Attracting more players in the main arena or what ever it's called today.

[pembquist]

I pay you $15 per month, whatever you choose to invest that in is up to you, but the guys who have been loyal and continued through many years to pay their subs each month have made an investment in your company.

Others may say "thank you for your support"

You scream "utter bs, you don't own any stock"

A loyal customer is not an investor in the sense of having any control over a company. They may feel that they have invested their time and money in the game but all they have done is invested in the development of a peculiar skill and a trove of memories. People are social animals so we tend to have loyalties and the circumscribed relationships that we have in consumer society don't necessarily feel right so we often pretend that more is going on than a financial transaction Look at the poor deluded fans of a team that ups stakes or the gazillions of dollars that are thrown into branding.

It might be impolitic for Hitech to not pretend that we are all in this together but I find it at least honest. All we do is plunk down a commitment-less bit of subscription money, he does all the work and takes all the risk and hopefully reaps the reward.

[Shuffler]

I could see F2P accounts grinding away getting kills and bombing stuff to earn war cash in AHIII and then using it to purchase the use of a premium plane until they die in it, the way subscribers use perks fpr perk planes.  That will keep them playing and occasionally getting a little taste.  Of course they can have that pony whenever they want if they subscribe.  Or they maybe can earn/buy some war cash to purchase a slot in a scenario. 


Mainly, the question is if F2P turns out the be the cheapest advertising HTC could buy, and if a sufficient number convert to make it worth it.  Compared to buying national media time, the bandwidth cost of floating a percentage of F2P accounts is probably trivial.  Especially with the secondary benefits they provide by providing targets, numbers, something to shoot at other than Yak 3's.   

AHIII will not stand letting folks buy code...... it is the same thing as the C word.

[CptTrips]

AHIII will not stand letting folks buy code......

What are you talking about?

[Shuffler]

What are you talking about?

Any game that lets you buy yourself better.

[CptTrips]

Any game that lets you buy yourself better.

You mean like how players now can buy a tempest with their perk points?

You mean letting them buy war cash with real money that can be used to buy a p-51 life?
How would that give them more of an advantage that anyone else flying a p-51 in the arena? 

All it would be is a piece-meal way of paying access to subscription level aircraft instead of a running subscription.  If the player only occasionally wants to fly one. As soon as they die they lose it.  Just like a perk plane.  Subscription level planes would just  be a F2P level perk plane.

[hitech]

HTC has never been big on advertising. They have tried it a number of times, a number of ways and they have never seen a good return on it.

For some reasons statements like this really get under my skin. Mostly because they are completely false. I have spent well over a million dollars on advertising for Aces High.

HiTech

[TequilaChaser]

People orta know that TV/cable TV commercials don't come cheap....

[CptTrips]

People orta know that TV/cable TV commercials don't come cheap....

You would think. 

In fact, I'd find it hard to believe that for a narrow, niche, boutique game like this, it could ever be profitable.  It won't work to just blindly throw money at it hoping for magic.  That is a good way to advertise yourself into bankruptcy.

A small, lean company like HTC needs to utilize cheap "guerrilla marketing" strategies.   

Like leveraging F2P accounts to drive increased traffic to their game and increase exposure and mind-share for the low cost of some extra bandwidth.

[The Fugitive]

For some reasons statements like this really get under my skin. Mostly because they are completely false. I have spent well over a million dollars on advertising for Aces High.

HiTech

Maybe that first part ...."HTC has never been big on advertising." should have been "HTC has never seen a good return on advertising".

But the rest of the statement is true. After spending over a million dollars on advertising, you "have tried it a number of times, a number of ways and you have never seen a good return on it. The reason I said "your not big on it" is because the return isnt worth what you spend. I NEVER said you dont like to advertise. Im sorry if there was a misunderstanding.

[Shuffler]

You mean like how players now can buy a tempest with their perk points?

You mean letting them buy war cash with real money that can be used to buy a p-51 life?
How would that give them more of an advantage that anyone else flying a p-51 in the arena? 

All it would be is a piece-meal way of paying access to subscription level aircraft instead of a running subscription.  If the player only occasionally wants to fly one. As soon as they die they lose it.  Just like a perk plane.  Subscription level planes would just  be a F2P level perk plane.

A better plane is one thing..... being able to pull more Gs is all together different.

If correct, what I am reading is that the planes are dumbed down. If so that means they will react slower so that new pilots do not get into trouble as easy. It also means you can't react any quicker.... unless you pay. You can't turn at higher speeds... unless you pay.

hat else will be added to milk the cow..... cloaking devices, super guns?

[CptTrips]

A better plane is one thing..... being able to pull more Gs is all together different.

If correct, what I am reading is that the planes are dumbed down. If so that means they will react slower so that new pilots do not get into trouble as easy. It also means you can't react any quicker.... unless you pay. You can't turn at higher speeds... unless you pay.

hat else will be added to milk the cow..... cloaking devices, super guns?

I never said that in my suggestion.

I suggested what might be carried over to AHIII from WOP was the concept of limited planeset F2P accounts and maybe they could use earned/purchased war cash to buy 1 life of subscriber plane (p-51, p-38, etc) similar to how subscribers can purchase perk planes with earned points.  For subscriber planes, I'd allow the F2P to purchase war cash to fly them like a temp-subscription as well as earn the cash.  Why not.

I do not think F2P accounts should be able to buy true perk planes with either earned or purchased war cash.  They can only buy subscriber planes. And I do not think subscribes should ever be able to buy true perk planes with real cash.  True perk planes should be earned and only by subscribers.

I also suggested F2P could use earned/purchased war cash to buy a slot in a scenario.

I never said anything about laser blasters.
 

[TequilaChaser]

I never said that in my suggestion.

I suggested what might be carried over to AHIII from WOP was the concept of limited planeset F2P accounts and maybe they could use earned/purchased war cash to buy 1 life of subscriber plane (p-51, p-38, etc) similar to how subscribers can purchase perk planes with earned points.  For subscriber planes, I'd allow the F2P to purchase war cash to fly them like a temp-subscription as well as earn the cash.  Why not.

I do not think F2P accounts should be able to buy true perk planes with either earned or purchased war cash.  They can only buy subscriber planes. And I do not think subscribes should ever be able to buy true perk planes with real cash.  True perk planes should be earned and only by subscribers.

I also suggested F2P could use earned/purchased war cash to buy a slot in a scenario.

I never said anything about laser blasters.
 

possibly a good idea or 3 in there..... sounds interesting anyway


TC

[HomeBoy]

The air battles I had in my back yard after building them were epic!  Corsairs, Hellcats, 109's & Zeros, those poor planes were beat to bits but I used every bit of the imagination they had in them.  Thanks for reminding me why I came here!

Exactly my experience too.   I ran a string from a tree and sent a Mitchell down the string after setting it on fire with some gasoline.  My mom came and caught me.  Not too interested in the drama I was trying to create!

The thrill is still alive and well!

 

[FESS67]

I used to heat the bottom of the tyres up and mould them so they looked lik they had weight on them and not just pure round tyres.

When I could afford it I bought a radio controlled plane and lived my dream.....for a couple of weeks and the president asked me to leave because 'the low level showboating is not what we do'.  LoL I did go through a few wings 

[ccvi]

I suggested what might be carried over to AHIII from WOP was the concept of limited planeset F2P accounts and maybe they could use earned/purchased war cash to buy 1 life of subscriber plane (p-51, p-38, etc) similar to how subscribers can purchase perk planes with earned points.

Usually F2P/P2W games provide two pathes. Either spending massive amount of time to farm, or spending massive amounts of money. The average payment matters. This doesn't work well in combination with a subscription flat rate, because the few willing to pay insanely large amounts of money would simply get the cheap(er) subscription instead.