I just had a vile, evil, but still somehow intriguing idea...

[Krusty]

Recently with AH going live on Steam and the constant comparisons to F2P games that sell unlocks and whatnot to bypass mind-breaking grinds, several ideas have been floated to make AH a more F2P model to reduce subscription fees. Most of them are discountable instantly for very obvious reasons about how AH is built and how it plays.

Example: Suggesting it go F2P doesn't work because what do you monetize? Restrict planes? No. That's dumb and too pay-to-win which everybody hates and would cause more backlash but also goes against HTCs past 2 decades of philosophy for bringing historic flight models and such to the game and letting players fly what they want.


But....


I just had an idea. There isn't much to bypass in AH. No way to skip a grind by paying a little more money. We don't have plane grinds to unlock power-ups (thank god!) and outside of ENY we can fly anything we want....

But....

What if...

The one grind is that not everybody can fly those perk planes they want. I looked at my bomber perks because I didn't have enough to run some B-29s a few nights ago. I toggled off the formations thinking I might roll the dice, but still didn't have enough!! Mind you, I'm not flying as much as I used to but even when I was flying tons I always was scrimping and saving perk points for one good plane per month it seemed. Now imagine the newbies. Imagine folks looking at those 262s or those B-29s or those AR-234s and even the lesser ones -- or the tanks, even!

What if HTC monetized perk points? Pre-packaged amounts of GV and plane points (either one bundle with half of each, or one bundle each sold separately) for, say, $5 USD? Say... 200 perks for $5 USD? That's a formation of B29s or a 262 run (or two, maybe?).

Pros:
1) Possible way to monetize the game and if it goes well add more F2P functionality to pull new players into the game.
2) Doesn't give you anything you couldn't get yourself with a little effort and time
3) Doesn't disrupt ENY so players still have the same limitations as normal
4) Get a chance to fly your favorite best planes even if you haven't got the time or perks to do so.

Cons:
1) I admit in the past I've been against giving away perks too freely, so it would be a balance to prevent perk inflation
2) Could be a bad user experience to up B-29s with bought perks, crash or get shot down, and be unhappy (more a user issue than an actual problem, but you know it would come up!)
3) entitled egos on some newbies could perpetuate a negative atmosphere or foster negative sentiment in the community (i.e. "he bought his perks" or "lame newb crying over his 262, buy another!" and such).

[Vraciu]

-1 for the very cons you noted--and others.   This has been hashed to death.

Grow the player base.  That's what grows revenue.    That's what adds fun. 

I'm all for HTC maximizing income, but paying for perks is a gimmick at best, IMHO.

That said, if buying a few B-29s costs five bucks then $14.95 for the rest of the plane set sure seems cheap.

[100Coogn]

Look up micro-transactions on YouTube.
Gamers are boycotting many games for this very reason.

Coogan

[Devil 505]

Sorry Krusty, that's a pay-to-win system and thus very, very bad.

[AAIK]

Why not charge for skins/insignias instead?

That is how many games have gotten around the pay-to-win problem and still make alot of money.

Give them something that allows customization/expression of their fasion sense.

[Tracerfi]

Why not charge for skins/insignias instead?

That is how many games have gotten around the pay-to-win problem and still make alot of money.

Give them something that allows customization/expression of their fasion sense.

Because there will be people making swastikas or dicks or swastikas made of dicks and many other bad things as i have seen in other games

[AAIK]

Because there will be people making swastikas or dicks or swastikas made of dicks and many other bad things as i have seen in other games

I don't think this point needs to be pushed anymore but the game doesnt have to allow fully customized skins/insignias. It can simply provide a selectable set of camos, colour patterns and decals: Mechwarrior online does this for example.That is if the devs don't want to have to approve of every users design first.

[Vraciu]

I don't think this point needs to be pushed anymore but the game doesnt have to allow fully customized skins/insignias. It can simply provide a selectable set of camos, colour patterns and decals: Mechwarrior online does this for example.That is if the devs don't want to have to approve of every users design first.

There are other issues that preclude this.  We can't even get a few added slots right now for authentic skins (the total number of slots available HAS been increased over time, btw) for reasons HTC has already addressed.   Adding a virtually unlimited number of personalized skins would be even tougher. 

[Krusty]

Sorry Krusty, that's a pay-to-win system and thus very, very bad.

But it's not pay to win. It's pay to bypass grind, which traditionally is the best most widely accepted F2P system in the longer-running F2P games.

The only grind AH really has is that of earning perks. You can earn them yourself. You still have all the penalties of losing your perks, you still have all the restrictions of ENY, you're not unlocking anything that any other player in the game doesn't already have. You're just buying yourself saved time.

[TheBug]

So you're going to entice people from F2P games by having them spend even more money over the subscription rate?

[Krusty]

Small steps, Bug. Small steps. If that works, then start cutting back the monthly subscription fees. If it really takes off and HTC gets inspiration on a couple of other things they can do, then you do away with the sub entirely and you get something like WT's "gold" or Destiny's "Silver Coin" and so forth.

EDIT: Another thought occurs to me, as a way of encouraging subscriptions in a F2P environment (a hypothetical) some games show paid subscriptions with a symbol by their name, or perhaps a different color, or some like Star Trek Online give you a monthly stipend of their bought currency every month to use as you see fit. Hypothetically... that might translate to HTC allowing achievement "stars" next to names only for subscribers, and if you maintain a sub even in the F2P environment you get, say, 200 free perks per month.

[bustr]

It's not like AH starts everyone out with a spit1 and you are stuck with that until you grind out all the other rides. It's only a small number of rides that are perked which we grind for already. I doubt there will be hoards of newbies or vets passing the credit card to fly 262 or Tempest at will 24x7 around the calendar year. That would be a lot of money to loose to vets with years of perks to burn just to see the whining on 200 about how much real money was lost to gamey vets hunting them. Heck POTW would enjoy some of that action with our years of unused perks. That Conan movie thing comes to mind about lamentations......

[Krusty]

Well, Bustr, I'm seeing it like this: I like bombers. I fly them sometimes. Just... not enough to earn enough to run a set of B-29s. I like fighters. My flight time is limited and even though I like higher ENY planes I still barely have enough perks for a single Me262 sortie.

On top of that, the GVs... I don't even dream of running a perked vehicle these days. I just don't have the stick time on the ground to earn any perks, but I used to have quite a blast in them. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is with games. I support games I enjoy. I have a sub in AH. I have put money into other games as well, as time and interest permits.

Even if the percentage of people that feels the same way is 10% or so, that's across many thousands of subscribers. It adds up. Once you get the ball rolling, it becomes more common and more accepted. I mean... look at the idiotic "hats" thing that TF2 started. I seriously can't believe it started with "hats" and then blossomed into more with all the weapons sets and items for different classes. You never know how far something will evolve unless you give it a try. Sometimes. I think now, here, the time is right for HTC to experiment and evolve. Not to change the game we love, but to introduce it to more people that will also love it.



P.S. Who's to say we won't add more low-level perks, too? What if we get some much-requested planes that are overpowering? Well if you can purchase perks it might ease them into the planeset better with a slight perk instead of being the next Chog.


I'm not convinced either way at right now. I can see the merit, the potential, but not the best way to get to that potential. I put this out there as food for thought, and to spark a discussion.

[bustr]

The only real time I fly a perked plane is either some in my squad are hunting some 262's and I go as a wingman or I'm covering Waystin's kester when he just has to go Tempest. Sometimes a 4-Hog because I need to get on the field faster than the other rides to accomplish something. And maybe a C-Hog once or twice a year to watch the tracers to see if I still understand the 100mph principle. I fight against guys all year round who it's apparent are greifing with their perk ride and not wanting to get caught like they would in slightly slower rides. This is a good idea because at heart, most combat game gamers are little boys who just want to kick everyone in the nutz and get away with it.   

[Vraciu]

I could care less about perks.  I have no interest in jets or B-29s.   I'm probably not alone.

The only way they'd be of value to players like me is to buy a ride out of ENY prison now and then.   

If perk points are for sale they'll need more ways to be used to be of any interest whatsoever to some of us.   That has the potential corollary effect of making them more valuable to everyone else, too.