Are there enough players?

[MarineUS]

^ Bam 

[RTHolmes]

The big fans of flight sims are already playing this game or know about it at the very least. Before they advertise they need to change the game so that the people that see the advertisements will actually stay. I can tell you right now that non flight sim people that want to play mmos won't put up with arena caps. So their choice is remove arena caps to get new players and piss off old players or keep arena caps to keep the old players happy but shut out new players. A younger gamer isn't going to sacrifice excellent graphics and not having a monthly fee (IL2 for example) for a game with worse graphics and the same amount of players. They're going to want to play a game that has a TON of players in a PERSISTENT world, they won't want to be forced to join a different "persistent" map every time they log back in.

[The Fugitive]

Only HTC has the numbers for the decision, and personally I hate the single arena WHEN THE NUMBERS WERE OVER 500. If the numbers support it, I'd like to see it go back to a single arena. HTC still has the split arena scenario in hand and I'm sure they could slip it back in without much trouble. Should HTC see the same "unhealthy arena" and subscription issue they could switch back no problem.

[Meatwad]

oh how i miss those days

Same here. I lost interest quickly after the arenas split

[STEELE]

I'd argue that the populaton of AH overall has declined from that "golden age".  Just go into the arena, pop open the clipboard and sort by rank.  The lowest ranked players today are much higher ranked than before so that indicates that there are fewer players playing the game. 

Absolutley. When we had one uncapped arena, I was rank 6000 (ish), now with the arena split I'm still last, but theres only about 3000 active players so I'm ranked 2999.   
Also, I know about 5 people who Only play on Tuesday, I bet a lot of you can say the same. 

[Lusche]

Absolutley. When we had one uncapped arena, I was rank 6000 (ish), now with the arena split I'm still last, but theres only about 3000 active players so I'm ranked 2999.

It's not that bad.  We had more than 4400 players with at least one kill or death in the LW arena last tour

[grizz441]

It's not that bad.   We had more than 4400 players with at least one kill or death in the LW arena last tour

Yea but at least 10 of those were sunbat shades. 

[PFactorDave]

It's not that bad.  We had more than 4400 players with at least one kill or death in the LW arena last tour

And that excludes all those folks who maintained a subscription, but did not have a sortie

[Lusche]

And that excludes all those folks who maintained a subscription, but did not have a sortie

But also includes 2-weekers that did not have a subscription as well

[PFactorDave]

But also includes 2-weekers that did not have a subscription as well

Good point!  I wonder how many people do the two weekk trial but never subscribe.  Only HTC knows that though.

[GNucks]

What if there was only one arena that split 60 minutes after the population reaches that point where the play experience begins to deteriorate? Once the sum of the population in both arenas falls to 70 or 80 percent (throw-away numbers) of that "that point" for an hour the arenas can merge back together. Similar set up to what we have now except the population is the factor that decides whether the arena will split, not the time of day.

I'm sure HTC carefully considered what time of day to split the LWMA and what time to merge it again, but I'm interested in what sort of discussion this idea would spark (if it had never been discussed previously, which would surprise me).

[bj229r]

Only HTC has the numbers for the decision, and personally I hate the single arena WHEN THE NUMBERS WERE OVER 500. If the numbers support it, I'd like to see it go back to a single arena. HTC still has the split arena scenario in hand and I'm sure they could slip it back in without much trouble. Should HTC see the same "unhealthy arena" and subscription issue they could switch back no problem.

What's perplexing is that the huge maps (400 sectors) which HAD the 500-600 guys on them (which HT deemed 'bad', from a numbers vs gameplay perspective) are STILL the maps in play, even when there is only 1 guy for every 2 sectors on the map...a poor fit, IMO (from a 'gameplay' perspective)

Does HTC have a desired ratio in mind, of players to sectors?

[save]

I just wish they postponed the switch to 2 arenas ONE HOUR , now it pretty much it for the day for many Europeans , because new arenas do not fill up to a critical number fast enough, because for that #Q¤%¤%%&  100-arena cap.

I do not have a sollution for the problem, maybe someone else have , HTC have a reason for splitting it up.

[BaldEagl]

Tonight I logged on at around 11:00 PM Central to get a couple of sorties in.  Orange was locked at 100/100 and I was forced to go into Blue with a total of 45 players.  It happened to be the map I most detest (NDIsles) and the only fighting was on the center island.  Needless to day I logged out.  No one in WWI.  Went to the DA and got a couple quick sorties in at furball lake in a Ki-61 and logged out for the night.

45 players isn't really "massive multi-player" IMO.  

So for my weekend Friday was a strike-out, Saturday was OK and Sunday the game was evidently cancelled.

Maybe at one time having over 500 people on a map wasn't good for subscriptions but having less than 50 is even worse for gameplay.

[moot]

Playing Devil's advocate for a second:

What was one of the great things about the early days?  Everyone knew each other, right?  Despite the low numbers of the time.