Overlag,
Somehow I don't think you bothered to read anything I typed. No problem. But I would like to address your comments.
1) You mention the way HT deals with furballers. What is there to address? Two guys flying together see two more and engage them. They are so so and the kills don't come to either side for a while. A couple of more guys happen to be flying by and see the an opportunity to help out. They jump in but miss on the initial pass and begin turning. A couple more guys see what appears to be a gang bang of their countrymen jump into the fray. A couple die but now big deal the way the fight is going they'll be back to get revenge in a few minutes. What has developed is a good old fashioned furball. Other guys see it and jump in and it grows. Is this a bad thing? How should HT deal with these furballers?
2) Im not sure anyone has ever complained about someone bombing the HQ. Perhaps on the boards but anyone who's played for anytime doesn't particularly care if the dar is up or down. New folks might but they're having enough trouble trying to stay alive to worry about it too much.
3) As I already mentioned before most new folks don't have a clue how to tactically take down buffs. (do me a small favor. Read what I wrote. It might help explain some things) The Vet's that do will take a box down from time to time since it gets too easy they get bored and go elsewhere. If you want to address anything that HT looks at is making the game easier for the buff driver. While you haven't been around all that long you might remember there was a time when people actually had to REALLY calibrate the Nordon. Somehow I remember alot of flak (excuse the pun) about that and easy calibration came back. What does that say about how much HT listens to the players?
I'm not going to go back into what I wrote before but the issue is with the Community helping the Community and fixing iself. Not with HT making a change a week to satisfy this complaint or that complaint. It's about getting up flying and enjoying all the kewl things that AH2 has brought to the table for us to play with. It's about helping the clueless learn so they can teach other noobs as the years go by. This is what keeps the game going. Not "instantaneous gratification for me or I'll whine alot". Everyone started somewhere. Everyone learned. Some learned more if they had help.
What most people are missing is that everyone has a reason for being here. Think about that for a minute. How many players do you think pay the owners, out of their own pocket, their hard earned money to not enjoy themselves? If you know anyone send them to me and I'll sign them up for the "Ren Pay-ME Foundation". I'll even set up paypal to receive their donations. Everyone who "ups" is there to have fun. They may want to fly a fighter and get into a big fight, or take a tank over and duke it out with some other guys or bomb a field. It's all good! Bombing is nothing new. Furballs are nothing new. In the old days we did fighter sweeps. We even brought em over when we moved to AH. I remember our squad ran a fighter sweep for the heck of it, just looking for trouble in the backwoods of Bishland. We lucked out and ran into a huge group of P-47's that were heavy with everything you could put on it. They were up'n to pork and take a field. Who knows where. We didn't care. We hit em and forced them to drop their ord. They got caught with their pants down and we ended up with a running gunbattle where some of theirs got back and some of ours got home. Everyone, including those who got jumped had a great time.
What people have gotten away from is there is something for everyone in the arena. Be it a big or small arena. There is every conceivable fight availalbe in the arena. And guess what...a new guy can still shoot down and old vet. Be it by accident or by being in the right place at the right time. Anyone remember their first real dogfight kill? It was a damn fine feeling right?
IMHO we need to get our thoughts in order about why we are all here. It's not just to furball or bomb or tank. It's to get up and enjoy doing all of it whenever we want to and just have fun being here. A bad day here is 100% better than a good day at work. Don't you agree? If ya wanna make it continue then instead of whining how bad it is try helping the noobs get better. I'm a trainer. The most enjoyment Iget out of the game is when I get into a fight with some dude and get shot down or limp home after a good fight then learn it was someone I had helped to learn the game. Both of us won the fight. I won because I got a good fight and he won because he learned how to do it and had a good fight. We're not talking about "let me take you into the DA and show you how good I am". It's more about "lets get together and go over some things and see if we can both learn from it". Thats what being in a Community is all about. Lets get back to our roots of why we all play the game.
By the way, not everyone is restricted to buffs, fighters, jabo or tankin. You'd surprised at how many of the old vets climb into those things for a lil different kind of fun.
You know, if you limit yourself to just one thing you're missing out on what makes it good for all. There's alot of people who fly and who also volunteer to work to help everyone learn all about the game and all facets of it. You're paying for it and it's been made available to everyone who wants help. Learning how to do it all fairly well doesn't limit you to flying a certain way. it merely opens up more opportunities to do other things and have the satisfaction of doing them well.
So, if you want to put me into some handy little niche then yes, I'm a furballer and a toolshedder and tanker and whatever else happens to trip my fancy when I log into the game. Call me anything you want but I guarantee you'll find me somewhere up flying around enjoying myself. Folks need to learn to enjoy themselves and if they find they're having trouble or want to learn something else then come on up. The people in the Community are here to help. Let's ry and remember that.
Sorry if I've been long winded but we're a Community. That's a fact. IMHO it needs to be said and we need to get bacck on track.
Ren
The Damned and an AH2 Player
Originally posted by Overlag
1)i think the main problem is the way HT deals with the furballers.
2)the HQ was, at one point a valid target, that had levels of damage that could be only slight... ie 1/4s. That was good, if the mission didnt do full damage maybe just darbar would be down etc.
3)However as the bomber missions got larger and better planned, the "fighters" of the game, instead of following suit, and creating larger defencive wings, and "fighting" (that thing they want so much) just whined on the BBS instead. HQ went to a 100% or nothing target, and support of hitting probably dropped 90% in one day. From that point on, support for large bombing raids on other strat targets started to fall also.
We STILL get the constant attacks (not in game, on the bbs) about bombers being so strong, etc etc etc... and its got to the point i RARELY get intercepted in this game, when back in 2003 you would probably not return from many single person (3 plane) runs... let alone a 3 to 4 person raid with escorts.... even those used to be risky. Now, one bomber can fly basically anywhere on the map and not feel troubled in anyway. But then if we hit our targets its "ch200: OMG the dam toolsheders spoild my game", while they all fly around on the deck unable to defend anything.
my point? well BOTH ends of the community are not like they used to be.
Bomber people dont feel the need for team work and large bomber escort missions (espcailly since there isnt the numbers to do it anymore).
and the Fighter people whine about it instead of fighting it, even if its now a much easier task to down bomber missions, as they are no longer "missions" in the sence that they are often single formations, flying without escort.
