This is a great start but one of two things has to happen for people to want to stay in this arena:
1) switch to a map with fields closer together like Tac says, so the fights aren't too far away. Maybe an eastern front map. This is if the intention is to use this arena as a furball arena with historical planesets.
OR
2) HTC or someone should create 'canned' missions for both sides which would launch simultaneously every half hour or so. These missions would have to complement each other, ie they would have to ensure that a good fight would result when the two sides met. For example, the allied mission could be an escorted mid-alt bomber strike while the axis mission would be a coastal fighter patrol near the allied target. This would also be cool because each side wouldn't know the details of the other side's mission until they actually ran into each other.
Flying a long way to find action can be fun if it is on a planned mission, but the player base cannot be relied upon to set up these missions. If one side sets up a mission and the other doesn't, neither side will have much fun. But if both sides join pre-set missions at the same time, they will enjoy it knowing that eventually they will encounter the enemy en masse. The long flight prior to engaging the enemy just builds up the tension level and adds to the fun.
One more thing, I don't see why friendly icons need to be set so high in comparison with enemy icons, it seems to be set at more than twice the distance.
Anyway, I'm psyched to see an HA. I was beginning to think HTC was becoming content to appeal to Niki furballers, but I am happy to be wrong.
ra
