Profit, the land beyond the Two Week Free Trial

[Traveler]

It’s a two edge sword  to wish for something that may help retain hundreds of addition player beyond the two week free trial.  New Players on one side, an endless set of newbie questions on the other.

When someone downloads the game for the two week free trial.  Give them  enough perks to use any ride they so chose.  Say 400 fighter perks and 200 bomber perks.

Enough so that they can use any vehicle they want.  If  they subscribe they keep the perks they didn’t use.  This way they get to really try the game with all of it’s elements.   

[guncrasher]

never heard of any player quitting because he didnt have perks.  most players cant realy fly anything much less a 262.  and if they really wanted to try one they can do it in the TA.


semp

[grumpy37]

+1  this would give them a chance to really try the game out.  If they blow all the perks and get hooked it will make them more apt to stay and actually want to learn so they can earn the points back. 

[tmetal]

All good dealers give new clients a free taste of the product to get them hooked, why not the same with perkies. 

[Tank-Ace]

Can we have a gag message appear if they do something stupid like crash their perk plane instead of being shot down in it?

[ImADot]

This sounds more like a wish for easier kills of perk planes so you can earn more perks FOR YOURSELF.

There are enough un-perked planes available for a two-weeker to get a very good taste of the full game.  Not having free and instant access to perked planes doesn't sound like a deal-breaker for someone with enough interest in WWII to have downloaded, installed and learned the basics of the game.

[Butcher]

This sounds more like a wish for easier kills of perk planes so you can earn more perks FOR YOURSELF.

There are enough un-perked planes available for a two-weeker to get a very good taste of the full game.  Not having free and instant access to perked planes doesn't sound like a deal-breaker for someone with enough interest in WWII to have downloaded, installed and learned the basics of the game.

I agree, if someone can't fly a P51D, whats going to help them fly a 262 any better? Training Arena offers the experience to fly/use all the equipment in the game without cost.

If they really want to continue playing and earn perks, then they can pay and earn them like the rest of us - perks are not hard to get. It might even become a double whammy, because if a new player is given 500 fighter perks and takes up a 262 thats 250 perks and dies (most likely) he will most likely not be to interested in trying to rebuild his perks back, rather just use them up and leave.

There are plenty of trainers, veteran players available to teach, I notice more players simply don't use these options. We have the forums, training arena available, and a good portion rather come into the late war arena "How do I take off? how do I fire maverick missiles?"..

I believe most are looking for an "arcade" simulator, where you only need 1 button to fire, without learning the rest - Aces high is a cross between Arcade and simulator, which is a balance to help newer players, and still be competitive in terms of realism.

[SmokinLoon]

I would start each new *paying* player out with a few perks just so they see what they are not missing.  Say 30 GV (for Tiger I and Panther), 30 fighter (anything but Tempest, 163, and 262), and 60 bomber (just enough to fly a single Mossi B Mk 16).  

[Butcher]

I would start each new *paying* player out with a few perks just so they see what they are not missing.  Say 30 GV (for Tiger I and Panther), 30 fighter (anything but Tempest, 163, and 262), and 60 bomber (just enough to fly a single Mossi B Mk 16).  

That amount of perks I'd vote for, no 262s or King tigers starting out, 30/60/30 sounds fair enough, plenty of low perk items to choose from.

[Babalonian]

There are some cons and pros to this.  I don't think it should be enough for a 262 or B-29, but enough for an Ar234 or tempest/spit14/163 could be reasonable and seen as selling points.  But I also agree, nobody is gonna decide weather or not to go beyond two-weeks weather they have enough perks to fly a XXX or not.  It could also be exploitable, but won't be so long as you can't make a new account and get your freebie trial perks easier than sticking with an account and gradualy earning them up....

I have an idea though that's a spin-off of yours, how about a trial-account perk-gain-multiplier?  Say you earn 2-5X as many perks during your two-week trial period, that way, it's a real "nifty" incentive to get over that initial learning curve/hump.  This could be utilised in other areas for marketing or promotional applications... say bonuses to current customers for some apropriate reason (maybe a 2x bonus for 2-4 weeks for a current customer who recommended AH to a new trial customer that then eventually created a full paying account, or 0x for when special but rare "toybox" events happen in the arenas" - like, whoknows, maybe the day HiTech's youngest kid gets accepted to college, that could potentialy be a two-30mm-gattling-gun armed RV8 day in the arenas.

[zippo]

downloaded, installed and learned the basics of the game.

There are plenty of trainers, veteran players available to teach, I notice more players simply don't use these options. We have the forums, training arena available, and a good portion rather come into the late war arena "How do I take off? how do I fire maverick missilles?

  I think most would agree that there is a steep learning curve for a noob here.  Is tough to learn ACM in a furball/gangbang....sometimes it seems that there is red coming at you no matter which way you turn.
  Most have probably seen the issues that Butcher is referring to.
 
  I have seen it requested on the forums that noobs have to complete some sort of mandatory training before they can access the main arenas.  Some sort of basic training ....Basic ACM, how to use the radio, what killshooter is, what the icons are for, what the different colors mean,  how to start engines, how to zoom views, set up views,  how to drop bombs, etc.  Think of all the things that experienced players do automatically that the noobs don't have a clue about.  Maybe if they had some training, they would enjoy their 2 weeks more and hang around longer.

They often get a ration of $H*t when the ask a question on the radio (once they figure it out)...You know..alt f4, go the the training area, stfu noob, we've all heard a bunch of them.  And some come to the forums looking for help and get a lot of wise prettythang answers on the forums.

  Seems to me that if you want these noobs to stick around, the AH community should try a little harder at helping 2 weekers learn.
 

[Traveler]

This sounds more like a wish for easier kills of perk planes so you can earn more perks FOR YOURSELF.

There are enough un-perked planes available for a two-weeker to get a very good taste of the full game.  Not having free and instant access to perked planes doesn't sound like a deal-breaker for someone with enough interest in WWII to have downloaded, installed and learned the basics of the game.

Your wrong on two counts, it was not my intention to kill to kill perked plans of newbies and  most new players will not earn enough perks in the two week trial to allow them a chance to fly a 262.  If they become a paying customer, they get to keep what ever perks are left, perhaps all of them.

The purpose of the wish was help retain new players.

[B-17]

  I think most would agree that there is a steep learning curve for a noob here.  Is tough to learn ACM in a furball/gangbang....sometimes it seems that there is red coming at you no matter which way you turn.
  Most have probably seen the issues that Butcher is referring to.
 
  I have seen it requested on the forums that noobs have to complete some sort of mandatory training before they can access the main arenas.  Some sort of basic training ....Basic ACM, how to use the radio, what killshooter is, what the icons are for, what the different colors mean,  how to start engines, how to zoom views, set up views,  how to drop bombs, etc.  Think of all the things that experienced players do automatically that the noobs don't have a clue about.  Maybe if they had some training, they would enjoy their 2 weeks more and hang around longer.

They often get a ration of $H*t when the ask a question on the radio (once they figure it out)...You know..alt f4, go the the training area, stfu noob, we've all heard a bunch of them.  And some come to the forums looking for help and get a lot of wise prettythang answers on the forums.

  Seems to me that if you want these noobs to stick around, the AH community should try a little harder at helping 2 weekers learn.
 

I like that one

It's a nice, happy solution to something. When I logged in for the first time in December, and over the next two days, I flew with/gunned for 4 or 5 new guys/girls...

Every single one of them asked something alone the lines of "How do I drop my bombs" "how to I tune to a private person" (in some cases) "How do I bail out"

I think I saw 1 LEGITIMATE response in my whole text buffer... I was the one giving them an answer...

This place is wierd. Like, I love it, it's a place where I can talk about things I can't talk about with my friends/family (they don't know/dont care) but when you guys are asking for 2 weekers/fresh accounts to get some weird thing/whatever, you're awfully hypocritical :bolt want them to stay? Be smart...

[Butcher]

  Seems to me that if you want these noobs to stick around, the AH community should try a little harder at helping 2 weekers learn.
 

And some veterans have, myself for example I try to spend 2 hours every other night trying to help out best I can. One question can sometimes take 2 hours to answer, for example trying to help someone with basic ACM - some simply don't realize its not a "15 minute" learn everything and you are ready to go. I have yet to have one person ask "I have a pen and paper ready, can you talk to me about ACM?"

I try to help, but a good portion of the 2 weeker's I have run into, are not ready for the commitment of learning such a steep learning curve.

[grumpy37]

has pen and pad of paper ready to go.................