What I miss

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by Westy
Hajo   No problem. Never thought of myself as much of an online gentleman - boardswise anyway

To be serious that was an honorable title shared by the likes of you, MarkAT, good ole Mossback, Indian,  Lephturn, most of the 13TAS/357th (even though I HATED seeing them above me when online and discussing things with them in the OT pHoRuM) and so many more.

Back to your original post? Even if the MA had not changed so dramatically I personally grew bored (to tears!) with the fantasy MA environment. I'd started off in the early 90's with the "Aces of..." series pc games and then joined up with AW during the "Bigweek" tests and stayed on thru the dawn of the AW autoscenarios (ancestor to the AH "TOD").  When bigweek petered out and the autoscenarios tanked from lack of development and resources the  AW "ma" style of gameplay (and later AH's) could only satisfy myself for a few years. Now my interest is rekindled all a new with HTC's "TOD."  

Also, to be fair to all there was smack talk in AH from the beginning. However, IMO, as the AH population grew and new influences on the MA atmopshere were introduced (see below*) the arena atmosphere and gameplay dropped out like it had fallen off a cliff.

Anyway.... there's no going back.  hope to see you in TOD!!



(*O'where, o'where did all those ex-RR arena denizens, with thier pork'n auger "prowess" and now unrestrained verbal diahrea, go play? I wonder. Was it WB's? No. Jay Littman saw to that . Was it FA? Nope. WWIIO? A few did but that game was (and is again) in such a sorry state in 2001 and it's performance so horrendous that AW's with thier PII's couldn' swing it. Could it have been .......)

Come on Ken, how soon we forget  Remember what BB wrote on Bigweek, when I asked the same question about where my 'glory days' had gone in AW?  (can't find it in my stuff btw...hint hint hint)

I think the same applies here.  The notion that somehow the quality of the people here has dropped from the 'glory days' of the earlier AH seems silly to me.  I'd like to think there are lots of us who didn't drive right over after burning out in AW or elsewhere, that are doing our best to contribute to the game and the community.

I would suggest that the gameplay complaints still fall back to the focus on land grab.  You mentioned FR Big Pork.  To me as soon as AW went to capture it all, the gameplay changed.  Air to air was no longer what the game was about, and AH has followed that same pattern.  

I think back to my 'glory days' in AW.  The fights were high over the river or the big lake, the vulchers were all confined to the VoD and looked on with disdain, the buffers were going deep to the Spit factory and the goal was to be a good fighter stick.  

All that being said, I'm having a great time in AH, flying with a good bunch of guys, dying often in my 38G and just not taking it nearly as seriously as I used to when AW would drive me nuts.  It's all about perspective I guess

[ColKLink]

anyone that brags how good they are is just setting themselves up to be knocked down hard.(motocross will teach one that) someone always waiting on you with your nuber. I am here not to be a virtual pilot, although it does seem to happin from time to time, im here, for a bit of fun, and a good laugh, nuthing more, nuthing less. And by golly i normally get my 15 clams worth. Have fun, make the emeny mad, (yes thats part of  war) He may make a dumb decision ifluff'n he mad. Just like real. And ALWAYS remember what brung you here on day 1. most of us were thinking, "hey this might be fun" i hope everyone finds what they are looking for, i did. AS YOU WERE GENTS.

[Lazerr]

For the record nomak, your wrong.  A lot of people come here to see plane match-ups, and you used to be able to see that in MA, without having to go to CT.

I don't have a problem shooting down la7's, they aren't unbeatable.  Ask Shane how our talley this month is p38=4, La7=0.  I just don't really like the la7 being the only plane I ever fight.

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by Lazerr
For the record nomak, your wrong.  A lot of people come here to see plane match-ups, and you used to be able to see that in MA, without having to go to CT.

I don't have a problem shooting down la7's, they aren't unbeatable.  Ask Shane how our talley this month is p38=4, La7=0.  I just don't really like the la7 being the only plane I ever fight.

Interesting to note, just looking at our Squad stats.

The planes we've run into the most and killed are as follows:

La7   374 kills
Spit V 295 kills
N1K 291 kills
Spit IX 227 kills

Next closest is the 51D at 170 kills.

Personally I'd have said it was N1Ks since that's what I seem to find all the time, but clearly the LA7 seems to be the one.  Now we fly mostly 38s, so I don't know if that makes a difference.  The LA7 crowd has 181 kills against us too.  No one else in triple figures.  Next closest is the N1K with 98 kills against us.

[Nomak]

Originally posted by Lazerr
For the record nomak, your wrong.  A lot of people come here to see plane match-ups, and you used to be able to see that in MA, without having to go to CT.

 

I respect your opinion Lazer.... we are all entitled to our own.  I, of course still choose to disagree.

Dave

[Nomak]

Originally posted by EagleEyes
Nomake, if i were you, id take him into the DA and smack him around!  ........

Egle31

A year ....or even six months ago I would have.  

There really isnt much point though.  The "go to the DA to settle a grudge" really doesnt achieve anything.  If I win I am still pissed at him for what he said to start the whole thing.  If I lose he rubbs it in my face.  Either way we dont come out the backside as friends.  

I have made to many enemys in this game over the years as it is.  I dont need to make more.  It really doesnt matter to me that much.  It took me a long time to figure out that I really dont have to "prove" myself to anyone in this game.

I will at this point probably never duel him just to avoid the above scenairo.

thx for your other nice comments!

Dave

[Toad]

Originally posted by Guppy35
Interesting to note, just looking at our Squad stats.

The planes we've run into the most and killed are as follows:

La7   374 kills
Spit V 295 kills
N1K 291 kills
Spit IX 227 kills

Of course the two Spits together total 522 and for MA purposes they're pretty much the same plane.

[Shane]

Originally posted by Westy
Perks had nothing to do with it.  AH now has exactly the same "gameplay" as AW did during it's last three years.  AH's "ma" is a twin to AW's "BigPORK" all over again and with an unrestrained, jeuvinile  "RR" atmosphere.
 I suggest YOU (any person who thinks "perks" were the cause) truly "think" about why AH gameplay is the way it is today.
"What the hell happened?"
Several things IMO.  Mainly the influx of AW players, the change in price to $15/mo, the lack of online "gameops"  and the age old "melee" arena design being the only item on the menu while new competition from more online multiplayer games came about.

still bitter at AW i see.... you've always seemed the box-sim type anyway. what's your latest game-fad du jour with all the newest eyecandy that you so crave?

[mechanic]

Originally posted by Treize69
The slow inexorable slide of Western Civilization?

i like this guy.


trieze give me a shout in the combat theatre, we might want to recruit you

[g00b]

I'm having just as much fun as I was having during the beta. If you're not having a good time maybe it's time for a little self-examination, take a break or something.

As to the title of the thread. Things I miss...

Sheep
UFO's, Giant Squids, etc...
Bomb craters taking out landing gear
The ability to take a base with only 2 people
Rock solid gameplay and connections, hopefully the new server will take care of that.
HTC dudes in the arena, fly'n, die'n, answering questions, taking feedback, etc...

Otherwise, it's still the same ol' AH I have known and loved for years.

HTC

[Westy]

"I went back to some old BB posts. Real old.... like 99-2001. Yeah its different. Alot different. Alot of those old posts were derived from a true passion for the game."

 Absolutely.




 Dan, I recall BB's posts about "Golden Years" (and more) very well.  FWIW that post and a lot of others were on that DVD of AW files I'd mailed you (and Brooke) several moons ago. I can resend if you'd like (that specific post have been posted on these boards a few times to btw).   Anyway.
 But yes. One can even see someone with a severe case of BB's "Golden Years" syndrome when reading comments from old AW players like "HR."  For  "Golden Years" people nothing replaces thier first experience. It effects some worse than others.
 I'm personally am all for change and advancement. I can't stand stagnation and "maintenance mode."  In all honesty when the game doesn't change, the players do. It happened in AW and for many AH was a breath of fresh air with all the advances and features it had over AW.  But  that stagnation also happened in AH and in WB's. Although with WB's thier players just upped and left..
 For sure there are a few such as yourself, Brooke and a few others who would like to change/help AH from within via contributions.  I'm not minimizing your efforts nor the contributions of anyone but in the past there were a lot more who did and were willing to than there are now.  All IMO of course.
 I'm also not saying that the quality was entirely better "back then."  IMO it was more concentrated. Since day 01 there was jerks and smacktards in AH.  Two week free trial mah_roons were the rare players who would occasionally dive-bomb with a med/heavy bomber or do the ole pork-n-auger on a target.  Truth was it was rare. Very rare.
 Fast forward past three years, cricumstance outside of AH and the rare act of idiocy has become an arena mainstay.  The new influx brought with then thier own gameplay.  There are still quality players but IMO thier numbers have been heavily diluted by the shear number of path-of-least-resistance, the ends-justify the means, downright lazy kind of arcade player.

 Anyway, I personally feel my "golden ears" have yet to come. I still play online a few nights per week. That's not by choice but due to a lack of free time.  And I'm still here looking and waiting for an "Aces over the Pacific/Europe, EAW, IL2:Online" kind of MMPOG and I believe "TOD" will be that. I've never been a fan of fantastical MA style crowd around and have a slap-fest gameplay.   It's just that night after night of calling people names or making up excuses for being shot down in a 2,3,4,5 or 6on1 and then calling others, lame slobber donkeys was never my kind of thing.

 I think I ended up rambling on and bouncing around a bit but then again that's nothing new either...

[Delirium]

Originally posted by Westy
I'm still here looking and waiting for an "Aces over the Pacific/Europe, EAW, IL2:Online" kind of MMPOG and I believe "TOD" will be that.  

Don't get your hopes up... there is whining now when 'death' just means a re-up with nothing lost. Wait until these people have to 'work' for their rides and their personas, I guarantee you whining and other bs will be far more prevelent.

Besides, I'm comparing TOD to AW's Vietnam Fighters, I will believe it when it is released.

[SKJohn]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
I think it has something to do with the average age of the Online Gamer.

I've often wondered what the "average" age of AH players is.   I've only been playing for about a year and a half, but it seems to me like I see alot more whining and "smack" talking than I did when I first started.

I'd guess the average age of the smack talkers and whiners is down in the teens and low 20's.  I say this because having been a high school teacher for the last 12+ years, I'm very familiar with the younger crowd and their increasing inability to take responsibility for their own actions, and always looking to blame things on others.   For that reason, it seems like when they die, they always need to announce it on ch. 200 and the fact that it wasn't their fault.
"Nice ram, dweeb!"
"skill-less HO dweeb!"
"I was AFK..."
"Cherry pickin' vulchin' HO 'tard!"

If they feel the need to announce the fact that they got killed to the rest of the AH community, it's be nice to see someone be honest for a change:

"Wow, my SA really sucks, and I was shot down in a really skillful high speed pass by XXX..."

Regardless of age, it seems like some of the players with high "rank" also feel the need to justify it to everybody else when they are killed.  I still wonder if they realize that if they'd just be quiet, very few would know that they even died.

Oh well, just my two cents worth.......and for the record I'm "middle aged" (46).

[Griego]

Originally posted by Aubrey
We did something like this in my last game, for folks that got out of hand. It fixes things pretty fast.

LoL Shane would be hunted contineously.

[storch]

Originally posted by Delirium
Don't get your hopes up... there is whining now when 'death' just means a re-up with nothing lost. Wait until these people have to 'work' for their rides and their personas, I guarantee you whining and other bs will be far more prevelent.

Besides, I'm comparing TOD to AW's Vietnam Fighters, I will believe it when it is released.

c'mon you can wait two weeks.