The main thing that attracted me to this game was the Massive Online format. HUGE numbers of planes in battle all at once, and they were all PEOPLE. If I wanted 2 on 1's, or 3 on 3's, I would play IL2 in a smaller arena.
The problem with side balancing is always going to be there without an auto balance. The only answer to that is locking a side up for new players to come into it when it has a certain percentage over the lowest side, forcing the players to play for another "chess piece". (I hear the, "I pay to play, and I can play where I want!" whines coming!)
But that was a little offtrack from my main point.
Now instead of having one large arena with huge furballs, and options on where to go play, there are the same size maps, with the same imbalance, with the not so epic battle going on in land, sea, and air. (Yes, there are boats and tanks in this game, and they are not going anywhere)
Before, if you wanted to get away from the Horde, you would just go somewhere else. I normally didn't have a hard time finding a small fight if I didn't feel like playing alt monkey over a 75 plane fight just so stay alive the longest, only to wind up on the bottom after 7 or 8 kills, out of ammo, and heading home with somebody chasing me with a 10k alt advantage. They are mostly small fights it appears, without the option to go escort bombers, knock the crap outta bases with 20 of my squaddiesin planes and tanks to face huge opposition, or go pick a small fight with a couple other airplanes in a hordeless corner of the arena.
I'm curious as to how the health of the game population is doing, and if there have been more paying players since the change, or less. If there are more players now than before, then I am in the minority. If less, then maybe some change should occur from a business standpoint. The allure of the game is dead for me, because now it's a box game, and not a massive online experience.
Now there is a small MA, with several Combat Theatres of old.
S! and let's see how things play out in the long run!
