InnerSphereNews, on 27 August 2013 - 01:17 PM, said:
Economics
As for the economics, we’ve heard some talk about the reduction in C-Bill rewards. As previous replies to the community in the latest ATD have stated, we needed to rein in some of the rewards a bit as they had grown beyond our original thresholds by about 16%. This is normal and common as a game evolves and players become more efficient. The addition of 12v12 also required a tuning pass to lower the earning by around 13% to account for an additional 8 players on the battlefield. The future vision for CB and XP rewards includes a more granular, role based approach currently in design and development. These expanded earnings will reward players directly for performing specific roles, allowing them to distinguish themselves.
Some economic math from our telemetry data:
- Average match time is 8.4 minutes.
- Average CB/match is 79,069.
- Average CB/hour is 564,778 if you only have 1 BattleMech to use.
- New players can earn 7,981,686 in cadet bonuses during their first 3.5 hours in addition to between 1-3 million in regular game earnings.
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It’s important to note that new or inexperienced players will be below this average, while experienced or veteran players will be above this. Player’s with premium time and/or a Hero Mech can expect to better still. New players can earn enough money to buy several light or medium Mechs with just their cadet bonus, or can opt to buy 1 or 2 heavies, or 1 assault. In fact a new player can buy their very first Mech within just a handful of matches, begin upgrading and acquiring new permanent equipment for future Mechs.[/color]
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If players so wish, they can even increase C-Bill earnings substantially by exiting matches if they are destroyed early, and jumping into a new one.[/color]
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For example:[/color]
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If your Mech is destroyed to a roaming band of Jenners early on, you can jump out of that match and into a new one right away – potentially doubling your C-Bills to 1.2 million per hour! This cuts down your time to purchase new Mechs and equipment.[/color]
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Like game balance, we are constantly evaluating the economic environment and will continue to make small tweaks to keep the economics balanced.[/color]
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Respectfully sir, having played several dozen matches since the modification to the economy, I'm finding myself exceedingly burned out on the grind. I realize how this decision makes some sense from a business point of view, but as a voice "from the trenches," I'm honestly having a hard time justifying the amount of time it takes for me to accumulate enough C-Bills to purchase a new chassis. Add in the unavoidable customization that each player does upon their chosen ride, and it seems to compound the issue presented even more so. Of course in the case of customization, I can understand the idea that I've got to "work" for all the upgrades I want. Still, I find myself wondering about the new player experience, once they've completed their cadet bonus time. Yes, they'll have enough C-Bills to buy a decent ride and start customizing it, but what about when they decide to buy a second and third variant as they move towards mastery?
I realize the C-Bill economy is set to such a level as to ultimately encourage the purchasing of MC for real currency, but I would also conjecture that this decision may impact long-term replayability for many who play the game and chose to be frugal with their in-game purchases.
I might also add that the later part of your post seems to be encouraging suiciding for those players wishing to grind C-Bills, which for those of us who witnessed such acts in closed beta might seem quite disheartening. The idea that the time I'm giving towards enjoying myself might be ruined by packs of players simply trying to up their C-Bill wallet definitely does not help the hesitation I already feel about my long-term play of the game.