To HiThech about price issue

[RAM]

 

Originally posted by Wardog:

RAM, Hazed and the rest of ya can head over to AW3 or FA for a $10.00 a month Game. Its that simple, you get what you pay for.
.

lol, wardog -once again- demonstrates us that he is unable to write a post without naming the word RAM

Wardog, seek for help, your brain needs it  

[TheWobble]

I will probably start paying as soon as I move here in about a month, however I still fail to see how someone who cannot afford the $30 a month to play for whatever reason is deemed a sub-par player.  If ya wanna look at it that way, why not be able to pay $50 a month and have planes shot down for You, seeing as how the people who will spend more money are better pilots and those who cannot spare $30 a month must be "dweebs"

[Ghosth]

You guys out there on a severely limited budget have my sympathy. As a out of work (physically disabled) plumber I know where your comeing from.

However, even with zero dollars comeing in (and lots of bills to pay) we always found the 30$ a month for AH (and another 30$ for the DSL line). Yes I'm currently on a comped acct as an AH trainer. (Thank YOU HTC!) I like to think that I earn that most days.

But free acct or not, I'd still  come up with the scratch every month. If I had to sell my books, rent out the attic, or mortgage the house.

It's either worth it to you or it isn't. Period.

[flakbait]

I've heard these price threads since Day One, and they never change. Some ask for comparisons with other games, others say they'll bail when a better/cheaper game comes out. Then you get a few people who say "You just watch; when xxxxxx comes out the price here WILL drop!". I don't pay one red cent for AH; I occasionally raid a H2H game but nothing more. Once in a Blue Moon, like when I was writing my article, I get let in the arenas.

If AH was cheaper would I pay? Nope. The MA is a 24 hour Quakefest, with better players actually looking for a test of skill and not a huge kill score. Even when I had arena access I didn't show up very often. I just don't like the atmosphere. I stuck mostly to the TA just to get away from the main. People in there are generally more civilized, with a distinct lack of tension present. I'm here to enjoy AH, albeit mostly offline. I come here to put my thoughts in about various subjects.

But like my experience with WBs; when the community and developers go to crap I leave. I doubt HTC will head for the toilet within the next year or so, but this community might. I'm going to stick around until I get annoyed or bored with AH; and the latter isn't going to happen soon. No matter the price, I won't pay for access to the MA in it's current state. The SEA and TA aren't worth it to me either, so I'll stick to H2H. Granted, the hosts might suck and you'll get far MORE annoying people in them. But there's less chance of getting 8 people on a host that are ALL that bad. A lot better odds than the MA.

I completely agree with Dago. A small tight-nit community causes less trouble for a developer than a large one filled with Arm-chair experts and weekend wonder warriors. I'll take the small player base over a large one any day.


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Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta 6's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High
"With all due respect Chaplian, I don't think God wants to hear from me right now.
I'm gonna go out there and remove one of His creations from this universe.
And when I get back I'm gonna drink a bottle of Scotch like it was Chiggy von Richthofen's blood and celebrate his death."
Col. McQueen, Space: Above and Beyond
 

[Downtown]

Okay,

I was here from the beginning of the open beta.  I think it was October I canceled my account because I couldn't justify the $29.95 a month especially with Christmas comming.  So I don't currently have an AH account.

Shortly after I closed my account, I heard the hubbub about the pricing "Survey."

HTC never offered me a $9.95 or $14.95 account, and rest assured if they had, I would be back.

That doen't mean in a month or two I won't be back at $29.95 a month either.  I am currently working at the DaimlerChrysler Toledo Plant, and sometime after April the Launch of the liberty will be complete.  So maybe in May I will have free time to fly online.  Perhaps I shall be back then.  If the price hasn't dropped I will have a $29.95 account.

So, not everyone who left was offered a cheaper account.  If you miss your fighter ace buddies I am sorry, but ultimately it is a personal issue about cost.  I don't know what if anything HTC learned about the pricing survey, except that when Badger shared the info, it angered many individuals in the community.

Currently, because of time constraints I don't feel Aces High is $30 a month, in May (I think) when I will have more free time, Aces High may be worth $30 a month.

Sorry that your friends don't feel it is worth the cost, HTC seems to think it is.

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"Looks Mean as Hell! Clare Lee Chenault.
 
When?
"Downtown" Lincoln Brown.

[This message has been edited by Downtown (edited 01-28-2001).]

[J_A_B]

Two ideas:

Most the people who feel that the current price is "fair" fall into two categories:

1.  Ex WB's players who used to pay hundreds of dollars per month (are you guys rich or something?  how could you afford that?).

2.  People (myself included) who have a firm grasp of economics.  I don't like the current price, but I fully understand why its set at what it is.  I still hope it becomes cheaper in the future, though.


Second, I don't see how it is productive to complain about "price whiners"   After all, I see PLENTY of whines from people who DO pay for the game--here's a small list:

HO whines, ramming whines, killsteal whines, ack whines, carrier ack whines, LW whines, RAF whines, runner whines, F4Uc whines, N1K whines, P38 whines, bomber tuffness whines, lethality whines, hispano whines, mauser whines, ostie whines, bomb damage whines, furball whines, landgrab whines, "you killed me" whines, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Even IF this thread started as a whine (which it didn't; it was a legit statement), I don't see how any person on a BB so whine-filled as this one could possibly complain about a whine.   Besided, whines are a good thing, they highlight problems.

I suspect it's only a matter of time until HTC lowers their price somewhat, but I doubt if anyone--including HTC--knows exactly when that will be.  Not in the near future is a safe bet.  When they DO lower it, I also suspect it will be at a level slightly below that of WarBirds, but above AW/FA.

J_A_B

[Creamo]

HTC explained the pricing situation long ago. It's kinda a dead horse.

However, if $30/month makes any diffrence to you and your budget at all, it's time to take a good look at your current situation.

Maybe, just maybe, you ought not to be sitting in front of a computer squeaking about it to flightsim enthusiasts, and get your broke bellybutton into work for some over time, or to a local community college to aquire skills for a better paying job.

Pretty simple actually.

[CavemanJ]

 

Originally posted by Dago:

One big problem with a lower price is all the jerky dweebs will play it. Those who cant afford $30 should get a job, or a second job so they are not so cash strapped, and not be spending their spare time playing online games anyway!  

Nice to see it's so cut and dried for everyone.  Smilie or no smilie I find that statement verra insulting.  While it may apply to some, I'd wager it dinnae apply to most.  Or are you lumping everyone who thinks it's not worth $30 into this as well?

My only problem with $30/mo is when it comes down to AH or what 3 kids need, the kids' need win hands down.  As for another job you try holding one with a wife in the Navy at what has to be the most FUBAR'ed command in all of the USN and has her schedule change at the whim of her Dept Head or DO.  Matter of fact my last few months have been thanks to the graciousness of a few of the players here.  And though I may get mouthy with'em on chan 1 (when we're opposing each other   ) they have my deepest gratitude for thier gifts.

I'm just hoping we can get our tax refund before my time runs out so I can pay for a whole year and not to have worry about it until next tax season  

[AKSeaWulfe]

If it's not worth the 30$ to you, then don't play. In WB I played when I had the money, and I left when I didn't and I would come back when I did. This was at 2$/hr and this was when ISPs charged you for the time too.

It's really simple, really..... HTC charges a set fee. You either pay it or you don't, but they run their own business and they won't change their pay plan until they feel that the newer pay plan will still allow them to keep up their servers, pay for the bandwidth they need(more players=more bandwidth, so you see where this is heading), and most importantly, they still need to make enough money to pay for their own lives. This is their living, you don't go to a tax accountant and say "40$/hr for you to do my taxes is outrageous, I'll pay you 1$/hr to do my taxes." The accountant will look at you all googly eyed then throw your bellybutton out.

It's a business, they run it their way and they will lower prices when they can be assured that they'll get enough new players to pay for a new server, more bandwidth and still be able to live.

For anyone doesn't understand the way an online game works.. here ya go:

HTC runs a server that has r amount of RAM, h amount of HDD space and a fast connection. The connection has x amount of bandwidth which allows for y amount of players. Each player pays z dollars for their account to keep the server running and their own bandwidth. There are w amount of players paying for the game...

r+h=c or cost of upgrading
x+y+c<z*w

In other words, unless they are making more money than it costs to pay for the bandwidth and upgrading then they don't get paid for their great work.

The pricing scheme is set so that they can continue to produce this game and pay for the very good connection.

So, stop with the "in my country", "in my life..." stuff about how you can't currently pay for it. It doesn't matter if HTC can't pay for themselves and pay for keeping enough bandwidth to keep players satisfied and to pay to upgrade the server.
-SW

[J_A_B]

Creamo, who was that post directed at?

J_A_B

[Creamo]

To anyone that didn't read the lengthy responses Pyro had made regarding the price structure, and marketing of new accounts at a reduced price j_a_b.

The broke bellybutton part was for whoever can't scrape $1 per day for a hobby such as AH.

[AKSeaWulfe]

 

Originally posted by Creamo:

The broke bellybutton part was for whoever can't scrape $1 per day for a hobby such as AH.

Heh.. You know coke fiends and crack addicts suck d*ck to get their fix?

If you are addicted to this enough to complain about the price I can think of a part time job for you.....

hehe(not directed at you Creamo ;-)
-SW

[LePaul]

Hmmm, it seems this thread comes back every few weeks, in one form or another.

For what its worth, I have never seen the posts Pyro or anyone else made at HTC about the pricing structure.  If its available, I would sure like to see it.

I think J_A_B said it best in how the crowd is divided.  Those of you that paid big bucks in the old days amaze me.  For that kind of money, I rent the local Cessna.  At least I can log the time  

But what can't be ignored is the *rumor* of others able to pay less.  I have no real problem paying my $29.95 if that is the rate for **everyone**.  But I'll also go one step further and say that I do not like this whole Perk Point BS.  If its what we truly have to go through to fly the fun airplanes like the upcoming Blitz and other super weapons, I would really like to see some way for us to be able to fly them without having to play 400 hours a month.  I don't have the time to play as much as I would like yet the times I do play, I'd like to play *all* the aircraft available.

I understand the compromises that would have to be made, since the idea is to *earn* points to fly super weapons.  But that's another topic all together.  I just do not admire this bait-and-fly approach to getting into the neat aircraft.

And honestly, I can't even begin to tell you how many times my friends have tried Aces High and loved it.  But for $30 a month, the same thing they pay for their cable/DSL connections, they balk.  Sure, you guys can quote the $1 a day company line or shout and cheer like many HTC cheerleaders do    But I honestly beleive if the price was a bit lower, they'd lure more people into paying.  By doing so would mean more people in the arenas and more income for HTC.

I just hate seeing threads like these where people are effectively being told they are whining by stating their opinion on the cost to play.  I enjoy the game and its disappointing to know there are many really good players on the sidelines that would play, if the cost to do so was brought down to earth a bit.

Just my 2 cents.

Paul Bussiere
 www.checksix.net

[AKSeaWulfe]

Here ya go LePaul.  http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/Forum1/HTML/006267.html

Read the most important post, the first one by Pyro. Read it thoroughly. I'm not an AH cheerleader, I just know business and how it works.
-SW

[Frosty1]

"Topic:   To HiThech about price issue"

HiThech? hehe  

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===>Frosty
====>Exposure2k.com
=====>Frosty@exposure2k.com