Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Darkish on August 28, 2005, 07:34:10 PM
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I know a few of you guys have been here - but have you come back.
The game is no longer the one you used to play, now full of kids fighting on 200 rather than in the sky. The air full of cowards hoarding away boasting their apptitude and insulting anyone who dares give them a fight.
Is there a way back or have I lost this wonderfull game forever?
I guess I mean, have you had that moment sat infront of your PC and said to yourself, "Mate .... wtf are you doing!"
(Long time player, 1st time whiner)
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Yep.
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Your right, it's not the same game...or even an alternative thats half as good. But truthfuly its really all thats out there. If you go looking for the "good old days" your toast....even if you go looking for the soso present your toast.
If you simply go and take what you find you'll do OK. Simply lower your expectations to rock bottom and you'll be fine. Then when you run into those rare moments you'll enjoy them for what they are....rare moments.
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I've only been around AH for a couple of months, played Air Warrior since the DOS version, up till the AOL experience. I'm an old phart and maybe my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be, but I don't remember there being the amount of imature trash in the text bufferas there is in AH. There was a lot of bragging in text macros but not trash talk.
I tend to squelch a lot of the channel 200 warriors and a lot of the time turn 200 off altogether. The most irritating thing for me is the huge amount of HO's and the continuous vultching :(
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The sad part is the game is fantastic..its the players that make it the way it is. Thank goodness im in a squad where 3 to one odds dont really mean much...keeps me interested.
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Im not a fan of the MA. I endure the MA. I enjoy events. I ignore the idiots. Get off 200. Its either little boys trying to be men, or its men acting like little boys most of the time.
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I have never tuned 200, and I used to squelch 1 when I couldn't ignore it. That alone adds to my enjoyment of the game. I have nights that I don't enjoy AH, I log and do something else.
There are no good-ol-days. There are days that are fun, others that are not. Change is constant. I believe it is what you make it.
Take a break, come back when your ready.
Gunner
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I certianly know the feeling.
I take breaks for 2-3 months at a time. Then I come back all charged up and really enjoy the game.......... for about a week.
I have no Idea what the answer is.
IL2 is a great game...... However the action is slower paced and I can only tolerate it for so long.
I tried EQ and EQ2........... No comment.
I am into Silent Hunter3 right now, just picked it up last night. Time will tell how long that lasts.
The truth is that AH is buy far the best online sim available. However I believe that once the fire is lost it can never be re-kindled.
Good Luck.... Mak
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Originally posted by Darkish
I know a few of you guys have been here - but have you come back.
The game is no longer the one you used to play, now full of kids fighting on 200 rather than in the sky.
(Long time player, 1st time whiner)
Don't worry school starts in 2 weeks, kids gone, happens every year.
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Originally posted by jaxxo
The sad part is the game is fantastic..its the players that make it the way it is. Thank goodness im in a squad where 3 to one odds dont really mean much...keeps me interested.
:D
You are easy to kill when you are outnumberd 2v1.
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Most of the time in the MA I feel the same way but then, once in a blue moon it happens again.
I was in Filths' bomber mission Saturday night. In a latter sortie, some of us took 109g10s for escort and a surprising thing happened.
Out over the water I find a couple of Rooks and there is only one other friendly around, one of the Rooks is in a 109, another g10 as it turned out.
It started slowly as I tested him out. I had E on him but had no idea if I was meeting a noob or an old pro. The friendly and the his Rook opponent soon disappeared leaving only the two of us locked in our dance. It seemed like we fought for an hour but I never ran out of wep so 5 minutes is probably a more reasonable mark. Neither one of us could get a guns solution and as we pushed hard, we traded advantage over and over again with long curving climbs and numerous vertical engagements. Both of us knew better then to waste ammunition, you didn't see the usual spray of tracers from the desperate noobs, this guy was being patient and mistakes were going to be costly. As the fight kept on, I was grinning around clenched teeth and thinking how it was the best one v one I'd had in the MA for at least a year. I knew no mater how it ended, this was a fight that would be hard to match anytime soon.
In the end, another Rook came in and popped me. It was a shame to because I'd made a mistake that had my opponent closing and possibly able to finally get a guns solution if I couldn't put some distance between us.
Afterward I tuned channel 200 and exchanged thanks with the other 109 pilot, a gentleman named chris something I think, sorry I can't remember his whole ID but I'm bad with that type of thing. It was a great fight fought by a gentleman, not one of these kids you hear about so much.
Well done chris, and Thanks again if you're out there.
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Darkish mate... You gotta find, make, invent your own war now. Sure enough the kids will be back in school soon but we're all kids at heart playing this.
Firstly detune 200 or only tune it in when "YOU" want to say somethink. I call it the "bollocks" channel because 99% of tuners talk bollocks. The only time your ever gonna get an adult conversation is when a Beta thing is on test. If you wanna chat with a foe go private... simple, clean cut and no worries about reading "bollocks".
As for game play "Eee lad them wut days". Guys actually using the game as it was supposed to be used. A simulation of a fighter pilots experience. We all know the score and that score is increasingly "Arcade mentality" but hey... make your own rules your own war.
I'de steer clear of the hoards because there lies madness. Your just gonna get mad flying into 5 on 1 HOing skill-less spraying hoard monkies that don't even have the ability let alone the inclination to think " How the F*** did he do that". Load up maxed fuel and go a hunting.....good luck chappy
Or you could go and take the piss in a spit 1 :aok
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Best way to get rid of the #¤¤% crowd is to increase realism within the sim, and to
report misuse of the public radio channels.
It is very easy to do and enforce.
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No the community is not the same :(
As for the MA, look at it the way I do. the MA is infact nothing but a TA but without ROE. TOD is what will matter once it is done (and soon I hope).
I've been there Darkish and I've come back. Only time I canceled account I stayed away for about a month and then came back. A month was enough to enjoy it again.
I also had a way too long 10 month break right after AH2 came out due to studies, didn't fly at all during that time and came back early June this year. Enjoyed it far more once I got back into it.
Keep account open, take a break, then come back in, squelch every loud mouth on channel 200 or just keep 200 turned off.
Find a good group to fly with.
I've been flying with the squadies alot lately, and it takes you to a whole new dimension, of course, flying in a group of 3-6 wingmen will always make some whiners on channel 200 scream out gangbangers and gangtards (they aren't smart enough to undertsand not to engage those odds without alt) but it is great fun, try it! Just squelch the whiners!
As for numbers... not sure where they went, used to be 700+ on prime time/weekends.
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Member now for 3 mos. Had Enough. Tired of dyeing.
Don't plan on renewing, but who knows.
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I've just joined AH after years on WB. When I first joined WB people were complaining "its not like the old days". When I left fairly recently some of the guys who joined when I did were making the same comments. It's the "parent/grandparent syndrome" - nothing is as good now as it was in the old days. Summers were longer & we were happier when we were kids - right?
Well I'd like to say, as a relative new-comer, I've met some first class blokes. 200 is full of decerebrate prattling - ignore it. Ignore the jerks who shout coward when you extend, return & shoot them down, the professional vulchers etc. They're in WarBirds & Fighter Ace and every type of on-line game. Focus on the 90% who play the game to enjoy, receive & return favours & don't see it as a medium in which to inflate their egos.
Anti-rant over :)
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Originally posted by weasel4
Member now for 3 mos. Had Enough. Tired of dyeing.
Don't plan on renewing, but who knows.
If you're giving up after 3 months because you're tired of dying you've not given it enough time.
AH has a very steep learning curve, no way to get away from that.
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Originally posted by weasel4
Member now for 3 mos. Had Enough. Tired of dyeing.
Don't plan on renewing, but who knows.
Weasel, 3 months ain't long enough to figure out the help manual ! LOL!!! but hey its your choice. Spent a couple years in AW before I felt confident enough to think I could win a fight I got into. Same goes for AH. There is a big learning curve, but once it starts to come around, you won't be someones else's fodder as much. Sure, as long as you fly in the MA you'll get shot down, but inbetween those flights you'll run into that fight "Easyscor" had. I live for those!
I tolarate the rest waiting for those fights, to me they make it all worth the time!
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Yep,
Ever since AH1 was replaced with AH2......Lot's of times. The people I fly the game with, is what brings me back .
Skill & scores has nothing to do with it , for me its furballin' down & dirty, runnin' a spit 5, wideassed open in the weeds & trees.........
CHECKERS
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Originally posted by Darkish
I know a few of you guys have been here - but have you come back.
The game is no longer the one you used to play, now full of kids fighting on 200 rather than in the sky. The air full of cowards hoarding away boasting their apptitude and insulting anyone who dares give them a fight.
Is there a way back or have I lost this wonderfull game forever?
I guess I mean, have you had that moment sat infront of your PC and said to yourself, "Mate .... wtf are you doing!"
(Long time player, 1st time whiner)
I have never and probably will never tune 200. Just what I see in other people's screenshots is enough to put me off.
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I thought I would put my 2 cents in. First off, burn out happens to all of us, its just up to you to figure out how you want to deal with it. My suggestion is to take some time off. Next, keep 200 off. I rarelly turn on 200, but when I do, it only stays for about 10 minutes before all of the BS gets on my nerves. I usually fly with my squadies which makes it alot better. On the occasion I fly solo, its usually a quick flight, and just not as much fun. So overall, take a break, relax, and come back ready to get back in the saddle. :aok
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Everyone needs time off from time to time, usually just sitting out a tour will get the desire burning once more. By limiting my online time to 30 hours per month or so I have avoided the burnout more effectively. What drives me nuts anymore is the MA style of gameplay, hordes and 20K milkrunners, logging on to find all FHs for a few sectors down, chasing bar-dars and dots trying to find a fight, guys who run beyond icon range and call it extending, folks who take the game far too seriously etc.
Trash talking never really bothered me much I can usually ignore them with an old-fashioned "rolleye", but I think the general age of the MA participant is about half of what it was when these games were paid for my the hour. Don't get me wrong, I hope I never give Dale/Doug another $200 monthly payment though...LOL!
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burnout is probably what prompted my change 2 months ago.
after 3 years as "JB73" i needed a change, and i found exactly what i needed. i changed my name, my attitude, my playing style, everything.
i no longer care in the least about what base is being "taken" or "lost" as it is a zero sum game. it all works out in the end. i look for furballs, and for comments about big fights. (the BK's are very helpful in finding these ;) )
i routinly find the biggest red dar bar, and fly into it at medium to low alt, just to see how many i can take with me before i die :aok
maybe i will get burnt out on this also, but it was a needed change. i enjoy playing again, and have yet to log off in anger. in face i can't remember the last time i got "angry" flying. if i get HO'd by a dweeb la7, i deserved it because i didn't evade it good enough. heck i augered 2 times last night alone by accidently hitting auto pilot :rofl (and thats what i did in real life. laughed)
maybe you need a shake up like that.
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Originally posted by Mustaine
i look for furballs, and for comments about big fights. (the BK's are very helpful in finding these ;) )
That's the truth, I always watch where BKs are fighting, I love to film certain BK's. While they may be great at 'finding' big fights, if there's more than 5 of them online they are also great at ending them. It seems after the enemy gets shot down by Levi and the gang a few times, they quickly lose interest in whatever base they were defending/attacking. Strange phenomena, you'd think people would want to accept a perpetual fight with the best, nope they want to run and hide from it and go milkrun/vulch somewhere else with less resistance.
Zazen
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Originally posted by Zazen13
Strange phenomena, you'd think people would want to accept a perpetual fight with the best, nope they want to run and hide from it and go milkrun/vulch somewhere else with less resistance.
Zazen
LoL Zazen, ain't that the truth. I still remember the other day me, you, Jaxxo and a few others destroying wave after wave of hordlings trying to take a base. I think we finally frustrated them enough that they had to level the whole feild with the big guns from the CV to keep us down and take the base. It's sad in a way and yet kinda a compliment:D
Oh and Darkish, take some time off, you'll feel better!
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About the burn out thing. Obviously, if you do any one thing long enough you are going to get bored and disenchanted. What makes AH great is the fact that there are so many things to do and ways to appoach the game. I avoid burnout, specifically that associated with gameplay issues, by adapting. That is to say, when a particular behavior by the majority leaves you wondering if you should play anymore instead of quitting, adapt a strategy to counter the abhorent behavior.
This is the whole reason I made it my personal mission to become as proficient as possible with the Ostwind. I grew disgusted at the prevalence of the gang-horde and vulch routine. In an aircraft flying into 30 planes I had the ability to take out 3-5 in 15-30 minutes and survive if I was very carefull, but in an Ostwind I could take out 5-15 in a couple of minutes. Then not only that, I made what I had learned from diligent practice and experience public, so everyone in the MA could potentially, somewhat replicate my performance in the Ostwind. The end result is, while not ending gang-horde vulching by any means, it has sure made it a less appealing prospect overall. People fear Ostwinds now and will refrain from establishing 'tight' CAP over an enemy field to stay out of the range of defending Ostwinds, allowing defending planes to instead get airborne, therefore increasing the net amount of actual quality fighting that occurs in the MA.
The point is, rather than let a particular trait of the current MA population drive you from the game, adapt to it. Find its weakness and exploit it. Make whatever behavior you don't care for as painfull as possible for them. That unto itself, knowing you are in your small part of the MA transforming the game to how you think it should be, breathes new life into it.
We are all empowered. Everytime you take-off in a plane or vehicle you help to determine everyone's experience in the game. Depending on how much effort you put into it and your raw skill & talent the impact you have can be very great. Don't just fly around and complain how everyone else is flying while all the while playing into 'their' game, that actually makes you become part of the problem. Be pro-active force them to play 'your' game, that will make you part of the solution. If enough people with a healthy vision of what AH should be did that, guess what, it will become that. AH is a very open-ended game so we are really the masters of our own virtually simulated destiny.
Zazen
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it was better in the day AH cost $30 a month
imagine what it will be like when it is $10 a month?
I am for half the subs paying twice as much
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The big maps kill the gameplay.
End of story.
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Anybody who is looking for anything that resembles what online flight combat sims used to be as far as community goes, is going to be seriously dissapointed. Its not here in the same form it was before. We had much smaller arenas back then, and smaller groups to deal with. Policing ourselves was easier. That community is still here, but you wont find it much in the MA. Scenarios? You betcha. Every time I fly one its like stepping back in time. I'm hoping TOD will be fun and then the MA will be something I rarely see.
Like the others said, find what you consider fun and fly your way. Ignore the children and the chest beaters. Playing the game their way is a good way to break joysticks and other important parts of your computer when you start smashing things. :)
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Originally posted by Siaf__csf
The big maps kill the gameplay.
End of story.
THe HUGE maps were designed for average MA populations twice what we actually have, that is the problem. HTC was anticipating a larger and more rapid return on the investment from redoing the graphics engine and its advertising campaign associated with AH2. So, the newest maps were all made to the 512X512 dimension specifications. They were designed to accomodate anticipated growth that has yet to materialize.
Unfortunately, largely due to the prodigious system requirements of AH2 there's actually fewer active players now than we had in AH1. This is why ToD got side-tracked to impliment the clean-up of the way graphics are handled. Hopefully once AH2 can play well with at least some of the eye candy on with the average person's computer we'll see an influx of more players. Until that time however, we're left with HUGE maps that are half full, where fields outnumber players 20 of 24 hrs a day to the obvious detriment of gameplay. In my opinion, creating all of these HUGE maps was a bit of a case of putting the cart before the horse, and actually exacerbated the system requirement situation as framerates are half on a huge map as they are on a small one on average. Ironically then, if there were only the smaller maps after AH2 implimentation, the return on investment from the advertising and development of AH2 would have been much greater and more immediate, the HUGE maps would probably been needed at this point to support the growth.
Zazen
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Originally posted by Eagler
it was better in the day AH cost $30 a month
imagine what it will be like when it is $10 a month?
I am for half the subs paying twice as much
There has been several threads on this topic, some with excellent suggestions. I (formerly known as Anton) started one called "$30 AH premium account" lots of pros/cons listed by the BBS community, and some good indication of just how long people have thought gameplay to be deteriorating.
There always seems to be a small window of time, between when a game is old enough to be without major bugs, but young enough to have a respectful majority of players. (Huey Lewis and the News "I want a new drug" plays in the background.) I too, miss the old days.
A_Clown
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I think many people would love to know more about WHY things happen the way they do. That seems to often be left out from staff input, unfortunately.
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Originally posted by A_Clown
I think many people would love to know more about WHY things happen the way they do. That seems to often be left out from staff input, unfortunately.
That's what I'm here for, happy to be of service. ;)
Zazen
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I'm saddened to read the experienced guys thinking of leaving/taking time out. Taking your bat & ball home because the game's not going well is not the way forward. Lead by example, communicate & support other team players.
Would our forebears have deserted the skies over southern England or Pearl Harbour because they didn't like the atmosphere? No! (Cue fireworks, Close ups of intense, brave young airmen & bands playing Land of Hope & Glory/Star Spangled Banner) :)
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I took about 7-8 months off, came back and the game was fun for a week or so lol.
I guess I'm at the point where I don't feel I'm going to get any better without switching to a EZ-mode plane and investing some serious time that I don't have, so I don't feel like playing the game.
Been playing WoW and BF2, both of those are pretty fun for me still.
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Originally posted by Darkish
I know a few of you guys have been here - but have you come back.
The game is no longer the one you used to play, now full of kids fighting on 200 rather than in the sky. The air full of cowards hoarding away boasting their apptitude and insulting anyone who dares give them a fight.
Is there a way back or have I lost this wonderfull game forever?
I guess I mean, have you had that moment sat infront of your PC and said to yourself, "Mate .... wtf are you doing!"
(Long time player, 1st time whiner)
Sounds like you need to attend the LTAR school of "Fun for All" :D
We are a delightful bunch that just recently switched to the Bishops for a much needed change of pace. It has been palm trees and drinks with little umbrellas in um ever since.
While the occasional storm blows though it doesn't seem to damper the high spirts in the LTAR camp. Stoke up the fire we got weenies and marshmellows for all.
OR
Maybe you just need a break from the arena:huh
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Originally posted by Zazen13
THe HUGE maps were designed for average MA populations twice what we actually have, that is the problem. HTC was anticipating a larger and more rapid return on the investment from redoing the graphics engine and its advertising campaign associated with AH2.
the HUGE maps would probably been needed at this point to support the growth.
Zazen
On what do you base this?
Nevermind. finished reading the other posts.
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I've been watching, and waiting for this one to run its course. I think burnout happens to everyone, in some way, eventually. Either the game changes in a way we don't want it to change, or the people change. When the pricing plan is designed to rake in any old sc****k who can afford 50cents/day, then sc****ks is what we'll get. I've been on the sidelines for a year now, and quite frankly threads like this make me realise that I may never return. I don't want to have teen trash talk going on around me, or play a game that requires a reporting tool to alert HTC to text or verbal abuse.
BUT....
AH is not alone in having the gameplay ruined by tardz. One of the other games I play online is Chess - and if skuzz thinks he's got his work cut out filtering the trash talk here, he should see some of the crap on the chess BBS! I don't even go to the forums any more, it's so bad.
Any online game with any sort of a ranking system or scoreboard has its share of game-the-game gottawins and general tardz. Just as some people in AH had a shades account, and would rack up kills by vulching their shades account, Chess has shades accounts too, and guys who play with themselves getting 4-move checkmates to boost their rankings, or guys who cheat by using a chess engine like ChessMaster9000 to suggest moves.
Nomak! I never knew you online, but if you're getting started with Silent Hunter 3, get ready for a major slowing down of the pace. If you didn't like the AH1 pizza map, you won't like SH3. Those submarine missions went on for weeks. The game has x1024 time compression, and you'll need it. I enclose a gift - a SH3 saved mission in the Scapa Flow area. There's a nice Revenge battleship for you to practise on, and a destroyer a little to the right. It took me many attempts to get right up there undetected. No dive possible - depth below keel = 6 metres! Download it from here (http://www.zen33071.zen.co.uk/sf14.zip) and unzip it to your SavedMissions folder.
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Burn out is an observable phenomenom.............. I am sure HTC's business model assumes its presence.
Its better to turn down usage to "idle" rather than got "full throttle" into burn out..........
Associates come and go in this virtual world as they do elsewhere and the fun factor they bring changes with them.
200 is by default switched off on my radio bar. If I want to go beyond the to congratulate a foe then I will switch it on temporarily. The immature rubbish (lacking any wit AFAICS) found there will cause me to switch it off again soon after.
Thank cod its no longer in yer face on ch1.