Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Krusty on June 07, 2011, 12:19:22 PM
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http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,314590.msg4079555.html#msg4079555
Going back to single arena setup, so they say!
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:banana:
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I'm all for this IF they use some of the newer maps. The island map, uterus and some of the other older maps need to be retired. (honorably of course)
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:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
I may have to finally resubscribe now!!
The only downfall I see to this is what do you do when you absolutely hate the map thats up. Are they going to rotate regularly or stay up for weeks on end?
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absolutely awesome :x
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I am happy see this, Excellent HTC WTG.
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Double post
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:aok
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:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
I may have to finally resubscribe now!!
The only downfall I see to this is what do you do when you absolutely hate the map thats up. Are they going to rotate regularly or stay up for weeks on end?
They can and will still be won. Shouldn't be that difficult now that the requirement has been reduced to 20% of the bases.
Double post
I saw that coming :D
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agreeded, last night arena caps at 100!!! I am a long time member and will continue to be so, but that was just plain stupid. thks pyro for making the change.
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well, there goes the neighborhood...ah well, just have to wait and see what :cry will be generated by the 3rd week of this...and you know it's coming.
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:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
:aok :aok :aok Thank You HiTech & Co. !!! :cheers: :cheers:
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That's awesome... I squealing love this company.
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Yes!!!!!!!!! HTC, you guys rock! :rock
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I had no money before economic down turn and i have none now :old:
Then again how much coin do you need :)
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I have no money either, but I do have a rich girlfriend :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:.
semp
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The downside to this announcement is it was done because of dwindling numbers. :uhoh
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Exciting news. :) Let's just hope it has the desired effect!
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:O :x :banana:
Well now... This'll be interesting. I know it's what I want, I'm going to be very curious to see how this pans out. There's going to be a pretty loud backlash from at least a few vocal people, but I don't think there are that many of them.
Hooray single arena! Now let's populate it!
Wiley.
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The only real back lash at this point (due to the lower numbers at this time) are if the "hordes" run rampant and become a bigger problem.
If they do, beware the split arenas again. So a fair warning to all, do what you can to split up the hordes.
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I think going back to the single arena makes good sense at this stage of the game.
I fear what the reintroduction of "player spawned arenas" will do to the Main Arena.
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Cool! Maybe once again we'll have a lot more to shoot at when we go bombing en mass. :cool:
(http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6281/olivedrab.jpg)
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I fear what the reintroduction of "player spawned arenas" will do to the Main Arena.
In the long run, probably not much. Remember, we had such a thing for years (just not on the AH server) and it was totally free!
I think it might improve the overall appeal of Aces High.
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In the long run, probably not much. Remember, we had such a thing for years (just not on the AH server) and it was totally free!
I think it might improve the overall appeal of Aces High.
I hope you're correct. I would hate to see the bulk of established pilots vanish out of the MA.
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Cool! Maybe once again we'll have a lot more to shoot at when we go bombing en mass. :cool:
(http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6281/olivedrab.jpg)
Lol... I was just about to post something similar:
"I hope to see now more of this again in the MA:"
(http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/8814/approaching.jpg)
(No, that's not a SEA screenshot... it's really the LW MA :))
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Fat chance of that dave
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That'll be cool - hope my framerate will allow me to play in big furballs - if not, will have to go find or start another fight - which is something us pigs do quite well :D
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I'm all for this IF they use some of the newer maps. The island map, uterus and some of the other older maps need to be retired. (honorably of course)
Make your own map.
Additionally we are currently developing user spawned arenas to serve as an expanded and HTC hosted version of the old 8 player H2H. The introduction of this feature will also lessen the need for a second late war arena.
No one reads the announcements, do they?
wrongway
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Lol... I was just about to post something similar:
"I hope to see now more of this again in the MA:"
(http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/8814/approaching.jpg)
(No, that's not a SEA screenshot... it's really the LW MA :))
Ohhhhhh, (drooooool!) :lol
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:rock :banana: :rock :banana: :rock :banana: :rock
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Well i can only hope that its a repeat of the times way back in the beginning when one MA style arena was all you needed. I also would like to check out the user spawned arenas as well. Sounds like a great thing to be able to have some squadron versus squadron private duels occasionally without a dipdunk screwing things up.
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It's good to see HTC making adjustments due to financial concerns. :salute
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I think you misread. I don't think THEY have financial concerns. They're probably well above profit margin.
What has dropped is the player base! Not enough people filling both servers like they initially did.
So they're going back to 1 based on the player numbers, the server loads, not because they are hurting (although I wouldn't mind paying a higher sub fee if needed to keep the game going, personally)
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:aok :cheers:
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I fear what the reintroduction of "player spawned arenas" will do to the Main Arena.
On the one hand, I'm concerned about this. On the other, I think it might not have that much impact.
Maybe I'm wrong but the people who are going to be most interested in the player spawned arenas are going to be those looking for 1v1 or undisturbed, predictable small group fights right? It seems to me it would follow that they probably don't spend much time in the MAs currently because they can't get that kind of a fight in there, right? They log in, get picked a few times and quit because they're not having fun, if the forums are any indication. If they're not in the MA much now, the fact that they're now in the player arenas won't have much impact on the MA, with the side benefit that it makes them happy so they stick around keeping their sub.
Or it may turn the MA into a wasteland as people run off to make their own rooms so they can control what they're exposed to... It's a distinct possibility, and one I'm pretty concerned about as well.
Wiley.
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On the one hand, I'm concerned about this. On the other, I think it might not have that much impact.
Maybe I'm wrong but the people who are going to be most interested in the player spawned arenas are going to be those looking for 1v1 or undisturbed, predictable small group fights right? It seems to me it would follow that they probably don't spend much time in the MAs currently because they can't get that kind of a fight in there, right? They log in, get picked a few times and quit because they're not having fun, if the forums are any indication. If they're not in the MA much now, the fact that they're now in the player arenas won't have much impact on the MA, with the side benefit that it makes them happy so they stick around keeping their sub.
Or it may turn the MA into a wasteland as people run off to make their own rooms so they can control what they're exposed to... It's a distinct possibility, and one I'm pretty concerned about as well.
Wiley.
They will also be able to remove trouble makers. :)
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Or it may turn the MA into a wasteland as people run off to make their own rooms so they can control what they're exposed to... It's a distinct possibility, and one I'm pretty concerned about as well.
The only way to turn MA into wasteland were to allow very high player numbers in the user hosted arenas. Which I don't think it will happen ;)
The majority will always stay where the majority plays. I do not worry about the user arenas, but see them as a highly welcome addition!
(just fyi... the LWMA has about 95% of combined main arenas (LW, MW, EW, WW1, AvA) activity.)
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Fat chance of that dave
I hope your right, and I am just concerned. I think that HTC should do it, then we'll just have to see what happens.
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Im guessing that it will be 8 player or 32 player?
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Im guessing that it will be 8 player or 32 player?
I guess it will be 13.7676 players. :D
We will see when they say ;)
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They will also be able to remove trouble makers. :)
...ew. Hadn't considered that. So the MA might wind up being the place where people who like a large scale unpredictable fight go, as well as the cess pit for people who are too bloody unlikable to stay in a private room.
Or, worse yet it might not be all that bad, but might get that reputation, 'Only good fight is in the private room' mentality.
The only way to turn MA into wasteland were to allow very high player numbers in the user hosted arenas. Which I don't think it will happen ;)
The majority will always stay where the majority plays. I do not worry about the user arenas, but see them as a highly welcome addition!
(just fyi... the LWMA has about 95% of combined main arenas (LW, MW, EW, WW1, AvA) activity.)
I'm hoping you're right, Lusche. It's how it will likely be for the reasons you've stated above.
What worries me is, there's a fairly vocal contingent of the community that bemoans the loss of 1v1, and small group fights. I'm not sure how many of them there are, but it's a pretty common lament. What I'm worried about is 100 of them over the course of an evening sitting in their player spawned arena waiting for someone to come along and duel them or them and their 2 buddies, or whatever.
I'd envision the max for player spawned arenas being somewhere around 8v8. Can't see the max amount on them being higher than that, maybe even 6v6. Isn't that the SDL's size?
Wiley.
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It's good to see this and in a way it's bad to see this, we as a community need to get back to what this game is really about, the Squads and lonewolf's fighting all over the map not just in 1 or 2 places, Lately it's just a numbers game , lets take 25+ people to base X and overwhelm them, not with the Quality of the players attacking BUT the of Quantity of them attacking, heck if you have that many people ready for an attack split them up into 2 or 3 attack groups and hit 3 different bases, to the people that have been in the game awhile would remember the fights all over the maps, i just think theres to much emphasis on how many kills a person gets and they don't care how there achieved.
i just hope this works out for the good for right now, untill the numbers grow more.
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Lemme tell you something:
Everybody who is rejoicing now about it will only see more battles, higher numbers, more teamplay, more squad operations and simply a better game.
Everybody who is concerned now will see a lot of sneaks, overwhelming hording, no quality fights, and simply an insane amount of dweebery.
Because the game always had both, and still will have in the single LW arena :)
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Everybody who is rejoicing now about it will only see more battles, higher numbers, more teamplay, more squad operations and simply a better game.
Everybody who is concerned now will see a lot of sneaks, overwhelming hording, no quality fights, and simply an insane amount of dweebery.
Because the game always had both, and still will have in the single LW arena :)
This should be the arena login message for the next month. ;)
Wiley.
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See how its goes, but after 10 years here......guess I might be gone. Low end systems like mine{and no I can afford another thank you) TT like arenas kill my computer, thats why I dont play on TT :furious :mad:
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While I'm not glad to see the decline in numbers, I am VERY glad to see the return of one arena!
If I can manage to do it without being crucified or castrated by my wife, I will resub Monday :)
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all you disappointed folks come to midwar.
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"Pyro"
Starting today at the 4pm switchover, we are going to change the arena format to go to a single late war arena. Due to the current economic downturn our main arena play numbers no longer justify a second late war arena and we'll be dropping the 2 arena system until such time that it is again needed.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the game now, it's the same game as it always had been with a few improvements. I think the reason for the lower numbers may be the decade long members are starting to burn out.
I found this game through a referral from my brother..
I bet alot of people found this through the old commercial though, have there been any thoughts on another commercial?
Also I think sponsoring a fly in weekend such as the WW2 weekend Reading PA just had would really get your target audience interested.
Come fly aces high the worlds premiere WW2 combat experience 2 weeks free no credit card needed...echoing across airports around the country.
Something along these lines?
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I think Belial has a pretty good idea there. Throw in a demo tent where people can put in a quick sortie and some "Aces High Girls". With as much as television advertising costs this might be a pretty cost effective option.
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As one who has and still is suffering financially because of this economic downturn it saddens me to hear that it has affected HTC as well. I sincerely hope it improves for all of us, because there is not enough room at the homeless shelters for the entire nation. :uhoh
With that said, TITANIC TUESDAY EVERY NIGHT! WOOOOHOOOOO! :banana: :x :aok
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As one who has and still is suffering financially because of this economic downturn it saddens me to hear that it has affected HTC as well. I sincerely hope it improves for all of us, because there is not enough room at the homeless shelters for the entire nation. :uhoh
With that said, TITANIC TUESDAY EVERY NIGHT! WOOOOHOOOOO! :banana: :x :aok
Y'all are not reading all of the quote:
Due to the current economic downturn our main arena play numbers no longer justify a second late war arena
It's not so bad.....
wrongway
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Y'all are not reading all of the quote:
It's not so bad.....
What'mI, chopped liver? :D :P
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,314592.msg4079688.html#msg4079688
Top of the previous page!
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See how its goes, but after 10 years here......guess I might be gone. Low end systems like mine{and no I can afford another thank you) TT like arenas kill my computer, thats why I dont play on TT :furious :mad:
You've been around for awhile. If you can play in a current (split) arena with around 200 players, the extra 100/150 isn't going to drag your computer down very much at all. If you have issues with frame rate, start a thread in the hardware and software forum. There's plenty of folks that will help you squeeze every ounce of power you can get out of your machine in there. You may have an underlying issue that is slowing ya down. Give it a chance before writing it off wholesale. :salute
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I had only cancelled my account a few days ago. Now HTC finally brought back the single late war main! Coincidence?
On a serious note: This is by far the best thing that could happen. Aces High's main appeal to me was the fact that it was a truly massively multilayer online game, no other game in the genre can support 800 player servers so when HTC introduced the cap system the game lost its appeal and part of me died inside.
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I think Belial has a pretty good idea there. Throw in a demo tent where people can put in a quick sortie and some "Aces High Girls". With as much as television advertising costs this might be a pretty cost effective option.
I've been saying this for years.... We NEED an Aces High booth at EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, WI. I've been there a number of times, and am always surprised by the number of warbird enthusiasts that have no idea that AH exists. Case in point... I was talking to a rep for a small company that developed a flight sim (booth) for use at flight schools. Their flight model was all out of whack (C172). I mentioned that they should check out AH and get an idea of how the "feel" is in game. He was shocked when I explained what the game was and was excited to try it out. I don't know if he's a paying member now, but that just goes to show ya that too many people that would greatly enjoy what we all are lucky enough to experience simply don't know about the game.
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jager, try 150-200 extra players...watching prime time lwo and lwb numbers last week...450-500 between the 2 arenas...it is squeaker season and depending on the map being used, the hordes are going to be numerous.
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I think Belial has a pretty good idea there. Throw in a demo tent where people can put in a quick sortie and some "Aces High Girls". With as much as television advertising costs this might be a pretty cost effective option.
I know I would have signed up sooner if I had some hot Aces High chicks motion me into a tent while asking how good I am with a joystick. :joystick:
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jager, try 150-200 extra players...watching prime time lwo and lwb numbers last week...450-500 between the 2 arenas...it is squeaker season and depending on the map being used, the hordes are going to be numerous.
150-200 is still ok. As you know, his front end doesn't render all of the people in the arena at the same time. If his FR is dumping in a furball, but is ok most other times, he'll probably be ok. There's lots of ways to fix a low frame rate.
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The next evolution of HTC....the GIGAHORDE!!!! I love it...more targets and less bus driving to get to a fight. Now the fight will just be raging non-stop!!
WTG HTC!
V/r
Changeup
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it is squeaker season and depending on the map being used, the hordes are going to be numerous.
You're probably right, but I'd submit that it's better to have a horde flying toward you than a few people constantly running away.
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I know I would have signed up sooner if I had some hot Aces High chicks motion me into a tent while asking how good I am with a joystick. :joystick:
I would volunteer a few days of my time at Airventure "training" the AH booth girls in proper joystick use.
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You're probably right, but I'd submit that it's better to have a horde flying toward you than a few people constantly running away.
that
anyway, not sure... it can be great but it means the number of players is decreasing :uhoh
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I have a question.. What if we see subscription rates increase now.. what will we do? lol
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that
anyway, not sure... it can be great but it means the number of players is decreasing :uhoh
It has been decreasing... however, consider kazaa's post. I've seen several posts over my limited time here of people leaving or having left due to the arena split. Perhaps there'll be a resurgence of subscribers as those who left because of arena caps come back?
Hmm... what's going to be the new whine now that we're probably going to have very little ENY and no caps to whine about? Hordes? Yeah. Gonna go with Horde whines.
Wiley.
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What if we see subscription rates increase now.. what will we do? lol
Be happy? :headscratch:
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Be happy? :headscratch:
lol yes.. and then as subs increase while in a sinlge arena.. How could we ever split them if subs increase in the single arena? If this happens Single MA = More paying players
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lol yes.. and then as subs increase while in a sinlge arena.. How could we ever split them if subs increase in the single arena? If this happens Single MA = More paying players
I'm afraid we won't have to worry about that in the near future...
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lol yes.. and then as subs increase while in a sinlge arena.. How could we ever split them if subs increase in the single arena? If this happens Single MA = More paying players
hopefully by then there will be, a true "training arena" where there will be AI, a arena for a true "war" more in the WW1 arena, so the peeps will be a bit more spread out.
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I know I would have signed up sooner if I had some hot Aces High chicks motion me into a tent while asking how good I am with a joystick. :joystick:
I would rather her ask me to the tent to show me how good she is with a joystick
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I have a question.. What if we see subscription rates increase now.. what will we do? lol
I was sort of thinking the same thing, hilarious scenario: Implement split arenas - numbers plummet so you go back to one. Go back to one and subs roll in again - split arenas.
I don't think that will happen, though.
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I was sort of thinking the same thing, hilarious scenario: Implement split arenas - numbers plummet so you go back to one.
Well... the numbers didn't exactly plummet after the split... they went up high ;)
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I know, It was just a humorous back and forth scenario :)
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Only to you. :aok
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Mooooooar trgts.....
Its a good thing companies like htc exist and listen to their customers...
Let the horde whinning commense!
:airplane:
>
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please please please make it so that there can't be a huge map off peak. Number of players trigger maybe?
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please please please make it so that there can't be a huge map off peak. Number of players trigger maybe?
milk run some bases...should be easy if the numbers are low
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Thanks for listening to your subscribers HTC !
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Good news indeed regardless of reason
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There is no such thing as Off Peak now. :uhoh
please please please make it so that there can't be a huge map off peak. Number of players trigger maybe?
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Additionally we are currently developing user spawned arenas to serve as an expanded and HTC hosted version of the old 8 player H2H. The introduction of this feature will also lessen the need for a second late war arena.
[/quote] :O :O :O :O :x
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:banana:
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On the flip side it should increase numbers in MW and AVA now.
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(http://4gifs.com/gallery/d/185461-1/Quiet_you.gif)
On the flip side it should increase numbers in MW and AVA now.
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Finally.... :banana: :x
Now if we can only have a new effective strat system would make this even more awesome..
Thanks HTC..
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Welcome to LAGtopia :old:
JUGgler
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Welcome to LAGtopia :old:
JUGgler
We don't have more players in the single arena now as we had for years in each of the two LW arenas. And players only complained about lag issues on TT back then...
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.....our main arena play numbers no longer justify a second late war arena
Interesting, the concept of super tight caps which was heavily defended a few months ago because it was growing the numbers. Now arena #'s don't justify the split (along with economic reasons). Cyclical market I guess they couldn't grow the player base enough to support the expenses incurred.
Well, at least now it will be more enjoyable to fly with a squad, instead of being split up in a capped arena system for which I never flew in the Blue arena separated from my squad. I instead did other things, refreshing the arena list until Orange opened up.
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We don't have more players in the single arena now as we had for years in each of the two LW arenas. And players only complained about lag issues on TT back then...
I haven't played in awhile, but has it really gotten that low? What are the average numbers these days?
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What an orguzmatic newz !!!!!!!! :x :x :x :banana: YYAYAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOo!!!!!! :banana: :x
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I haven't played in awhile, but has it really gotten that low?
I have posted a chart about MA activity in the "frustration" thread
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LOL....they toss us the tiny map and now all you see are light fighters vulching all fields.
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LOL....they toss us the tiny map and now all you see are light fighters vulching all fields.
So you are unable to post a mission with numbers well above 90 per country, to fly a Fighter Sweep from the nearest field to the vulch one to CAP it?
Tiny map tells me certain squads won't be able to NOE bases not defended anymore, I am loving it.
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:aok
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The only real back lash at this point (due to the lower numbers at this time) are if the "hordes" run rampant and become a bigger problem.
If they do, beware the split arenas again. So a fair warning to all, do what you can to split up the hordes.
You misspelled Solution when you were talking about the "hordes" running rampant.
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The only downfall I see to this is what do you do when you absolutely hate the map thats up. Are they going to rotate regularly or stay up for weeks on end?
Took five hours, then we had the first reset :)
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LOL....they toss us the tiny map and now all you see are light fighters vulching all fields.
Only because they wanted to give you something else to complain about :)
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Took five hours, then we had the first reset :)
And the one arena helps avoid players from exiting, going to another LW arena, thus creating a huge ENY problem for the country attempting to reset the map. Have seen many final pushes highly delayed due to ENY issues.
Unless there was an ENY issue in the one arena map?
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The only real back lash at this point (due to the lower numbers at this time) are if the "hordes" run rampant and become a bigger problem.
If they do, beware the split arenas again. So a fair warning to all, do what you can to split up the hordes.
When the majority of people complain about a hoard or 'gameplay' its because they are one one getting hoarded and not successfully hoarding themselves,
Successful gameplay = I win! :banana: :banana:
Bad gameplay = I lost! :ahand
If successful gameplay involves actual combat is of no importance.
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So you are unable to post a mission with numbers well above 90 per country, to fly a Fighter Sweep from the nearest field to the vulch one to CAP it?
Tiny map tells me certain squads won't be able to NOE bases not defended anymore, I am loving it.
For the majority of players the ONLY mission is a BASE CAPTURE mission. Thats one of the biggest problems is the lack of of some of these squads to use tactical, or strategic missions.
When the majority of people complain about a hoard or 'gameplay' its because they are one one getting hoarded and not successfully hoarding themselves,
Successful gameplay = I win! :banana: :banana:
Bad gameplay = I lost! :ahand
If successful gameplay involves actual combat is of no importance.
You know, that if it turns into 3 hordes AVOIDING each other game play will suffer, and the subscriptions will drop and then HTC WILL step in to "fix" the problem. The last "fix" was split arenas, what could be next?
I'm not saying it WILL be an issue, but the players have a chance to help avoid building a problem, or they can help escalate it.
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I had a blast tonight. Mostly even numbers, good fights, lots of fun in general. Before the map was reset, the fight for the last couple of bases was outstanding. GVs all over, fighters from 20k down to the deck, buffs coming in from different directions... Outstanding! :aok
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It's about time. :aok
On second thought that might have even come off a little harsh. What I meant to say was:
:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :aok
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I had a blast tonight. Mostly even numbers, good fights, lots of fun in general. Before the map was reset, the fight for the last couple of bases was outstanding. GVs all over, fighters from 20k down to the deck, buffs coming in from different directions... Outstanding! :aok
Ditto here...lot of fun!
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Wow, timing is everything.
Just renewed my sub after a couple years away...couldn't be happier about the single MA. I always thought the game lost something when the split arenas came along. I've always enjoyed the squad ops aspect of the game and the split arenas seemed to take away from that for me. Flying squad ops with Joker, Skully, Hapster, Cj and the rest of the guys was some of the best times I can remember in the game...looking forward to flying again.
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:aok
2-6-time? :devil
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I love the new map setup, only 1 arena= lots of fights
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I love the new map setup, only 1 arena= lots of fights
logged in this Euro morning. 100 players + large maps = boring
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logged in this Euro morning. 100 players + large maps = boring
8 eastern...400+ and I made like 50 bomber kills :lol
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logged in this Euro morning. 100 players + large maps = boring
But we have both map types in rotation, large and small, so we will see any combination of numbers and map size once in a while.
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logged in this Euro morning. 100 players + large maps = boring
LOL....they toss us the tiny map and now all you see are light fighters vulching all fields.
:bhead <-- HTC
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Didn't take long for complaints to start, eh?
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Didn't take long for complaints to start, eh?
having a large map during "off hours" will kill off the remaining non-American players. I hope it doesn't but the only thing that makes sense is to keep the boot option but swap the size of the map when the numbers call for it.
During the times we are talking about from 10am - 3pm GMT the player numbers go from a low point of around 50 to 150 odd when the need for another arena kicks in. The only other thing I can think of would be to move the reset back to 12pm central - 6pm GMT but without the caps and a large map things should be fine until you guys go to bed. Then put the off hours small map rotation in from around 4am central to 12 pm again.
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I flew twice last night. Upped once in my PJ and killed 2 OTD buffs and a pony attacking field. There were 2 sets of 17s not 500 off the ground. They kamikazeed to kill all fighter hangers.
Upped an A-20 and got into a turning fight with a spit. After a few turns a 109 came in and shot my tail off.
Not much to impress me last night. There are many more nights ahead though. :D
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having a large map during "off hours" will kill off the remaining non-American players. I hope it doesn't but the only thing that makes sense is to keep the boot option but swap the size of the map when the numbers call for it.
During the times we are talking about from 10am - 3pm GMT the player numbers go from a low point of around 50 to 150 odd when the need for another arena kicks in. The only other thing I can think of would be to move the reset back to 12pm central - 6pm GMT but without the caps and a large map things should be fine until you guys go to bed. Then put the off hours small map rotation in from around 4am central to 12 pm again.
While I do agree, I doubt we will see any kind of boot&switch again. Too much hassle with a single arena setup. We now just will have good days (small map) and bad days (large map) at off hours time. The prime timers will have it the other way around ;)
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Its too bad building maps is such a difficult and time consuming project. What we need now is medium sized maps.
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:bhead <-- HTC
Quoted for truth.
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having a large map during "off hours" will kill off the remaining non-American players. I hope it doesn't but the only thing that makes sense is to keep the boot option but swap the size of the map when the numbers call for it.
During the times we are talking about from 10am - 3pm GMT the player numbers go from a low point of around 50 to 150 odd when the need for another arena kicks in. The only other thing I can think of would be to move the reset back to 12pm central - 6pm GMT but without the caps and a large map things should be fine until you guys go to bed. Then put the off hours small map rotation in from around 4am central to 12 pm again.
they don't need to start changing maps at certain times, leave what we have be and see where it goes. it doesn't matter the size of the maps, if people don't want to fight they wont if they do they'll find the fights.
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it doesn't matter the size of the maps, if people don't want to fight they wont if they do they'll find the fights.
Unfortunately as a group people do not act this way. And thus you can see a big difference in the behaviour of the same group of people on a map with low player density compared to a map with higher density.
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having a large map during "off hours" will kill off the remaining non-American players.
Not a bad result really. They should be focusing their effort on the US market. The additional revenue that comes in from overseas players could easily be made up with a little more marketing and by not running off US customers due to afflicting them with special circumstances designed for a group which is a minority (and usually has laggy connections to boot).
I know that sounds harsh, but it is my honest opinion.
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:bhead <-- HTC
:rofl Without a doubt...
:cheers: Coogan
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Not a bad result really. They should be focusing their effort on the US market. The additional revenue that comes in from overseas players could easily be made up with a little more marketing and by not running off US customers due to afflicting them with special circumstances designed for a group which is a minority (and usually has laggy connections to boot).
I know that sounds harsh, but it is my honest opinion.
Yes, I really can't see why the 'American only' business model hasn't caught on among other online gaming companies :headscratch:
As for the laggy connections, I don't know whether to :rofl or :bhead
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Not a bad result really. They should be focusing their effort on the US market. The additional revenue that comes in from overseas players could easily be made up with a little more marketing and by not running off US customers due to afflicting them with special circumstances designed for a group which is a minority (and usually has laggy connections to boot).
I know that sounds harsh, but it is my honest opinion.
FYI Aces high is only 10 euros a month here, while most games are 15€. Also not everyone works at daytime, making the game enjoyable 24/24 can't be that bad.
And funny enough I have a better connection from France than a lot of US players.
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Yes, I really can't see why the 'American only' business model hasn't caught on among other online gaming companies :headscratch:
As for the laggy connections, I don't know whether to :rofl or :bhead
You can’t compare this game and this company to other games and gaming companies. They are obviously not trying to gain a subscribership the size of some of the other companies. They have stated that their goal is to maintain a small, tight knit company that provides a good source of income for their entire team (not their words exactly but it is the general idea). With that business model and goal in mind, it would make more sense to focus on the US and let the players from the other countries subscribe but live with the consequences of a US focus rather than try to make everyone happy and in the end irritate the majority.
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FYI Aces high is only 10 euros a month here, while most games are 15€. Also not everyone works at daytime, making the game enjoyable 24/24 can't be that bad.
And funny enough I have a better connection from France than a lot of US players.
I can already see that selfishness is going to cloud reason and logic for our friends across the pond. What I am saying just makes sense. There is no amount of whining that is going to change that.
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:rolleyes:
sorry I thought you were seriously that stupid, didn't realise it's just a weak troll ;p
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I can already see that selfishness is going to cloud reason and logic for our friends across the pond. What I am saying just makes sense. There is no amount of whining that is going to change that.
please explain how it is selfish to ask for a small map at night and a large map during day.
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It was ok once the small map was replaced but it took the bishop 5 hours to capture the last base necessary to win the war.
That map is fine in off hours but just a little too small for titanic tuesdays or peak hours.
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:rolleyes:
sorry I thought you were seriously that stupid, didn't realise it's just a weak troll ;p
Sorry, this is not a troll. Respectfully, not being able to grasp what I am saying shows a lack of cognitive ability on your part. It does not take much imagination to consider how much HTC may have lost from the off-hours arena debacle. If non-US players are 2% of the subscribership, it does not take many people in that other 98% to be irritated and cancel their subscription and therefore negate any extra revenue that the off-hours arena created. Which, by the way, probably wasn’t very much extra revenue because after all, the non-US players were playing at the time of the implementation of the off-hours arena and I doubt many non-US people magically signed up because of it. Therefore, as you should be able to grasp, catering to a minority of players is not a good business decision at all.
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please explain how it is selfish to ask for a small map at night and a large map during day.
It is selfish because it is what will make you happy and you do not care what makes HTC money and what is best for the majority of the players. People hate playing late on Friday and Saturday night, getting into good fights and working on areas of the map only to have it change bringing everything to a grinding halt. This irritates people and you forcing everyone to live with it to the business disadvantage of HTC is selfish (a slice of the majority will quit because of this - see previous posts). Just be happy with the game the way it is. Please, for everyone's sake.
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It is selfish because it is what will make you happy and you do not care what makes HTC money and what is best for the majority of the players. People hate playing late on Friday and Saturday night, getting into good fights and working on areas of the map only to have it change bringing everything to a grinding halt. This irritates people and you forcing everyone to live with it to the business disadvantage of HTC is selfish (a slice of the majority will quit because of this - see previous posts). Just be happy with the game the way it is. Please, for everyone's sake.
we already saw how well small maps work at prime time - my wish as a downside (arena switch) but it was meant to improve gameplay at all times. Not just for me.
I view this as a player and guessing HTC's business plan and % of players from each country isn't my problem.
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It is selfish because it is what will make you happy and you do not care what makes HTC money and what is best for the majority of the players. People hate playing late on Friday and Saturday night, getting into good fights and working on areas of the map only to have it change bringing everything to a grinding halt. This irritates people and you forcing everyone to live with it to the business disadvantage of HTC is selfish (a slice of the majority will quit because of this - see previous posts). Just be happy with the game the way it is. Please, for everyone's sake.
Hats off to Sunbat for not allowing his head to explode while making a concise, even-headed, lucid argument.
Changeup
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Sorry, this is not a troll. Respectfully, not being able to grasp what I am saying shows a lack of cognitive ability on your part. It does not take much imagination to consider how much HTC may have lost from the off-hours arena debacle. If non-US players are 2% of the subscribership, it does not take many people in that other 98% to be irritated and cancel their subscription and therefore negate any extra revenue that the off-hours arena created. Which, by the way, probably wasn’t very much extra revenue because after all, the non-US players were playing at the time of the implementation of the off-hours arena and I doubt many non-US people magically signed up because of it. Therefore, as you should be able to grasp, catering to a minority of players is not a good business decision at all.
Your suggestion that our disagreeing with your post was based on emotion ('selfishness' and 'whining' were thrown out randomly as bait on your hook :lol ) rather than because of the obvious reason, that it was a moronic post, is what I would call a troll
HTC's servers are generally running 24 hours a day, presumably at some kind of cost to them. Why in the world would they not cater to the players who want to pay them to use those servers, at times when most of the core playerbase are asleep or at work and not using them? I sure hope you don't run a business ;)
edit: I will happily concede that things would be very different if the transatlantic AH flyers were much smaller in number...it really would be pointless to cater to such a tiny minority. But that's not the case (yet!)
And laggy European connections spoiling the gameplay for others? Either pure stupidity, or pure troll. :salute :aok Cya
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My theory that skull thickness is directly proportional to tooth yellowness is proving to be true.
EDIT: I've said my piece, I may make this a thread in the wishlist - I wish HTC would ignore the minority. For now I am done.
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I do notice some lagginess, and I attribute this to people like a squadie of mine who has his girlfriend online watching movies while he's flying, Lag does happen just be thankful you haven't played video games in the 90s when dial up was the major internet.
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My theory that skull thickness is directly proportional to tooth yellowness is proving to be true.
Ok I get it it's xenophobia. :salute
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My theory that skull thickness is directly proportional to tooth yellowness is proving to be true.
EDIT: I've said my piece, I may make this a thread in the wishlist - I wish HTC would ignore the minority. For now I am done.
:rofl
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I understand what Bat is saying but I think he has his numbers wrong. If the euro group was less than 10% of the player I could see him saying "don't waste time helping the 10% only to hurt the other 90". However, if you go by populations euro prime time is 100-150 and US prime time is 300-350 then our euro brother make up a third of the subscribers, no small number.
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perfect solution.....seriously
open a small mapped arena at night WITHOUT closing the Arena that is the Main MA, simple.
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perfect solution.....seriously
open a small mapped arena at night WITHOUT closing the Arena that is the Main MA, simple.
People will go were other already are. We had that before ;)
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I understand what Bat is saying but I think he has his numbers wrong. If the euro group was less than 10% of the player I could see him saying "don't waste time helping the 10% only to hurt the other 90". However, if you go by populations euro prime time is 100-150 and US prime time is 300-350 then our euro brother make up a third of the subscribers, no small number.
A huge part, if not the majority (I'd almost bet the latter) of euro prime time players is actually US based.
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People will go were other already are. We had that before ;)
I know this...but then they have no excuse to whine :t
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perfect solution.....seriously
open a small mapped arena at night WITHOUT closing the Arena that is the Main MA, simple.
We used to have 2 arenas during busy hours and 1 during the quiet hours.
Now you want to go the other way? 1 arena during the busy hours and 2 during the quiet hours?
I think we should take it further:
1000 people online: 1 arena
500 people online: 2 arenas
100 people online: 4 arenas
10 people online: 27 arenas
;)
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We used to have 2 arenas during busy hours and 1 during the quiet hours.
Now you want to go the other way? 1 arena during the busy hours and 2 during the quiet hours?
I think we should take it further:
1000 people online: 1 arena
500 people online: 2 arenas
100 people online: 4 arenas
10 people online: 27 arenas
;)
no...... I don't care what they do, im just making a suggestion, I was being a bit
fa·ce·tious
adjective /fəˈsēSHəs/
Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant
Web definitions
bantering: cleverly amusing in tone; "a bantering tone"; "facetious remarks"; "tongue-in-cheek advice"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facetious
Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant; Pleasantly humorous, jocular
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facetious
facetiously - not seriously; "I meant it facetiously"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
facetiousness - playful humor
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
facetiousness - The state of being facetious; The product or result of being facetious
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facetiousness
Not meant to be taken seriously or literally; amusing or humorous
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you guys like to argue over nothing.
there was a large map last night, I played until 2 am pacific time. there was (were?) 2 furballs, one with the rooks, one with the bishops. I flew at most 4 min and that was to get some high bishop buffs. against the rooks it was a 10 second flight since they were trying to get our field. it was fun from the time I logged in 10 pm pst till I literally fell asleep in my chair at 2 am pst.
I fly mostly at night and I can swear that most of the guys there wanted 1 arena with more numbers rather than 2 arenas with few players and it was not due to the euro players. but here in the bb's you both make it sound like it's a us v euro. when the opposite it's true. most guys just want numbers and dont really care if it is a big map or a small map because maps do not guarantee fights players do. a small map still has 7 or 8 fields facing each of the other 2 countries. and when you only have 70 or 80 players then you can still have no fights same as if you had 20 fields facing the other two countries.
semp
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Looks like I got out just in time. Now, instead of big hordes there will be MEGA-big hordes :lol
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Looks like I got out just in time. Now, instead of big hordes there will be MEGA-big hordes :lol
Yet you still come back and whine??? Hermz :huh
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:bhead <-- HTC
Absolute truth. I could not believe the map whine going on when I logged in last night. Who the hell cares. Shoot em down, blow em up, but quit whining :)
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Looks like I got out just in time. Now, instead of big hordes there will be MEGA-big hordes :lol
You are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooo right :salute
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when I logged in earlier the format was
EW xxx/450
MW xxx/450
LW xxx/ 450
So has prime time managed to get up to 450 yet? and what do the other guys do when it does? :t
No reset to the arena just keep rolling with the varied rotation of large and small maps. The players reset the small ones super fast but the big ones take awhile?
Personally I don't mind too much about the map as long as we do not go back to having the same one up for weeks without it resetting but i'm sure that will not be the case with 20% war win rules.
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You are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooo right :salute
The new term is Gigahorde. Carry on....
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What does this change have to do with there being a small/large map during off hours? In the previous set up the off hours map size was either large or small, same as now. HTC can't cater to the minority group, and switching arenas in the middle of a fight just kills momentum, I'm sorry Euro guys. You'd be better off launching an Aces High marketing campaign in your respective countries and getting more players to join the game so there will be more players on during your times. I'm sure Hitech Creations would help those of you who are serious about it.
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In the previous set up the off hours map size was either large or small, same as now.
No, it was always and exclusively small.
I'm sorry Euro guys. You'd be better off launching an Aces High marketing campaign in your respective countries and getting more players to join the game so there will be more players on during your times.
I still think most players at off hours had always been US ;)
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No, it was always and exclusively small.
Was it? Well that explains the whines then. :aok
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:D
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off hours for the last several months has had what I would class as small maps. At least the 60 or so people could find a fight easier.
The fights are still there on a large map but it is usually only one base per front. Whilst the guys who do want to take bases will go out of their way to capture the undefended ones. The avoiding combat issue will rear its head again if a large map stays stagnate for weeks.
On the other hand players could reset it easier off peak when no-one is there defending. Time will tell, then HTC can act again IF needed ;)
you've suggested some more marketing outside of the US before and it could bring in a bunch of new meat but if someone really wanted to find a game like this it wouldn't be THAT hard to stumble across it, so you would have to assume that everyone who wants to play cartoon planes already is. The "console" type players just wouldn't be prepared to pay the monthly subscription for any serious amount of time (in my opinion).
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In plain English.... actually, in your case, the Queen's English will do, how are the base takers trying to avoid a fight? I could have sworn it was the defenders, not the attackers, that are avoiding a fight.
If you asked somebody that has never played this game, they'd probably agree with me. It isn't the base takers responsibility to defend.
Whilst the guys who do want to take bases will go out of their way to capture the undefended ones. The avoiding combat issue will rear its head again if a large map stays stagnate for weeks.
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maybe I should have said the base takers that try a different field at the first sign of defence.
Still the facts remain. A large map off hours will result in increased milking, rampant captures of un-defended targets and very little actual fights with human vs human combat. Sounds great :rolleyes:
Variety is the spice of life or so they say. My point was that if the maps do change frequently, so we have small and large ones in equal measures, I'm sure this will do alot to attempt to please everybody.
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The new term is Gigahorde. Carry on....
<cough> TerraHorde - as in terabyte... as in terrain, as in terrible....
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Fair enough good sir! :cheers:
maybe I should have said the base takers that try a different field at the first sign of defence.
Still the facts remain. A large map off hours will result in increased milking, rampant captures of un-defended targets and very little actual fights with human vs human combat. Sounds great :rolleyes:
Variety is the spice of life or so they say. My point was that if the maps do change frequently, so we have small and large ones in equal measures, I'm sure this will do alot to attempt to please everybody.
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SWEET! Might make me resub again
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It's barely been 24-hours, really guys?... remind me again why I'm naturally patient and outgoing for EU and Aussie players?
CALM DOWN AND SIT IN A CORNER!
Please let HTC have a chance to see how happy we (West Coasters) are with not having to switchover and pause/stop our fighting in the middle of our evening indulgence before you guys b!@#$ so much they change it back and we get stuck with it that way forever (something (pardon the irony) "a few" of you guys actually WANT?! :huh :confused: :( )!
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Well, well, well. Looky here. AH going through another genesis.
I have noticed some of the ankle brigade have deserted the "caps are good for the game" wagon even if only to call it temporary and blame it on the summer or the economy.
LOL at Kappas "what are we gonna do if the numbers go up"
having a large map during "off hours" will kill off the remaining non-American players. I hope it doesn't but the only thing that makes sense is to keep the boot option but swap the size of the map when the numbers call for it.
I really don't get your logic here. If I'm not mistaken, there has been one group or another that complains about every single map we have. My question is not directed at Bruv, but everyone who wants a small map at night because they don't like the large ones.
Why would you ask for more arena switches knowing they are pissing people off already, including many of you? Why don't you just ask for a special arena that has a map that suits you every time you're not happy with the selection offered?
Why didn't the Euro players jump ship years ago in single LW when they didnt like the late night map?
And again some of you have stumbled over the issue and failed to see the real problem and the possibility there might be another solution. That issue is the same one that allows conditions for hording to exist as well as being the problem you face at your peak times.
Without any base caps on players, every man on them map can go where ever he wants. People tend to either horde or milk run. There seems to be very little in between except during peak hours where you might have a few smaller groups working on their own.
During peak US times, it results in major hording and during peak Euro times there aren't enough to horde so you get sporadic engagements because people spread out too far killing any hope for decent size fights.
As long as were talking about numbers, I think every Euro player knows damn well that the arena switching caused a lot of players to just quit for the night because they didn't want to wait for numbers or deal with the switch. And you want to keep switching? I'm guessing you will see a 20 to 30% increase in numbers of players just because many will not decide to log off because of arena switch.
And that's not even half the issues and benefits of a base cap. Are you one to claim lag issues in the large furballs? Do I need say more?
Then there's the vastly different strategic game that would exist if an entire country weren't allowed to concentrate their forces at a single location. The list goes on, but I'm not going into all of it.
Don't even get me started about the "cesspool."
All in all, harsh as it might sound, Sunbat is right that the few people that are upset because they cant find good fights on large maps during peak Euro hours is the least of the problems. First thing you should do is endure the map rotation. It doesnt matter if you are for or against the split, you will there will always be times you can't have what you want. The second thing is realize that it's not the map that is the problem and start looking for solutions to the real problems.
htc has been pandering to the minority for too long already and yes it is selfish to ask for something that benefits a vastly smaller portion of the community if it has a negative effect on the majority.
We used to have 2 arenas during busy hours and 1 during the quiet hours.
Now you want to go the other way? 1 arena during the busy hours and 2 during the quiet hours?
I think we should take it further:
1000 people online: 1 arena
500 people online: 2 arenas
100 people online: 4 arenas
10 people online: 27 arenas
GOOD LORD, please don't give them any ideas.
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Why didn't the Euro players jump ship years ago in single LW when they didnt like the late night map?
I can speak only for myself.
- When I came to AH almost 6 years ago, the player number had simply been much higher, generally twice as high at the lowest offhours time as they are today. Years ago, numbers rarely went below 100, lately we had below 50 players, low point I personally witnessed being somewhere around 35.
- Last autumn I actually did jump the ship because I wasn't able to find sufficient action anymore. That's been partly due to low offpeak numbers on large maps in general, was well as the more & more defunct caps mechansim which kicked in at 7pm my time. The offpeak arena brought me back into the game.
But as I said earlier in this thread: The situation now is fine for me. While I would prefer to see small maps during off hours, it's not worth the hassle now that we got the single arena back, and both sizes of maps being in the arena rotation. Overall this is much better for the game in general.
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I While I would prefer to see small maps during off hours, it's not worth the hassle now that we got the single arena back, and both sizes of maps being in the arena rotation. Overall this is much better for the game in general.
I agree,the best maps are still the old ones; Baltic, Small Isle ,Uterus,Mindanao; keeps players concentrated on a small front line, i can find always some action and fun even with low #s.
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- When I came to AH almost 6 years ago, the player number had simply been much higher, generally twice as high at the lowest offhours time as they are today. Years ago, numbers rarely went below 100, lately we had below 50 players, low point I personally witnessed being somewhere around 35.
- Last autumn I actually did jump the ship because I wasn't able to find sufficient action anymore. That's been partly due to low offpeak numbers on large maps in general, was well as the more & more defunct caps mechansim which kicked in at 7pm my time. The offpeak arena brought me back into the game.
But as I said earlier in this thread: The situation now is fine for me. While I would prefer to see small maps during off hours, it's not worth the hassle now that we got the single arena back, and both sizes of maps being in the arena rotation. Overall this is much better for the game in general.
I remember those days. I could log on any day of the week at 2am, my time, and find a hundred guys online with plenty of action going on.
As far as guys jumping ship goes, I couldnt say how many have left because of the arena splits but in that regards one of the biggest problems is the lack of real change in this game.
This is basically the same game as Warbirds and Air Warrior 15 some-odd years ago. Not going to dredge up old wish lists, but it seems too many people think it's all about them and they have not a single stitch of creativity in their rock. I cant count how many times I see "-1 it adds nothing to game play but updating my _____ will change the game forever."
OBVIOUSLY, top of the line graphics are not what has kept people in this game for a decade.
It's about time they stop making new planes for a while and start thinking about a richer more developed game that sometimes forgets the fact that this is "all about air combat" and remember things like getting shot down behind enemy lines and waiting for hours or days to get picked up or having to E&E was part of that experience too. Not to mention a far more complex and involving strat game that has the potential to attract players with no interest in flying what so ever. They need to take some stock broker advice and diversify.
I would prefer you get the maps you want too, but I don't think more arena switching is the the answer to your problems or AH's.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3TUWU_yg4s&feature=related
No more logging on at 1 a.m. EST and being forced into an arena with 30 people on a large map and no one to fight! No more arena closing just when things are getting good! No more one side swarming into one arena and abandoning the other, putting both massively out of balance!
I don't know where all this stuff about no fights to be found comes from. I was just on for 3 hours tonight and there were plenty of hard fights for anyone who wanted one, no shortage of hard-pressed attacks or tenacious defenses. More people on the map means bigger attacking hordes, but it also means more defenders available to up and defend against the horde - if people are willing to do it. Increased player density can only mean MORE fighting.
I do hope the subscription numbers recover, but I think this will only help
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The single LW Arena is got to be the right thing for now - I used to go to the LW Arena with the biggest numbers in. What I looked for was simple, a place where there was fighting going on. It really didn't matter to me what the size of the map was, so long as there were some hot spots to have fun. If I found that there was no real action going off in either LW Arena I would probably give it a go, but unless I can find some fights fairly quickly I would log off.
I have absolutely no doubt that the recession hits everything and this is a sensible change for the time being. Numbers will go up when the recession ends although I suspect it may be difficult to get back to a previous peak.
The bottom line is that HTC needs players. Not just new ones, but holding onto those it already has. It's all about enjoyment and in a multi-player environment. Ulitmately, if you don't have the players it does not work, whatever the initial reason for joining.
I was seriously considering packing it in for lack of action. - I just hope that this works.
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I have absolutely no doubt that the recession hits everything and this is a sensible change for the time being. .
I doubt the recession is the main reason for low #s,i was about to quit also, and i know many many players who canceled account for arena split, caps, unbalanced gaming and a lack of game goal. Also,the squads are the basic organized cells in this game like families for a growing society, the settings over past years dissolved squads, can't play in the same arena and was no reason for organized team fight because was nothing to fight for ,only the score . This settings are great now, but more strategy would be fun; HQ /strats destroyed should affect country resources and be part of map reset/ win war, encourage large scale fights/ raids.
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The new strat system was kind of cool at first but it I do think if we broke them up again, as well as maybe keeping the size of the areas around it as destroyable buildings, it might give us a boost. Lusche had mentioned in another thread about Country Morale.... Maybe destroying the strats themselves only bring production down to 35%, but if we were to destroy the towns around the strats to bring it to a full stop..... Oh that might be worth wild.
SNIP........This settings are great now, but more strategy would be fun; HQ /strats destroyed should affect country resources and be part of map reset/ win war, encourage large scale fights/ raids.
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I doubt the recession is the main reason for low #s,i was about to quit also, and i know many many players who canceled account for arena split, caps, unbalanced gaming and a lack of game goal. Also,the squads are the basic organized cells in this game like families for a growing society, the settings over past years dissolved squads, can't play in the same arena and was no reason for organized team fight because was nothing to fight for ,only the score . This settings are great now, but more strategy would be fun; HQ /strats destroyed should affect country resources and be part of map reset/ win war, encourage large scale fights/ raids.
I think - and I might be wrong, it's just a shot in the dark - that the split arena and the caps weren't a problem initially, but as the numbers started to decline due to the economy, they became a problem on their own.
For a about two years after the split numbers were high (mostly higher than before the split), and caps were annoying but not that much of a problem, as there were always two LW arenas with sufficient action, no "empty rooms".
But when the number began to drop (about autumn/winter 20008) the rigid caps, with their basically unchanged times and trigger levels, stood more and more in the way of players trying to get action at "unlucky" times. We Euro players do remember 180/100 - 20/200 in the evening. Where it once took 1 hour to normalize it ended up last year with up to 4 hours "downtime".
And it is my believe that at this point the caps, which once worked "fine" (well, more or less) did start to be a serious problem. And note that the "loss" of players (measured in terms of activity in the arenas) began to accelerate in 2010. It might be because of what I just described.
But of course - I just speculate, but do not know ;)
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The only real back lash at this point (due to the lower numbers at this time) are if the "hordes" run rampant and become a bigger problem.
If they do, beware the split arenas again. So a fair warning to all, do what you can to split up the hordes.
Are saying that the split arenas prevented "hordes"? Because that never happened in any arena I was in. "hordes" were alive and well.
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HTC never said, anywhere that I saw, that arenas were split due to hordes (or any particular form of play). It was announced at the time that it was being done because of the unhealthy attitudes that at least some players were showing (perhaps amplifying is better) after the player base had grown rapidly. Perhaps someone can find the announcement thread?
When this game started there was a lot of very open and friendly cooperation and coordination across "country" lines. You knew just about everyone who played. There was always one or two unfriendly types but they were a minority. It wasn't a garden of Eden but it was certainly different from where it was when the arena split was announced. Rapid surges in growth occurred when a couple of other similar games closed down or imploded. Things changed.
The influx of new players brought many good things with them. Skills, special events, map makers and other such wonders. They also brought some baggage. Attitude and aggression directed personally against other players seemed to rise. Is it too much to say that some player relationships approached hatred? The atmosphere developing was very negative and it was impacting immediately upon new players entering the game. It possibly wasn't unusual for a 2-weeker to be abused out of the game before the trial was up. It surely caused some stress to HTC.
I presumed at the time that the arena split was an attempt to re-develop the relationships that were more typical when the community was smaller and 350 was a big day in the arena. I welcomed it as such.
Whether it worked or not is subjective for us and objective only for those who keep the official stats. It surely had a cost/benefit and only HTC knows if it had measurable benefits in player retention and decreased complaints about behaviour.
Interestingly, one of the benefits of that big player influx was the growth of special events. It is the only place in AH world, that I am aware of, that has re-kindled that old warmness of a game being played amongst friends rather than the slight feeling of uncomfortably lurching toward a gang war between inconsolable Ultras you get on some nights in the MA.
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most fun I've had all day in looooooong time.
never liked the arena split, never saw the point.
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Last night was the first time I've gotten to log on since the single main was reimplemented. It was more fun than I've had in years here.
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Last night was the first time I've gotten to log on since the single main was reimplemented. It was more fun than I've had in years here.
Same here. I was trying to log off for hours. I just couldn't :x :rock
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Yupp and what i like now is the 200 crying.....HORDES HORDES HORDES......... :rofl :rofl.....Get it right...IT'S MEGA HORDES :rofl :rofl :rofl. So all you that wanted 1 arena.....get use to it :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl
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Same here. I was trying to log off for hours. I just couldn't :x :rock
me too. :aok :banana: :banana: :banana:
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It's like being addicted to crack, and your dealers calls you up and says "All your drugs are free now, how much do you want?".
Can't
stop
playing
...
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Yupp and what i like now is the 200 crying.....HORDES HORDES HORDES......... :rofl :rofl.....Get it right...IT'S MEGA HORDES :rofl :rofl :rofl. So all you that wanted 1 arena.....get use to it :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl
I didn't see any HORDES, I saw a lot more missions, I saw large number of fighters defending, flying BAR CAPS and CAPS. I saw fighter strikes, bomber missions.
You do understand that the idea behind war is to hit the other guy with more people then he can hit you with, right?
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The increased Mega Locust Swams... Now garanteed every day of the week makes me vomit. :uhoh
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The increased Mega Locust Swams... Now guaranteed every day of the week makes me vomit. :uhoh
Then do not go fly near where they are operating.
"Doctor, my head really hurts after striking it repeatedly with a hammer..............."
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I didn't see any HORDES, I saw a lot more missions, I saw large number of fighters defending, flying BAR CAPS and CAPS. I saw fighter strikes, bomber missions.
You do understand that the idea behind war is to hit the other guy with more people then he can hit you with, right?
You do understand this is a game, not war, right? ;)
It's supposed to be fun for everyone. Unfortunately, everyone has a different idea of what's fun. People should just do what's fun FOR THEMSELVES, and quit worrying about all the others that don't play "their way".
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There are 3 arenas where there are no hordes. That's 75% of the server space.
If you hate hordes, gather your hundreds or thousands of followers/believers and lead them there. Prove that those unter-people that are deluding themselves that they are having fun, and paying a good dollar to do so, are simply some lower form of on-line gamer unable to display to higher qualities of the purist. If nobody rolls up, that is good too. There's more you can do.
You can simply continue to whine on the boards that the other kids won't play how you want them to and then go off and keep playing with yourself.
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surf's up, ride the waves!!! :airplane:
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Popcorn?
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Sea sickness
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Yupp and what i like now is the 200 crying.....HORDES HORDES HORDES......... :rofl :rofl.....Get it right...IT'S MEGA HORDES :rofl :rofl :rofl. So all you that wanted 1 arena.....get use to it :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl
I havent seen any megahordes. Just large groups of people fighting one another At one point Knits were trying to take 1 base and the rooks tried slipping past from 1 and taking one of ours. Enough people responded to the attack to hold the rooks at bay till it became evident that we were not going ot be successful taking the base knits were after, so more and more upped to defend 16. Ending result was something of a chessmatch that ended in a stalemate and yet another fight between 1 and 16.
Looking around the map there were plenty of fights both large and small to take part in And just about anything you felt like doing was there for the taking.
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I havent seen any megahordes.
I did.
Both Rooks and Bish had their times when massive swarms were rolling over the map, grabbing a dozen bases almost uncontested during 2-3 hours. Interestingly the guys complaining most about that weren't the fighters but landgrabbers who do not hesitate to be part of a smash & grab horde themselves. They only whine when the enemy does it ("They never fight each other, always gang us")
But then, everything also was to be had. At the flank of such a swarm, I had the longest 1v1 in ages. The great thing with having more than 300 players on a large map is the overall increase of variety. There will be boring horde steamrolls, but also giant extended battles, minor clashes at remote locations, and finally I saw a good deal of bomber missions back in game - a thing that was particularly hard to organize with arena caps as low as we had seen recently.
I prefer facing a horde over an anemic arena every day of the week.
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The game is fun again. Period. I wish I had more time to play. /pleasantsunbat
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I did.
But then, everything also was to be had. At the flank of such a swarm, I had the longest 1v1 in ages. The great thing with having more than 300 players on a large map is the overall increase of variety. There will be boring horde steamrolls, but also giant extended battles, minor clashes at remote locations, and finally I saw a good deal of bomber missions back in game - a thing that was particularly hard to organize with arena caps as low as we had seen recently.
I prefer facing a horde over an anemic arena every day of the week.
Ok saw one last night but...
I agree with you on every point. As Sunbat else just said. "The game is fun again"
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The Locusts are swarming, but at least the Knights havent had a problem avoiding it (or finding it) since the arena changes, consistantly during my play times.
I think the Hordes offer something that many want to experience at least once if not during their whole evening of play. I think it would help if we could add other things/missions on the side of the "hordes" to offer tempting rewards to players looking for some reaction to their action on the other team. Hordes are kind of an instant mindless form of this, head to the flame, shoot down two bad guys before being shot down yourself, and bam, you feel rewarded.
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It's fun but could be better if the Horde vrs Horde fight would break off into multiple bases being attacked.
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It's fun but could be better if the Horde vrs Horde fight would break off into multiple bases being attacked.
It happens, but only if the two locations are similar or equal to the shortest flight times to reach the fight. Currently I feel it's a one-base-pony-n-horde-show due to the map up, typicaly it's one massive horde at the one base with the obvious shortest distance. However if after a few base takes or a map change, there is multiple airfields at the same reltively short distance from each other, multiple fights will break out regularly with usually one being the biggest and most constantly fueled horde-mash.
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Megahorde = Organized attack
Being in another country not thrilled to see Bish or Rook large numbers but I have to respect the people who organize the members into those missions. :salute
Used to be one of them (but still a Knight) back in the MAW days. Been flying since AH began and the MAW came over from AW. Funny to see people upset about the large numbers. Makes me wonder where they go when they login. To an empty base? If AH2 was not about capturing or destroying bases, then it would look like the WW1 arena with 3 bases to up and furball. Talk about a horde. These maps are so big I don't know how anyone can complain about megahordes. Lots of other places to go.
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I used to get ripped from the oldtimers when I challenged caps.
Allz I gotz to say iz :banana:
Still, I think there should be two LW arenas with no cap in either.
One map Big. One map Small. Got a complaint? This ends them all.
I'll be in the back if anyone needs me. :aok
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:x :banana:
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Megahorde = Organized attack
Being in another country not thrilled to see Bish or Rook large numbers but I have to respect the people who organize the members into those missions. :salute
Used to be one of them (but still a Knight) back in the MAW days. Been flying since AH began and the MAW came over from AW. Funny to see people upset about the large numbers. Makes me wonder where they go when they login. To an empty base? If AH2 was not about capturing or destroying bases, then it would look like the WW1 arena with 3 bases to up and furball. Talk about a horde. These maps are so big I don't know how anyone can complain about megahordes. Lots of other places to go.
I have no issues with "organized" hordes that pop the double dar bar saying "here we are..I dare you". Thats the few times the adrenaline really gets going in this game. Even in the "unorganized hordes" Where a country just finds feilds of oppurtunity to roll over, you can have a great deal of fun with easy targets that you can mostly gaurantee are going to be easy targets being that they are always heavy with ords.
I just absolutley despise the "organized NOE" missions and Im glad they arent running rampant lke they were back then. Something about it is just so sissy like. Kind of like girl slapping the biggest guy in the bar. running away and then gloating how much you PWNED in a fight :old:
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NOE is great - wish there were many many more of them. Love to fly them. Love to fight them.
Astonishes me that so many whiners can't find anything better to do than complain about people having fun - fun that those people are happily paying for. Why should they be stopped? Because they won't play the way you want them to?
Taking away peoples fun won't suddenly make them want to play with you in your small sandpit with your small rules. They'll just leave like the couple of thousand that have already over the last year or so.
Saw two hordes yesterday. One was a horde of PT boats and the other a horde of Ju87s. That kind of thing must be stopped! Won't somebody think of the children?
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NOE is great - wish there were many many more of them. Love to fly them. Love to fight them.
Astonishes me that so many whiners can't find anything better to do than complain about people having fun - fun that those people are happily paying for. Why should they be stopped? Because they won't play the way you want them to?
Taking away peoples fun won't suddenly make them want to play with you in your small sandpit with your small rules. They'll just leave like the couple of thousand that have already over the last year or so.
Saw two hordes yesterday. One was a horde of PT boats and the other a horde of Ju87s. That kind of thing must be stopped! Won't somebody think of the children?
Wasnt it you that sent out an Emergency broadcast system alert not too long ago inquiring to HTC about a country getting ganged by the other 2 sides and how awful it is for gameplay? YES i remember, I was having such fun thrashing at someone elses expense. Thanks for taking away my "fun"
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Still, I think there should be two LW arenas with no cap in either.
One map Big. One map Small. Got a complaint? This ends them all.
:aok
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I used to get ripped from the oldtimers when I challenged caps.
Allz I gotz to say iz :banana:
Still, I think there should be two LW arenas with no cap in either.
One map Big. One map Small. Got a complaint? This ends them all.
I'll be in the back if anyone needs me. :aok
Yes and call it "The Toolshedding Arena" since that will be the only players in it. And make sure it has a different scoring system, since there is no reason an arena with 400+ players should be scored the same as one that will average 20 players. :aok
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Wasnt it you that sent out an Emergency broadcast system alert not too long ago inquiring to HTC about a country getting ganged by the other 2 sides and how awful it is for gameplay? YES i remember, I was having such fun thrashing at someone elses expense. Thanks for taking away my "fun"
Nope. You didn't read what I wrote then, or if you did, you didn't understand it. You certainly don't "remember" anything. Admittedly it contained zero detail for you to understand simply because it wasn't addressed to you, meant for you, or even relevant to you. I will fill in some of the background detail of what was happening back then so you can fit it into your cosmic all.
On the country channel, for the side I was playing with that day, there was an enormous amount of abuse directed at HTC generally and HiTech himself specifically. There was lots of nastiness out there. It was foul. It wasn't out of line letting HT know that he was being talked about. I was enjoying myself playing - having quite a good time with the game play in fact. I would have loved for the game play to continue as it was. I simply alerted HT to the situation that was arising out of respect for him/them. Any and all actions he took were his own, influenced not at all by me. If he ruined your fun, that was his decision. You're misinterpreting at best.
My post in this thread is all about making the point that you don't retain existing customers by taking things away from them, especially things that they enjoy. In business, it is far more expensive to win a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer. If you have a desire to change the balance of player effort, it is better to do so with carrots than with sticks. There have been a number of changes (some now reversed) that have clearly been greeted negatively by the broad playing base. Most never come to this BBS. Why would they? It's just as easy to take your money elsewhere. They say nothing and leave.
Negative crying on this BBS to end NOE, hordes, sneaks, easy base capture, map resets, low bombing, high bombing, mass bombing, suicide bombing, furballing, is as endless as it is tiresome. There was even a recent post asking for an end to new additions to the plane-set!
Truth is that if you want to fight alone it's easy to do. If you want to avoid a horde it's easy to do. If you want to ignore base-capture it's easy to do. If you want form a horde it's getting easier to do. If you want to avoid furballing it's easy to do and all that without impacting on the broad player base. If you're worried about some horde coming in and taking your base - don't panic! They won't/can't take them all. There's always another. Goodness gracious you could even have a go at taking one of theirs while the horde is busy elsewhere. There is absolutely no need to stop other people doing things that bring them reward simply because you can't or won't get into it.
I'm not picking on you or looking for an argument with you. Your post about NOE and how you despise them and their sissy like qualitys and bar-room girl slapping is clearly a masterful troll. Congrats you got a bite and I get a chance to make a point. Well done and thanks.
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I flew in MW a bit then went to LW. I tried upping at a base that had a vHord but they kept trying to vulch me. My last attempt one finally made contact and got me as I started rolling. I went to next base, flew in, and ended up landing 5 scalps.
All you have to do is get airborn to deal with most hords.
I had fun.
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I flew in MW a bit then went to LW. I tried upping at a base that had a vHord but they kept trying to vulch me. My last attempt one finally made contact and got me as I started rolling. I went to next base, flew in, and ended up landing 5 scalps.
All you have to do is get airborn to deal with most hords.
I had fun.
Hehehe. I saw numbers in EW last night (still some of my favorite plane matchups). There were 16 bish, 2 nits (plus me) and 3 rooks. There were 16 V-dudes...
Saw nit base flashing, three of us slapped them back. I had maybe 8 kills, but didn't land any due to collisions. After those fun 20 minutes, they stayed in the tower for at least 60-90 minutes. I finally logged after a couple of little fights with others who upped to actually fight. I wonder how many bases they took after I left.
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Yes and call it "The Toolshedding Arena" since that will be the only players in it. And make sure it has a different scoring system, since there is no reason an arena with 400+ players should be scored the same as one that will average 20 players. :aok
Oh, that's right. There is a scoring system. I forgot.
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Hehehe. I saw numbers in EW last night (still some of my favorite plane matchups). There were 16 bish, 2 nits (plus me) and 3 rooks. There were 16 V-dudes...
Saw nit base flashing, three of us slapped them back. I had maybe 8 kills, but didn't land any due to collisions. After those fun 20 minutes, they stayed in the tower for at least 60-90 minutes. I finally logged after a couple of little fights with others who upped to actually fight. I wonder how many bases they took after I left.
thats when you bring a squad in there and chased the girls around, if they attack the other country your not on then change countries, i dont understand what kind of thrill you get from taking bases when theres no one online for that country ( or 1 or 2 players) to defend.
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thats when you bring a squad in there and chased the girls around, if they attack the other country your not on then change countries, i dont understand what kind of thrill you get from taking bases when theres no one online for that country ( or 1 or 2 players) to defend.
Can't chase them if they just stay in the tower until you leave.
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Can't chase them if they just stay in the tower until you leave.
lol that takes the cake it really does, i mean how afraid can one be of dying in a Cartoon plane, is score that important that you must avoid real people to acheive some greater cartoon pilot glory. maybe that's why they fly against no one or when the odds greatly favor them. i see it as being afraid to learn the game. PM me sometime when its happening I'll round up people that will actually fight.
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Wouldn't having the score obsessed players milking in another arena be a good thing for the majority of players that don't give a rats 6?
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Wouldn't having the score obsessed players milking in another arena be a good thing for the majority of players that don't give a rats 6?
It would be kind of silly for the two arenas to have the same scoring though. I don't think it would be a bad idea to "offer a choice" even though in reality, the arena with the better map will be where everyone flies and the other will be left a ghost town.
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It would be kind of silly for the two arenas to have the same scoring though. I don't think it would be a bad idea to "offer a choice" even though in reality, the arena with the better map will be where everyone flies and the other will be left a ghost town.
Scoring is already silly, considering the way people approach the game differently. At least there would be a choice for all of the people that want small or big maps and crowded or dead arenas.