Originally Posted by Manitou
I say it's good for the game and good for Outfits that honestly want to further their Empire's goals.
Let's face it - if they didn't limit the switching, you would have some llama who would abuse the ability to be dishonorable and flip-flop back and forth revealing information that might be vital to an Outfit's operations. I understand this is only a game, but we Dragon Wolves take our ops serious. We want to be able accomplish missions, make efficient battle plans and see them through to either victory or defeat or a standstill by the tactics themselves and not some bozo who decides he or she wants to jump from Empire to Empire with the frequency of a cheap ham radio.
The devs have my respect for leaving it where it is...
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As with anything I think the empire switching can be good and bad depending on the individual player. The players dedicated to winning no matter what have been switching empires since day 1. Just get 2 subscriptions and you have unlimited spying and switching capability. Now, before someone brings it up� for us working adult players $12.99 per month is almost nothing. Even if that price were a problem you could get outfit buddies to chip in a buck or so. Then you could share the spy account and whoever felt like spying could log on and have at it all night.
For more pathetic examples of what people are willing to do to have an unfair advantage just go to e-bay and do a search on any RGP game out there. Take Diablo II for example; there are hundreds of hacked items for sale ranging from $5.00 to almost $100.00. Some people load their whole character with these items and others fill a whole account (8 characters) with these items. Trust me; $12.99 is NOTHING for these guys. Also, how many of the 7-day and now 30-day trial (for XP users) memberships do you suspect get abused in this way? The people who want to spy ARE spying.
Allowing players to switch introduces nothing new to the game EXCEPT that it allows honest players more variety. Personally, if I were allowed to switch at will and play all 3 empires I�d want to level up a character in all 3 empires. My nightly decision of what to play would be based on what empire I felt needed the help. I think the game can be boring when you are either hopelessly zerged or you are part of a massive zerg facing minimal resistance.
As for preventing flip flopping and easy spying/trading just leave the empire switch limit to 6 hours or so. This will prevent the casual spy or trader or guy prone to join the �winning� side. The dedicated guys already do this at will.