Hate to drop the bomb on your post but you fail to recognize that our world is dominated by MARKETING and the almighty dollar and not what one person or one CEO thinks. It's all about money and market share...and more importaintly--WHAT THE CONSUMER WANTS. (Hear the alarm clock going off?)
The OP has already stated he went to another game that was all tanks and was unhappy with the quality of the game. How hard is it to understand that there is a CASH paying population out there (besides AH subscribers) willing to pay for a better game they ARE happy with. It's called consolidating market share. If there's a worldwide consumer interest in an all-gv arena with greater opportunity for gv strategy (in numbers or in small squad tactics) who enjoy gv-only arena. How does HTC win that share? By doing it better than anyone else on the internet--and it sounds like they already have (sans an all-gv arena to date). What skin is that off HTC's nose to offer an all gv arena if there's legitimate worldwide paying subscriber market share to be had? Money talks.
Air Warrior was awesome in the fact they had like 9 Relaxed realism Europe Arenas and 9 Relaxed realism Pacific Arenas, beginner arenas and then "Full realism" areans. They didn't give a chunky pile what arena someone played in or if they played "all together"...they cared about that monthy subscription payment clearing every month...and not much else. AW DIED because they were happy to turn it into a cash cow, not develop the game further (R&D--the graphics were rudamentary at best for the time) and other mis-management.
If a company refuses to give the consumer what they want the consumer will continue looking for what they want weather box game or live. Garnering another subscription paying segment of the gaming community would be another feather in HTC's cap..not a burden. Just ask Dale if another 300-400 year-in/year-out subs wouldn't be welcomed if they could play in their own sandbox.
Just as you enjoy being the Walter Mitty WWII fighter pilot, there are plenty of people out there who want the be the Patton, Rommel, Montgomery, Walter Mitty.
Just because YOU don't want it doesn't mean that THEY dont.
AHHHHHHH silly boy, you forget the other side of the coin. What about all the people that enjoy bombing GV's? What are they to do if HTC were to open a GV only arena? My guess is that they would take their money and leave!
The problem with a lot of these requests is people don't look at the whole picture. They look at only what is relevant to them. You to have fallen into the same boat. That's what Hitech means when he says stuff about people requesting what they REALLY want, because he knows they are only looking at one side. He's no fool and and has proven this time and time again. Most of his changes have been met with up roars and complaints with threats to cancel subscriptions. Instead of knuckling under to the "knuckle heads" his company has continued to move along even in an economy that stinks to high heaven.
The customer very rarely knows what he wants, but he always "thinks" he does.
As for AW, I don't remember 9 arenas for each. The only times they have multiple arenas was for AWI when the server couldn't handle many people. You would spend half the night in the AOL chat rooms trying to get into an opening in an arena. It was a hardware issue, not a "give them what they want issue.
