The Way the Game Was??

[AAJagerX]

The price, in real terms, has decreased. 

No kidding.  Who else has had a $500.00 AOL bill from playing Air Warrior too much?

[HatTrick]

I'm really new to this game but I've been playing games like this for awhile.  Certain people tend to get all nostalgic about the good ol' days in games that have been around for a long time.  They do this in WW2OL all the time.  For example, there are pilots in WW2OL that really dislike the AWS system (think bar dar but with even less information given) in that game.  They complain all the time about it on the forum.  Those same people complain about GPS (showing your exact position on the theater map.)

What they fail to consider (or choose to ignore) is that most people have busy lives and play games like this for entertainment.  They don't want to log-in, spend half an hour flying around empty sky, get lost and not be able to figure out where they are.  While grognards might find that extremely satisfying and immersive, your average Joe doesn't enjoy it.  They want whatever limited time they have to play to be fun.  Too much realism spoils the fun and a compromise MUST be made in a game that is reliant upon recurring subscription fees because when people aren't having fun, they tend to stop paying.  

Most of what I see in the posts you quoted Changeup are people complaining about what are basically gentleman's rules in the game.  This is what comes with an MMO and especially one with new players coming into it.  People are going to play the game the way they enjoy and it's basically tilting at windmills to complain about it.  You might not like how some people choose to play but if they are playing within the rules put forth by HTC, they are doing nothing wrong per se.  

You have to take the good with the bad.  People have to understand that new blood coming into the game is a good thing because without it, any subscription game is going to eventually die from attrition (ie: Fighter Ace).  If you want to fight with gentleman's rules and insure they are adhered to, you can always fly in the less populated arenas (my understanding from reading this forum is that environment is more prevalent there.)  You could also fly IL-2 on a private server.  To think however, that you are going to be able to go into the most populated arenas and everyone is going to fly according to those gentleman's rules is naiveté.  There are too many new players that most likely aren't even aware of these gentleman's rules.  You have to take the good with the bad because without those new players, Aces High (or any game) would eventually die out.

I personally am loving this game.  I grew tired of the arcadish flight model in Fighter Ace a long time ago and I sought more challenge.  The desire to fly for a country and not a chess piece took me to WW2OL instead of here and that's something I now regret because I have seldom enjoyed flying in WW2OL.  My squad there is enjoyable but when nobody was on, I logged off.  I played for the social aspect and not because I liked the game.  I never gave AH a chance because it didn't have 'real countries' and that is a shame because I am enjoying myself more in this game than I ever have in any other MMO sim.  The flying aspect of this game is fantastic and it's too bad some old timers are losing their perspective of that.

[Yeager]

well said Hat Trick 

[Oldman731]

It would be unusual if nothing changed in all that time.  Certainly many of the people I knew in 2001 are no longer here. 

Beyond that, I have a very firm sense that the population has become younger, that the level of interest in the history has dropped, while the level of interest in winning maps through "team" play has risen.  If my perception is accurate, there's probably a cause-and-effect relationship.

I think we have been most affected by this change in the AvA.  Limited plane sets of historic opponents have always appealed only to a small subset of players - I remember the AirWarrior AvA arena was like that, too - but when the crowd was older and more history oriented you could usually get a dedicated group who flew for the history as much as for the competition.

- oldman

[Bear76]

8 yrs ago I used to go AFK on auto-climb to take a piss and come back at 4,000 feet alt. Now when I come back I'm at 10,000 ft   

[shiv]

Any changes - and the game has changed since I've been here on and off since 2003 -  are due to the changes made to the game itself, not the players.  It's not a coincidence that some major changes were made and then there's all these debates about gameplay.  Not that there wasn't any before but the only way to change player behavior is to change the game.

It's Hitech's lab, we're just the mice.

[The Fugitive]

 
<snip>
Most of what I see in the posts you quoted Changeup are people complaining about what are basically gentleman's rules in the game.  This is what comes with an MMO and especially one with new players coming into it.  People are going to play the game the way they enjoy and it's basically tilting at windmills to complain about it.  You might not like how some people choose to play but if they are playing within the rules put forth by HTC, they are doing nothing wrong per se.  

Agreed, but that is most likely the biggest change.

In the old days we had the same rules, but being more on the side of history buffs, and old guys getting to play fighter pilot we didn't push the rules. We didn't look for ways around the rules. We kept it pretty simple. We came up in our fighters and flew over to where you were in your fighters and we had it out, or if we were coming to take your base we flew over and tried to take your base, you defended. That was pretty much it.

We didn't try "hiding" from a fight, we did try mis-leading them now and then. Launch a couple wings at different times, from different bases, to different bases.... which was the real attack? Which had a goon and which had just a bunch of light fighter looking for trouble? Which was high, which was low? The point is they ALWAYS knew we were coming, and they always knew we were going to fight it out whether it took one pass, or 5 hours ( a single base capture is the leading reason for the lack of sleep and hellasiously long work day the next day).

Today more players are after the WIN more than the fight. One attempt on a base. If the mission fails, they move to another place on the map. Their excuse is they are using stealth, and surprise, to me they are trying to avoid having to fight for the base they want.

I think todays players are younger and less interested in the history aspect. They are just looking for a great game to play, and lets face it, AH2 is a great game. We all use to pretend we were flying over the Memphis Bell as high cover on one of her missions, or winging with the Tuskegee Airmen. Today half of the new players couldn't tell you anything about either of those. To us old timers it was a fantasy land, to the new players it's a game. It's still fun, but I think it's missing a bit. Call it honor, call it heart, call it the romance of just tooling along in the bright blue sky (overly brite some might say   ) rolling your wings left and right scanning the sky and finally spotting that unsuspecting boogie. Only to dive down and find that he isn't so "un-suspecting" as you thought and you fight it out twisting and turning, guns blazing until one of you is victorious. Then a quick <Salute> to your foe and your off again.

[Brooke]

I never gave AH a chance because it didn't have 'real countries' and that is a shame because I am enjoying myself more in this game than I ever have in any other MMO sim.  The flying aspect of this game is fantastic and it's too bad some old timers are losing their perspective of that.

I invite you to try scenarios.  There is one ongoing currently, and the next frame of it is tomorrow (Saturday) with a show-up time of 3 pm Eastern in Special Events II.

More information is here:

http://ahevents.org/scenario-current-or-next.html

[Dichotomy]

Hattrick... ^^^^^
What Brooke said.  There's also FSO and any number of events that I enjoy a lot. 

[SWrokit]

No kidding.  Who else has had a $500.00 AOL bill from playing Air Warrior too much?

Yeppers.....I can recall a $700 + bill for one month    (that one definitely put some pressure on a marrage      )

I can still remember AH I.  The eye candy wasn't what is is today for sure.  Had some great maps and not so great, same as today.  Still miss the night combat operations of AH I.  I'd have to say much has changed from then to now, more planes, GV's, and especialy the eye candy.  All that and I've not once recieved a $700 monthly bill  

<S>
Rokit

[gyrene81]

I invite you to try scenarios.  There is one ongoing currently, and the next frame of it is tomorrow (Saturday) with a show-up time of 3 pm Eastern in Special Events II.

Don't do it HatTrick, he's trying to bait  you. Once you do a scenario...you're looking for the next one...and they don't come often enough. Then when a new scenario is announced you find out you have to work or wife-ack has plans during the time the frames are scheduled, and it's disappointing.

It's worse than having a good fight with multiple cons at the same time, trying to rtb with a couple of scalps and hitting a tree.

[Yeager]

Now when I come back I'm at 10,000 ft   

I actually understand what you mean for once  

[Brooke]

I've been here since about 2001, but I don't consider myself to be a old timer because I wasn't here at the start.

To me, what has changed over that time is:  (1) the game has gotten better (HTC is always adding planes, improving things here and there, etc.), and (2) more and more special events have been added over time.  I really enjoy the special events, so that is a key element for me.

What hasn't changed (and what probably will never change) is people talking about the "old days."  "Why, back in aught three, things were different.  Boy, you really had some fights back then, and everyone knew what it was all about, let me tell you.  We had Weesley Bill.  And Splurk! -- remember Splurk?  Now those were some pilots. . . ." And so on.

It's not just Aces High that gets that.  It was Air Warrior.  And going to school ("Back when I was a kid, we had to walk uphill both ways, in a blizzard, even in summer, but then it was 110 degrees *and* a blizzard.")  And so on.

[ink]

been here since tour 52, what year was that.......May of 04, the only real differences besides the game up dates, is what someone else has said, the players are a lot younger now, and have no clue as to what Honor is, much less practice it,  There were always whiners, gangers, HOers, as far as I can remember.

hell I remember one of my first days in here I was in a zero, and fighting like 15 guys, I put bullets into every one of them just couldn't kill them, I was called a cheater, because they could not kill me,  , whats even funnier is the fact that this guys is still here calling people cheaters

so I would say very little has changed but what has changed has been for the worst.

not the game itself that has only gotten better, but the players, this is what has gone down hill.
back when I joined it was a much older crowd, Honor was prevalent, and practiced often, now.........extremely rare

[froger]

I am fairly new to this game compared to some...1.9 years in this game so I will never be able to say "how it was" or "how it used to be" but after reading a lot of the senior folks posts, I must admit I like what I have read.  If you've been playing for 6 years or more, please list the most FAVORITE thing about how it used to be in-game.  No rules...your comment can be the friendships and how they changed, the tactics, the maps, the respect for a 1 v 1 that is going on below you but players stayed out until it reached its own conclusion, the squeekers, etc. etc.  I would like a glimpse of what I missed...

V/r

Changeup

lets start with POWs don't salute... EVER !!!
   change starts at home.



froger