Asking before jumping in a 1v1 is good.
Asking to be left alone if you are in a 1v1 you want to stay that way is good.
Expecting either to happen or be honored in a furball consistently is unrealistic in the MA.
Getting upset about anything that happens in a video game is silly.
When flying against bigger numbers in a furball, generally its accepted that the idea is to clean out as many as possible to even it up. Still nice to ask, but often too busy to expect that to happen.
Everyone in the game has their own set of "rules" and there are too many versions to keep track of. The guy that never gangs might be fine spawn camping. The guy that picks a lot may never want help when he ends up turning in a 1v1, but might be HO'er at every chance. The guy that gangs, picks, HOs, bomb****s, camps, runs, stick stirs, and vulches is often the guy that complains about it the most.
One guy might have fun killing radar and ords, then running home unscathed to continue on some base taking plan. The next guy wants to dive into a sea of red and see how long he lasts. Fly and let fly.
I am digging this response. Kind of the thing I am thinking but couldn't find words for. Ultimately, I will salute a good fight. If not a good fight, no sense in honoring a pick.
Makes me crazy when I am in a great fight or a furball I am beginning to win only to get picked off. However, shame on me for bad SA. Or shame on me for the decision to engage in a fight I know I will eventually blow energy. Either way, it is a game designed for the masses.
Personally, if I see a 1 vs. 1 going on, I'll ask if help is needed. If I get a response, I honor the answer. If I don't get a response, I hover the fight until I see what the outcome is. If I see another enemy plane entering said 1 vs. 1, I will engage the first plane I think needs to die to set up the next fight, regardless of what the response to the question is because the changing environment of the fight at hand. But I also communicate that information with the common goal of getting both me and the friendly out of it alive to fight again in the same sortie.
I don't like helping someone out that asks for help only to get jumped while my scrubbing gets him out of the mess so he can extend while I usually die. I assume, that when I am asked to help, that plane is in it with me to the death, or the enemy's death. Too often, I help only to have helped that person escape to go land their 2 kills while I am left to deal with that plane plus his buddies trying to get in to help him. Though I do enjoy the practice and I learn a lot. I suppose I am used to flying with my squad in which we have the 3 to 7 second extend rule to keep applied pressure on said fight (part of our wingman training we do).
