Originally posted by Roscoroo
I think AH1 should be left up and running ... perhaps hire another artist to make more planes /vehicles ect for it .
eventually AH2 will grow up and the smaller maps can get used in ah1 main as the player base evens out between ah 1 ,2
they guys with the lesser pc's and connects will still bring in $$$
while the rest enjoy bolth worlds ..
That sounds reasonable, except.......
One of AH's major improvements over AW (IMHO); is that while AW had one, and only one game play style with at least three different flight models (FR; PR & RR); AH sticks to one FM and leaves game play to arena design.
There are two major benefits in my mind to HTC's approach:
Firstly; a Spitfire is a Spitfire is a Spitfire; and by that I mean once one has mastered the AH FM; regardless of which arena one flies in one is certain of how the airframe responds. This means one has to adapt to the gameplay dictated by the arena designer; but using familiar tools. You may not be used to fighting P47's at 30K; but you should at least know how a Spitfire handles at 30K.
Secondly; Because game play is dictated by arena design and not programming; HTC can delegate (some) gameplay design aspects to non-profesional staff instead of programmers (i.e. the Brady bunch and the CM team).
In short; as an HTC customer, you can log on to any areana and make gameplay descisions; not FM descisions. You may well disagree with the plane set in a given arena/event; but you can rest assured the FM remains a constant.
AW went the bipolar route of persisting with the "old" game (RR) while supporting the "new" (FR); and the resulting split in the comunity never healed; and was never going to heal. Each FM had it's adherents (similar to the way AH's CT customers apparently hold MA customers in contempt; and vice versa); and the telling point was that if one was a regular RR flyer one really couldn't just jump in to FR "for a look". That is not the case in "AH land".
In short; I support the doctrine of one FM for the whole game.
Where I think some people are worried is that HTC seem to have been totaly involved in the programming process for AHII to the extent where they hardly seem to respond to AHI questions any more; and where all development in AHI seems to have come to a standstill.
This is dangerously reminiscent of the last years of AW; where AW3 was put in "maintenance mode"; and all development effort was put into AW4. The upshot of this was that AW fliers saw the game they love slowly lose it's its way and prominance while a seemingly never ending list of upstart competitors sprang up (including; ironicaly enough; AH) and stole it's dissilusioned customer base. The result was that AW went bust "two weeks" before AW4 went live.
So...... after all that:
I think HTC is right to keep to one "active" flight engine.
I believe the apparent disengagement with the current game and apparent 100% resource allocation in favour of AHII a mistake.
