I pay $30 monthly to HTC for air combat. I do not expect to walk into the European Air War. Nor on a weeknight, would I want to. I like being able to log into AH knowing I only have 40mins of flight time and be confident that I can get into a few scraps and put a little work into my acm.
Let me preface this a bit before going further; my background is in Air Warrior, and I think that game had both the respect for the MA and the respect for historical accuracy that this game seems to be in danger of being torn apart over.
In AW, scenarios were king. I know in my squad we jokingly referred to it as The Show, and I think it was widely acknowledged throughout the community that a pilot proved his worth in scenarios.
The MA was nothing more than a practice arena. There was no pretense of historical accuracy. The MA was there to get your reps in working on whatever part of your game needed work, deflection shooting, e-management, lead-turns etc. I'm not a diehard furballer or a pure K/D warrior either. I see them both as complimentary aspects in a fighter pilots skill set. I chase proficiency in both from month to month.
I'm also not saying I do not respect the skill set of "scenario flying", I respect it very much. But I've always felt that flying under scenario rules all the time actually hurts you as a pilot. Some skills are easier to maintain than others (take a year off and come back if you don't believe me). First thing that struck me after the time off was how I could stay alive quite well, but my ability to kill was suspect, then I'd start to press...and that's when I die. Your timing, gunnery, ability to track multiple enemies through a furball etc., these types of skills are so tough to keep current, so much so that you may feel like you've lost half a step in the MA even after a long scenario.
It must be the Warbirds influence, but there seems to be a large push in AH to turn the MA into an ongoing scenario. In my opinion, that's a pipe dream. Unless you have 1 life to live and are flying under orders with a flight of guys depending on you to do your job, we're all just dweebs running on the hamster wheel.
This recent talk of killing dar and icons in the MA really concerns me. It seems like an effort to turn the MA into something its not. If there is enough people that want this, I think its best that HTC open up a HA, put the no dar, no icons, RPS etc. in that arena.
But in my mind, the MA will always be just practice. In a scenario setting, go ahead kill the dar, kill the icons. I'm confident that I can manage in that environment. I'm confident because my goal is to complete a defined objective, stay alive and win.
The realism settings are not an annoyance in a scenario because I'm not concerned about fitting the most practice into a short time period like I would be on an average weeknight in the MA. The MA currently has an AWACS lookdown gps display. So what? I'm not on the hamster wheel to prove I'm the second coming of Galland, I'm there work on my game.
I agree, forcing more "realistic" gameplay aspects into the MA will push people into flying with more of a scenario mindset. Where I disagree is the assumption that more of that type of flying is a healthy thing.
