342 replies to this topic

[Bryan Ekman]

No, we will not require players to have a Premium Account to play in a Merc Unit.

Yes, we are considering monetizing aspects of Community Warfare.

• A small one-time MC and/or CB fee to create a Merc Corp*.
  
• Some aspects of CW will reward players with MC, we are considering a Premium Account requirement to participate in these rewards. This will not prevent non-paying customers to participate in all aspects of CW with their friends and teammates.
  
• If we decided to launch Private Matches, they will likely require a Premium Account to cover costs of hosting a match on our hardware.

* We are looking at ways to prevent/mitigate name reserving and parking. We may simply require players to have a minimum of 1 company or 12 active players to maintain a valid status.

At this time no final decisions have been made.


Due to the article coming out on a Friday and myself being on vacation, I was not in a position to write this response on the forums. Instead I used my Twitter account to try and alleviate some of the concerns. Please consider any communication via my Twitter account as an official response.

The Polygon article was correctly reported with one omission by the interviewer and one omission from myself:

• I made mention near the end of the conversation that no final decisions have been made. I also used soft language, like may, possibly, could, probably - these are far from definite. At no time did I make any statements of finality.
  
• I did not clarify that the requirement of premium time would be for the MC reward system and private matches. Both are part of the CW.

The response from the community and the timing of events were both unfortunate.

We cannot control when third-parties release their interviews with us and how they present the information we have provided them.

While we accept that the community is passionate and expects communication from us, and we always strive to provide the best answer we can:
Sometimes we are simply not available to answer right at that moment; Holidays do exist for developers.

It’s one thing to disagree politely and intelligently, even passionately, with the content as it had been initially presented.It’s a whole other issue when the community sends violent threats to PGI/IGP staff for any reason: whether it’s a misunderstanding or for not being available to respond in as timely a manner as expected.

However, we will hold firm that aggressive and threatening behaviour towards staff of fellow MechWarriors will never be acceptable and will result in banishment for those who do so.
I take solace in the fact that this behavior represents the minority, not the majority of our amazing players.

There are probably hundreds of other questions to be answered, however this was by far the most pressing. We are going to be rolling out a series of Command Chair posts over the next few weeks and months detailing all the aspects of CW. Since it's such a large feature, it will take time to reveal all the details.

[Pando]

Thank you for setting the loud minority straight. I look forward to the command chair posts. CW looks amazing considering what we know, and what is possible.

Edited by Pando, 08 April 2013 - 09:41 AM.

[Dale]

Thanks for the clarification, and it sucks to hear that people went so far as to send out personal threats. I look forward to the Command Chair posts.

[Joseph Mallan]

Cool. Thanks.

[Hungry Hungry Hobo]

Sorry to hear you guys had to deal wtih some crazy people.

[Budor]

Thanks. A high-res shot of the new map here on the forums would be nice to

[Oxyclean]

Thanks you for the clarifications!

Do you know if there's any talks (or would it be possible to bring the idea up) about a better value/incetivised premium account? I think Planetside 2 offers a subscription model comparable to most MMOs, which grants both premium time-esque bonus AND some level of monthly game cash.

[William Denton]

Thanks for the post. It's a shame that someone did send hate-mails.

None the less, I am really concerned about your statement regarding Private Matches. It was the very Feature i hoped to use when I would introduce some of my more sceptical friedens to this awesome Game. How should I do that now?
And I dont think anyone who would make films is willing to Pay Premium so he can shoot the way he wants.
And why do we have to pay for private Matches in the First place? How should those be more resource intesive than our Games atm?

[Deathlike]

This is better than the semi-answers that were provided, as they are not always in its complete context.

With that said, premium time for private matches might not be well received. I can understand paying for it, but premium time isn't worth it if the stability of the product is in question, which is the current status.

[Blackfire87]

Oxyclean, on 08 April 2013 - 09:53 AM, said:

Do you know if there's any talks (or would it be possible to bring the idea up) about a better value/incetivised premium account? I think Planetside 2 offers a subscription model comparable to most MMOs, which grants both premium time-esque bonus AND some level of monthly game cash.

This is great!! Especially if you are going to charge a monthly subscription fee(Premium time) to use a private lobby.

[Palmtree]

Unfortunate that some in the community will react in that manner. This is certainly a hot button topic for a very passionate community, but obviously threats and/or violence are always unconscionable and unacceptable. I am glad that those who made these types of statements have been dealt with accordingly.

That said, I do believe (and I know that PGI will be doing this down the line) that more clarity needs to be made on this issue, especially regarding private lobbies. The Mechwarrior outfit/clan/corporation community has always had a strong level of maturity and a long memory. I believe that many of us who are involved in league play imagine a CW scene that follows in the footsteps of precursors like NBT that came before it. I hope that PGI is keeping these types of leagues in mind as a template for what CW could become in the future. If this type of competitive play is not going to be supported (ie, we have revisions later on down the line like third person view to cater to the casual community), I do hope that a lobby system is in place so that the competitive scene can be supported by the community at large. Creating a premium lobby as the only method for this undercuts the ability of the community to fill potential holes left by CW for the competitive players.

Edited by Palmtree, 08 April 2013 - 06:11 PM.

[Krzysztof z Bagien]

I don't mean to be picky or something, but how come you can post something on Twitter, but can't log in to your MWO page account and post something here too?

[Kommisar]

I wish I could say I am surprised by the threats.

Perspective in one's life can be important. For instance, take the following answers to the same question:

"What is the worst thing that happened to you this year?"

Answer 1 - The militias came, chopped off my right hand, ***** my wife, "drafted" my son, burned my hut, and poisoned our only well.

Answer 2 - A video game company gave an interview to a website and I didn't like what I heard.

A bit extreme on the comparison; but I still think some people just need some real problems in their life to help balance their behavior.

[Tennex]

private matches are essential to longevity of a game.

just consider how long MW3 and MW4 has been sustained due to private matches. alone. players themselves are content.

private matches are essential to support a robust, competitive community. and once you add the initial ingredients. the players will run themselves and grow themselves, and that iself is a form of content. means less work for you. to produce content and keep players entertained. and more time free players to become paid payers

"hey friends come play this game. We can only play together if you pay though"
it needs to be free so that there is no wall between paying and free players.
think of the free players as content.

think of server costs not as a drain. But as a cost to produce content (free players) for your other players

Edited by Tennex, 08 April 2013 - 11:04 AM.

[Joe Mallad]

Thanks for the clarification. We all get heated about things we are passionate about but personal threats should never happen.

[Magik0012]

I really wish posts like this as well as Command Chair, Announcements, etc would be co-posted under the "Latest News" section of the front MWO page.

[Rawyn]

Pando, on 08 April 2013 - 09:39 AM, said:

Thank you for setting the loud minority straight. I look forward to the command chair posts. CW looks amazing considering what we know, and what is possible.

Not much to add here, thanks for the clarification. And don't let yourselves be dragged down by the haters. Crush them
beneath your talons, har har. I'm ok with the presented ideas.

William Denton, on 08 April 2013 - 09:54 AM, said:

None the less, I am really concerned about your statement regarding Private Matches. It was the very Feature i hoped to use when I would introduce some of my more sceptical friedens to this awesome Game. How should I do that now?
And I dont think anyone who would make films is willing to Pay Premium so he can shoot the way he wants.
And why do we have to pay for private Matches in the First place? How should those be more resource intesive than our Games atm?

View it as if you were renting a private server for your matches ( like a counter strike server or whatever ). Wild guess on my side: Not every participant will need a premium account, only the hoster ? But as it has been said: Nothing is final atm.

*No white knights were harmed while posting this*

[Tuku]

Sweet thanks for letting us know

[Monsoon]

Thanks Bryan,

Patience can be rewarded. Hopefully the Rage can simmer down now...for a day or two.

[fac3l3ss]

Bryan,

I really appreciate your clearing this up and I'm sorry for the hell you must have gone through as a result of the unfortunate timing of the release of the interview. I'm also sorry to hear you guys have been threatened with violence...that's pretty ridiculous. I know you guys are working hard and don't deserve that type of treatment. Keep up the good work.