1. What I like to do in the game is fly around and shoot people.
It is relatively unimportant what you "like". You are not the majority by any means.
2. I like to have a lot of red guys in a small vicinity to shoot at. That means there is action and intensity.
See above.
3. Define how 2 weeks of flying for 30 minutes only to die quickly when they find a con, is better, than if a player flies for 2-5 minutes and dies quickly, but can respawn into the fight over and over again and have the opportunity to find more people to fight with quickly? While still having an Open MA for all the players who like the MA.
Again, fighting in a fighter isn't what EVERYONE wants. A new guy could also try GVin, buffs, supply runs (jeeps are fun), wirbles and other G2A activities, joining a mission or horde. None of which you will find in your "fast action" arena. Tell me, whats fun about flying 2 minutes to get shot down over and over again? Thats not going to draw people in, but have them hit that frustration level and quit sooner.
4. Again, I don't think you actually read what I posted, because I made a clear argument against the pathetic "shark" theory you and Bustr have. Noobs already expect they will die over and over again. The point I am making is that, if you are learning the game, would you rather fly for 25 minutes to a base, only to die quickly by a higher 190D? OOORRR would you rather be able to go to another arena where you can respawn over and over again into the action with human players? This way you might actually get to shoot the guns one time. Not waste 20 minutes flying in a huge sector, not even knowing what is going on. I think this theory of "sharks eating the bait" is very wrong and makes little sense.
I was very sure I was at least average if not a bit better when I got here from AW. I was very much mistaken. The shark ate me alive over and over again. The only thing that gave me half a chance was if I took 15-20 minutes to climb and use speed to try and pick those sharks while they were feeding. 2-3 minutes to fight, even if you get 20 more fights and hour is still going to teach a new guy how to die in one turn.
You see the "shark" today, they are the guys that do nothing but hover over a fight and pick guys who are in the middle of a fight. When you get them in a position to fight they just run away.
5. I disagree, I bet over 75% of the players want strong big furball fights. What you don't understand is that fighter players who want action have already left, leaving the people in the game who dont care or need other humans to be playing. Strategy land base players dont need other players. SO designing the gameplay to suit players who don't need players is illogical, and thats why #s are down. No one wants to fly an entire sector and a half to a base with 1 fighter in the sky, newbs wont even know what to do. Smaller maps and more condensed shorter base distances would bring back fights and action. A lot more people would re-subscribe than quit. You are pandering to the players that don't need players, and when that's all that is left after everyone leaves, you are afraid to make the changes back to the map, because you think the Land grab players will leave and then no one will play. I disagree with that assessment. More players will join than quit. Look at the #s when the Buzzsaw map comes on. That clearly represents that since fighter action is so hard to achieve there (far away bases and weird alt bases), and there is no small fighter bowl map to populate for quick action, people leave the entire game and forget about it. Its just not exciting. Why are you so against making the game more exciting again? Why are you so against making the fights more fun again by making a few simple changes to the map, and making bases closer? Its very illogical.
If they have already left how can there be 75% of players that still want to fight? Its a moot point as we will never see the numbers even if they did run a poll.
The game and maps are not geared toward any type of play, but allow ALL types of play. I agree some maps seem to have more action, but that is due to the shortness of the fronts. Mindanao, the small island map and uterus, all old maps have very short front lines and so leave very few places to hide. Bowl map does the same due to its islands setup. I have posted many suggestions of what I think could be done with game mechanics to "turn" game play into more interactive game than what the players have morphed this into.
6. Your last paragraph explains why the MA has turned into what it has. I need you to think psychologically about why players are flying so timidly. TIME. Time is your big answer. IF you are new player, who realizes that it takes 20 minutes to climb up to a suitable alt, so you dont get picked, and you have to fly that long to a base, don't you think you are going fly pretty timidly and not want to die quickly? Think about it. Even if you arent a new player, you have to judge your time so you can make the run a success. New players don't want to take this much time only to die quickly to players in the MA. It is so much more frustrating for new players to get into this game, because they fly all the way to a base and get ganged by a couple of spit16s and LA7s. That is what is truely making players fly so timidly. An easy fix is to make bases closer, and/or add a FFA bowl so that players can actually find people to shoot and mess around with in a shorter period of time. You think pushing players outside of their box is going to change gamplay. The problem is, the only way to do that is to design maps that push people into bigger and shorter fights, that's the only way. If you don't want to create a simple fighter bowl or make changes that condense gameplay action. Players arent psychologically going to change the way they play if there is no reason for them to do so.
I dont think "time" is an issue. It is a WWII game, not modern war. Things take time. Buffs dont fly across the map in 2 minutes it takes hours. Fighters take time to get speed and alt, GVs to find good ambush spots and the patience to wait for their prey to roll into the line of fire.
This game was never setup as "instant action", and personally I hope it never goes that way. That is what makes it such a great game and why it has lasted as long as it has. It isn't geared toward any one type of fight/action. There are many options so that a wide range of game players can find something they like.
I dont thing there is anything wrong with the game, we just need more numbers. With more numbers will bring more fights/action. They need new blood. Those of us who are left here are the core/old school players. We have already badgered everyone we know over the years to try this game. HTC has to get the word out about the game and what is available. We the players have to help these new guys find and learn how to play those aspects of the game that interest THEM, not what interests us.
