A funny thing is happening to me. Just coming up short on being with the World of Warplanes community for 2 years now and my interest in playing, coupled with any desire participating in discussions on the North American forums is almost nonexistent.
During the early days of Planes, the community was alive and vibrant with many different people, almost for all walks of life, talking, laughing and sharing thoughts and concerning with the direction the game was going in. From the Alpha Testers through to those who came in during the Open Beta phase, we were, for the most part, united with the passion for the planes, the virtual combat experience and the vision the game was advertising to us and the public in general.
Then, things started to go horribly wrong. To list everything that could be deemed "bad" about the game would take more space to post and time to read it all then this blog (and writer) would allow. However, I stuck it out during these "dark times" and continued to play, even a certain class of aircraft that have a "known dislike" by particular people, even to this day.
At first, I set out my goals that I wanted to accomplish, namely putting my first tier X in my hangar. With my acquirement of the IL-40P, I scratched that one off the list. Next, I moved around and up some of the other classes of aircraft from just about all the nations. American Heavy Fighters, Japanese Fighters and British aircraft, just to name a few. Despite performing rather poorly, it kept me in the game with something to do and hopes that I would be "touched by magic" and become better with them and the others.
With the introduction of the "Mission Aircraft", I jumped on board with attempting these tasks and collecting those rare warbirds for my hangar. Everytime one of these would pop up, I would post away my thoughts and progress on the main forums. I haven't done that in quite a while now, in fact, my last comment on that topic was pretty much me saying "nope" to the current "Mosquito Mission".
I stopped trying to collect any of the hard-to-get premiums that are being offered months ago. Part of the reason for this was twofold. One, the mission requirements were, in my opinion, too high. I don't mind a challenge, but at least make it possible. The whole "War Cache" event from this last May opened my eyes to the fact that even the North American server's most dedicated players couldn't pull it off, in full.
Second, the planes being offered don't really interest me enough to even try. The Yak-3RD, a one gun, rocket assisted, tier VII premium Soviet Fighter was one of the very first missions I never even bothered to attempt. Then, came the lower tiered aircraft that did just about nothing for me. The only recent exception was the premium tier III British Attack Aircraft, Wirraway, for obvious reasons.
But, enough about the planes, what about the community? From my own observations, many of those names from the early days which became familiar on the forums and ingame have either gone back to World of Tanks, moved on to World of Warships or just fell off the face of the earth. While some of the "old crowd" is still around on the forums, they are mostly outnumbered by names I don't recognize ingame.
I appears to me the remaining "old guard" continue to haunt both the forums and game out of habit and hope, not so much out of participation and purpose. Although I haven't fully escaped the forums altogether myself, I spend more time reading then posting there. I made my move long ago now, with no regrets.
Sadly, this brings me to the "state of the game" itself. The same old "last player standing/beat the Supremacy clock" mode is about the only thing for the mixed Player vs Player/Player vs Environment that is being offered. While there is an alternate Player-team-filled-out-with-bots-vs-the-same mode, it isn't a very rewarding experience in the long run, since the requirements for collecting anything tangible multiplies at an exponential rate. Other than "Holiday/Special Event" modes like this last Christmas' "Snowball Fight with Flying Saucers", there isn't anything new to do.
Which brings me near the end of this rant. I have stopped playing all of the other nations and classes, with a narrow exception. Everyday, when I have time, I just login, click the tier V Stuka and collect the daily modifier for the first victory. Then, I log out, done for the day. That isn't playing, that's continuing a habit. I feel no passion for playing an aircraft I waited so long for WarGaming to bring to the game. And, that was my "wake-up call" to what I was doing and the stagnate environment I was continuing to occupy.
Even now, as I look back over this very post, I am very surprised with myself, not only for finally coming to terms with where I am at, but the very fact it took me this long to realize it. The question is this, should I just continue on as I always have or like so many others before me, step away and see what the future brings, if anything?
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