I've been thinking a lot about some of the recent changes with the MA. IMO, I think it is meaningful in the aspect that HTC listened to some of the complaints the gamers used to have, and took active measures to relieve some of the pressures mounting inside the community. However, the more I think about it, the more I'm getting the impression that that's just about it.
1. The "growing pains" of the MA
Opinions may differ, but my basic take on the recent "MA problem" is based on the theory that the perceived problem resulted from the fact that a stagnant, under developed MA system that was originally suited for small numbers of people, had to accomodate for a community that has substantially grown easily double in size after the recent failures of AH's rival games like WB or AW. One likely proof that might justify such a view seems to be the recent split of the arenas. There have been speculations revolving around why such a split has occured in the first place, but to me it seems very likely that HTC themselves have reached the same conclusion as I have - the 'numbers problem'.
When AH1 reached a stable phase in service, the MA numbers were typically around 200 people during peak US time zones. In other time zones, about 100 to 150 people were the max, with some 30 players for each warring country. Ofcourse, some of the serious complaints that can be referenced in the boards nowadays, weren't existent back then.
IMO, this implies that the basic MA game platform is effectively "broken". When we were flying AH1, we didn't have any problems because the basic design of the entire MA was suited for those numbers of people. The amount of field defenses such as acks, the size of the airfield itself, the ordnance load required to bring down hangars and objects, the field distances, captire mechanics, etc etc.. the MA was designed, wether consciously or unconsciously, to serve the needs of the limited numbers of people we had in AH1.
For instance, in the old AH1 before the "AW-gamer Exodus", the CVs required merely 4,000lbs load of bombs to be sunk.
This is because in the old MA with about 200 people in the arena, each of the three countries had about 70 people tops. This means roughly about 35 people in each of the two fronts. In a typical MA map like "NDIsles" or "Uterus", there are about 3~4 available fields that are directly adjacent to an enemy field that sees simultaneous action. This means when a "furball" brews, unless a very large furball draws in all of the players in that particular front to a single spot, there are typically only about 10 pilots fighting in a single spot.
Now, Imagine a CV has entered the vicinity of your home field. The sea-faring attackers and the land-based defenders each have only about 10 people available. If the 10 CV planes start attacking the land-base, the defenders need at least 7~8 pilots to up in fighters planes to fend off the attackers, which leaves only about 2~3 people to go after the CV. During those days the buffs didn't have the formation option, and single buffs were easily intercepted. This meant that the 2~3 available defenders that went after the CV, had to up multiple sorties to bring enough bombs to sink the CV.
After the "Exodus", with the arena numbers increased greatly, the survivability of the CVs went way down. HTC had to double the amount of ordnance load required to sink a CV. IMO this is a very classic case concerning the "numbers problem" and how the MA is designed. In the case of the CV, or field acks and defenses, HTC could just double the required ordnance load or increase the numbers of the acks on a field.
However, when it came to more difficult problems such as imbalance in numbers, or the commonly phrased "horde problem" - there was basically no real solution to it - unless the MA itself changes.
People hate flying long distances. Therefore, MA field distances are kept only about 25 miles apart. When two sides meet in the middle, each of the planes have only a distance of 12 miles to cover to get to safety when they are exposed to danger. This wasn't a problem when each of the two countries had only about 10 people flying in a single sector. One could enter a chase and quickly manage shoot down a couple of planes, and there was enough room to really "fight".
However, it is another commonly observed pattern in behavior in these types of game, that people flock to each other to create a numbers advantage and increase their chances of survival. Therefore, when the MA numbers grew, the amount of people jam-packed into a single sector grew along withit. Some measures were taken with the intention to spread the people apart - using larger sized maps was one such example, hoping people would spread apart to different places of the map - and It didn't work. The only thing the larger maps created was an 'escape' for the people, where they could simply avoid the incoming horde and migrate to elsewhere where no large-sized enemy threats were present.
Now, add into this picture the advent of the super-planes, and we have what the MA is now. A 25x25 mile square full of planes everywhere, with everyone in super planes that can turn back home and reach relative safety of the home field within two minutes of 'extending'. Everybody flocks to a place where there are already too many people, and stays there. When one side gains numerical advantage, the other side just totally gives up the fight, and creates their own horde to attack empty, undefended corners of the earth.
All of this, in my view, is essentially a numbers problem. The current format of the MA is thoroughly unfit to accomodate such numbers.
2. The Measures taken, and the failures
Our basic MA platform is essentially unchanged since AH1. It is a simplified form of a 'land-grab' capture mechanism where players directly influence the process of capture, and thereby proceed in territorial conquest to win the 'war' that is very loosely (if at all) based on the historical WW2.
When we look into the origins of AH, the developers themselves have clarified that they started a small company to make a flight sim game which featured some of the planes they liked, and create an environment where people may enjoy aerial battles.
Personally, my opinion on this is that the whole "land-grab war" aspect, including base captures and ground vehicles, were merely a "sideshow attraction" to the game itself. A loosely simulated 'warring environment' that enabled and justified some of the real-life activities of WW2 aerial combat, such as ground attacks and bombings. Seriously, if AH was just another free-for-all type of game, then it wouldn't be so different from what other packaged simulation games had to offer. The diversity of aerial activities possible in the game, was a major factor that contributed to AH's success.
However, despite it all AH's true origins lie in aerial combat simulation. I'm not too sure if HT or Pyro had intended it in the first place to create a serious "multi-aspect war simulation game" which is meant to simulate some of the most important military activities witnessed during WW2 - the entire air/sea/land aspect of the battle. Some developer interviews do state that many aspects currently included in the game format, was planned from the start, but even so I doubt they planned it as something more important than just 'another interesting ride'.
For example, when you bring in a tank or a ground vehicle into the game, it is only a matter of time before people start asking for ground-level simulation as detailed as the aerial portion of the game. Bringing in a certain "ride" into the game implies that the entire aspect of the real-life conflict that involved the particular ride must be brought into the game as well, if such an "interesting ride" was to have some impact to the game, rather than be just another hangar queen. The same applies to the bombers - yet another controversial part of the game. People are asking for a system where the bombers have some meaning, where they serve as a means to effect the outcome of the war on a truly strategical scale, instead of being used as over-bloated suicidal makeshift-jabo planes with heavy bomb loads.
My respectful, yet critical opinion, is that perhaps HTC may have problems with this part of the game. The overall 'design philosophy' of the MA, if it can be referred to in that manner, is basically what one may compare to an "Laissez-faire" in economics, or the "invisible hand" to the layman. Just leave everyone as they were, give them the freedom to do whatever they want, and the arena will find a natural balance by itself.
Frankly, the MA is totally devoid of anything that might even remotely resemble the structure of the 'war machine'. It isn't surprising, as AH's origins lie elsewhere as per the explanation given above. However to many people it has become evident that the MA can no longer sustain an autonomous "invisible hand" to run everything - it simply doesn't work any more.
Perhaps that's what HTC is thinking, too. In the past months and years we've actually witnessed a very surprising turn of events when HT finally entered the scene and started to bring in all sorts of "measures" to the MA, which seems to indicate the failure of the "invisible hand", is now at last acknowledged by the developers themselves.
(contd)
