I wonder too why it hasn't caught on more. Last Sunday during primetime CST, there were 441 in the MA and 8 in the CT.
For as many different opinions and preferences are expressed on this BB, it's hard to believe the community is so overwhelming singleminded in its preference of flying in the MA over the CT. I thought there would be many more mavericks and rogues than that who would seed the CT. Warbirds, with less than half the population online of AH, put 5-6 times as many flyers into it's HA regularly. The CT seems to "click" on VF-27's squad nights (Tues/Thu 9 pm CST) but any other time its likely to be single digits.
For the record though, the idea of shutting down the MA and forcing everyone to fly in the CT for a week would be foolishness, on par with Coca Cola's decision to change it's formula. It was a marketing fiasco for Coke, and so would an MA lockout be for HTC.
I don't think the CTs limited/short icons make much of a difference at all from the MA's full icons. The CT has inflight dot radar, so whether or not I can see the icon, 80-90% of the time I already know whether an aircraft is enemy by a quick clipboard check. Short icons present more tactical opportunites for disadvantaged planes, but I'd be willing to give that up to consistently draw 10% of the MA's population to the CT if that's what it took. I can't imagine the icon issue keeping a player from flying in the CT.
The CT regulars are not an elitist bunch. They're a small group, and channel 1 tends to be more much more friendly than the MA, but in no way are they snobs. Its just a group of people seeking the higher level of immersion found with an historically accurate axis/allied planeset on a historical terrain.
