It's the existence of free 51s, 190Ds, and La-7s, and Typhoons, I tell ya.
Before the D-9 and the La-7, only the P-51 folk ran away. Since the P-51 folk are either very good pilots or crap newbies who's been tricked into the 51 due to the hype around it, about half of those 51s you can catch and kill. People were never too keen for the Typhoon, and the G-10 is a castrated diver.
Now, there are D-9s and La-7s, planes which are as fast as the P-51 at the deck.
* Good news: we have variety
* Bad news: we now have variety of late war super planes with various people who choose to run, who previously - when there were no La-7s and D-9s - when they didn't use the D-9 or the La-7, were usually caught and shot down. At least the D-9 is horrible when it comes to a close-quarter maneuvering contest... The La-7..? *Feh !*
Frankly, under these circumstances where hoardes of Spits, N1K2s and La-7s and P-51s are around, anybody who isn't confident enough to try and slug out a 1vs1 if given a chance, will just choose to pick a 51 or an La-7. Hey, at least they don't lose anymore!
So, as more and more mediocre/new pilots start using La-7s and P-51s, veterans get frustrated - they see everybody running. So, they give up their loved planes and choose to also fly La-7s and P-51s. Quite understandable - you do a couple of merges, and the P-51 or the La-7 soars downwards and runs.. you think to yourself... "oooh, this friggin 109 of mine.. If I were only in a La-7.. oooohhh...
"
So then what happens? Newbies and mediocre pilots like me stand even lower chance than they had, so they completely stick with the runner planes - either they choose a better plane and do at least a teensey weensey bit better, or remain a stupid mediocre pilot like me
...
And voila - a vicious circle is born!
.....
Seems like a whiney, funny analysis? Maybe, but it may hold even deeper truth than you'd realize.
When were the new planes introduced? When did these 'AH is not like it was before' complaints began? And the 'suicidal no-skill pilots' complaints? It roughly starts around version two, three versions ago - AH community suddenly grew twice its numbers, the La-7 and the Fw190D-9 was introduced together.
What about ACM complaints? If you're in a fast plane that runs away from all other planes except the same type, where's the motivation for the pilot to learn complicated maneuvers, when they can simply point nose down and run anytime?
Oh, since this method cannot be applied when the enemy flies the same super-speed plane as you... voila, there you have it. The birth of the massive numbers of people who choose to run if they meet a plane either higher than him, or meet a same plane 1vs1.
...
It's not something like as if a part of the human race who loves flight sim games suddenly mutated their DNA cells into 'runner mode'. People are always as they used to be.
Then, the dynamics of change lies within the change of the game - available plane sets, in particular.
..
The solution lies in moving the arena environment into an era before this extreme emphasis on speed was born - an era where not every speed queen also carried hoardes of ordnance, so they can ignore/pass the interceptors and go auger straight at the field(hello? Typhies and 51s, sound familiar?)
*Deliberate Hijack*
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