Clan Spotlight: Aces High

We interviewed these players to learn more about the history and future of Aces High:

Breezy1 - Commander -- actively recruits since the release from open beta and runs Aces High
wooly_bear - Lieutenant Commander -- helps and assists Breezy with running the Clan and different events (i.e. scrimmages, strategy practices, etc.)

When was Aces High formed, and did you have a theme or a specific goal in mind?

Breezy1 - We have been actively recruiting since the release of open beta for World of Warplanes. Our credo has been “community development, stabilization, and forwarding the community.” We strive to not only bring in the elite and best pilots in the game, but we bring in those who may not be so elite yet. We welcome those who are starting and have not yet learned the finite art of aerial combat…especially at high altitude! (chuckles) We spend a lot of time and money teaching and developing beginning pilots.

Wooly_bear - It’s not just the teaching. As the game evolves and as we get patch updates, we train our pilots on everything like working together as a group to get our settings correct so we can continue to play the game when changes are made. This is stuff that is on-going all the time. That is why we are such a strong group together because we are constantly helping each other out as the game evolves. Not only are we bringing in new talent, but we’re helping them stay in this game to try to strengthen Warplanes for the future.

Sounds like you have a strong focus on making sure that players have avenues to become better pilots. What kind of activities do you engage in and how do you go about training pilots to become better?

Breezy1 - Within Aces High, we’ve instituted multiple levels of training. I have a fairly large officer corps underneath Wooly and I that engage in one-on-one time and training with pilots that come into the Clan. They actually get a certification, a tag, when they’ve achieved a certain level so that we know they’ve received that one-on-one training. Every week, at minimum, we do two sets of full Clan-on-Clan training scrimmage battles on Thursday and Wednesday evening at varied times to accommodate differing schdules. We started out practicing in tier Vs and we’ve moved up now into tier IXs. We’re practicing against each other routinely now in these tier IX planes to give our pilots exposure to the Jet Age and how things move much faster in these higher tiers. You can ask any of our members how much of a blast these scrims can be, and it’s really beneficial to all that participate in it.

Wooly_bear - Everybody that has joined our group has improved their game in one way or another, whether it’s their piloting skills or their win rate. We’ve worked with them in all areas and we’ll help them, like she said, in individual one-on-one training. We’ll go into a training room and they can tell us what kind of plane they’re struggling with and we’ll work with them to help them learn how that particular plane handles, maneuvers, what its best qualities are, and teach them how to use the qualities of that individual plane to their advantage. We’ll teach them different types of maneuvers: the Split-S, the Inverted Immelman-Turn, the Yo Yo, and the Aerobatics Barrel Roll. We work on whatever it is that they need help with and we’ll constantly work with them. We watch them, we monitor them, and we fly with them regularly. Also, when we’re in pub battles and we see that they’re not doing what they’re supposed to, we make sure to tell them what they can do to better their combat performance. This is ongoing and constant every single day.

That’s amazing that you have that level of community, from one-on-one training to full-on scrimmages. You mentioned sponsoring scrimmages at one point; what does that entail?

Breezy1 - From a command standpoint, we set up the team training and use our Clan Wars Lobby and Clan Wars Battle Teamspeak channels that I’ve created. We basically split each team of 15 into multiple tiered groups, usually separated by plane type into sub-channels under one overarching channel. An overall commander then speaks to each of the sub-flights, and each individual channel has a flight leader within it where they have local tight-communication. There is a lot that goes into setting all of these operators up. I also regularly arrange scrims with other WoWP clans.

Wooly_bear - And this is all stuff that has evolved as we carry out these training sessions. We learn stuff as officers and after we do these scrimmages amongst our Clan mates, we break and debrief with all of the officers where we discuss the scrimmage and we see what things went well and what things didn’t go well. Sometimes we come up with new ideas and the next time we train, we try to incorporate things that we noted from previous practice sessions.

You’ve really set up a unique structure to get everyone to work together as a team. It really seems like you’re gearing up for competitive play. Would you consider yourself more as a competitive Clan, or something else?

Wooly_bear - Believe it or not, from Day 1 when we started Aces High, our goal was to work towards Clan Wars. That’s what we did in Tanks, and that’s what we enjoy. We enjoy the battles and strategy. There is a special feeling and drive associated with participating in Clan Wars. We’ve been incorporating that enthusiasm and focusing our guys towards the end game. We’re constantly being asked, “When’s Clan Wars going to start?” or “Do you know? Have you heard anything?” Our guys and gals really enjoy these scrimmages that we do weekly. The competitive spirit is there in our group and they are really looking forward to Clan Wars and whatever other competitions that there may be.

Breezy1 - We have been scrimmaging with other Clans: Team Special Forces, Wraith Squadron, Dracarys. We have a 5-Clan Round Robin tournament setup amongst ourselves for Saturday. We’ll be doing best 2 out of 3 and then you move on to the next Clan. We administer and delegate this all on our own.

Wooly_bear - We’ve also even done a couple of contests within our Clan where we get them to strive to get certain medal achievements. We had an Ace competition one month where the top 2 “Ace-getters” in our Clan received gold that we paid for and distributed to the winners. After that we really tried to push team play and team effort. Anybody that worked to get an epic contribution, they got paid 1,250 gold just for getting one. We try to incorporate things that will get people more focused and to encourage teamwork. The gold rewards for these contests, paid out to our members, did come out of our personal piggy bank.

If I were interested in joining Aces High, what is the recruitment process like?

Breezy1 - Well, we have various methods. I have several recruiters and I have a recruiting director who works with my recruiters. We send these gentlemen out into game, and onto the forums, to attempt to gather up interest. Sometimes we’re approached in-game, and when we are we direct them to our website. If you click on the “Recruitment” tab on our website, that will take you to our Aces application form there. Additionally, the Clan credo is placed down below at the application.

Wooly_bear - If people don’t qualify for our requirements, then we talk to and work with them and make them possible recruits. We get them to flight up with our guys, we give them friends tags in Teamspeak, and they are able to come in and use it freely to group up with some of our Aces High members. We have some top pilots in this game that they can fly with and learn from and work as a team to improve to a point of actually meeting our full membership requirements.

Breezy1 - It is absolutely stunning how quickly they improve (chuckles) when we stick them in a Teamspeak channel with two crack pilots. They just spend a little time with them and it’s amazing! Plus, their interest level in the game goes up about 600% at that point.

What would you consider to be your Clan’s greatest achievement? And if you had a next goal in mind for the Aces, what would that be?

Wooly_bear - I think our greatest achievement is just how much our group has grown over time and how solidly we’ve stayed together. Especially over the last couple of patches, we’ve kept our members here because we work with them constantly. A lot of people have struggled to get their control settings right. We’ve spent days and hours trying to get these control settings to where we can manage these planes, fly, and be a force out there. We work with them constantly to do this.

Our group has evolved over time. There is a ton of reading material for our members full of phenomenal information that tells you the different aspects of different planes and how to fly them. These guys have taken hours of their own personal time to put these guides together for our members. You have to be an Aces High member to gain access to these training manuals.

Breezy1 - We actually have some active and retired military and civilian pilots who are members of our Clan and they have written some of the most awesome flight/training manuals that you can imagine. These are only available to full members of our Clan.

Wooly_bear - My goal for the future of Aces High is for our Clan to be recognized as one of the top Clans in Warplanes. We want to be known for competitive gameplay and working with members of all kinds to try and get them to enjoy the game like we do!

Breezy1 - Basically, when it comes down to it, human nature is like this: Nobody likes to lose. If young pilots, new pilots, come into the game and they get summarily stomped over and over and over again, they’re not going to have much interest in continuing. Trying to get people vested and interested enough in Warplanes to progress into the higher tiers. That is our goal, really.

Do you have any shout-outs or last words?

Wooly_bear - I would just like to say, on my behalf, that this is an honor for Aces High to be the first Clan that you spotlight for Warplanes on the North American server. When Breezy forwarded me the interview request, I was just tickled pink over it and to be spotlighted like this... it has more than exceeded my expectations when we started Aces High a year ago. I’m proud to be with Breezy. I’m proud to be a part of Aces High. It’s an honor for us to be sitting here talking to you and it’s an honor to be the first Clan that you spotlight for this game. It’ll be something that I remember forever.

Breezy1 - I would share Wooly’s sentiment. It is quite the honor to be chosen out of the few select Clans that are available today (about 5 or 6). To be the first one that you want to spotlight is pretty huge and our membership is actually really excited about it!