Steam Marketing

[TequilaChaser]

Aces High falls under the same category as World of Warcraft or EVE where you get a starter account and free trial, but after a certain amount of time it runs out and you have to pay for "full access" but still retain limited access to the game

Where in Aces High,  does one  pay for  full access  but  still retain  limited access to the  game?

I find  the  above quoted post  to be absolutely false.... The  way it is written anyway, but a paid account / subscription unlocks everything for  each  and every person, with the only factor being is every new player has to start from scratch like everyone else  has been through when  they first started

TC

[CptTrips]

I think he meant if you didn't choose to pay for full access, you still retain limited access to the game. 

[The Fugitive]

you mean like world of tanks, world of warplanes, world of ships, they all advertise as free games.  to play at the high levels you need to buy gold, or moving up is painfully slow.  and even if you buy a lot of gold by the time you get to the top tier, you find there's another line that now you have to grind or pay to play if you want to have a chance.

semp

Even if moving up is painfully slow you are STILL PLAYING FOR FREE.

Most of the bad comments I read/heard where about how HTC was lying about the game being free. Yes I understand the way Hitech looks at it, but the way it is put out there can easily lead people to believe the WHOLE game is free.

I dont think HTC took the steam thing seriously and were totally surprised by the attention the game got. Now it may be too late due to the "bad press" about misleading players and such. Maybe a relaunch on steam with a limited set of planes/vehicles to be free in the MA. Maybe add the "grind" by allowing players to add a plane when they get 500 perks built up.

But I agree with Pommy, the page is very misleading and certainly not good for building a player base.

[lunaticfringe]

are you just now seeing it

[haggerty]

You can argue semantics all day, but when it comes down to it, steam trial users hate the bait and switch and review the game accordingly.  Many people will ignore the game entirely based on the extremely poor rating the game has.  You can be very successful in World of Tanks just taking advantage of free easy tournaments or other giveaways.  I havent paid for premium time or tanks in years.

[guncrasher]

You can argue semantics all day, but when it comes down to it, steam trial users hate the bait and switch and review the game accordingly.  Many people will ignore the game entirely based on the extremely poor rating the game has.  You can be very successful in World of Tanks just taking advantage of free easy tournaments or other giveaways.  I havent paid for premium time or tanks in years.

Sadly a lot of the bad reviews come from long time players who have an ax to grind when they were asked to leave.

Semp

[TequilaChaser]

I think he meant if you didn't choose to pay for full access, you still retain limited access to the game. 

Rgr.... If that's the idea with regards to including EVE Online, their "limited access to the game " is actually a somewhat "Newish feature" that was added not to long ago...before it was  added it was basically a monthly subscription game...

I havent messed with EVE Online lately,  but my youngest daughter confirmed that the  feature had been recently added

TC

[DmonSlyr]

Hitech could hire an 18-22 year old with a passion in webpage design as an intern from his local University on a dime for very cheap and could really enhance the content. We need a calendar of events on the front page, with pics of last year's events. It looks like no has touched it in years! More videos on the front page. I go on the steam one time and see the stupidest reviews by people who don't have a single clue about the game. No one replys to them. No mention of special events... No calendar of anything. Its not even the whole free to play thing that irritates me. 2 weeks is great but should be a month. But IL2 didn't offer that and I didn't buy it. Though I did not buy AH until we had to switch from H2H, which sucked that they shut it down... Those were great arenas. Probably would have ended up in the MA eventually. Where I learned so much more. Having me in the door was key.  What irritates me is that no one will open a team death match or ffa style small compact fight map for people to let loose and have quick fights to get a feel for the game. The match play is too complicated. The AI is a gang fest. The dueling arena should be a separate map with air spawns so you can choose who you are fighting. Why can't any one open a full day FFA or Team Death match? FOR FREE!! Why was H2H so successful at this? H2H was great. The old DA was great. 

I'd love to have a free planes like spit5s and 109Fs to promote European game play.

I digress...

[streakeagle]

I had more fun in the original free Head-to-Head arenas while finishing my college degree in the 2000-2002 time frame than I ever did in all of the years I subscribed. There were some great people there that made the dogfights fun and challenging, including some top-notch paid subscribers. Whether I played or not, I had paid subscriptions over many years just to pay back HTC for the free two years of great times. I miss the people I used to fly with/against in the free arenas of that time.

[streakeagle]

The people HTC needs to reach to keep Aces High going are my 12-year-old son and his friends. But absolutely none of them have gotten into flight sims despite thoroughly enjoying my simpit especially now that I have VR. They like to bang around the stick, fire some weapons, then see what happens when you crash. Then they go back to playing Minecraft and Fortnite. It seems like PC combat flight sims might go the same way as the air combat board games and miniatures rules have gone... only played by a handful of older guys with the hobby completely disappearing when that generation dies out.

[Shuffler]

I never thought steam types were what this game needed. In the end they just want everyone to give them something. Do they work for free?

[CptTrips]

The people HTC needs to reach to keep Aces High going are my 12-year-old son and his friends. But absolutely none of them have gotten into flight sims despite thoroughly enjoying my simpit especially now that I have VR. They like to bang around the stick, fire some weapons, then see what happens when you crash. Then they go back to playing Minecraft and Fortnite. It seems like PC combat flight sims might go the same way as the air combat board games and miniatures rules have gone... only played by a handful of older guys with the hobby completely disappearing when that generation dies out.

Well the bloom is certainly off the rose compared to the 90's, but there are still a lot of copies of  Il2/BoX being sold. 

Maybe it's more the online multi-player AW'ish flight sim that is dying. Probably most of the dad-types who still want to fly a WWII flight sim don't have the hours and hours available it would take to stay competitive in AH.  They might have an hour to play after they put the kids to bed and just want to load up a box sim like IL2 and play a mission or two before lights out.

Strangely there is still a large  player base of people who like to fly airliners and Cesna's around for hours in the virtual skies.  I guess it takes all kinds.   

[perdue3]

The people HTC needs to reach to keep Aces High going are my 12-year-old son and his friends. But absolutely none of them have gotten into flight sims despite thoroughly enjoying my simpit especially now that I have VR. They like to bang around the stick, fire some weapons, then see what happens when you crash. Then they go back to playing Minecraft and Fortnite. It seems like PC combat flight sims might go the same way as the air combat board games and miniatures rules have gone... only played by a handful of older guys with the hobby completely disappearing when that generation dies out.

Wings of Glory was the single most fun game to play at work when no one was at the store. I worked at a hobby shop for a long time in college, when it was slow we would break out the Wings of Glory. We had both WWI and WW2, so fun. The C.205 was a serious underdog. Good times.

[perdue3]

I never thought steam types were what this game needed. In the end they just want everyone to give them something. Do they work for free?

What exactly is a Steam type? This game needs people, period.

[Shuffler]

What exactly is a Steam type? This game needs people, period.

Read the whole part you quoted. It is all I hear about them..... if it ain't free they are not interested.