Questions about the AVA

[Dawger]

Questions:

1. what would it take for you or your squad to frequent the AVA 1 night or more a week?

2. what do you like about the AVA, if anything? (Please speak from experience)

3. what do you dislike about the AVA, if anything? (again, please speak from experience)

1. P38's mainly. We have two squad nights a week and would gladly spend them in the AvA with P38's. No P-38's and interest in the AvA diminishes. No US iron at all and there is no interest.

2. No enemy icons. Best part of the AvA and really what makes everything else worthwhile.

3. Lack of a published schedule. We plan our activities and an arena where you can't tell what is going to be happening in next week just doesn't become part of the planning cycle. My squadron loves AvA time but it drops off the list of things to do pretty quickly once a few weeks go by with no P38's. I check the events calendar and that is where the AvA schedule should be.

Personally, I'm waiting for the 32 player H2H so I can run a P38 no enemy icon server every Saturday night. Already got my event rotation figured out. 52 weeks of pure P38    

I'll post a schedule on a webpage and allow folks to reserve a slot online.  

2 weeks  

[Shuffler]

Is it true that you can turn your icons off if you want?  That can help you with your SA if you are doing it for training. Why do you want mine off?

Equality. It's ok if you don't like them off. You have your choice of many different arenas with them on.

There is only one arena with them off.


Dawger......... there are 38s in the AVA now.

[CAP1]

1)   a small miracle

2) Oldman

3) Storch (and all incarnations of his shades)   

speaking from experience, of course.....         

 ya know? i shouldn't go here.....but i've seen a different side of storchie over on flamewarriors. i get the impression he's really not a bad guy at all.

[CAP1]

i shouldn't stick my nose in here, but...well.......i'm an bellybutton sometimes, so i will anyway.

 i noticed a LOT of the responders in here answer to #1, is more people.

 so....if everyone that said "more people" logged in one night......i think there'd be plenty of people in there.


 i've never flown without icons, and very often have trouble seeing an aircraft that's only d400 in front of me...i fly on a 22" lcd.  i wonder if possibly the icons were set to the opposite of in the main arenas would help? like have them set to off, but with the ability to turn them on if one feels the need?

 i can't answer #3, as my flight time is very limited, and i spend most of it in the mw arena......although someday i may have to pop in ava, and be bait....'specially if my squaddies are in there. i'm the official bait. 

[Dawger]

Dawger......... there are 38s in the AVA now.

Thanks Shuffler

Good to know. Information like that is handy, especially when it is located on a calendar.

http://ahevents.org/events-calendar.html

One month in advance sure is nice.

[jimson]

I'll look into the possibilities.

We don't have direct access to the special events calendar and we are not set on a month to month schedule, but perhaps we can do a little better here.

[321BAR]

Is it true that you can turn your icons off if you want?  That can help you with your SA if you are doing it for training. Why do you want mine off?

if you are in the MA and you go icon off, it takes away from your IFF and also reduces you chance of being able to kill enemy due to the fact that almost if not all your enemy see that little red name above you. in the TA yes you can with a comrade but you still know where one enemy is compared to a possible flight of 4 P51Ds 5 thousand above you and 7 thousand yards away. if you can I.D. these threats before they see you, there is a better chance for you and your allies to come out alive... simple as that.

[E25280]

i've never flown without icons, and very often have trouble seeing an aircraft that's only d400 in front of me...i fly on a 22" lcd. 

This is the problem for me, but I don't even have a 22" -- still using a 19" CRT monitor.  I don't have the hi-res pack installed, and even if my video card can handle it (which I doubt given I can't turn up all the detail sliders as it is), I am sure it would be lost given the lack of resolution on my monitor.  I easily lose the outline of the aircraft in front of me when close to the ground, and depth perception (important to have to judge closing speed and such) is nearly non-existant.  Without the icons, there is simply no point in me trying to play and compete, because I am the equivalent of an extremely nearsighted pilot flying without his glasses.

[PFactorDave]

Without the icons, there is simply no point in me trying to play and compete, because I am the equivalent of an extremely nearsighted pilot flying without his glasses.

That pretty much sums it up for me, except, I AM a pretty near sighted pilot to boot.  If I were really skilled, no icons in the AvA might be a fun test of my SA skills...  I'm not, so AvA feels like nothing more then running as a target drone for the AH2 "Eliteniks"...

I don't have the time or abilities to acheive their levels of skill, so I guess no AvA for me...  Since I won't die at someone else's guns in real life, I really can't spend the time to become an AH2 savant...

I get the immersion thing, honestly that's what I am going for most of the time.  I just don't have the time to develope my SA to the levels needed to be anything other then a target in the AvA (and nearly FSO for that matter).

I'll continue to laugh anytime anyone wonders why AvA is a ghost town...  Us regular folks like at least a super slim chance at winning, even without giving the SA "giants" an opening advantage...

[uptown]

Questions:

1. what would it take for you or your squad to frequent the AVA 1 night or more a week?

2. what do you like about the AVA, if anything? (Please speak from experience)

3. what do you dislike about the AVA, if anything? (again, please speak from experience)


the full plane set, more people

[Dawger]

That pretty much sums it up for me, except, I AM a pretty near sighted pilot to boot.  If I were really skilled, no icons in the AvA might be a fun test of my SA skills...  I'm not, so AvA feels like nothing more then running as a target drone for the AH2 "Eliteniks"...

I don't have the time or abilities to acheive their levels of skill, so I guess no AvA for me...  Since I won't die at someone else's guns in real life, I really can't spend the time to become an AH2 savant...

I get the immersion thing, honestly that's what I am going for most of the time.  I just don't have the time to develope my SA to the levels needed to be anything other then a target in the AvA (and nearly FSO for that matter).

I'll continue to laugh anytime anyone wonders why AvA is a ghost town...  Us regular folks like at least a super slim chance at winning, even without giving the SA "giants" an opening advantage...

SA in a no icon environment is pretty simple to develop. All it requires is one or more wing men. The real world is no icon and mutual lookout is imperative and the world spends lots of money on helping pilots "see" the other guys in a fight.

No icons isn't an elite arena and the pilots that fly there aren't the cream in of the crop. In fact I would posit that they are below the average skill level in Aces High (myself included). Some of them like to bluster that they are the best of the best but don't believe it.

I've been flying online for well over a decade and can tell you the hardest environment to survive in is a full icon arena in a plane that isn't the fastest thing around. With icons on skill and decision making are critical. There is no room for error when the enemy has a targeting computer that "sees" you over 3 miles away with high accuracy.

A second factor that makes the AvA easier is the historic matchup and limited plane set. You always know what you are facing and with a little planning can keep the fight to your advantage.

The lack of icons makes escaping in a slower airplane a possibility. Since you are harder to see smaller airplanes have an advantage. You can adjust your flying style to make yourself harder to see. No icons favors a flying style that makes it harder to you. A flying style that uses oblique maneuver works better than one that sticks to pure vertical or pure horizontal.

I love no icons. I think its fun and gets the adrenaline pumping because of the uncertainty. It takes a bit of getting used to and you die in the transition a bit. I hadn't flown no icons for nearly two months until Friday night and died until I got re-acclimated.

Give it a try. Its nice for a change of pace. Give it some time to really see if you like it. Ignore the chest pounding and remember that many of those guys are in there because they get the floor wiped with themselves in the Main Arenas. Those are easy to spot. They will be the ones in the AvA demanding everyone fly like its a Bruce Lee movie where the bad guys take turns fighting the Hero. Sure sign of a guy looking for a place to be a Big Fish in a small pond.

To repeat, I love no icons and historical matchups but it isn't any harder or more worthy than anything else in this game.

[Shifty]

No icons isn't an elite arena and the pilots that fly there aren't the cream in of the crop. In fact I would posit that they are below the average skill level in Aces High (myself included). Some of them like to bluster that they are the best of the best but don't believe it.

True, other than a couple of individuals most of us that frequent AVA are like myself average or below. I don't know who started the elite myth but they were full of it.

A second factor that makes the AvA easier is the historic matchup and limited plane set. You always know what you are facing and with a little planning can keep the fight to your advantage.

True again, the fact that in the LWA you can come across any aircraft at any moment requires a higher level of SA and skill than you need in the AVA where your enemy is narrowed down to three or four types at the most and these are usually aircraft of the same era as the one you're flying. I can't speak for anybody else but for me flying against the historical enemy of whatever aircraft I'm flying is the fun part.

I love no icons. I think its fun and gets the adrenaline pumping because of the uncertainty.

Give it a try. Its nice for a change of pace. Give it some time to really see if you like it. Ignore the chest pounding and remember that many of those guys are in there because they get the floor wiped with themselves in the Main Arenas.

To repeat, I love no icons and historical matchups but it isn't any harder or more worthy than anything else in this game.

Well said Dawger.  The AVA is an arena of limitations. Limited icons and aircraft limted to historical eras of the war. Nothing more nothing less. It doesn't offer the full blown everything thrown at you at once experiance of the LWA. It's slower paced and limited in scope. The maps and aircraft usually change every week giving you a chance for a different experiance four times a month. True everybody's favorite aircraft isn't there every week but sooner or later each aircraft will get a chance to fly against it's historical avdersary. It's not superior to the other arenas, it's just another option available that you might enjoy if you'd like a change of pace occasionally.

<S>

[bj229r]

Upped once, saw a dot, 10 seconds later it bounced me. Upped again, (was mindful of size of dots this time), were 2 on dar (only 2 in the air, ANYwhere) they both jumped me. Went back to MA. Reminded me of A V A years ago with Storch and his guys--no matter what the scenario/odds/numbers, every guy anywhere near ya all jumped ya at once...yawn

[321BAR]

i gotta admit. today was great in the AvA. i loved the numbers ranging from 15-25 constant at only 6pm-8pm! it was wonderful to fight people again

[oakranger]

Questions:

1. what would it take for you or your squad to frequent the AVA 1 night or more a week?

Set up special events, missions

2. what do you like about the AVA, if anything? (Please speak from experience)

Squad vs Squad, event match in plane set, and no egos 

3. what do you dislike about the AVA, if anything? (again, please speak from experience)

People who have big egos that do not know how to take a kill because they are not in their perk ride AC