Best Of

Oh, add arborist to that list - a caretaker of trees basically. Bowyer, linguist, herder (of deer, perhaps??), fishmonger (especially in NC/Mag), veterinarian, courier, lady-in-waiting or maid (most likely for the cities of Hallifax, NC, and Magnagora), negotiator/diplomat, pharmacist/apothecary, demonologist (though I suppose Nihilists are those by default), songwriter, silversmith, economist, tinkerer, chemist, archeologist, diver, surgeon... I could go on if need be.

Honestly it's not just purely just that the other side has greater numbers- they also have solid organisation, work on encouraging each other, and will often be comfortable to YOLO even when it looks doubtful. We HAD people like that but they're either not playing just now, or have burnt out in general. I think it's time for the next group of people to start stepping up to give things a go- at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you die in a TQ, and if you want to learn you just need to give it a shot. 

I actually like where combat is right now with a small number of things I would like to change (song spam, gem spam, that sort of thing) that makes things frustrating because it's not really needed). I think we just really need to work on motivation and helping low/mid-tier combatants improve. 

Regarding the spammy nature of combat. It may sound cliche to say that with practice you'll start to pick out the important parts but it's true. You'll also want to start using highlights with different colors to help recognize game states and gagging lines that are spammy but you don't really care to see. Meld effects are especially spammy and should be the first thing to start gagging.

While obliviousness is an option to completely cut out other actions in the room, I really recommend not using it - save that for big group bashing trips.