I can translate. Animl has trouble contemplating two conflicting ideas that can both be true. He thinks talking about IL2 will end the player base for AH. Because of this he would also “trash any development if he were the owner” because that’s a healthy adult response.
You were expecting an healthy adult response from Animl?
Nevermind the actual data we have all seen that player decline has slowed to a steady floor. When I came back a year ago there were 119 people in the MA on my fist night back… I think may have been a mid week day.
Last time I had come back in late 2018, normal Melee numbers hovered around 186. Sometimes in the 200's if it coincided with a FSO or Event. Nowadays it is around 120. Sometimes higher on a FSO night or in dead of winter. You have to throw out 2020 data. Pandemic completely skewed numbers and distorted the data. I suspect if you had a chart from say 2012 to now, the rate of loss would have been much higher YoY between 2013 and 2018 as from 2018 to now. You are down to the lifers. They are going to slowly evaporate due to demographics but seldom by choice. The real risk isn't current players being lured away, but at the apparent inability to attract any new player to replace old ones. No, I don't mean an old player returning for the fifth time (each time shorter than the last) with a new shade. I mean brand new young players who found the game and are signing up and going to bring excitement and new blood into the game and break up some of the ossification that has set in.
Also, they aren’t even the same game in my opinion. The warfare aspect of taking territory on a WWII map and item set will always be the secret sauce of AH. For me personally, I do not understand why people pay for planes and more money for maps etc… I get the money may even out or even be less than AH but you get all you want. Is true for me anyway.
I mostly agree. I had several people contact me in PM about the viability of DCS for WWII. I say the same thing in private I do in public (you might try that Animl). If you are looking to satisfy a WWII itch like AH, DCS will not do that for you. It is a totally different kind of game and WWII is not their focus. It is not, at this time, a direct competitor to AH. Although I always encourage anyone to try their helo. Helo's are a blast if you like flightsiming. There is no overlap there with AH. You can still play AH and add helo's to add some spice. That's what some here do.
IL2 is a closer competitor, but I don't know enough about it to gauge the level. And they seem to be slipping towards abandonware.
Combat Pilot is interesting to contemplate, but too far off to be considered a meaningful risk.
In his defense however, the OP should have put this in the O’Club sub.
Agreed. This would have been better to be in O'club.
