I found the Warclouds 24/7 servers very satisfying. There was a number of objectives for both sides that made ground pounders, support flyers, and dogfighters quite happy. You had 24/7 wars, without the endless waiting of the Co-op servers. COD's multiplayer options should make coops unnecessary unless the players want to start the war at the same moment.

Im saying we should have the option of both, just like IL2.

With the exception of everybody starting at the same time, we DO have both. Everything you can do in a coop can be done in CLOD multiplayer. Frankly I feel that everyone starting at the same time is highly unrealistic anyways.

Okay, fair, but the functionality is there.

Anybody could host a server where everyone joins the same side and has the same objectives, with moving ground vehicles/ships and AI aircraft.

I don't have a problem with having coops, but I believe the server can be set up to whatever the group wants, like only being able to join one side, and flying against the AI and their ground forces. Why you'd want to do that I'm not sure as human opponents are more fun than AI opponents, unless the server isn't attracting enough people for both sides. Its also interesting when your not sure if the aircraft your targeting is human or AI.

Did any of you guys ever fly the VEF online wars?

If i have to explain why we need CO-OPs then you havnt been in a online sqd or taken part in online wars.

Chivas, come on mate, you know full well why we need CO-OPs.

CO-OPs are only restrictions in CoD's mp-environment.
It is possible if one put on a server with ki-targets and no side-switching and plane-changing allowed.
Why this could be desirable, beside delivering easy ki-targets to kill, is beyond me.
CoD gives the freedom to have all together, the online war, human and ki opponents and even ki comrades to fill missing slots.
It is just that someone with the knowledge has to program the mission, i dont think that there is a already established server that wouldn't run it.

I think that once someone comes up with an all-in-one c# module that includes statistics tracking of various parameters (kills/losses of aircraft, convoys, vehicles, etc) and uses them to influence other parameters (like moving front markers, aircraft/fuel/ammo loadout availability), there will be no more need for coops at all.

There are already various people working on parts of this and since it's a community effort with shared code, i don't think it will be long before we see this.

As for the participants, it's been possible since release to spawn a full flight of AI aircraft and have other players spawn into them (the reason you don't see it is that most servers run scripts that "clean up" AI aircraft), since the last patch it's also possible to give your flight waypoints while inside the game.

In other words, in a few months we'll have customized dynamic campaign engines running 24/7 on every server. Then, each group of players will be deciding how to better influence the outcome for their team, spawn a group of aircraft for themselves, draw up a flight plan while their engines are warming up and fly the mission.

Instead of the tedious process of fly coop, collect stats, generate next mission, host and fly next mission, repeat, it will all be done without ever leaving the server, in a persistent sandbox-type environment where the player's choice matters and where it's possible to surprise your opponents instead of having to start sorties at the exact same time. It will bring the together the teamwork of Coops with the fluidity of DF mode and the realism of mission objectives found in well done offline campaigns, so i really doubt we'll need any of the old MP modes when the new one reaches the point where it can combine and supersede all of them at the same time.

After all, Coop mode was the direct consequence of a limitation in the early IL2 versions (it was impossible to have moving AI in a sandbox-type DF server), now that the limitation is lifted there's no need to keep sticking to old habits for old habits sake alone. I'm not one who usually supports doing away with old habits just for the sake of it either, but in this case i really believe the advantages are decisive.

Will be great. :)