ENY (one more time)

[Oldman731]

So perhaps answer me this.  Why stay when the game mechanics reduce the enjoyment level for me?

I suppose the question that you are answering is:  What's the other game I'd rather be playing?

Hey, this is the US of A, where free choice is what runs the economy.  If there's a better alternative, then go! 

Thus far, I haven't been informed of any better alternatives.  Most of the "competitors" don't worry about things like ENY because they don't have enough players to make it an issue.  If flying your favorite plane matters that much to you, then it seems to me there must be other places you can do that.  Enjoy!

Really, there are a lot of people here who have lost their sense of perspective.

- oldman

[FESS67]

I have plenty of other games to play.  In the past AH kept my interest,  not so much now.  Sure, there are other factors such as runners, lack of numbers / fights that add to my lack of interest however ENY is a factor for me.

As I stated im my post above, perhaps AH is not the game for me anymore.  There is no loss of perspective at all.

[The Fugitive]

I was waiting for someone to try to play that card, in spite of the fact that I regularly admit in my posts that my account is currently inactive, why it is and that I didn't rage quit or leave in protest of anything.

I've never stopped playing because the game wasn't fun. From the time I had my stroke, through recovery to the point of going back to school and living with a reduced income, as a result, I never intended to break my connection with this game or this community. I finally caved to practicality and decided to temporarily let my account lapse Dec. of 2017 (oddly enough to my wife's protests - she supports my connection to AH). As it turned out, it was left active for four months longer and my darling wife, the keeper of the cc statement, didn't say anything (not that I had the luxury to play because of studies). I took that time to save up ever so slowly for a computer upgrade. This turned out to be a practical necessity, expense-wise, when my step-son moved back in, bringing with him his energy hogging game PC. His PC will get moth-balled for the duration once my new PC is complete and set up for community family use. That'll be a 300.00 utility expense trimming (with just one PC running regularly and not seeing extensive game use).

Currently, a major monthly expense is finally paid off. My game computer sits on the floor with a new motherboard, new memory sticks and a new video card but unfortunately my A+ training is so old and outdated that I'll hafta let the Geeksquad handle it. Hopefully soon.

My personal experience is what leads me to believe that people who claim everyone that isn't currently playing the game left in disgust or frustration with a game design feature or function is mainly projection. Neither you nor I have hard data to back such a claim or even to state that they all experienced the same life circumstances I have. I don't think it's unreasonable that there may be a mixture but I never was impressed with claims of certainty based on anything but hard data to prove it.

So, I anticipate my return fairly soon. It won't be because something broken in the game got fixed. Like I've pretty much consistently said; it's not the game, it's the players (and I know plenty that are still in game that make up for that).

It doesnt really matter "why" you left, but that you did, like many many other people. The numbers continue to drop. We lose more players every week than we get in and keep. Do I have the hard numbers from HTC? No, but as I STILL play the game and STILL run my numbers each week to see if Im improving...... there is soooooo much room for improving for me..... I can see the number reflect less and less players. That is problem #1

Problem #2 is the type of players we have these days, something you know very little about as you dont play any more...... the point I was trying to make with my comment/card I played. Todays game play is worst than it was a year ago, well maybe it has gotten a bit better with the new dar, but still it is NOTHING like what we had a few years ago. Im not talking back in its "heydays" either. Sure the low numbers bring most of the poor game play brighter into the light, but even so the game has become more and more a game of avoidance than anything else. The players no longer want to spend the TIME to fight it out. To most of them fighting has nothing to do with this game and is most likely one of the reason they log off ( I cant get anything done, screw this).

Last night FSO had 146 players, were a year ago they had 188. Thats what about 25% less players (These are hard FACTS using HTC/FSO logs). Check the numbers on the scenario that is running this weekend. You'll see the same thing. These are the events the majority of the players use to play, the "bread and butter of the game, and they are slowly dying away as well.

There ARE problems, things driving players away from the game. I dont think anyone is looking for a huge change, just some minor tweaks to reign in some of the more lame game play that seems to dominate what we have left in this game.

[Arlo]

Challenging your false narrative actually does matter, though. You were stating (not even inferring) that hundreds or even thousands of players have left the game because of things like ENY. Then you attempted to make a point of that with my not being active. I believe I successfully illustrated how that is a perception blown way out of proportion by giving in-depth detail on my circumstances, since you attempted to call me out. Turning it around by claiming I'm drastically out of the loop since the entire player community has somehow 'drastically changed' in a year doesn't take the place of rational concession.

[Ciaphas]

Challenging your false narrative actually does matter, though. You were stating (not even inferring) that hundreds or even thousands of players have left the game because of things like ENY. Then you attempted to make a point of that with my not being active. I believe I successfully illustrated how that is a perception blown way out of proportion by giving in-depth detail on my circumstances, since you attempted to call me out. Turning it around by claiming I'm drastically out of the loop since the entire player community has somehow 'drastically changed' in a year doesn't take the place of rational concession.

But then again neither of your claims can be validated. however, one can look at the numbers drop in relation to changes made to the game and draw a reasonable conclusion as to the reason or reasons people bailed.

So, to argue over an opinion is fruitless at best.

 

[Arlo]

Since it was instituted, when has ENY been changed? Why wasn't there a mass exodus when it was first instituted? Is it possible that people might stop playing AH without it being a rage quit or protest thing and that ENY had nothing to do with it? I'm willing to concede some may have but I wouldn't dream of exaggerating the possibility one way or the other. Emotional leverage for lost causes is a waste of time.

[Ciaphas]

Since it was instituted, when has ENY been changed? Why wasn't there a mass exodus when it was first instituted? Is it possible that people might stop playing AH without it being a rage quit or protest thing and that ENY had nothing to do with it? I'm willing to concede some may have but I wouldn't dream of exaggerating the possibility one way or the other. Emotional leverage for lost causes is a waste of time.

There are probably dozen or more reason why people left. For some, it may have been the straw that broke the camels back. Imagine a player base that hated ENY but decided that they could put up with it. Then all of a sudden Hitech starts tweaking things, these tweaks become a catalyst that pushes them out and BAMB, it becomes relevant to the reason that folks leave. I seriously doubt there is any one reason people have left, there are compounding issues. What are these issue? if you answer that, then you have a million dollar answer.

While I understand that this is a 1 issue topic, you have to look beyond the single issue and look at the big picture and address things as if they are on the big screen. They all bleed in to one another and for some it's enough to bounce out.

[Arlo]

Roger.

[The Fugitive]

There are probably dozen or more reason why people left. For some, it may have been the straw that broke the camels back. Imagine a player base that hated ENY but decided that they could put up with it. Then all of a sudden Hitech starts tweaking things, these tweaks become a catalyst that pushes them out and BAMB, it becomes relevant to the reason that folks leave. I seriously doubt there is any one reason people have left, there are compounding issues. What are these issue? if you answer that, then you have a million dollar answer.

While I understand that this is a 1 issue topic, you have to look beyond the single issue and look at the big picture and address things as if they are on the big screen. They all bleed in to one another and for some it's enough to bounce out.

Well said. The point I was trying to make is it really doesnt matter WHY people are leaving ( there are dozens of reasons and tweaking isnt going to please everyone). The point is that they ARE leaving and not enough new players are coming in to cover the lose.

The Aces High we started with isnt going to cut it in todays market as things stand right now. Advertising, social media, even changes to the game may all be required to help new players to come in and stay.Those of you saying "All is well!" are lying to yourselves.

[Vinkman]

Whenever someone doesn't like something in the game they immediately claim it's the reason people are leaving. Perhaps they feel this will persuade HTC to grant their wish.  The game is basically the same game it has always been:
-Giant multi-player 3-way battle of air sea and land vehicles.
-objectives and action is determined only by the desires of the players in the arena.

code changes over the years have tried to enhance the playing experience of all players.

People leave because of circumstances that have nothing to do with code changes.
1) health reasons
2) financial reasons
3) life priority reasons

The reason they are not quickly back filled with new players is a matter of conjecture. Coming from a house of gamers I feel the biggest factors are:
1) it takes a good gaming rig to play. by contrast a PS4 or XBOX is $400.
2) the competition for MMOs is much larger than it was when AH started and is growing everyday.
3) The game really required peripheries [stick, pedals, throttle, TrackIr or Oculus] to enjoy fully. this adds extra hundreds of dollars to the investment to play.
4) The game is very difficult.  To not get slaughtered on must learn the game, plane controls, flight, the view system, gunnery, and ACM.  This takes hundreds of hours and will only be attempted by die hard fans of the genre who come in with desire to master WWII air combat.
5) Fans of the genre are a shrinking demographic.  Fighter pilot news reports ended 40 years ago. kids want to be a virtual LeBron James now, not a virtual Chuck Yeager.  When was the last time you heard a "squeaker" in the arena? It's pretty rare. No it isn't because of 200 channel rants. it's because they have different idols now and the computer world allows everyone to put on the their virtual persona. This new generation doesn't know what a fighter pilot is.

So if you want the arena full you have to make the following changes (in my opinion):
1) Make a version for XBOX users that allows then to use an XBOX controller.
2) Allow cross platform play in the arena so XBOX players can play with PC players.
3) add an off-line story to play through that acts a training class so new players can learn the game, controls, and the skill set to play in the arena.

But for God's sake stop blaming player numbers on ENY and radar tweaks. 

[Ciaphas]

I winder if porting this game to a known engine would do any good.

As far as I know, this game uses an in-house engine and is limited by the imagination of the coder that is plugging away at it. I also understand that keeping costs down is paramount but using a tested cross platform engine would open this game up to Xbox, PS while retaining it's roots in the PC world.

Both major consoles already support peripherals so that is not an issue.

This is not a shot at Dale and crew just a look to the future from someone who plans on playing this game for the next two or three decades.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Arlo]

Whenever someone doesn't like something in the game they immediately claim it's the reason people are leaving. Perhaps they feel this will persuade HTC to grant their wish.  The game is basically the same game it has always been:
-Giant multi-player 3-way battle of air sea and land vehicles.
-objectives and action is determined only by the desires of the players in the arena.

code changes over the years have tried to enhance the playing experience of all players.

People leave because of circumstances that have nothing to do with code changes.
1) health reasons
2) financial reasons
3) life priority reasons

The reason they are not quickly back filled with new players is a matter of conjecture. Coming from a house of gamers I feel the biggest factors are:
1) it takes a good gaming rig to play. by contrast a PS4 or XBOX is $400.
2) the competition for MMOs is much larger than it was when AH started and is growing everyday.
3) The game really required peripheries [stick, pedals, throttle, TrackIr or Oculus] to enjoy fully. this adds extra hundreds of dollars to the investment to play.
4) The game is very difficult.  To not get slaughtered on must learn the game, plane controls, flight, the view system, gunnery, and ACM.  This takes hundreds of hours and will only be attempted by die hard fans of the genre who come in with desire to master WWII air combat.
5) Fans of the genre are a shrinking demographic.  Fighter pilot news reports ended 40 years ago. kids want to be a virtual LeBron James now, not a virtual Chuck Yeager.  When was the last time you heard a "squeaker" in the arena? It's pretty rare. No it isn't because of 200 channel rants. it's because they have different idols now and the computer world allows everyone to put on the their virtual persona. This new generation doesn't know what a fighter pilot is.

So if you want the arena full you have to make the following changes (in my opinion):
1) Make a version for XBOX users that allows then to use an XBOX controller.
2) Allow cross platform play in the arena so XBOX players can play with PC players.
3) add an off-line story to play through that acts a training class so new players can learn the game, controls, and the skill set to play in the arena.

But for God's sake stop blaming player numbers on ENY and radar tweaks. 

Sadly (and I do mean sadly), this all rings true to me. 

[Oldman731]

What was that weekly thing they had a few years ago, where people would gang up and horde the map?  There was a name for it.  I believe it was one of the reasons for implementing ENY.

I finally remembered:  Rook Joint Squad Operations.  Undoubtedly people who are better at searching these forums can find a good thread, but here's Bustr, three years ago, remembering the same cause-and-effect: 

Since AH1 and the rook joint squad operations with 300+ players closing down the MA forced Hitech to implement ENY. Now with ENY in effect, I don't see everyone jumping to the side with numbers to be on the winning team all flying the uber rides and causing account cancelations. That was the mother of all unintended consequences I've seen in this game since 2002.

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,375286.msg4999324.html#msg4999324

- oldman

[ccvi]

At that time rooks had <50% the players of bishops online at any time of the day (262 for <100 pp regularly). And when for a couple of hours during the rare RJO rooks had more players something had to be done about it? Those poor bish, can't let them be outnumbered once in a while.

[Vinkman]

I finally remembered:  Rook Joint Squad Operations.  Undoubtedly people who are better at searching these forums can find a good thread, but here's Bustr, three years ago, remembering the same cause-and-effect: 

... I don't see everyone jumping to the side with numbers to be on the winning team all flying the uber rides and causing account cancelations...

- oldman

I don't believe people cancelled accounts because rooks won the war, or that ENY stopped it.      

Also one chess piece systemically out numbering the other two is no longer an issue.  Temporary fluctuations really don't need to be addressed by plane limits. better to enact a modification to the side switching rules that stop people switching to the side with higher numbers.