The HA issue (or 2nd arena issue if u like)

[Maniac]

The topic comes up perhaps once an week here on the BBS about an HA arena (or an axis vs allies arena).

I djust want to warn the ones pushing for another arena setup (more real one) to not waste your breath, HT has CLEARLY stated that this wont happen...

This is not an question about numbers in the main arena its about HTC dont want to break the player base up...

I surely would want another setup but HTC even prevents the CM´s to set up the special events arenas like an HA on weekdays when its not used...

I´m djust want to warn all those who thinks we will see an more interesting arena setup djust as soon as the numbers picks up (as they havnt allredy lol)

Regards.


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AH : Maniac
WB : -nr-1-

[Jochen]

I dont know if I want new arena... But I know I would like to see the existing one to use better all planes we have instead of flying almost solely a plane that was produced in even fewer numbers than Ar 234!

It would be really nice to hear what HTC is planning for future. We already know quite a lot what WWIIOL is going to be, even if it is not even in open beta. But we don't have information what AH will be and AH has been pay-for-play for a year now.

Lots of hardcore pilots from AH and WB are indicated that they are extremely interested about WWIIOL and I can understand why, historical matchups and sides. I admit too that I will gladly exhange AH's Ar 234 and Tempest in everything goes arena to Bf 109E and Ju 87 of WWIIOL extremely historical arena once it is possible.

Those hardcore pilots are the ones that run events in WB and would run them in AH too if we would have enough of them. If AH cannot atract enough hardcore players I doubt we will ever see events such are seen in WB which means that AH degenerates to aerial quake with few late -40's jet planes and prop planes that never saw action.

I also understand that HTC do not want to divide player base with many arenas and I think it is wise thing to do. That would create two separate classes within AH and it is not good.

I also understand that arena with more pilots online will draw even more other pilots to it. It has been seen on WB and so it would happen here also.

If HTC is really strongly against historical matchups like two sided axis/allied arena it might be because of decision not to compete with WWIIOL which has more resources and possibly more polished details. In that case AH competes with WBIII and FA which are more fantasylike and player base is not that demanding on details, all they want is new jets and nuclear bomb.

Bottom line: while I like AH overall very much I would like to hear about the direction where it is going. Do we have any hope of RPS and reasonable plane usage that resembles WWII even remotely?

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jochen Gefechtsverband Kowalewski

Units: I. and II./KG 51, II. and III./KG 76, NSGr 1, NSGr 2, NSGr 20.
Planes: Do 17Z, Ju 87, Ju 88A, He 111H, Ar 234A, Me 410A, Me 262A, Fw 190F, Fw 190G.

Sieg oder bolsevismus!

[Maniac]

One point tough, u dont have to be an "hardcore" player to enjoy another arena setup then the one we currently have..

Alot of the guys here have flown online sims almost for 10 yrs now, how about providing something new for them? and not djust cater to the masses.

I know i know, "if u dont like it then leave" <G>



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AH : Maniac
WB : -nr-1-

[Jochen]

 

One point tough, u dont have to be an "hardcore" player to enjoy another arena setup then the one we currently have.

But if the other arena is more difficult (no inflight radar, reduced icons) casual player will avoid it as a plague if he has a choice for going to easier arena -> first very few then no pilots at all.

 

Alot of the guys here have flown online sims almost for 10 yrs now, how about providing something new for them? and not djust cater to the masses.

Be honest, what percentage of players you think wants two sided war with resticted planeset? 10%? 20%?

Flat rate pricing needs masses to work so you need to cater for the masses. It is the hardcore niche that needs to adapt to fantasy arena concept I'm afraid.

Think about this: Few years ago there was basically AW and WB. AW was lighter choice and WB was more realistic so pilots had easy task for choosing which one to fly. WB had hardcore arena called HA and fantasy arena called MA.

Now the situation is greatly different: earlier different arenas served different folks. Now there is different simulations for different folks. WWIIOL could be aimed for hardcore pilots and players while WB, AH and FA server quake pilots. Do you see it? Earlier there were arenas to server different needs, now there is different sims instead of arenas.

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jochen Gefechtsverband Kowalewski

Units: I. and II./KG 51, II. and III./KG 76, NSGr 1, NSGr 2, NSGr 20.
Planes: Do 17Z, Ju 87, Ju 88A, He 111H, Ar 234A, Me 410A, Me 262A, Fw 190F, Fw 190G.

Sieg oder bolsevismus!

[Jochen]

I think the real question is where AH is heading, will it become more realistic or more arcade like? Maybe it is simple as that really.

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jochen Gefechtsverband Kowalewski

Units: I. and II./KG 51, II. and III./KG 76, NSGr 1, NSGr 2, NSGr 20.
Planes: Do 17Z, Ju 87, Ju 88A, He 111H, Ar 234A, Me 410A, Me 262A, Fw 190F, Fw 190G.

Sieg oder bolsevismus!

[Westy]

 Maniac, you're back?

  -Westy

[LJK Raubvogel]

I'd like to know what direction it's heading also. I'm sure there's some type of vision HTC has for the game. It would be nice to get a glimpse of it.

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LJK_Raubvogel
LuftJägerKorps

 

[This message has been edited by LJK Raubvogel (edited 02-02-2001).]

[sling322]

I know I have posted an answer to this same question before, but if ya wanna fly historical matchups its really quite simple.  Sunchaser and I did it for a month before 1.05 came out in the Med terrain.  You just make a little gentleman's agreement with the folks coming in to only fly planes for one side or the other.  We never had anybody come in and disrupt our fun.  Everybody who showed up wanted the historical matchups and were willing to stick to the agreement.  No CM's were involved in limiting aircraft at any field or anything....it was just a simple little gentleman's agreement.  

[Vermillion]

 

Those hardcore pilots are the ones that run events in WB and would run them in AH too if we would have enough of them. If AH cannot atract enough hardcore players I doubt we will ever see events such are seen in WB which means that AH degenerates to aerial quake with few late -40's jet planes and prop planes that never saw action

Ok this is really starting to bother me  

Have you never bothered to look here http://events.hitechcreations.com  ??

We DO run events both weekly, and large scale events on a periodic basis. In fact we most recently ran the first large scale scenario, "Afrika Corps", that either AH or WB's has seen in years. And it was a huge success, with the arena full each and every frame (Yes I know about Midway II, which was run after we ran ours)

Do YOU attend all the events?

The reason I ask is that all of the "We want a HA" crowd, complains on the BBS weekly, but when we were running a HA style event each and every week, very few people showed up. In fact we haven't run any lately due to total lack of interest.

And we still run "Snapshots" each week, which are very similar in format to SL's over in WB's.

And we are working feverishly on our next "BIG" scenario right now, and should be announcing it shortly when we have some more of the details finalized.

And I will bet you a fine bottle of liquor of your choice that our CM team puts out more large scale events during the next year than the WB's team does.

No I have no control over such things as RPS's and Early war planesets which you may love (but which many of us despise).

But please do not insult the CM's of Aces High by saying that we have less numerous (practically none according to your post) or lower quality events than WB's as a means of furthering your personal agenda for a HA, Axis vs Allied, Early war planeset, or a RPS.

Its simply not true, and is an inuslt to many a hardworking member of this community.  

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Vermillion
Senior CM, Aces High Scenario Corps

[llbm_MOL]

As I once heard one of the top dogs say at HTC "less than 10% of the players in Brand X ever used the HA". I hear the same 10% or less of players in here harping on about a HA. Face it fellows this company learns from its past mistakes. If you want it to get more real get off ur tulips and go jump in a real airplane and fly. Hell put some guns on it and go find one of your HA buddies and shoot him down for all I care but quit harping on about a HA as it aint gonna happen  

LLB OUT!!!!!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by llbm_MOL (edited 02-02-2001).]

[Jochen]

 

Do YOU attend all the events?

No I don't because most of them are scheduled to times which are middle of the night for me.

 

The reason I ask is that all of the "We want a HA" crowd, complains on the BBS weekly, but when we were running a HA style event each and every week, very few people showed up. In fact we haven't run any lately due to total lack of interest.

Events are already obsolete idea because they are run on specific times only. Many people have busy lifes and cannot schedule their days around computer game, escpecially if the events is middle of the night. I have only limited time to fly in AH and the propability that I have spare time during event is very small.

It is however encouraging that CM's have noticed that events simply don't work with player base like we have now. HA is totally different than events because it is available all the time.

 

And we still run "Snapshots" each week, which are very similar in format to SL's over in WB's.

And how popular is that format?

In general, scheduled events do not work. They are available only at certain times and you cannot expect to get good number of pilots to show up because they can fly in MA whenever they want and not having to wait event that starts few hours after they have gone to bed.

I don't want new arena like HA but I would like to see MA become more WWII like ie. less one plane show and more variety. Historical sides would be nice but that will never happen.

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jochen Gefechtsverband Kowalewski

Units: I. and II./KG 51, II. and III./KG 76, NSGr 1, NSGr 2, NSGr 20.
Planes: Do 17Z, Ju 87, Ju 88A, He 111H, Ar 234A, Me 410A, Me 262A, Fw 190F, Fw 190G.

Sieg oder bolsevismus!

[Duckwing6]

Jochen you might want to have another look at the schedule ..

the Snapshots run at 3pm EST which is 21:00 CET ..  we put them there so the Euro part of the community gets their shot at the events too.

DW6

CM Corps

[Maniac]

"HTC "less than 10% of the players in Brand X ever used the HA""

LLBM, i know you know better then this, comparing an WB HA to what an AH HA could be is comparing apples to oranges.

Regards.

P.S almost forgot how many % of the WB playerbase have played in the WWII arena?  

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AH : Maniac
WB : -nr-1-

[aztec]

A tremendous <S> to you Verm, and all of those whose efforts bring Special events to our community. I have always been a big fan of the events and find them to be the most fun I've had in Flight sims.

Unfortunately my invovement in AH events has been very low. This is mainly due to the fact that for now Saturday is the day the weekly event is run and Saturdays are nearly impossible for me to attend.

I think scheduling has a great deal to do with attendance and am sure that it would be difficult to find a time which would be conducive to high attendance.

What was nice about SLs was that they were run 3 times a week allowing me to usually find the time to fly at least one of them. I certainly don't mean to criticize the current scheduling...only wanted to point out that I feel it and the lack of a well rounded planeset are imho a couple of the reasons for the poor turnout.

I'm sure hoping that the player events will grow in leaps and bounds and once again would like to thank the events team for their efforts

[straffo]

 

Originally posted by Vermillion:
And I will bet you a fine bottle of liquor of your choice that our CM team puts out more large scale events during the next year than the WB's team does.

I bet a bottle of fine champage  (and I'll be happy to loose  )
 


[This message has been edited by straffo (edited 02-05-2001).]