Arenas

[BaldEagl]

I was reading the wishlist forum earlier today where people were talking about needing more planes in the EW arena and I had an idea.  More on that later.

I was in the LW Blue arena tonight, logged off for a while, and when I logged back on LW Blue was full.  I decided to go try the EW arena for a change to see what it was like, thinking about what I had read earlier in the day.  It was to be only the second or third time I had tried the EW/MW arenas.

I logged into EW where about 20 people were on-line.  I looked over the map and after some searching found an enemy dar-bar on our front.  I decided to up in an F4F-4, a plane I had never flown.  

As I approached the dar-bar grew larger and our port started to flash.  As I arrived it looked like several planes were working our port over.  I dove in, got 4 quick kills clearing out the enemy and headed for home.  This isn’t so bad I thought (of course, that’s what I always think when I win).  I re-upped to go another round but evidently I had scared off the enemy.  Not one in sight across the entire front.

I throttled back, cut RPM and went cruising past enemy bases making them flash and hoping against hope someone would up to fight with me.  Finally!  Someone did.  I pinged him up pretty good but ended up auguring of my own stupidity.

Well, that was enough of having to search for fights.  I went to see if LW Blue was open again.  It was but I thought I’d jump into MW first to see what was going on there.  Six people in the arena, 3 in the air, no dar-bar anywhere.  I guess they were all NOE avoiding the hoards.

Finally back to LW Blue and some action!

Now here’s the idea and if this doesn’t work these arenas should be shut down because they are a total joke and a waste of time.

Take all of the EW and MW planes out of the LW arenas.  Make each arena have it’s own unique and non-overlapping plane-set.

I know there’s people who like to fly Spit V’s, P-51B’s, Hurri I’s etc.  Take them out of the LW arenas.  Maybe if the only place you could fly some of these is in the EW and MW arenas there would be incentive to go there.

Right now every plane is available in LW and that’s where all the action is.  Why go anywhere else?

Furthermore, combine the EW and MW arenas.  Obviously there aren’t numbers to sustain both.

I know for my part if this were the case I’d go there once in a while to fly those planes that I wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to fly.

[Platano]

But I like SHooting down Uber Late war rides in my P-47-d11-o-deth

[Reynolds]

I think just remove LW Orange, because orange isnt a nice color, and dont allow that arena to expand until the others are full. We need the Green planeset as it is, because even there Bf-109Es, Spitfire Is and Hurricane Is are overmatched by far. If we just keep the caps as-is and eliminate one LW, wed be fine! Before the other LW was added and people DID have to go to EW and MW, it was great! I didnt leave EW for a week and a half!

[Oleg]

Removing early and mid war planes from LW arenas has no sense. If someone like to fight hurr1 vs La7 why not?

EW/MW arenas was intended for ppl who like fight in early/mid planes vs corresponding planes. Sadly, it turns into milkrunners paradise. 90% of ppl avoid opposition like hell and fight only buildings there.

Shame on HTC for screwed initial idea with limiting capturable bases. Current version is absolutely useless.

[lagger86]

I'm starting to realize how HT must feel, because there is no easy answer to fix everything....on a side note, any arena that let's me and only me fly the best planes against people that are less skilled than I and are forced to fly lesser planes would be great...I will be expecting this change very soon, so get on it.

[4deck]

Keep all planes in the LW.
TY
And two areana's are fine, I just wish cap was off each.

Cheers

[Traveler]

yea, lets make even more changes and drive away more paying customers.

The numbers in the EW and MW truely reflect the Population of customers that want to fly in those arenas.  seting rules and forcing people to fly in arenas that they do not want to play the game in is not going to be good for business.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Reynolds
Before the other LW was added and people DID have to go to EW and MW, it was great! I didnt leave EW for a week and a half!

The other LW was added BECAUSE the people left EW to go to LW.
The EW was full because it was (and still is) the first Arena on the list after the split and because of it´s novelty value. When that weared off, the majority migrated to LW. People were not in EW because they did have to, LW was pretty much empty the first few days.
Also, in those first days the EW planes where missing in the LW planeset, but I think they were added because of popular demand. Sometimes it´s simply just fun seeing a Spit16 trying to turn with a A6M2

[Shuffler]

MW is the best arena IMHO.... early war is alot of fun too.... but unless you hit them when several folks pop in at once... there are usually few folks in those arenas. If folks would just make it a point to go to MW the numbers would grow.... old habits die hard

[scottydawg]

Originally posted by Lusche
The other LW was added BECAUSE the people left EW to go to LW.
The EW was full because it was (and still is) the first Arena on the list after the split and because of it´s novelty value. When that weared off, the majority migrated to LW. People were not in EW because they did have to, LW was pretty much empty the first few days.
Also, in those first days the EW planes where missing in the LW planeset, but I think they were added because of popular demand. Sometimes it´s simply just fun seeing a Spit16 trying to turn with a A6M2

Hey, at least A41 town is blinking, just for you Lusche.

[The Fugitive]

Originally posted by Traveler
yea, lets make even more changes and drive away more paying customers.

The numbers in the EW and MW truely reflect the Population of customers that want to fly in those arenas.  seting rules and forcing people to fly in arenas that they do not want to play the game in is not going to be good for business.

No I don't think so. The numbers in those arenas are due to the lack of fights as BaldEagl stated in the original post. The biggest problem is the lack of everyone ability to TRY something new.

When the arenas were first split, EW was the big hit.... ya know why? Because most didn't realise that the way to log in had changed ! You now had to select WHICH arena to play in, and those that did know, went to EW because thats were the fights were. Once they figured out how to go to other arenas, the numbers pushed over to LW, again mostly because thats where everyone was.

All people are really looking for are fights, weather its on the ground, in furballs, or buffs, it doesn't really matter what they fly as long as there are others around to fly with or against.

I read a thread where someone was complaining about the ratio of LA7's flying and was trying to bolster his aurgument by saying that in the war there weren't that many LA7's in the air at once. First off, this is a game, not WWII. Second if you are tired of LA7's and Spit 16's go to the MW arena, they don't have them there! But again. nobodies there and there are not many fights so you slug it out in LW.

WhAts the solution??? beats me  I'd like to see only one LW arena with a cap of 250-300 for now. Force people to fly in the other arenas. Will it loose HTC some customers? I doubt it. This is the best on-line flight sim around. I'd rather be forced to have to fly in EW with a P40 then fly FA or any other sim, I'm not leaving. Once the the numbers climb to 800 on at prime time, then open another LW arena.

This games a blast no matter which arena your in as long as there are others there with ya.

[scottydawg]

Originally posted by Traveler
yea, lets make even more changes and drive away more paying customers.

The numbers in the EW and MW truely reflect the Population of customers that want to fly in those arenas.  seting rules and forcing people to fly in arenas that they do not want to play the game in is not going to be good for business.

It's called critical mass, Traveler.  No matter how much people like flying the early birds, it's not viable if there aren't enough people in the arena.  it's a classic Catch-22.

[rabbidrabbit]

if there were low numbers in a late war arena then it would stay that way.  90% of the arguement is based on where the numbers are at.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by rabbidrabbit
if there were low numbers in a late war arena then it would stay that way.  

No. LW actually was empty the first days. According to your argument, it would still be empty today. Is it? No.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by scottydawg
Hey, at least A41 town is blinking, just for you Lusche.

Yeah, I know. But it was just one foolish night, never said anything about "love" to A41... and suddenly it is blinking only for me.. but I´m a married man, you know, I really can not... could you please tell the town to stop that? It´s embarrassing, even more embarassing than my terrible English knowledge...