mmm

both alliances were pretty much backed into a corner and were forced to change from netting to fighting, albeit for different reasons.

i expect NA would have rather netted, and I can say for a fact that LaF would have rather netted. If SoL had been willing to sign a pact rather than continuing to ratchet up tensions, LaF would have accepted and netted. NA was apparently told to either hit SoF or they will be farmed/FS'ed... SoF was waiting for them with full preparedness.

This is certainly better than blindsides, but it's certainly not the type of situation I'd like to see from a game-dev side. 1/5th of the server is now fighting wars they didn't want to be in in the first place.

That is the bottom line.