Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Lusche on November 20, 2011, 08:22:52 PM
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While working on my stats compilation, I noticed that the current tour activity indicators (kills, hours, pilots, etc.) don't differ that much from the same time last year, yet each time I log on the numbers I see on the login screen are far worse.
After checking some more numbers, my notes seem to support my perception: A disproportionately high loss of activity during off-hours compared to US peak time over the past few years.
Of course that makes me wonder... If my perception is correct, what could be the reason? Less non-US players? Fewer squeakers? Or lemming behaviour: Players logging in only when they expect the numbers to be "sufficiently" high? (same effect that keeps the minor arenas...minor)
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I haven't played this current tour but in the 2 previous tours I'd log in after 1am cst. The first thing I noticed was the lack of Raw Prawns (Aussies) and the Black Knights (Germans I believe).
Also, I thought the numbers were down by 15 or 20 players per country at the same time from the year before. This year I noticed that once the eny kicked in, usually on Rooks side having the most players at around 50 or so, most would log off around 3am and the arena would balance out to around 20 on each side. Most would do their own thing, if anything at all, while a small group would take undefended bases. It got really boring after only 2 months back, hense why I probably haven't played this tour.
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Lusche,
When did the mega horde become the prominent scene of action? All do respect to all squads and players, this is not a hate the player post, so please don't make it into one.
I work at night, and play during the very lean off hours, routinely. So, I have several ideas about what influences low off peak hour numbers.
1) NO FIGHTS, zero, none, nada.....
2) STAGNANT MAPS, been around more than 5 days, and every flight takes more than 8 minutes to see any action
3) FUTILITY IN DEFENSE, large mobs of players taking your stuff and nothing you can do about it..... again nada....
4) LOW CHANCES OF MAP RESET, many players will stay logged in longer if they had any feeling that maps could be won with low numbers
5) LEMINGS KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT in early morning play, the second the clipboard map is revealed to them, and those options would be either #1 thru #4.
Forum Posters asked for challenging gameplay when they had 50% towns with white flags, so this is what they have asked for. Could you imagine splitting the arena now with 65 players in the LWMA?
Lusche, the question is why are the numbers not GROWING, when HTC is rolling out better upgraded graphics and more toys? Subscriptions staying the same, doesn't sound all that convincing to me for a strong product. I believe numbers go up and down and hit plateaus as a function of external factors.
I am very excited about a number of things that HTC has released in the past few years. I just wish for a more FUN "capture / perk / eny / something", to give me a reason to want to fly with a small group and chuckle it up on the way to handle some cartoon country business.
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Even though I expected to have a lot more free time this tour I was very busy and had very little time to play (less then 2 hours). :cry
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Less non-US players? Fewer squeakers? Or lemming behaviour: Players logging in only when they expect the numbers to be "sufficiently" high? (same effect that keeps the minor arenas...minor)
I don't know if you should limit it to non-us players, I have noticed a significant decrease in the player base and I live on the west coast of the US. My experience from the few times I have logged on at 4pm (7pm EST) there were a surprising number of players, unlike when I log in more 'normal' times. Its almost if your not in the center of the US or the east coast, its going to be dead. As I said in another thread, its not uncommon for me to log in and see only ~150 players total and have that dwindle to ~60 by 1am.
2 years ago, the numbers were much higher during non Centeral/Eastern US time.
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Lusche, the question is why are the numbers not GROWING, when HTC is rolling out better upgraded graphics and more toys?
Because with the competition in today's market, it's going to take more than eye candy and toys to grow. There's not a lot of compelling gameplay for the average player in the main arenas.
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Because with the competition in today's market, it's going to take more than eye candy and toys to grow. There's not a lot of compelling gameplay for the average player in the main arenas.
We have eye candy?!? :lol
It's just one mans opinion, but I feel that AH looks seriously dated...although I'm not saying that's a big factor in declining player numbers, because I don't think it is...it's probably a very very small part of it though ;]
Chilli's points #1 and #2 nail it for me, I usually enjoy fighting at offpeak times because of the smaller fights and occasional nice 1v1s, last few occassions I've tried to play at those kind of times it's just been completely dead. Nothing going on :(
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I think a free meat pie would increase numbers :old:
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I think a free meat pie would increase numbers :old:
Yes I agree that would bring the Aussies back in force :old:
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It's just one mans opinion, but I feel that AH looks seriously dated...
Could be worse:
(http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/3604/ah1b172.jpg)
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Plse do not tell me that that is looking North East from field A1 on the old Mindinoa terrain....... because then I will know how seriously sad I have become to actually recognise it.
On a non US sales & marketing front my questions would be "what is the route a potential non US player will take to find AH?" and " when he/she finds AH and plays it, what will their reference experiences be when assessing it?"
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Yes I agree that would bring the Aussies back in force :old:
Or the Beaufighter.
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Even if I'm available to play off peak I generally don't because it is boring.
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No doubt we generally do not have the numbers we had 4 years ago, and the reasons for that are manifold. I was just wondering about the disproportional loss at offpeak numbers, which I do have a vital interest in - that's my prime time ;)
And I have to admit that Trinity with only 60 players on isn't really something I'm particularly fond of :uhoh
In the last weeks, I frequently ran into LW numbers at ~75% the level of last year's fall, yet overall activity indices (played hours, kills) hadn't changed that much. That's why I started to ponder if there was any particular clientele that is causing this - perceived - issue.
Even if I'm available to play off peak I generally don't because it is boring.
This kind of thinking (which is by no means unknown to me :o)) may be an accelerator, just as the minor areas suffer from the "nobody goes there because nobody is there" effect.
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Because with the competition in today's market, it's going to take more than eye candy and toys to grow. There's not a lot of compelling gameplay for the average player in the main arenas.
Balderdash! There is no true competition for AH. I'm not implying it's perfect but you can't dismiss it as lacking in gameplay or in not being "compelling"
You make of it what you want. You can fly a fighter, attacker, jabo, bomber, dive bomber, CAP, base defense, long range escort, GV, PT, SOP, DOA, PTA, and any other number of TLA's you want to throw in there.
:devil
It is not any lack of game feature that is the product, because for the most part you can still do everything today that you could 5 years ago. Whatever changes might take place are most likely influenced by other factors.
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Balderdash! There is no true competition for AH.
:D :headscratch:
There is a dam lot of competition out there, because game A does not have to be the same or even just very similar to game B to draw customers away. Long time ago, there were hardly any MMOG's out there, online gaming was very underdeveloped.
Today, you have a vast sea of games to choose from, many more accessible, more attractive in what is commonly called "candy" and with a theme that's much more fascinating to the majority of gamers than AH. And yes: AH is a game too. :P
And even within flying games genre (to avoid the word "sim" for a moment), there is serious and massive competition out there. It doesn't matter if "we" do have this or that which "they" don't, if their overall appear is still higher in the end.
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I'll be beginning my 5th year in January and what is starting eat me is the constant base "rolling" via hordes and the lack of dynamics. By lack of dynamics I mean there is too much "same-same" in AH with regards to month to month occurrences and settings. I for the life of me do not understand how or why HTC simply does not test out new settings. New things to do and accomplish will help keep people here, guaranteed. If a P51D, La7, or even a190A-8 can no longer gun down a concrete reinforced ordnance bunker in 1 or 2 passes, stop and think how that alone would change the game. Since the horde is the new thing (yes, THIS size of horde is a new thing), getting rid of the flag and making the towns %95-98 down for capture would give time for defenders to arrive from a different field. Etc Etc. LOTS of little things change the dynamics of the game and change things up, it draws attention, it creates new challenges.
Radar settings, hardness settings, ENY settings (some aircraft should be lowered *again*), OBJ settings (Ju88 gets worse credit for bombing than a B17?), town capture settings, no tiered system for barracks, ammo, and not enough for fuel, lack of non-base or industrial complex targets to attack (think old strat system), etc. Also, I've been experiencing some very odd and numerous disco's, and my ISP says it is not them but rather the HTC server. It happens w/o warning. That too is not sitting well with me.
I just hope something changes soon for the sake of AH. I enjoy playing the game and the simulation of the combat as there is nothing out there that can match the modeling of the aircraft, etc, but unfortunately some things are starting to add up against my patience in terms of dynamics.
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There is no true competition for AH.
Agreed. Yet.
But if there ever is a credible competitor in the future, what is there to keep people playing AH instead? The gameplay is as stale as the graphics. I imagine the numbers would drop even more drastically.
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Well, I've only been back a few days, but the difference I noticed is that there really aren't many people wanting to fight air to air as much as there used to be during offpeak hours. In the before time, the long(notso) long ago, you could usually find a small furball fight. If there was one or two dots on dar around a field they were generally guys in fighters looking for some low-numbers fighting. Since I've been back, those lonely dots are bombers padding score. This happened before, but you could still find someone to fight. If there is a bigger dar, it's people looking to rush undefended bases. The last few days there have been 50-60 people on, but it's hard to find a fight because they are dropping hangars. General landgrabbing stuff I generally avoid because it's boring to me.
Then again, I've only been back a few days, maybe it's just been bad luck. TBH tho, if it stays the same, I'll probably play other games till the server gets 100 or so people on.
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Lusche: not all games compete with each other. To suggest so would imply people only play one game at a time. I know this is not the case as almost anybody I have ever talked with has played many games. I know I have a collection of different games on my computer.
To compete would require a game in the same genre (ww2 flight sim) and with regards to AH's online presence there is no other alternative.
Coombz: I wouldn't jump to that conclussion. AH has staying power. It's shown that. Nothing lasts forever, but just because an IL2-based MMO pops up (for example) doesn't mean people will leave AH and flock to it. AH has certain standards and physics fidelity that other games haven't shown.
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I'll probably play other games till the server gets 100 or so people on.
Welcome to the club!
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AH has certain standards and physics fidelity that other games haven't shown.
Indeed, that's why I highlighted 'true' from your previous post :aok
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Lusche: not all games compete with each other. To suggest so would imply people only play one game at a time. I know this is not the case as almost anybody I have ever talked with has played many games. I know I have a collection of different games on my computer.
To compete would require a game in the same genre (ww2 flight sim) and with regards to AH's online presence there is no other alternative.
Even different genre's do compete for each other, as they all try to capture the attention, time, and money of the gamers. Once there was not much than you could do in online gaming beyond AH and a few similar games. Today's situation is much different. AH on the shelf must compete with all that other titles in the store, even if they are no "direct" competition. This is even more important if you think about other factors contributing for example lack of a joystick or, particularly important: Disinterest in the theme of this genre. Just like in real life, some genres do have their high times and sometimes even fade away. Literature, arts, movies, and non-computer games .. same thing.
I have already experienced two of my earlier gaming hobbies fading away... :uhoh
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Also, I've been experiencing some very odd and numerous disco's, and my ISP says it is not them but rather the HTC server. It happens w/o warning. That too is not sitting well with me.
I haven't had hardly any discos and the ones I have had were clearly on my end from my PC locking up from other things running. I would not always believe the ISP when they say it can't be them. Most of the tech people you talk to in those places don't have much knowledge and simply read from cards to find their answers. Back when I did have problems with discos I was using Comcast and when I switched over to Embarq that all cleared up.
To my knowledge (other than a few times the server would clear everyone out) there haven't been many issues stemming from server problems. Besides, I am not an expert but if it were a server problem wouldn't the whole arena get booted? My guess is if you are getting frequent discos, you will need to look into your system (modem, pc, router, or cabling). Just a suggestion.
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lack of advertising? havent seen an AH add in 2+ years. I remember they were pretty common when I first did my 2 week trial(2007)
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Lusche: not all games compete with each other.
They all compete for the players time. The trick is for AH to be interesting enough to come back to when game B, C, and D, start burning out the player.
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My biggest problem with "Off hours" which is generally anytime after 2AM EST and before schools out - there is absolutely very little fighting going on.
Generally speaking its a few base takers vs no defenders.
I usually will pop on during lunch like now and check out the map, and see whats going on - maybe fly a C202 or something.
Honestly the lack of interest in the off hours moved me to start a new PBEM in War in the Pacific that will solve my off hour issue.
Also just picked up Galland's book "The first and the last", reading has been enjoyable while watching the map move snail speed.
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lack of advertising?
Advertising is a great way to spend huge sums of money without getting something tangible in return :devil :noid
Which reminds me how glad I am that I'm not the one in charge of a company and having to ponder such matters :uhoh
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advertising in the US would probably not help off hours....but in Europe that's another story.
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advertising in the US would probably not help off hours....but in Europe that's another story.
we don't have guys that have a "night ELF female" character, this is the problem.
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My biggest problem with "Off hours" which is generally anytime after 2AM EST and before schools out - there is absolutely very little fighting going on.
Generally speaking its a few base takers vs no defenders.
I usually will pop on during lunch like now and check out the map, and see whats going on - maybe fly a C202 or something.
You have not flown a C202 in the last 3 tours. Try again.
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You have not flown a C202 in the last 3 tours. Try again.
You sure have failed basic reading. Reread please.
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advertising in the US would probably not help off hours....but in Europe that's another story.
But where would you advertise here? And would it be efficient? AFAIK the TV spots in US ran on military channel... there is no no such thing over here in Germany for example.
One can't just throw some money somewhere and simply expect it to come back by increased revenues...
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I hear google sells targeted advertising space worldwide :neener:. I believe TV is a poor media for advertising an online game.
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I hear google sells targeted advertising space worldwide :neener:. I believe TV is a poor media for advertising an online game.
Another problem is Television is based on certain hours, someone like me I rarely watch TV except for college football.
However, HTC could advertise on various "military history" websites, such as Achtung Panzer which is a website i've been visiting for years.
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There's enough unemployed and night shift players right here in this country to have sufficient numbers. The declining numbers are due to stale game play, huge maps, no strategic goals, and mega squads running rampant. I haven't played in 3 weeks. Just logged in to see the numbers and lo and behold...same damn map as when I last logged in! :rofl
My rank was 1100 of so. A couple of years ago if I didn't play for 3 weeks my rank would be 3 or 4 thousand. I'm telling ya these maps are killing the game as well as huge squads...not the lack of overseas players.
yeah competition from other games do have some effect, but where are all the old players at? Where's Betty, SnapHook, SkatSr, Kermit, BiPolar, Grizz, Moot, Tango, ChainGun,Murdr,DGhost,Lazer,Delirium..etc. I'll tell you. They got bored and sick of it all and moved on.
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There's enough unemployed and night shift players right here in this country to have sufficent numbers. The declining numbers are due to stale game play, huge maps, no stragetic goals, and mega squads running rampant.
If that's would be true, wouldn't it affect all hours in about the same way? After all there are no more strategic goals during peak time than during off hours, and "mega" squads haven't really been a big issue during offhours - squad nights and combined operations are usually happening much later.
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You sure have failed basic reading. Reread please.
I don't have to reread. You didn't up a C202 in the last 3 LW tours. I didn't check 139 on down.
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I don't have to reread. You didn't up a C202 in the last 3 LW tours. I didn't check 139 on down.
Let me help you read then -
"I usually will pop on during lunch like now and check out the map, and see whats going on - maybe fly a C202 or something."
Stop acting like Midway now.
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I don't have to reread. You didn't up a C202 in the last 3 LW tours. I didn't check 139 on down.
This is not the point of this thread. Could we possibly stay on topic?
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who are the 'mega squads' other than vDudes and CLAIM JUMPERS?
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:noid
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If that's would be true, wouldn't it affect all hours in about the same way? After all there are no more strategic goals during peak time than during off hours, and "mega" squads haven't really been a big issue during offhours - squad nights and combined operations are usually happening much later.
In my mind it is effecting all hours about the same way. I don't keep stats like you do, but I bet if you could look at the precentage drop in the past two years, you'd see a 30 or 40 percent drop across the board. Given the low numbers that have always been on at late night compared to US primetime, you'd see numbers close to what we have now.
I realize you said the numbers are disproportionate but that would suggest that the prime time numbers are at what they were from years past. That's not what I'm seeing. But then again I don't have the stats to back up my statements either.
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who are the 'mega squads' other than vDudes and CLAIM JUMPERS?
~Hells Angels~
ROLLINGTHUNDER
Pigs on the Wing
LCA
Jokers Jokers
GunFighters
CLAIM JUMPERS
365th FBG Hell Hawks
***Alchemists***
*****FREEBIRD$*****
Here are the list of squads with 2 or more squads. Interestingly vTards are not on the list.
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If we had a beta02 sized map every off hours I'm sure we would find some action :noid :bolt:
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who are the 'mega squads' other than vDudes and CLAIM JUMPERS?
Well first you should ask me what I consider a "mega" squad. And to that I say, any squad over 10 members. POTW,Jokers,Precision,and yours if it has over 10 members.... :uhoh
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I'd be interested in seeing if there was a noticeable drop in numbers after World of Tanks was released last year.
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I realize you said the numbers are disproportionate but that would suggest that the prime time numbers are at what they were from years past.
No, it would not. Average prime time can fall by 30% while off hours can fall by 50% (made up numbers just for arguments sake, don't quote me on them!)
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I'd be interested in seeing if there was a noticeable drop in numbers after World of Tanks was released last year.
That could be part of it, but then again the influx of players from FighterAce should have made up for that I'd think :headscratch:
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I'd be interested in seeing if there was a noticeable drop in numbers after World of Tanks was released last year.
The had been a drop in numbers all the time since about 2008 ... Personally I have a hard time attribute all that to specific singular factors (with the exception of economy). And I have an even harder time doing that without any "behind the scene" knowledge. After all, I'm just a player... :joystick:
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That could be part of it, but then again the influx of players from FighterAce should have made up for that I'd think :headscratch:
Many FA's (maybe the majority even ?), never transitioned to AH. They hung up their sticks, or scattered over all other kind of games.
Another thing is.. we should probably not think in terms of" XYZ took our players away" but "XYZ (or other influences) made less new players signing" up in the first place. AH, like other games had always been a revolving door. The "loyal for 10 years" class pf players that sometimes tend to dominate the forum is actually a very small minority and has always been. Such a game is to a huge extend about getting new players to sign on (and then to keep them as long as possible, but that has a limit).
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I have noticed that maybe there has been a decline in the Aussie/kiwi lot...(although more kiwi's now than when I started) but there has been a noticeable decline in the American late nighters...I notice that they still play during the normal hours but just don't stretch it out like they used to.....Uptown mention a number of them...some show up from time to time and almost get a good between base furball of old happening but of late it dwindles off as one side rallies up and goes in for some real estate.....
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...some show up from time to time and almost get a good between base furball of old happening but of late it dwindles off as one side rallies up and goes in for some real estate.....
ah ha! And that suggests to me that big squad operations and the take a base crowd do in fact have a effect on players wanting to stay logged in. Either the big missions will overwhelm an area to make it pointless to try and defend or the missions take away the players that were engaged in the furballs to go take bases elsewhere. Once this becomesthe norm (as it has), folks will log out and not return. The late nighters then log on to find one sided fights and lose interest.
Now consider the new or overseas players logging on to find this the case. Their only recourse is to fight against unmanageable numbers which isn't fun, or go milking alone on a massive map where you don't see any action at all, which is also boring because there isn't a strategic goal that has any real effect on the outcome of personal efforts.
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I have noticed that maybe there has been a decline in the Aussie/kiwi lot...
I'm moving to Wellington in Jan so I'll be bumping up the NZ numbers a tiny tiny bit ;)
from one crappy timezone for AH, to another! :lol
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I think HTC's release of the boxed game in Europe may be an attempt at "advertising". More people., who play games will see it there and with the free trial, give a go.
Now, will they be able to keep them? I'm not sure I'd subscribe after seeing the game play we have now.
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maybe being indexed in steam would help? The box game concept is pretty much dead.
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How do you create an environment that can be fun and exciting for a small number of players, but still be able to handle large influxes of players. To keep the large influxes from rolling across a map, the fields become harder to take. That makes it nearly impossible for a small number of players to have much impact, there is also no incentive for someone to defend a field if two or three players are attacking it.
I know we have different sized fields, but there really isn't a significant difference between them, the towns are all the same size. What would the effect be if that difference was exaggerated? Difference sized towns, small fields would become little dirt patches (maybe certain aircraft are unable to launch), Large fields would become more fortified (tanks can't just roll onto the field). The smaller fields would give the low number people something to do and maybe split up the fight when larger numbers are around. Of course you don't want to make the large fields so much more difficult that it encourages the hordes more. I am still a proponent of more strategy involved. If taking a large field required removing strategic elements around it, cutting off re-supply, cutting off adjacent field support, it may split up the hordes more.
This is not a well thought-out idea, simply a idea that popped in my head. It would require a TON of changes and new models, which is a huge inhibiting factor. Eh, just a thought.
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Finally I found one(!) actual review of the German edition Aces High, but sadly on a minor game website.
The reviewer first states coincidentally came across this unknown game.
His resume was
+ Very exciting Team Matches against real opponents
+ Many different playable objects in the air and on the ground
- Cheap physics and driving characteristics (He found it ridiculous that vehicles weighing tons couldn't pass through foliage)
- Animations barely solid
- Explosions not massive enough
In addition to that he's critizising the lack of a full German translation (unnecessarily increasing the difficulty), especially when considering the (in his eyes) very expensive subscription plan. Also he wasn't satisfied with the calibration(setup?) of his XBox controller.
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To me, the whole article read like a benevolent review of a not overly ambitious budget game. And that's how it's actually sold here. Or better: How they are trying to sell it...
Link: http://www.spieleberichte.de/?id=3888&page_id=/neuigkeiten/kommentar/Aces_High.htm
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I'd be interested in seeing if there was a noticeable drop in numbers after World of Tanks was released last year.
That's where I am, I thought I would give it a go and sneer at its arcadiness, but its fun. I don't miss AH in its present format but I still have affection for the game I played up to 100 hours a month on, and I would come back if there were changes that made it interesting for me again.
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Interesting find Lusche. All in all I don't think it was a bad review, although the poster does have some valid points. The translation and controller issues are a huge problem. Ones that never occurred to me to be quite honest.
Also I'm glad he touched on the vehicle VS bushes issue that have aggravated us all at one time or another :lol
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..... I would come back if there were changes that made it interesting for me again.
I'm curious as to what changes you would like to see.
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It is not any lack of game feature that is the product, because for the most part you can still do everything today that you could 5 years ago.
Exactly, what was a competitive gaming experience 5 years ago is ancient history in the technology world, it's no longer competitive.
Whatever changes might take place are most likely influenced by other factors.
Exactly, other games are producing a more exciting/rewarding/compelling (whatever you want to call it) gaming experience.
I'm 47, and I'm hoping that AH can last long enough that by the time it goes away I'm no longer interested in gaming. Look at what the young kids have today. It's not computers with joysticks, it's phones, tablets and game consoles. They expect their gaming experience to be fun all the time, and the successful MMOGs manage that gaming experience much more directly than AH does to ensure that happens more often than not.
Five years ago it was good enough to build the 'toys', design the gameplay to the lowest common denominator and let the player base deal with it. Not any more.
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Why are we less? Because we are getting older... Because the WW2 fans, those that read comic books and watched black and white movies and long documentaries are getting older and having real life issues. Because there is a huge world crisis destroying many jobs and making the ones employed work two or three times harder...
There is a generation replacement going on at Aces High. The older guys, that enjoyed realism, historical enactement, the fine art of air combat, the banter to and from the fights are less every day... Now we see a more "points/kills/win the game" oriented crowd coming in. Even the old farts are getting gamey, nowadays...
Also, never underestimate another factor: combat fatigue. I'm not joking, I mean it. In the long term, you get tired. Tired of killing, tired of dying, tired of turning into the fight of estimate your e... There is no one here that has not made a break for some time, a couple of weeks, a month... And returned lighter and less edgy... and much less serious...
The more hours you put, the faster you burn. The harder you fight, the faster you get damaged. Maybe I'm wrong. But thatīs what I feel. Like Trukk, I'm almost 48 and I hope Aces High stay around for many years. Heck, I was hoping to reach retirement to finally log really huge number of hours!
<S> all, cheers
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I worry about people who like WWII air combat being a dying breed. But then again, folks worried about the same thing 20 years ago in Air Warrior, and we had the same discussions back then. What happened is that Aces High came along and not only advanced this genre of gaming but brought in a lot more players than we had in the Air Warrior days.
Anyway, it can't hurt to spread the word. Know someone who might like Aces High? Recruit them into the game! :aok
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I am one who left the game because the only source of virtual historic realism is in scenarios.
Seeing B17s being attacked by P51s and Spitfires only holds my attention for a short while.
AH has a great scenario team. However scenarios are few and far between. I started in Air Warrior
many years ago. Maybe I just tired of the same old same old. My squadmates are/were great.
Made a lot of good friends over the years also.
I've found other things to occupy my time now. What AH is in the MA is a first person shooter using
WWII aircraft or tanks as weapons. It's fun for awhile, they did a great job with the game but
no one stays forever.
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they did a great job with the game but
no one stays forever.
I will! ;)
I use the MA and DA as places to practice what I'll be flying in the next scenario. :)
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I think reasonably-priced media for AH advertising outside of North America might be in RC and scale modeling hobby magazines. Even a small ad in the classified sections might work. I think most readers devour every page, cover-to-cover, and are more devoted to the details of their hobby than in their work.
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Well I think it can be said that the AH products customer growth curve has "peaked" and shown some evidence of decline if not "stablisation".
IMO AH is taking on the status of "last man standing" within the genre of WWII ACM sims.
Remaining "directly" competing products WoT, WoWp, WoB, WW2OL etc are "WW2" game play sims and focus on the ground element.
Modern leading gamplay combat war arena FPS products focus upon much more historically recent (if not future) combat scenarios. So the market for WWII let alone WWII ACM (alone) is very niche and it seems getting smaller.
Free at the point of entry WoWp (with WoT along side it) will be an interesting competitor to AH.
What many products seem to recognise is a need for quick access to combat. So while there are still such graphic challenges (to AH) as the gaming media may wish to present to give their multi star reviews there may also be required game play mechanisms to bring about quicker access to combat (server driven missions?) and better combat or assured adversaries (more interactive server driven AI defence/attacks? ) when numbers are lower in off peak periods or there are large empty parts of a terrain.
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Why are we less? Because we are getting older... Because the WW2 fans, those that read comic books and watched black and white movies and long documentaries are getting older and having real life issues. Because there is a huge world crisis destroying many jobs and making the ones employed work two or three times harder...
There is a generation replacement going on at Aces High. The older guys, that enjoyed realism, historical enactement, the fine art of air combat, the banter to and from the fights are less every day... Now we see a more "points/kills/win the game" oriented crowd coming in. Even the old farts are getting gamey, nowadays...
Also, never underestimate another factor: combat fatigue. I'm not joking, I mean it. In the long term, you get tired. Tired of killing, tired of dying, tired of turning into the fight of estimate your e... There is no one here that has not made a break for some time, a couple of weeks, a month... And returned lighter and less edgy... and much less serious...
The more hours you put, the faster you burn. The harder you fight, the faster you get damaged. Maybe I'm wrong. But thatīs what I feel. Like Trukk, I'm almost 48 and I hope Aces High stay around for many years. Heck, I was hoping to reach retirement to finally log really huge number of hours!
<S> all, cheers
On that note, I've introduced by son who is now 9 years old to WWII 4-5 years ago. I've explained to him the basics of the Allies, the Axis, technology, etc. From time to time he loves to get in a fly in AH but he gets frustrated with the learning curve (which is understandable), but he still enjoys it. He he well versed in what his great grandfathers did in WWII (read my sig line for the exploits of 1 of them; the other was a jeep jockey in ETO). He has an interest in WWII aviation and can pick out most of the aircraft when he sees them. When his friends are over they play with WWII toys, and they have begun to ask questions about things as well. Remember that it is we who will pass along the importance of WWII and not the schools for all they learn in school is about how bad Nazis were, concentration camps, a wee bit on Pearl Harbor, and then the dropping of the a-bombs on Japanese civilians (and all will be as PC as can be).
When you have a chance, share with a child some history. There is a romance with WWII aviation that can not be matched in any other era.
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Our wish list says alot of our game as well. From graphics to wanted aircraft in a game where spits kill spits and 190's kill 109's in the arena most populated. Everyone touts the "historic accuracy" of the aircraft yet look at exactly what we have through the eyes of a new kid wanting to dip into some WWII fighting to find corsairs killing p51's. Then, pop in here and ask a question or hit the wish list and get thumped by the fanbois who want to pretend everything is perfect with the game and how dare they ask a question or for something more from it's creator. Take a step back and think about that. Want more numbers? More than a graph and some new begged for planes and polls as to which ones should be added are needed. The new guy that comes in doesn't care for how long it will take to see an he-111 in here or wether or not it should be in here. They see it's not in here and wonder why and think wow this is pretty incomplete and how old is the game? Less hair splitting and a little more compromise as to offering more for that kind of player might be a start.
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What many products seem to recognise is a need for quick access to combat. So while there are still such graphic challenges (to AH) as the gaming media may wish to present to give their multi star reviews there may also be required game play mechanisms to bring about quicker access to combat (server driven missions?) and better combat or assured adversaries (more interactive server driven AI defence/attacks? ) when numbers are lower in off peak periods or there are large empty parts of a terrain.
Aces High 3: Drone Invasion :D
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When you have a chance, share with a child some history. There is a romance with WWII aviation that can not be matched in any other era.
You're absolutely right. Spot on. I'm generaly considered the history geek around here... kids run away from me like I was the bogey man, lol :confused:
Cheers,