The dedicated ACM stuff seems to be a niche thing to begin with IMHO,
ACM is a niche activity in a game named Aces High with a famously high-fidelity flight model unrivaled by most other games in the last twenty years?
so why didn`t those dedicated ACM gurus continue to fight against each other?
They did, also. They influenced a sustainable percentage to follow their approach until a tipping point was reached. My overarching point is that the overall value of them was that their philosophy and activity added balance to the game which is now absent.
What I think most of the problem with nrshida's issue is, there's no "official" dueling arena. You could get the gameplay he's looking for with a private arena.
Respectfully no that isn't it. It's not just an arena that was needed it's that a broader spectrum of players and activities and the culture needed balance. I'm not asking that the game be adjusted or modified to support my preferred gameplay (as indeed someone said I have also observed some do). I'm suggesting that that facet ought to ALSO have been supported / listened to / encouraged / grown with adjustments to the gameplay as a vital and necessary part of
Aces High.
For example. When times were hard I used to fly low offshore an enemy base and goad fighters into attacking me while -e. If you killed one he'd come back and bring more with him. Could make a decent living getting fights like that. Then the 88-mm came. Now I'd fly for 20 minutes playing ACM with a sequence of airburst shells, fired by a player from a position of total safety, with his feet up on his desk and a soda in his other hand while I performed like one of those metal ducks at a shooting gallery. Does that sound like a reasonable interchange of gameplay when I put it like that?
The Match Play Arena Mark I was better than the old DA IMHO to get quick 1-on-1s. A competition with prizes was announced and the terrain changed to flat and bland with every airspawn at 10k. The original Mark I MPA used random heights and location all over the old DA, varied & interesting terrain, varied fights. The competitions did not come. The new boring (and faulty) MPA Mark II remains. I reported the persistant bugs a month ago. They also remain.
My experiences / frustrations are in accord with the OP who tabs out through inactivity. Even if those feedbacks are totally irrelevant to you or your present gaming experience, consider the game from the perspective of a new player - pretend you don't know anything. Would it be worth $15 a month? Would it even be worth more than 30 minutes of your time?
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,390589.msg5188631.html#msg5188631Fess and I fly on the same Timezone. Do you think our frustrations are limited to dogfighting or not coming your way? You poor bastards.