Icons - a plague or blessing?

[Fokker]

I am a bit surprised that most can accept icons removed at long range, but not for close range.

To me the icons is much more useful at range than in close up combat. Close up, and in furballs they more or less clutters view and are anoying to me.

Look at large formations of planes. Its all icons, can hardly see the planes.

The lack of resolution present technology offers makes some kind of icons neccessary at long range. At a range less than 2K even 800x600 res will do well in identification of planes. Thats why I would like icons to go away at short ranges.

The only icon needed at short range is a small and simplyfied icon to ID friends. Planes without this would be foe.

[illo]

Why you need icons at long range? That is really ruining most suprises. You can miss dot...but not that neon icon.

As to how easy it was to spot in RL. Visibility was often much less than we have in AH. Majority of kills came from suprises. People sometimes had to close up under 300 meters to identify planes. Friendly planes were shot down by accident, even Adolf Galland was once almost shot down when he tested new kind of camo in 109e.

[Fokker]

We need some kind of icons at ranges where in RL you would be able to make an ID, but where present video technology dont give us the same possibillity.

At short ranges the video makes it possible, but not at longer ranges, and it will vary depending on how good equipment the players has.

To even out the difference in player equipment, and the technology limitations, some sort of icons are neccessary.

It will still be possible to sneak in on planes, as is often done now. The main thing that reveals sneaking today is the in-flight dot-dar on your clipboard. Not the icons.

In AH I have gotten the habitt of checking clipboard more than I check my 6, and I dont like it. Its far from reality. That particular part where better in WB than in AH.

In WB thay had two arenas. The combat arena had the dot-dar, while the WW2 arena had not. Thus there where an arena for both the quake players and those who wanted more reality and an historic environment.

We have both types of players in AH, and I can not see that all can be happy with a common solution in MA.

On that part WB had developed during many years longer than AH. That is an experience I think AH should adapt as soon as possible.