In-game transactions in lieu of $15/m

[Avman]

I'm a new player from Steam. Figured I'd throw in my $0.02
I consider myself a bit of an anomaly. I joined from Steam and ended up staying, paying the subscription fee and joining a Squad so I can play on a regular basis/schedule. But I'm older 40's and I already had a decent hardware setup and have been playing flight sims since the mid 1980s.

Kids these days have a terrible sense of entitlement. I say we play into that notion...

As others have pointed out, I feel there are two problems that need to be tackled. Low number of players in the MA at any given time, and the subscription fee.
I think the solution is to allow free players into the MA, and make the subscription feel more valuable. 

Allowing them into the MA will feed their entitlement needs. And they will not feel that the game is falsely advertising "free to play"

Now to set the subscription players apart from the free ones, simply limit what the free players can do.

Limit their plane,bomber,attack,vehicle set. Allow zero perk point accumulation. Limit their radio text channel access. No voice chat abilities. No ability to join a squad. No access to any special events.

Most of this should already minimize current subscribing players from taking advantage of using the free model. But you could take is further by making the limited plane set change. Make it random, or change daily, weekly, or on map rotation. Or even make it so it's a random plane set each time they crash or re-up.
Limit their options of plane customization. One set of guns, only 50-25% fuel, No or very limited Ords.  Maybe even add a wait timer to re-up. Like a minute wait after crashing or being shot down. Anything other than a successful landing. You might even be able to go as far as limiting what airfield they can use, and disable country swapping.

The great thing about this game is the sheer number of planes and options... take it away from the free players, but just let them into the MA. The two week trial is just not enough for the entitlement generation.

And heaven forbid, if the player count in the MA gets too high with all the free players, make the free players wait in a queue, and give the subscribers priority access to the arenas.

Let them keep the ability to create and join private, custom arenas with full access. This will let them play with what they are missing from their free version of the MA.

I feel allowing the free players into the MA will boost the numbers enough to make more of them consider subscribing. The biggest complaint in the Steam reviews is the lack of number in the game to warrant paying... Then once they get a better taste for the game they will have a much better incentive to subscribe for all the planes, perks, radio, voice chat, squads, and special events. At worst it will add more targets to the MA and make it easier to find a fight. Finding a fight was another common complain from the Steam players.  Even if they don't subscribe we all like more targets to shoot at right? And nothing changes for the current subscribers. We don't like change anyway.

Anyway that's my $0.02.

[100Coogn]

I'm a new player from Steam. Figured I'd throw in my $0.02
I consider myself a bit of an anomaly. I joined from Steam and ended up staying, paying the subscription fee and joining a Squad so I can play on a regular basis/schedule. But I'm older 40's and I already had a decent hardware setup and have been playing flight sims since the mid 1980s.

Kids these days have a terrible sense of entitlement. I say we play into that notion...

As others have pointed out, I feel there are two problems that need to be tackled. Low number of players in the MA at any given time, and the subscription fee.
I think the solution is to allow free players into the MA, and make the subscription feel more valuable. 

Allowing them into the MA will feed their entitlement needs. And they will not feel that the game is falsely advertising "free to play"

Now to set the subscription players apart from the free ones, simply limit what the free players can do.

Limit their plane,bomber,attack,vehicle set. Allow zero perk point accumulation. Limit their radio text channel access. No voice chat abilities. No ability to join a squad. No access to any special events.

Most of this should already minimize current subscribing players from taking advantage of using the free model. But you could take is further by making the limited plane set change. Make it random, or change daily, weekly, or on map rotation. Limit their options of plane customization. One set of guns, only 50-25% fuel, No or very limited Ords.  Maybe even add a wait timer to re-up. Like a minute wait after crashing or being shot down. Anything other than a successful landing. You might even be able to go as far as limiting what airfield they can use, and disable country swapping.

The great thing about this game is the sheer number of planes and options... take it away from the free players, but just let them into the MA. The two week trial is just not enough for the entitlement generation.

And heaven forbid, if the player count in the MA gets too high with all the free players, make the free players wait in a queue, and give the subscribers priority access to the arenas.

Let them keep the ability to create and join private, custom arenas with full access. This will let them play with what they are missing from their free version of the MA.

I feel allowing the free players into the MA will boost the numbers enough to make more of them consider subscribing. The biggest complaint in the Steam reviews is the lack of number in the game to warrant paying... Then once they get a better taste for the game they will have a much better incentive to subscribe for all the planes, perks, radio, voice chat, squads, and special events. At worst it will add more targets to the MA and make it easier to find a fight. Finding a fight was another common complain from the Steam players.  Even if they don't subscribe we all like more targets to shoot at right? And nothing changes for the current subscribers. We don't like change anyway.

Anyway that's my $0.02.

+1

What a well thought out reply.  I like these ideas.   

Coogan

[Lazerr]

I would think some form of free play involving the MA would be the best way to attempt growing the player base.  Hang something in front of them while they get there feet wet.

Right now at two weeks.. they dont even know what they are missing before the trial ends.  Some folks are lucky to log into any game once a week.

Im going to mess with default mouse settings this weekend to see if i can suggest any ways of making it easier.

It sounds like most of the new guys downloading the game dont even have gear.  I think making life as easy as possible for them should be a priority.

The last mouse control change was a huge step in the right direction.

[19zac]

I would think some form of free play involving the MA would be the best way to attempt growing the player base.  Hang something in front of them while they get there feet wet.

Right now at two weeks.. they dont even know what they are missing before the trial ends.  Some folks are lucky to log into any game once a week.

I agree. 2 weeks doesn't seem like a long enough trial period because those new players have yet to even figure out how addicting this game can be at that point. I think it needs to be a month, because at that time they would atleast know what they are doing a little bit (hopefully), and they would be more likely to stay.

I still think the 15 a month turns newbies off, almost immediately. Games aren't implementing subscriptions any longer. I just don't know how to change that without wrecking the game.

[wil3ur]

World of Warcraft still has a comparable monthly subscription fee.  They've made up to Level 20 Free to Play, but that's really enough to get outside of a newbie zone and into the main game...  Maybe run 1 raid.  The majority of the game is not accessible as free to Play, and they still do quite well with subscriptions.

 

[Lusche]

World of Warcraft still has a comparable monthly subscription fee.  They've made up to Level 20 Free to Play, but that's really enough to get outside of a newbie zone and into the main game... 

EvE online also gave in and introduced a 'free to play' mode last year.

But both games are far better suited for that, being based on accumulation of skills, equipment, wealth. AH has no such thing. I'm not sure if such a free-to-play mode could be introduced in a meaningful way without heavy changes to the gameplay. On the other hand, I do believe one major problem is not having enough targets, err, players in the MA in the first place and maybe such a mode could breathe some life into it.

 

[Wiley]

With the "give some stuff in the MA for free" idea, I'd suggest early and some of the midwar stuff.  Up to say, the KI61 and 109G6, P47D11, 190A5, Spit5, C202 ish levels of performance.  Same with GVs.  No monsters, but maybe the Panzers and similar tanks, the SDK for troops, the M16 for air.  Figure out a cutoff and go with it.  No perk vehicles, no ability to generate perks.

Some of those vehicles are perfectly usable in the right hands, but there is better stuff available.  It would give people enough stuff to be useful and be a threat, but I think there'd be enough motivation to get the good stuff to pay.

Wiley.

[19zac]

World of Warcraft still has a comparable monthly subscription fee.  They've made up to Level 20 Free to Play, but that's really enough to get outside of a newbie zone and into the main game...  Maybe run 1 raid.  The majority of the game is not accessible as free to Play, and they still do quite well with subscriptions.

 

There are definitely still games that have Subs, but they're going downhill. WoW is way out of its prime as a game. It is still able to have subscribers because it was the most populated game in the world, and it was simply a breathtaking game for its time. They have some real loyalists over there. I put a bunch of money into that sub (just like aces high) because it was fantastic. But WoW is on its way out. Same with that Star Wars game several years back. They had to get rid of their subscriptions because it wasnt working anymore. But that could also be because that game was bad and it was just trying to one-up WoW, which was impossible.

[Lazerr]

With the "give some stuff in the MA for free" idea, I'd suggest early and some of the midwar stuff.  Up to say, the KI61 and 109G6, P47D11, 190A5, Spit5, C202 ish levels of performance.  Same with GVs.  No monsters, but maybe the Panzers and similar tanks, the SDK for troops, the M16 for air.  Figure out a cutoff and go with it.  No perk vehicles, no ability to generate perks.

Some of those vehicles are perfectly usable in the right hands, but there is better stuff available.  It would give people enough stuff to be useful and be a threat, but I think there'd be enough motivation to get the good stuff to pay.

Wiley.

That looks like a cool lineup.. you could maybe even shrink the sample size and make it a monthly rotation.. same plabe types in mind.

[Lusche]

With the "give some stuff in the MA for free" idea, I'd suggest early and some of the midwar stuff.  Up to say, the KI61 and 109G6, P47D11, 190A5, Spit5, C202 ish levels of performance.  Same with GVs.  No monsters, but maybe the Panzers and similar tanks, the SDK for troops, the M16 for air.  Figure out a cutoff and go with it.  No perk vehicles, no ability to generate perks.

Some of those vehicles are perfectly usable in the right hands, but there is better stuff available.  It would give people enough stuff to be useful and be a threat, but I think there'd be enough motivation to get the good stuff to pay.

Wiley.

The problem I see is balancing. Once you include equipment that a vet can use with success, there is little incentive to pay 15$ for better equipment. You would have to set the equipment  bar very low to make some like me to pay that much money.
Other games have simply a much different equipment/character skill progression.

[hitech]

Increasing the amount of free time would not increase the number of subscribers, if a player is not hooked enough after 2 weeks to pay $15, then another 2 weeks will not get him to fork over the $15.

So that leaves the question what to do with the people who would still play, but are to cheep or cant afford the $15.

1. Opening up some free stuff to them in the main could possibly be a benefit simply to create fodder for subscribers.

2. Keeping them around long enough until they can afford AH could be a benefit.

3. Providing a non paying method to continue to play could also loose some potential new subscribers.

4. Keep them around but figure out a way to extract a lesser amount from them with out damaging the current inflow of new subscribers.

But remember 75% of potential customers are gone after 30 minutes. Nothing posted above would have much effect on those people.

HiTech

[Wiley]

The problem I see is balancing. Once you include equipment that a vet can use with success, there is little incentive to pay 15$ for better equipment. You would have to set the equipment  bar very low to make some like me to pay that much money.
Other games have simply a much different equipment/character skill progression.

I realize that's a factor.  There'd need to be some consideration of popularity.  The P38J would be a bad choice for inclusion, but the G would likely be ok.  Maybe the GVs would need to be limited more, maybe no troop carriers or M16.  I wonder what the average player's usage actually looks like.  Not the people you recognize as "38 guys" or "Loosewobble guys" or "jug guys".  The average rank and file guys, do most of them stick to a couple planes, or do the majority bounce around?  I know until I decided to join a LW squad I had a couple main rides but bounced around to all kinds of stuff over the course of a month.  It would really bug me not to have access to them.

Wiley.

[Wiley]

But remember 75% of potential customers are gone after 30 minutes. Nothing posted above would have much effect on those people.

HiTech

Really hate to say it, but based on the above that guy that was on about the "polished new user experience" feelgood claptrap a few weeks ago might have a point.

Wiley.

[Lusche]

if a player is not hooked enough after 2 weeks to pay $15, then another 2 weeks will not get him to fork over the $15.

I absolutely agree with that.

1. Opening up some free stuff to them in the main could possibly be a benefit simply to create fodder for subscribers.

Yes, absolutely

But also a 'living' arena is much more captivating. I mean, when I log in at euro prime, very often the country channel is near dead. No banter, no social chatter, very few alerts, no coordination attempts, no people looking for help or a squad, very little happening there at all. A few vets doing their own thing, in silence.
An hour ago I logged in and there were 9(!) players on my side. Of course, the country channel was about silent. Hard to get people hooked in such an environment.

But remember 75% of potential customers are gone after 30 minutes. Nothing posted above would have much effect on those people.

This is an important point.. but maybe it's easier to go for the remaining 25% potential customers who already show some more 'good will' by sticking around and testing the game for more than just a few minutes? (Doesn't mean the hurdles at the entry for the 75% should not be made as low as possible)

[Krusty]

From a different discussion thread: I'd say give them good (but not overpowering) and only give them ONE multirole plane for a fighter, one for an attacker, one bomber with ground attack options, and one tank (plus access to anything that carries troops).

P-51B (good fighter, decent, maneuverable, fast, carries bombs)
110G (bomber hunter, strafer, ground attacker with rockets/bombs)
B-25C (ground attack nose options, 3x 1k bombs good for bombing anything but not OP)
Panzer IV H (the stock tank for so many years)

Nothing more. No access to special arenas. No access to scenarios, FSOs, etc. No perk point accumulation and no squadron joining unless they subscribe.

And if HTC is doing well in the books department, dropping the full subscription to $10/month would actually pull in a lot of folks I think, based on comments in some discussion boards elsewhere and how people look at $10 vs $15.