Alexir. The problem is not that it is only only the forums, it is that the forums is the place these things should be discussed, infact it was this very thread which encouraged a few members of the community to get together and increase ways to learn the game, it has also helped encourage more players to manually balance matches or take "less than meta" builds when in unbalanced matches.
More higher level crews and clans are putting their members out of their comfort zones and throwing them new weapons, lumberjacks, Hades and flaks appear more than gatling mortar and carro flamer in the unbalanced matches. People are taking other ships too, more veteran operated spires and squids are cropping up, because the vets want to avoid the reputation which certain members are giving us.
3v3 stacked lobby by chance, we offered to balance the match, the enemy refused, and even gave some strong words assuming we were all new too, so we took three squids, one triple gatling one triple flak and the other double carro or something, we each had specific roles and everyone was out of their comfort zone, the match was a win to us but it was close, when they saw the levels at the end of the match their overall attitude changed and the two new.player ships.stuck around for more.fun games.
Happy days.