I think the point originally, at least partly, was that someone who has spent most of their time on zone and zone battle has enough skill that they could jump into normal races and potentially gain the edge with luck there, whereas the opposite isn't really true, as there is no random element to zone battles. I kind of see the point there really.

In terms of being an all around pilot, this game is not just races or zone battles. What about all the TT/SL fans? That's a big part of the game too. Weapons off races are probably the best way to include something like that as we don't have online TT and green races are a non-official type of race. Weapons off and weapons on races are a very different prospect, IMO, and I think that's clear when we see that certain people can sometimes win a load of weapons on races, but then not have the accuracy and consistency in their racing to win out in the weapons off races.

I also feel that having a racing bias is fine, because that's what the game itself has. More game modes are based around racing than they are around zone, and online races are really the backbone of the online community, whereas ZB is far less popular.

The Avalon Cup hasn't gotten very far yet and so I don't really know how the current rules will play out, but I think anything that encourages a little variation is a good thing, as long as it doesn't force someone to pick something unfamiliar as part of their own three choices.

Quote Originally Posted by blackwiggle View Post
What you want to do if pilot assist is asked for, I say let them use it if they want to, as we old timers know it slows you down, so it's not really going to be an advantage to anybody that needs it.
I disagree with this. It's not as simple as PA just slowing you down. It's a matter of PA not allowing you too close to walls, thus preventing you taking tighter lines and doing shortcuts etc. But that only matters above a certain skill level when we start looking to really improve. But this competition is open to all, and some competitors in early rounds may even struggle with not hitting walls (I swear I still do sometimes). Someone at that level could get ripped off if they were doing their utmost to race at their best, while their opponent, of similar skill, just sat there holding the x-button and got lucky with weapons pads, or just stayed out of the walls on Moa Therma, thus having higher shield when the two start lag ramming each other and survived as a results, or something like that. I admit, it's a theoretical situation which is, perhaps, unlikely to happen, but I just think it should be turned off, and we should all fly ourselves to the finish line.