91 replies to this topic

[TheArisen]

I think special geometry,custom camp, custom & lore based insignia's/decals are the best options discussed so far. I'd really love to have both Davion & unit logos on my mechs.

[AlexEss]

Pjwned, on 01 May 2015 - 02:51 PM, said:

Nope, PGI sees that they can get away with very little work on the game in between shoving out mech packs that cost hundreds of dollars so they keep doing it instead of prioritizing actual work.

Obviously PGI would resume making money if people stopped saying "I'm giving you hundreds of dollars for your lazy, sloppy, untimely work so that you can continue being lazy, sloppy, and untimely with your work" but apologists insist that PGI would shut down if they stopped shoveling out money despite the self-evident potential for money with an actual quality product.

PGI chooses to take the easy way out because they know people will spend money on their game if they just keep pumping out mech packs for people to spend money on, and their customers keep proving them right again and again.

What easy way.... What sort of magic god damm miracle do you think they would push out with one or two extra artists and a lot less budget...

Yeah.. I have about 5 years worth of university courses on how to lead and manage project within the cultural sector... I am well aware of the sort of miracles you can produce with a sharp blade to your neck... But it also leads to A LOT of cut corners and "temporary fixes" not to mention both literally and figurativly hot-gluing things together that god never intended to be hot-glued together in order for them to hold up during this or that event.

I... Do... Not.. Want... PGI.. To... Take... That... Route...

Now if that means they "pump out" a new mech each month... Fine by me. Not saying they should rely completley on them but they will always be the big money maker... But IIRC they are almost done with the decal system (need some UI time... that is currently tied up in the smurfy mechlab) so that will be another income pool.

Anyway... I am still curious over what sort of work you expect that your suggested road would lead to... what feature/fix/system is it that you assume is being ignored out of laziness... Because i am honestly curious.

TheArisen, on 01 May 2015 - 05:23 PM, said:

I think special geometry,custom camp, custom & lore based insignia's/decals are the best options discussed so far. I'd really love to have both Davion & unit logos on my mechs.

But how much are you willing to pay for it.. and how often would you change it up..?

Edited by AlexEss, 01 May 2015 - 05:33 PM.

[Sir Wulfrick]

I'd also love to see the ability to add lore and also custom decals and unit logos to my mechs. I'd certainly spend micro-transaction-level money on that sort of thing. I'm not so sure about the customised geometry. If it was kept at the level of adjusting the style of skull that comprises the Atlas head, or possibly adding the ability to illuminate certain parts of mechs (the old-style Atlas glowing eyes for those who remember) then I'd be for it but PGI would have to be extremely careful that we wouldn't get too far away from the individuality of any given chassis nor offer any sort of advantage in terms of hit box or weapon hard point placement.

Advertising in game? No. Never. I vaguely remember a game that had that. Hellgate London possibly? All I remember was that the in-game advertising served no useful purpose and was immensely irritating. So no. Nope. Never. The less damned advertising that's involved in games the better.

At the risk of mentioning a comparison with Star Citizen, one of the very nice things about that game even in it's present state is the ability to walk around your hanger and view your spaceships. I'd love to be able to walk around my mech bay and admire the cammo and decals on my mechs! Imagine being able to walk around in 1st person, perhaps take lifts to the cockpit levels of the mechs to inspect the interior etc. That would be awesome and compared to things like introducing new mechs or new maps I can't imagine that it would take much in the way of coding.

Similarly it would be great for teams to be able to drop in dropships that featured their unit logos and if appropriate faction affiliation. Something to add a bit more flavour.

[TheArisen]

AlexEss, on 01 May 2015 - 05:31 PM, said:

But how much are you willing to pay for it.. and how often would you change it up..?

Depending on if I like the geometry, I'd get it on my favourite mechs. If it were expensive, maybe 2 or 3. If it's cheap, 7-10. I'd also put at least the Davion emblem on all my mechs. Unit/custom on my top 1-3. I'd say depending on difficulty, they should cost about the same as camo and/or paint.

[Pjwned]

Naelbis, on 01 May 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

I stand in awe of your highly developed business acumen....without knowing PGI's internal financials or having the information to run a SWOT analysis you seem to know exactly how they are failing and how to fix it. You should apply at PGI!

The quality of their product while continuing to shove out more mech packs reflects their failings.

AlexEss, on 01 May 2015 - 05:31 PM, said:

What easy way.... What sort of magic god damm miracle do you think they would push out with one or two extra artists and a lot less budget...

Maybe actually fixing long standing issues with the game.

Quote

Yeah.. I have about 5 years worth of university courses on how to lead and manage project within the cultural sector... I am well aware of the sort of miracles you can produce with a sharp blade to your neck... But it also leads to A LOT of cut corners and "temporary fixes" not to mention both literally and figurativly hot-gluing things together that god never intended to be hot-glued together in order for them to hold up during this or that event.

I... Do... Not.. Want... PGI.. To... Take... That... Route...

PGI has already gone that route with numerous piss poor band-aid fixes that then become legacy features like completely removed collisions, ghost heat, instant pinpoint convergence at all times, etc. I mean FFS they recently said that LB cannon ammo switching is a dead feature and it's literally 100% because of their incompetence and they admitted as much; this was after promising it as a feature for clan mechs by the way so that the Clan Autocannons wouldn't be useless and it's still being ignored.

Quote

Now if that means they "pump out" a new mech each month... Fine by me. Not saying they should rely completley on them but they will always be the big money maker... But IIRC they are almost done with the decal system (need some UI time... that is currently tied up in the smurfy mechlab) so that will be another income pool.

I would have less of an issue if those mech packs weren't pumped out in favor of actually fixing the game because of their demonstrable laziness and incompetence. I still wouldn't buy the mech packs even if a bunch of things were fixed in the game because they're way too expensive, but that's a separate issue.

I also find it funny that this discussion comes up on the heels of yet another mech pack being shoved out.

Quote

Anyway... I am still curious over what sort of work you expect that your suggested road would lead to... what feature/fix/system is it that you assume is being ignored out of laziness... Because i am honestly curious.

Various things are ignored out of laziness like ECM which they lied through their teeth about wanting to fix, a proper penalty for clan mechs' XL engines being shot out after plainly admitting the current penalty is not good enough, awful maps not fit for 12v12 in the least, horrible geometry & scaling for at least a dozen mechs, various weapons being trash like flamers and AC2 and SSRM2 and small lasers and machine guns and LB cannons unless they're quirked to insanity, quirks being horribly balanced for a number of mechs, the horrible band-aid fixes mentioned above, and so on.

Other features like extremely lacking tutorials and a mech lab that is hot garbage are only now getting somewhat close to being (maybe) fixed despite being a problem for a long time, and basic principles of the game like community warfare are years late and role warfare is pretty much non-existent which is partly to do with the horrible crap design of the mech tree which also has its own subset of problems...

I'm sure I could think of more if I tried harder.

Edited by Pjwned, 01 May 2015 - 07:27 PM.

[AntiCitizenJuan]

Rebas Kradd, on 01 May 2015 - 01:53 PM, said:

So don't. Get it for free with C-Bills.

Get hero mechs for free with C-Bills

[Paigan]

A REPLAY FUNCTION!!

X MC per replay to store or something.
Would be payed by the thousands each day.
At least I know I would.


Oh and some kind of simple ingame (or maybe website-based) MC-crowdfunding for new features.
That way, PGI could make money directly for things like maps instead of beind preassured to squeeze out mech pack after mech pack to generate income.

Edited by Paigan, 02 May 2015 - 01:42 AM.

[TheArisen]

Replay sounds interesting, if I had a particularly good game, I might go for that.

[BearFlag]

This is something I've been meaning to think about. We all want PGI to make money. When I joined up a few months ago, I made all the wrong decisions to master a mech. I chose the Locust which is a demanding mech and not good as a starter. I even went through a period where I thought getting 100 damage was pretty good. It took forever to learn that mech and start making real money.

PGI could make a few bucks up front and maybe more down line by making the entry curve easier on new players. Offer a Mastery Pack for 10 dollars to players that haven't finished the Cadet matches or who have yet to complete some of the low end achievements. Remind them on the Home or Mechlab screens of the introductory offer.

For models available, I would suggest two or three IS mediums that are pilot friendly and loadout flexible so they can get hooked on tinkering (like the rest of us are).

[AntiCitizenJuan]

Naelbis, on 01 May 2015 - 12:17 PM, said:

MC purchasable ammo that increases your shots per ton. (100 SRM/ton cbill vs150 SRM/ton MC or 7 AC20/ton cbill vs 10 AC20/ton MC). Ammo isn't better (unlike in WoT), you just get more of it for the same weight. Instant revenue stream as the min/maxes go into a feeding frenzy. I doubt it would even break the game.

Yeah, thats Pay2Win...

[Tom Sawyer]

And in related news EA has bought MWO from PGI

Not much will change claims EO execs and they are eagerly rolling out great DLC options like ammo refills in game for only 9.99 per transaction. Instant ICE cool down in game for only 10 bucks per transaction. Instant respawn of you just for 9.99 or your entire team for only 20 bucks per transaction.

Rumors of future charges for each laser fired or daka round for the next patch are un--- wait EA would like to state that option is being reserved.

All hail EA for they KNOW what we want and need......

[AEgg]

Why don't we have "Champions" that increase cbills earned rather than XP yet... I don't need XP on a mech I plan to use forever, but more cbills is useful.

I know there are the special variants from preorders, but there's nothing for most of the IS mechs (or any clan variants other than the primes)

[That Dawg]

StraferX, on 01 May 2015 - 07:27 AM, said:

My question, what are some other ideas that could be implemented to generate cash that would reduce the cost of ingame merchandise?

Create a game that is popular.


we all want pgi to succeed

[lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol]

StraferX, on 01 May 2015 - 07:27 AM, said:

With the frequency of the mech packs that are being released and the extremely high cost we all know that PGI needs a lot of money to maintain quality operations. My question, what are some other ideas that could be implemented to generate cash that would reduce the cost of ingame merchandise?

1. A real life merchandise store that sold coffee mugs, t-shirts, hats, hoodies, posters and miniature mechs etc.

2. DLC content like new game mode to include 20 maps

3. In game advertisement. The citadel could become Intel Citadel, HGP Manifold could become ASUS HGP Manifold. Mining collective becomes Thermaltake Cooling Solutions etc.

4. Team sponsored advertisement. $500 team donation to randomly generate team logo or just tag as graffiti on buildings, on the lic plates of the cars in river city, a sleeping pod in HGP, a holding tank in Caustic? OR just $5 to have my team logo on my mech or $20 for custom team paint scheme that I could put on any mech I wanted.

5. MWO sponsored pay tournament. $20 per team to join, winners win in game consumables announcer gets small cash the rest to PGI.

Feel free to add your ideas or tell me why I am wrong. I want PGI to succeed and I want much more content and I want all the mechs however it is becoming increasingly difficult to fork out the $80 for mechs when we lack quality content, gameplay and graphics.

Or make it 14.99 a month so PGI doesn't have to wonder if their new mechpack or cockpit flair will sell well or if they're going to need to hop on the hamster wheels to power the servers for a month or so without pay. With consistent revenue, maybe they could even hire a bigger team?

$180 Isn't a lot for a MMO if people enjoy playing a game, and if the people who don't pay a dime don't like it... then what, they take their cbills elsewhere?

It's not like it isn't possible, EVE's doing just fine holding its own in it's corner of the market, and its not like there's a slew of big stompy robot games to steal a piece of the pie.

Edited by 00ohDstruct, 02 May 2015 - 09:31 PM.

[Rando Slim]

Protip to PGI: go back to Econ 201 and re-learn the concept of elasticity. Video game assets are rather elastic goods in that the demand for them fluctuates significantly and inversely with price. Now I don't have data to tell you EXACTLY that proportionality, but maybe hypothetically, you lower the BASE prices of your packs and hero mechs by say 25 percent and thus generate 30 percent more sales volume and therefore more profits. Because even though there aren't a whole lot of direct substitutes for MWO (which might make MWO assets a little less elastic than usual) there is still an oversaturation of alternatives for how one spends their video gtame time and money in general across all genres. For the majority of us who play other games..........the prices are simply exorbitant. I can wait for a steam sale and get 6-8 full featured games for the price of Clan Wave 3 pack, so for PGI to be asking the same price for one mech chassis as I just paid for say, Endless Legend and its DLC for 30 bucks like I just got (and could spend at least 100 hours playing) or something like X3 Albion Prelude (which I have played for probably 800 hours over 3 years) and suddenly its laughable PGI is getting away with these prices. Bring them to within reason, and maybe more people will take the bait.

Edited by Rando Slim, 03 May 2015 - 01:25 AM.

[o0Marduk0o]

Some seriously think the price tag for mech packages is high? It's not for 3 mechs + goodies. It only feels wrong, that all weight classes cost the same.
Furthermore the price of individual mechs (not heroes) bought with MC is too high.

[Pjwned]

00ohDstruct, on 02 May 2015 - 09:30 PM, said:

Or make it 14.99 a month so PGI doesn't have to wonder if their new mechpack or cockpit flair will sell well or if they're going to need to hop on the hamster wheels to power the servers for a month or so without pay. With consistent revenue, maybe they could even hire a bigger team?

$180 Isn't a lot for a MMO if people enjoy playing a game, and if the people who don't pay a dime don't like it... then what, they take their cbills elsewhere?

It's not like it isn't possible, EVE's doing just fine holding its own in it's corner of the market, and its not like there's a slew of big stompy robot games to steal a piece of the pie.

The microscopic amount of content in MWO, in addition to all the problems it has, would never justify a monthly sub fee and the playerbase would go down the toilet, which would leave only the most fanatical loyalists and they would eventually get bored with a severely diminished playerbase. Also, other than Planetside (2) I'm not aware of any other online shooter games with a sub fee, and Planetside (2) is F2P now anyways.

Edited by Pjwned, 03 May 2015 - 01:56 AM.

[That Dawg]

Quote

Or make it 14.99 a month

current game is simply not worth that.

Eves been around for 10 years, millions of players and they can barely generate 10 a month.

a fee? look at the 150ish players in CW on a friday/saturday night.

[StraferX]

Thank you all for the input we have had a lot of good ideas entered and discussed.

I really like the idea of alternative mech components but only at higher levels of game play. I would take my Zeus 9 and make that right arm a massive shield or relocate my Grf-3m lasers to the right side. I would love interchangeable cockpit glass or new heads and fist or additional fins. Looks like the miniatures would be very popular as would decals and team skins.



I agree that if subscriptions or payable DLC were offered i would delete the game but I wanted others thoughts. For me to consider subscription this game would need to expand by 100% The hate for ingame advertisement surprised me though. As much as I would not like it I want to see PGI maintain an affordable life on their yachts and islands yet not charge me an arm and leg for a mech pack. When i played in CAL league in CS they had in game advertisements that were not obtrusive at all, say a building with an Intel logo for the sign or a downtown bilboard with Asus advertisement that blended in and added to immersion. You say why would Asus want to donate say $25,000 for a bilboard when they could give a video card to a tournament winner? I guess because the number of people they would reach over time as to a contest and limited outreach. What would it take to add a billboard in river city 45 mins to draw up and code in? or change the Lic plates on those cars to say Corsair? Who would notice the Lic plates? I would because I am more about immersion than a lot of other stuff and yes I am the clown who would get cored out looking at the lic logo.

Other things I would pay to see would be active monitors and back up cameras but most important ROLE Warefare and the ability to fly the drop ship myself. I would also drop MC into my team account to be used for a choice of traps, defenses or attack options in CW.

DeathMatch mode would be great.

[stjobe]

StraferX, on 03 May 2015 - 03:20 AM, said:

The hate for ingame advertisement surprised me though. As much as I would not like it I want to see PGI maintain an affordable life on their yachts and islands yet not charge me an arm and leg for a mech pack. When i played in CAL league in CS they had in game advertisements that were not obtrusive at all, say a building with an Intel logo for the sign or a downtown bilboard with Asus advertisement that blended in and added to immersion. You say why would Asus want to donate say $25,000 for a bilboard when they could give a video card to a tournament winner? I guess because the number of people they would reach over time as to a contest and limited outreach. What would it take to add a billboard in river city 45 mins to draw up and code in? or change the Lic plates on those cars to say Corsair? Who would notice the Lic plates? I would because I am more about immersion than a lot of other stuff and yes I am the clown who would get cored out looking at the lic logo.

You say you're "more about immersion", but you don't think twice about the fact that Asus or Intel, or most of the other companies that might be interested in advertising in MWO (and they aren't) don't even exist in the BattleTech universe? Or that the game is actually set in 3050 and seeing an ad for a 1000-year old product would be seriously jarring?

IGA works, yes. In sports games and racing games, and perhaps in some of the big-ticket E-sports games. But in niche games like MWO? Fuhgeddaboudit. Zero interest from advertisers, 100% hate from players. It's the very definition of lose-lose.

Edited by stjobe, 03 May 2015 - 03:45 AM.