While technically correct, it doesn't have the same psychological effect from a behavioural management perspective. If the player who had the first Aristo sent to the Infirmary LOST a Tactic then we would expect to see the increase in cautious play you describe. However a positive reward doesn't generate the same imbalanced response. That's the theory, and my personal experience supports that as the real effect. Are you claiming that your meta has seen an increase in cautious non-engaging play this season?
I can only speak for myself, as anything else would be anecdotal, but yes, i take fewer risks early than i did before.
That seems very strange. *shrugs* it's impossible to account for every response from every player, but we certainly haven't seen that locally, nor does it appear to be a feature in the reported events or online discourse.
maybe at the moment (because the game is too young) we see the offensive game very dangerous, with mushashi, wild bill, lunah, valkirie, massacre, hammerhead, dart, ecc. but with time and more options and strategies the game will become more conservative (I can imagine a game where dont score in the first round to be better positioned and maybe have the underdog advantage for the rest of the game). so encouraging the first blood seems a fair way to push the frag game. at the end of the day is THE ULTIMATE SPORT SHOW! and people like to see blood hahaha
I'd argue we already have the tools for such a playstyle. Every damage dealer in the game is shut down either by immobilize or dazzled so you can already play a very safe game without sending a single opponent to the bench, even before considering Hidden or Smoke. Beyond that, Oberon gives unprecedented certainty of being able to enact your plans (at least until the dice gods intervene). Likewise Bachmann not only dramatically lowers the penalty for making a mistake, but actively weaponises it to use against opponents. All the pieces are there. It's just a question of working out how many you need or can afford to take.