I've always advocated that we have an arena like this. At least in AW, it was a major plus in helping new players get used to the flight model before testing the waters in the regular arenas and keep them playing so they enter the main arenas. With the score limit, it also prevented veteran pilots from using the newbie arena as their own personal baby seal pup hunting grounds. An arena like this is nothing but a positive for the game.
ack-ack
Oh I agree 1000% I went from MA to Newb areana then came back to the MA after a short stint of about an hour showed me that I was in no way ready to play with the big boys.
Had alot of fun and made some friends there too. Its always difficult when you enter something and not know alot about it. Its even more difficult when you dont know anyone on top of it.
Its easier if you enter a place where other people you come across dont know alot either and you then can learn together. Then when you enter a place. you not only know at least something. But you know someone as well. You dont feel as much an outsider. And there is someone there you have something in common with.
Its like going to a party where you dont know anyone. It takes a while before you feel comfortable. Yet you will see if your at a party and there are a few people that dont know anyone. they always seem to manage to congregate together. They all have something in common in that they dont know anyone.
It just makes the transition easier
In the MA there can be such a learning curve. You can quite literally feel like your going against gods. And while it can be great fodder for vets to pad their scores and kill count. It can beat down very quickly so overwhelmingly and thoroughly a newb who's only experience in air to air combat may be what they see on the history channel that they quickly give up and never bother to return. Especially now that flight sims and computer games in general are not dominant on the market like they once were. They have less and less to cut their teeth on.
Here is what I think IMO happens in alot of cases with people who dont stay.
they watch something like Dogfights on TV and see how cool it looks flying around shooting down badguys. then they see the commercial for AH. and say WOW that looks cool I'd love to do that. Which is exactly the point of having the commercial.
They see the fly any plane against other real life people 24/7, air land and sea combat, and two weeks free. Yadda yadda yadda.
so they figure they will give it a shot.
But instead of being subject to the "hook" which is usually the easiest levels of the game. They are immediately subjected to and thrown into what seems to them to be level 10,000. Now two weeks free is great. But if when you first started playing Pac Man you always started at level 250. Even if you were given unlimited free play forever. You probably wouldn't play for very long.
The idea behind the old arcade games that you dropped coin into for every game wasnt to get people to try it once. find it too hard and then move on. But to get them to try it then stay around to try it again. Thats why the first levels were the easiest to beat. there was a ladder for people to climb to get better.
Here we are absent that ladder, that "Hook"
Here our subject matter is a bit different. Its not an arcade so you cant just have an EZ mode arena. Well you cant but it would be detrimental to the spirit of the game. But throwing newbs with no experience into the MA is similar to starting the game at its highest level.
Difficulty is fun if you have a chance of winning. occasionally winning is fun. but its not so fun if its the equivalent of an amateur boxer with no ring experience going against a professional Mike Tyson, or Muhammad Ali in their prime. Your just gonna get beat down.
Now, If you start off in the amateur ranks. Get some experience and some ring savvy against other amateurs. Then move to the pros. Then you at least have a boxers chance when you meet the big boys.
