24 replies to this topic

[Team Leader]

Poll above.


Suggestion:

• I suggest that camo patterns be unlockable on a global scale, just like the colors are, to be used on any mech you ever own as many times as you want.

Pretty simple stuff. I would buy some camo spec patterns if this was the case (I really like the digital, and woodland or vagabond are kinda cool too) however unlocking them for just single chassis is just too expensive. I will not be buying any camo patterns for this reason. I will update this post with maths to reflect the cost of owning all camo patterns for all chassis.


The only improvement I can think of for unlocking colors would be color packs, where you can buy an entire palette or a blend for a much reduced price. However, with the 50% off sales, I think color prices are about ok. Without the sales, its a little too steep to sample the rainbow, in my opinion.






Here is the math:

• There are currently 16 mechs that can have camo patterns applied to them
  
• There are 8 common patterns at 750 MC each and a unique pattern at 1,250 MC

This means that:

• The cost to unlock all camo patterns for 1 chassis is 7250 MC
  
• $28.99 per chassis at the $99.95 pack price
  
• $40.31 per chassis at the $6.95 pack price

7250 x 16, the cost to unlock all camo patterns for all mechs:

• 116,000 MC

Buying the $99.95 MC pack, at 250 1/8 MC per dollar, the cost of 116,000 MC comes out to:

• $463.77

At the $6.95 MC pack, at 179.86 MC per dollar, the cost of 116,000 MC comes out to:

• $644.96

Keep in mind, with the addition of each additional mech, the total cost to pattern all chassis will increase by a median of $34.65, this is NOT including the addition of even more paints!

Edited by Team Leader, 22 April 2013 - 12:59 PM.

[Willie Sauerland]

Team Leader, on 22 April 2013 - 12:13 PM, said:

Poll above.

Where is the OP suggestion pointed to in Item 2?

[Corvus Antaka]

we totally need global camo unlocks. current system sucks. even on sale the unlock is not worth it.

[Tennex]

it should just cost less.

you can apply the one time cammo so many times before you'd need to get a global unlock. even switching back to old cammo and into new ones.

[joedawg39s]

I'm OK with the system now but, global unlocks would be nice. I just hope that they reset everyone's unlocks for phase 3/CW when we start getting the faction specific camos. Everyone who bought the single use camos for all their mechs might end up feeling screwed when they have to chose between the faction camo or their MC spec. (I think I'm going to ask that in ask the devs.)

[Team Leader]

Updated with math

[Team Leader]

someone post something, dont let this thread die! I put a lot of time into it!

[Ken Fury]

I have only 2-3 patterns I unlock for most chassis (owning over 40 mechs). It's not like you really need ALL patterns on ALL Mechs.

And somehow PGI has to make money (off me).

Edited by Tank Boy Ken, 22 April 2013 - 01:17 PM.

[Syncline]

If camo unlocks were global, they would cost even MORE than the 750 MC it costs for one mech series. I spend 75 MC on a camo for a mech I like and leave it alone. Aside from Dragons and Catapults, I only play one chassis per mech series. I would have to use a lot of skins for a lot of mechs to justify what PGI would have to charge for a global unlock, but I'm happy with my PC Gamer skin on every available chassis.

Right now, it's cheaper to buy individual skins for mechs without a PC Gamer skin, so that's what I do. If it cost more I wouldn't do it. 75 MC is a reasonable price for a cosmetic change. I can't justify spending much more than that.

Edited by Syncline, 22 April 2013 - 01:20 PM.

[Hellcat420]

i choose other because i wont spend real money for colors and patterns nomatter what they do with the pricing.

[Lycanstrom]

I agree that the current iteration of camo/color pricing needs some heavy adjustment.

I've spent money on MC, aside from my Founder's package, because I want to support PGI and I enjoy the game. However, I already ran the numbers like the OP did, and I was appalled by what I found. Rather than post about it though, I just decided "oh well... no way".

I hope they eventually come to their senses and make camo unlocks based on weight class rather than per-mech. The way it is now, it's just stupidly expensive.

[Gremlich Johns]

A basic camo pack for free is what I suggest. Anything more unique should cost a reasonable amount for global unlock. After all, you are buying a camo scheme for yourself, not one mech.

[Lukoi Banacek]

None of this matters. Polls do not matter for this.

Vote with your wallet. That's the only thing that will convince PGI to modify their price points.

Anything else is noise. They can see metrics we can't and they'll price things/run sales accordingly, to reach their financial goals readily enough.

[Jess Hazen]

No costs for paint are out of sight already.

[Victor Morson]

I think the prices are OK for base, if they continue to run sales on paint & camo throughout the year.

I've bought paint & camos on most of the sales they've had.

Edited by Victor Morson, 22 April 2013 - 01:55 PM.

[Team Leader]

Lukoi, on 22 April 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

None of this matters. Polls do not matter for this.

Vote with your wallet. That's the only thing that will convince PGI to modify their price points.

Anything else is noise. They can see metrics we can't and they'll price things/run sales accordingly, to reach their financial goals readily enough.

I guess. I just hope someone will see these costs and be like "huh, thanks kind of a lot of money to waste, I better not" and then the sales will drop and PGI/IGP will adjust it.

[Wildman13]

Team Leader, on 22 April 2013 - 02:08 PM, said:

I guess. I just hope someone will see these costs and be like "huh, thanks kind of a lot of money to waste, I better not" and then the sales will drop and PGI/IGP will adjust it.

Honestly, I see nothing wrong with that sentiment.

[EgoSlayer]

And PGI should do this why?

By your math a person that wants them all will have to spend $463.77 now and an additional $34.65 each time a new mech is released.

Lets say they do a global pattern and it's 10x the current rate now, so 7500MC. Your idea is that they should just charge once, 7500 in this example or ~$30 (@250MC/Dollar). Then you never have to buy it again, ever, no matter what mechs are released. Even at 100 times the current rate that makes it about $300, once and then never any more money spent.

How does PGI get more revenue with your idea? It becomes a one time purchase, rather than a potential reoccurring MC buy.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Things are fine as-is, and here's why.

Patterns take a lot more work than colors. Each chassis, and for that matter each variant, requires its own version of the pattern, and thus its own expenses when PGI develops the pattern in the first place. The fact that PGI offers an unlock on a per-chassis basis is a decent middle ground between variant pattern unlocks and global pattern unlocks.

As for the price, a pattern unlock is 10x a single-use pattern application. I know that when I paint my mechs, I have two separate themes that I follow. The first is my unit color scheme, which requires standard paint patterns (blocks of color with trim, essentially). The second is camo, where I prefer Tiger and use an entirely different color palette. I'd never use my unit colors with Tiger, and I'd never use my camo colors with conventional patterns. Having Tiger unlocked lets me freely change between the two as many times as I want, and all it takes is 10 uses of Tiger across the entire suite of variants for a given chassis and suddenly the unlock has paid for itself.

This would only be amplified (and thus made more price efficient) if I cared at all about other paint schemes. If I had three or four setups that I wanted to be able to switch among, then permanent unlocks become even more valuable. Really, the only reason ever to buy a single application is if you never intend to change the mech's look ever again. Since I can't make that promise to myself, I just grab the unlock purchase.

In addition, if you don't like the price, wait for a sale. I picked up Tiger for both my Catapults and my Cataphracts, as well as Woodland for my Stalkers and Atlases, when they were half off, and now I have unlimited use of those patterns on those mechs without having to agonize over whether or not I really do want to spend the MC to switch paint jobs.

However, if PGI wanted to add a new class of unlocks, or even two new classes, that'd be fine with me. Say, a weight class unlock for 3000 MC, or a universal unlock for 9000, I'd be fine with that as well. It'd be unlikely that they'd ever go on sale, but if somebody really wanted to grab a specific pattern for every mech he owns then a 9k universal unlock would be worth 12 chassis unlocks (or 24 half-price ones if you're patient). We currently have 16 chassis available, so there would definitely be price efficiency there.

[MonkeyCheese]

Nothing at all wrong with the paint system. It us pure non pay to win way for pgi to make money, its all cosmetic. It wont make anyone a better player so why complain about the prices.

WHY would they want cammo patterns permanently unlocked? you could just put your patterns on EVERY new mech thats developed and pgi gets no more money from you.

I prefer it this way, If I want a camo pattern for my new mech in 6 months time then I have to spend money on it. And anyway you can test before you buy so just find the one you like the best and do the cheaper single use camo unlock.


8 of my 12 mechs have camo on them, 2 have the pc gamer camo with premium paint and my hero and founder would have both if they would allow me to paint/camo them.

Gremlich Johns, on 22 April 2013 - 01:26 PM, said:

A basic camo pack for free is what I suggest.

IIRC I think they said something about unlockable camos as part of achievements or house related things.

Edited by MonkeyCheese, 22 April 2013 - 02:35 PM.