Really?

Thanks for not announcing this or offering up any description anywhere of what its about..
That oughta be good for losing about half the players.. Not a smart move...



on another note, framerates are down to mid 20's.. stutters galore and impossible to fly now..

Ya think it Might have been wiser to have offered it up next to the old main to have some feedback about performance before you decided to be sneaky and force it on everyone unannounced?

So now what are we supposed to do? Cant fly as is.. Guess i'll have to suspend my account again until things get fixed...

This gets so old after 20+ years.. C'mon IEN..

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I don't know what to say about the arena. The game play is that of our old combined arms arenas, and I always liked it in there. But I think for it to be fun as a main arena, we need to get more players in it- to reach a sort of critical threshold where the objectives become achievable and the play becomes fun.
With so few in the arena, we are caught in a loop; folks who don't like it aren't giving it a chance, and that leaves it empty which keeps out the folks who are willing to give it a chance. I don't blame either group. I have no bloody idea how to fix this at all. Clearly IEN wants to dump the old style play, and equally clearly, the bulk of the extant player base is not on board with that plan.
I hope we get enough new players in who give it a shot to keep IEN alive long enough to replace the numbers this arena and gameplay is going to cost us.
In the meantime, the old style gameplay is still alive and well in DOA.
finn

Twas a surprise move on Bill's part.
In the meantime, ( and it is a work in progress) wrinkles are being worked on.
I had some stutter issues one night and it is concerning.
For the combined arms gameplay concept, the canyon terrain whilst interesting does not lend itself well to the CA gameplay. Not enough airfields and the terrain is so hilly forward deployment spawn points for GV's have to be set to close to enemy fields and even then the random spawn point program puts em on the sides of cliffs. It changes spawn points every few minutes and sometimes its ok, but many times it is not. A flatter terrain works better.
Forward deployment spawns really need to be set at a distance that drive time to a field is approx. the same time as fly time for airplanes to get to a target.
Otherwise gv's have to big an advantage tactically in taking fields without air support.
A stop gap measure was introduced for this terrain by adding airplanes to all towns and vils with a 500 ft airstart since you cannot take off from the ground. Ideally if this needs doing airstarts only at FEBA ( forward edge of battle) would be more ideal and I think is being worked on.
Jabo did a really nice job building the canyon terrain and Bill wanted to give it a try. I believe Bill wants to run the Wastelands next and hopefully sooner rather than later. I am going to strongly recommend this.
In the meantime, specific concerns will be addressed as they come up, as best they can, such as the above mentioned. I believe the new score system is being perused and scoring issues being addressed since we starting with a new system and the possibility of a scores being transferred over is being looked at.
On a side note, Bill is working on an ad campaign with a major cable telly channel and believes this type of setup will be more attractive to new players coming in. I certainly hope so....
Once more into the breach!!

It appears the game play is changing, but it must be changing for kids to play. Well I hope this works to bring players into the game; hopefully it brings enough
and they stay there, so we can finally get an arena that is actually a WW2 Flight Sim again.

I don't see me flying much in a quake bird arena, but it's right up 6 to 7 players alley.

<S>

Provide this arena by all means, but at least maintain the old style main arena for grown ups who want a flight simulator. It doesn't interest me (or many of the existing players, by the looks), and I wonder whether the graphics package would need an update to attract a the kind of kids who would go for this kind of play (I have used instant action when there is no opposition in the main, but it quickly gets boring). Warbirds was always best as a simulator and that aspect of it always brought me back.

I'll suspend my account until we have a regular main again.

Cheers

Simboh

I'm not sure who in charge will read this, but here goes:

Long term customers of a game, particularly one of the few that charge monthly fees, DESERVE to be told in advance when major changes to the game are occurring. This is common sense... tell your customers what's going to happen to the service they're paying for, or watch them go away (or dribble away as seems to be happening). But perhaps that doesn't matter.

Anyway... no rank, no points, issues with runways, airstarts... it's a different game, all of a sudden (and not all ironed out).

WB pales on many levels with more contemporary flight options (sorry... DCS?), the graphics especially would need to be ramped way up to compete and attract a new, bigger/presumably younger clientele. I stay because of the people I fly with and for what sim aspects there are, mostly the former. That, especially, I would hate to see changed.

cheers,

-cato-

As a FNP or Fairly New Player of WB Online I would like to offer a couple of opinions regarding what has been discussed so far. Most of all I have to agree that it is wrong to just 'inflict' such pertinent changes upon players of all levels especially when they pay subscription fees in order to maintain their memberships.

Remember that it is a vote with someone's feet which counts the most and changing WB away from it's nature as a genuine simulator and making it more of an arcade-style experience will cause people to leave and those who remain to frown upon what's happened.

Just recently I have noticed that Combined Arms has appeared in the MA along with changes to the way in which locations and fields are captured or liberated. This all applies to the Canyon MA terrain which is currently being inflicted upon us playing WB Online. Why? Are we being punished or something?! Here I have experienced Airstarts whereas I for one prefer WB in the format of a genuine and realistic air combat flight simulator where historical accuracy and fact prevails. Not found in the fantasy Canyon terrain which is an absolute nightmare to fly around and made even more of a headache by the tendencies of many aircraft in Full Realism flight mode to stall and spin with such ease during climb and whilst performing manoeuvers!

There is also the point raised about graphic enhancements being inflicted upon members in order to attract a younger clientele. Whereas sometimes having a more mature following can have it's benefits as well as the way in which tampering with performance settings and requirements means that WB Online will cease to work properly for a number of those subscription-payers. When one gets a chance all they have to do is take a look at War Thunder to see what a graphics-fest which attracts a younger clientele has resulted in. Often leaving much to be desired in terms of forum content, player 'flaming' and conduct towards one another as well as how performance shortfalls because of the video-quality graphics frequently interfere with being able to play War Thunder properly. All of which one finds in a heavily Pay-to-Progress dependent set up which is inflicted upon players or they will find themselves unable to make any headway in the game / find themselves being constantly single-shot killed by a player who isn't better than they are or more experienced than they are ... Just someone with more money to burn than they have! I mean ... WHERE is the fun in that?!

I have tried War Thunder and it lasted for five days before I offloaded it and stopped playing. Basically because I had seen what I wanted to see and heard what I wanted to hear! I have also recently tried the air combat simulator Sky Gamblers and this too has been offloaded after a short space of time. Mostly because of stuttery performance and because of the intellect of some of the Multiplayer users ... I am 44 and far from appreciate how some people felt the need to scream 'ALL OTHER PLAYERS IN HERE JUST F*** OFF!' and the like in the chat window because another player has gone and 'fragged' them (shot them down as it would be termed in a better set-up!) Another graphics-fest which suffers at the hands of it's younger following - NO THANK YOU!

When playing WB Online I have found everyone polite and welcoming even though my performance whilst I am amongst them reveals just how much I still have to learn! This comes across as part of the fun and the encouragement to just keep on going with WB Online and not get frustrated with anything or anyone. If this is what the product of a more mature following is as they play WB as they have known it for some time and whilst it retains it's unique features then all the better. I would like to see WB revert to it's recognised format instead of departing from it's core area of interest (realistic vintage combat aviation) with changes such as Combined Arms and the usage of non-authentic or fantasy terrains for the MA. Now I will not be suspending my account until things are reinstated as I would like to stick round and ensure that what needs reinstating is indeed put back into being ... Instead of voting with my feet and depriving the effort to put back what WB is missing of a presence and a voice.

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'How much longer Ops? The engine is overheating and so am I!'

Hmm going to have to take a look...

The last few nights, we've had more folks in. At this point, I think we're starting to see that this play format CAN be fun. Certainly this map is not the best venue for it, but even so, dbng and I and some others have been having some fun in it. I had a great fight with old pal Redsgt and others in the 352nd were in there too.
Let's give it a chance guys- with enough players in the arena, we might even find it can be more fun than the old game play.
I was tied up with work this evening, but after I post this I plan to log in again and see who's there!
finn

Terrain got switched to Wastelands terrain, its a better terrain for this.
.motd contains instructions for gameplay if youhave any questions.