Hi all, I want to clarify a few things
1)
I now understand what Aces High is about, when I came at first I was looking for a more oriented WW2 game, and I wanted the game to look like WW2 but I know AH is not that and it would alienate the old playerbase. I respect the playerbase and all the users here that's why I stayed and am playing.
2)
Saying that, I think that Aces High could do with a few tweaks here and there to be more attractive to players, alleviate an issue concering the lower player numbers in arena and provide a different usage of planes compared to what is currently, so the underused planes on arena, are used also. I know this was talked about over different threads, but the information is so spread out it's hard to track of everything everywhere.
- Side balance
Side balance is tightly linked with the player numbers, new players stay or go depending on how attractive the game is at first. I know some will shudder at this, but bear with me.
When new players come to the game what is the first thing they see? $14.95 price tag - biggest turn off for new players today, I KNOW I KNOW but if you are still reading, please continue.A potential solution for this and the side balance is to have 1 plane free (others made some great suggestions like plane on rotation or 'plane of the week' so post them here!).
Freeloaders that would not pay could still play with the plane and maybe even subscribe from time to time, and others would have more time to play compared to 2 weeks to decide if they want to pay for the game, having more players would be a solution to the side balance problem.
If however the players numbers would not go up another solution to balancing the sides is to have 2 sides and a auto balancer. Fighting 38 vs 12 vs 18 is not fair for the side with lowest numbers. 2 sides would work much better with lower player numbers a 35 vs 35 would be fair and balanced, and if player numbers would go up again to the hundreds the game can always go back to 3 sides, right?
Auto balancer would be a great tool, it should automaticaly drop whole squads and single players that are entering the arena to the under populated side, to keep the numbers balanced.
Once players are on a side they have to commit to the side without the ability to change side so there is no side hopping unbalancing the game, the auto balancer could 'remember' them so it's not possible to change side for example for a day or two, and the new players who are entering the arena who are not yet 'commited' would be filling the under popped side.
- Perks
Perks on all planes have two purposes. To create a more fair match up on arena thus allowing the effective usage of earlier planes which in turn, makes the game utilise all the available game assets (the planes) as the players will have to progressively go through the planes starting from early war planes.
It would go together with players who are playing on the '1 free plane', because no matter if it would be a early or mid plane others would not have an unfair advantage over them.
'But I cannot fly my favourite ride when I log in on arena' - okay, we can do something here also.....
Pay to upgrade? $1,99 to get 5 unlocks of your favourite ride ?
Weekly plane packs? $4,99 to get 3 brands of 5 plane uses, special deal ?
The game does not become pay to win, i repeat it DOES NOT, because anyone could still have the planes by playing and HTC would have a potential higher revenue $$$ - win win situation.
summarizing:
The game would get more players from '1 free plane', the arena would have a better balance (player and plane wise), and HTC would have potential higher revenue from the already paying customers who potentialy would pay for the 'favourite' ride.
