Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-202.62.16.129-20160331095043/@comment-25467429-20160331164225

The new system certainly indicares a winding down, but I think Sly is right in saying that there's no telling how much longer they might keep things going.

The forced sortie thing seems to be only validating what we all assumed for a long time now, since they had longer periods of forced sorties than not. Offering no new planes shows that there isn't a particularly rich slate they are left to consider, so they have to be a lot more juditious in incorporating. The Back Again tournaments have all had some twist or tweak to it. Abandoning that and switching to a ticket redemption system makes that path forward a lot easier. Tournaments are more formulated, requiring less tweaking or the like - first half of the month a standard co-op, second half one of the TDMs. And you trade in your medals won for whatever slate of items are in the rotating bunch.

It is a system that is self-sustaining. - you win coins, trade those for items, just like the supply tickets. The biggest problem I see so far is the potential on how to obtain medals, how many, and how often the prizes will rotate. There is also still room ot liberalize this (make the trade-in area a library of all planes/emblems/skin/nicknames, add non-tournament means of collecting medals), which really would signal "this is the last hurrah". But it is clearly a system that demands less active attention from an administrative standpoint, while retaining a requirement for players to be engaged. There seems likely to be some new stuff added, perhaps some of it of real interest, and the limitation on the medals mirrors the limitation on the tournament prizes, only now you have a wider option of stuff to pick up with your winnings.

But, if I were to put this in public policy terms, this is still a more regressive tax system than a progressive one - in other words, top ranking still lets you make out like a bandit, while lower ranks seem to be getting a litle less than before. I believe  this portion is a recognition of what I suspected earlier this year, that active player numbers have somewhat leveled off or started to fall, therefore they're trying to concentrate prizes and focus into the higher ranks with who's left.

I would say this system, if kept on its course, guarantees at least another year out of the game. At the same time, however, it gives PA the freedom that if they're ready to pull the plug, they can dump everything into the medal trade-in catalogue and have a big giveaway bonanza too. This doesn't give any clarity on when the game will end, only that they are better positioned for that eventuality.