Quote Originally Posted by Sasuko View Post
I know those feelings quite well myself, which is why in the past I would have cheered on your opinion wholeheartedly. I could probably still run people through all the old missions in my sleep, having repeated them to a ridiculous degree for others. I also still have a mule with gear and meds I crafted for LS people to borrow to make the CoP missions more successful. Although stepping back from those feelings of bitterness and resentment that I carried for years myself, I realize also that only being able to have a single linkshell at a time would not change the situation. The more hardcore linkshells would still be known, and the same result would occur with players who had a strong interest in an endgame focus if the more laid back LS was unable to provide it such as mine was not. I know I had no desire to push and force people to do things they did not enjoy simply so myself and some others could progress down that route. While we dabbled in the more hardcore aspects of the game for fun, none of the more casual players were really "ready" for it, but I don't believe in excluding interested parties simply because they don't have the time (or sometimes even real interest) in obtaining better gear or skill. Obviously this creates a difficulty all it's own. lol.

The only real preventive against losing members to linkshells with a different focus would be if the system locked you into that LS until you either recreate, server transfer, or the shell is broken. I'm not sure I would like a system that locked you into the same LS for the rest of your character's life either. It could be miserable if you end up in one that you are very much incompatible with, and that definitely doesn't make the game enjoyable or fun as a game should be.

That is where I've come to feel being able to "equip" two linkshells at the same time is a compensation of the two ends of the spectrum. The grey of the black and white of it. While I look back and see how it could have been of great benefit in the past as well with keeping members active who in turn would have been able to continue giving back to the LS while still being a part of a more focused and driven group, I think it would be a great asset still with the decline in the player base. For example let's say your main linkshell is simply not very active anymore outside of one or two scheduled events, yet you have that innate loyalty to the LS which makes you unwilling to "jump ship" so to speak even though you also have a pearl to a more active one. To keep up with what is going on in the second pearl, currently you would have to no longer see what is going on in the first. So if a couple people become active on the first and want to do something as an LS, you could have been the 6th to help accomplish it instead of the idea dissolving at not having a 6th...but you wouldn't know unless you sat around staring at the silence for hours waiting, someone sends you a tell, or in some cases are lucky enough to see the shout if they're even willing to shout.

That type of scenario seems fairly common these days, and also why I think SE going back to the idea of dual linkshells and getting that implemented would be far more beneficial to the game than this current idea which feels like an over complicated way to fill your inventory with pearls and encourage linkshell hopping.
You're right it doesn't prevent it from happening out-right. But I do believe having only a single linkshell would make someone think twice before abandoning it in hopes of finding greener pastures. Especially if that linkshell was very helpful to them and the player would have to risk losing that to try out a different one.

I'm sure some would still jump ship though so you're point is taken.