Are you so sure about that? The players didn't implements tons of L PK equipment with lower requirements to use. I think that had more of an effect than any alliance or lack of competition. Ultimately they changed land grab and made it what it is today less of an annual event and just a auto pilot meh....
L PK gear started being introduced from 2007. If anything, it made PK more affordable, and encouraged more participation in that area of the game.
You'd think that would make for more exciting LandGrab events, with more socs taking part. And in a sense, they did.
In case it wasn't clear - both those threads I gave links to were part of the
same LandGrab event, which consisted of 3 stages. The LA's were to be held by the winners for 9 months.
In the first stage, held on May 27, 2009, there was a single LA on offer, for 'Warm up for performance and quality checks'. Skam reported on that, in the first thread I linked earlier. If you read that article you'll see that it started much the way that earlier LandGrab had, full of adrenalin and excitement. Yet, less than an hour into the 4hr timer, it had all but ended.
Why? Essentially because the alliance of almost all of the PK societies, together with their junior academy socs, had made it impossible for there to be any real competition.
By stage 3, it was a tea-party. Literally. With tables and chairs around the claim rod.
The Land Areas available were divvied up between the Alliance members by prior agreement.
As Mercury comments:
...Too many people in too powerful a team takes some of the joy out of Land Grab. It was too lopsided.
Positives: No cost at all, free land, and free taxes. Some other positives were friends in unknown places, great masses of people with flawless coordination.
Negatives: No fun, no spirit in LG, no memorable stories other than "Ya we dominated with like 300 vs 30", and ultimately - no heroes.
Two day after Stage 3, Marco announced that,
as a direct result, Land Grab would be permanently changed.
So yes, I see this as a key moment in Land Grab events.
It didn't have to be that way.