The future of the game: let's help write it

[Slade]

4. Make a deal with the Commemorative Air Force to use their name and market to all  their members.

Awesome! 

[Oldman731]

Joining an arena with even just 100 players all flying vintage warbirds and being able to choose my plane, airfield and flying style for a couple of hours of PvP dogfighting is such an amazing thing. A persistent WW2 aerial experience with absolute sandbox freedom.

When we do something in excess it is easy to forget what we have.

Most of us remember, but you have identified a real danger.  Good to have you back, dude.

- oldman

[Baine]

Having gone away and come back, my advice is to ease the rules and bring bases closer together. The first time I logged on after being out of the game for several years, I was unable to fly a lot of the planes because the ENY kicked in. I know what ENY is, but if I didn't and was logging in for the first time, I'd be puzzled, frustrated and looking to leave since I was being forced to fly F4F-3s and Hurricane Is against La7s and P-51Ds. Quite frankly, I think AH has too many arcane rules intended to force folks to fight how the developers want them to fight. The games that are successful these days have simple, easy-to-understand rules and trust communities to figure out the most enjoyable gameplay.
I've always said AH needs to think more about folks looking to hop in a plane or tank, get into a fight and rinse and repeat. The game setup now requires fairly long flights or drives to get into a fight (particularly when other online games let you engage folks in under a minute), and most newbies are going to skim the surface to be able to engage someone relatively quickly. In AH, they then they get bounced by a vet who is willing to take the time to climb to altitude, so after flying for four or five minutes with no action to speak of, they are back in the tower and wondering why they'd want to do that again. Everyone enjoys a good furball, so encourage them and set it up so people can easily hop in a plane and find a fight. It keeps people hooked and doesn't prevent folks who want to start their flight further out from doing so. Eventually the newbies will learn and appreciate being older and wiser, but the AH learning curve is high and it isn't any fun to spend weeks getting shot down before you can engage. The game needs to be set up with the new user in mind, not the old (and increasingly scarce) pro who objects to quick and exciting fun.

 

[guncrasher]

what rules do you speak of?  other than eny, there's no rules that I know of.


semp

[DmonSlyr]

Having gone away and come back, my advice is to ease the rules and bring bases closer together. The first time I logged on after being out of the game for several years, I was unable to fly a lot of the planes because the ENY kicked in. I know what ENY is, but if I didn't and was logging in for the first time, I'd be puzzled, frustrated and looking to leave since I was being forced to fly F4F-3s and Hurricane Is against La7s and P-51Ds. Quite frankly, I think AH has too many arcane rules intended to force folks to fight how the developers want them to fight. The games that are successful these days have simple, easy-to-understand rules and trust communities to figure out the most enjoyable gameplay.
I've always said AH needs to think more about folks looking to hop in a plane or tank, get into a fight and rinse and repeat. The game setup now requires fairly long flights or drives to get into a fight (particularly when other online games let you engage folks in under a minute), and most newbies are going to skim the surface to be able to engage someone relatively quickly. In AH, they then they get bounced by a vet who is willing to take the time to climb to altitude, so after flying for four or five minutes with no action to speak of, they are back in the tower and wondering why they'd want to do that again. Everyone enjoys a good furball, so encourage them and set it up so people can easily hop in a plane and find a fight. It keeps people hooked and doesn't prevent folks who want to start their flight further out from doing so. Eventually the newbies will learn and appreciate being older and wiser, but the AH learning curve is high and it isn't any fun to spend weeks getting shot down before you can engage. The game needs to be set up with the new user in mind, not the old (and increasingly scarce) pro who objects to quick and exciting fun.

I think even shorter base distances would be great for new players. They see a huge map and dont know where to go. Then they take off and realize how far the bases are. Some of the newer maps have closer bases and you can see higher #s in those arenas on average. I know that they aren't going to have that much fun flying a sector to a base only to die quickly. Make it half a sector and dying doesn't seem so strenuous. That is why players stick around in these first person shooters. You can die quickly but get put back in the fight. Combat challenge does this. I recommend flying in that this Friday night. I know its gotta be hard for new player because they spend a lot of time flying to a base only to die quickly. Its very hard to learn ACM in the MA because you don't get that much time to fight before 5 guys in yak3s jump you. You spend more time flying Microsoft flight sim than anything else. That being said, new players shouldn't be scared to ask questions and ask people how to be better.

[Oldman731]

Having gone away and come back, my advice is to ease the rules and bring bases closer together.

This.  I've never heard the reason why MA maps must have their bases separated by a minimum distance.  The AvA mapmakers of yore weren't bound by that rule (which is one of the reasons why those maps couldn't convert to MA), and things worked just fine.  Better, in fact.

- oldman

[Shuffler]

This.  I've never heard the reason why MA maps must have their bases separated by a minimum distance.  The AvA mapmakers of yore weren't bound by that rule (which is one of the reasons why those maps couldn't convert to MA), and things worked just fine.  Better, in fact.

- oldman

Just MA terrains

[DmonSlyr]

I think even shorter base distances would be great for new players. They see a huge map and dont know where to go. Then they take off and realize how far the bases are. Some of the newer maps have closer bases and you can see higher #s in those arenas on average. I know that they aren't going to have that much fun flying a sector to a base only to die quickly. Make it half a sector and dying doesn't seem so strenuous. That is why players stick around in these first person shooters. You can die quickly but get put back in the fight. Combat challenge does this. I recommend flying in that this Friday night. I know its gotta be hard for new player because they spend a lot of time flying to a base only to die quickly. Its very hard to learn ACM in the MA because you don't get that much time to fight before 5 guys in yak3s jump you. You spend more time flying Microsoft flight sim than anything else. That being said, new players shouldn't be scared to ask questions and ask people how to be better.

To put my last post into perspective.

I was ranked #5 last tour in fighters with 12 kills/hrs. Not trying to brag. I'm saying, 12 kills per hour.. think about that. Only 5 players got more kills in a typical hour of gameplay than me. Most games you get that many kills in a single session.

[The Fugitive]

Having gone away and come back, my advice is to ease the rules and bring bases closer together. The first time I logged on after being out of the game for several years, I was unable to fly a lot of the planes because the ENY kicked in. I know what ENY is, but if I didn't and was logging in for the first time, I'd be puzzled, frustrated and looking to leave since I was being forced to fly F4F-3s and Hurricane Is against La7s and P-51Ds. Quite frankly, I think AH has too many arcane rules intended to force folks to fight how the developers want them to fight. The games that are successful these days have simple, easy-to-understand rules and trust communities to figure out the most enjoyable gameplay.
I've always said AH needs to think more about folks looking to hop in a plane or tank, get into a fight and rinse and repeat. The game setup now requires fairly long flights or drives to get into a fight (particularly when other online games let you engage folks in under a minute), and most newbies are going to skim the surface to be able to engage someone relatively quickly. In AH, they then they get bounced by a vet who is willing to take the time to climb to altitude, so after flying for four or five minutes with no action to speak of, they are back in the tower and wondering why they'd want to do that again. Everyone enjoys a good furball, so encourage them and set it up so people can easily hop in a plane and find a fight. It keeps people hooked and doesn't prevent folks who want to start their flight further out from doing so. Eventually the newbies will learn and appreciate being older and wiser, but the AH learning curve is high and it isn't any fun to spend weeks getting shot down before you can engage. The game needs to be set up with the new user in mind, not the old (and increasingly scarce) pro who objects to quick and exciting fun.

I think even shorter base distances would be great for new players. They see a huge map and dont know where to go. Then they take off and realize how far the bases are. Some of the newer maps have closer bases and you can see higher #s in those arenas on average. I know that they aren't going to have that much fun flying a sector to a base only to die quickly. Make it half a sector and dying doesn't seem so strenuous. That is why players stick around in these first person shooters. You can die quickly but get put back in the fight. Combat challenge does this. I recommend flying in that this Friday night. I know its gotta be hard for new player because they spend a lot of time flying to a base only to die quickly. Its very hard to learn ACM in the MA because you don't get that much time to fight before 5 guys in yak3s jump you. You spend more time flying Microsoft flight sim than anything else. That being said, new players shouldn't be scared to ask questions and ask people how to be better.

In both of these post your basing the game off of a "furball" mentality. The majority of players in the game today are more into grabbing bases than fighting. This is why we see so many players run to ack, hide in base guns, or run supplies rather than fighting.

Closer bases will build more fights, but is that what new players want to do?  Seeing as most new players couldn't get a kill if a guy augered near them I dont think its what they are after. The game needs direction. People running missions or the game running missions. As the missions collide fights happen. If players have a "purpose" I think they will be more likely to play.

[Baine]

what rules do you speak of?  other than eny, there's no rules that I know of.


semp

I don't know if it's a written or unwritten rule, but the silly insistence that bases be separated by a sector or so is probably the biggest game killer I've seen, and that's been in place for at least 10 years now. I hate to be one of those "Back in my day ..." guys, but Tank Town was a fine example of when AH worked well. There would be dozens, if not hundreds of folks spawning in tanks at spawn points in kissing distance, killing folks, getting killed and having a blast. I lost many hours of sleep because I'd be enjoying myself so much and then I'd look at the clock and wonder how the hell it became 1 a.m. Back then, one of the rules limited arenas to 200 folks (another rule designed to drive folks away, because God forbid arenas should be filled and easy to find a fight), if I remember correctly, and it seemed like the Tank Town map always kept the arena filled and you had to log in early to get a spot or be stuck out in the cold. Somehow, someone decided letting folks have fun spawning a lot and killing one another and having fun wasn't what Aces High should be about and Tank Town went away. Then it became you had to drive a tank 10 or 15 minutes to find a fight and hope someone wasn't waiting to ambush you somewhere along the line. I've had more fun stuck in traffic on the Garden State Parkway at rush hour then playing along in that AH environment, since I could at least flip the bird to the guy who cut me off. Those are the rules I am talking about. I thought it highly ironic that the first time I logged in after six or seven years I got caught up in ENY when there were only about 80 folks or so total in the arena and you could swing a dead cat in most areas of the arena I was in and not hit anyone. Remember, I hadn't chosen my country, the AH server dumped me in as a Knight, which already had an overwhelming majority. Not sure why that happens if we are so concerned about balancing sides. Someone please explain to me how that silly ENY rule is helping make playing AH more fun or drawing folks to the game? Again, it's a rule that has seen numbers decrease, not increase, since implemented, which is the true measure of its effectiveness.

[OldDoom]

Well I for one and many of my LCA Squadies appreciate the strategy aspect of this game.  I would hate to loose that aspect of the game by adopting some of the instant action options described above.

<S> OldDoom 

[Baine]

In both of these post your basing the game off of a "furball" mentality. The majority of players in the game today are more into grabbing bases than fighting. This is why we see so many players run to ack, hide in base guns, or run supplies rather than fighting.

Closer bases will build more fights, but is that what new players want to do?  Seeing as most new players couldn't get a kill if a guy augered near them I dont think its what they are after. The game needs direction. People running missions or the game running missions. As the missions collide fights happen. If players have a "purpose" I think they will be more likely to play.

It might not be what the shrinking group of players now in AH might want, but that's because the folks who did want it voted with their feet and left. Take a look at furball factories like "War Thunder," which are never lacking for players. Many of those folks who are looking for more of a challenge would likely embrace a more realistic sim like AH, as long as realism came with the opportunity for adrenaline and excitement. I don't think we need more top-down management of arenas. Numbers started dropping as soon as that direction became the way AH decided to go. Direction is an organic extension of having folks playing the game - more folks playing the game create more squads who seek and create for themselves more organization. Successful games realize this and offer a buffet of options - folks can jump in immediately to fights and will likely kill one or two people before getting knocked off. More experienced players come to realize this and - and this is the important part - choose on their own to put in more time travelling to the fight to get an advantage. They are not forced to do so. I've never understood how somehow denying new folks the opportunity to furball somehow deprives wiser folks from choosing not to furball and gain an advantage. I say better to let people make their own choices than to decide you know what's best for them. But I might not be right. I left AH six or seven years ago when, while we no longer had to worry about limiting arenas to 200 folks, we'd still get close to 200 on a hopping Sunday night. I'm not sure what the numbers are now, but I don't think arena caps are a big concern now. That tells me imposing more rules, or enforcing draconian old ones, isn't the way to build interest.

[Baine]

Well I for one and many of my LCA Squadies appreciate the strategy aspect of this game.  I would hate to loose that aspect of the game by adopting some of the instant action options described above.

<S> OldDoom 

Let me ask, how does giving players the option to jump on and quickly fight deny you and your squad the ability to enjoy the strategy aspect? I've seriously never understood how one cancels out the other. I might be missing something, so I'd love to learn. I belong to a bomber squad, we start missions way back in our territory, climb to altitude and swat down anyone trying to climb up to us. We could fly over a 2-3k furball and never be bothered on our way to doing what we want to do. When we want to capture a base, we mount a strong, coordinated attack and shut it down, knock out the town and bring in the troops. It's somehow more fun if the arena is crowded and folks somewhere can hop in a plane and fly over to try to stop us. Without that, it's just a matter of killing some AI ack and destroying some defenseless buildings. Not a lot of challenge or fun in that. Just because folks are given the chance to fly short hops to engage in a fight doesn't mean everyone has to do it. It means that it's there if people do want to do it. More importantly, though, it means people are there to choose to do it, More people means more fun for players and more security for developers.

[Shuffler]

If you are in it for the fight..... who cares how many kills. I would rather have three long fights in an hour than 15 kills.

[Eagler]

Are new maps being created these days by anyone for MA?

Smaller maps, harder to capture bases - whatever that takes would help.

If we keep these bigger maps the numbers need to be increased with AI driven offensive and defensive, aerial and ground actions to provide something to shoot at without having to fly around for 15 minutes first.

<S>

Eagler