Animal. Buddy. We both go back to AW. I know you know better than this. You're looking at a mirage. As I've told you before, it's the same winter numbers bump that happens every winter. Talk to me again when the weather turns and people go outside again.
And before you start a wall of text thinking you're gonna lecture me about this let's not forget that YOU left this game for years and years AND YEARS. I've been here the whole time. You come back, when was it? This fall? And now that it's winter you're like WOW! THE NUMBERS ARE COMING BACK! Uh. No. They're not. Here's what happened while you were away... For years and years and years.
I came over from AW in 2000 with the Damned. A massive squad. After many years and after the peak in AH I found myself flying around by myself. That squad pretty much evaporated. Hard to believe but it happened. So, I joined the 80th! A large group of like minded P-38 zealotes! Great bunch of guys. But once again, as the numbers fell away, I found myself flying around most nights tuned to squad TAC all alone. That squad has also pretty much evaporated. I still fly with their colors tho. I've been a long active events flyer until recent years. I was CO of the Damned special events squad. That fell off to just Joker (the original) and I. I folded the group and we joined the 412th. Had been with them for maybe 15 years? Hard to say. But they folded at the end of the year too. Joker fell off the side of the earth about a year ago. Been flying with him since day 1. This week's FSO had like 80 players total. The recent event frame had a few more. That's a shell of what it'd been historically. Mirroring the MA. That lack of players removes an awful lot of what drew me to events, the strategic aspect. Not enough players for that anymore. Things are almost scripted relative years ago.
I'm not being defeatist. Just keeping it real. You can cheerlead all you like, but there's only one guy, literally, that can change this and that guy has clearly punched out. HT hasn't made any changes to the game at all-- in years. I don't know what that 2024 post on the website is about but the only "tweaks" I'm seeing are by the players. A couple of maps and some skins. That's it. No patches. Not even little quality of life improvements. But HT cut the company down to just him for a variety of his own reasons. Clearly some personal things which would take the wind out of anyone's sails. Perfectly understandable. Now he's working through some physical things too. Guy can't get a break it'd seem. I just don't see him jumping back in and playing with the code if only to ruin the risk of breaking something. Can't blame him for that after all this time.
I'd say let's just enjoy what this game has left in it--while you can. Eventually, the plug is gonna get pulled on the server at HT's house and that'll be a sad day for us all but I don't think that day is that godawful far off in the grand scheme of things.
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