You want to populate all the other servers on a regular basis? I'll tell ya how to do it;
Right now your front page on the website only lists 5 winners per campaign, fighter, attack, vehicle & bomber with an over all score winner.
Break that down into difinitive winners of each arena(i.e. 5 winners for each of the 4 arenas[EW,MW & 2 LW's] and throw in an overall winner based on stats from all 4 arenas & vola, you have created the incentive for folks to remain loyal to all areas. So that you'd be listing a total of 21 winners at the end of each campaign(not counting runner ups) Everyone from score hoes- furballers could have a shot at something somewhere & it would also confound the shade account abusers from ganging the final results
You know there is one other aspect concerning the "hording" that everyone seems so intent to claiming is to blame but fails to point out & that is the time zone element. It's not a matter of rooks have more ppl overall or kights have too few people, alot of times its based on folks who are always on at certain times (in or out of squad) based on time zones & population distribution across the world. When brits are logging off for the evening, Aussies are logging on in their morning. Americans are also situated the same east coast verse west coast, some variables are not negotiable.
I'll tell you honestly why i left under my original CPID of, because changes were instituted in mid-campaign while i was making a run for that 1st place bomber spot, talk about changing the rules of the game on a guy & making my task almost insumountable...well you almost did, i finished 2nd even considering the changes.....I hung in there like a trooper for my squads sake even tho i didn't like it, but when it was all over & said & done i said that's it. I'd love nothing more than to return as a full fledged paying member & rejoin my original squadron(which by the way moved here from AW & has been around 10+ years) and play to win & make front page news on the HT website, help train new members & help recruit longterm players who would by the way also be long term subscribers of your game...........
Trust me when i say that alot of old AW folks live here & alot of WB fans too and to put it bluntly, we've all been down that road of disaster before and i would have to say that most of those folks posting here are posting more of the "please don't make the same sort of mistake" sorta of stuff verse "how dare you eat off of my plate"
If you look at it like this, "we do not want you to fail bacause we have no one else to turn to in recourse" i think you might better understand the gunshyness alot of folks are feeling.
You have a very loyal following, not to many games can claim that throphy, and people are willing to experiment & "enhance" to a certain extent "within" reason. Maybe babysteps are in order verse giant leaps forward......i don't know. I do know it's best to "belong" to a gaming community verse just playing the game.
You are the developer and have a different persepctive on things outside of "our" realm as the gamer, but to us gamers, the game is our "everything", like a drug addict, we need our fix, diluted we don't get "it" and look for alternatives.
I used to be an AW, from version 1 all the way thru MV and left 1 month before EA shut it down, WB's never made the grade with me so i gave up flying online for 5+ years, by chance i met up with old squadmates from the AW days & came to your company, loved it from the start, was like "advanced" Air Warrior, 4-5x's the plane sets. GV enhanced, more complex strategy, naval ops.....etc....etc..great stuff...kudo's
The perk point system was a nice touch as well as the ENY thingy(ya learn to live with it and accept) Now i'm not that big of a number cruncher so someone else can back me up as i have read that there DOES need to be some tweaking in these areas....fine we can deal with it.
The main bone of contention i am submitting to you as the developer from the gaming aspect is that forced player limitations are not acceptable. Players have neither the time nor patience to wait to get their "fix" and you alienate your customers by doing so. If i have even 10 mins to fly 1-mission & hope to get a kill, i don't want to wait even 1-minute in any sort of que for a spot to play, i won't pay to wait. I won't wait in line at the grocery store to be checked out just to get my groceries bagged for me, i'll go to the self-check line & do it myself.
Now i will admitt that i was against the original concept of splitting the MA, and it did hurt squad ops as at that time there was no way of knowing where everyone was at so it made command & control an issue. This was resolved by adding the dot command to our menu but was then difused by putting cap limits into place which limits squad ops as a whole in many different ways(yes there are ways around these but there are also obstructions) nothing is perfect, just limiting the downward aspect is.
So here's a couple of possibilities for you to ponder, don't stop at 4 arenas, go to 8, group the early & mid war planes together as one and keep the latewar set. Make 4 map sets similar to AW in that you have big europe/little europe & big pacific & little pacific with early/late variations.
Big maps & little maps/ lots of water & lotsa land/ early plane sets & late war sets, setup a scoreing system for 8 winners in each category + 1 overall winner from PAC & Euro with another overall winner for the combined 8 arenas(long term goal) add in a seperate "dueling/fighter town arena" for the 'quick fix" genre and score that seperatly from the main arena's.
Put in place your perk ord system, upgraded ENY, capture system and any other changes you'd like, but for gods sake remove the arena cap limits & let us fly. In fact put into place a more "strategic" aspect, not just for us bomber types, but for the sake of clarity & realism. You have squads here based solely as ground pounders like the LTARS, they are great at what they do, it's not for everyone, but it works for them, so more power to them. Some guys are so good in fighters it ain't funny, they could fly ME-262's for the rest of their lives with the perks they have accumulated, so be it if that makes them go, some guys can hit you with an ack gun 1st shot at 3k and most can't hit a barn at 200 yrds, so be it, that's the way people are, some are better at certain things than others & to group us all into 1-lump sum to create parity isn't going to work. I've flown an ME-262 twice in a year since i started playing, 1st one i augered on takeoff(lesson learned) 2nd one i augered in a dive going to fast(2nd lesson learned), doesn't mean anyone owes me a 3rd chance, just means i need to stick to what i do best which is bombing, different strokes for different folks and i can deal with it.....i don't need parity. I accept my own limitations & play within those bounds, i don't need artificial restraints, maybe some do, but doesn't the ENY & perk system cover that already?[minus tweaks proposed by others?]
BB's can be a great source of "new" ideas as well as great consternation. I'll admitt i've been more of the later than the former, but suffice it to say that frustration can be a detrimental thing. Maybe you are addicted to the BB's like alot of others here(partial addict) You have done a wonderful job of being an onhands developer by staying glued here to these pages and taking into consideration alot of ideas presented and taking alot of heat from folks[raises hand], but let me add this, their are also alot of other great ideas lurking in the wings from long term squad members as well as C.O./X.O. types which due the convolution of flame or be flamed mentality here on the BB goes unspoken.
When i see a C.O. of a squadron make his 200th post after being on here for 2 years you know it holds water as thats only about 1 post a week verse someone who has 5,000+ post in the same ammount of time which leads me to believe he doesn't even play the darned game as he's posting 3 times a day and has a view on everyone elses view.
I know you don't need to lurk here & explaine yourself, kudos again for being a spot on developer & defending your positions, but may i suggest that you give full due to the long term squadrons here on Aces High who have helped foster your vision and have patronized your company for X ammount of years and possible ask for input from them.....maybe in a private way so as not to inflame the BB?
Might i also suggest that you institute a "voting" tabulation for newcomers at the end of their 2-week trial period as either why they did or did not sign up to be members & get positive feedback. I know you have one on the front end as to how you "heard" about AH and started out........
I know that many squads here relocated from AW and some from WB's & some were started from the getgo in AH1, they do deserve your respect for their loyalty & player retention that goes on everyday we play here. Outside of my views & others like me, i can respect where they have been in the past & where & what they would like to see instituted in the future.
I know that any directional path chosen is yours and your alone to make, but with say 10 different alternative directions to choose from, i would think that these long term members could help cut that down to say 3 outta 10 all of which would be acceptable & make the majority of folks happy in the long run, keeping retention high, bringing old members back & fostering a working relationship with newer membership that would garner respect for your company as "player friendly" upfront.
To sum it up, if you fail, we all fail as players & no one wants that to happen, we love the game & want you win on your end, just our victory conditions differ.
