Maybe when they go back to the "good ol' days" they only remember the good fights they've had, never the bad ones. I don't know if there was like 1000s of players on each server of AW, but I would probably have to say, there either wasn't that many people playing AW, or they had many arenas.
I always have, and always will like this game, very fun, and always has been.
There were many arenas. The caps were low.
There were not open plane set arenas. Meaning you could choose from differnt Euro arenas or a Pac arenas. Each arena had its regulars (players) that could be found there. MW and AVA are the closest thing to that I can think of in AH. And no, I do not include DA furball lame (and that is not a typo).
The other night when I was on, I overheard a player on range say "be careful, those buffs are probably from the ****** squadron". I started giggling to myself. You've got to be freaking kidding me? That's the idea of skill to be feared? How pathetic.
Tonight, I was watching a friendly on a P-39, situation well in hand and this other guy comes in about 100mph faster and picks him off. About a minute later I am reeling in an enemy from 800-600 yards, and its only a matter of seconds until I gain a few more yards and start firing. Same guy passes, drops into my firing solution line and snags that bogie. Minute and a half later I see that guy land two kills. LOL, why even bother playing you dufus?
But that seems to be the attitude. More and more players are happy being either a blind squirl, or the weasle, and are proud of it. <shrug>
But back to the arena setup. My comment on the arena split was from the getgo that there will never be the "neighborhoods" that pyro had talked about so long as there are open planeset arenas. Everyone will go were all planes are available, and it would be more of the same (slums).
Pretty much all of the "issues" have always been there in some form or another. I don't care how far back you go. But when it was a case of everyone knowing everyone else in an arena, people tended to behave better. I do not agree that there is no fun to be had. I do agree that there is a trend that it seems to be getting harder and harder to come by.