I agree. I feel that HTC has taken a step back regarding the average joe. What was that deal with the shutting down the message board before the release of 1.10 (or was it 1.09?)
Sure people were going nuts. They were excited about a new version of their favorite sim being released. They were undoubtly acting stupid, but why shut down the board? Maybe I'm off-base here. But that's how I took it at the time.
Not to be unfair, but look at Il2. They post development updates once a week. Oleg makes regular appearances in the message forum. Now, plane whiners GALORE are all over Oleg. They accuse him of making the Russian planes better than the German planes... etc etc.
It's got to be very stressful.
Generally though, Oleg goes out fighting. If someone insults him, he says so. If they're off base, he says why. Undoubtly, that takes a LOT of time and energy and while I don't think the AH forums need that kind of attention -- they need more than they're getting now. I enjoy seeing posts from the HTC team.
Anyway, I'm waaay off base here. Back to the point:
Early war planes definitely have their place in AH. All I'm asking for is some moderation. If we get a few early war planes, toss in one or two that might change the dynamics of the MA. They don't need to be P-51 killers, just something else to master.
I can take of a large number just off the top of my head. G.55 (oooh that would be sooo nice), Re2005 (I bet data is hard to find on this), LaGGs, Yak-3, 109-G14, P-39s, P-51A (Allison 51 anyone? Probably as a small perk since it lugged 4 hispanos), earlier P-38, P-40N (woo hoo!), P-47M(N?), Ki.84... etc...
There are tons of aircraft you could add to the MA. Any one of those aircraft could be VERY competitive in the MA. Some more than others.
Beeker