Longer Free Trial

[Slade]

+1

Anything to get the numbers up.

More may actually get bit by AH, i.e. get the fever and stay. 

Takes more time in this game to become proficient enough to have fun.

[FLOOB]

The free trial is a good idea but the way it is implemented is backward in my opinion. I've always thought that they should raise the cost of the free trial. If the free trial cost more than the subscription it would encourage more to subscribe because they would be saving.

[Tinkles]

The free trial is a good idea but the way it is implemented is backward in my opinion. I've always thought that they should raise the cost of the free trial. If the free trial cost more than the subscription it would encourage more to subscribe because they would be saving.

Then the trial wouldn't be free.

[Mongoose]

He downloads it, and we play for a bit.  I set about explaining everything to him and it hits me... there ain't no way I can get this guy up to speed and hooked in two weeks.

  Not true.  I got my brother hooked within a couple of hours. 

  Of course, it took much longer for him to get proficient.  But he was hooked pretty quick.

  We do, of course, need more people who will take newbies in hand and show them the ropes.....   

[Triton28]

  Not true.  I got my brother hooked within a couple of hours. 

  Of course, it took much longer for him to get proficient.  But he was hooked pretty quick.

  We do, of course, need more people who will take newbies in hand and show them the ropes.....   

I got my brother hooked in 2 minutes, but that doesn't count because he was a sim guy to start with.

I'm not interested in hooking people who would be hooked anyway.  I'm interested in bringing in people who aren't so easily sold. 

[Bruv119]

or open up WW1/ TA / DA  for an entire month free,  half the sub cost for access to just those arenas after trial period and keep MA full cost. 

[bustr]

If you are determined to go the month route coupled with free arenas and no access to the MA.

Have a free WW1 arena, and an MA arena with rotating plane sets limited to 4 different planes, and two or three different tanks each day. Just enough to get them in rides but, not enough to setup house and become free loaders in favorite rides. Have all those planes flying as AI each day on easy to medium mode with a different avatar than the players but, still red and green.

The downsides are obvious. Vets sneaking in to abuse the system and free trialers. Griefers trying to find a way to turn it into a permanent free game. And then the logistical nightmare of how to get the game pad generation up to speed with a joystick. Simply to enjoy the offering in the limited time they will give their attention span to the trial if they can't just up and go piu, piu, piu.

[danny76]

Simple Answer : people would abuse it.


Explanation.. of his explanation (his post before the one you replied to), if I wanted, I could make a trial account, fly for a month, make a new one and do it again.  Unless HTC has some way of preventing that, then it would be abused. Someone returning like ManAWar or Midway    , it's about the only con in-game that I can think of. The only other con would be finances, HTC is sticking their neck out further, offering a longer trial, but no guarentee that the player will stay just because they extended the trial.. however, there isn't a guarentee they are going to subscribe if it's just at 2 weeks either.

How is HTC sticking their neck out, it costs them nothing for another player, who was not paying them anyway to subscribe, drawn by the longer trial.

If they decide to stay after the trial then HTC gets the revenue from their subscription. If they leave, they have cost the company nothing, as they were never paying anything in the first place

[Bizman]

How is HTC sticking their neck out, it costs them nothing for another player, who was not paying them anyway to subscribe, drawn by the longer trial.

If they decide to stay after the trial then HTC gets the revenue from their subscription. If they leave, they have cost the company nothing, as they were never paying anything in the first place

You don't count servers for more people as a cost? IIRC one of the reasons for two main arenas awhile back was that one large arena was much more expensive than two smaller ones, the current size of LW being a compromise between prime time numbers and playability at more silent times. There's also administrative costs, someone has to keep record of players, their accounts and other similar things. The freebies will also join this forum causing possible need for moderating their posts. Rosie and Skuzzy don't work for free and I believe they wouldn't like to do extra hours either.

[danny76]

You don't count servers for more people as a cost? IIRC one of the reasons for two main arenas awhile back was that one large arena was much more expensive than two smaller ones, the current size of LW being a compromise between prime time numbers and playability at more silent times. There's also administrative costs, someone has to keep record of players, their accounts and other similar things. The freebies will also join this forum causing possible need for moderating their posts. Rosie and Skuzzy don't work for free and I believe they wouldn't like to do extra hours either.

But all the administration they would have to do is being done anyway, every day with every player. You could possible put a $ value on the cost of an individual player, but in the big (and rapidly reducing) scheme of things I doubt it would add up to very much more than a couple of cents.

I also doubt that a few more guys posting on the forums and having to be moderated would result in countless hours of workload for HTC. At the very least it may prove they are sufficiently interested to stay and eventually end up paying a sub, a payment that of course would hitherto have been lining the sky rockets of WT and the like.

The simple fact is that AH is extremely difficult to learn. This, I believe, is predominantly due to the fact that there is no form of aptitude test to complete before leaping into the MA, and then  as to why you get incessantly murdered, at least when you aren't lawndarting.

It takes much longer than 2 weeks to get someone up to being able to take off and land, never mind engage in complicated acm.

If the trial period is to remain at the 2 week mark, then there has to be a system whereby new and untried players are taught the very basics of control, in aircraft, gv's and boats.

The number of times, and recently I might add, where i have seen "how do I take off" pop up on the help channel, answered almost immediately by the ubiquitous "Alt F4". Hardly endearing to a guy contemplating spending $180 annually, plus the cost of stick, throttle, rudder pedals, upgraded PC and so on

[Bizman]

I understand your logic about that the administration has to be done anyway. However the current personnel is optimized for the current clientèle. I bet they work full hours, HTC certainly won't pay for just sitting there. Thus a larger amount of non-paying customers would mean they would have to hire more people without getting any extra income to cover their salaries and working facilities.

Besides, AH isn't hard to learn. But I agree, it's very hard to master! Starting directly on MA is a suicide, but if you're a native English speaker the TA will get you flying within an hour. Reading the manual would also help with those "how do I take off" questions. If someone can find the download, he should be able to find the help section, too!

OTOH I've never even heard about a game that a newbie could immediately master and that covers everything starting from children's card games to board games to computer games.

BTW after umpteen years I still can't do any real maneuvers and my SA sucks.

[scott66]

+1 but the 2 week did work for us apparently

[danny76]

I understand your logic about that the administration has to be done anyway. However the current personnel is optimized for the current clientèle. I bet they work full hours, HTC certainly won't pay for just sitting there. Thus a larger amount of non-paying customers would mean they would have to hire more people without getting any extra income to cover their salaries and working facilities.

Besides, AH isn't hard to learn. But I agree, it's very hard to master! Starting directly on MA is a suicide, but if you're a native English speaker the TA will get you flying within an hour. Reading the manual would also help with those "how do I take off" questions. If someone can find the download, he should be able to find the help section, too!

OTOH I've never even heard about a game that a newbie could immediately master and that covers everything starting from children's card games to board games to computer games.

BTW after umpteen years I still can't do any real maneuvers and my SA sucks.

  Me too

[ink]

You don't count servers for more people as a cost? IIRC one of the reasons for two main arenas awhile back was that one large arena was much more expensive than two smaller ones, the current size of LW being a compromise between prime time numbers and playability at more silent times. There's also administrative costs, someone has to keep record of players, their accounts and other similar things. The freebies will also join this forum causing possible need for moderating their posts. Rosie and Skuzzy don't work for free and I believe they wouldn't like to do extra hours either.

you recall incorrectly

the 1-2 arena setups have NOTHING to do with costs....

and everything to do with after a certain amount of people...it becomes a cesspool....(cesspool is my word...I don't remember the word HTC used)

thats why 2 arena's were made...and once numbers dropped they went back to 1 arena.

[Bizman]

Thanks for correcting. My memory isn't what it used to be and my understanding has always been, uhm, selective...