97 replies to this topic

[GonerNL]

You actually get the pilots for free, you only pay for the gold ... 

 

 

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

That's true.  As there have been signs of developmental activity in the game over the past few months, after a long period of dormancy, and as I'm not sure my working schedule would permit me to play enough to work my way through the marathons anyway, I was happy to buy the gold and get the pilots as a bonus.

[TungstenHitman]

To each their own. The problem I would have with taking the pay option is that I just don't see it as worth it and further highlights the value of gold in this game or rather, the lack there of.

 

If you already have the gold purchase premium aircraft you are after, you don't need gold, it literally has no use other than treating your favorite aircraft to a lick of paint but again, that too is finite, once done, no need for gold. 

 

This boils down to poor game economics and for me that's one of the reasons the game may struggle to be as financially viable as it could be. In truth, and this won't be a popular comment(don't care and never did), the game is simply too generous for it's own good and certain features within it are too cheap or not hurtful enough when non-gold paths are chosen. We get far too many free premiums, free gold... that just can't work as a good business model and just leads to players having no real reason for buying gold and spending as much money as they might. In this game, if you just bide your time and collect your free gold from either events or random crate drops, you can buy that RB bomber at T8 or whatever else you can see available for gold in the tech tree and alternative nation branches etc. Being able to swap a pilot to another aircraft for just a smidge of credits, not actually suffering any setback to pilot xp and taking only 1-3 battles to get back to 100% trained, all of this is just bad for business. Obviously for us freeloading players it's brilliant, "yay!" but it's not good for the game itself since ultimately it's a business and no sales means no business means no game at the end of the day... and I think many of us would be sad to see it gone, regardless of it's failings.

 

So coming back to that "Aces High" offer. For me the gold is useless at this point along with the unique crates etc and I'm not a player that's even played WoWP for a long time, still relatively new to the game so I just shouldn't be in that "gold is useless now" position so soon. The Pilots themselves.... meh tbh. Sure, I want them or to be more accurate, just the Russian pilot but tbh it's only a +10% dmg output gain that stands out as the really useful skill but that +10% isn't really justifying forking out €35+ now is it? or €18+ just for that single pilot. Though I will commend WG devs on their ability to keep stats of special pilots and experimental equipment etc within non over powered parameters as not to break the game. Kudos on that and +10% dmg output won't break the game but still, not a €18-€35+ value either. 

 

What would be an option that would make paying that sort of money a consideration, would be further options to spend gold on as not to make it so useless to some. For that, perhaps offering experimental equipment as a gold purchase option, unique pilots, hell... even unique aircraft why not it's money at the end of the day and this games a business. Nothing mentioned would break the game and already exists obviously. That suggestion is still dead-end and finite too obviously but with so many aircraft in the game it would certainly take a hell of a long time(and/or money) to kit them out with unique pilots and equipment, thus restoring some genuine value to gold and making spending money on a package like this a much more attractive proposition for players that already have most the aircraft they want etc.

Edited by TungstenHitman, 16 February 2021 - 11:21 AM.

[BonfFol]

GonerNL, on 16 February 2021 - 10:28 AM, said:

You actually get the pilots for free, you only pay for the gold ... 

 

 

 

Oh come on, nothing is free here.

Maybe this is such a common sales technique that we no longer recognise it as what it is ?

 

Say you have 2 new items of debatable value to sell, so you give them publicity to create a "need".

Then you bundle them "for free" with another item that has a standard value.

Your customers will be interested in the no value item because of the "need, but the only way to get it will be to buy the other item(s) wich they quite probably were not going to purchase before you created the "need".

On top of that you can also create an event to really "give away" for free the 2 items, but making damn sure that most customers will never meet the criterias. This actually only create more publicity, hence more "need".

 

In essence, this is not a "free" deal, this is like an entry fee you have to pay. The objective is your wallet.

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

You can buy the gold for the same price without the extras, or you can buy the bundle, get the gold and some nice goodies at no extra cost.  Leaving aside the debate about marketing techniques and morality, it's a valid perspective to say the pilots come free.

Sure, we can all see it for what it is, but only somebody with a Smaug horde of gold is likely to object to having to buy more to get the pilots, surely?  If they do, then instead they can work their way through the marathons for the pilots.  If they haven't the time and they object to the bundling, then they can consciously go without.  I don't think the WoWP team is doing anything particularly scummy here.

Edited by RoyalFlyingCorps, 16 February 2021 - 11:37 AM.

[BonfFol]

I work in sales, my post above never was about morality, just about technique.

Apologies if this confused you.

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

I'm not confused.  You appear to be a bit annoyed by the technique though.  What's the alternative?  Perhaps you think the WoWP team should just hand out the pilots for free (which, if you play through the marathons, they nearly are)?

[TungstenHitman]

I've often walked into a shop, eaten the "20% extra free" amount of biscuits from a packet I never bought and always been confused about why I was arrested soon there after.

[BonfFol]

i'm not annoyed by the technique.

Rather i'm kind of always amazed when a customer voluntarily steps in to assist in the sale pitch. (no offense meant GonelNL)

 

This made me think that i should maybe lift the veil a bit.

Possibly I was wrong.

 

[TungstenHitman]

BonfFol, on 16 February 2021 - 11:58 AM, said:

i'm not annoyed by the technique.

Rather i'm kind of always amazed when a customer voluntarily steps in to assist in the sale pitch. (no offense meant GonelNL)

 

This made me think that i should maybe lift the veil a bit.

Possibly I was wrong.

 

 

 

Not at all, you are well within sensible oversight to suggest it. Nothing is states as being for free, that was just Goner's own spin on it. It's a bundle and everything within it is being paid for, nothing free. All that's happened is the bundle has been compared to what one would pay for the same amount of gold and deduced that everything else is "free" which it's not of course... it's just a perspective take on the deal... unless of course a person wants to consider the term "bonus" as "free", though it's still part of the purchased bundle regardless. 

 

Edit- Sorry for the rushed text, have several windows open here lol. 

Edited by TungstenHitman, 16 February 2021 - 12:10 PM.

[TungstenHitman]

I'm actually rather surprised that there's not a "mission skip" purchase option here too. We saw an option like that during the F5F event if I recall correctly, though can't really say with any real conviction since I never actually bothered with it on account of the missions being rather easy during it's overlapping or accompanying Crimson Dawn event.

Edited by TungstenHitman, 16 February 2021 - 12:12 PM.

[ASharpPencil]

If I pot the pilots in a different airframe the loose all effects?

[houghtonbee]

ASharpPencil, on 16 February 2021 - 01:13 PM, said:

If I pot the pilots in a different airframe the loose all effects?

 

With the amount of bugs in this game anything could happen, from it not working at all to it making the plane invulnerable and able to one shot kill anything.

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

ASharpPencil, on 16 February 2021 - 12:13 PM, said:

If I pot the pilots in a different airframe the loose all effects?

 

In theory if you put the pilot in a different plane the special skill specific to his or her nominated aircraft (La-5, A6M5) should not work.  Everything else should work.  Or, as houghtonbee says, it could be entirely different!

Edited by RoyalFlyingCorps, 16 February 2021 - 01:08 PM.

[blindfoId]

ASharpPencil, on 16 February 2021 - 03:13 PM, said:

If I pot the pilots in a different airframe the loose all effects?

 

One of the skills is tied to a particular plane, the second one works on all planes of the corresponding nation. Here you can find detailed information.

[houghtonbee]

I had the luck to get Kozhedub first time but it did require some gaming that I wouldnt usually do. I figured the 109e was my best bet and playing early morning with the low player count. I had the luck to get in as top tier on the winter map with 4 garrisons and an airbase in the middle, in an 800 point game that had 3 or 4 humans a side. The game was 3-2 or 2-3 for most of it keeping it nicely balanced as we went in to the squall.

We capped the airbase early on so I played a passive defensive role keeping high over it and with plenty of energy stored, occasionally going low to replenish HP. Normally I'd be off capping or defending bases as needed, instead as neither side was capping much I could just float above and pick off a few targets at leisure.

As the countdown began I saw a bot bomber stooging about so I positioned myself to knock him off as the squall line crossed, 2 damaged bot fighters were easy meat below us so I was up to 3 kills within a few seconds. Then I crossed to attack a garrison where a bot gaa was ripe for picking in its bizarre and pointless defence circle over its own zone. Add an easy ada kill and job done, I think I ended up with 7 or 8 post squall kills as we won.

But it is a task that requires a lot of luck, good judgement, 'game management' and skill. The average player, playing in a busy game at peak hours is very unlikely to be able to complete it. I played a lot yesterday and Monday and the games where getting Kozhedub might have been possible was tiny, maybe 5 out of 50 games or so. This is a really bad task for average to noob players.

[0berhessen]

A warm welcome to Akira Akane, who today joined my crew of Pilots.

For now she is on duty on the Ki-102 heavy fighter.

The A6M5 skill is not active as you see, but the other skills are pretty neat too.

 

Only Charlotte von... is a bit jealous now

 

 

Edited by 0berhessen, 17 February 2021 - 04:24 PM.

[apartclassic]

0berhessen, on 17 February 2021 - 11:02 AM, said:

Only Charlotte von... is a bit jealous now

 

 

 

For all her charms and all her Wunderbar-ness, Charlotte doesn't understand one particular thing (maybe because the Reich and Imperial Japan didn't quite get along well):

 

[zen_monk_]

0berhessen, on 17 February 2021 - 12:02 PM, said:

Only Charlotte von... is a bit jealous now

 

 

apartclassic, on 17 February 2021 - 04:45 PM, said:

 

For all her charms and all her Wunderbar-ness, Charlotte doesn't understand one particular thing (maybe because the Reich and Imperial Japan didn't quite get along well):

 

 

 

Apart, you dont get it: Oberhessen is talking about his special Charlotte, inflatable.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[zen_monk_]

 

 

Edited by zen_monk_, 20 February 2021 - 07:19 AM.