This is one of those moments were I'm not sure I'm inhabiting the same planet as some of my other BM players. I don't know where these promised lands are with realms literally drowning in nobles so they can hire six, 10, however many nobles at once per region. But as much as two years ago there were places in BattleMaster feeling the severe strain of noble shortage. That was with 1000 active players. Now we have 800 and the problem is only worse.
Why anyone is happy with a core game mechanic that we have to consider OOC before we even act IC is beyond me. The reason why places like Oritolon march across entire continents is because they don't even have enough nobles to hold what they have, let alone pick an expansionary war with a neighbour. Back in the day folks, we used to be able to go to war with our neighbours. Region stability wasn't tied to stacking up Knights. War came easy and it was fun. Now the first question any council member must ask when war is raised is 'do we have the nobles?'
This ain't TravelMaster. We're not planning holidays. If I started BattleMaster now and my only experience of battle and war was after a week or two's march every so often where nothing is risked and nothing is gained, I'd probably have stopped playing sharpish. Estates have done far more to harm BattleMaster's core experiences than player conservatism (as reflected by Too Much peace) ever did.
Yes, well spoken and I think your views are held by a great many battlemaster players.
As I understand it, the new estate system is on its way so we can just wait for that
