Author Topic: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?  (Read 60515 times)

Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #30 on: December 17, 2019, 02:44:04 PM »
Maybe instead of making all of these extra arena's and a seperate game for noobs, HTC should just keep it simple and make one playground.
Keep the TA and DA, but get rid of all the clutter.

Coogan

It's always a good idea to review and streamline your operations occasionally.  He has already mentioned to me once he wants to cleanup the arena list.

Steal the Sheep can go.
Mission Arena can go.
WW1WF can go now with Offline missions.
AvA?  It's only real use now is MNM.  I guess that could go into one of the SEA.

I assume you should keep Custom Arena for people that want to set private servers for them and their friends or squads to practice.

What else?

Do you think that would put 500 players back in the Melee, though?

:salute
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Offline DmonSlyr

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #31 on: December 17, 2019, 02:45:27 PM »
Thanks CptObvious.  ;)  One is 3-sided, one is 2-sided.  One is curated, one is not.  I've talked to several people in the Scenarios that said they never bother playing the Melee.  If they go in there at all, it is just to quickly check  their convergence for the plane they are going to be flying in the Scenario.

Agreed.  I'm wondering if events are really the better stealth product.  It's pretty much marketed now as subscribe to our Melee, oh and there are some Scenarios on the side occasionally as well.
Maybe flip the script and focus and really super charge and expand the Scenario capabilities and market AH as:

"Sign up for duty and participate in monthly historical re-enactments of the WWII air war!  Relive History. Change History!   Oh, and we have a silly 3-chess piece Melee arena where you can go practice in between the main events."  :D

I've also said before  (and was attacked),  I think there should be event tickets.  I'd like to try to draw in IL2 and DCS and WB and WWIIOL pilots in to participate in a event. Yes, they can open a subscription and then close it again, but most people won't do that.  They don't know Hitech.  The will assume that they will get screwed and charged an extra month, even though HTC makes it very easy to cancel. Asking someone to open an ongoing subscription is just psychologically a big ask. 

But don't the numbers always trend up in winter when people are house-bound and then decline again once it warms up?  It's just that year after year, it never trends up quite as high as the last year, and drops back down a little lower than the year before.
 
It was suggested that a Social Media Team be formed to produce regular content to hosted by HTC's official channels and web page (with Hitech's review of course).  There are lots of talented people in this community and I think I've seen some people volunteer to help with that.  It would be more powerful for new content to pushed through HTC's media and web channels so the company doesn't look like a mothballed dead museum. I understand HTC has extremely limit bandwidth and resources .  I'm suggesting HTC should to help us, help them.

I don't know if anything like that is underway and just stealth. 

:salute

FSO and the MA are 2 completely different approaches. FSO is AvA. FSO is organized with squad objectives, fso has one 1 life. Organizers keep it relatively balanced. It's not anywhere near the same as the MA from a strategic or gameplay point of view. Those players who only play FSO will still not play the MA even if it is 2 sided. The problem with 2 side is that one big squad will enter the arena. This will then create a huge embalance for one team that a lot of people will complain about. Auto balance would mess up squads and piss people off. Similar to what happened when the MA waa split back in 09, which IMO was detrimental to AH losing a lot of players.

The special events truely need more marketing. There is a huge opportunity there.

Just for craps and laughter, where does KOTH fit into this statement?

I hear and read people saying where's the fight? The Special Event that packs most dog-fighting/hour of any event we have barely gets enough players to even run it.
 :headscratch:

No front page website hype. No free month sub for winning. No free month sub for getting #1 in the MA. So many people are scared of competition now in this game, it's ridiculous.

Like said, overall there is just a lack of hype for most things.

Perhaps social media would work... Youtube commercials would work fairly well, especially with all the air combat movies lately.

Hitech creations being a 1-3 man army now makes it very challenging for hype and enthusiasm and updates to happen.

I hope that if hitech were to retire soon, that he sells it rather than just shutting it all down. Easier said than done tho.
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Offline DmonSlyr

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #32 on: December 17, 2019, 02:49:00 PM »
It's always a good idea to review and streamline your operations occasionally.  He has already mentioned to me once he wants to cleanup the arena list.

Steal the Sheep can go.
Mission Arena can go.
WW1WF can go now with Offline missions.
AvA?  It's only real use now is MNM.  I guess that could go into one of the SEA.

I assume you should keep Custom Arena for people that want to set private servers for them and their friends or squads to practice.

What else?

Do you think that would put 500 players back in the Melee, though?

:salute

Need a feeder fighter bowl for noobs. A fighter bowl for everyone. A DA with air spawns without a furball lake that you can choose teams. A TA for appointments and with training tips and AI help. The MA, WW1, and AvA. That's it. 
« Last Edit: December 17, 2019, 02:50:58 PM by DmonSlyr »
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Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #33 on: December 17, 2019, 02:55:46 PM »
Need a feeder fighter bowl for noobs. A fighter bowl for everyone. A DA with air spawns without a furball lake. A TA for appointments and with training tips and AI help. The MA, WW1, and AvA. That's it.

What purpose does the AvA serve now?  Could it's MNM not be folded in to a SEA arena?  In honesty, is there any other time anyone is in there?

If we are going down that road, I'd say close WWI as well.  I've never seen 16 players in there so someone could always start up a WWI Custom Arena. Or maybe MNM could occasionally go WWI in the SEA.

Are you saying close the Custom Arena too?

You didn't mention the SEA, but obviously you are not including them.   

So after all that, would it put 500 players in the Melee again?


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Offline 100Coogn

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #34 on: December 17, 2019, 02:56:32 PM »
It's always a good idea to review and streamline your operations occasionally.  He has already mentioned to me once he wants to cleanup the arena list.

Steal the Sheep can go.
Mission Arena can go.
WW1WF can go now with Offline missions.
AvA?  It's only real use now is MNM.  I guess that could go into one of the SEA.

I assume you should keep Custom Arena for people that want to set private servers for them and their friends or squads to practice.

What else?

Do you think that would put 500 players back in the Melee, though?

:salute

Forgot about the Offline Misssions.  I would keep those, as it does not affect online play.

Coogan  :salute
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Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #35 on: December 17, 2019, 03:02:31 PM »
The problem with 2 side is that one big squad will enter the arena. This will then create a huge embalance for one team that a lot of people will complain about.

It boggles my mind that you don't understand it is no better with three sides.  There is some kind of disconnect here. 

It's even worse with 3-sides because the remaining players who are resisting the mega-squad are on two different countries which means they also have to fight each other as well as the mega-squad.

Oh, well.  Nevermind.  That's the way it was in 1988, so that's the way it has to stay.  I concede you are stuck with 3-sides.  It's not going to change.  Good luck with that.

 
:rolleyes:

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Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #36 on: December 17, 2019, 03:04:13 PM »
Forgot about the Offline Misssions.  I would keep those, as it does not affect online play.

Coogan  :salute

Sorry.  I didn't think you meant getting rid of offline missions.

I meant to say that with the improved ease of use of Offline Missions, we no longer need the WW1WF arena.

:salute
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Offline Lusche

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #37 on: December 17, 2019, 03:04:39 PM »

(...)

I assume you should keep Custom Arena for people that want to set private servers for them and their friends or squads to practice.

Custom arenas are instrumental to testing stuff  :old:  :joystick:  :D

Do you think that would put 500 players back in the Melee, though?

Not me. I'm very much with Bozon on that matter (though not in the details)
But it would be great if I was wrong again ;)
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Offline ccvi

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #38 on: December 17, 2019, 03:17:03 PM »

Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #39 on: December 17, 2019, 03:19:42 PM »
Again? :O

I demand a Lusche  Errors-over-Time chart!

:old:

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Offline DmonSlyr

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #40 on: December 17, 2019, 03:21:34 PM »
Custom arenas and SEA arenas should definitely stay.

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Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #41 on: December 17, 2019, 03:22:52 PM »
Custom arenas and SEA arenas should definitely stay.

And AvA?
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Offline Oldman731

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #42 on: December 17, 2019, 03:24:32 PM »
What purpose does the AvA serve now?  Could it's MNM not be folded in to a SEA arena?  In honesty, is there any other time anyone is in there?


If no one is there...what do you expect to achieve by closing it down...?

- oldman

Offline Vraciu

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #43 on: December 17, 2019, 03:28:31 PM »

If no one is there...what do you expect to achieve by closing it down...?

- oldman

Perception.   

Just like showing 42/750 makes an arena look emptier than just saying 42 online. 
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Offline CptTrips

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Re: How have we lost so many people to this wonderful game?
« Reply #44 on: December 17, 2019, 03:34:51 PM »

If no one is there...what do you expect to achieve by closing it down...?

- oldman


I'm not sure.

The proposition was made that if we trimmed all these unnecessary arena that would put players back into the Melee. 

I'm just gaming it through to see what that looks like and then understand how that puts players back in the Melee.  Maybe I'm missing something that will become obvious.

Though Hitech did make the point that it just reduces confusion and it just doesn't look good with a bunch of empty arena.  I agree with that.  No problem with clearing the decks.


I just don't see how it materially changes the population of the remaining arena.

:salute


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