a couple of problems with that theory and, if you look around these forums, one is glaringly obvious. historic flight sims don't attract a lot of gamers unless they look and play like other flying "games". people come to ah and it isn't long before they start squawking about the eye candy. making claims that this game or that has better graphics without looking at the fact that their computers can barely handle the graphics requirements of ah. they're the "ooh, look the ground is pretty" crowd, and they don't last long around here. they jump into the late war arena, grab a p51 or spitfire, try to fly in arcade external mode, get irritated because they can't, then proceed to get owned by veterans flying around in 109s...then they come to the forums, complain about the graphics, then leave and go play a game like warthunder or (soon) world of warplanes.
I started playing a bit of WT while I didn't have my stick... It has ihgh player counts like 10000 arcade mode , 7000 in "historical battle" mode, which is pretty mcuh just arcade mode except germany wins all battles because all 109s were faster than tempests, turned as tight as spitfires and the single cannon put out more damage than two complicated ihspanos. The game looks great but forget the numbers. It's all instanced roadkill so it's not an MMO warfare game to start.. I dno what the limit is like .. 20v20? and the maps are like just a totally tubular square or two..
Secondly, the mode that ONLY allows joysticks will have 250 players at peaktime, mostly 50-100... to play in an instance where the game adds 4 bots on each team so ur only 5 players vs 5 with added biplane bots. ah2 still has the larger number of ACTUAL PLAYERS you can fight at any given time.
the graphics look beautiful and it runs well........ but the cockpits are toejam. the gunsights are all whack.
Aces high has crisper more "effecient" graphics because you can make out the important details of planes when you damage them... in WT youve no totally tubular idea the state of damage your 10 hispanos rounds (cause u counted 10 blips but it only credits 2 hits when u check stats after)
the thing is, it's not just graphics it's the feeling of progression and shallow skill depth that gets people hooked. ah has nothign to grab you by the balls with... i started playing it thinkin yea ill unlock some good planes.. oh hehe ill unlock tthe spit 16 i bet nobody knows its a dweeb ride here. I finally did and its a piece of toejam and I got a stick started the frb thinkin oh well maybe... no. apparantly it's realism is that you have to trim your elevators every nanosecond by 50% or constantyl parry your stick which makes turn fightin toejamty and you can abuse rudder max trim n flaps like crazy to no penalty- its like flyin with stall limiter mixed with roadkill overzealous physics to fool you into it being realism... besides the fact that there's no stall ubzzer (no need since u barely get punished)
ive been playing multiplayer games of all types sicen quakeworld and this is probably the most extreme trickster game in the books. it's a dogturd but people dont realize because of all the distractions,, the levelling the graphics, the customization and unlocking "more powerful engine , less air resistance" upgrading your "crew" skills. you can literally upgrade ur pilot vitality to make him into terminator... its ridiculous but annoyingly addictive and i spent like 40 bucks on the game in 2 weeks to buy myself not toejam planes because I was frustrated.. I could win 1v4's in ah, survive hordes.. yet couldnt do shjit with a spitIX vs 109s.
still, I dont htink WT has people paying more money for it because of the graphics only. its the obsessive grind toejam and desire to progress (not on a personal skill level like in AH). calling the game "open beta" yet accepting money to buy everything fast track- promising shti like future "GRound battles" and "100v100" arena... you knjow, stuff AH already has but... but for some reaso ni feel like playing this game, it is the worst game i have ever played gameplay wise.. i resubbed to ah2 but ive played like 2 sorties in 2 weeks.
tbh it's not even an ah competitor because i dont know what it is but it's not a skilled based combat flight sim. It's not even a very skill based keyboard&mouse shooter...
still, it is like starbucks. for whatever damn reason im playing it instead of ah because uh. it totally brainwashed me, it's the front end of the game that is so clever that u dont realize ur playing a dressed up dogturd. and even now when I do Ill play it an hour and keep thinking "fk this is stupid how can .. Golly-geenit this soo shhj.gjfdokigjkdsg i dont understand why im doing this". it's like damn heroin addiction and you keep chasing some (aces) high that's not there but u cant stop... but really, any game with levle based system and no true skill depth is goign to have people coming and leaving. it's like a dirty potato free for all. still, ah could copy a few of the potato aspects and the front end model. while the graphics look better overall to average joe but the graphics that matter (plane visibility, cockpits etc) are terrible..
anyways they apparantly have a few old ah players (odd choices) to advice them.. cause at the end of the day, ah is one of the longest running sub based games allbeit as soon as I launch ah it feels like I stepped back a decade. its like i put it on pause for 4 years then came back and it was just as i left it except now it had hideous music in the menu that made it feel even older. the gameplay is perfect n u can appreciate the plane variety and personalities in ah2 once uve tried the sham that is wt.
