Revamped Free Trial

[Lusche]

Go into the arena selection screen and press help.

It says for the dueling arena:

"The Dueling Arena contains a special terrain with separate areas for all types of game play including furballing, tanking, and canyon fighting."

Unfortunatley it seems you can not do that anymore. Everywhere I go, when I try to take off I get "Free flight is disabled during match play". And I see no option to get away from this.

[Traveler]

Go into the arena selection screen and press help.

HiTech

“The Free Arenas can be created by any subscriber for a private game
among friends, squad practice etc.  They are 16 player maximum and can
also be used to run staged missions, Free Arenas must be created by a
subscriber, but non subscribers can enjoy them.”

This is what HELP does not answer and the answers can't be found under the offical HTC game documentation.

How long does the non subscribers ID have access to the free arenas?  According to skuzzy "Anyone can play in any arena, under the "Free" tab, for as long as they want, with, or without a subscription."

Is there a time limit on the non subscribers ID? 
How long does the subscribers created arena exist under the free tab?

[hitech]

“The Free Arenas can be created by any subscriber for a private game
among friends, squad practice etc.  They are 16 player maximum and can
also be used to run staged missions, Free Arenas must be created by a
subscriber, but non subscribers can enjoy them.”

This is what HELP does not answer and the answers can't be found under the offical HTC game documentation.

How long does the non subscribers ID have access to the free arenas?  According to skuzzy "Anyone can play in any arena, under the "Free" tab, for as long as they want, with, or without a subscription."

Is there a time limit on the non subscribers ID? 
How long does the subscribers created arena exist under the free tab?

Wow 

Some of that type of information would be typically be added to the Create Arena Help Tab. Describe how long someone can play in an arena is completely useless information.

Also: Do you have a question that you wish answered?

Is there a time limit on the non subscribers ID? 
How long does the subscribers created arena exist under the free tab?

If these are real questions , answers are
1. As long as they wish.
   Things I didn't answer but will not be in the help system. They can not play during a host reset. They can not play during arena resets. They can not play if the player who created the arena shuts it down.
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2. The arena stays open until 5 minutes after being empty.
   Unless ,   
Things I didn't answer but will not be in the help system.
They can not play during a host reset. They can not play during arena resets. They can not play if the player who created the arena shuts it down.
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.
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HiTech

[Randy1]

I have a suggestion HiTech.  Why not set up a test computer at HTC and invite friends of your staff to come in and have a go at AH.  Then stand back and see how well they adapt to the game.  After the first session, sit down .with them and ask what they thought.

Cheap research i would think.

[Traveler]

Wow 

Some of that type of information would be typically be added to the Create Arena Help Tab. Describe how long someone can play in an arena is completely useless information.

Also: Do you have a question that you wish answered?If these are real questions , answers are
1. As long as they wish.
   Things I didn't answer but will not be in the help system. They can not play during a host reset. They can not play during arena resets. They can not play if the player who created the arena shuts it down.
.
.
.
.
.
2. The arena stays open until 5 minutes after being empty.
   Unless ,   
Things I didn't answer but will not be in the help system.
They can not play during a host reset. They can not play during arena resets. They can not play if the player who created the arena shuts it down.
.
.
.
.
.
HiTech

so if I create an arena for my squad to use, one has to stay in it or it is taken down automatically if empty for 5 minutes and anyone can enter that arena being used for squad training.

[hitech]

so if I create an arena for my squad to use, one has to stay in it or it is taken down automatically if empty for 5 minutes and anyone can enter that arena being used for squad training.

What do you think?

HiTech

[Traveler]

What do you think?

HiTech

I think you could have said Yes or no but felt it necessary to be you.  Perhaps a FAQ section for the web site and up to date information/documentation would help, but you would rather get pissed at a long time paying customer for asking questions that the current documentation provided no answers to on a new feature of the game.

[hitech]

Perhaps a FAQ section for the web site and up to date information/documentation would help, but you would rather get pissed at a long time paying customer for asking questions that the current documentation provided no answers to on a new feature of the game.

Must be why I asked if people wished to be hired to write new documentation in the last few weeks.
Implemented a full html web viewer in Aces High a few releases back, And now currently have people writing the Documentation which can now become active in game as any piece is written,with the ability to include videos and any other web content we choose.

Traveler: Your obviously being intentionally obtuse in this thread, I have no idea why. But I finally had enough.
In your recent post history, almost every post is some kind of criticism of HTC.

HiTech

[RedBeard]

I don't think we want to separate free play from the rest of the world for any reason.  No relaxed realism arena.  No free to play arena.  There should be one world where everyone flies.  No us and them mentality.  We want to encourage free to play users to join the rest of the community, so we should be welcoming them, not isolating. 

I do agree with earlier suggestions that a single aircraft / vehicle be made available for new players.  My recommendation would be that free to play accounts be allowed to use one specific model each of fighter, bomber, boat, and vehicle without restriction.  They should be mid-war models with broad capabilities that allows them to compete without being unduly over matched, but not use low ENY aircraft/vehicles that would prohibit their use in some cases.  I'd recommend the following:

• P-47D11 or P-51B - Both are good fighter/attack aircraft that can reasonably hold their own in the MA.
• B-25H or B-26B - Both are good medium bombers that are useful in the MA without being overpowering.
• PT boat - Only choice currently
• Panzer IV H - A decent tank warfare vehicle.
• Support - It might also be interesting to allow M3 with vehicle supplies or Storch use to provide a support role variation on the theme.

Having the above used for free to play would provide enough usage to experience AH3 in full and still allow some attraction to step up to a paid account to experience a broader perspective.  It should also allow free to play users to integrate into existing social groups (squadrons, etc.) without burdening squadrons with too much differential to accommodate.  We want / need that ability most of all or the free to play groups will organize themselves and not integrate well into the existing community.

Red Beard
CO 364th C-Hawks

[Traveler]

Traveler: Your obviously being intentionally obtuse in this thread, I have no idea why. But I finally had enough.
In your recent post history, almost every post is some kind of criticism of HTC.

HiTech

If anything I said was not true then  you have a point, but I only stated facts, Criticism was of the game in it's current state, not you.  The last time  I did check the HELP there was  a statement stating it was being worked on. But let's face it HTC doucmnetation was not the games strong point, and as you saw, the new documentation for the free arena doesnn't answer all the questions.

[Skuzzy]

If you only wish to pick at us, then let me state the obvious.  We are not done with our documentation.

That said, it does not stop us from answering questions.  However, if the only thing that will make you happy is for us to document something, then you are going to have to wait.  I say that due to you asking a question I answered twice, and asked if it was not clear or not, but never got a reply.

[SPKmes]

Really is quite simple traveler...even an inept press a button to play guy like me can get it...but I do wonder about one thing you bought up...

The simple part
A subscriber makes a custom map...so anyone of the personalities can do that on the paid subscription...once up...leave the pc on of the paid personality and all his other personalities can make free accounts and play with themselves all day/night long.. expect others to enter though unless you keep it full...simple as that...I don't know any teen that reads let alone the terms of a game...these days it's find the glitch and abuse the F out of it..pretty sure that is against most TOS...but hey let's not nit pik..it is the way of the world unfortunately....

The reasonable question
The one thing you did bring up I found a to be a reasonable question is.... how long does a free account last...from what I know if you don't pay you do eventually lose your game id, thus account..has this changed?

[RedBeard]

Other alternatives for free to play...

Allow bombers and vehicles to hold as many people as positions they have available.  Allow free to play accounts to join those positions (assuming the subscriber accepts).  Have "gunner" or "enlisted man" leader boards to show off their skills.  Integrate a "Need a gunner board" into the ready room so that free to play (I just want to kill things) gunners can go where it's "hot" rather than flying the whole flight.

A further refinement would be to add a perk point accrual system for free to play that allows them to step out to other things that we already fly without perk points.  This provides a progression system for free to play that provides a challenge for them to continue to return, but with enough progression difficulty that you wonder if it would just be worth subscribing.

Another refinement would be to allow a "co-pilot" position in bombers.  If a subscriber started a flight and a free to play gunner is present and the pilot is killed.  Allow the gunner (or random choice if multiple gunners) to take over from the co-pilot position.  This could prove a useful recruitment mechanism if free to play people are (rather randomly and infrequently) given a chance to fly and do damage.

Lastly, a rather extreme free to play scenario would be to integrate a first person shooter game for the troops and allow free to play people to battle it out for base taking.  Bailing would drop you into the first person shooter scenario.  We sort of have this now when you bail, but the animation for movement, aiming, etc. is not enough for a good FPS.  The terrain certainly seems good enough for this now, but integrating a first person shooter could be a bear.  Perk points could allow free to play people to take control of field guns and vehicles.

[Traveler]

See Rule #4

[Skuzzy]

<snip>
The reasonable question
The one thing you did bring up I found a to be a reasonable question is.... how long does a free account last...from what I know if you don't pay you do eventually lose your game id, thus account..has this changed?

There is no such thing as a free account, per se.  There are accounts which are subscribed to and account which are not subscribed to.  The game ID should remain in the unsubscribed account as long as it is being used.

I believe our pilot handle cleanout time period is 6 months, but I will need to verify that.