Recruit to win, and thus merge to win, has always been in the playbooks, as far back as w3. It's why we have tribe limits -- and often people will try to circumvent those with family tribes or coplaying as many as 5 people per account. The difference with family and merging on such a small world as 88, with an even smaller tribe limit, is that dukes can't do anything, even diplo, without being fairly overt.
Re: merging as a tactic and its effects on TW gameplay, I have a couple freezer experiments of cold, hard truths saved up for that subject, and it's about time they defrosted. Let's begin by dissecting what wartime merging entails from a purely objective lens, and why it's done.
We've already established taking in the aristo and heavy hitters before, after, or during a conflict is incredibly effective. Yes, it takes all the fight out of the enemy -- because it's demoralizing when you realize you couldn't trust your own duke to stick around for the people he was supposed to lead, and you're faced with not only a broken tribe but the dark side of its former best and brightest. What's left is a floundering mess, easily broken up by outside influences. It's even easier when the 'victim' has already had recent swaps in aristocratic lineup -- easier to orchestrate as well, as new dukes may be overwhelmed by the pressure to fill the former duke's power vacuum and meet tribal expectations.
Yes, it's not fun for anyone but those benefiting. It's the most unsavory bad taste in the mouth of anyone who ever worked for the betterment of the affected tribe and a deliberate middle finger to those unaware of or not included in the merge-ees' little clique, especially those who helped them in the past. Any allies of said tribe also get screwed as the enemy steamrolls the leftovers in most cases, often watching helplessly as players are nobled by their newly ex-tribemates. Other times, a fractured last ditch effort cobbles together a tribe from those left behind, with little chance of survival.
But is it ruining the game? For those who don't benefit, sure. For those who do, it means not spending a year at war like we used to in the pre-10 worlds, back when people actually used to put up a fight.
Now, as the quality of players has risen and the quality of tribes has fallen, it has become an incredibly effective tactic. Loyalty is increasingly becoming discounted in favor of size, skill, and PP, not necessarily in that order. So in essence, the game has lost what was once its heart, teamwork, hard work, and honor. People are by and large these days simply not willing to die honorably. You can't blame the dukes for being shrewd enough to take advantage of that.
With that in mind, I'm unsure why we are complaining about Krieger allegedly helping ruin TW with AM's strategy, i.e. recruiting the strongest players and leadership from UV while simultaneously running diplo with surrounding tribes -- if we are not also calling out 404 doing the exact same, having diplomatic ties to both NUTZ and o.m.g. family while the two clash on the map, and having merged in Clear family after skirmishing for a few weeks in order to sew up the SE without a fight. The updating maps reflect this at a glance. If anything, Krieger's recruitment has been very quiet and selective. He is not mass recruiting. But this is not a thread about different tribe's recruitment styles, so I'll leave that there.
My point is, perhaps instead of putting the blame on the dukes for figuring out the simplest way to win the world before it's really begun, we should put blame where it rightly belongs, the cowards who would rather ditch their friends than die fighting alongside them. That's what's ruining the game, why players are not coming back, burned by the people who give up too soon, whether on themselves or others. Sometimes they're rewarded for it, i.e. in the case of UV players who ditched to AM and Clear! players who bailed for 404, and sometimes they just silently fade away, whether after a good op on them or just out of boredom. Either way, they leave their tribemates to pick up the pieces, and few come out of that alive.
So, summing up, merging is a winning strategy for those who employ it, most of the time. Does it suck for those not invited? Yeah, but it isn't inherently evil. The man who opens his door, whether in generosity or calculated risk, is at leisure to invite whoever he pleases to his home. He is not at fault for how many people who choose to walk in. If anything, these merges just speak ill of those who left their home tribes and raise the question how many times we'll see this in the future.
Now, to the people whining about the diplomatic/recruitment styles of tribes of late: If we complain about hugging so much, why do we only complain about said hugging when it's disadvantageous to ourselves? If we complain about merging, why do we not complain when it benefits us? Both of these things cut short the life of a world and the life of the game itself as the TW team pumps out more and more worlds to keep up, so why do we only complain when it suits us? Because truth is, it's not the tactic we are protesting. It's the disadvantage it represents to us. A fast world win is great to those who think they might win it, but even second place will dread that day dawning.
Just my thoughts.