92 replies to this topic

[Roh]

I know there will be lots of rant threads about this topic. I don't want this to be one of them. I want this to be an informative thread.

So please no comments or arguments against any style of payment plan. Just stick to what makes the plan you like more desirable, please.

Now I will explain the options a bit.

Purely Cosmetic, this will be paying for additional paint variations. Time limited or otherwise. And it would be cool if you could even pay to upload your own custom paints or battalion/squad logos for a certain period of time. This is the area I am most interested in.

Greater Access, this may seem to be the same as the Pay to Win section but I am separating the two a bit. This area is is more about access to features that effect gameplay variety more then gameplay advantages. Such as access to different maps and or areas.

Pay to Win, I know the name implies bad things but my opinion aside there are likely to be people who want these options. Those options being paying for access to anything that effects your odds of victory. More powerful or versatile equipment being the most common.

Varied mix should be fairly obvious.



If there are parts of a varied mix or greater details on your selection please leave that in a comment. I don't plan to edit this poll as I am curious to see the results.

[Roh]

As I mentioned my personal vote is for cosmetic only. Not just because I want to have free access to play the game as much as possible but because the things I would be most likely to spend my money on are cosmetic.

I want my skill and strategy to determine if I succeed or fail. And I like being able to feel like a unique individual in play.

Now I could live with a mix of consmetics and greater access. So long as win and lose are always entirely decided by my and my opponents skill.

[T S Hawk]

I voted greater access. but even now I am really not understanding how this is going to be done about the game?

[Dsi1]

+1 to greater customization

[selbie]

80-90% cosmetic, but also some greater access for people who are serious about the game and want to show their support.

[Sera]

A Pay to Win model would kill the game for me and for most of us.

[ethnic minority]

I voted for mixed - Piranha's gotta make money somehow. This also allows for non-paying skilled players to still have pride over the fact that they can prevail over the well-equipped paying pilots.

[Roh]

Greater access is fairly easy. An example would be solaris arena. They could have two of each league. I am hoping there will be purely ingame currency that effects what mechs you can use. If there is you can pay for access to higher reward versions of each league. Er league being my best guess at a word to describe light, medium, or mixed... You know.

If there is no ingame currency that makes it even easier. They can give pure F2Pers access to a smaller selection of maps(Say one of each major terrain style) and let people buy permanent or time limited(Seems smarter and still reasonable to me) access to other arenas.

You could pay for better options for player grouping. Merc group stuff they mentioned in the Faq. There are many options.

[omegaclawe]

I'd find a "Pay to speed up the process of acquiring things that other people can get and affect gameplay" combined with cosmetics to be the best choice right now. As long non-paying players can get those items, it won't be broken, and I somehow doubt pure cosmetics will be enough to get the game going, at least initially. Even Hat Fortress 2 had to be pay to play, at first.

Edit: Also, the paying players will often lack the skills developed in working there, which gives the non-paying players the rewarding feeling of going up against a better mech and still beating the snot out of it.

Edited by omegaclawe, 01 November 2011 - 08:05 AM.

[Aleksandr Miuri]

This does kinda seem like a pointless poll. Is anyone -really- going to vote for "pay to win"?

Either of the first two would be fine with me. Obviously it would be nice to not have to pay for anything except cosmetics, but I don't know how viable that is and obviously I want the game to be a success for the developers too. I'd be fine with something like an optional subscription plan that gets you access to more maps, even more mechs (as long as they aren't -better- than free mechs). I'd much rather have it as a premium subscription than a "buy/rent this mech for 250 c-bills" system, personally.

[BlindProphet]

Wheres the 'like WOT but better" option?

[Phytochrome]

I'd prefer payable stuff to be restricted to cosmetic changes such as paintschemes, custom logoes/decals, and so on. The prevalence of Merc Corps in the game would surely increase the money generated by this. For example, if you want to join the Grey Death Legion, they'd have a custom paint/decal pattern for your mech, which you'd pay to purchase and bring your mech into "uniform" standard. I assume more casual groups would just go with whatever appearance customisation options are available.

Ideally I'd just like to pay full-price up front for the game, but we'll see what pricing options they decide on.

[Archer Christifori]

I would like to see a system that is similar to Team Fortress 2.

[Dsi1]

If there was an option to subscribe & get all content for subscribing, I'd do it, just saying.

[TheForce]

I voted for greater access.

I played DDO for a while and was happy to pay for their adventure packs. Some of these packs would give you unique items, but this would give you a tactical advantage in MWO.

I'd be happy to pay for additional maps/missions without the unique items though.

I'd also pay for cosmetic stuff.

Edited by theforce, 01 November 2011 - 08:11 AM.

[TheRulesLawyer]

You missed the biggest category-

Pay to not grind: XP boosts, money boosts etc. You'll get in better mechs quicker and can pay to "train" your pilot.


Ideally I want to pay for cosmetic stuff and xp/money boosts.

If you look at any item and thing "hey that would be nice to have in a tournament" it should be available through in game time spent (xp, or credits earned)

I don't mind the pay for access bit, but it doesn't seem to fit a game like this well. It means that paying players would have trouble finding matches on the maps they pay for. Not a good situation.

[Roh]

Well, I'd rather it be a purely sub game myself but that isn't an option. I only put what I thought likely. And I think some of you underestimate the possibilities for purely cosmetic options. Brings more people into the game, chases fewer away, and most are more willing to pay repeatedly for smaller personal purchases then large forced ones.

But then I'm not marketing specialist or anything. Could be entirely wrong.

Edited: Er I feel the pay to not grind fits reasonably into greater access.

Edited by roh, 01 November 2011 - 08:15 AM.

[Spartan]

If you want a good F2P model, look at Rise of Flight or maybe Team Fortress 2.

In Rise of Flight, you get the free version of the game which only comes with 2 aircraft, the Spad XIII and the Albatross D.Va. Other aircraft, such as the Camel, Dr.I, D.VIIF, etc. are all purchasable from the game's website for a one time payment. In addition, various gauges or gun sights are also available, again, for a one time payment. Basically, once you've paid for it, its yours forever. No expiration dates or anything like that.

As far as TF2 is concerned, again, you buy something once and its yours forever. Now, in TF2, every item is available without having to pay for it, you just have to get it in a random drop or craft it. Some of these items are very rare or take a lot to craft, but it is possible. If you want to, you can spend money in the item store and buy what you're looking for. This is most common with things like hats, which are only randomly dropped when crafting for one.

Two examples, two games whose F2P models work very well for them. The only thing I will not support is having to pay repeatedly for the same item/mech/weapon. If I spend money on it, I expect to own it.

Edited by spartan, 01 November 2011 - 08:16 AM.

[Roh]

spartan, on 01 November 2011 - 08:15 AM, said:

If you want a good F2P model, look at Rise of Flight or maybe Team Fortress 2.

In Rise of Flight, you get the free version of the game which only comes with 2 aircraft, the Spad XIII and the Albatross D.Va. Other aircraft, such as the Camel, Dr.I, D.VIIF, etc. are all purchasable from the game's website for a one time payment. In addition, various gauges or gun sights are also available, again, for a one time payment. Basically, once you've paid for it, its yours forever. No expiration dates or anything like that.

As far as TF2 is concerned, again, you buy something once and its yours forever. Now, in TF2, every item is available without having to pay for it, you just have to get it in a random drop or craft it. Some of these items are very rare or take a lot to craft, but it is possible. If you want to, you can spend money in the item store and buy what you're looking for. This is most common with things like hats, which are only randomly dropped when crafting for one.

Two examples, two games whose F2P models work very well for them. The only thing I will not support it having to pay repeatedly for the same item/mech/weapon. If I spend money on it, I expect to own it.

TF2 is not a proper comparison. It was a normal MP retail game making them money through sales long before it went F2P cash cow. It's already made it's profits. At this point they are just milking the suckers.

Can't really comment on the other game. Know nothing about it.

[Sarah McCallum]

A varied mix seems about right. I've thoroughly enjoyed World of Tanks, even though there's an element of Pay-2-Win that's present. If Piranha uses a similar model I'll probably be all over it.