Don't lump me in with players like Fugitive or violator who think forcing people to fly a certain way is the solution. The way people fly isn't the problem with the game.
I have never said that players should be forced to play a certain way. I do believe that players should be forced AWAY from game play that isnt good. The HQ raids, the endless NOEs, these are things that were bad for the game, and HTC adjusted settings to do away with them, forcing them to play different ways.
I love the "sandbox" setting of the game, but where are the squad missions? Where are the team missions? Where are the co-ordinated attacks? Where are the big battles that use to feed the lonewolf/sharks? Where are the tank battles that we had on Greebos map, tanktown and A85? Where are the epic sea battles that dont end with kamikasi lancs? Same goes for the ship to shore battles. Where are the squads that actively look for new guys and work to train them up? All of this and more has disappeared from the game. Our sandbox only seems to have a few toys left, HO, picks and runners.
The game has lost the "reason" all these other options were viable. It has been watered down to the simplest version of "win the war" you can get.
1. get more people in the game. ....advertise, social media, youtube.
2. retain these new people...... have a default mouse, game pad setting, model it off other games that these players use, make it "familiar"
3. get rid of GV dar icons on the maps, change view range to help spot vehicles with out being in gun range, add a darbar for GVs.
4. get rid of the plane icons and go back to the dots. Too much info pin points buffs and especially goons.
Just a few things I think would help a great deal. Social media and youtube is a no brainer. Whether you like youtube, Facebook, Twitter or not the majority of the rest of the world is hooked into it, use it to draw them in.
Having a default setting for a mouse and gamepad that is all set to make it as easy as possible to fly right out of the box is a must. Makeing the main buttons to match other games makes it familiar and easy for the new guys to get rolling. views with a mouse user should be A,S,W,D.
The big red arrow (box) pointing at a GV saying "Here I am!" is what caused most of the GV guys to leave. Put a darbar in for the GVs so players will be alerted that a GV is in the sector, but not point right at them. This way the GV gets some of its "stealth" back, but with a "vis range" closer to what we use to have they wont be invisible.
The plane icons are the same thing. Buff hunters will have to watch ALL icons not only vector strait to the "buff". This give the buff guys a better chance it they plan there route good enough which I think is a big part of flying a buff.
Just small changes, but bring back the action will go a long way to help keeping new players.
