Free to play 35-40 ENY planes good or bad idea?

[popeye]

Would it be a better idea to have some a limited number across the ENY scale but limit them in some other way such as fuel load-out or ordnance?

Sounds like.....  Free Yak-3's!!     

[hazmatt]

That's not at all what I had in mind. LOL

[dieter]

How about an out of the box thought?  this may be code prohibitive, but an interesting thought none the less to me.  It would be interesting if the new free to play players couldn't be killed in the normal sense.  Their icons would be a different color, and they wouldn't die when you killed them, they would grey out for thirty seconds.  They wouldn't count as a kill, and they couldn't kill a paying player either, but it would tell them they would have got a kill.  No name in the buffer, etc., for either the paying player whacking them, or the non-paying player scoring a theoretical kill on a paying player.  That way they could up and not die and learn to fly without being killed ad nauseum, and never getting any stick time, and they wouldn't really kill a player that was a paying player.  Let them hear the chat, but not participate.  It would give them all the feel, without having the ability to participate.  I would think this may make a few want to sub.
      I think that may set the hook on a few of them.  It wouldn't prohibit them from talking on a squad's teamspeak channel, but they couldn't talk in the game chat system, so if you wanted to bring a friend on board, they could see the game and get the feel without being continually seal clubbed.  I would think the players that would want to seal club would tire of not being able to gain anything from attacking someone they couldn't really kill. 
      What do you think?

ULDieter

[HL117]

New players get a smaller hit bubble on their planes for a month    -     

 I know bad idea right/

[dieter]

hehehe, we're back to the yak-3's again?  Sorry, had to say it, I love yak-3's.

ULDieter

[hazmatt]

How about an out of the box thought?  this may be code prohibitive, but an interesting thought none the less to me.  It would be interesting if the new free to play players couldn't be killed in the normal sense.  Their icons would be a different color, and they wouldn't die when you killed them, they would grey out for thirty seconds.  They wouldn't count as a kill, and they couldn't kill a paying player either, but it would tell them they would have got a kill.  No name in the buffer, etc., for either the paying player whacking them, or the non-paying player scoring a theoretical kill on a paying player.  That way they could up and not die and learn to fly without being killed ad nauseum, and never getting any stick time, and they wouldn't really kill a player that was a paying player.  Let them hear the chat, but not participate.  It would give them all the feel, without having the ability to participate.  I would think this may make a few want to sub.
      I think that may set the hook on a few of them.  It wouldn't prohibit them from talking on a squad's teamspeak channel, but they couldn't talk in the game chat system, so if you wanted to bring a friend on board, they could see the game and get the feel without being continually seal clubbed.  I would think the players that would want to seal club would tire of not being able to gain anything from attacking someone they couldn't really kill. 
      What do you think?

ULDieter

That is interesting! Sounds like it might be a bit complicated to implement.

[The Fugitive]

Re: Free to play 35-40 ENY planes good or bad idea?

Just the topic header creates a negative experience alone.  How would a new player even compete against the low ENY planes?  How would a player with no experience in a high ENY plane compete against a 20 year experienced player in a low ENY plane?

We have experienced players groan and complain in FSO flying high ENY planes.

My vote is bad idea.  Any suggestion is better than no suggestion.

Doesnt "World of Planes" or one of those games start you out with a Swordfish bi-plane or something? You have to either grind your way up to better planes or buy the points to get better planes. Starting with 35-40 ENY planes is a step up from that, I know its not a YAK3 or anything    but any plane in Aces High can be competitive if flown right.

[RAG]

As it seems to me (whilst being 100% sympathetic with HT as he sees the whole picture and yes profit is his ultimate goal, just like me in my business).

1)  I don't have a sub, I love the game, I practice a bit in offline missions and match play with the bots, but I fondly dream of the arena and my 2 weeks in there.  I got killed loads, but I love WWII and combat aircraft so I stuck it out.  Free or not, someone who hasn't got that interest in flying etc isn't likely to stick it out so it makes not much difference - in fact if they are paying yet getting killed they are likely to get more pissed off....whereas the chance and time to get better for free, they will slowly improve and then start wanting to pay a sub to access better aircraft, more ords, more fuel? etc..

2)  I am not going to by a sub, (at least not in the next couple of years) as I cant justify it - yet if it was free, I would occasionally pop my head in and provide some bait and likely get some kills too.  I fly with a mouse and have surprised myself in being quite competitive with others in Match play.

3) 2 weeks isn't enough, because circumstances outside of your control may make it only possible to play a couple of times within that two weeks.

4) I have seen many players brassed off in this forum and leave - if they were to be told that they could have limited free access, I bet a number would poke there heads in and get the addictive bug again and re-sub because they want to fly their beloved better performance plane.

5)  Addiction - yes that's right, gaming is addiction, people need to get hooked.  In selling there is a method called the 'puppy dog' method which is like trying to sell a puppy to a family. - the best way is to actually let them hold and cuddle the puppy and then the chances are they will buy.

so what am I saying, give limited free access or not, I don't care.  However if there was, I would join in.  You say a limited access crap plane is going to frustrate newbs - well yeah it might but heck but whether they pay or not, it's only going to be the determined ones who have a passion for WWII who will stick it out anyway and become good and stay.

(quick thought HT, have you tried google ads?  work well for me although they do cost a bit, but google themselves will help you set it up and monitor it for you for free.  i regularly have telephone mtgs with my google account manager for free where they optimise my search engine performance.... you can turn it off and on at any time and set a limited for how much it cots you...

Have a good day all

[Shuffler]

I never see ads on google.

[Vinkman]

I still think the issue with player numbers is the steep learning curve, not the price.

[Shuffler]

I still think the issue with player numbers is the steep learning curve, not the price.

Agreed.

Training arena may need a section with AI and a setup that registers hits. I know you can hear them but maybe a scoring system for hits to help know how well they are hitting in practice. As it is, there is never anyone in there to work with new folks. At least AI with scoring hits would help some with practice. Nothing is actually shot down, just hits scored/counted.

[Oldman731]

You say a limited access crap plane is going to frustrate newbs - well yeah it might but heck but whether they pay or not, it's only going to be the determined ones who have a passion for WWII who will stick it out anyway and become good and stay.

Good observation!

Seems to me that enabling one free bomber and one free fighter for each side (Axis and Allied) might be worth a try.  They wouldn't have to be dogs; 109G6, Ki61, P-47D11, F4F, Hurricane II, Yak9T, for example, are planes that would give noobs a fighting chance.

The downside of enabling all high ENY planes is that people like me would no longer have much incentive to pay...

- oldman

[Wiley]

I think the way to do it would be enable something that's decently competitive, but only a couple of planes.  Let the lack of variety be the motivator to sub.  First thing that popped into my head was the Spit9.

Wiley.

[RAG]

I never see ads on google.

no they dont look like 'ads' as such, it just means your website comes at the top of the page when you search for something.  Try searching 'WWII  Flight Simulator'. At the top of search results is probably war thunder and next to it probably says Ad.  that means they paid to get there first.

[Shuffler]

no they dont look like 'ads' as such, it just means your website comes at the top of the page when you search for something.  Try searching 'WWII  Flight Simulator'. At the top of search results is probably war thunder and next to it probably says Ad.  that means they paid to get there first.

Gotcha... I usually find those do not match my search very well so I skip past to the meat.