In-game transactions in lieu of $15/m

[Krusty]

Neither can I. Micro-transactions could turn this game into a nightmare.

I still think a half dozen free planes in the MA would help boast the numbers. That would bring in the "Steam" players looking for the "free" games. More players only will help bring in more players.

I don't like youre tiered system. It's just bad for gameplay and smacks of pay-to-win.

However about the "half dozen" I'd pare that down. One fighter, one bomber, one twin engine attacker and one tank.

Has to be something you can get by in but not totally destabilizing if a bunch of newbies show up in hordes (best case scenario). P-51B, B-25C, Bf110G, PanzerIV H.

That's what I would propose. No more than that. Gives them jabo, fighter, escort, a little turn and burn, gives them bomber formations, the ability to hit towns or strats with 3000lbs x3, gives them the ability to pound targets with 110G cannons or to hunt bombers, gives them just about any role they could want without unbalancing the arena. Not the best planes of their respective eras, but good, solid planes. Leaves people with a taste of the good stuff but also shows them that if they subscribe they'll get more. More guns, more speed, more loadouts, more options in other planes, etc.

[popeye]

A horde of newbies in 110Gs...   HO Warrior!   

[Krusty]

Well, remember that if a bunch of newbies gets into a 110G even if they HO everything, they aren't going to be a major threat to anybody half awake. Dodge the HO and then ... well.. dogmeat.

[19zac]

Even better would be a well written guide downloaded with the game as a PDF or something. Everyone says, "The training arena is your friend," but lets be honest, there is usually not a trainer in there and no way for a person to find the info they need by themselves. It took someone to tell me on the fourth or fifth day of trying the game to look at Netaces or something to find the info to actually get started by myself. I eventually found the info on the HT main pages, but it was usually buried.


<Salute>
Punk

I really like this. I think the main problem is that new players just don't want to stick around, probably because it can be pretty hard to learn this game. Thats why I was suggesting to get rid of the monthly fee, but I realize there does not seem like a good way of going about that. The next best thing would to make it easier to learn the game. There could be some steps taken, like a comprehensive PDF sheet or something of the like. That would help newbies jump into the game without feeling so overwhelmed.

[popeye]

I thought there were introductory videos linked from the opening page.  No?

[asterix]

Now I am not someone who would start spending money on cosmetic stuff but having said that I would definitely buy penguinz0 Professor Sad style noseart for a reasonable price. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZfcpMj300
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7c42KAp3rE

[AAIK]

If we had skins like that!     

[Mister Fork]

So, getting back on topic...


Maybe give players those options? Offer various levels at cheaper monthly rates?  Or offer early war stuff for free, and if you want anything else, it's $15 a month?

[AAIK]

Nah, i'd say make all bombers free and charge monthly for fighters. 

[The Fugitive]

The only reason I added the tiered system was to many newbies "$15 a month is a lot of money for a game!", but maybe $5 isnt. The point is to get more players into the MA. Once they are there we all know how much of an addiction this can become. Keeping the new players locked out AFTER their 2 weeks are up isnt going to help anyone. One of the biggest complaints you see over at steam is they find the "game isnt free". They dont care about the custom arenas or WWI because their is nobody in there. So to them it ISNT FREE.

Get them in the MA with a few free planes and get them hooked. Even if only a third of the players that start out "free" and then get a subscription it is still adding subscriptions that at this point dont seem to be rolling in. As I said, with the infrastructure HTC already has this shouldn't "cost" them anything but the time to coad it. I cant see a down side to it.

[AAIK]

The biggest attraction Aces High had before the competition reared its ugly head was the diversity and novelty of being able to pilot so many different and some rare planes. Unfortunately Aces High lost that edge, I am not sure what a good direction is. 

[bustr]

The idea of free with a very limited set of rides has merit in today's era of gaming. I think a real barrier that will get in the way of this is finding the magic bullet to getting people setup with our kind of hardware at the basic level to even be competitive. The limited ride set has to be limited enough to not encourage lazy selfish vets to cancel their subscriptions to poke Hitech in the eye. And they would blame Hitech for being stupid and killing his own game all the way to the last closing of the doors. And is the real danger of offering something of this nature.

Free is always leveraged into an entitlement, then into a right, then into demands for parity with those who are paying the full monti to even the social inequity. Paying up front the full monti every month, then the only inequity is how much you are willing to put into being good with your rides.

[asterix]

If we had skins like that!     

Noseart not skins.  Or custom bright red, yellow etc nose patterns, P-47 style cowl stripes, tail stripes ...

[Wiley]

Noseart not skins.  Or custom bright red, yellow etc nose patterns, P-47 style cowl stripes, tail stripes ...

One "fluff" thing I'd love to see in the game is personal nose art and markings.  I understand why it's not in but I sure do wish it could be done.  Storage is cheap, so what if we'd have to get them submitted and approved like squad art?

Wiley.

[Randy1]

In a way, the monthly fee is a filter.  It helps keep out some of the free play children that plague so many games.