I’m not waiting for anything, personally I’m never going to use an improved stock ATC however I fully understand that not everyone wants to turn to alternatives, they just want to use what is out of the box and that’s fine, I can respect that however at the risk of sounding rather condescending (though not my intent) I just don’t foresee it ever really being worth using over what is already out there provided by third-parties dedicated to this if you desire a rich ATC experience.
Pardon my ignorance but how a third-party AI ATC works compared to stock ATC I have really no idea however when it comes to ATC there is no chance that Working Title will make me consider using their ATC (I love their current projects), I’m way too spoiled using online networks over the past decade and then some of which a candle can’t be held to.
Something very important to take into consideration is that ATC being “usable” is rather subjective. ATC can be usable in a sense it doesn’t plow you into terrain yet still lack much substance which in turn begs the question is it worth using in the first place? I dunno, personally though I just don’t see the point.
More power to those who don’t really care about having a very rich ATC, personally though that isn’t me and I have serious doubts that stock ATC will ever be brought up to a point that makes me say “Wow, after 10+ years I actually do want to use stock ATC”. This isn’t to discredit Working Title, they do an amazing job for the sim however when it comes to getting ATC right and something to consider when networks have their downtime? That’s a really tough nut to crack and I wish them the best because again, I understand not everyone wants to turn to VATSIM or whatever.
I have no doubts that it will be fixed up but improvements are intriguing as stock ATC in sims has always been pretty terrible. We’ll see what magic they can sprinkle on the sim and again I do hope I’m the one eating crow in the end. 