.....and that is one of the things killing the game off. I dont want to have to fly "like them", I have fun flying the way I want. That has always been what makes this game great, the diversity of playing styles. Take away a players fun and they leave.
I understand adaptation and am certainly capable of doing it. I can certainly pick a fast plane with big guns and start departing from a different base spending 10 minutes climbing every sortie. But I’ve never been the guy who lives by that. Nor do I want to be.
Even when fights were massive 100 player groups, I could still carve out good fights along the perimeter because I didn’t have that whole group bouncing me the second I came into icon range of just one of them. Even if a pilot on the edge wants a good fight for himself and doesn’t want or ask for help, he’s gonna get it. Now I have entire squads bounce if I’m low or turn away on the rare occasions I actually show up at 15k+. The radar creates an imaginary line with both sides waiting to dog pile the first guy to cross it. Even the guys who aren’t anywhere near the fight can start setting up their attacks from sectors away, not because they know approximately where enemies are, but they know EXACTLY where enemies are. They can also tell if a target is maneuvering, who they’re engaged with, whether they’re in pursuit or being pursued without even keying up their radio. The only way it could get any worse (and I hate to even mention this) is if the radar reported altitude too.
Even though the massive hordes of old are gone, it feels worse to be on the outnumbered side of a fight because it’s so easy to just club the few guys who are actually trying to fight.