EW/MW/LW

[jimson]

i think it is working quite well really.

we(those of us posting here) are the minority. we are the vocal minority. i think that if all that played the game posted here, it could well overwhelm the bbs servers.

 it seems to me quite a few people like things as they are.

 if i'm in mw, and don't like the map, or the kinds of fights, i have 2 choices in lw, or i can go to ew.....or i can go to da, or go screw off in ta.............customer in....to be continued....

Sure, but still, 3 out of 6 arenas sit virtually empty most of the time.

Seems like there has to be a better formula than that.

Can't say I know what it is though.

Guess I don't much care anymore either.

[CAP1]

Sure, but still, 3 out of 6 arenas sit virtually empty most of the time.

Seems like there has to be a better formula than that.

Can't say I know what it is though.

Guess I don't much care anymore either.

i wasn't meaning to be critical. this thread has people thinking. that's good.

[Karnak]

Maybe combine the EW and MW into one arena.  Then it will be WWI, 1939-1942 and 1943-1945 arenas

No.  The LWA is an abomination from a diversity and balance standpoint.  MWA would be the best focus from that standpoint, where fighters, bombers and attack aircraft all have distinct roles, unlike the LWA where fighters just do it all.

Well, actually, a combined arena wouldn't be bad if all post 1943 aircraft were very significantly perked.  But we know that won't happen, for truly good reasons I might add.

[jimson]

i wasn't meaning to be critical. this thread has people thinking. that's good.

Oh no Cap, I didn't take it that way.

I mean that I am coming to the realization that the game will always remain about like it is.

Action in one or two arenas where everything is enabled, and mostly empty in the rest, and I guess if the majority is happy that way, than that's ok.

[CAP1]

Oh no Cap, I didn't take it that way.

I mean that I am coming to the realization that the game will always remain about like it is.

Action in one or two arenas where everything is enabled, and mostly empty in the rest, and I guess if the majority is happy that way, than that's ok.

i see ew empty a lot.......i'd possibly go in there more, if i saw enough in there to find a good fight.


when i'm able to get on, there's usually anywhere from 30 to 70 pile-its in the mw arena. that's a perfect number, as there's not normally a long flight to find a fight.......and none of the "dog pile on da wabbit" kinda fights like seem to be in the lw arenas.

[The Fugitive]

Its all about what the majority of the people want, and we here on the boards are by no means any where near a majority!

Splitting the arenas by rolling plane sets, fronts, or years spicific has either been tried, or suggested and shot down before by HTC. HTC works to make things best for the majority of players. When they first split the arenas they were year specific, and as soon as the "gamers" figured out that you had to choose the arena you wanted to log into (default was EW and there were tons of people for the first week or so  ) the majority went to LW. The rest of us followed because there were very few people to shoot at in the other arenas.

Even after the early planes were added to all the arenas you could still find a fight now and then in the EW and MW because the score hounds where milking for points at all times of the day, but once the scores where split is really killed those arenas. MW has its following, as does the AVA, but it is always hit or miss to find fights because of the lack of targets.

Splitting by theaters worked ok in AW, but there you had the "euro" flyers, and the "Pac" flyers. HTC doesn't want the population split. he want just "flyers". Thats why you'll never see a "land grabbers" arena, nor a "furballers" arena.

The only problem with the arenas are the people. In the old days you had people who wanted to fight. Whether it was to pretend they were WWII pilots, of history buffs, or just killers, they wanted to fight. Getting certain names on your kill list was more important than getting a certain number of kills. Todays player is more of a gamer, and gamers look for scores. Whether that is number of kills, or points it doesn't matter as that is what dictates their style of game play. To have more kills you need more targets, and the best equipment to have a chance again those more skilled. So they MUST play in LW, the only place they can succeed.

Most of the people in EW these days are gamers who couldn't survive in LW and get their name in lights each month. The only way to get people into the other arenas would be to force them in and HTC won't do that as that won't really be a good business decision 

[CAP1]

The only problem with the arenas are the people.

sorry to tear your post up......but the statement i left up there.......sums up everything said in all of these threads. 

[Shuffler]

I blame it all on Karaya!

[BaldEagl]

I always thought the theater set-up in AW worked pretty well.  While I spent the vast majority of my time in RRE which was also the most popular I'd play RRPac, WWI and Korea on occasion (in restrospect I wish I'd spent more time in the FR arenas).  RRPac had a pretty dedicated following that wasn't too far behind RRE in numbers.  WWI also had a dedicated but much smaller following.

I don't remember anyone whining about seperate plane-sets in Euro and Pac.  No one knew any better.  It just was the way it was. 

The problem now is everone is used to a fully integrated plane-set.  Splitting it in any way feels like taking something away from the players even if everythings still available somewhere in the game.

[CAP1]

I always thought the theater set-up in AW worked pretty well.  While I spent the vast majority of my time in RRE which was also the most popular I'd play RRPac, WWI and Korea on occasion (in restrospect I wish I'd spent more time in the FR arenas).  RRPac had a pretty dedicated following that wasn't too far behind RRE in numbers.  WWI also had a dedicated but much smaller following.

I don't remember anyone whining about seperate plane-sets in Euro and Pac.  No one knew any better.  It just was the way it was. 

The problem now is everone is used to a fully integrated plane-set.  Splitting it in any way feels like taking something away from the players even if everythings still available somewhere in the game.

i used to fly relaxed realism europe there all the time. was fght6 in there.

it seemed to work well, but we have the fact that aw went away. why did that happen? was it their way of operating, or did it only happen because they got bought out?


 i just tend to try to find my fun here where i can.....and there's plenty of choices.........

[The Fugitive]

I was a Pac guy, they even named one of the big islands after my squad  Like you said, it was all we knew. HTC has said many times they they don't want to do anything that would split the community, thats why I don't think you'll see any changes like that.

AW closed not because it was behind the times in graphics, or low on subscriptions. It was bought up by EA because they wanted the coding for the on-line systems and it was the only way they could get it. To them it was easier to "buy" a ready made system than it was to hire people to design and build one.

To change the way things in the game are now you have to change the incentives. As it is now the majority of the players are gamers and there style of play is dictated by the scoreboard. Changing the scoring to encourage a more combat type of environment would have the gamers change there game, though not their priorities. Changing the "people" is what needs to be done, not changing the game.

[mensa180]

People don't go places because there aren't people there.  People aren't there because there aren't people there.

[CAP1]

People don't go places because there aren't people there.  People aren't there because there aren't people there.

so....what you're trying to say, is that to get more people in there, we need more people to go in there, to draw more people, then those people will draw more people and so on and so on?

[BaldEagl]

HTC has said many times they they don't want to do anything that would split the community, thats why I don't think you'll see any changes like that.

The thing is whether they intended to or not they arelady have.  The core of players that frequent EW, MW and AvA are pretty dedicated to their arenas.

IIRC when the MA was split HT said something about removing the caps once players got settled into a "home" arena of their choice.  This indicates to me a desire to split the community to a degree, otherwise why not just leave the one big MA alone?

[sparow]

Hi chaps!

Read every post. This is an issue that concerns me much. Because I live in Europe and finding an empty arena is common for me. I know, I know, I allways have LW... but not my favorite arena. Especially because I' allways prefered the CT/AvA concept. I don't like the concept of MAs.

So, when I log in, after dinner, here in Europe, I see: AvA, 0 players (or 1 player that is not flying and doesn't respond to your messages), MW, 14 players, EW, 8 players. I'm a fighter guy. I log into one of these arenas and I try to find som red dots on DAR. That's all I want. Sometimes, there's none. Everyone is in GVs. I must say that I have learned to use GVs lately. But I have to look for an old a2a fight. If I go to LW I usually don't have fun at all. For zillions of reasons. Finally, I have Sunday European Campaigns, in SEA. These, I like, more my kind of thing.

Split the arenas more? I don't think it's the solution. That doesn't solve the "black hole" effect of LW. Theme arenas? Would specialize the users to a point where they would be trapped in one arena. Finally, time would erode the arenas, one by one and the community would die. Rolling planesets? Maybe, but what for? If people doesn't care about historical accuracy to the point of flying Bf109 vs Bf109... And wouldn´t mind having B-29's and "nookes"...

If I was to decide, I would kill Bishops, Knights and Rooks chess-pieces and set it up an all Axis vs Allies thing. I would introduce maps according to the time flow and, when simultaneous, I would put them sequencially, until the end of the "war". I would eliminate the aberration of scoring. I would fill the gaps in the planeset. I would make rare birds expensively perked. I would shut down EW, MW and AvA. I would keep LWMA, one only, free for all, 24/7 Titanic Tuesday. I would keep TA. I would shut down DA. I would keep SEA. And WW1 arena. I would, when I could, create a Korean War arena, but not a priority.

People will go where there is more people. Or they go to where you push them to go. Having a choice, or the sensation of choice, is good for business. Force-feed your costumers is not good marketing.