Originally Posted by
Fusionstrike
To me, this whole discussion is about reasonable expectations. A couple of years ago, it was a given that new caps would keep coming. It was not a question of "if" but "when". If things were still that way, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Those without the special thing would simply wait a few months for new cap and then they'd get their chance to catch up. If they chose not to do it, they would have nobody to blame but themselves. This was a reasonable situation.
Now, the story has changed. It's very likely that those who missed out will never have a chance to catch up. Whether they chose not to cap and are regretting it or they simply joined PL in the last year and have never had the chance, they find themselves with no opportunity to compete with those who have been around a long time. But they can't just wait until their turn comes around; they're stuck this way forever. That is not a reasonable situation.
What we're grappling with is that the very design of these cap bonuses is flawed. Since it requires chaining 2 or 3 caps together, the will always be someone who misses out when the last cap comes. The only way to be "fair" to all is to have an infinite number of caps so there's always a catch-up chance. Since that's not possible, I think it's perfectly reasonable to figure out how to have an alternate mechanism in place so that it's not completely dependent on a "next cap". It was reasonable back when new caps were a given, but not now.
Arguing that "hey I had to do it x way, they should too!!" doesn't really make sense. The game has changed a lot, so why shouldn't this aspect change too? It makes for a better game if players who just joined recently have the same opportunity to compete as the veterans. If I were new and I learned that the game has special features that I have no chance to earn and therefore I will always be at a disadvantage, I would be much less likely to stay. Even if the disadvantage is small, I would resent it on principle. Everyone should have the same chance to try to compete to be the best.