I appreciate the tremendous amount of work that went into this new release. In fact, I like it very much. I like the new bomber scheme (even though I'm a dedicated fighter pilot), the new planes, the radar circles, and the new map. The map's height variations, canyons, and base placement are excellent. So, here's a big to all who contributed to the release!
I do agree with some of the earlier posters, however. (I intend this only as feedback and not as criticism.) It is unquestionably harder to find a good fight than it was before. I know, because I spent several hours at various times yesterday trying to find one. Oh, I did manage find a couple of decent, semi-prolonged fights, but nothing approaching the scale of the furballs that one used to find all the time in the MA. If you only have short stretches of time to play (as I do with a new baby), it is quite frustrating to "try to find a fight before you run out of gas."
Having said that, my experience of yesterday does not surprise me. If we are going to use a map that is four times larger than the old maps but just as densely covered with fields, bases, cities, and facilities, we are going to need four times as many players to get the same density of action that we had before. (Actually, on this map, I think that we will need more than four times as many. Action tends to concentrate on the defined fronts, and due to its round, symmetric nature and lack of natural defensible positions, this map may tend to generate front lines that are more than four times as long as those on the old maps.) Perhaps some don't want the action quite as dense as before, but I think we will need on the order of 1000-1500 players on the new map before it will really shine.
Thanks again HTC (and others)! Your dedication to your product is, in my experience, unrivaled!
- JNOV