The fact that this thread exists at all, has been read by so many and has elicited so many responses – many from seasoned flightsomdom vets – demonstrates that many experienced virtual pilots are thoroughly burned out by the state of AH-MA gameplay as it exists today. Some of us deplore the hordes; others detest all the suiciding; fuel porkers get little respect from anyone at all; some are ground down by the MA methodology of grabbing the best plane for the job, which is often the fastest/strongest/has most powerful guns/max. agility etc. How has all this come about? Maybe it’s about incentives.
I was putzing around all over the place on my debut in WB. Two guys came to my aid – one was called –farm-, and the other was a Swedish guy called –save- who I later met in person. The help I got from those and other guys could not have been better. Later as we moved away from laser gunnery, and had to get in closer than 300 yards to get kills, a trainer called ==sd== went out of his way to re-educate me. Subscription costs: The mere mortals paid $2/hour but the =trainers= got free flying. Thus, there was an incentive to improve one’s skills because then you could become a trainer and not have to pay! This would be beneficial on two counts: The trainer got free flying and newbies were able to learn ACM and other skills from those trainers. Some of those newbies would go on to become trainers themselves in the fullness of time, and train a new generation of newbies. A side benefit was that there were many more trainer applicants than available slots, so it was competitive, and standards were high. The training programme worked well. In the game, suiciding was discouraged. There were no points awarded for kills per hour, but triple points for landing kills and/or strat targets destroyed. But to have a chance of returning to base, you had to develop a good degree of skill. For their free flying privileges, the trainers were expected to put in some hours on a regular basis at the Training Arena, helping newbies. This helped to raise the standard of flying in the MA, and make the game more enjoyable for all.
Now compare that with Aces High. It’s only 50 cents a day so there is no real scope for offering financial incentives for people to become trainers. And because of that, there is no yardstick of skill to work towards. The Training Arena is a joke. A WB guy I know told me that he tried AH once – the TA – and all that happened was that one a-hole (who was not even a trainer himself) used my friend as his drone. After being shot up for the fourth or fifth time, my friend realised he was learning nothing and left, never to return. More bad publicity for AH at the boozer that night… What else? Look back to the reception I enjoyed at Brand-W. Guys going out of their way to be helpful. What happens in AH? All too often, a newbie pilot will be told to try Alt+F4. Oh-ho-ho-ho, chortle the seasoned vets when someone actually falls for it… but how do you think the newbie feels about that? I know how I’d feel. If those a-holes get their jollies from rubbing my nose in it, I know how I can fix them. I’ll pork their fuel!! And who can blame them? They’ve probably had a piss-poor reception into the game, and no proper training. As a result, they have no skills, but can get back at the Alt+F4 advocates by porking their fuel, and by steamrollering their front line bases in a series of pork-n-auger missuns.
AH in the MA has become a game for egocentrics; a “ME FIRST” game. Often no 6-calls. No cooperation, people on the same side working against each other. Sure, there’s no AH rule book, but that sort of behaviour is not the kind of thing that makes you want to come back. Why is it like that? Because there’s no incentive to work together, no incentive to develop new skills – why bother to learn about the 109F4 when there’s an LA7 available at every field?
Why bother to land kills? Why bother to learn ACM? – just pork the fuel at your opponents’ field to stop them from getting alt, then steamroller it. No incentive to do anything different. It doesn't matter if you get killed; your shiny new uberplane of choice is only a mouseclick away...
There needs to be a new system of incentives. The objectives in the game need to be rewarded differently. Right now, we see guys scoring lots of points for diving in on a field in his P51, making about 3-4 passes vulching/shooting anything that moves, and when his E runs out augering in a blaze of glory. Is this the kind of game any of us wants to see?
There are at least two other threads besides this one on Page 1 of General Discussion, in which the originators bemoan the state of AH gameplay. We’ve laughed at the newbies and told them to Alt+F4. They’ve been used as drones, and otherwise held to ridicule. And now there’s a price to be paid. That price is the current lamentable state of AH-MA gameplay.
Beet1e
PS – sorry about the wall-o-text
