a "beginners" arena

[Nugget]

He guys have any of you checked "Nugget" in the pilot stats?

Either this is his absolute first tour or, you are being trolled by someone's shade so he can talk smack about Hitechs's business model. His opening statement coupled with his stats kinda infers he is not what he represents himself as.

"despite how long ah has been around, the paltry numbers of players at any given time tells me ah is having trouble attracting and retaining new players."

The syntact pattern reminds me of another subscriber a while back who insulted Hitech and his business strategies while trying to tell him how to modernise and attract more players. Could be wrong but, it's all too familure. At least he's not trying to suck you all over to WoP based on the Marketing films.

what the hell are you smoking????  whatever it is you need to cut back 'cause it's making you paranoid!  lol.  i am no one's "shade."  i started in aw aol as nuget (remember, only 5 letters,) played till it died, then a few months on warbirds and ah then quit.  haven't been back for at least 10 years so i'm pretty rusty.  i'm not sure what stats you're talking about, other than my 14 kills/28 deaths so far.  not sure how that can be consider good, especially since i used to be competent back in the day.  also, i think half of those kills were because someone augered near me without me firing a shot, which i wish ah would not credit it that way.

also, how am i criticizing ah's business model?  the game has been around for over 10 years but fewer than 600 players log on at any given time.  a fact that's plain to see.  did you not read the last line in my post, about wowp will probably attract newer players to combat flight sims but they will get bored by the arcade feel after a short time?  about me hoping ah can find a way to attract those who want something better than wowp?  how is that insulting to ah?

[Ack-Ack]

drivel snipped

bustr is saying that you really have no clue as to 1) current numbers of subscribers and 2) no data on the numbers of players AH retains or doesn't retain after the 2 week trial.  Basically, he's saying you're talking out your arse when you make comments like you did becuase you have ZERO data to back up your statements.

ack-ack

[Nathan60]

bustr is saying that you really have no clue as to 1) current numbers of subscribers and 2) no data on the numbers of players AH retains or doesn't retain after the 2 week trial.  Basically, he's saying you're talking out your arse when you make comments like you did becuase you have ZERO data to back up your statements.

ack-ack

I nominate you as Bustr's TL;DR translator.

[bustr]

I can speek english.

It's the derned spatial associative ripple effect that won't stop in my head when I read or hear speech. Who needs drugs? The patterns just associate themselves and come outta my fingers when I type dontcha know. Just wish I could do better than 3 numbers on the lottery when I look at it. Now with 6 I could have a poni in the front yard to sit in and yell piu, piu, piu at the neighbors. Used to be able to get a Mig in the crate pretty cheap from the Chinese. Anyone know how to yell piu, piu, piu in manderin?

Unless this species of statement uttered repeatedly by new or shade account players over the years is the same as saying 42 is the secret of the universe as a meme:

"despite how long ah has been around, the paltry numbers of players at any given time tells me ah is having trouble attracting and retaining new players."

What is it, once or twice a year about verbatum this is posted on the forum? Do they all belong to the same marketing school fraternity house or something and this is one of their mottos? I liked the shill for WoP better last time around. He was kinda creative.

[Nugget]

bustr is saying that you really have no clue as to 1) current numbers of subscribers and 2) no data on the numbers of players AH retains or doesn't retain after the 2 week trial.  Basically, he's saying you're talking out your arse when you make comments like you did becuase you have ZERO data to back up your statements.

ack-ack

no one has current numbers of subscribers other than ah.  that's just a stupid argument.  as for "data", it's shows exactly how many people are online when you log on.  no, it does not show total numbers of subscribers, but after awhile, you can get a sense of how many people play the game each night.  after 10+ years, and an on going 2 week trial period, i'd expect more.

[Citabria]

I smell a scorpion bite, CIA flown f16's and other mysterious ailments.

please let it be him. another Voss conspiracy would be quite fun.

[pervert]

Truth probably is Hitech doesn't lick the bums of games reviewers!  I haven't seen a proper review of Aces High maybe 8 years? And the game has come on so much the old reviews and screenshots don't do the present game justice. He should butter up more, maybe use that RV of his! 

[Vinkman]

This thread is turning into an argument about what we know about retention. I'd like to steer it back to whether a noob arena would help or hurt retention or MA gameplay.

In theory I think it's a good idea and have suggested it in the past. It seems there was some version of a noob arena in AW or Warbirds or a prior HiTech game. Can anyone tell us about it:

Who was allowed in the noob arena?

Who was blocked from the noob arena?

How long were you allowed in the noob arena?

were you eventually forced into the MA?

How many people were in the Noob arena vs how many were in the MA?


Answers to these questions will help the discussion greatly. 

[icepac]

Boing!!!...........Wish Granted.

It's called the late war main arena.

[Changeup]

despite how long ah has been around, the paltry numbers of players at any given time tells me ah is having trouble attracting and retaining new players.  so to help ease them into the game, i'm wondering if ah has ever had, or would consider having, a "beginners arena"?  i'm not asking ah to dumb down the game, just a place where beginners can learn the ropes for the first few months.

let's face it, combat flight sims have probably the steepest learning curve of any game genres out there.  so when you put newbies in the same arena as people who've been "flying" for a decade, it gets ugly and not so much fun for the noobs.  the new guys can go to the training arena all they want, but the fact is they just don't have the skills yet to be effective.  in air warrior, that wasn't so much of a problem because you had a constant and large influx of new guys so proportionally, you stood a good chance of meeting someone of similar skills in the sky.  in ah, my guess is the influx of new people is probably a trickle.  so for a noob like me, i'm probably flying with mostly vets.  while i like combat flight sims, i might not stick around too much longer because it's just not that fun getting waxed while i'm just trying not to stall.

with the introduction of world of warplanes, there'll probably be a resurgence of people interested in combat flight sims.  if wowp is anything like wot, emphasis on arcade rather than realism, i'm sure quite a few of those people would get bored and graduate up to ah.  i hope ah finds a way to attract them.

p.s. i posted in the help forum, too, but not sure which is more appropriate.

I would spend a lot of time there

[Vinkman]

Boing!!!...........Wish Granted.

It's called the late war main arena.

no it isn't

[The Fugitive]

This thread is turning into an argument about what we know about retention. I'd like to steer it back to whether a noob arena would help or hurt retention or MA gameplay.

In theory I think it's a good idea and have suggested it in the past. It seems there was some version of a noob arena in AW or Warbirds or a prior HiTech game. Can anyone tell us about it:

Who was allowed in the noob arena?

Who was blocked from the noob arena?

How long were you allowed in the noob arena?

were you eventually forced into the MA?

How many people were in the Noob arena vs how many were in the MA?


Answers to these questions will help the discussion greatly. 

AW had newbie arena. Everyone was allowed in. You got points as you got kills. I beloved the top you could get was 10,000 points lifetime. Once you hit this you could no longer get bullets for your.planes. you could still fly around as a target but could not fire back.

I use to go there and help newbies out and even recruited some.to my squad from.there. the numbers were much like the MA as compared.to the TA.

[Arlo]

I don't think I flew there, ever. But then my memory fails me. Eh. 

[Vinkman]

AW had newbie arena. Everyone was allowed in. You got points as you got kills. I beloved the top you could get was 10,000 points lifetime. Once you hit this you could no longer get bullets for your.planes. you could still fly around as a target but could not fire back.

I use to go there and help newbies out and even recruited some.to my squad from.there. the numbers were much like the MA as compared.to the TA.

Lifetime bullets is interesting limitation. 

Did the concept work well in your opinion?

[Orbitson]

Fighter Ace had a beginners arena. Small island map with limited set of A/C from mid war, tanks and ships to attack. I can't remember if it was two sides or three.  Once your score reached the rank of LtC your guns went cold and most would move on to the MA's.  Veteran pilots would come in there and be drones for target practice and offer advice.