Author Topic: Aces High $19.95 Special Offer  (Read 3365 times)

Offline Ketil

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Aces High $19.95 Special Offer
« Reply #75 on: October 25, 2000, 02:37:00 AM »
First, I am not part of the select few lol.
But, even though I will most likely stick around after next week, I would find it easier to do if the price was 19.95 instead of 29.95. Especially hearing that a few folks will be signing up for less BEFORE I make that decision   Times are tight and cash is low right now. More importantly, I know several folks who would fly here, but are scared off by the price tag. I cant even get em to try it right now. They all used to fly AW and would love this game, but they have wives and children and such and cant budget that extra $$, or don't feel they can. Not all of us have tons of disposable income. I do believe that lowering the price would bring more folks in, and that aint necessarily a bad thing. I will as I said, most likely stay on, even though it will stretch my finances to the extreme right now, because this thing rocks but where they will be getting one new customer they could have had 5. I don't think I am the only one that knows folks who would come here but for the price. $10 may not seem like that much difference but it is when you are explaining it to the wife    
Ketil out

Offline RAM

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« Reply #76 on: October 25, 2000, 04:02:00 AM »
My .02$ here.

Maybe the only thing where Renfield and me agree, but for sure I dont think that this is fair. I understand that HTC wants to do a survey to see if they can get more people with 19.95$, and if it is worth the price disminution.

But I have problems to pay my monthly 29.95$ (I still havent payed this month so far, as I still lack 0.5$ to get the needed money...yes, yes .5$)...and to see newbie people with 19.95$/month forever because this ,is more than annoying, is sad for me.

 I have troubles to pay this ammount of cash each month, but never whined about the price. It is (was) the same for all,it was fair.  

Now there will be people paying 33% less than me forever if the experiment doesnt go well. And I can't stand that idea.

Euro depreciation against Dollar has made the price of AH for me inflate by some 30-40% since I first came here (my first payement to HTC was 4500ptas. now it is roughly 6000).
And now I aknowledge that there is an offer like this. I am paying 6000pesetas/month for this! and there is people flying for 4000? And not only that, but they will pay THAT as long as they keep their account open!?

Sorry,I can understand a survey like "would you join if we lower the price?", or even "if you do this survey you will pay 6 months at reduced price" but no a "I will lower your price forever if you do it now".

Is my humble opinion that, unaware, you have done a bad thing towards AH's community. I know nothing of business. yeah, right, nothing. But I know how do I feel now, and what will I feel when I put the money in the bank to pay an ammount of money that there are people not paying. And that I will have to pay forever if the experiment doesnt go well, while they will keep on paying reduced price.

I don't feel insulted, but I feel depreciated. And I'm not the worse case. I think in people who is paying the 30% of his monthly income (as some people has stated several times) to fly AH. How will they feel?!.

Well...I'd better go and collect .5$ to put in the bank and pay my 29.95...I am one week late for this month's paying    

 

 

[This message has been edited by RAM (edited 10-25-2000).]

Offline -aper-

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« Reply #77 on: October 25, 2000, 04:20:00 AM »
How about different price plans depends on planes?

Perk plan: $39.99 (Do-335, P-51H, Ta-152 etc)
Late war plan: $29.99 (P-51D,F4U-1C, etc)
Middle war plan: $19.99 (La-5, Bf109G6, FW-190A5, C205, SpitIX etc)
Early war plan: $9.99 (Bf109F, SpitV, C.202, LaGG-3 etc)
Pre-war plan: $4.99 (I-16, Buffalo, A5M, etc)

All plans can play in one Main arena  

 

Offline JoeMud

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« Reply #78 on: October 25, 2000, 04:25:00 AM »
so I could pay 19$ and still do pretty good...kool   dont think thats gonna happen

Offline Animal

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« Reply #79 on: October 25, 2000, 04:44:00 AM »
I have been paying $30 for a few months, I dont mind to keep paying it.

HTC is a *VERY SMALL* company. IF it was Microsoft doing this, I'd be PISSED.
HTC CANT lower the price to $20 for EVERYBODY RIGHT NOW. FACE IT. HTC IS NOT "THE MAN".

I believe they know what they are doing, and as soon as we have MORE customers around, they can then lower the price for everybody.

Put it this way: you are paying $10 extra for experience in this game. At least $10 discount can soften the blow for a newby of getting his arse kicked time and time again byt he more experienced players.

Face it, they are not having as much a good time as us. If you want to keep HTC alive, you have to let them find a way to bring more income. More income = better pices, more emplyes, MORE WORK DONE, FASTER PATCHES, ETC.

OR, they can just leave things like they are, and not experiment with new stuff.

to put it this way:

you are paying $30 now. Someone is paying $20. You feel betrayed (something STUPID cause this is a business). After a few months, YOU TOO WILL ALSO BE PAYING $20.

OR, you can WHINE about it, HTC will not try the pricing thing, and you will stay paying $30 forever.


Whatever, sometimes I cant explain myself.

Offline RAM

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« Reply #80 on: October 25, 2000, 04:53:00 AM »
 
Quote
Originally posted by Animal:

you are paying $30 now. Someone is paying $20. You feel betrayed (something STUPID cause this is a business). After a few months, YOU TOO WILL ALSO BE PAYING $20.

OR, you can WHINE about it, HTC will not try the pricing thing, and you will stay paying $30 forever.


I will also paying 20$ if the experiment goes well. It can go bad. Whatever it happens some people have 20$/month guaranteed. I haven't.

I'm not a bussinesman, but I do know how I feel again. You might have no problems in accepting this whatever the result is (congrats, you have money for it). But I have problems in accepting this because I know that if something goes wrong I will be paying more than other people.

I will keep on AH as long as I can afford it, no matter the price is. My vision of HTC as a company hasnt changed, they are the best company and by far. I dont feel personally offended, and I am sure they never wanted this in this thing.

 I simply think that they did this thing wrong, there are ways to see if the new pricing can go right without doing this.
 I don't feel betrayed, I feel "different". It is unfair, so far I had no problems with the price because everyone payed the same...now that feeling's gone  

 As I said, put a 6 month lower rate money for the experiment, but not a life-time one, you see the results in both ways, but in the second you are makind a big difference between current customers and "experiment" customers.  

Animal, si tienes pasta pa gastarte en AH, enhorabuena. para ti siguen siendo 30 pavos al mes. Para mi el precio va camino de doblarse, y mis padres no me dan ni la hora en cosas de pasta.

 Me tengo que buscar la vida yo, comer yo en la uni todos los dias con MI dinero, pagar la gasolina del coche con MI dinero (a .8$ el litro, y con la universidad a 15km de mi casa)...

 Lo unico que me pagan es la matricula, y gracias (bueno, fueron generosos y me ayudaron tambien con la mejora del ordenador). Lo demas me lo curro yo, yo solito.

No se como estaras tu, pero a mi el dinero no me sobra mas bien al reves. Ya ves, no puedo pagar pq me falta .5 $, tengo 5800 pesetas para meter en el banco, y AH me cuesta casi 5900. Pero no puedo pagar porque me faltan esas 100 pesetas. Triste, verdad?. Pues todos los meses estoy igual.

 Tu pagas en dolares, un fijo. Yo cada mes pago un poco mas (puta inflacion!). Nunca me he quejado hasta ahora. Y creo q me quejo con razon.

Si no lo entiendes...pues ya lo siento. Pero me siento despreciado e indignado por esto.

[This message has been edited by RAM (edited 10-25-2000).]

Offline maik

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« Reply #81 on: October 25, 2000, 05:10:00 AM »
This gives a VERY bad taste to me  .

Consider leavin', but will take another month of thinkin.

Maik

Offline CyranoAH

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« Reply #82 on: October 25, 2000, 05:11:00 AM »
My €0.02 here:

Since this offer, I have seen no less than 3 friends of mine come back to AH, and they are having a lot of fun now. I'm sure they are here to stay.
US Dollar is very high in the Euro zone and this pricing is definitely making a difference for some people.

I have also received -and turned down- the famous offer for my previous account, Scaramouche.

So, is this bad? It's not for all newbies, just for a selected minority, so I say "well done"!

I'm sure this is just a transition to whatever's to come, so I'll just be happy for now with all the new people coming in.

Fear the new resurgence of the 101 Escuadron de Combate Virtual ;-)

Daniel, aka CyranoAH

Offline -ammo-

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« Reply #83 on: October 25, 2000, 05:32:00 AM »
 
Quote
Originally posted by RAM:
I think in people who is paying the 30% of his monthly income (as some people has stated several times) to fly AH. How will they feel?!.

).]


WOW! seems priorities arent straight, if money is that tight then I wouldnt be playing AH!
Commanding Officer, 56 Fighter Group
Retired USAF - 1988 - 2011

Offline Sparks

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« Reply #84 on: October 25, 2000, 05:35:00 AM »
I hate to go against the majority here but I'm kinda with Mav.

Firstly - I PERSONALLY am not unhappy about $30 a month (even though I can't afford it at the mo   ) I think it's a fair price for the product.

Secondly- Market testing of price points is absolutely necessary.

OK so here's the point -
The issue here is NOT, repeat NOT about price point it IS about the setting up of a PERMANENT 2 teir price structure covering the same customer group.[/i]
Multiple and preferencial pricing structures are commonplace in every enterprise - trade versus retail price, loyalty discounts, media freebies against advertising, free product for agents and suppliers. In my business it is commonplace for me to get 30% discount at auto stores for materials because I'm trade - that is normal.

However it is also normal for companies to carry out marketing incentives to attract new custom and investigate pricing. These incentives are temporary however. It works this way - you offer the product at a lower price and for a term that gives the customer time to build an opinion of that product, then you increase the price to normal levels and see if they continue to buy - this determines the "how much is this worth to me" level which everyone is spouting off about. You analyise the number of people who stop buying from the incentive group and then determine your price point. So after the incentive period you either lower the price across the board to the incentive level and get back the lost custom because a lot of people left, or maintain the current levels because they stayed and change your marketing approach - this is not rocket science.

Now with the approach HTC have taken we may well end up here with all of us on 19.95 accounts which of course would be nice - or we could end up with a 2 level system for exactly the same customer group - that is bad because you damage your customer loyalty.

Those who say "The price is what I'm happy to pay" then why not have HTC open accounts on a haggle basis - I can just see it now all done on e-mail

Sparks " how much for an unlimited account Pyro"

HTC " $100 a month"

Sparks "$100 !!!! - I'll give you $5 "

HTC "$5 !!! you wnat me to eat catfood?? I can't buy a network cable for 5 - $75 is a low As I go"

Sparks "$75 !!?? I can own a cessna for that - OK $10 "

And so on - you get my drift.

Hey - judging by the messages here maybe HTC should do that - they could make a killing from some folk  

Anyway - for me a pricing structure is that - the same price for the same customer. No I don't mind discount incentives - thats normal - but they should be temporary

Sparks


Offline Maniac

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« Reply #85 on: October 25, 2000, 05:42:00 AM »
It also can be an way of getting some fast and badly needed money on HTC´s part.

Once the ones who got this offer have signed up perhaps we will see this : "Sorry guys, the experement with different pricing plans did not work out we will keep the 29.99 pricing"

I still wouldnt get worked up about this if this was the case, HTC deserves some quick cash flow.



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Offline Mark Luper

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« Reply #86 on: October 25, 2000, 05:45:00 AM »
I visited HTC back when I was an Alpha tester and the first question I asked HT was how he could make money at the low $29.95 monthly rate. I thought it was fair then and still think it's a fair price.

If this poll, experiment or whatever else you want to call it results in the reduction of the price to $19.95 then it will start costing me another $10 month.

You see, I made the mistake of taking my grandson to one day of the con and he won a joystick at the banquet, and he.... well you know how it works, he is 11 and lives with me. I set him up an account so he could play the 2 week free trial time under his own call sign and then it was understood that he would only be able to play in H2H after that.

If this price reduction comes about for all of us then I will be able to afford two accounts. One for him and one for me. It will be worth paying the higher amount for the undetermined time untill that happens.

$10 can make a difference. I think it will increase the player base considerably. I only hope it works out in  a way that we all are happy with the results. I know I am not going to sit here and second guess what is going on "behind the scenes" as it were.

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Offline aztec

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« Reply #87 on: October 25, 2000, 05:52:00 AM »
Do the people with the cheaper accounts get to whine about Chogs and Nikis and Spits OH MY?  

Offline leonid

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« Reply #88 on: October 25, 2000, 06:06:00 AM »
Hey, if this means that I might be paying less in the future, then I'm all for it.  Besides, Hitech & Pyro are no dumbies.  They must've known that this move would eventually come back through the front door.  And, still they pursued it.  That shows me yet again that these guys are in it for the long haul.
ingame: Raz

VISCONTI

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« Reply #89 on: October 25, 2000, 06:38:00 AM »
Where is my 19.95$/month e-mail????
I was a customer till about 1.04 at 30$/month.

Anyway, that show us that $$$ closes eyes, no respect for those that sponsored AH from the beginning.

What kind of answer hare u looking for whit that 19.95$ offert??? It's sure 100% that people start to play this game. The problem is always the same, AH is a great game but whit limited, LIMITED, # of significant aircraft (spit I, P40, Hurri, B25, Bf110, Ju87 ecc...).


results:
-strange commercial monouver
-interes in only late war planes
-very limited interes on bombers and dive bombers
-ammo bugs (F4U-C - c202) still present

I have always say that, now my fear are true.

HTC it's time to listen and to be onest whit customers.

PS: I hope to see a better game before the end of this year. (AH or not AH   )

Anhoter undiplomatic post from Visconti sry.