Is there a correlation between the number of players (displayed by kill per hour?) and the method of capture? Some are determining the war winning concept has impacted overall gameplay and numbers online, I'm curious if that is entirely accurate.
I'm a bit confused ... number of players displayed by kills/hour?
Nevertheless, if I read the general meaning of your inquiry right you want to know if there are any kind or correlations between base captures (methods).
No, I can't see anything like that. Player numbers basically have been declining at a relatively steady pace since early 2008. The trend of an increasing share of captures by m3 is way older than that, essentially ever since vehicles were introduced.
Furthermore, I can not see any connection between captures/player and captures/played hours, those have been varying substantially in all directions depending on changes to gameplay mechanisms.
On a somewhat related note: It is my own, subjective opinion, that teams (=chesspieces and squads), the ability to wage war in a persistant arena, to employ different strategies (opposed to just aerial combat tactics) and social features are the (potentially?) main strength's and unique feature of AH these days. I
think those features should have been strengthened long time ago.
I don't know if I'm right, though