First the P51 then the Zero now the P40, I'm just about done expecting and/or hoping. I gave Flight a chance but the repeat cockpitless birds is very troubling and annoying. I hope (and do mean hope) Microsoft starts getting serious with this title. Game or not don't start off releasing very good models then regressing into Arcade mode. At least Arcade games give you something to shoot at. Flight without the simulation is just a confused play on what it could be. A title that has no point whatsoever....

Indeed. If I want WWII combat sim I start IL2, COD or wait a bit for DCS: Mustang. Looking planes from behind while flying - not for me.

I, for me, love girls... and looking them from behind is allways soooooo cool! I love airplanes too :-)

Agree with first part.

The first releases including the P40 were locked into the release program before Flight hit the streets ( likely before the beta in January). Whether it was a mistake to release several no cockpit planes at the start is hard to say. Certainly the vocal response has been negative. We don't know what the silent majority think because they have not said. It is my experience that unhappy folk are ten times more likley to write about it than happy folk.

 

Never the less I don't like no cockpit aircraft and personally I would not mind if there was never another one. If my instincts are correct then the Flight Team should be about out of the first tranche. I am hopeful that Alaska will contain deluxe aircraft (that seems to be the acceptable term for planes with cockpits). I for one will be very unhappy if the next DLC follows the current pattern since I think it should have been committed after the initial community response. However to this point I am happy to give the Flight Team the benefit of the doubt. I also think that continually telling them that we don't like what they are delivering is a bit like my mother-in-law keep telling me I drive too fast - extremely irritating even if it is true!

I also think that continually telling them that we don't like what they are delivering is a bit like my mother-in-law keep telling me I drive too fast - extremely irritating even if it is true!

 

Hello

Well lets just hope they find it irritating enough to do something about it, before it totally drops off the radar on Steam.

Currently 94th out of the top 100 games with 263 folks currently playing,

 

This is out of 2,800,755 people online, 2 days after a new DLC release.

 

If they have anything with a cockpit ready to go, now would be a great time to release it, even a screen shot might limit the damage somewhat.

I also think that continually telling them that we don't like what they are delivering is a bit like my mother-in-law keep telling me I drive too fast - extremely irritating even if it is true!

While I agree with you, I also have to point out that it works to slow you down, even if just for a moment. The most frustrating part thus far has been the lack of communication. I read the posts on the "official" MS Flight website daily hoping to see a response from a dev or even a MS rep at this point. While they did reply a couple of times to the thousands of posts that have been made, not once has the response been informative in any way. I have enjoyed each version of MSFS since my grandfather sat me at his old 286 playing MSFS 2.0. Heck I will be honest and say I even enjoy Flight for the same reason. My 5 and 4 year old daughters sit in my lap and have fun flying into mountains or trying to weave through downtown Honolulu. The smiles they have make it worth the free portion of the game. That said, was the expansion worth 1600 MS points for 5 more islands? No. Was it a slap in the face to see that I supported the expansion day one to have it on sale less than a month later? H*ll yes!!! Now 3 WWII warbirds in a row, with no cockpits? Really?

 

I wont go so far as to say I'm going to uninstall the game, yet. However, I will say that I will not purchase another WWII bird with no cockpit. The lack of information combined with the seeming repetition of planes has me wondering if I will purchase Alaska. If all of the additional regions run 1600 points we would be looking at $100.00 to fly from 5 locations? Somehow this seems to be overpriced.

The first releases including the P40 were locked into the release program before Flight hit the streets ( likely before the beta in January). Whether it was a mistake to release several no cockpit planes at the start is hard to say. Certainly the vocal response has been negative. We don't know what the silent majority think because they have not said. It is my experience that unhappy folk are ten times more likley to write about it than happy folk.

 

Never the less I don't like no cockpit aircraft and personally I would not mind if there was never another one. If my instincts are correct then the Flight Team should be about out of the first tranche. I am hopeful that Alaska will contain deluxe aircraft (that seems to be the acceptable term for planes with cockpits). I for one will be very unhappy if the next DLC follows the current pattern since I think it should have been committed after the initial community response. However to this point I am happy to give the Flight Team the benefit of the doubt. I also think that continually telling them that we don't like what they are delivering is a bit like my mother-in-law keep telling me I drive too fast - extremely irritating even if it is true!

 

Great to hear your thoughts Jon as you are someone who's insight I respect and i agree with you on this. what bothers me is that they even had the thought that releasing these warbirds as they did would even be a good idea in the first place.

 

Man, i sure wish there was ADE for Flight right about now, LOL

what bothers me is that they even had the thought that releasing these warbirds as they did would even be a good idea in the first place.

 

I can surmise that there was research on similar (or what was perceived as competitor) games to the profile for Flight. My hope is that the real data generated since release will play a much larger part in the future direction. Whether the sentiments of this and other FS forums forms a large part of that data I do not know. However from what, and who, I know in the Flight Team I am confident that notice is being taken. time will tell.

 

Man, i sure wish there was ADE for Flight right about now, LOL

 

Well that rather depends on there being an SDK at some point in the future. I can promise that if such a resource appears during the time I am developing ADE then we will certainly look at supporting Flight.

Currently 94th out of the top 100 games with 263 folks currently playing,

 

This is out of 2,800,755 people online, 2 days after a new DLC release.

 

Curious: Is that ranking just applicable to those who downloaded/installed through Steam? If so, I'd think *most* play would be outside of Steam as most people probably installed it outside of Steam.

Curious: Is that ranking just applicable to those who downloaded/installed through Steam? If so, I'd think *most* play would be outside of Steam as most people probably installed it outside of Steam.

 

I am not sure, considering that Steam has more visibility to casual players than Live, and furthermore Steam started with a sale at reduced price, so it probably attracted more people.

Anyway, we already asked in other threads if someone has similar numerical data about the usage of the game on Live, but still no answer, I don't know it they are kept secret.

 

A.

Hello

Well lets just hope they find it irritating enough to do something about it, before it totally drops off the radar on Steam.

Currently 94th out of the top 100 games with 263 folks currently playing,

 

This is out of 2,800,755 people online, 2 days after a new DLC release.

 

If they have anything with a cockpit ready to go, now would be a great time to release it, even a screen shot might limit the damage somewhat.

 

 

 

They will have - but you will have to pay much more than a cockpitless plane - is all part of the plan.

_{Steam started with a sale at reduced price, so it probably attracted more people.}

 

_{True. I bought the Hawaii Expansion Pack through Steam because of the reduced price... but I used the codes and put them into the 'normal' game as I didn't like to have Steam's program running in the background. I'm not sure what Microsoft's expectations are for Flight but I think it would be a surprise even to them if it was consistently among the very high ranking games in terms of number of players, at least at this very early point in time, given that many of those games (Call of Duty, CounterStrike, Civilization V, The Elder Scrolls, etc) have long histories and already have large established fanbases. While the player base for those games probably intersects somewhat with players who might be interested in Flight, I would also think that part of the goal of Flight is to get people who don't really play many video games to try it out. I, personally, fall into this category because while I fit the general demographic for the aforementioned games (male in his 20s), I have no interest in video games in general but I was interested in Flight and have been using it since I found out about it a month ago.}

_{I'm not sure what Microsoft's expectations are for Flight but I think it would be a surprise even to them if it was consistently among the very high ranking games in terms of number of players, at least at this very early point in time, given that many of those games (Call of Duty, CounterStrike, Civilization V, The Elder Scrolls, etc) have long histories and already have large established fanbases.}

 

The problem is that one of the reason MS gave to explain the radical change of direction respect to the FS series was just the idea that Flight could attract "millions" of players, respect to the smaller base of the previous simmers.

If now, after two months since the release (of a free base game, don't forget), you have only 500-600 players online, maybe something went wrong, because this means being very very far from the target.

 

A.

you have only 500-600 players online

 

True. But that is only at Steam. We don't know the actual numbers overall. Not to mention that they may not be expecting millions of players right away.... It takes time for people to find out about things like this. I knew about it because I was looking for something like it in the fall. But even then, because it wasn't out yet at the time, I forgot about it and only remembered to take a look at it about a month ago... I would say a lot of people still have to hear about it... There are also lots of people in places like India and China (a growing number of them entering the middle class) that might also be interested in a game like this... not sure if it being marketed there yet though and even if it is, it is an ongoing process with the expectation of increasing numbers of consumers.

 

The problem is that one of the reason MS gave to explain the radical change of direction respect to the FS series was just the idea that Flight could attract "millions" of players, respect to the smaller base of the previous simmers.

 

 

I'm not sure if MS really had to justify its choice... It is definitely odd the way they went about it, though. I guess they didn't want what is happening now... many users of previous MS FS products thinking that this was the next version of FS (or that because it is made by MS, it would follow the previous MS FS model).