Alright. Just for the record, I'm not the fighter the OP is referring to
as some of you know I bring up scoring sometimes on the forum. I think AH has one the best scoring models of any game.
I only do this when players who haven't played a while, who I've never seen in the game, talk about the flight model or talk about their skills in air combat, while having nothing to base these accusations on. Just to give them a challenge.
Let's talk about fighter scoring, as most other scores are based on killing stationary objects.
1. Just because you are a good 1v1 fighter doesn't mean you are good in the MA. This is also vice versa. Being good in a 1v1 won't make you #1 fighter, and being good in the MA doesn't mean you are the best 1v1 fighter.
2. There seems to be this notion that flying timidly means you are playing for score. This is false in most cases. Players who fly timidly actually don't rank as good. They tend to have a lower Kills per hour and typically don't get as many kills. Players who fly too timidly don't know how to utilize their E and get quick kills when the time is right. They tend to only land 1 or 2 kills in a 45 minute sortie thus not actually achieving a good score.
3. There is a reason why most players don't actually achieve a good fighter score if they try. They don't understand how the scoring works and don't fly the right planes with the right style. It's almost entirely based on how well you actually know the airplane and the situation you are in. For example, someone who flies a P51D at 25K and only gets 2 kills while BnZing and never taking any risk, is not going to achieve a good fighter rank even if they are actually trying.
4. The best rankers actually take risks, get down and dirty, claw their way out of messes and get 4-5 kills in the process. Even if they die. They get more kills. They get faster kills. And they tend to get better shots on their opponents during the process to make Hit% nice. Some even use bombers to get a better Hit% and points.
5. Myths:
Players who fly timidly are playing for rank.
This is FALSE. Timid flying is based on natural instincts. Running to ack is natural instincts. This type of flying is based on players who do not know how to utilize their plane to the full strength, thereby only using speed as their main advantage to get away from trouble.
The longer a player plays per month the better their rank will be.
This is FALSE. One of the best parts of AH ranking is that it's not based on a time system. For the most part. A player who plays for 150 hours a month, may be #1 in the point category, but they have 4 other categories they have to keep high as well. Sometimes the more play, actually hurts your rank, as you have to keep up the other categories constantly. Some one with 15 hours could have better marks in the other categories, thus giving them a better rank.
The best rankers never die.
This is FALSE. Some of the best rankers die 50% of the time. K/D is only one category. Again, you have to keep it up, but it's not the most important. A player who gets 1 kill and lands, will have a worse rank than a player who gets 4 kills quickly and dies. It's all about understanding the score model.
Players who fly easy mode planes get the best ranks.
This is FALSE. Just because a player flies easier planes, doesn't mean they are good enough to achieve a good score. You still have to know how to fly these planes, get a lot of kills, and keep up your score for more than 15 sorties. Most players cannot achieve this even in easier perked planes. That being said, if a player knows how to utilize a high score, flying an easier plane will give them an advantage.
Any one can achieve high scores, and ranking is easy or unvalued as skill in AH.
This is FALSE. Despite complaints about how some players fly. Achieving a high rank is not that easy. You have to really understand how to fly in AH. Understand your planes, your SA, and actually know how to get kills quickly. You have to know how to find fights on the map and get kills quickly. A person who achieves a high rank understands this. One of the biggest reasons why most players don't score high, is that they don't understand how to utilize different planes for different situations. They don't know how to get quick kills. They don't know how to combined all the categories of rank into one sortie. They don't have the patients to work on their ACM and their SA in the MA, where things are never fair.
Now, I'm not saying that anyone who doesn't do this is a bad fighter. Most just don't care. Most don't even try. And most aren't into #s. What I am sayin is that for the people who do try for rank, or the people who you do think are trying for rank, there are many considerations to how they fly, and what they fly, that can gauge whether they actually know what they are doing. I find it very competitive to achieve a higher fighter rank, And thus I know the type of skills it does take to achieve.
I hope this clarifies your sentiment.
