Originally posted by The Fugitive
While not "someone from HTC" I am lucky enough to be able to have the boards running while at work, and spend probably more time than I should reading them. Having said that, this is what I get from all the responses I've read from HTC.
Non healthy game play was the "hordes" that never seemed to bang into each other. 60 or so people attacking one base and vulching the 10 or so people trying to slow the advance of the horde. Frustration resulted and accounts were canceled due to NOT wanting to be part of the horde, or NOT wanting to be on the low end of 6 to 1 all the time. Game play suffered. So we get a split arena.
Split arenas were made to get the numbers back down per arena to make the hordes smaller and and a bit easier to defend against. To some it also had the added effect of cutting squad numbers. Some squads had gotten so big that they had become "hordes" themselves. 32 is the limit HTC put on squads, maybe there is a reason for this.
When they first split the arenas, they all had a cap of 350. A problem came up when one LW arena would reach cap, and the over flow was "forced" to fly in the second LW arena. One arena would be full, and the other would have low numbers.... kinda like how you see the EW arena these days. The complains where loud and many to HTC about not being able to play everyone else. HTC solution was the "dynamic cap" system.
Dynamic cap system is this, both LW arenas are tied together and start with a cap of 200. When the cap of "Blue reaches a certain percentage of "full" the cap raises on "orange". The same works from the orange side. So as the numbers raise in one arena, it creates more room in the other arena there by bring the cap, and populations of each arena more evenly. So instead of having 400 in one arena and 100 in the other, you'll have closer to 250 in each arena. This also work with the populations dropping after "prime time" This is why you see numbers like 310 in an arena with a cap of 250. It just means the numbers have dropped below the "percentage" number in the other arena.
Is this perfect? maybe not, but nothing ever is. Maybe its the best they can do with the limitation of the human condition. Now adays there are more "gamers" than there are "history buffs" playing this game. Do squads suffer? maybe the big ones, but do you really need to have 40 wingman to have fun? HTC has given everyone a number of options of game play in a number of arenas. I'm still having fun 
Fugitive, I always like reading your posts'- they always seem very well composed and thought out. Unfortunately, I don't really agree with you on some of these points.
For example, I know Hitech initially had a concern with what is termed "Healthy gameplay". However, In an open MMOG like this, where you are given many options' as to how to play, You gain incentive through loss of control, as it were. You can fly a light fighter for air to air, you can take a heavy jabo to attack ground targets' such as buildings or GV's, you can fly formations' of medium and heavy bombers' against strategic targets' such as factories, cities', or airfields. But with the options' you have, you have fewer controls on gameplay. Someone who likes' to fly bombers, for example, might decide to drop all the hangars' at an airfield where a big furball is taking place. It's something you can do with the game, and the bomber pilot actually get's scored for it. But what about the people that were having fun in the furball? With no hangars', it's over.
How should Hitech fix this? Make hangars' invulnerable? Give negative score to bomber jocks' who bomb hangars?
The Horde complaint has been around forever. However, do most people really know what a horde is, or how it's formed?
I believe a horde is one side of a furball that has showed up to the party early.
A horde is not caused by the people who join a large mission, or a large squad flying together. It's caused by those on the other side who don't wish to up to meet them. For whatever reason, they don't want to risk their score, or bruise they're ego by getting shot down in defense of a field. They look out of the tower, and see a bunch of enemies' coming in higher than they possibly can, so they don't even try to up, they just complain on ch.200. What we call "Milkrunning" of an undefended field is just as much a symptom of defenders' that won't even look at they're map, or can't be bothered to drop what they're doing to go stop the sneak attack, as anything else.
If we wish to fix the gameplay, we need to do it as a community, and we need to do it soon. It's going to take a total effort, because any changes' that Hitech makes, the way I see it, will be in the elimination of gameplay choices' for the community as a whole.
