Distant dot removal experiment = Unsuccessful

[NatCigg]

the dot would have to go small to large.  the previous mspaint square to dot to tiny plane was ugly.  also, the big dot would entice me to chase some strange distant foe that I could not tell was coming or going (note size to distance anomaly).

[Vudak]

-1 it was counterintuitive  and drove me nuts

[shift8]

-1

---The  giant dots were unrealistic as all get out. You could see bandits EFFORTLESSLY from the freaking stratosphere, and be 6+ miles out horizontally. 

---They ruined game play by making it too easy to find fights, turning everything into a silly meat grinder decided only by who ended up being last to show up.....

---They were counter intuitive, with the dot size dwindling to almost nothing and then suddenly being the size of a freight train

----They rewarded laziness and a lack of SA building skills.

----The tiny dots of the original game were already excellent. You could spot planes out to 17km if you knew how to scan. The cheesy blimp-sized mega dots we had early release in AH3 were utter nonsense. You could simply glace out your cockpit and instantly spot every plane for 10 miles.

[captain1ma]

+1 on the dots. then no enemy icon setups are a joy!! and immersion is rampant!!

[1stpar3]

+1 on the dots. then no enemy icon setups are a joy!! and immersion is rampant!!

Amen, Captain! I would be more than happy with the dots returned as they use to be in Beta. Even up to the compromise, in my opinion, of reduced icon range. That could add a new twist to the SA as well. In this case, you had better be familiar with your own plane! Because if you make the wrong decision on how you will engage an unknown con, no SA in the world will keep you absolutely safe. You realize of coarse, not every player likes to climb to 30k and BnZ? Sure it means you can pick the terms of YOUR particular fighting style, I get that. Those of us that dont fly like that benefited greatly from the Big dots. With 3k icon range, and a Bnz from altitude, not a whole lot of warning before its to late. Besides most of the top pilots in this game will kill you like that anyway. Whats wrong with a bit of compromise? I feel it worked a bit like ENY. Sure that turns off alot of folk but its up to everyone to learn how to fly higher ENY planes,right? So in this case, an aid to learning how to achieve good SA would be a plus for every one. I wasnt ever irritated about how the dots morphed around, I was too busy trying to figure out how I wanted to engage said dot. Plus tracer vis was pretty lousy at that time too. So I was more than willing to give up the tracers for a boost in SA. Besides, if you saw the big dot are you not going to fly towards it, no matter what the size? If you keep flying towards it and are making no ground, pretty safe to sa he is going away from you?  Turn away and find another dot All I ever hear in game is alot of folk dissing the "Astronauts and alt monkeys" anyway. This compromise would take a wee bit of that high alt advantage away, might even encourage more mid to low alt fights. Never heard anyone complain about that. If I am not mistaken doesnt King of the Hill have an alt limit? Not calling for that, just saying most of you guys handle that handicap a whole heck of a lot better than newer players, so why not have the dots? Still takes descent SA when some one comes swooping in from alt, not to get killed. Coming in as fast as that, the closure is still pretty fast and lacking SA skill even a minuscule and you get same results any way. What if the dots were optional? Like the aid from auto trim, tracers and stall limiter? If you dont like them and want more immersion in YOUR game play, just turn them off like you can with the HUD   

[Delirium]

+1 on the dots. then no enemy icon setups are a joy!! and immersion is rampant!!

How is that immersive? So the AH player can experience the blindness Subaru Sakai had to suffer from at the end of the war?

No icon set ups do not emulate history. They take away an aspect of a game that is in place to make up for the fact monitors do not have good visibility and that VR headsets lack the resolution to truly emulate natural human vision.

[captain1ma]

really? cause planes have icons over them. I just came back from Germany, and I didn't see a green icon over the plane flying next to us. I especially didn't see any red icons over them in in the distance. make the planes big enough and you don't need icons.

in AVA wars, in the beta, we had enemy icons off. yet with them off, no one had any trouble seeing the planes coming at them. when they figured out that a big plane with no icons was bad and a big plane with a green icon was good, there was no trouble at all. even some of the most rabid pro icon guys liked it.

[1stpar3]

As far as I know, the dot range and size are built into the game code and are related to your screen size, resolution and dot pitch of the monitor. The only arena setting that can change is the range where icons appear.

Not sure if you spent alot of time in the BETA. I had same resolution and monitor then, as I have now. The out of icon DOTS showed up way past even icon range of the field guns. It was really nice, in my opinion, we had alot going on and being able to scan the sky quickly was a big plus. While true, you didnt know if they were comming or going by dot sizes, at least you knew approx where they were. To me that made up for a whole host of other little problems in the evolving game play of the new AH!

[guncrasher]

really? cause planes have icons over them. I just came back from Germany, and I didn't see a green icon over the plane flying next to us. I especially didn't see any red icons over them in in the distance. make the planes big enough and you don't need icons.

in AVA wars, in the beta, we had enemy icons off. yet with them off, no one had any trouble seeing the planes coming at them. when they figured out that a big plane with no icons was bad and a big plane with a green icon was good, there was no trouble at all. even some of the most rabid pro icon guys liked it.

i had trouble in the ava seeing airplanes with no icons.  that's why i don't bother going there.

semp

[SFRT - Frenchy]

I like it the way it is right now. I don't want a neon arrow pointing to the baddies so I can be lazy with my SA.

[Chilli]

Good discussion here I think.  Although the best solution that I heard that covered everyone's concern listed was to allow it as an option.   

If you like it then leave it on.  If it disgusts you, then turn it off.

The only argument against that has to be that you don't want someone else to have it either, which I did not see expressed at all in any of the comments.

[Scca]

+1

I kinda liked it.

Me too. With my limited playing time, finding a fight sooner, gets me back to the tower sooner increasing my monthly sortie count.

[Delirium]

really? cause planes have icons over them. I just came back from Germany, and I didn't see a green icon over the plane flying next to us. I especially didn't see any red icons over them in in the distance. make the planes big enough and you don't need icons.

You didn't even read my post. Instead you made a kneejerk reaction to post something in opposition.

Please, read it again.

[Lusche]

in AVA wars, in the beta, we had enemy icons off. yet with them off, no one had any trouble seeing the planes coming at them.

Could it possibly be, just like with AH2 AvA, that those that did have trouble didn't even bother with AvA?

[The Fugitive]

really? cause planes have icons over them. I just came back from Germany, and I didn't see a green icon over the plane flying next to us. I especially didn't see any red icons over them in in the distance. make the planes big enough and you don't need icons.

in AVA wars, in the beta, we had enemy icons off. yet with them off, no one had any trouble seeing the planes coming at them. when they figured out that a big plane with no icons was bad and a big plane with a green icon was good, there was no trouble at all. even some of the most rabid pro icon guys liked it.

And its a wonder that AvA is so full these days! I know the no icons is one of the reasons I don't bother flying there. Another is the few times I did I was dodging HOs. Figured if I had to dodge HOs I might as well stay in the MA as there a LOT more targets.

Playing the "they didn't have that in the war" card doesn't fly <--- pun intended. There are a lot of things that didn't happen in the war as well and many that did that we don't have to deal with , like death and all that stuff.

The GAME makes concessions because it IS and game. The icons and "dots" are a couple of those. I think if they had the smaller dots morph into larger dots, and then in to plane forms it would be nice. Im use to it as it is right now, but the change won't hurt, and may help newbies find a fight.