Geez, all this b.s. about hoarding, getting ho'd, gangbanged, picked whatever...like an old woman knitting circle...I haven't been here as long as you guys but even I have sense enough to know...you can pick your own fight most of the time...if you're watching your enemy you can avoid a ho...even the "good sticks" will ho if they think they can get away with it...if you drop down low in a big fight there is a good chance you will get picked...if a base is getting rolled, there is a hoarde there that someone probably called a mission, and if you don't like facing hoardes, stay away from it...and last but not least, if the action is too much to handle there are other arenas besides the 2 lw arenas.
It has nothing to do with the "quality" of the players...what happens in the arenas is what you make of it.
As you said you haven't been around as long as us. I know you all WON'T believe this but people in the old days flew with a bit of "honor" for a lack of a better word.
HO'S, yes we had them but it was more like 5% of merges were close to a HO, not like today were 95% are HO's. Most HOs were by newbs just starting out, and when those HOed they were called out on the radio and ridiculed by ALL players. They learned very quickly that is wasn't an accepted way to play.
Hording, really wasn't a problem. First we didn't have the same player density as we have now even tho ALL maps were the small ones. On top of that if there was a big mission in the air the defending team launched a defense. Squads would go head to head all night over one base/area of the map. Today we have weak players trying to hide in the horde AVOIDING any opposition to anything or anyone creating huge imbalances on each front giving you the option of fighting out numbered 4 and 5 to 1 or being part of the horde and trying to get kills before the other 4 guys get him.
Ganging, yes it happened, but even then the gang had some honor or sense of fair play. Nobody would HO, everyone would make their run on the bogie, mostly out of time and out of plane with each other, meaning we didn't have 5 guys chasing 1 guy across the map. By each player making his own run at different times, it gave the bogie a chance. It was almost like he was fighting 5 separate fights, but all at the same time. I remember one fight where there was 3 or 4 of us this 1 lone 38 in one of those valleys on the Mindeao map. I know I died at least twice before the 38 died once, I'm not sure how many times the others died but that 38 racked up 6-8 kills to his one death. It was a great fight and we all...including the bogie, chatted about it for 20 minutes after words. Today a single con doesn't have a chance. Everyone goes for the HO, kill shooter isn't worried about. Deaths no longer matter, only the KILL.
It IS all about the quality of player. Todays player has adopted that mentality "anything and everything for the kill!" 6 or 7 guys on one guy for the kill, 30-40 guys to take a base for the kill. In all of this win the war at any cost crap we have lost the art of the fight. Very few play the game for "combat" any more. Todays players are like those on "Call of Duty". Spawn, run out and get killed taking 1 or 2 with you, repeat. No real skill, no strategy, and a poor shade of the fun they could be having. In the old days death meant something. No you didn't stop flying for the night when you got killed, nor did you spead all your time running from any fight you didn't hold ALL the cards in, but you also didn't just throw your life away each flight.
You newer players don't see a problem with the game because its all you have ever known. You probably thing 1% milk is great. While I do drink 1% milk NOW I remember drinking a tall glass of ice cold WHOLE milk and it was soooooo much better.
