecessors; some of them didnt make it. Moonbreakers was around at the same time they released. BGO failed shortly before. And there was an underground freespace and freelancer revival. Citizen wasnt even announced yet I think.
All things were cool, which sucked in 90/00s gaming. Back then, squads of 4 was even considered a premium feature for a while, like robocraft does now, and it was still new and fresh, but they gave in and saw this wont work out, as it would have been somewhat pay2win in a teamgame.
Things also change overall in the gaming world, removing features that were actually part of the early success therefore in my eyes is just harakiri for them.
Especially, since they did have better cards in the past, were sympathetic - and still are - since they are small compared to other companies, and try to really deliver good engine work, and go the extra mile for some things, like corp logos.
SC imho truly still stands out among todays internet games, and it still is an opportunity wasted imho, while others are catching up.
I am way more civilized than some in my arguments I think - but far from giving them praise, coz thats certainly not what they deserve - atm.
Imho, where you see careful planning and a greater vision, I see sheer luck it still works, but most of the causes are in the past.
This is why i get back to the old times, not because I am sentimental.
I am very aware, the game has also evolved on other fronts!
I myself have changed aswell.