As most of us know, on Live, in order to be a grade 4 or grade 5, there are several requirements one must make. Along those list of requirements are 90 day timed requirements for landings and flight time. You must have over 100 and 200 landings respectively to have either grade 4 and 5 status, which many people view as prestigious.
To me, seeing someone with a green/brown tag is like motorcyclists waving at each other when they pass each other by. Its a camaraderie of airmen and airwomen! I recently lost my grade 4 due to being inactive recently (life just gets in the way), but now I feel pretty bummed out that Iāve been demoted. Personally, I follow the rules on the expert server to the tee and Iām always mindful of ATC and other pilots. I donāt feel that we should be penalized for not flying often, when there are still pilots that follow all rules and instructions whilst on the server that do not fly regularly. Personally, I feel demotivated now because I spent many hours working myself to a specific grade, only to see it fall because of life events.
Iād like to hear your opinions on this topic, because I feel something should be done. I know there are many pros to this rule, such as keeping pilots ācurrentā however please bear in mind this is a game, and a lot of us have other life events to tend do. At the same time, if these are the rules, that is life and I must get used to them, but I wanted to share my feelings towards these requirements.
One idea I have in mind (not a feature yet, I may make a request depending on how this topic goes) is for players to pause their stats or go on āvacation modeā so we can save our stats and standings for life events and matters. If pilots are serious enough for caring about their standing on Live, Iām sure theyād care enough to follow the rules of the servers.
I tend to agree that 200 landings in 90 days can be tough. But, grade 5 shouldnāt easy to get. It should be prestigious. If you lower the standards then it just loses its significance.
I work full time and manage to keep my grade 5. I did recently drop about 4 landings under the 200 minimum the other day, so I jumped straight back into the SR22 for some pattern work and skills revision! The more flying you do, the better!
The 200 encourages pattern work which is the bread and butter of aviation!
I do agree with that! That requirement makes it more exclusive to attain but some people simply wonāt have the time for it. Myself, I have final year university, a part time job, and a social life to balance and its become difficult for me to throw IF to the mix.
It would be nice to be able to put IF on the backburner for while without being penalized for it. Atleast if grade 4 lost the restriction it would show other users that youāre serious/expert. 5 could keep the restriction in place to show that youāre a hardcore aviator and whatnot.
True, but level 4 is only 100 in 90 days. Thatās 1.1 a day or 8 a week. A single pattern in a GA aircraft takes about 4-5 minutes. Only 40 minutes of flying in an entire week will keep you at grade 4, or 1 hour an 20 minutes to maintain grade 5. Obviously any other flights you do on top of this add even more!
Plus, itās just a sneaky trick from FDS to keep people active and keep the servers populated.
Also: are we not āhangingā to much on this Grade thing? I mean: we use IF to have a fun flying or controlling experience, and how important is our grade, other than we get this interesting pinky colour appearing when we turn Grade 5 and all other pilots say: āohh, look at this guy, he is a grade 5; he must be someone specialā.
Iām a Grade 5, because Iām somewhat of an addict. After a stupid violation I turn Grade 3 for a few days. But heyā¦ Iām still flying and I still have fun.
MaxSezā¦ Kinda agree with @Damian, But; Iāve been up and down the ladder, I recently was demoted to Grade 2 from 5 for overspeedās cause I āFlyā and push the envelope. Unlike Damian i donāt care what grade I am! Iām not in competition with anyone but myself. A 5 is not a badge of honor, itās like becoming a Regular., a machine drives those system not our peers or the Borg Masters. Grades, leaderboards and a zillion XP are not a measure of ones ability, just time spent honing one flying skills , aviation knowledge and a pleasant leisure activity. Live life to its fullest, prove yourself in the real world. IF is just a game for cripe sake. Just sayin
I feel the same I like being grade 4 I think itās not that hard to maintain 100 landings but for grade 5 it is then again I donāt play much and I havenāt played on live in two weeks
I feel what you mean. Iām trying as hard as possible to keep grade 4 by flying after school and on the weekends. I might not be able to keep a constant grade 4, but Iām Deffinately trying by doing T&Gs at airports on Expert.