Warbirds downward spiral had nothing to do with the use of a rolling plane set and everything to do with lack of game development, poor customer service and weak management.
We all know the history, Warbirds and AH were created by the same people. But the games eventually went in two different directions. Warbirds chose to focus on the historical aspect while AH became geared towards the “alternate universe” fly your favorite plane experience.
Beyond that, an RPS works best when the plane set is complete. An RPS will work in a fantasy main environment, but is better suited to historical terrains with an Axis / Allied split. In this type of set up the player can experience the technological swings as one side introduces a new aircraft that tilts the balance while the other side has to get by until they counter with their next generation ride.
An alternative to the RPS is the “generations” approach. Instead of releasing aircraft by service date (RPS), mini plane sets are released by generational match ups. For example; the Spit V and the 109F-4 are released together, the 190 and the Spit 9 and so on. This adds some balance while keeping the time line historical.
What we have now is three different main arenas that offer essentially the same style of game play with a slightly different cast of characters. I don’t see anyone saying the main arenas should be closed. Some players are just asking for another gaming experience to compliment what we have now and a greater emphasis placed on filling out the early to midwar plane set.
The fact that HTC committed the resources it did to Combat Tour indicates an awareness and willingness to provide an experience emphasizing historical WWII air combat. With Combat Tour shelved indefinitely, the creation of an arena like we’re talking about to fill this niche could be done relatively easily and inexpensively with what we already have.
