Take it from someone for wilfully sought what you describe as the bulk of their AH activities. Nobody really cares about skill in this game any longer. It's almost trivial to bypass skilful flying and the external and internal culture has changed. I no longer even get saluted for putting myself in this position and fighting hard, eventually and inevitably giving someone in the gang a kill. This used not to be the case, you'd nearly always get at least one salute, often several. Those were the days when this activity was rewarding. Now it's very common to receive mocking PMs, 'easy kill' messages when outnumbered 4 to 1 and I have even gotten very personal insults such as derogatory remarks about my son (the circumstances of whos difficult birth I was open about on this forum) just because I've out-flown someone. I've even had PMs from players on their country warning me to get out of there as 3 or more are upping expressely to 'get that b***rd Shida' (sic).
The only important thing nowadays is the results, getting the 'kill' by any means possible, then 'big your own ego up' afterwards. The score after all, never lies. I think the pitching one's skill against the odds game is over. Although there are a few of my kind left around, our fate is extinction. Most have already left in frustration, some quietly and some noisily and those that remain just haven't accepted it yet. Imho.
Yep. It was players like you, sir, which attracted me to this game in the first place. I wanted to be an nrshida (actually, a Latrobe... I didn't know you back then. No offense). Guys that would wade into the middle of a fight and take all comers. Guys like the guys in this thread. And yes, they absolutely would be saluted because everyone they were fighting knew they deserved it, and respected their effort.
Now that I've gotten somewhat decent (not nearly Latrobe level), I'm experiencing exactly what you describe. No-one but a handful of skillful players gives a crap about a good fight anymore or showing respect to those who give you one. The culture is toxic, results are all that matters, and if most of the players aren't 10-year-old juvenile delinquents, they sure act like it.
I quit for good yesterday. I literally broke my stick in half and threw it in the trash to avoid the temptation to come back to play in this cesspool. With few exceptions, it seems like most of the people who think like you have already gone the way of the dodo. Very sad to me. I loved this game. But it's not anything close to what it was before.
