How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?

[Vraciu]

Naw the key word is correctly, if it fails is because it was not done correctly.

So after we switch back to 3 sides with less players, he'll come back asking for 2 sides done correctly.


semp

And you want to stay here and say everything’s rosy.   Don’t change a thing.   Then when we are out of players you’ll say, “It was the only choice.”

Remember: “If you don’t look at the bear he can’t eat you.” 

There’s a right way and a wrong way.   

There are actually multiples of each.

[TequilaChaser]

OK.....who yields their time to their next constitute? So that representative can get up on the "soap box" and tell/debate his/her thoughts on the matter....

Reading the replies back and forth is like watching the closing arguments before this vote Congress is fixing to have...

I know HiTech replies to some of these threads/posts....but when he does, it gives me the impression that his mind/thinking is already 4 to 6 months if not more further ahead thinking, than where everyone else posting is only caught up and replying to the current day/time.....

[Vraciu]

OK.....who yields their time to their next constitute? So that representative can get up on the "soap box" and tell/debate his/her thoughts on the matter....

Reading the replies back and forth is like watching the closing arguments before this vote Congress is fixing to have...

I know HiTech replies to some of these threads/posts....but when he does, it gives me the impression that his mind/thinking is already 4 to 6 months if not more further ahead thinking, than where everyone else posting is only caught up and replying to the current day/time.....

I was talking about where we are today six or seven years ago.    Maybe more.    Everyone told me things were just fine.   I argued we better get ahead of it before we wind up where WBs went.  I was mocked. 

So here we are...   Capt. Trips says he doesn’t believe in magic.   Neither do I. 

Now, someone did mention something about non-US players.   What are the non-US markets with the most untapped gamers out there?     China?   Japan?   India?  Russia?  A foreign-language version and website wouldn’t hurt to try...   China’s per capita income is low.   They may have other barriers.   But it’s a huge market, especially if it is free to play.    Could drive paying customers. 

[oboe]

...What are the non-US markets with the most untapped gamers out there?     China?   Japan?   India?  Russia?  A foreign-language version and website wouldn’t hurt to try...   China’s per capita income is low.   They may have other barriers.   But it’s a huge market, especially if it is free to play.    Could drive paying customers.

Got to be South Korea, I would think. 

[guncrasher]

And you want to stay here and say everything’s rosy.   Don’t change a thing.   Then when we are out of players you’ll say, “It was the only choice.”

Remember: “If you don’t look at the bear he can’t eat you.” 

There’s a right way and a wrong way.   

There are actually multiples of each.

Have I ever said I don't want change?

Your two sides idea has been around for a long time.  You keep beating a dead horse even after it basically turned into mush and now you beating the ground where the horse died.

I mentioned to you months ago, there's a simple solution to test your idea and not lose anybody.   Request another arena and call it two sided.  Have one of the maps with one side disabled.  Let people decide which arena they prefer. That would be your test.  You didn't like it.

semp

[Vraciu]

Have I ever said I don't want change?

Your two sides idea has been around for a long time.  You keep beating a dead horse even after it basically turned into mush and now you beating the ground where the horse died.

I mentioned to you months ago, there's a simple solution to test your idea and not lose anybody.   Request another arena and call it two sided.  Have one of the maps with one side disabled.  Let people decide which arena they prefer. That would be your test.  You didn't like it.

semp

That would not be a fair test as it would diminish both arenas.  You cannot dilute the player base further.   

The fair test is ceteris paribus, you run one by itself, then the other.    Your idea violates the scientific method.

Three sides is not working.   People are complaining.   But we are going to ride THIS dead horse to the grave, shouting all the way that everything is grand.

So be it.

[guncrasher]

That would not be a fair test as it would diminish both arenas.  You cannot dilute the player base further.   

The fair test is ceteris paribus, you run one by itself, then the other.    Your idea violates the scientific method.

Three sides is not working.   People are complaining.   But we are going to ride THIS dead horse to the grave, shouting all the way that everything is grand.

So be it.

Lol me thinks you are afraid to find out the two sided arena will be just as dead as the ava.


semp

[mthrockmor]

How hard would it be to add Japanese, Korea and Chinese?

Boo

[Vraciu]

Lol me thinks you are afraid to find out the two sided arena will be just as dead as the ava.


semp

Me thinks you don't understand the concept of critical mass.

[The Fugitive]

Strange how some people are blind to the fact many things have changed in the last year. Including a new game with a new game play format.

HiTech

With the utmost respect, hows that working out for you?

I cant speak for the others voicing opinions here, but for myself I have been happily sending you my $15 every month for more than 18 years. I would love to continue doing so for another 20 years. I love this game! I would have sent you twice as much all those years, but I got in just after the price drop. That being said, lets talk about these updates.

A vast majority of the updates have been bug fixes (https://www.hitechcreations.com/company-info/news/40-software-updates) a gun elevation change, a couple HUD display changes and so on. Most have been behind the scenes with very little Upfront where the customer can SEE the new stuff. Lusche posted this chart that shows we havent had an new plane or vehicle since tour 168, 5 years ago. Sure we have had a number of new maps from "Bustr", but from the customers point of view, thats it.

War Online: Pacific, of the 46 reviews posted on Steam most are "negative", granted some are from disgruntled Aces High players, but still not a great showing. War online: Pacific, most would have said would fail anyway as it is a "Furball" setup and so wouldn't hold many players attention for long. It is missing the richness of Aces High. You mentioned at one point that it may be setup to take/make bets of fights. We have seen nothing of this since.

The chart for those playing War Online: Pacific isnt coming up for some reason which showed that last time I check, very poor numbers, but here is one for Aces High https://steamcharts.com/app/651090#3m Granted it is only showing those that play THROUGH Steam, but it shows 75% less players since it opened 2 years ago on Steam.

Could it be the "flight" games are dying out? This chart shows a pretty steady increase for DCS World over the last 3 months https://steamcharts.com/app/223750#3m, or IL-2 Sturmovik https://steamcharts.com/app/307960#3m, so It looks like flight sims are ok. Again these are only showing what passes through Steam, but going by these numbers Aces High has 20x what is shown through Steam, what are the real numbers for DSC and IL-2? 20x there too?

I agree with you a 2 sided arena won't work, but If you run one once a week as say "Red Team", and "Blue Team" to do away with Rook, Knight, Bishop Nations you would have proof for this day and age that it doesnt work..... or would it work? 

Adding a few free planes I dont think would be a huge programming issue (what do I know), but doing so for a couple of months wouldnt hurt anything. You are already covering the overhead of running the game, how many "free" players logging on could there be? Right? Certainly not enough to crash your new servers.

Either add in a "mission" program that has missions run in the MA, or hire a few players to run missions at prime times both US and Euro. Build some action in the arenas. Free players add numbers, missions add action. Action and number means more players having fun, generate more fun.

[DmonSlyr]

With the utmost respect, hows that working out for you?

I cant speak for the others voicing opinions here, but for myself I have been happily sending you my $15 every month for more than 18 years. I would love to continue doing so for another 20 years. I love this game! I would have sent you twice as much all those years, but I got in just after the price drop. That being said, lets talk about these updates.

A vast majority of the updates have been bug fixes (https://www.hitechcreations.com/company-info/news/40-software-updates) a gun elevation change, a couple HUD display changes and so on. Most have been behind the scenes with very little Upfront where the customer can SEE the new stuff. Lusche posted this chart that shows we havent had an new plane or vehicle since tour 168, 5 years ago. Sure we have had a number of new maps from "Bustr", but from the customers point of view, thats it.

War Online: Pacific, of the 46 reviews posted on Steam most are "negative", granted some are from disgruntled Aces High players, but still not a great showing. War online: Pacific, most would have said would fail anyway as it is a "Furball" setup and so wouldn't hold many players attention for long. It is missing the richness of Aces High. You mentioned at one point that it may be setup to take/make bets of fights. We have seen nothing of this since.

The chart for those playing War Online: Pacific isnt coming up for some reason which showed that last time I check, very poor numbers, but here is one for Aces High https://steamcharts.com/app/651090#3m Granted it is only showing those that play THROUGH Steam, but it shows 75% less players since it opened 2 years ago on Steam.

Could it be the "flight" games are dying out? This chart shows a pretty steady increase for DCS World over the last 3 months https://steamcharts.com/app/223750#3m, or IL-2 Sturmovik https://steamcharts.com/app/307960#3m, so It looks like flight sims are ok. Again these are only showing what passes through Steam, but going by these numbers Aces High has 20x what is shown through Steam, what are the real numbers for DSC and IL-2? 20x there too?

I agree with you a 2 sided arena won't work, but If you run one once a week as say "Red Team", and "Blue Team" to do away with Rook, Knight, Bishop Nations you would have proof for this day and age that it doesnt work..... or would it work? 

Adding a few free planes I dont think would be a huge programming issue (what do I know), but doing so for a couple of months wouldnt hurt anything. You are already covering the overhead of running the game, how many "free" players logging on could there be? Right? Certainly not enough to crash your new servers.

Either add in a "mission" program that has missions run in the MA, or hire a few players to run missions at prime times both US and Euro. Build some action in the arenas. Free players add numbers, missions add action. Action and number means more players having fun, generate more fun.

Nice post. I think we can all agree that AH is missing HYPE and enthusiasm. How many people do you know who even knew there was a new map?  How many people know new skins are coming out? Why aren't there anouncements on the front page website for special events? Why aren't there any new videos on the front page website? It just seems odd to me. And I totally understand your point about updates people can see. (Those don't even get mentioned in front page website) (new maps -cough). I don't even know what 95% of the new updates even do in many of the game updates. I just wish Hitech had a bigger team for faster implementation and  website marketing.

Anyway. Free spitVs and 109Fs for one hour a day.
Best idea yet! Get a new promo going on steam for Christmas.

Gold.

[Drano]

Just throwing my two cents in. I got hooked on air warrior way back in the last century. As a newb idiot I flew almost exclusively in what was fightertown. That's where all the uber sticks of the game hung out. They clubbed away at me like the baby seal I was for probably more than a year before I could even marginally defend myself. And yaknow what? I was ok with that! I actually liked that the game was hard. That was the hook. I got better over time with the help of some great trainers, TC among them. My gunnery still sucks tho!

I came to AH as AW was dying. Not that it wasn't a great game but it was literally being killed off by a gaming company. Yaknow what I really liked most about the switch? That it was EVEN HARDER! There was more of everything and a harder flight model to deal with. More planes and vehicles. More events. Just..more.

In the heyday of multiple arenas to accommodate all the players it just couldn't get any better... Cont'd..

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[atlau]

That would not be a fair test as it would diminish both arenas.  You cannot dilute the player base further.   

The fair test is ceteris paribus, you run one by itself, then the other.    Your idea violates the scientific method.

Three sides is not working.   People are complaining.   But we are going to ride THIS dead horse to the grave, shouting all the way that everything is grand.

So be it.

How would that not be a fair test? People could choose which one they prefer.

3 sided gives players more options. And for some noobies they need to be able to attack undefended bases to give them a achievable mission and help the "war effort"

[bustr]

At Steam War Thunder and IL2 are both available and are both distributed by the same parent company. I believe all the 3D objects in WT can be used in IL2. So each time IL2 comes out with a new version for download, they already have the object modules in the can becasue of WT. And when WT players want to move up to something a bit more involved, Steam already has IL2 in which the eyecandy expectations are met. And they move from match play of 10v10 or 20v20 to maybe 32v32 in a two sided war scenario. Why would they want to bother with AH even though AH has 100-200 at any given time in the same arena? IL2 is no easier to get setup and learn than AH when you get down to it. And it requires the same controller setup AH requires.

How do you get anyone to bother when Gaijin has their player base covered that way? You want new people to stick their nose in the MA and maybe hang around and then talk to their friends about a new experience. Pick two fighters and make them free all the time in the MA. Not the best nor the worst and tag them to be immune to ENY if flown as a free account. I doubt a hoard of something average will swamp the sky's and even for vets with the way the MA works now, they will get clubbed by the existing late war monster, AltMonkey, ganging and HOing. That will remove the temptation to cancel accounts and play as free kills.

But actual 2 free rides in the MA 100% of the time on a free account as long as the 2 rides are a bit sucky should do the trick. Then do a big push to communicate it out to wherever and it cannot be any worse than the Steam players leaving inside of 10 minutes for good. Getting up and running in AH is not much harder than IL2. It's the $14.95 a month I always see spoken about and a big negative to even bothering.

[Drano]

As the numbers dropped it became less fun. I've stayed because I love the game and the people and the challenge. It's actually harder now that I don't fly religiously every day like I used to.

I don't know what the answer might be to rejuvenating AH. I think the problem is what I've always loved about it and that is that it's just hard. GaMerZ today don't want to spend time learning this on the level you'd have to to get to be any good. They don't want to fly from one place to another waiting to get killed in 30 secs either. How do you get good right now? That's their hook. The answer to that would be dumbing everything down I'd think, but that would kill me off. I think that's been tried with the other version of AH and it still hasn't worked. I think we have a generational thing compounded by a niche thing. A tough nut for sure!

Whatever happens I'm still here.

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