I still have faith that the Caldari State will pull out of this and emerge stronger for it. If we can get rid of Heth and his overt anti-
FederalGallente bullshit that's currently riding him like a demonic jock high on it's own hype, and replace him with someone who is still as much in favor of keeping the war live (got to get Caldari Prime back somehow, after all) but is more able to deal with, and thus express, the issues of running the State and the intra-State relationships that we have been deprived of for the last 5 years. Then, I'm sure we will see more diversity and genuine interest in running around being loyal to the State because it will become a freaking human society again, as opposed to this current joke of nationalistic bullshit and blind zeal in the popular party lines, where there is no problem and any internal issue is Fed propaganda or overblown minor issues or the Fed's doing to begin with.
I recall the days when I had to be careful with my RP in portraying my character who supposedly 'Understand' the Caldari sufficiently to be able to argue and converse with them and produce some honest mutual "I see where you are coming from but we will remain at odds anyhow" - because you know, conflict!
As opposed to this current nearly brain-dead type of antagonism we get today, where any attempt to argue with a Caldari seem to fall on deaf ears because it's "in" for Caldari toons to not give two shits about understanding the conflict and supporting your side anyhow. It's so very easy for me to present the Fed side of any argument and for the most get ignored on purpose.
I love an intelligent, noble and capable enemy I can relate to, and while there are a number of these kinds of characters around most seem to have given up on any kind of finesse at all. The State I recall produced intelligent, cool, collected, driven, noble and loyal people who could be utterly ruthless when called for. To me it seems much of this is gone, replaced by what I would describe as a carbon-copy provist - a chest-beating, hating-on-the-fed-is-my-middle-name, raging tool good only for fighting their enemies and keeping any subtlety or character-build internal and intra-corp. I don't even feel like convoing any of these toons to strike up a conversation - what's there to talk about, how much my character is wrong and his view-points are utterly irrelevant because Heth said so?
Meh, I'm ranting. Likely some of these issues might be my own jaded viewpoint and not entirely accurate anyhow. But I do feel like since FW started the whole dynamic around the intra-Empires RP has simplified and devolved into something entirely different than what it was pre-FW. Finesse is lacking here. How about a debate or argument or even a civilized conversation around, say, the subtle points around the State-Caldari Prime relationship and the pro-Fed Caldari nations that stuck around, as opposed to the typical accusations and tendencies to ignore opposing arguments when convenient.
Anyhow, slightly more on topic, I was glad to be able to actually show up - eventually. Lost a BS after my second crash (Hi Desiderya and crew, you likely got my kill-mail
) but it was worth it showing up and being part of it all. I actually gathered a dozen ships there in system, among them 4 battleships. I was prepared, to say it simply, but ultimately losses were far fewer than expected. While the first crash made sure I did not get on the Titan kill-mail (a little sad for this, it would have been the only titan kill-mail worth getting on at all) I did get to play my part, so I can't bitch to loudly about it. My only annoyance with the event itself was the Goon brigade showing up to kill anyone they could for the lulz. Almost got snared on the gate with them, but did get out. Silver-lining: They were to busy killing random guys on the gates to get to the titan, and lost out on the kill-mail. The tears in local was utterly delicious.