I think this is one of the worst changes Ive ever heard of in the game. It is going to kill teams and deliver much less fun experiences for those looking for alliances. I came to the forum today to ask if anyone else is having this experience because its been so noticeable in our alli, and I found this thread. We all know that having a solid team is one of the things that will keep people with a game, even if there are bugs, and other frustrations. We dont have a very high turnover, we lose maybe 2-4 members a month. Like some of the previous posters, we removed 3 folks right around the day of the last patch. We've gotten 0 in that entire time except for one that was a friend of a member and they searched for us. We'd normally have those three filled back within a few hours. We want to get back up to 35-40 player wars but can't now. We take in new players and teach them to be good at the game, and in turn they have loads of fun and we get a new member. Now, you are taking people looking for a fun team and giving them really bad options with allinaces that have barely any active members, if any. How quickly will they leave the game when they cant find a fun team or place to learn? How will established teams be able to survive. I will tell you what happens, teams will either die off due to dwindling activity, or they will search with others to merge with, defeating the premise of "other teams rising up".
I know you have good intentions, but this is awful. Please change it back quickly!!!