WWII and WWI Strat and Furball Arenas

[Lusche]

May I ask what you feel is the root cause to the lack of variety?

Hmmm that's less easy to answer as it seems at first.

basically, having just a furball setup will invariably result in furball-like combat situations. The current no-frills pure air combat setup doesn't require anyone to fly outside the parameters we have seen in the arena during the last month.
No bombers that are trying to fly at a safer altitude, no fighters to intercept them, no fighters to escort their buffs. No "need" to climb up higher than 2-3k, and if you actually go higher and meet someone there, there is no "mission goal" (killing or protecting buffs or recon planes) that keeps you up there, the fight will go very quickly back to the deck.
No real need for planning attack routes or interception courses.

Now many player did welcome this puristic furballing setup... but I notice that many of those have also largely left WWI arena and went back to LW, MW, AvA or even dropped their accounts again.

But I'm quite aware that it's probably not as simple as adding some strategic stuff now and the arena will fill up again - see EW arena, which even has all components of the LW MA gameplay, yet is basically empty all the time now.

My own dream was a setup that would add some minor strategic elements to enhance mission & combat variety without compromising the basic air combat "furball" setup of the WWI arena at all. Not because I'm an armchair general keen on winning the war, but to to provide further incentives for different types of players to populate the arena and to prevent a quick "burnout".

[CptTrips]

Didn't take long for it to get old.

thndregg ,

May I ask what the "it" was that got old?  

Do you really think it is just the plane genre?  Is a WWI plane fundementally no fun to fly?  Is a close quarter knife fight with wood and canvas, by its nature, boring?  


Thought experiment....

If the WWII arena was constrained and configured exactly like the WWI arena is now, say Pony, Spit, 109, ME110, static pair of fields, essientially 2 country straight line battle,  no strat, no perk rides, no GVs, no carriers, no bombs, no rockets, no field capture, no clouds, no missions, no reason to do anything other than up, fly straight into the meat-grinder, kill-die-reup and do it again......would it still be fundementally more fun just because the planes go 300mph instead of 100mph?

Do you think its simply the additional horsepower that makes the difference, or its all the other factors of a rich gaming enviroment that maintain interest, and keep "it" from getting old?  

If it is purely the extra 200mph that is the sole factor, would HTC be willing to remove all those other distractions from the WWII MA for say 6 months as a test?  They'll still have the speed.


Regards,
Wab

[CptTrips]

But I'm quite aware that it's probably not as simple as adding some strategic stuff now and the arena will fill up again - see EW arena, which even has all components of the LW MA gameplay, yet is basically empty all the time now.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Lusche.  I think you and I are largely in agreement.

I might challenge you on the EW example though.  I think the core point there is all the planes in that arena are also available in the LW arena.  Its not a separate genre not available elsewhere.

I never expected WWI to be a big draw.  I knew the vast majority of the initial surge would move on after they had time to check it out.  That doesn't concern me. 

What concerns me is when I see dedicated, hardcore WWI fans losing interest.  Given the derth of other option, and how long its been since there were ANY viable options, that just shouldn't be happening.  All the parts are there.  The art, flight model, sounds, physics, damage model, server stability, all the technical components are superb.  Its just the chemistry.

I don't think the WWII arena could succeed under the same constraints, and it obiviously has a much broader fan base.


$0.02,
Wab




 

[thndregg]

thndregg ,

May I ask what the "it" was that got old?  

It is purely my own preference of fun (which does not supercede anyone else's preference, mind you) that being a good fight, but for the purpose of defending something valuable, or going on the offensive toward something of value to the enemy. WW1 arena holds none of this. It was created for those who enjoy the absolute pure & simple airplane against airplane combat. It is fortunate that HTC caters to a variety of tastes.