Tbh, qz said something similar to me, essentially that we're all too old to actually put an effort in. To me, those goal posts are extremely odd. If the game was growing at all, it'd be the lazy old farts who should be finding themselves down the barrel of some active young guns. You'd think that would be a better alternative to letting 25 year vets laziness dictate gameplay.

To the OP, LaF was only ever as dominant as their best allies. They'd have been wiped out a few times if it weren't for major warclans lapdogging (colloquially lapdogging in ICN was always called "LaFdogging" because they always had a strong war clan preventing what should be inevitable).

Also, "smear campaigns" are used to undermine someone's good reputation and credibility, of which LaF never had. The above is honest criticism that we all know to be true, not anything disingenuous.

The inevitable conclusion of every single era in LaF's history without the benefit of strong allies was always extremely fragile. It's just unfortunate they're so insulated throughout the game staff, and the end result is sadly a game that will die with us.