It ain't the graphics that are bad, its the way the game is made

[moot]

Toonces the graphics hadnt been updated in a long, long time.  So the graphics update can't be blamed for vets leaving, unless the OP argues that all vets that left, left on this one update.  IMO the biggest single reasons long-term players left AH is CT sapping updates, and the influx of "gamey" players.  CT wasn't something that HTC took lightly (in terms of the risks involved), and there's only so much you can do about the gamey players.  The latter which the OP IMO does blame on HTC.

[Anaxogoras]

Less than an hour ago in Blue, I finally get up to 10k in my P-47 (after dispatching a higher 47 and a higher 38).  I spot a 110 coming into our base at 12-13k ft.  I say to my squad mate on vox, "I'm not going to bother with him.  He's going to pork and die on the first pass."  The 110 enters a vertical dive, destroys the radar and augers in.

[BnZs]

Less than an hour ago in Blue, I finally get up to 10k in my P-47 (after dispatching a higher 47 and a higher 38).  I spot a 110 coming into our base at 12-13k ft.  I say to my squad mate on vox, "I'm not going to bother with him.  He's going to pork and die on the first pass."  The 110 enters a vertical dive, destroys the radar and augers in.

 

Little makes madder than pilots who think they are JDAMs.

Picture it. You're a P-51D who has bothered to climb to 12K with ords. You spot a D9 bearing down on you. Now, you could A. Skin  your ords and fight, with a reasonable chance of winning, then going to get more kills or B. Dive for it, become a lawndart or give a proxy kill via ack to someone taking off.

The bad part is, most seem to choose option B!!! 

[moot]

Another dumbfounding pattern is the guy that's got a con on his six, and instead of dealing with it, drags/beelines for another con that was just flying past 5K away.

[Anaxogoras]

If I had a nickel for every guy I saw auger in while porking the radar/ords...   But that's how the game is played.  Think about it.  If you're trying to capture territory, it's actually far more efficient to fly to the target and die.

And just so no one gets any ideas, it was the same way in HT's first sim, too.

[jimson]

The game play is up to you, not HTC.

You can play this game anyway you want.

You want 1V1, challenge people to that.

You want challenging strategic missions, create them, and run them with your squad.

You can bomb, drive tanks and boats.

You got King of the Hill, FSO, Snapshots, Scenarios.

You want mindless furballing, you can do that too.

This game can be whatever you want it to be, there is that much versatility.

[toonces3]

Toonces the graphics hadnt been updated in a long, long time.  So the graphics update can't be blamed for vets leaving, unless the OP argues that all vets that left, left on this one update.  IMO the biggest single reasons long-term players left AH is CT sapping updates, and the influx of "gamey" players.  CT wasn't something that HTC took lightly (in terms of the risks involved), and there's only so much you can do about the gamey players.  The latter which the OP IMO does blame on HTC.

Moot:  Precisely.  The OP is saying that "vets" aren't leaving because of the graphics.  "I" didn't leave because of the graphics.  I left because of the gameplay.  Vets are leaving because of the gameplay. 

HTC is, apparently, working on the graphics in lieu of the gameplay.  That's the wrong direction to take, if I understand the OP's point correctly.

Not that the graphics don't look great in the screenshots.  They do, and yes, the graphics could have been/are better. 

How has this "kept the vets" from leaving?

THE GAME DRIVES THE GAMEPLAY.

Players can only behave/play in a manner that is allowed by the structure of the game.

I'm just one man, so I can only give you my opinion. 

Read Anaxagoras's post again.  That's the kind of stuff that is just oh so lame and boring.  I'm not talking about getting HO'd or vulched or other things that ARE within my control.

I'm talking about a game that doesn't dangle a carrot such that players find more incentive to play in a manner where landing a bombing run is more profitable than bombing and bailing.  Where successfully attacking a radar and RTB'ing is more profitable than augering into it.

I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard before and don't already know Moot. 

In my opinion only, the single greatest thing missing from Aces High is some sort of reward for living.  No, perks are not enough.  And maybe this would have the adverse effect of actually discouraging fights, laming things up, whatever.  Or maybe not. 

I've never played WoW or other games like that, but I presume that you gain "experience" from successfully playing and completing quests or getting treasure or whatever.  Heck, even in COD4 you gain "rank" and unlock stuff I think...So you have an incentive to play, live, and successfully complete the task.  The more you play, the more you get. 

I don't know how, exactly, you translate that to a game like Aces High, and I don't know if it would work.  It sounded like HTC was working on something like this for a while and then dropped it...I guess to work on the graphics.

[Anaxogoras]

I think putting a price on ordinance (bombs and rockets) would do wonders for this game, without discouraging air-to-air fights.

[toonces3]

Your buddy Trotter had one of the best threads ever about this sort of stuff a year or so ago.  He basically got shouted down by the crowd, sort of like the OP.

Is he still playing?  If not, why did he leave?

[Anaxogoras]

He still plays, but I rarely see him on.  Then again, I'm not on that much either.  The main reason I keep an account is because FSO creates that peak experience we're always looking for, especially because I have some good wingmen in the 334th.

[USRanger]

The game play is up to you, not HTC.

You can play this game anyway you want.

You want 1V1, challenge people to that.

You want challenging strategic missions, create them, and run them with your squad.

You can bomb, drive tanks and boats.

You got King of the Hill, FSO, Snapshots, Scenarios.

You want mindless furballing, you can do that too.

This game can be whatever you want it to be, there is that much versatility.

I vote that this gets made the MOTD in the MAs

[moot]

Toonces - CT was (and could still be - who knows) all that.  

The graphics needed fixing.  It gets it out of the way.. This is how you prioritize (IMO) when you've got many small-time tasks that only require straight forward crunching, and a few long-term tasks that require focused pondering.  Get the small tasks out of the way.  The players can't be forced to play one way or another.  They can only be encouraged.  That's the ethics of game-making, I think.

[gyrene81]

I think putting a price on ordinance (bombs and rockets) would do wonders for this game, without discouraging air-to-air fights.

PERK ORDS!!!  

I've never played WoW or other games like that, but I presume that you gain "experience" from successfully playing and completing quests or getting treasure or whatever.  Heck, even in COD4 you gain "rank" and unlock stuff I think...So you have an incentive to play, live, and successfully complete the task.  The more you play, the more you get.  

Toonces...take it from someone who plays CoD2, 4 and 5...the "perks" system in CoD4 and 5 doesn't stop people from "gaming the game"...I play on tactical realism servers...modded and weapons limited for those people who want as much combat simulation as possible without having to die for it in RL...doesn't stop people from grabbing a machine gun and grenades then running as fast as they can into a room full of opponents...take any multiplayer online game and you will find people "gaming the game" their way, not yours, not mine...as a player you have 2 choices, find a way to play the game the way you want or find something else to do.

Going into the company provided game forums and blaming the creators of the game for the way other players are playing their game and telling the company it's their fault is nothing more than childish behavior...adults should have more sense and if they get flamed, they deserve it.


Simple as taking a leak with the wind blowing.

[Guppy35]

THE GAME DRIVES THE GAMEPLAY.

I don't agree with this at all.  The players drive the game play.  How I approach the game is up to me.  If I go into it thinking about how my actions impact on everyone and what can I do to make it fun for more then just myself, the game is fine.

The problem is you have a large segment of the AH crowd that goes at the game thinking only about how it impacts them and screw the rest of the crowd.  Basically when I go into an arena I have 200-300 if not more people I'm responsible to for how I approach playing.  Do I face shoot or look for an ACM fight.  Do I vulch a base or let guys up to fight.  Do I flatten the hangers where a good fight is going because I can or do I find another target.  Do I take all the bases at Tank Town just because I can or do I leave it alone so the tankers can fight their fight.

It goes on and on.  It's not the game that makes it work, it's the players.

[hitech]

the single greatest thing missing from Aces High is some sort of reward for living.  

Yet another know it all who does not even take the time to read my postings on this very topic with in the last week.

What you ask for would make AH a ghost town.

Ever single thing you stated in you  post already is in the game, there is a reward for living, it is better to RTB than die. You choose to ignore all those facts and state your complete BS.

HiTech