<S> Hajo, and all the other "old guard"..........
I agree with what he said wholeheartedly. At one point, probably 2000-2005, I looked forward to logging in. Every time was an adventure. There were "win the war" types, there were base takers, but mainly it was about combat, getting in there and mixing it up with an opponent(s), and win or lose, throw a <S> out on the open channel.
At first I began to see squads getting larger and larger, with corresponding results..........it wasn't about who could fly better or fight better, it was about simply overwhelming with numbers.
Then with more squads joining the more is better ranks, that devolved into the NOE "hit em where they ain't", avoid combat if at all possible style of play. Numerous posts on this BBS about players surprising one of the NOE raids and most of not all of the raiders almost instantly bailing.
Real life kept me from being able to actively play the game for several years, but this board is one of the few that I check in and ready literally every day. I've seen the gameplay change over the years even though I couldn't play. When the game was most fun, for me, was when people sought out combat, not avoided it.
With the numbers in the arena dropping (there were 35 in the Late War MA when I logged in this morning at 7AM CST), one has to wonder if the changes made to assuage certain cliques has driven people away. I know that personally, taking a plane up to go GV hunting is the last thing I want to do anymore. Sometimes that's the only thing going on so you have little choice other than logging off. It was a lot more fun for me back before the icon range for GV's got reduced so much that they might as well not have any. It's a combat game/sim.......you choose your ride, you take your chances. Don't wanna lose a perk tank or plane, don't take one out. It's that simple. That is one decision by HTC that I am and will openly critical of. That decision has led to the strat raids by GV's, with the raiders being for all intents and purposes invisible from the air. The universal 6K for all icons worked in my opinion.
Then we have the fly so high the fighters can't reach ya buff drivers; encountering someone like 999000 (<S> to you, sir, was refreshing to see someone fly at an alt like they wanted a fight) who flies into a fight, not over it, and gets kills while he's doing it........those are the folks that I consider assets to the game. They seek out combat, they don't try to avoid it. Like ghi said, I suspect something is off somewhere somehow........I filmed a sortie the other night with 34K B29's, then 35K B-17's, both were able to outpace the opposing fighters.........the B-17's, were on film, running about 40mph faster than the speed charts show they should be, all the while holding that same alt and not diving. Maybe it's time for HT to introduce the jet stream or something above certain alts; sure you can fly against it, but your accuracy is gonna stink much like in RL.
I look forward to seeing what the next version holds in store. The whole sheep game holds no appeal for me..........I truly hope that there is more to the coming update than that.
<S> to all........carry on!!