We as a community are looking really sad right now...

[Guppy35]

Seems to me the whining and complaining far outweighs any contstructive ideas on how to 'fix' things.

HTC has been very clear in what they are trying to accomplish.  What they can't fix is how the community is operating, which is apparently two fairly disctinct camps of the furball v base taker/war winners.

Instead of griping about whichever side you don't like.  How bout shutting up with the whining and offering some ideas on how we can get the community to coexist and actually play together, since this is just a game and meant for fun for everyone.

To that end, what do you think would help put the factions back on the map together.

I posted a while back my idea.  In essence it involves being able to create a map that funnels the fights together in different parts of the map.  Limiting what is capturable and making the strat part of the game take more of that teamwork folks are so fond of speaking of.

Satellite fighter fields and multiple VHs would help as well.  Instead of being able to hit a field, kill the VH and manned acks, while setting up the vulch pattern to discourage any defense, there would be fighter strips a short distance away for defending fighters to get up to try and defend the base.

Folks speak of 'this is war'.  Well check any history and there were always seperate fighter strips for that very purpose.  You couldn't wipe out an entire airfield complex because the planes were dispersed at different fields in proximity to each other so that if one was getting hit they could launch fighters from the others.

Furballers sure don't mind defending a base if they can at least get their wheels up before getting vulched by 15 LA7s.  Allowing those fighter strips means a defense can be mounted.

Also add VHs and camoflage their placement.  Again for the 'this is war' crowd, historically it was one pass over an airfield as the ack was murder.   Now ack is down in one pass.  So much for a defense.  Imagine the LTARs and their Osti's of doom, knowing they can get rolling from a spot that isn't known to everyone on the other side.  Also add camoflaged manned ack sites, multiple 50s and 20s, 88s or whatever.  Give the defenders a chance to defend.  Make taking a base a real accomplishment taking real coordination and effort, not just that quick kill the VH and manned ack, set up the vulch and kill the town bit we have now.  Give folks on the defending side a reason to feel like it's worth mounting a defense

My dream for AH is a setup that forces the crowds together.  Give the furballers a reason to escort the bomber types, knowing they'll get the fight they love at the other end while covering the bomber and fighter bomber types who can show their skills against heavy ack and better defended targets.

I know that folks must have other ideas, but I'll be honest.  I'm so sick of the whining and complaining, I'm about to bust.  Put the energy into constructive ideas to make the game better and to help HTC move it forward.

Way too many good people around here for there not to be good ideas too.

[Slash27]

What you speak of takes some effort some if not alot of people arent willing to do. Its much easier to comlpain point fingers and act like whatevers wrong is "their" fault. You're right, its sad and a bit played out to say the least. You have my full support on something like this Dan. I wonder how many others are willing to step?

[palef]

How do you fix or offer suggestions to get more people on outside the peak times? Three arenas all as boring as an 8 player H2H arena.

I've offered constructive suggestions via email but got no response.

There used to be a community, but now there's a just a bunch of disenfranchised whiners. That won't be fixed until us "old" guys cycle out of the game and are replaced by a new subscriber base who accept the current status quo as the "norm".

You might be frustrated with the whining, but I'm frustrated watching the old community wither and fade, fuelled by an increasing grumpiness.

These are the suggestions I emailed in:

1. Rotate the arenas each day so there is only one available from Midnight Central US time until 7am. EW one day, MW the next, LW the next and so on.
2. Add another Arena if by some miracle numbers go over 250 in that time period.
3. Have some sort of browser that allows you to see where your squaddies are before you enter an arena. If you like being in a squad that is. I know that is increasingly unfashionable.
4. Do something to decrease load times when switching arenas.
5. Close Arenas as soon as a "war" is "won".
6. To foster more participation in the TA offer maybe 5 perks to be applied to the category of your chosing per hour spent helping newbies. This will help bridge the communication gap between newbies and oldies. This won't motivate people who could care less about perks, but may encourage some of the more mouthy players to give something back.

I hope that is a the sort of thing you were after.

[Arlo]

Actually, the best way to get more business from a different timezone is to have more customers from a different timezone. I don't see any way to generate that other than promoting the game more in that timezone ... if people in that timezone like and can afford the game.

Perhaps a NZ AH commercial would do the trick.

[palef]

The customers are there Arlo. There's usually 80-150 people logged in, it's just that they're split across three arenas, and each arena tends to be a bit unbalanced as well.

I've done everything I can to pimp AH in NZ, plaguing several sim and gaming forums for the last 3 or 4 years. I've given up though. It all comes down to IL2 having better graphics, and the type of people who play IL2 seriously seem to be introspective nerds who don't want to "put it out there" in a MMOG SIM in case they suck. As opposed to the outrageously extrovert nerds who play AH of course.

I've brought guys in and nutrured them during their two week trial, but a lot of them become bored with the concept of AH2 (no idea of "community"), and a surprising number can't cope with the volume of traffic their SA needs to handle.

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by palef
How do you fix or offer suggestions to get more people on outside the peak times? Three arenas all as boring as an 8 player H2H arena.

I've offered constructive suggestions via email but got no response.

There used to be a community, but now there's a just a bunch of disenfranchised whiners. That won't be fixed until us "old" guys cycle out of the game and are replaced by a new subscriber base who accept the current status quo as the "norm".

You might be frustrated with the whining, but I'm frustrated watching the old community wither and fade, fuelled by an increasing grumpiness.

These are the suggestions I emailed in:

1. Rotate the arenas each day so there is only one available from Midnight Central US time until 7am. EW one day, MW the next, LW the next and so on.
2. Add another Arena if by some miracle numbers go over 250 in that time period.
3. Have some sort of browser that allows you to see where your squaddies are before you enter an arena. If you like being in a squad that is. I know that is increasingly unfashionable.
4. Do something to decrease load times when switching arenas.
5. Close Arenas as soon as a "war" is "won".
6. To foster more participation in the TA offer maybe 5 perks to be applied to the category of your chosing per hour spent helping newbies. This will help bridge the communication gap between newbies and oldies. This won't motivate people who could care less about perks, but may encourage some of the more mouthy players to give something back.

I hope that is a the sort of thing you were after.

Still up to us palef.  Just because we suggest something doesn't mean it's going to get acted on.  But if we can present ideas like we're adults as opposed to spoiled children, I'd assume we might get a more sympathetic ear.  (not implying anything regarding your post btw.  Just referencing the whining again)

Certainly what you are suggesting is worthy of looking at in some form I'd think.  I know the browser to see where squaddies are has been mentioned a few times.

And this still is a community regardless of the few trying to deconstruct it.

Not to get overly serious, but in the 14 months since I lost two of my kids in an accident, this silly game has in many ways saved me from going crazy.  Slipping CorkyJr on and diving into this made up world took me away from the craziness that goes on and continues to go on in the aftermath of that.  Corky and AH allow me to step out of that real world stuff and slip into the history and the flying that I've dreamed about and loved since i was a kid.  That escape has helped keep me sane.  And alot of the credit for that goes to the good people in this game who I enjoy 'seeing' when I log on.

I feel like I owe it to those folks and the game to do what I can to try and make it better.  I strongly believe we can make the community better then ever if we focus on moving forward and remembering this is just a game, filled with good folks, trying to have fun.  Remembering that and realizing that it isn't serious like the real world is also important to getting folks to approach the game with a better attitude about it.

[palef]

Originally posted by Guppy35


Not to get overly serious, but in the 14 months since I lost two of my kids in an accident, this silly game has in many ways saved me from going crazy.  Slipping CorkyJr on and diving into this made up world took me away from the craziness that goes on and continues to go on in the aftermath of that.  Corky and AH allow me to step out of that real world stuff and slip into the history and the flying that I've dreamed about and loved since i was a kid.  That escape has helped keep me sane.  And alot of the credit for that goes to the good people in this game who I enjoy 'seeing' when I log on.

I've been around a while and your story isn't unique. I have a Kiwi friend who took to AW3 for an escape after he lost a son and he came to AH when the squad we were in changed over. He says the same things that you do about this community helping him through those times, and I've since had my own children including one who spent the first 2.5 years of his life crippled by asthma (16 hospital stays, all life threatening) and another who has Down Syndrome.

Without the escape of this game I may have gone postal in real life instead of with virtual bullets in cartoon skies. I LOVE the fact that I am interacting with real people in real time from all over the world and I can kill them as required - virtually. We're not alone.

A lot of the people who were part of the community have faded away and the rate of attrition is either accelerating or I'm just too stupid to be able to figure out how to find them. I find that a little sad, and I think the recent changes have contributed to that.

[Schatzi]

Originally posted by Slash27
What you speak of takes some effort some if not alot of people arent willing to do. Its much easier to comlpain point fingers and act like whatevers wrong is "their" fault.

Well said i think. Its easier to ask "HTC" to fix things and present you success ans fun on a platter then to put in some effort yourself.

Yes i know, we pay 14.95 a month to have fun. Agree. So do I, but i still try to give something to this community, make it a better one. Everyone can do something - even if it is just being respectful to other members of the community and maybe think not only of yourself but also of whats being around you. Because it is *OUR* responsibility as a community to make this game "work" - HT just provides the "hardware".



Guppy, WFGF , my thoughts and prayers are with both of you. Hang in there!

[MOIL]

You guys talking and making sense, be careful, newcomers might start to think we got something good going here!!!:O

[Bruv119]

totally agree guppy.

Yesterday when i logged in I was subjected to a bunch of guys all whining on 200 about what other games they could play because AH is now totally unbearable for them.

Must have been 3-5am for a bunch of old GV drivers sobbing into the bottom of their glasses because they couldnt find a fight.  

AH is primarily a WW2 flying experience.

off peak is still a problem when lw1 gets full and the others have no players in but this is for a duration of about 2 hours between  3-5pm GMT....

just get on with it.


Bruv
~S~

[Tilt]

Well is there really a problem?

Is HTC's client base growing or shrinking?

I think its still growing, and it seems he expects its going to grow some more.

Is the populace of all the arenas now equal to the populace of the old main? well the answer seems to be yes it is.

Was the spilt driven by a fued between "furballers" and "land grabbers" or "shed killers"?

Well according to HT it was not.......... he just wants us to be "nice soldiers" (tm ACCS) and give his expanding client base more choice. (EW, MW, LW)

I think that what we all have to come to terms with is that the average age and therefore level of maturity of our players gets younger every year.

With this the game play objectives and the desire for instant (rather than earned) stimulation is higher. Hence gameplay changes.

Further the community becomes less "Band of Brothers" and more "Lord of the Flies" in the manner in which it conducts itself.

We here are infact the "vocal few". Indeed we are a community within a community. We are obviously passionate about AH to some extend but we also clearly have "agendas" regarding it and it is these that conflict.

This is particularly the case when the game development slows up. When upgrades or developments (that develop game play) are slowed right down then folk can get bored.

It becomes more the "same old same old". Then our conflict of agendas mixed with our passion becomes conflict within the community. There is less hope that the next change may bring help to our agendas. Rational debate becomes name calling and attempts are made to win debates by ridicule and sheer peer pressure.

If the community is to be co hesive, positive and forward thinking then it has to accomodate all the agendas. It will be subject to conflict whilst one agenda want dominance over any other.

So find a place or gameplay set up that means that

land grabers can win wars

furballers can find fights

shed killers can bomb sheds

vehicle drivers can fight in the mud

and all contribute to an arena wide (or multi arena wide) sence of community.

and meet the needs of HTC's ever expanding, less mature client base.

Whilst not requiring a level of investment that would wreck HTC's business.

Cos if HTC's client base is expanding, then he has no real need to do anything other than what he is doing

[FLS]

Don't be so negative. We're in a period of transition. Lead by example and wait until the dust settles.

[storch]

good ol' guppy.

a few suggestions

manned 88mm and 37mm ack at every town and very accurate 37mm auto ack at every town.

a VH in every town.

a town to take down at every Vbase and port.

the ability to up jabos/attack platforms from every VH and port.

mostly inaccesible towns with either steep grades for vehicle approach or sand traps where the vehicles must slow down to a crawl.


in excess of 30 troops to capture a base, and lastly the ability to up as an individual grunt with an M1 Garand and a .45/ MP40 and a P38 from the barracks as a last ditch town defense, each town having it's own garrison.

then when one team wins the war they really won the war.

I would then auto rotate the maps every second day irrespective of war win or no.

[Skuzzy]

Palef, just FYI.  I never saw that email.  Here is a guideline.  If you do not here back from me (support@hitechcreations.com) within 24 hours (weekdays) of sending an email, you can safely assume I did not get it.

[Hajo]

Air Warrior went through the same growing pains.

Patience Lads!