I'm of two minds here nic. One is that the situation is hardly ideal.. it means that some players will not have certain types of content. What happens when you do an online scenario and some people only have a piece of it... it does restrict things.

On the other side of the coin... coin literally is an issue. Flight sims are small potatoes these days and so continual funding on micro transactions to keep development going is important as they will never have the kind of retail mass success that other more mass market games will.

It does sound as if there will be a greater selection in a buy package and then some additional content will be featured as addon.

I'm not 100% on this but I'd rather there be a content pack at a discount then buying piecemeal. It disperses what players are able to do quite a bit.

I guess it depends on what it comes with initially and what you need to buy later. Is it that everyone gets a Bf109F-4 but you have to pay to get a G-2? Or if you want to do any bombing you have to pay separately for the Pe-2 or He-111? I'm unsure on these things.

Plus a million on this, lol!

You get what you buy fairly cheap and the base system is free(?), not $40+++++, though I would get upset if a system upgrade voided the planes I had bought... I'd be hot if I had to buy twice.

It makes sense to bundle planes at discount yet with the occasional more than 50% off sales of RoF planes you can at times pick up 8 for $20 yet still pick and choose your bundle (get none you don't want, none you already bought) to suit your self. Given the much higher quality of the newer models and the time they take to produce, the prices are not exactly high given I spent $7 for a lunch special yesterday and how long did that last?

I was reading somewhere that the model would be a hybrid between the RoF and more conventional IL-2 model. I forget the exact quote so forgive me if I'm wrong on that but that was my understanding. So if it's $20 or $40 to get started... how much content is that? If it is exactly like RoF then you start with two planes and all content and then go from there.

I can see myself wanting all of it but not wanting to pay full price for all of it. I see they have volume discounts and sales and that might not be half bad. I used to be 100% against this model but if it's the only way to survive then I understand.

I just get concerned that you both fracture the multiplayer audience AND you get people spending limited money on the best planes but never bothering to buy anything else.

It seems that many of you do not understand the way RoF works. Here's how in a nutshell:

You can download the FREE version of RoF and you get ALL the content. The only difference is that you only get TWO FLYABLE aircraft. You can man ANY gunner position. This goes for both on-line and off-line.

Should you choose to add to your selection of aircraft you can buy the RoF Iron Cross edition which includes eight (if I recall correctly) flyable aircraft. You can then purchase additional aircraft, weapons mods, field mods, etc. in the on-line store.

Even if you don't buy an aircraft or feature, it is still visible to you when someone else in the server is using it. In other words, if I have an Albatros D.Va with the 20mm canon overwing field mod and you haven't bought the aircraft or the mod, you can still fly against them and see them. Or, let's say you haven't bought the Handley Page 0400. You can still man a gunner position in the aircraft, even if I equip it with the optional twin-Lewis turret. You will get to use that feature because I added it to my aircraft.

I helped beta-test RoF, as did the rest of the Horsemen. Everyone admits it was a real dog when released. However, 777 Studios and Jason stepped in and got the project back on track. It is an incredible flight sim. I was not and still am not a huge WWI fan, but I urge all of you to at least download the free version and give it a try. If you like it, wait for a sale and buy what you want at a discount.

I'll admit that I wasn't that keen on the business model to begin with, but we have to face the fact that hard-core flight simmers are a dying breed. If we want high-quality sims in the future, we are each going to have to pay more to make it worth the company's time. They have to eat and pay bills, too. Once you get used to the idea of not having every aircraft available to fly unless you want to pay for it, it isn't that bad. We've always had AI only aircraft in Il-2. It's just that now you can fly those if you choose to pay for them.

As for the RoF engine: 70 people on-line, a map that covers a large portion of France, clouds and rain, explosions, gun-fire, moving trucks and trains, and NO STUTTERS. And this is on my less than top-line system with RoF graphics settings at all but maximum. Smooth as silk either down in the weeds or at 12,000 feet. No objects popping in and out of view. It's a lot better than many of you here are giving it credit to be.

One more thing:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Whacker View Post
Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam! Please don't be on Steam!

PLEASE! I never bought ClOD because of this Steam crap!

Fully understand the RoF model and I still have the concerns I have. If only some players have certain planes, what happens when a scenario comes up that only uses pay for planes?

Say my scenario only uses the Fokker D.VIIF and the Sopwith Camel but some players only have access to the two free ones?

As a matter if fact one of the reason of actual success of IL2 1946 (it's still the most crowded sim online) is that you can play with hundreds of aircraft in tenths of scenarios.
If you're bored playing one, you take another, in a never ending experience.
This means longevity.
In a pay every addon model of business this can be done only by fiew people.
This means more players bored earlier and less people playing after a short time.

+1

I add:
Less people playing= servers empty= servers dying= end of the simulation.

And shame on us for supporting it.
This game died stuttering as it was born and I paid good money for it.