Definitely this. I played sim warthunder on mouse and keyboard for a long time. I just got a hotas setup last week and yes it’s easier, but truthfully mouse and keyboard still netted me a positive KD and was no problem.
Yes. They’d rather complain endlessly how bad attackers and bombers have it in AB and RB, how fighters should be forbidden to attack bases, instead of just trying out sim.
Most of the time it’s those three things that are pulled up to defend their resistance to try sim:
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Rewards (which is admittedly a often discussed point also in the sim community, IMO however an overrated one)
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Large maps and long time (which I think is not really valid: Turnaround time for a long distance base attack is maybe 10-15 minutes in a jet, not 30-45 minutes as probably many believe).
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Wrong belief that with controllers/keyboard and no HOTAS you can’t play sim (@RunaDacino’s efforts to dispel that are highly appreciated!)
I’m tired of hearing this man…
Rewards are a huge issue if you’re not a good player and want to fly in a packed lobby.
Even with a K/D that would have you go positive or even in air RB, in sim you can be losing hundreds of thousands per match in anything above tier IV.
And even if you perform great in one sortie and survive, you can’t really recover from 2-3 bad ones, cause useful action limits.
Ive talked to at least 20 people the last few months who dont touch anything over tier IV because it’s just really punishing to play without premium time, even though they enjoy late war props and jets.
Anyway, sim mode has been abandoned for a decade now, with minor stuff done every few years, probably by a dev or two who have to write some extra hours in. Hopefully we get a similar game someday with a dev team that is actually interested in making a game, cause sim these days feels like it only exists as a marketing stunt for Gaijin to fake being a realistic combat flight simulator.
Looking at Aces of Thunder reviews, it also seems to be a knowledge thing. I saw so many reviews for AoT saying “finally I can fly without people using mouse aim against me” as if they didn’t know air sim existed that solves that exact issue.
I imagine the “To Battle” vs “Tournaments/Events” joining gap contributes significantly. You use to battle: it seems like nobody plays. You use the lobby browser and you can see plenty of options.
Rewards ARE an issue though for ranks IV-V where you get stuff like Ho 229 with 17.3k spawn cost and 19.8K max income.
@Smin1080p_WT The sim community has been engaging in ideas and thoughts for years. YEARS. Why are we getting ignored? These posts for Air Simulator Battles (ASB) get thousands of views, with a handful that engage and depending on the topics, maybe more. There’s been 1 update involving ASB every two years, if that. Why don’t we get ASB announcements seperate from Air Realistic Battles (ARB?) Why isn’t there a dedicated ASB team? And if there is, why aren’t we getting updates or announcements? Announcements on ASB and where it’s going to be taken would be appreciated.
ASB wants and needs more maps, Pyrenees, Pradesh, Kamchatka, ect. Mostly for higher tier.
Fix the bugged AI, some AI ground forces get stuck in the map. Aircraft AI crash or behave like idiots, etc.
Multi-pathing needs re-evaluated. Lower it again.
Shooting down radar missles with other missles needs evaluated.
At this point, it’s very frustrating Gaijin has done nothing with sim. It’s no wonder it’s been slowly dying the past year. Ever since Fox 3’s have been added, there’s been no real care with map fixes, new maps, mechanics, BR’s (took awhile with BR changes), fixing bugs in ASB, etc.
Here is a handful of important topics. There’s more.
In German we have a saying “what the farmer doesn’t know, he doesn’t eat”, so yes, I think that plays a big role.
I can even speak for myself because I admittedly also took a long time to join the Sim community, also mostly because I assumed it to be different that it actually is: My first tries where when one was still forced to play a random low power aircraft to be able to earn enough points to fly a better plane. hating that I shied away from Sim for a looong time…
That’s why I always try to motivate people to try it out.
Its player drop is due to no new maps no unique features… there are dozens of maps that could be made for simulator but they choose not to add them, they could actually make the objectives matter other than points, sim has potential they just choose to ignore it