Like the opinion I stated when you were mentioning this online, those are all old times which have gone away, and it's something that will never come back. I'm not trying to criticize you, I'm just stating what has happened to AH and why.
AH isn't the "Pleasantville" it used be years ago. Maximum population of 100 people or so, everybody knew everybody, and everyone else was your friend.
Back then, the three-country "War" wasn't anything much than just a little spice to add flavor to the Free-For-All fights. Pure FFA gets dull quick, and in terms of gameplay its basically the same thing as playing boxed games in MP arenas. So, a small virtual war aspect was added into the game.
It was just a simple "guidline" and a loose objective for everyone, which was useful for creating variety of nifty situations.
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Now, the MA's a bustling Metropolis.
500~600 people in prime time. About 80% of my own "countrymen" I don't know who they are. 90% of the entire MA I don't know these guys.
All of the squads which were famed when I logged on, are now much smaller in numbers. The influence of a single skilled veteran in a sector is negligible at best. And massive flights of "amateuers" dominates the skies.
The wholesome "Pleasantville" broke up into three parts, complete with its virtual-reality version of Nationalistic mentalities, and is duking out a harsh, hectic war everyday in the MA.
The main concept of air combat, in truth, is now more closer than ever to that resembling a "real war". What matters is not how you fight the enemy, but how effective you can fight him. Maximal use of force is advised. How many people your side is able to muster, will depend the outcome of the war.
The MAsfolk now fly for a different purpose. They do fly for fun - except, their "fun" is not in aircombat itself, but achieving the collective objective of suppressing enemys, capturing fields, and winning the war.
Things just progress. One must do what he can do either adapt, or be left out.
......
There's a bad side and good side in everything, and same with the MA.
For instance, I try to find my own fun in how I can help out. I don't like joining the horde, so I usually fly against enemy hordes. I try to give my countrymen a nudge on their shoulder to come defend fields. Organizing a defensive can be lots of fun when you can see the real effects of it.
Also, the new MA means that it is constantly a challenge to ever get a single kill. In the old days I could have all the time I wanted, but now, I only have a split-second before some other bad guy joins the fight to ruin it for me. So I try to keep conscious of what's going around for myself and others. Fighting in multiple numbers and large masses does have essence of fun in its own - especially when the odds are against you.
On a less personal side, bigger and more concentrated fights also give out better opportunities of massive collective battles of a grand scale.
The most fun aspect of the MA I enjoy is tank-busting. Seeing from the air our own tanks engaging enemy tanks, and flying in their midst and targetting out enemy tanks and opening up 40mm cannons - that's a thrill I don't want to miss. You couldn't have seen something like this in the old days, since the ground warfare was never really important, or an effective means of field capture.
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IMO, the largest problem in the MA is that while the "total war" aspect has arrived, but all the basic organizational aspect of a "total war" needed to make it actually fun, rather than become a dull and bland, is left out. AH has come a long way since its beta days, but the basic strat remains almost unchanged.
The simplistic strat aspect of it all was good enough to simulate a small-scale war in the old days, but it is not enough now.
Many stuff, such as logistics for instance, are not in the game. Basic command structures, organizations, flight/mission planning and etc etc. are all missing from the game. The "system", which its role should continuously become more and more important in influencing the game to work smoother, is basically non-intervening.
So what happens is people can mass up and throw anything they have in their disposal, in a chaotic manner, to create a bizarre surrounding in the MA - where people fly around with the mentality of real soldiers in a war, but none of what they do resembles anything to real soldiers.
They run away in face of equal challenge, and rely on others to do the job for them. Abandon friendlies, ignore help calls, desert fields in need of defense, etc etc..
In such an environment where everyone is free to do what he chooses, naturally, they all do the thing which ensures their chance of survival to the max - fly in hordes.
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The thing that is certain, is that the old days are not gonna come back. However, that doesn't mean that these new days have to be miserable. All we can do, is discuss new aspects and methods on how to restructure the MA into something that makes more sense, and people following that sense, can have some more fun, without leaving out anyone who doesn't like being a part of a horde.
Basically, this, is not a community thing, It's a system thing.
