Lack of stimulation to maintain an interest in the member games.
1 v 1 Ladder map/settings is the favorite game of a select group of people, but not all or (probably) not even a majority.
2 v 2 Ladder is fun if you can find a teammate who is more or less as good as you and with whom you can cooperate, have interesting discussions about strategy, and get along with; plus, the 2 v 2 Ladder is a marriage of sorts: not all people are ready for such long-term committments.
Aside from the two ladders on the same map and with very similar settings, there is no other game in town for members to prove their worth. To want to compete with the best, one needs motivation and the desire to kill. If one is board with playing the same map/settings over and over again, there are three choices: (1) Keep playing, even if wins aren't especially satisfying and losses don't really matter as much as when stimulated/motivated; (2) quit the ladders and stop playing on warlight (for those who don't have the competitive edge for non-ladder games; (3) quit one or both of the ladders and play non-member games.
I'm bored with the 1 v 1 Ladder map/settings and quit that ladder (and surrendered in about 9 games just to be rid of them). Before Choose/Chump went on a trip, he told me he doesn't really like the 1 v 1 Ladder, but keeps going back to it out of boredom and because there is no other competitive option that ranks players. In a 2 v 2 round-robin tournament, one of the FBGs who are ranked #2 on the 2 v 2 Ladder recently expressed frustration with playing on the same map again and again, and he surrendered without reason just to be done with that game (like what I did with my 1 v 1 games).
More competitive, ranked options would help. I've suggested three changes and I've seen many other suggestions offered, though nothing has changed. The changes offered by me or others:
1. [1 v 1 Random Map Ladder](
http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread.aspx?ThreadID=2003)
2. [3 v 3 Europe Ladder](
http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread.aspx?ThreadID=2002)
3. Rate All Players: Every game affects one's overall rating. Then, have a "Best Overall Player Ladder" that is based on each player's overall rating. If every game counted (no matter if it is a member, non-member, real-time, multi-day, or tournament game), people would be more competitive and have more motivation to play. Many people ask and wonder: Who is the best overall player? Who is the best at this map? Etc. Find a way to rank such things and people will have more incentive to stick around to compete. More ways to compete = more competition = more good players sticking around to prove their worth.
4. 1 v 1 Championship Color: Others once proposed creating the color gold and letting only one player be that color. This would be interesting. It would be like the wearer of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France or a champion boxer. Whoever is the color gold is the champ. Easy to do too: To see who is the best, first have a tournament (round-robin or single/double-elimination). Winner is champ. Then, whenever that person loses any 1 v 1 game, he loses the color gold to the winner. It is a small change, but it would keep the interest of some people. Every little thing helps.
5. Have a live-time chat board and/or show who is online. Do that and more competitive games can be made. And there would be more discussion. Both would help keep the interest of good players. (Though maybe such a change would require a larger server, which would be more expensive.)
6. Seasonal Ladder Tournaments.
In short, if there are few competitive options that count (ie, something that can be added to one's profile page: badge, championship color, stats, favorite game, overall rating, new ladder rating, etc.) to stimulate our competitive nature, there is a greater likelihood people will lose interest in the options currently available.
