The WWI arena today

[Mano]

How many of you veteran aviators are Baby Seal Killers?

We need to help out the newbies allot more. It  won't be long before they
are picking on the vets. That is what we want.

 

[Shuffler]

All 5 WWI folks are getting pretty decent in their kites.

[onerka]

Some veterans (me) are so bad with these fm's they qualify as "baby seals"!  Maybe we should start a squad?  We used to have the Geezer wing...could easily move over to the "Baby Seals" wing.

It quickly empties an arena when someone wipes out two or three guys three times each on half a tank of gas and lands 12 kills.  I don't know...with the way the arena is set up - very limited diversity possible in either what you are up to or what you are flying - it kind of begs this situation.  Some people live in there while others drop in for an hour every so often.  The difference in ability is enormous and the learning curve probably seems impossible to new guys after they try it once or twice.  You have to live through a lot of dying to reach even "average" ability.  That is a pretty painful process, and not fun for most people.

When there are 100 people flying and more diverse things you can do in an arena...not so much a problem, and you might even have wing mates to keep the clubs off the baby seals.  But, as it is...you're spot on Mr. Mano.

Didn't have an effective solution to this in other sims...don't for this one, at least until there is more development and diversity.

All of us want to feel like we are flying well and then we want to leave the arena feeling like it was fun.  If you get quickly killed on each sortie and leave feeling this is hopeless...neither thing is happening.  Only folks leaving satisfied are the ones holding the clubs.

One  

[Yeager]

Lets just hope we get some new rides soon.  It is perhaps better if the single WW1 arena morphed into its own version of a WW1 "Late War" arena.  Maybe the change in dynamics would make it more appealing to more people. 

[dog1]

[BGB the 3RD]

So you want easy mode ....if u know basic flight characteristics you can become decent after learning FM of each plane.

HTC screwed the pooch in my opinion the first month

They should of put 5k bases next to the current sea level bases ...this would of made longer lasting fights , I know 50% fights ended in ground strikes the first month ....people would have had a better chance of recovery. & it would not have been a conga line of gang bang, it was a hell hole

The 5 k bases would of spread out the dog pile, but still be able to just land at sea level base on return

Double the current base count, with a 5k base 1/4 mile from another friendly base

[pervert]

Lets just hope we get some new rides soon.  It is perhaps better if the single WW1 arena morphed into its own version of a WW1 "Late War" arena.  Maybe the change in dynamics would make it more appealing to more people. 

I don't know what you mean by new rides? How would the rides be any different? 

[Yeager]

Anything that can outclimb, outdive, speed away from, and generally nullify the DR1 

[Mano]

I don't know what you mean by new rides? How would the rides be any different?

If a Spad XIII or SE5a was added to the lineup you would see some Boom and Zoom to go along with the
Fokker Dr1 turn fights. You would also see more pilots using the DVII and Camel

 

[Lusche]

If a Spad XIII or SE5a was added to the lineup you would see some Boom and Zoom to go along with the
Fokker Dr1 turn fights. You would also see more pilots using the DVII and Camel

 

I doubt it. The numbers basically do not support it.
The environent shapes the fight, the kind of fight largely dictate the choice of planes.

When there are so few players (I always see 0-8 on my loginscreen), the battles more or less naturally end up in dueling style "fights".

When there were still (relatively) huge battles in the WWI arena, the most used & successful plane was the boomin' and zoomin'  D.VII. Only when the player numbers went down, the Dr started to rule, because the nature of the fights changed.

[SCTusk]

How many of you veteran aviators are Baby Seal Killers?

We need to help out the newbies allot more. It  won't be long before they
are picking on the vets. That is what we want.

 

Easy - start an aggressive 'Adopt a Noob' program. I know I've committed the butchery of which you speak, although usually only after an attempt to get them to chat (more often than not ignored). If they do respond in kind I'll try to talk them through the basics while generally acting as a target drone, with the odd burst of fire to keep them focussed. Once you've established a bit of trust it's a good idea to get on the same country, then when (if) any nme come up you can take them under your wing in the time honoured tradition and get some combat going. In the meantime if you're the only two on, 1v1 practice without the threat of collision seems a good idea if you don't mind spending time in there without adding to your score.

Reap as you sow, softly softly catchee monkey etc

 

[1701E]

I typically try to help; usually starts out with a few tips to see if they even listen to me.  If they're willing to listen I'll dumb down my flying and try to help, otherwise I'll just dumb it down some and see if they're willing to try and learn.  If they keep up any annoying moves (spraying at every merge, etc) or don't listen when I tell them something won't work (like 200mph dives) I tend to just leave them be.

Then again I tend to get people that try to follow/learn from me when I don't even recognize them!
If it's a bunch of people on who are kind of new I'll tend to avoid teaching and just fight the horde as best I can (prefer a good long 1v1 thought).

[Wmaker]

Only when the player numbers went down, the Dr started to rule, because the nature of the fights changed.

I don't think this is the biggest reason why Dr.I's popularity superceeded D.VII's. Although I'm sure the decline of player numbers had some efect aswell. I thnik it had more to do with people learning the quirks of the rotary engined Dr.I the whole planeset in general.

Just according to my personal limited perception, the Dr.I numbers started to pickup before the arena numbers declined below ten flyers. A proper graph would of course give us a correct answer to this.

[Lusche]

I don't think this is the biggest reason why Dr.I's popularity superceeded D.VII's. Although I'm sure the decline of player numbers had some efect aswell. I thnik it had more to do with people learning the quirks of the rotary engined Dr.I the whole planeset in general.

Just according to my personal limited perception, the Dr.I numbers started to pickup before the arena numbers declined below ten flyers. A proper graph would of course give us a correct answer to this.

The numbers plummeted very quickly, we had only one tour with a "full" WWI arena, by the second one the fighting environment was already totally different (no more big furballs, dominantly 1v1) with total kills having dropped down to less than 25%, by the third tour we are facing a arena with 0-8 players online.

[Wmaker]

Thanks for the graph Lusche!

Personally, I think this reinforces my belief that the Dr.I numbers started to superceed D.VII's before the total decline of the numbers. I very well remember some pretty big and nice furballs even during the second tour...at least during the US prime time. Anyway, nothing worth arguing over either way. I really hope the numbers in the WWI arena would pickup one way or another. It really seems like waste of resources in its current state.