I know Warband Sherpa's are going to call me a loser but I want to bring up a point of my own.
I was in the Napoleonic Wars Community for the last 7 or 8 years and a concept I believe in whole-heartidly is clan and regimental events. The success of the Napoleonic Wars DLC couldn't have reached its impact if it hadn't been for the regiments. We need to encourage Clans and Regiments to pop up and play. Decent Side effects of this would be a larger community useful for gameplay feedback as well as population to encourage new players to try the game out, especially if youtubers or streamers join the mix.
And I know what some people will say, Morty, we already have gamemodes which promote the idea of clan battles and the sort! But do we? Skirmish is a 6v6 gamemode that completely kills reasoning for having a clan with more than 6 player, 10 if you want to be generous. On top of this we do not have private servers available to host such events nor the proper gamemodes. Even Siege is unfit for clan battles in its current state mostly due to the fact that there is no friendly fire making the entire gamemode a mace and hammer fest.
If we want this community to thrive make this game more accessable to clans, create private servers, add new gamemodes, and for god sakes DO NOT ADD MICROTRANSACTIONS. that will kill the game. Start with what ive put out there and move on from there!
I think we need better maps (like a field map) and better camera work. I try watching Warband and Bannerlord videos, but unless I'm involved they get annoying with their jankiness.
To make the game impressive and capture what it's all about we would need collaboration of recorders. A few player perspectives and a couple 'spectators', which could be edited together because 1 spectator usually gets to the action too late.
If we had two clans, or combinations of clans fighting each other with a centralized command on chat, it would lead to a mind altering video. It would combine the thrill of combat with the bigger drama of strategy.
I know the individual won't actually experience that in a battle. But there is a thrill in knowing you are being part of something bigger.
I should mention that I have a lot of experience in Strategus battles (cRpg mod in Warband). As a noob I felt useless, but I was felt welcome since the commanders told me even useless guys had a purpose provided they listen.
So as a merc or a commander, I got a great thrill whether winning or losing (unless we got ganked). Winning always rocks (unless you ganked them.. but hey, you still won), but losing could be a thrill too. Desperate last stands are very exciting when your IRL is not on the line.
So, I say a good, edited video with appeal to both uber gamers who could clutch a game and the total noobs who can just hold the line would win lots of people over (if it was on the right channel).
Of course TaleWorlds needs to add a VOIP. One chat for a commander and squad leaders, another for the squad leaders and their men, plus a localized chat so the guys scrapping can warn each other of threats and basically work together.
With a simple mute function we can deal with trolls. Oh, and make it so commanders can boot players. In Strat the problem was we used TS then later Discord. Too many guys used it to socialize with their buddies so getting your voice heard was a *****. And, well, trolls always show up, and often your team is better one man short than having an idiot messing things up.