No, I wasn't picking on Mensa... I was making the point that in order to have a decent fight (IMO), both opponents need to have a strong desire to win, and do everything in their power to do so. They don't have to start out on equal footing necessarily, as long as they both give it thier best. Personally, I prefer fights taht don't start out as purely equal, as IMO they're more interesting, for many of the same reasons I find fights between differing plane types more interesting.
If AH consisted of all "equal" fights, I'd be bored and quit within days. If that's what you want, look in the DA. DA fights lack incentive (again IMO), so don't bring out a strong enough emotional desire to win. I find that having the different incentives in the MA brings that out more often. Want your name in lights when you land kills? Want a better score? Want to flaunt your kills in your opponents face when you land "his" kills? Want to perform well in front of your countrymen, squad, friends? Be "known" and "feared" by your "enemies". Whatever the incentive, I don't care, it makes people try harder. It makes them want to not get shot down, and that's what I want.
The DA doesn't offer that IMO. It offers a few things that will always appeal to a select few players, but isn't "enough", even for them. If it were they wouldn't be here complaining, they'd be shut away in the DA and we wouldn't even know thier names in the MA.
IMO, the DA is little more than "practice" for the real event. Not even that great of a practice area (IMO) compared to the TA. The fact is, the VAST majority of people who get shot down in a fight have no idea why, how, or how to fix thier problems. Watching a film won't do them much good, unless someone spells out what to look for in it. The TA is a better practice format, because they don't die, but get an audio "punishment" when they screw up enough to get hit. And since they can't be killed, I find people are more honestly helpful in there than in the DA, where the albeit small incentive to win is still enough to keep many pilots from being as helpful as they could be.
Personally, I prefer higher alt fights (12-14k) over low fights. That can be said whether I'm advantaged or disadvantaged, equal plane types or not, 1v1, 1v2 or 3, 2v2, many vs many, whatever. Fights on the deck bore me. I prefer to vastly greater options of a high fight. Large manuevers, small manuevers, fast, slow, and back to fast, staying high, going low, going back high, whatever. If I wanted to be on the deck I'd be driving internet Nascar. I find far more quality fights in the 12k area than I do on the deck. As a matter of fact, I have no difficulty finding fun, decent fights any time I log in. And having some height and speed allows me to sculpt my fights, avoid gangs, avoid getting picked, etc...
Will I pick people I see lower than me? Absolutely! If you're in that position you're a dollar bill on the convenience store floor. I may be headed to the "main event" (the beer in the rear cooler) but if I see a dollar bill on the floor I'll delay long enough to pick it up. Someone else's mistake = my gain. Why not? Picking the dollar up may not qualify as an earth-shattering victory, but how many of you would walk on by? What do they expect?? Should I drop to thier speed and alt, get in front of them for a "proper" merge, and make sure their buddies give them a check six??? Gimme a break. Fact is, most of the horde down there is in need of some serious training anyway, and the result of giving them an equal or advantaged fight wouldn't be any different than had I simply picked them.
Looking for "good", "decent" fights under 5k? Might I interest you in my sandbox? If you dig through it you may find a gem. You need to search where your probabilty of finding the object of your desires is highest. In my case, I live in farm country with lots of stray cats. Digging in my sandbox won't yield too many gems, but you find a lot of s^^t. I don't doubt some of you enjoy fighting on the deck, or don't have the desire/patience/whatever to climb. That's fine, it's your choice. But complaining about what you find down there is nuts. It sounds to me like a lot of you want quality, but refuse to put in any effort to locate it. And then complain because there aren't any gems in the sandbox...
Hello! McFly!?!??!
MtnMan
