Some of us have always been into 'the war'. Winning (or at least placing 2nd) was important enough that we killed troops, ordnance, and whatever else needed to be destroyed for our success. 'Suicide Porker' seems to have negative connotations with some of you. When one side has a horde coming at you, killing their strats is the only way to stop them, and even that doesn't always do it (there's always some noob that'll fly a goon three or four sectors).
I've died hundreds of times killing troops and ord and my efforts have helped our rook war fighting efforts many times.
Now there is no 'War'. There are three or four to choose from. Why spend an hour trying to strat a horde when you can just switch arenas and find a more favourable situation? The days of 'Suicide Porking' may be gone and I'm glad I won't have to go through all of that everytime I login. The downside is apathy. The real reason I won't have to make many of those runs is that I just don't give a hoot whether we win or lose. Losing in LW? Go to EW where things are better. Feel like picking on a few milkrunners? Log into MW and slap a few around. Need a base capture? Log into empty arena and do a milkrun yourself. I'm switching arenas looking for a war that isn't there, trying to start one where I can (and that doesn't seem to be working).
Our squad is small. Maybe 20 players or so. I haven't seen more than four of them in the same arena since the change. They're moving around trying to find the war too. I like it in many ways. I think the new arenas provide a variety of situations. Whatever I want to do, I can usually find a base somewhere in some arena that suits my purpose. Of course, the squad isnt there to join in, so anything I do has to be a one-man show.
There we have one of the biggest reasons behind the 1 and 2 man milkruns going on. Capturing bases is what alot of us do. Some guys like to defend, some like to attack, some like to fly around in fighters and seek big aerial battles. What are guys like me supposed to do? Quit? I've seen SIMJOAce once since the change. We could always count on guys like that to keep coming back and trying. The LTARS were on last night rolling undefended bases in MW. Usually the 'LTAR Alarm' sets me in motion, and I'll do whatever I can to stop them. Did I last night? Yeah right. They'd roll two more bases before I could pork half of their troops. Only worthwhile 'pork plane' in MW is a Typhoon, and it's perked. I'd pork bases in a 262 if that's what it took in the old 'War'. That's why I save those perks -- to have the advantage when needed -- the advantage needed in the war.
The value/importance (however dubious or silly it may be) of 'the war' is diminished when you have more than one to choose. To add insult to injury, the only maps we are using are, in my opinion, the worst maps available. I've heard others say a couple of them are great, their favorite maps, heheh. No point in arguing with them. But my $.02 is - they suck. I'm not sure how long I can play on them. I'll try, but it's a day-by-day effort.
OK, so it changed. So be it. I'll just have to find some other purpose.
I know servers aren't cheap. I've been building them since AT&T Sys V UNIX and have installed and maintained many rooms full of them for over 20 years.
No, they're still a little pricey when it's a mission critical role, but hardware prices today pale in comparison to the ones I was building just 10 years ago. I can't believe that the $ needed for a server isnn't there, but then I don't know HTC's situation. Businesses don't actually pay $20,000 for a server. This sort of investment, in this market, should be expensed, not capitalized, and the true cost of the server is $Invoice x (1 - tax rate). Depending on the tax situation, the actual cost of the server can be much less than the amount on the invoice.
Now I'm wandering. So I'll go try to find a war somewhere.
