Two concepts that have been brought up here many times that I'd love to see tried out:
(1) Airfield limits - once x number of planes and GVs have taken off from any given field, no one else can up there until someone dies or ends flight. Small strips won't be able to launch 50-plane hordes. Large fields will become very valuable real estate!
(2) Zone ENY. The problem with ENY is it's designed for a zero-sum 2-way war, while we have a 3-way war. At any given time the side with the high ENY may be the most heavily outnumbered in the actual distribution of planes on the map. If we're going to have ENY, it should reflect reality within the game.
I'm torn on the idea of a beginner's arena. I fear it might hurt the game. Two-weekers are certainly necessary to kweep the game viable by replacing those who move on - never forget that this is a for-profit business and if it ever stops being profitable it won't be here for any of us! The question is whether being diverted to a beginner's arena would make it more or less likely for 2-weekers to convert to paying customers. I don't have even a guess as to the answer to that, but I suspect it would depend partly on how many 2-weekers there are at any given time. It would be absolutely necessary to have some trainers willing to hang out there and help the newbs get started.
Tralfazz, I have absolutely nothing to disagree with in what you've said here. Base taking exists to give a strategic goal toward which the fighting is directed. It is the goal of the game, but not the point of the game, if that makes sense. I often compare AH to football; football would be boring if there were only one team and you just ran down the field scoring touchdowns with no one opposing, but it would also be boring if there were no touchdowns and the teams just ran around throwing, running, and blocking with no particular aim in mind.