The Good Ol' Days, or Rose-colored Glasses?

[Lusche]

Yup.  Only error I saw with the arena split was giving in to the people who wanted all rides in one arena.  Made the MW and EW almost meaningless.

I strongly disagree.
It's part of the fun for seasoned players to fly highy "outclassed" fighters in the face of latewar opposition. Many players that take a Hurri I or 109E into the skies are not doing it for the love of that particular model alone, but because it's also a challenge doing it in LW.

If you disable EW planes in LW, you still won't see EW arena getting "back to glory".
For example, Sardaukar/Mazz stated

Personally, I love the 109F4.  Unfortunately, I dont really fly it anymore.  It simply isnt fast enough to force a fight.

Now, that should be a reason to fly it in EW instead? No. Must be other reasons than pure plane availability then that keeps him and other potentially interested players away from EW.


BTW, most ironically it was the splitting of the score that gave the EW arena the final final death blow...

[Brooke]

Now, with that out of the way, another piece of ancient history that folks might enjoy -- a story of Genesis.

http://www.vulch.clara.co.uk/genesis.html

[Brooke]

Some good ol' days for folks. Ah, the memories this brings back. But Aces High is, rounding off to the nearest digit, infinity better.

[Oldman731]

I strongly disagree.
It's part of the fun for seasoned players to fly highy "outclassed" fighters in the face of latewar opposition. Many players that take a Hurri I or 109E into the skies are not doing it for the love of that particular model alone, but because it's also a challenge doing it in LW.

Perfectly true, but inconsistent with a plan to split arenas based on time frames.  You end up with what we now have - multiple (well...two) arenas with all planes enabled, and two forgotten arenas based on chronology.  (Parenthetically, seasoned players will always be able to find a handicap plane within any time frame.)

If you disable EW planes in LW, you still won't see EW arena getting "back to glory".
For example, Sardaukar/Mazz stated......Now, that should be a reason to fly it in EW instead? No. Must be other reasons than pure plane availability then that keeps him and other potentially interested players away from EW.

We'll never know, will we?  How long did HTC limit aircraft to their time-appropriate arenas?  Couldn't have been more than a few weeks, if it was that long.

BTW, most ironically it was the splitting of the score that gave the EW arena the final final death blow...

Because you can fly the Hurri I (or whatever) in any arena, there's no incentive to go to EW to fly it.  The EW was fatally wounded long before the score split was implemented.

- oldman

[BnZs]

I don't think anything will be accomplished by taking planes out of the LW set.

What of planes that first saw action in EW but also were historically used in MW, the same for MW planes in LW?

Would you take the P-40 or HurriIIC out of Midwar, the SpitIX, P-38J, and Hellcat out of late war?  Etc and so forth?

[The Fugitive]

Its all about the players and how they play the game. EW was only good the first week or so after the arena splits, because most people were to stupid to realize that you now had to choose an arena, the rest just went there due to the numbers. There was some good fun flying in the first week or so.

Then the masses caught on and found the LW arena and that was it for both the EW and MW. Most people don't know how to fly, how to fight so they need the uber ride to compensate for their lack of skill. The rest just go there because that is where the targets are.

EW, MW, AvA will NEVER become popular until people learn how to fly and fight. In the good old days THAT is what drew people to these games. The chance to fly and fight against a real opponent, not some computer AI. Todays players are too much into the "quake" style fighting of just throwing a ton of resources at a target over and over again until its dead, no skills needed.

The "good old days" were much better because people fought, tried to get better. In the good old days when someone yelled out "watch out JBKID is at A3, he just shot me down." We use to go looking for him. He was always one of the top guys, and going against him was a way to measure how good you were. Today, if someone mentions so and so is at such and such the fights disappear. Most don't want to fight because they KNOW that can't, They don't take the time to try and get better because they are too busy running in the horde, taking undefended bases.

Todays player is too busy chasing "leroy jenkins" across the terrain to notice they are missing out on the better part of the game. 

[Anaxogoras]

Rolling Plane Set!!! .

<----ducks and runs.

[BnZs]

Its hard for me to believe that the basic "character" of the average player is much worse. I'm guessing most players are like me and always have been...They want to do some of that "pilot %@%@" for their kills, they want a little sport..., 5v1s and blasting helpless planes off the runway all the time won't do it for them. Of course, like me, they probably don't want it *so* sporty that it ends with "___ has shot you down" instead of "You have shot down ____", except owing to the occasional lapse of judgment on my part. (I like hunting wild hogs...sometimes I eat the hog, sometimes the hog gets away, so far no hog has come close to eating me though, and that is precisely the way I like the situation...same goes for AH) 

Nah, I think the only wrench in the gears is too many people getting the idea that the "win the war" thing is the point of the whole game. So they aren't even hunters anymore, they are a demolition crew. Sorry...that's work, I've been paid to take down structures before and I must insist on compensation of least $15/hour if anyone wants me to spend any large portion of my playtime doing it.

The thing to do is to gently remind players that the best part of the game is the all-day warm inner glow that comes from murdering a few poor gomers in the air, then sitting down to fine meal and musing to yourself on the fond recollection of how that bandit looked in the instant you blew him to pieces.

Its all about the players and how they play the game. EW was only good the first week or so after the arena splits, because most people were to stupid to realize that you now had to choose an arena, the rest just went there due to the numbers. There was some good fun flying in the first week or so.

Then the masses caught on and found the LW arena and that was it for both the EW and MW. Most people don't know how to fly, how to fight so they need the uber ride to compensate for their lack of skill. The rest just go there because that is where the targets are.

EW, MW, AvA will NEVER become popular until people learn how to fly and fight. In the good old days THAT is what drew people to these games. The chance to fly and fight against a real opponent, not some computer AI. Todays players are too much into the "quake" style fighting of just throwing a ton of resources at a target over and over again until its dead, no skills needed.

The "good old days" were much better because people fought, tried to get better. In the good old days when someone yelled out "watch out JBKID is at A3, he just shot me down." We use to go looking for him. He was always one of the top guys, and going against him was a way to measure how good you were. Today, if someone mentions so and so is at such and such the fights disappear. Most don't want to fight because they KNOW that can't, They don't take the time to try and get better because they are too busy running in the horde, taking undefended bases.

Todays player is too busy chasing "leroy jenkins" across the terrain to notice they are missing out on the better part of the game. 

[moot]

The basic character is definitely worse.  It's really not hard at all to see how a small niche of purists vs that same group (if we assume it didn't shrink) diluted inside a non-purist gamer crowd.

[The Fugitive]

...........snip

Nah, I think the only wrench in the gears is too many people getting the idea that the "win the war" thing is the point of the whole game. So they aren't even hunters anymore, they are a demolition crew. Sorry...that's work, I've been paid to take down structures before and I must insist on compensation of least $15/hour if anyone wants me to spend any large portion of my playtime doing it.

Even the win the war type can fight.....

Old days..... a fight for a base could take hours to accomplish, attacking force might regroup two or three times to hit it in force.

Today......... a fight for a base is a one shot deal, over whelm the defenders with 3 and 4 to 1 numbers, or if it fails in the first 15 minutes, give up and look for another easier/undefended target.

Again, its the players, no skill to make a plan, no skill to execute a plan. Leroy moves to another base and everyone follows because no one has the skill to lead.