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[Suggestion] Mc Pricing


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Poll: [Suggestion] Mc Pricing (437 member(s) have cast votes)

Are you currently satisfied with MC pricing?

  1. Yes (43 votes [9.84%])

    Percentage of vote: 9.84%

  2. No (376 votes [86.04%])

    Percentage of vote: 86.04%

  3. Abstain (18 votes [4.12%])

    Percentage of vote: 4.12%

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#41 Thomas Covenant

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Posted 11 May 2013 - 07:28 PM

I wonder if the profit margin would go up or down if hero mechs were $5. Hmm.

#42 arkani

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Posted 14 May 2013 - 06:22 AM

Hero mechs:
Agree : MC price is to high. VERY HIGH
Disagree : making them available fro C-Bills, they are exclusive content and should remain so


Regular Mechs.
Agree : Current CBill prices
Disagree : MC Prices should be half what they are now. They should be very cheap using MC, PAY2GRIND less


Colors & Camos
Agree : Should be very cheap for MC >> MicroTransactions. Half of what they are now
Sugest 500MC to unlock a camo across all variants of a given chassis, 1000MC to unlock for all mechs

Edited by arkani, 14 May 2013 - 07:21 AM.


#43 Leafia Barrett

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 07:59 AM

View Postarkani, on 14 May 2013 - 06:22 AM, said:

Hero mechs:
Disagree : making them available for C-Bills, they are exclusive content and should remain so

I would be fine with this if not for the fact that the hero mechs offer exclusive hardpoint configurations. I'm of the opinion that anything with a functional benefit (i.e. hero mechs' hardpoints if not the hero mechs themselves, mech bays) in a F2P game should be available for everyone in some way, while aesthetics (i.e. camos, cockpit items) would cost MC.

#44 Shae Starfyre

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 08:33 AM

I voted no, but, have spent more than I care to admit.

However, I only spend it based on what I would have done without MWO.

If I spend 45 a month on games (online or not), and I stop doing that for other games, that means I can buy that hero Mech once a month, a Mech bay, and possibly some other odds and ends.

The reason I justify it, is that it is like having bought another expansion of the game; which I have seen in other games being from $10 to $40 depending on what you define as an expansion (new maps, new content, etc., which, we happen to get for free in MWO).

So, when you consider that everything else is free, the pricing makes it not so free for these other things.

Yet, I do believe that this should be a little cheaper.

I have yet to buy any colors/camos, because that where it seems too expensive to me because there is so much to paint (to many things to paint and too many options).

One hero mech a month at 30 dollars is nothing compared to what you will spend in the paint store, so it seems (never been good at long term math, because I am too lazy).

Edited by Aphoticus, 20 May 2013 - 08:34 AM.


#45 RGoulet

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 09:38 AM

View PostShiinore, on 26 March 2013 - 01:49 PM, said:

Hey PGI, IGP or whoever it is that is in charge of the aforementioned topic, I hope you guys take the time to read this thread and give it some serious consideration.

WHAT I THINK IS WRONG:

As a fan of the MechWarrior franchise, I want to do everything within my power to help you guys, as a business, succeed. Usually, that means spending money on the products that you have to offer. However, despite being a fan of the MechWarrior franchise, I find myself hesitating to spend any more money on your game as it currently stands- and the biggest factor that is detracting from my willingness to buy is the pricing.

It just seems to me that paying upwards of $30 USD for a Hero 'Mech seems a bit steep, and I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you I feel like I got my money's worth if I spent 4500 MC on a Fang or Flame. That aside, camoflauge schemes will cost approximately $5 to select a pattern for- and will jump up to around $10 if one decides to purchase colors for it. While this may not sound too bad, with that same amount of money, I could purchase an additional 7 'Mech hangar slots. That's 7 potential new chassis with various hardpoints, engines and loadouts that are conducive to gameplay and my experience as a player, for the same expense as a design limited to one chassis and 3 colors. I don't think I would have minded this aspect too much if it weren't for the fact that MechWarrior has always been about customization- whether it came to practicality or cosmetics, and putting a hefty fee on an aspect of MechWarrior makes it less likely for me, as a part of the playerbase, want to explore it.

I understand that you have to find a way to make money off of a service that you're offering for free, but as a costumer, I feel that the extra services you are offering at the current price aren't favorable for us. It simply seems that we are giving up too much and receiving too little as compensation. I also realize that you may be tinkering around with pricing to see what range nets you the most profit, but asking for $30 USD for a chassis and then accepting money at that price speaks to me that you believe the current pricing is worth paying for. While I don't particularly believe anyone over there has malicious intent to milk money out of a fanbase with blatant disregard to how they feel, I can't particularly say that the practice seems entirely fair to me either.

WHAT I PROPOSE TO ADDRESS IT:
Having played multiple free-to-play games, I find many of them follow a rather similar business model. I don't work in the games industry, so I can only speculate as to why, but if I had to take a guess, it would be because the model has seemed to work for companies- enough to make reasonable amounts of money, and I don't think it would be a terrible idea to port it over to MWO, if not at least temporarily to gauge how things work.

In many other free-to-play games, essentially everything is available to the player through in-game currency that can be acquired through gameplay. In order for there to be motivation to spend money, the items are often listed at cheap prices, with their cost of in-game currency being exponentially higher. If I were to apply this example to MWO, it would boil down to something like paying 2,500 - 3,000 MC (or potentially less) for a Pretty Baby, while at the same time, asking for a C-Bill price of 25,000,000 or so. This way, there's nothing forcing the player to pay money to obtain this new piece of equipment if they wanted to, but it would be astronomically easier if they did. This method offers the same services to those who wish to pay and those who don't, with the key difference between the two being ease of accessibility.

If you wish to retain Hero 'Mechs as Premium-Only content, then perhaps a better suited example would be the camoflauge schemes. As it is, I don't believe 500 MC is a good investment for a single color- regardless of whether it is universal across chassis' or not. Forcing players to pay in order to get access to a feature that would otherwise be largely unavailable to them seems like cosmetic customization is a privilege that should only be granted towards those who have invested in your game. It also speaks to me with the current pricing that you believe cosmetic customization of my Mech is worth $2.50 per color and $5 per design. It seems a bit unreasonable to ask this much for a component of the game that is so minor in terms of gameplay, but important to the individual. I imagine very many people would enjoy the option to reasonably personalize and stylize their 'Mech without great expense.

A system that, from how I see it, would be more fair would be to make colors cost 100-150 MC, perhaps even less. There really isn't any reason why I would pay more for a color than I would an additional 'Mech slot, and for something as small, yet significant as customization to the player, a single color should be worth their potential investment. At the same time, making colors available for 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 C-Bills would prevent barricading off any players who would want to see a feature of the game you've implemented, but don't have any money, and at the same time would require them to put in some level of commitment to the game before they can fully gain access to it. I imagine many people would also be more willing to purchase a color if it didn't take up such a significant portion of their MC wallet.

IN CONCLUSION:
MC pricing as it stands is the greatest detractor from me wanting to buy new things or spend money on additional MC. I can't say I feel a particular sense of satisfaction with my purchase after I've laid down 500 MC (nearly half of the minimum MC purchase) on a singular color. While I enjoy MWO in all it's perks and flaws, one thing that stands out to me as drastically different to me is your cash shop, which by comparison to many other free-to-play titles out there, seems overpriced and much less than worth my money.

On a more personal note, I still have a little over 4,000 MC sitting in my wallet from my Founder's purchase, and I can't say with conviction that there's anything up for sale that I believe is fairly priced enough for me to want to spend it on. I think it goes without saying then, that until some things are changed, any future MC purchases are completely out of the question- if I have $20 to spend on a game, I should walk away from a purchase spree with $20 worth of content. That doesn't ever seem to be the case, unfortunately. I know there are many that share this same sentiment, and I hope my open letter to all of you can give you some insight into your pricing system, and can take it into a new direction that is satisfactory for both the companies and the players.

I hope you review my complaints and suggestions with a degree of sincerity. I'd hate to see MWO fail and I'd gladly contribute money to prevent that from happening- but as things stand, I can't see myself doing that without feeling as if I'd wasted some of it.

Sincerely,

A concerned player


my god I agree

#46 Mechteric

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Posted 31 May 2013 - 05:21 AM

I think that the prices should go no higher than $25, and that would be for a hero Atlas. All other mechs should be a linear progression down from that cost, so you could get a light mech for about $5. 5 dollar footlong or 5 dollar Jenner, hmmm.... Jenner please!

#47 Ningyo

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Posted 01 June 2013 - 12:15 AM

I have not yet gotten any MC, however once I get to a game store that sells a card that can be used for this game (might not exist till after launch) I probably will though to be fair I rarely spend over $100 on any game per year.

That said I have to agree the prices on this game are crazy. As of right now I would never buy anything except mechbays at the present prices. (haven't looked into premium time, I can grind 5kk c-bills in a day without it easy enough if I wish).

Hero Mechs: really high prices, but I can live with this, makes them a bit of a rarer items for people that really want them, and at least so far none have been pay to win (though most are top tier variants, there is usually at least one non hero variant = or better)

Mech bays: reasonable price

Camo:
Special unique camo patterns like bucaneer: Sure make these a but pricier

Basic Camo: These are SIMPLE to make (I have done some 3D graphic programming on games before) if these are not easy to make they are doing something wrong. Also these should be fairly cheap to provide more interesting customization for players. (I would suggest 200-400MC per camo to unlock it for all mechs, and maybe a package deal of 3000-5000MC to permanently unlock all of these for all mechs even future ones)

Colors: again this requires no effort to make, and they are way to restrictive.

I would suggest they revamp this completely then break this up into 2 methods:
First make it so you can pick from a full RGB (64k colors) color map for each of those 3 parts (or separate for each body part of mechs) (this would require <100 bytes/mech of info to be sent at beginning of each match and should have no effect on FPS or anything changing colors is beyond simple)

Then for pricing I think they should sell it either as a perma unlock for all mechs (3000-5000MC), or a 1 time use recolor a mech for 200-400MC


Cockpit items, premium time, and possibly some other things in the future could round out the items from paying.

This should give Players permanent and significant customization ability, and a few mech bays for $40-60 (about what you would spend to buy a game)

And still leave lots of more unique cosmetic items to provide a steady stream of income. (and people using MC to buy Mechs/Heros)

Also I suspect you would see alot more colorful mechs out there which can be fun for everyone.

Ah well if they make pricing decent I will likely spend 50-100 a year on this game at some point, if not I will probably spend 20 on some mechbays and never any again. (I am poor)

#48 buttmonkey

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Posted 01 June 2013 - 02:59 AM

totally agree with the op. i only buy things with mc when there is a sale on. if the sale price was the actual price i would buy often, and when there was a half price sale!! well it would be 1/4 of the price it is now so i would be on a spending spree. but alas pgi doesnt want my money so they only let me spend small amounts at a time, instead of lettng me loose with a 100 dollars worth of mc :(

im serious btw, if i sink 100 dollars into this game i would come away with 3 hero mechs lol and most likely struggle to customise them with the left over money. if i sink 100 dollars into ebay buying BT merchandise i would come away with A LOT more than 3 mechs and a few paints lol.

heres an idea. if pgi insist on charging so much for each mech, then when you buy a mech they should post you a complimentary keyring of your mech <_< something physical would be a great incentive for people to buy the mechs.

#49 Barghest Whelp

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Posted 01 June 2013 - 11:56 AM

Well, I agree with many of the things you've written, but others I don't agree with.

Hero mechs should be available for CB, but not the custom camo and the colours. Buy a CB Illya and it looks like any old CTF, has no CB bonus, but has the same layout as an MC Illya. Why should it be available for f2p players? Well, it adds gameplay options and tactical choices which are otherwise unavailable. Is this p2w? Don't care, because it's not the point.

Colours and patterns? Well, it makes no lick of difference gameplay wise, so why on earth should it be available for free? You want to me a peacock? Well you better be prepared to pay for it. A middle ground could be to have few more "sample" options available for CB to give people a taste of what they could have. It's a good way to make people spend money, so some CB patterns and stuff wouldn't be so bad.

Prices? Yeah, they're way over the top. I've spent quite a bit of cash on this game, and I got a Muromets to show for it, amongst other things. But that was in the beginning. If I like a f2p game I always spend that kind of dosh on it in the beginning. It's to give me a head start. If I feel that it was expensive and I got very little in return for aforementioned dosh, then I usually stop spending. That's what's about to happen here. Not just because of prices mind you, but that also plays in to it.

An interesting thing is, in Hawken it's like you mentioned. Everything is available for free, but takes a lot of grind. The only things you can't get for free is custom looks, but apparently they've made a lot of money on those. I heard somewere that if people feel they have to spend money on something then they're less likely to buy it. If they feel that it's a luxury option, they're much more likely to buy it.

Skipping the grind is a perfect example here. I have to say though, the one thing that made me spend money on STO was the fleet escort. It cost both real money and time to grind, but I just felt I NEEDED it. It was like I couldn't live without it, and when I got it I felt that I deserved the extra 9% or whatever it was. Sure, it's p2w, but no, I didn't need it. I'm pretty good at STO, and I was going through the end-game content before I got it.

Not sure what that is though. No other game has had that effect on me. But I think the recipe is grind + cash. The p2w bit is far less important.

Edit: my brain hurts

Edited by Barghest Whelp, 01 June 2013 - 11:57 AM.


#50 Pater Mors

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Posted 01 June 2013 - 01:06 PM

The only two things I have bought so far are Premium Time and Mech Bays, both of which I think are very reasonably priced.

I won't buy a Hero until they're on sale for at minimum 30%. The current base costs are way too high. There's no chance I am ever going to justify spending AU$30 on a Mech, especially since it's actually more than that because PGI only accepts USD.

As for camo and colours - Trying to outfit my Trebuchet the way I want to will cost me more than buying The Death's Knell. That is insanity. A colour pattern costs more than a Hero Mech!? And if I want to outfit my Highlander in the scheme I want as well it will cost more than buying The Deaths Knell and the X-5 put together!

#51 Ragnar Darkmane

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Posted 01 June 2013 - 01:21 PM

I really wanted to repaint my basic green Catapult today with a very basic red/black sheme (only standard colors), only to find out that I have to pay 3 bucks just to get the most basic of colors in existence. As there (most likely) won't be any color sale going on the next weeks/months I just can't seem to force myself to spend so much cash (seriously, I can get almost two garage slots for BLACK) on something this simple. Seems that my opponents and house/team mates will have to content themselves with a catapult trying to role play as a Kurita member in a completly red or basic green mech -.- ...

#52 coolcook007

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Posted 01 June 2013 - 05:00 PM

750 for a cockpit item?

Posted Image

#53 Corvus Antaka

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Posted 02 June 2013 - 04:09 PM

MC prices are way to high overall imho

#54 Inkarnus

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Posted 02 June 2013 - 05:18 PM

thats normal for the f2p modell how else should they make there
special sales and turn out a profit
and if anybody could have anything for nothing
whats the point in having it?

#55 Rattazustra

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Posted 03 June 2013 - 09:09 AM

I would like to support the game reasonably, but at the present time I refuse to do so.

The pricing is ludicrous. Everything is too expensive. PGI wants as much money for a nifty little special thing in this game as a full price, top tier, high quality collector's edition game costs to buy. That is completely insane. All the things on sale for lower prices are just plain useless junk. There is nothing substantial at all. The cockpit items are horribly overpriced, the colours are plain and simple rip-off, the cammo schemes are too expensive and the hero mechs are just plain outrageous.

Unless they cut down prices to at least 50% of what they are presently, me and about half a dozen other players I know will not buy any MCs beyond what we need for a few mech bays.

#56 ICEFANG13

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Posted 06 June 2013 - 06:42 PM

I think most people are pretty happy with the mechbays, premium time, and XP->GXP converter. They are unhappy with mech prices.

I think I already said it. I understand this is a game, and PGI wants to make money, and I do NOT want mechs for free, I want them to cost money, but I think that the mech price is just crazy, almost no one buys a mech with MC, other than heros, and feels good about it later.

#57 Pater Mors

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Posted 06 June 2013 - 06:59 PM

View PostNiko Snow, on 06 June 2013 - 06:13 PM, said:

Freedom isn't free? >.>

The pricing is routinely under review to ensure we are meeting our potential: We don't want it to be unreasonable or exorbitant like a $21,000 speaker cable, but we do want to be able to keep the game running and improving for a long time through reasonable transactions such as a cup of coffee for a Mech Bay.


I think we all understand that and want to support you guys and I am sure you feel like you are making a good profit at your current prices which is, after all, your primary business objective and I can respect that.

Speaking only for myself as an adult gamer with a good disposable income; I can't justify paying for something that I feel is largely over priced. It's my personal opinion that the top tier Mechs like Misery, Heavy Metal and the like should cap out around the $16-$17 mark. That's what I feel like would be a fair price for an Assault Mech in game. As of now, I can't look at $30 for one chassis with a straight face. To me, that's a new Xbox Game or a couple of games on XBLA, 3 or 4 complete indie games on Steam some of which will give me hundreds of hours of entertainment (see Dungeons of Dredmor, Binding of Isaac, FTL etc).

To give you an example; currently on Hero Mech's you make no money out of me. You might make some the next time the X-5 comes on 30% sale. If prices were lowered to roughly what I've outlined above you would make that $30 out of me (on Heavy Metal and Misery) and then more because I'd also be looking at Yen Lo, The X-5 and Pretty Baby (since their prices would drop in line too). I am 100% certain there are many others like me who feel the same.

I am sure you've heard this argument and taken it into account but since you replied here I thought I'd drop my 2c in. :)

Edit: Also I should point out that I think Premium Time and Mech Bays are exactly the right price and as such have purchased and will continue to purchase both.

Edited by Pater Mors, 06 June 2013 - 07:03 PM.


#58 Bhael Fire

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Posted 06 June 2013 - 08:32 PM

The only things that are reasonably priced are mech bays, camo patterns (not colors), XP/GXP conversion, and premium time.

Paints and cockpit items and to a certain degree, standard mechs remain overpriced. The most outrageous of which, cockpit items and paints, ironically enough are the things that should cost the LEAST in the game.

Edited by Bhael Fire, 06 June 2013 - 08:33 PM.


#59 SuperBroHeroFella

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 06:21 AM

I have invested 80$ and bought 2 heros, 4 colors and 4 patterns or so.

The price for hero mechs, colors and items are reasonable, the circumstances that they are used in are not.

If I buy a item I should be free to use it in every mech and swap it if i want. Same as with colors.

HeroMechs are just special variants with a special paint. You should always be free to try them before buy. Universal law. The price would be justified if there would also be additional Herocockpit and hero item. To be honest, the special music the heavy metal plays is an item for me. No other mech owns this feature.

PGI really needs to to make the buyable stuff more usable.

Edited by Pilot of the Cock Pit, 10 June 2013 - 06:22 AM.


#60 Skoaljaw

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 08:29 AM

+1 totally agreed... I love the game and I like alot of the things PGI has done and will do with the game, however I just can't support the current price for custom content/mechs etc... I do agree with the cost of new mech bays though.





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