Competitive players do not draw in casual players, competitive players are born from casual players. And casual players exist because of a good game with good infrastructure. I think it's good to give this video a view:
I'd recommend that to @Blackheart too, since being good at a game does not make you a good game designer, and being bad at the game does not make you a bad game designer.
And in general, I can highly recommend people to watch this too:
For the average player the value of matchmaker, the neroxis map generator, the vaults (seriously - these are so important it is unreal), coop and AI development create much, much, MUCH more value than the small group of top faf players. And I'd pick those - or another Brutus, Sheikah or P4block or two - over the additional 1000 top faf players at any moment in a heart beat.
Don't get me wrong - players that contribute (constructively) in discussions or via teams create value to the community. But just because you're a top faf player does not mean you make value. It just means you're good at the game, and nothing more.
@phong said in Why does everything suck so much right now?:
I'm an average player. I can't say recent or not so recent departures of top faf players have affected me negatively in any meaningful way. (...)
I think your post is spot on, all of it - including the part about developers. Imagine not having Brutus, Sheikah, P4block and the like during the DDOS attacks. We wouldn't even be able to have this discussion on the forums right now .