A bit of a hijack:
"Nothing terrible, but nothing to get excited". Sometimes I think we (including myself) are judging players from a very high point of view. I wonder were "elite" truly begins. Both player A and player B have a K/S better than 95%(!) of all players, same goes for player A's K/H. Even his K/D of "only" 2.86 is getting close to that 95%, player B's 4.42 is putting him in the top 3%. Maybe not elite, but maybe still something to get excited about. (I know I was when first breaking 3.0 K/D, I couldn't believe I was now "up there", as I rarely encountered players in that "weight class")
When I think back to my university days, the top 5%of students were considered to be quite "elite"
Wow, you're right Lusche! I had no idea the overall AH K/D, K/T, and K/S averages were that low (but to be fair, I've never been interested enough in those categories to look into it). That definitely puts these two guys up in the elite class overall (which is actually reflected in their fighter rank, no?)
When it comes to Hit%, what I consider "elite" comes from your charts (one of which I'm borrowing for this post)-
By my standards, looking at this chart I'd consider the guys with 8% or better to be "elite", best of the pack. 10% or better would put them a step up from there, maybe "best of the best".
Beginning at 6%, I'm considering them "well above average, pretty dang good". 5% and down is just "mixed in with all the rest/ average/ of the masses". At some point (3% or so?) I consider it more luck than anything when a bullet actually connects with anything, let alone scores a kill. After all, we're talking about a 97% chance of no damage at all from any given round.
Maybe that's too harsh, but that's how I would break them down. And I wouldn't base that opinion on one tour either, but rather I'd want to look at someone's averages across several tours, trends, etc. I also want to see it based on many, many kills, rather than just a few in a tour.
And yes, while Hit% can be skewed, it's still hit %. How well can someone aim a plane and hit their opponent (which speaks of their coordination as well as all the mental "judgement" required before and during the shot)? Nobody else is going to do it for them... As such, it's just a "part of the whole" when it comes to fighter rank, but in my eyes it's still the most telling part.
For the record, my Hit% is skewed.
I only fly in fighter mode, and I only shoot planes. That skews it. I also don't shoot many GV's or buildings, etc. That skews it. I generally won't shoot someone else's "cripple", so it's skewed there too (as-is my K/D since I rarely get assists). And it's safe to say I have less than 20 vulch kills over the last 5 years (which skews my whole fighter rank). I do a heck of a lot of "scare" shooting (with no real intent to hit) and I do a lot of "speculation" shooting, so it's skewed from that too. I do my best to set up crossing shots, rather than saddle-up shots, so it's skewed from that. I shoot fighters as often as possible, and I shoot bombers as often as possible, so I'm sure that messes my Hit% up too. I like to shoot at friendlies on the runway as I land and see how close I can get without hitting them. I like to shoot over friendlies shoulders on climb-out (no enemies around) and see if I can startle them.
Of course all that adds up to
my "average" Hit%, since my it's based on the rounds I fire vs. those that actually hit my opponents.
Of course