Interesting, I'm just now getting excited about AHII. Now that all the planes are released in the Beta, I've been enjoying taking them up, even off-line.
It's true that I haven't seen more than 2 people in the Beta arena at any given time, but I have to wonder about that. I mean what can/should be done to get that arena populated, and who should be doing it?
We've got enough folks posting in here about how empty it is, perhaps we should start making an effort to get together (as the 13th TAS has) online to give the game a workout. At the very least, I'd nominate the Friday in between Squad Ops as a good night (although it's only once a month).
But, beyond the player vacuum in the beta arena, I'm not sure what all the negativity is. We have a fairly functional product which includes nearly all of the aircraft in the current inventory, the improvements in terrain functionality (if not graphics), the new fuel system, and the choice of skins with certain aircraft. There have been great strides in getting the ATI video problems resolved, and while bug fixes aren't fun, they are necessary.
Maybe it's because I didn't get too excited until all the planes were thrown in, and yes, I did think that devlopment would be faster than it is (But what do I know? I have no software development experience). I'm having fun with it. Although I haven't been much good at finding bugs.
-Sik