92 replies to this topic

[Doc S]

roh, on 01 November 2011 - 07:45 AM, said:

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.

A mix of new areas, maps and cosmetic features would be great. Take a look at the LotR Online F2P model. It works and Turbine make a good revenue ( at least the say it works well ) with it.

A big & definite NO for pay2win. It would kill the game before it really launches.

[Galaxy613]

Frankly, I'll pay $10 for a full blown DCMS paintjob. I won't however pay $10 for gold C-Bills to buy 50 Mega LRMS

[fett]

I think you guys are missing an obvious solution.

The game should be free, unless you want to have any clantech. Then it should be obscenely expensive, and cover all development a support costs for the life of the game. If it doesn't, charge the real players (IS stock mechs) to play on servers where those with clantech cannot play (ie. IS only). I'll pay for the second one, and quite a bit I might add.

I should add I'm quite prepared to pay money to add to my experience for this game due to loyalty to the genre itself. That being said, if there is a competitive advantage (ie. you can but assault mechs but otherwise could not get them). I would hope that there is a way to tell who bought their way to where they are, and who did not. Real bragging rights should go to those that earned it.

If some of the fees were to paint your mech, or do "cool" asthetic stuff, I'd probably consider them.

I hope mech customizations are not one of the things being considered. to me the game loses alot the further it strays from stock mechs.

[Cake Bandit]

fett, on 07 November 2011 - 02:25 PM, said:

I think you guys are missing an obvious solution.

The game should be free, unless you want to have any clantech. Then it should be obscenely expensive...

I'm really not one to cry "pay to win" but this is literally "Pay for better equipment" and is absolutely stupid if you want to maintain any semblance of fairness between free to play and pay to players.


They need to offer expedience and convenience in exchange for your dollar. Nothing should be out of reach of the free to play guys, but it should definitely be much more time intensive to go that route. Look at how Team Fortress 2 handles this. Anyone can get any of the items that actually matter in the game, (weapons). They do it by grinding and spending time playing the game. You also don't know what is going to drop at any given time, so it's not like it's a clearly defined goal. Hell, they even let all the free to play guys come in and join in the halloween celebration. Handed out free items for doing well on servers, the whole shebang. Do you think those guys might think about giving their money over after having such a fun time? Probably. I know plenty of people who have been won over to that game purely because they want to. There's absolutely nothing they gain outside of some backpack slots and the ability to wear hats. There is no barrier to actually playing the game, or even being good at it. Valve is making. *******. bank with this business model.

[deathanxiety]

A recurring theme i notice on these forums is people seem to be worried about the whole Free2Play, Pay2Win model that MWO could potentially become. Thinking about it, I've actually thought of a solution that could possible work. Sorry if this has already been said.

What if there are 3 different 'groups' that players can potentially be put in. For example. If you want to play and unlock and buy equipment, mechs etc using the in-game money then you play in one group where only others who are using in game money to buy mechs and such play.

The second you purchase mechs or upgrades and such using real money, you're put into a seperate group where people who have used real money play in.

The third group is where it's a free for all and anyone who purchased mechs using real money or used the in game currency to unlock play.

However the only way you are ever put into the real money group is if you buy equipment that would give you an early advantage over others who choose not to use real money. Buying skins or visual upgrades using real money keeps you in the first group with people who haven't purchased mechs or 'advantage' upgrades using real money.

It's probably a **** idea but i reckon it would keep people who purchase advantages using real money away from the people who dont want to or cant afford to buy upgrades to give them an advantage making the game fair.

[Cake Bandit]

The thing that a lot of people don't seem to realize is that selling mechs or weapons doesn't mean anything really so long as it's all accessible to everyone. It won't hurt game balance to make obtaining in game items faster for people who are willing to pony up. Bonus points if stuff gets broken in combat or even better SALVAGED by other players and distributed around.

They need to sell things like hangar bay slots for more mechs, wicked awesome paint jobs, maybe even buy and sell hitman contracts from one house to another in an attempt to earn a bonus. There is literally a whole UNIVERSE of possibilities outside of directly influencing the combat itself. Get outside the box, folks!

[Captain Nice HD]

The real money-maker in F2P models isn't listed on this poll: the business of selling convenience.

For example: A player could grind for hours to accumulate enough C-Bills to buy that shiny-new Atlas, or they could just make a down-payment at the local Piranha Arms Dealership with Real Life™ cash and get it right away. A lot of people would go for that, simply because they'd feel that their time is worth the money.

Aside from the fact that there are a lot of essential battlefield roles that Assault 'Mechs are generally bad at, there is another way to prevent this from turning the game into the Assault 'Mech playground of paying players: the matchmaking system. If the matches are balanced by, say, battle value, then it can ensured that a player bringing an Assault 'Mech to the party winds up facing either another Assault 'Mech or swarmed by lighter 'Mechs. Any tactical advantage that might have been gained from purchasing the 'Mech is effectively neutralized, excepting, of course, where the 'Mech is utilized in one of the few battlefield roles which Assaults genuinely excel at.

[Tsen Shang]

Voted greater access for things like a single player campaign, co-op campaign, maps, etc

[Pht]

Paying $ for anything in the mechlab would drive me utterly insane.

The raw basics of an F2P game should be free. Enhanced content is another thing...

[Cake Bandit]

Tsen Shang, on 07 November 2011 - 05:00 PM, said:

Voted greater access for things like a single player campaign, co-op campaign, maps, etc

Map packs and campaigns (The best kind of training) would end up dividing the players and make the game stagnate for people who aren't paying. It would be much more likely to push players away from buying. It works on consoles because you've already blown $60 on the game and most players will be damned if they're going to let the developer ruin their good time by forcing them out with new maps.

Pht, on 07 November 2011 - 05:00 PM, said:

Paying $ for anything in the mechlab would drive me utterly insane.

What about using payments to speed up the rate at which you can purchase gear? Need some artillery but LRM's aren't turning up in your salvage dives? Maybe blow five bucks on a launcher. Sure, you could've gotten it the hard way or with C-Bills, but it's just a little bit faster this way. Considering how often things break or get salvaged when you explode in the mechwarrior universe, it'll probably be less than a dollar or so.

[Leyana]

I'd cast my vote for a varied mix of cosmetic and greater access.

Things like unit patches, special paint schemes, markings for cosmetics and 'mech/weapon/map unlock packs for greater access. People with more money than time can buy shortcuts from the shop and those with more time than money can still get to an even playing field with game time.

[terminator]

Cannot only be bought with Real Money
Pay for experience boosts.
Camo/Cosmetic

Can be bought with c-bills or Real money
Pay for mechs
SOME equipment
Camo/Cosmetic

Can only be bought with c-bills
skills- but depends on what skills the devs have in mind
***Weapons especially clan weapons

***weapon can also be bought with real money but they have to be very doable with ingame currency also.
No play for 3 weeks just to buy 1 ppc especially if you can loose equipment.

Edited by terminator, 07 November 2011 - 08:23 PM.

[AntiSqueaker]

I say a mix. Able to buy cosmetic skins and paintjobs only using out of game cash, but able to buy some mechs (some nice ones, but not being able to immediately jump into an Atlas, a healthy medium.) either with in game currency, or with real life money. League of Legendsish.

Also, having a World of Tanks "premium" might work, but maybe not the ludicrous 50% increase in profits and XP. And definitely no premium ammo.


However, I dont want to see "premium" mechs that you can only get for real life money, like in World of Tanks. Do not want to see some wallet warriors running around in a Kodiak that you cant get normally (especially since it wouldnt be in the time frame!)