I think the loss of squad pilots has a lot more to do with the fact that a lot of people were hanging out playing 46 in anticipation of CLOD, and when it
finally came out, a lot of squads already had lower participation from various factors.
Let me list a few;
- Life sometimes just gets too busy
- Splitting community from the different mod versions of 46
- Complexity of getting 46 mods working (not everyone flying is an IT geek)
- LOTS of other worthwhile games coming out
- Going a bit stale from 10 years of almost the same thing over and over
- CLOD not working as well on some systems as people were hoping
- Some people like me just decided to have a break until some of the teething problems were sorted with CLOD
I wouldn't worry too much, a lot of those people will be back, especially if it's in your blood...
So i dont think you cant point the blame squarely at CLOD for people leaving squads, its a broader set of issues.