I like the strat aspect of map games, give strategic people an advantage that could help mitigate visas, make sense? And as far as guilds, I think it comes down to pride and people that want to be a leader but nobody wants to follow them. A lot of guilds need to merge and also, those inactive guilds are going to start to gravitate toward the bottom together.

1 v 1's lol. Yeah, got your points. Unfortunately in my Guild at the moment, players aren't competing due to the extremely difficult GC matchings. We have had to stop playing so frequently in the hope it will level out soon. I have posted for new players on the Guild Thread, so far no response. It's difficult to recruit.
I think 'energy' strategy could made clearer to new players (especially those who have never played sports strategy games before). I assume most think, it is just a rugby sim. It would give them an angle into the strategy of the game, that is something the developers could address.
Thanks for your input BM.