So I don't fly as much now as I used to. Part of it is because recent updates cause weird performance issues: My FR is fine, rarely dipping out of the 50s, but there's situations where things get....jerky. What I mean is, everything is smooth, then it jumps, then it's smooth, then it jumps, in a very regular pattern. Unfortunately it also makes things very difficult in a fight. It started doing this around the 2.18 or 2.19 update. I've tried tweaking graphics settings, and it doesn't make a difference. It has SOMETHING to do with flying online, because everything is fine playing with the offline drones.
ANYWAY, so I decide to jump into the EW arena where there's a couple people on for a couple light fights. I check the roster, and there's two Bish and one Nit. The Nit is attacking Rook Land, so I go Rook to up and find some action. I have the bandit on Dot Dar IB to a V-base, and I am climbing out to an intercept position. He turns around and runs home. I'm not even CLOSE to being in dot range--hell, I'm still almost a sector out--and he turns around and runs home.
Keep in mind, there's only ONE person online as a Nit. I know who you are.
I get to his base and circle a bit, then shed some altitude and head back south. There's only one Nit online, so I know EXACTLY who it was.
I send him a message: "I'm cruising S of field at Angels 5. Come and get me."
I run a holding pattern about halfway between our two bases with my power on max loiter at 5000ft and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. He's still online, and sitting in the tower. He knows where I am (I'm sitting in his dar circle) and what my altitude is. He could even grab himself a massive altitude advantage because he knows EXACTLY where I am, and he just sits in the tower.
Finally after a good 30mins or so of flying around I get fed up and RTB.
I mean, seriously. Yeah, it's his 15 bucks, but what the hell is the point of spending 15 bucks a month on a MMO game subscription when you won't take off while another player is in the area? If you want to play with the AI, you can fly offline for free as much as you want. You don't even have to pay for the game ITSELF.
Maybe the EWA and MWA should become a fighters-only game like the WWI arenas with all ordinance disabled. If you can't bomb and milkrun bases in GVs, maybe people will actually fight.