After reading this thread again this morning, I'd like to clear up a couple of misconceptions.
First, that I had no intention of giving Aces High a "fair shake".
Wrong. To be perfectly honest, even from what little I've seen, I think I could grow to enjoy the current incarnation of AH even more than I do Warbirds, after I've managed to get accustomed to the flight models. The strategy is there, the base layouts are excellant, flak actually does what it's supposed to do, terrain is very nice to look at.....all in all, it's a great package. Easily the superior to the current Warbirds build in most respects. The only thing I find lacking in the game iteslf is the aircraft art/resolution, and the easier gunnery, and as I said at the beginning of this thread, that's no deal breaker for me.
Secondly, that I intended to close my Warbirds account and fly AH exclusively: Again, WRONG. I have no intention of closing my WB account, but that doesn't at all mean I wouldn't keep an AH account as well. I have alot of free time in the evenings, and if my squad isn't online in force, or if the RPS in Warbirds is pre-Lightning, I could definitely imagine myself spending a great deal of time in AH and enjoying it. I kept a WWII Online account for over a year (though admittedly I didn't fly it for the last 8 months or so) in addition to my WB account, no reason not to keep active accounts to two sims if you enjoy them both.
Also, there seems to be some misunderstanding about the point of this thread. Initially, it was intended simply to state what I was impressed with about the game, and to let the community itself know that failing to help out a new guy in the game (within reason) could turn people off right away.
Wellnow, it's turned into a bashing session for people to feel like I've insulted them personally, or that I was being unfair when I stated that it seemed a bit difficult to get other players to answer a question or two. No problem, if you guys want to bash, feel free. I'm too old and too busy to worry about the goings on in this thread, especially considering I've been nothing but polite in my responses. But you might consider this: I was honest in my intention to try out AH, and and just as sincere in my intent to subscribe to the sim after the trial period is over. I'm not 100% sure I don't still want to try it some more (more like 98%, thanks to all the genteel remarks here), but with some of the openly hostile remarks I see from some people in the community, I'm beginning to wonder if there's any point at all. The game, for me, is only about 25% of the experience. The rest of the fun I have is teaming up with other guys and having fun, and it's hard to imagine myself having a good time with some of the people who've responded here. I'm sure there are plenty of great guys flying AH (I know many of them from Warbirds, in fact), but there seems to be also a great number of people who, secure in the anonymity of the internet, prefer open hostility to geniality in their relations with other players.
Anyway, my entire point of this post (which has now become lost in my wordy response) was basically to tell you guys who think I came here just to screw around and annoy a few people on the board....you're wrong.
[EDIT]
Just wanted to add something here:
Why do you suppose that, after being offered another trial period several months ago, I decided to wait awhile? The reason (strange as it may seem) is because I wanted to wait until I was sure the game was pretty much finalized (and with another version due out this fall it must be), and until I'd have plenty of time to give it the time it'd need for a really square evaluation. Do you honestly believe I'd have recommended trying it to my 25 Warbirds squaddies if this weren't the case?
So, here's how things came out in my somewhat abbreviated trial:
Game=Outstanding
Community=Somewhat lacking
So, don't blame my failure to return to AH for the remainder of the free trial (if I don't, and even with all the assenine remarks directed at me here I still might) on my opinion of the game itself. There's nothing wrong with AH, at least as far as I could tell.
