Funny...

[hblair]

Why did iEN announce their new pricing structure as the Aces High Con starts? Had to have been more than a coincidence. I'm not commenting that it was a good or evil thing, just an observation.

What do you guys think about it?

[Hangtime]

Obviously; IEN has identified the competition.

Price plan won't solve their problem tho... it's till 'only' Warbirds.  

Hang

[Duckwing6]

Prolly is teh "evil Con mission " ?  

[Cobra]

Funnier still is how they put it up on their website last week, then pulled it quick like it was never there....they must have had the wrong week circled on their calendars for the AH Con..LOL!  Typical IEN.

Cobra

[Gadfly]

They were probalby thinky(wisely, I might add), along the same lines of AH releasing a new version a couple of days before the WB con.

[Westy]

 This news isn''t any big deal to be honest. iEN will now stands to lose a huge whoopass amount of money, imo. Not too many of the $10/mo ACA people are going to jump up but the folks who used to spend a sh&t load of dough at $2.00 an hour are going to save big time and I don't see a reverse exodus from a superior sim to an older one for $5 difference.
 From my readings on other boards it's still too much, three years too late. The only folks excited from what I see are the hardcore WB folks anyway. I'm happy for them to be honest.  About time they got something new and better...    
  Not much else iEN could do at this point to be honest.

   Well.....

  They could kick off the WB III "closed" open beta start this weekend. (Closed because it will be for paying iEN subscribers only) Now that could something timed to coincide with the AH CON that might upset some.

  - Westy

[This message has been edited by Westy (edited 10-04-2000).]

[Snoopi]

It's Great for the WB group.
They finally get bettering pricing, thanks to Hitechcreations.

But hey like Hangtime said:
It's still Warbirds and even if WB3 is good, big deal.
HTC cares a lot more about their customers.
How many people are sick of iEN billing problems or the general customer service ?

[funked]

You think HTC will ban iEN's IP addresses from the AH Con network?

I doubt it.  They have a lot more class than the liars at iEN.

[Antix]

You'll notice that iEN has left their Silver Plan, the $9.95 a month plan with 5 free hours then $1.99 for each hour after that on their list of available plans.

Very smart...

HTC may care about their customers more than iEN, but at least iEN cares to cater to the people who can only fly a few hours a month, either by choice, by amount of free time, or by money restrictions. Alot of people have mentioned this with HTC before, and they've not cared to comment, if they did, I either missed it, or the comment really meant nothing at all.

For a company that survives from its customer base, to cut out potential income, albeit not very much, is just simply lame.

Its one of the major reasons I never switched over to Aces High. Along with:
The airframe clipping issues
     (Dots/hit sprites through solid airplane parts)
     (The B-17 gunner clipping issues)
     (Planes disappearing below ground tiles (OLD OLD Warbirds bug - Don't you people learn from mistakes AT ALL??? Warbirds STILL does this)

Flight models, Many other reasons...etc...

[Torque]

Who in their right mind would pay $2 an hour for Warpbirds?

[joness]

Torque----- no one does, anymore

And what makes you say warpbirds? When was the last time you flew warbirds?

[Renfield]

Well, now that a lot of the WB pilots have a bit (OK, a lot) of extra cash freed up, might some some testing the waters over here? What is two accounts at $55 total / month to people who have been paying $100-300 / month before?  

[easymo]

 They come. They get wacked. They leave.

[Jigster]

 

Originally posted by easymo:
They come. They get wacked. They leave.

Beautiful way to put  

Course this applies to all types.

 

- Jig

[bloom25]

Antix, you happen to have an ATI video card by chance?  The only effect you listed that I've seen on my system with the TNT2 card is the hit sprites in the cockpit.  I have another system with an ATI video card that did all of the things you listed above, until I got some older drivers that worked right.

On the issue of a smaller flat fee and hourly charge for users who don't play as much, I agree with you for the most part.  I think if HTC set it up right they could earn quite a few additional players.  In my case though, I happily pay the $30 a month and I feel it's worth every penny.  

I am glad to see that IEN finally faced the facts and followed HTC's lead in the area of flat rate pricing.  At least Mac users will no longer be price gouged to play the only online sim available to them.



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS