When I returned to AoC in 2012, laming was quite common in high level matches. Before Viper was unanimously #1, and still playing a lot (and streaming a lot), he was stealing like crazy in a lot of games. Major tournament matchups featuring high level players included dreams screaming "This is HUUUUUGE" in the background. It was quite exciting.
Other memorable steals are FeAge stealing a boar without losing a single hp to his EW, and of course, Viper's oh-so-close double steal against down in the battle for #1. Needless to say, stealing made the first 10 minutes of the stream as exciting as the last 10 minutes.
During the last year or so, it seems stealing has been toned down quite a lot. With TEL having a "no laming rule" (I think it's the worst tournament rule possible, and I'll get in to that), and Viper vs Jordan's BO21 not featuring any stealing, it seems that players just aren't on the defensive against stealing in dark age anymore, and it really takes the excitement out of watching high level games. Now it seems many players are incorporating deer luring into their dark age builds BEFORE they find their last 4 sheep because they aren't afraid of losing them.
I don't mean to say I don't understand a no stealing etiquette between players. For practice games, you want to have the most fair match possible in a random setting so that you can see if you really messed up, or if you just had bad resources/late resources. Basically, no stealing etiquette is just one less luck factor to worry about. However, when players are luring deer before they find their sheep, they are essentially abusing the no stealing etiquette (IMO). They are gaining an advantage if they have decently close deer to the TC, and they are doing it at the expense of their opponents manners.
Stealing boars gives you less of an advantage usually than luring deer. No matter what, you will lose scouting time, but luring a deer usually takes less time, and you lose less HP to your scout.
I think stealing should be encouraged again. It adds an interesting element to dark age where players have to do some marginal analysis of stealing vs gaining more scouting information.
As far as TEL goes, a player would be crazy not to lure all 4 deer if they find them early. They know that have until 7 mins to find their sheep, and having 4 deers and a couple minutes late scouting advantage can be a huge advantage if they are close.
Other memorable steals are FeAge stealing a boar without losing a single hp to his EW, and of course, Viper's oh-so-close double steal against down in the battle for #1. Needless to say, stealing made the first 10 minutes of the stream as exciting as the last 10 minutes.
During the last year or so, it seems stealing has been toned down quite a lot. With TEL having a "no laming rule" (I think it's the worst tournament rule possible, and I'll get in to that), and Viper vs Jordan's BO21 not featuring any stealing, it seems that players just aren't on the defensive against stealing in dark age anymore, and it really takes the excitement out of watching high level games. Now it seems many players are incorporating deer luring into their dark age builds BEFORE they find their last 4 sheep because they aren't afraid of losing them.
I don't mean to say I don't understand a no stealing etiquette between players. For practice games, you want to have the most fair match possible in a random setting so that you can see if you really messed up, or if you just had bad resources/late resources. Basically, no stealing etiquette is just one less luck factor to worry about. However, when players are luring deer before they find their sheep, they are essentially abusing the no stealing etiquette (IMO). They are gaining an advantage if they have decently close deer to the TC, and they are doing it at the expense of their opponents manners.
Stealing boars gives you less of an advantage usually than luring deer. No matter what, you will lose scouting time, but luring a deer usually takes less time, and you lose less HP to your scout.
I think stealing should be encouraged again. It adds an interesting element to dark age where players have to do some marginal analysis of stealing vs gaining more scouting information.
As far as TEL goes, a player would be crazy not to lure all 4 deer if they find them early. They know that have until 7 mins to find their sheep, and having 4 deers and a couple minutes late scouting advantage can be a huge advantage if they are close.