Now you are highlighting another conundrum of our game.
During peak hours with 150-200 players the M3 is just another part of the game. Some players remember to wipe them out during a base capture, some don't and the capture stalls. No biggie, and the game rolls on. The strongest complaints have been from off-peak time players with numbers closer to 75 and air combat only players. In effect two very different games due to the time period. So the off-peak players are trying to convince Hitech to change the game to suit them and believe the peak time players will get over it and move along with the change "obediently". Since the current game only has the functions to make changes that are 24x7 for everyone during all time slots. Obediently is an interesting assumption of faith on their part, unless they figure Hitech will take the storm and they will get what they want.
Gotta admit lately there have been some number of complaints from the off-peak and air combat only players asking Hitech to change the game away from where he has spent the last decade evolving it. So the conundrum has a number of directions. Invest the cost and time to create a morph process that changes the game into a small numbers, small land mass area, air combat focused game during low-peak times stripped of the things complained about. Or, change the full time game to this eliminating everything that the low-peak and air combat vocal proponents dictate is killing the game. An undercurrent of sentiment by a number of them indicates they believe the game will die if Hitech doesn't force all of his customers to fly and fight in the air like they wish for.
Or, invest the time to change the game back end to be more dynamic so at some low-peak number threshold, suddenly no M3, no GV, no ack, and only several bases 13-19 miles apart will launch players. And for good measure in the spirit of this, flying outside of the operational area of those several bases disables your guns "for running away". After all players are unceremoniously warped to those bases when the threshold function burps in. They can sit in the tower, fight, or log off and find another game to play. Can't help but see the parallels to changing the Melee arena into a giant old school DA arena from AH2's glory days. But, those voicing the complaints won't want to admit to that as the distilled down result of their complaints. Once again they don't know if this is what all the other peak and off-peak time players want to log into for their $14.95, they only really know about their own $14.95. Personal projection with anecdotal evidence to roll out product changes is not a good business model I've been told.
So, lets see, the game is dying this time because of man-able and auto ack, M3's as uber resupply trucks with Romulan cloaking devices, and because the game is not about manning up and only fighting in the air 24x7. Sure looks like the old DA if you eliminate and implement all of that. There has been a small but vocal group since AH2 advocating for exactly this. They do not like many of the other functions and none aircraft objects Hitech has introduced over the years getting in the way of their only stated reason to play the game, Air Combat. And they want Hitech to make everyone else play the game their way because otherwise, he is killing his game in their opinion.
The off-peak time players have always had it rough with numbers, relatively, versus peak time. First, remove most of what is complained about killing the game this time around from the argument. Those forced into off-peak time by location or work, have a legitimate concern of trying to play the game in a cricket town arena at much of the time. Some number of the vocal minority concerned with off-peak time and the outlined complaints, I also see them on during peak time. My impression of their peak time grousing, AH3 is not a massive air combat only arena, where the only activity allowable is upping aircraft to fight. But, when people are venting on VOX, range and 200, that's not the real them I guess. They are not venting about what they really want out of the game, they are just being iconic personalities we all admire. Hmmmm, something like "I am not the droid you are looking for in this argument".....
