Current State of Affairs...

[Martlet]

I'm pretty new to AH, this is my first flight sim, and I'm also one of those "other gamers" you seem to detest.

Not that anyone cares, but here's my view.

Many of us "other gamers" just like to play.  We enjoy community aspects, we like graphics, we like strategy, and like to kill stuff.   The majority of us are younger, I'd guess 16-26.   There are a decent number of "other gamers" (generally the younger range) that we call "griefers".  This group really doesn't enjoy most of the other aspects of gaming.  They just like to play to cause "grief" to other players.  That's what gets them off.  They sit in CH 1 and talk crap, trying to get people riled up.

Unlike those of us that are older, many of this group was raised on computers.  Many of them can take any program apart, and get it to do whatever they want.  When they devs figure it out and fix it, they change it.  If they want invisible planes, they have them.  Unlimited ammo?  sure.  whatever they want.

So you may have THOUGHT AH was unhackable, but it wasn't.  What you had was a group of simmers that loved the gameplay, so they didn't even THINK of hacking.  That's why I originally came here.  It seemed relatively hack free, and the community was more mature, or seemed to be.

Now many of you are letting the few griefers that followed us here "bait you out".  They cuss on CH1 and you argue with them.  They use a hack, shoot you down in an invisible plane, you squeak about it.  This is the only reason they play the game.  To tick you off.  Don't believe me?  I'll give you any number of games/players and you can see for yourself.  

If you'll just ignore them, they stop.  They call you bad names?  Ignore them.  You get shot down with an F-14 while you're still in the tower, ignore it.  I know it sucks, but if the game isn't giving them what they want, which is your misery, they leave.  Just report the hacks to hitech as you see them, they'll watch the player and fix them.  Don't post them here, or they'll change them.

Anyway, call me a stupid noob, but I've seen this cycle a million times in a million games.  Eventually the "good players" leave, and since their is noone left to torture, the griefers leave, and you have a server with 60 people on it at peak time.

Bear in mind, though, that the majority of new players are those of us trying to find a "grieferless/hackless" game.

[DarkHawk]

The only reason for 2 accounts is  if more than one person is flying at the same time like a father son or husban wife  etc.
otherwise who needs a second account.

DarkHawk

[NHawk]

I'll repeat this..

I DO NOT object to new players in AH. They are good for both AH and the community at large. The problems are in general server/program performance with such large numbers.

No, I don't have the software code. No, I don't have the specs on the server itself. But, the unusual happenings within the MA are happening far to often, to far to many people to continually point to people's systems or their connections.

In any case, I am enjoying watching all of the same arguements that were flying around before AW's demise.

[Torquila]

"A lonely impulse of Delight,
Drove to this tumult in the clouds...."

[Montezuma]

Originally posted by NHawk
everything was better back in the old days, blah, blah, blah

[humble]

As one of the "experienced" flight sim guys (since Nov, 93) I kind of understand where Nhawk is coming from...the flavor of the game has changed dramatically over the years. I still mis the old (pre 1.04) FM and the smaller #'s...however I've enjoyed myself alot over the last month since I re-upped (after my 3rd or 4th "break").

Truthfully I have noticed much more "questionable" activity than I remember...mainly amazingly well timed "mirowarps" or a zero that outran my la7 (got film somewhere)...but nothing pervasive.

Hopefully the new offering will allow the "old" arena to return. Truthfully all this strategy stuff bores the hell out of me. As for the reality of a flight sim...this is probably much more realistic...everything we call "dweeby" is simply how it was in the real world....every major ace made it clear you don't turn, you don't fight "fair" and you don't push bad odds....as for vulching...it was the #1 reason the lufftwabble went south...after 10/44 just getting of the ground was an adventure for them.

So it's not the nature of the pilot's (new or otherwise)...it's simply the dynamics of the enviornment...bigger #'s equals a more realistic enviornment and degraded SA and produces more "unseen" planes...99.99% of the time they were there...you just didn't see them.

[SlapShot]

Originally posted by NHawk
I'll repeat this..

I DO NOT object to new players in AH. They are good for both AH and the community at large. The problems are in general server/program performance with such large numbers.

No, I don't have the software code. No, I don't have the specs on the server itself. But, the unusual happenings within the MA are happening far to often, to far to many people to continually point to people's systems or their connections.

In any case, I am enjoying watching all of the same arguements that were flying around before AW's demise.

Far different in context to your original post.

Here is my take on it ...

Yes there is some issues as of late with warping, but not to the point that I don't enjoy the game.

I believe that HTC is hearing everything that we are saying and it is all being incorporated into "Tour of Duty". They gave us a couple of patches ("bones")  to hopefully keep us appeased while they continue to go full-bore on "Tour of Duty". "Tour of Duty" is now their flagship product and I don't believe that we will be getting too many more significant patches in the near future. I know I wouldn't if it were my business.

From what I have read, HiTech will be introducing new technologies and many improvements (flight/damage/etc) in "Tour of Duty". It is also my impression that all this new stuff will also be incorporated into "Classic" (Aces High as we know it now).

Sit back ... take a chill ... deal with it !!! It way too early to tell the "Chicken Little" story.

[lazs2]

the fields need to be closer together and easier to capture so that there is a lot of action between fields and the action "flows"

more action= less time for channel 1 chat and cowardly building battling...
lazs

[Taiaha]

NHawk's argument strikes me as a really strange combination of Jeremiad (Lo!  The end is nigh!  T'is like the plague of locusts that laid low the mighty Air Warrior!), nostalgia-trip (Twas so much better when flight simmers all lived in houses with picket fences and watered one another's lawns) and elitism (Chairboy hit it bang on with the comment about the "great unwashed").

I've been critical of the way a lot of the Channel 1 behavior has started to migrate across to other channels, but I'm also thinking that what we're seeing is probably just temporary, the way a community inevitably has to adjust when you get a massive influx of new people.  And honestly, while I don't play as much as some, I do play a lot depending on the tour.  I have a middling system (PIII 600) and I have never experienced any of the technical problems, or been shot down by an "invisible plane."  When I get shot down its because I'm either stupid, or the other guy (or gal) is better than me, or the especially deadly combination of the two.

I also recognize that some of my own dissatisfaction of late has been due to feeling jaded, as Hooligan pointed out.  As such, I find myself more than a little put off by NHawk's claim to represent the "seasoned flight simmer."  I think one characteristic of the real "seasoned flight simmers," or at least the ones that I really admire, is that they don't expect the game to magically fix their "jadedness."  Rather, they go looking for different ways they can experience a new angle on the game, or they start trying to create new experiences for the game themselves.  They design maps and scenarios, they spend a whole tour flying planes they have never flown before, they push the envelope in terms of difficulty (they fly a Spit 1 into a furball of LaLas and Niks), they try to survive as many Stuka ops as possible; they try everything they can to blow their perk points.

But above all, the "seasoned flight simmers" do not sit around pissing and moaning about how having MORE people experiencing what you yourself already enjoy is a bad thing.  This is a game, it's not an exclusive club.

[NHawk]

Originally posted by SlapShot
Far different in context to your original post.

.....specifically, attracting a mass excess of 'game players' (NOT flight simmers) to an imperfect sever setup with increasingly buggy software that was never designed to handle the load.....

Actually no it isn't. I think people are interpreting this statement as being against new players. While I can understand that, the point was and still is the software/server issues. If the software/server setup would actually handle the load...the more the merrier

[NHawk]

Originally posted by Montezuma
everything was better back in the old days, blah, blah, blah

Don't claim I said something I didn't.

[Mini D]

• April and May are usually the time when you see the most "I quit" posts.
• The AH community has an attention span of about 2 months.  After that... they start to get antsy
• AHII isn't due out until August/September

This means that you are going to see a decline in population (especially amongst the vets) over the next few months.

MiniD

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by NHawk


To those of us who have been around since the pre-AOL Air Warrior days of online flight simming, it is painfully obvious that the same thing that slowly destroyed AW is now hard at work in AH. The very thing needed to stimulate progress in the creation of the upcoming AH2, money, has prompted HTC to utilize the very thing that will destroy the integrity of the game itself; specifically, attracting a mass excess of 'game players' (NOT flight simmers) to an imperfect sever setup with increasingly buggy software that was never designed to handle the load. This is accompanied by the inevitable lack of arena discipline and control created by such an influx, to wit, a general failure to understand the game parameters and the unchecked ability of players to insult or harass other players with impunity.

As someone that played AW for a little over 9 years, I can firmly say that AH is not repeating the same mistakes that plagued Air Warrior.

What killed Air Warrior was the lack of advancement (ironically the same problem that is now currently happening in WarBirds) and complacent attitude at Kesmai.  In all the years I've played AW, the updates were sometimes years apart.  You can almost count the AW updates on one hand.  This hasn't been the case with AH.  I've been playing AH for a little over a year now and I've seen more updates in AH that I've seen in the entire time I've played AW and in this year alone we've seen over a dozen new airplanes and some new ground vehicles.

And as for catering to a mass player base, that is needed for any online game to survive and I think HiTech has struck a balance between the 'general' gamer and the 'flight-sim' addict in the upcoming AH2.  The general gamer is probably going to be less attracted to the role playing elements of AH2, while the hard-core flight simmer will not be.   The opposite will also be true, the general gamer will be attracted to the game play of the AH2 'Classic' arena while the hard-core flight sim addict probably won't be.  A balance has been struck that satisfies both camps.

Ack-Ack

[g00b]

I've played this game since beta. I have never personally witnessed any "hacking", although I have seen screenshot of some people with unlimited ammo and bomb hacks, completely plastering airfields with P-51's and such. HTC banned them by IP. I am sure that any prove-able hackers have met the same fate. While AH is probably not hacker-proof, what other game has (almost) 24/7 surveliance and responsive programmers support? I think 99.9% of "hacks" are connection/perception issues. I would be very surprised to learn that there is even ONE person to use hacks in AH. The nature of our "close" community would reveal any hackers relatively quickly. i.e. Someone who no one has ever heard of is number 1 for a tour with amazing stats. Hmmmm, doesn't take much to figure out does it? Honestly people... relax... Join a new squad or country, do something different.

I have never had more fun in this game than now. My squad "Flying Zoo" has just been dominating the arena where we choose, way to much fun.

[Flossy]

Originally posted by crowMAW
I personally cannot see a valid reason to maintain two accounts other than to spy.  

Well, I have two accounts and have no intention of spying!  In fact both my accounts play for the Bishops, so spying on my own country is a bit pointless.  Also, I am not currently able to use both accounts at the same time....

The reason I have two accounts is so that I can fly with two MA squads.  When I started in each squad, it was in AW, where one squad was in FR and one in RR, so it was easy for me to switch between them according to which arena I was flying in.  However, since coming to AH, both squads exist in the same arena and the only way I could fly with both was to have two accounts.  I make no secret of it though, using both Flossy and FL0SSY as my GameIDs.


Flossy
FL0SSY //+HG+\\ - Hell Gods