6 replies to this topic

[Targetloc]

Just some random thoughts. Include your own.

• Pay 300 MC and 1,000,000 C-Bills to put a bounty on someone's head. Their name has a skull icon next to it for the next week. Player that kills them the most collects the C-Bills.
  
• Start selling mechs in 2-for-1 combo packs. Sell the less popular variants with the popular ones for the price of the popular mech + a mech bay. If they just sell the off variant, well you at least sold them a mech bay. If they keep it you might have sold an extra camo.
  
• If you're on premium time you can challenge another team to an (unscored/unpaid) head-to-head grudge match. Otherwise there's a small MC charge.
  
• Pay 300 MC to peek at another player's stats for a day. Hey, you can be elitist. It just costs money. So some dude mocked your KDR on the forums. He just paid real money to see it. Who's the real winner here?
  
• Put billboards up in River City (day) and charge for Merc units to advertise/recruit on them.
  
• Alternate computer voice packs (yeah, I know that one probably isn't cost effective)

Oh, and for the love of Blake, release a map editor. Or just give the specs and file format required. This crazy *** community been making A+ quality maps for free since the days of MW2:Mercs. They crazy. Valve know it's a heck of a lot faster to QA their top 5 picks for maps than to build 5 new maps.

[Enig]

I like this, productive ideas for more revenue for PGI.

It takes work to think of these things guys, help them out because obviously if they're falling back on Gold Ammo then they need it the assistance coming up with ideas.

[Omigir]

are there hugs being handed out in here? Can I has hug?

[SGT Unther]

+1

[Targetloc]

The more I look at it, the more I realize what you guys really want to push is subscriptions to premium time. Micro transactions are good, but they're always going to be bursty and somewhat unpredictable. They'll be up in the fall and dead flat right after Christmas.

Subscriptions though are stable. You can do more reliable revenue forecasting, and have immediate indicators if subscription numbers start to drop off.

The paradox is that me and all the other die-hard founders that want you to shut up and take our money... well... we play so damn much that we don't really need the extra experience or C-Bills...

So how do you make Premium Time more appealing to the guys that are hogging all your server resources and already drowning in mechs and cbills?

• Small discount on all MC purchases for active Premium members. One, it thanks those steady supporters you can count on to keep the lights on. Two, if it's less economical for players to purchase a single day of premium time than to get a week or a month, if they're planning to make a bunch of purchases they may consider getting a bundle of Premium based on Costco logic. (But if I buy 5 gallons I save 58 cents!!)
  
• Trial Patterns and Cockpit Items. Every 2 to 4 weeks when you switch up the trial mechs, make 1 or 2 patterns and cockpit items free to use for Premium users. They get some variety if they want to go with the flow, or they may fall in love with that little hula girl and decide to purchase her after their 2 weeks together.
  
• Draws. A really fun perk of being a member of the club that has a development cost time of a single line SQL script. Every time a new Pattern, Cockpit Item or Hero Mech comes out, draw 10 lucky names out of the Premium users who get it for free.
  
• Maybe drop a free consumable to Premium members once a week, or a random grab bag once a month. Yeah that's one less they'll buy from the store, but they're also maintaining that subscription and which translates to stable paychecks.
  
• La Cucaracha horn for your mech. (Dixie for mechs equipped with jump jets)

Just google Membership benefits and see some of the cool, low cost stuff museums and other institutions do for their members without being P2W. Cause like I said... the people that probably most interested in a subscription don't really need a c-bill or experience bonus.

Edited by Targetloc, 05 March 2013 - 07:08 PM.

[Targetloc]

Some prestige items would be nice too, and highly sought after.

Tournaments like the Hero Challenge need to stay open to everyone. But there could be mini-events once a month that offer an achievement-specific camo or banner up for grabs to Premium users.

I don't think pay to enter would work very well because some players will always find a way to exploit something that isn't a straight-up elimination tournament. Some players might feel cheated if they paid to play, and most would probably not even enter because they know they're not hardcore enough.

But something that comes as an extra perk of part of that larger premium time package, it can give you extra incentive to buy in without feeling like it was a waste if you don't end up winning.

Something simple like if you play a minimum of 50 games that weekend, and you have the highest average accuracy, you win a bullseye camo.

[Targetloc]

Okay, let me fix this silly little P2W problem for you.


C-Bill Coolant Module: Can be flushed directly into the attached 'Mechs coolant system, reducing total heat by 25%.

MC Coolant Module: Can be flushed directly into the attached 'Mechs coolant system, reducing total heat by 25%. High-efficiency directional flush nozzle positioned between the mech's hip actuators expels excess coolant in a high-powered stream. Stream apex is approximately tuned to the cockpit height of the Hellespont RVN-3L.


No in-game advantage, but I have a feeling you'd still sell about 700 a day.