I used to fly on VATSIM all the time. But then several things happened: 1.) FS2002 came out, and it had usable (albeit weak) ATC; 2.) then Ultimate Traffic came along and made flying with near real world traffic levels pretty interesting; next 3.) FS2004 came along with improvements to both ATC and AI; and during all this 4.) it just got plain hard to connect to VATSIM using SB while running FS2002/4.Connecting was just too much hassle; and I could have a pretty enjoyable time flying offline. Bottom line: I quit flying VATSIM, and based on the VATSIM stats, I think others did also.Checking earlier today, I see that the top 10 highest number of concurrent connections had only ONE record set in all of 2004 and YTD 2005. Ironically, the highest ever number of connected users occurred way back in 2002.Now, this could be affected by the lack of large flyin events such California Screamin', but I'm willing to bet that it's mostly driven by the lack of a user-friendly pilot client that could be used with FS2002/4.So, SB3 is supposed to be released "in the first week of March." What do you think? Will VATSIM's numbers increase?I know that I'm going to try it. Will I stay? Well, that completely depends on the level of controllers and other pilots.James

>I used to fly on VATSIM all the time. But then several>things happened: 1.) FS2002 came out, and it had usable>(albeit weak) ATC; 2.) then Ultimate Traffic came along and>made flying with near real world traffic levels pretty>interesting; next 3.) FS2004 came along with improvements to>both ATC and AI; and during all this 4.) it just got plain>hard to connect to VATSIM using SB while running FS2002/4.>>Connecting was just too much hassle; and I could have a pretty>enjoyable time flying offline. Bottom line: I quit flying>VATSIM, and based on the VATSIM stats, I think others did>also.>>Checking earlier today, I see that the top 10 highest number>of concurrent connections had only ONE record set in all of>2004 and YTD 2005. Ironically, the highest ever number of>connected users occurred way back in 2002.>>Now, this could be affected by the lack of large flyin events>such California Screamin', but I'm willing to bet that it's>mostly driven by the lack of a user-friendly pilot client that>could be used with FS2002/4.>>So, SB3 is supposed to be released "in the first week of>March." What do you think? Will VATSIM's numbers increase?>>I know that I'm going to try it. Will I stay? Well, that>completely depends on the level of controllers and other>pilots.>>>JamesActually, the current prediction from the SB3 website shows "the last week of March".It is really close as it stands right now.

Hi all, Actually, I don't think SB3 will do anything except temporarily increase the number of users. It will then be reduced to present or lower levels. People will want to fly with SB3 just to try it out, but I'm of the opinion that the lack of users is caused by the the lack of ATC and I believe there are many reasons for the lack of ATC. A new SB will not help that problem.slwlc

Well,I disgree with you at least partially, as far as "lack of ATC" is concerned. This may depend on the region where you fly, but generally I don

For me the arguments James put forward applies to me too. I know for certain that I will pick up VATSIM flying again once SB3 is released and I also know that Germany <--> Scandinavia will be my home turf. Dang those German Airports series are expensive tough. But well worth it! :)

>Dang those German Airports series are expensive tough. But well worth it!Definitely!Did you consider buying the box versions? They are usually cheaper than the individual 2-3 airport "volumes" available by download. Yours,Martin Georg/EDDFVATSIM Europe Division Director *** mailto:[email protected]http://online.vatsimindicators.net/811874/957.png

Yep, I noticed they are cheaper but also if I buy the downloadable, bundled version I save even more money - a staggering 4 cents compared to the boxed version! :)