This happens in literally every game that is a sequel or spiritual successor to something that came before it, people will make up for the time difference with practice and not being lazy and it won't take them 1.5 years to catch up on mechanics if they are already used to a Tribes-like game.

It won't take tribes players a year and a half to catch up, but it will pretty much put the top 3-5 out of reach of 99% of the player base.

I mean I'll agree it probably won't be much of an issue, but it isn't silly and it is a very legitimate concern. I was one of the first whitelisters for T:A, and so was just about everyone on Deadstop or Legion or ZFZ or Tao, and it took nearly 2 years for any other teams to even have a shot . I don't know if you remember, but it was a comical running joke that the community didn't even need tournaments to get a grand final. I know you don't want that same sort of dynamic in midair, and I wouldn't be so quick to call it a silly non issue when it is literally exactly what happened in T:A, and from my perspective as the one on top, it was not conducive to growing a community at all.

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on it as a real person, and not an online persona trolling blitz. Thanks.