I'm sorry if I came across as patronizing, it wasn't my intention. Trust me, I am not the best, nor do I even remotely believe it. My post was written reflecting back on some personal experiences I have growing up playing sports and in the end losing it all. I'm a person who always wants to better myself, and I just like to help push people as well. It's a fault of my own, and sometimes it gets the better of me.
I think no matter what, NA will always be somewhat of a niche game. The game has a fundamental problem that no matter what, will never go away. It takes a long time to play. Travelling between two ports by each other can take 5-10 minutes with bad wind. A battle can go an hour and a half, then you probably will get re-tagged again by a revenge fleet or by the same group. This game will not appeal that get 30 minutes of playtime a night. There are plenty of other games that are better suited for that audience. The casual players that will stick around for NA are the ones who are fans of the genre.
When it comes to hiding the names, some people go, 'oh, its Wraith, hes good, im going to run' or 'oh, its westgate, hes a noob.' The reason I think hiding names is better is that it removes that decision making process and every attack has a little bit of risk and excitement.
I truly don't know if there is a perfect way to balance between the casual players and and salty dogs. I hope there is. This genre of games has long been forgotten and is deserving of a great game. I hope Naval Action is that game.
Once again, sorry that I came across as an ass.