92 replies to this topic

[Solis Obscuri]

I'm still disappointed Buccaneer paint jobs didn't go on sale for "Talk Like a Pirate Day"...

[ryoma]

Lol Quickdraw

[theta123]

PGI really shows what moneyhogs they are. Every event is the same MC event. Every other free MMO like WOT, WT. always include events for both non-paying as paying customers. Like a while ago, It was USAAF aniverssary in WT. All USA-planes discount in regular ingame currency while premium planes recieved a discount in money currency..


Or a 5x EXP/silver event for the first battle of the day

[Lan Pyrelight]

theta123, on 21 September 2013 - 02:40 AM, said:

PGI really shows what moneyhogs they are. Every event is the same MC event. Every other free MMO like WOT, WT. always include events for both non-paying as paying customers. Like a while ago, It was USAAF aniverssary in WT. All USA-planes discount in regular ingame currency while premium planes recieved a discount in money currency..


Or a 5x EXP/silver event for the first battle of the day

If I were to be "optimistic", I'd guess their code base doesn't allow for any other event other than discounts (which just further depresses me how bad the code must be to be so limited). Of course, if I were pessimistic, I'd agree that this just comes off as another moneygrab and they're trying to milk us for all we're worth. Le sigh,

[Blackfoot]

Yay! we get 30 percent off the sticker price of regular mechs you can buy for cbills anyway. In fact, all three of those chassis I bought and mastered several months ago.

[Aesthir]

theta123, on 21 September 2013 - 02:40 AM, said:

PGI really shows what moneyhogs they are. Every event is the same MC event. Every other free MMO like WOT, WT. always include events for both non-paying as paying customers. Like a while ago, It was USAAF aniverssary in WT. All USA-planes discount in regular ingame currency while premium planes recieved a discount in money currency..

Or a 5x EXP/silver event for the first battle of the day

Blackfoot, on 21 September 2013 - 04:09 AM, said:

Yay! we get 30 percent off the sticker price of regular mechs you can buy for cbills anyway. In fact, all three of those chassis I bought and mastered several months ago.

I think this emphasizes one of the major problems with the game and marketing strategy. The rate at which they produce content is so slow that anyone who's not completely new to the game has already burned through most of it all. Ideally, they should be doing a different sale each week to try and maintain some positive cash flow, but without the new content to sell all they have is the old content.

It's like trying to sell a fridge to the person who just bought your whole kitchen set.

The problem is, the "kitchen set people" (i.e. the Founders)... it's not that they've stopped being the target market, it's that PGI is focusing solely on the new player market. Which I don't understand; it makes no kind of sense. The Founders are the people with money who liked the game enough to put up their cash sight unseen and are invested in the IP enough to stick around despite massive, mind-bogglingly stupid screwups.

And I know, I know, the usual defense is "But forum guy, they're such a SMALL STUDIO and THIS IS STILL BETA so you can't expect them to be able to keep up with that kind of demand. They've been trying to hire people and just CAN'T find enough!"

I totally understand that! I mean, with unemployment at all-time lows (especially in the arts and creative sectors, where people are worth their weight in gold due to the demands of a sophisticated and intellectual culture), finding people qualified to do those jobs has to be like winning the lottery! If only there was some kind of... oh, I don't know... interconnected global communications system like MechWarrior's hyperpulse network that would allow people to receive requirements and send product files regardless of geography. Then PGI wouldn't have to offer such ridiculously short-term contracts requiring relocation and quite possibly the hassle of moving to a new country.

Everything's just stacked against PGI right now. Just the way it is.

[DonBennos]

indeed there is that hiring request about one year now... whats the problem? I would join and you can pay me by donuts or choco cookies... no problem...

COOOOKIEEES!!!

[TLBFestus]

My wallet remains firmly closed.

Oh, hold it, that's not true. I just dumped over $100 into Battlefield 4 not 30 minutes ago. It's made by EA. A company I can not stand due to their poor customer service and money grubbing sales methods that they adopted in the past few years. That I did that tells me just how far MWO has sunk in my opinion.

Their primary, non-game directed goal, should be repairing their relationship with the community. It won't happen overnight, but every journey starts with a first step.

My suggestions;

- Hire someone to craft a heartfelt apology and honestly explaining their rationale for some of their decisions. Find someone who can apologize/explain the companies position without sounding derisive or condescending.

- Seriously consider adding a 1st person only queue, or explain clearly and concisely WHY it is a bad thing. Honestly, if you explain why it's not a good idea, ie. low numbers, players will ACCEPT that, and rally around you. Show a little humanity, some personality and I'll bet that the community will start to turn your way again.

- Reconfigure your mech prices, colors, patterns, and doodad prices. I remain convinced that if you permanently dropped prices by 30-60% you would make more money based on the increased volume of sales. Many people who sell retail can tell you that THIS WORKS.

- After the cadet bonus time expires, GIVE THE NEW PLAYER A FREE MECH. Then they can spend their c-bills equipping it. then they might still use their c-bills to add another mech AND buy a mech bay slot (which they are encouraged to do since you dropped the cost). Well, suddenly they ar playing in the mech lab, and they want to add paints, patterns and doo-dads. Suddenly they need more c-bills...., well I think I'll just buy some reasonably priced premium time to speed that process up....

Think of the new user as a boulder, sitting on top of a hill, full of potential. They need a little "nudge", a bit of a push, and pretty soon they are "rolling" on their own.

Right now it's more of a boulder sitting in the middle of the plain, and you guys are trying to convince everyone that it will be "fun" to push the thing along.

[Elder Thorn]

calm down all you whiners, this is still in... oh wait...

gratz PGI, next screwup - at least from my point of view. But i guess what i think doesn't matter because 1.) i have more than 5 forum posts, 2.) because short term income is way more important than a happy core playerbase.

[BlacKcuD]

Atlas Hero Mech

[Calamus]

Nope. I'm done spending money on your game for now. you're lucky that I'm not having my Phoenix purchase reversed.

Show me that supporting your game with my money is worth it again, and I will support your game with money.

[Calamus]

theta123, on 21 September 2013 - 02:40 AM, said:

PGI really shows what moneyhogs they are. Every event is the same MC event. Every other free MMO like WOT, WT. always include events for both non-paying as paying customers. Like a while ago, It was USAAF aniverssary in WT. All USA-planes discount in regular ingame currency while premium planes recieved a discount in money currency..


Or a 5x EXP/silver event for the first battle of the day

You know, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it, but you're right. I don't think there has ever been a 'sale' on this game for anything other than MC purchasable items. While I'm at it, as long as I've been around, there has never even been a sale on MC. Only items that you can buy with MC.

[101011]

Calamus, on 21 September 2013 - 10:11 AM, said:

You know, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it, but you're right. I don't think there has ever been a 'sale' on this game for anything other than MC purchasable items. While I'm at it, as long as I've been around, there has never even been a sale on MC. Only items that you can buy with MC.

I have no recollection of any non-MC sales, and I've been here since CB.

[WhoDidTheElf]

Sigh, I had hope. I haven't been playing this game terribly long, but the lack of anything big for launch day was really quite sad. This dev team has the least amount of communication with the community I've ever seen....

[Aesthir]

I agree with the sentiments of TLBFestus's post, I would tweak a few of the suggestions though to help things get to where they should be, quicker.

TLBFestus, on 21 September 2013 - 09:52 AM, said:

Their primary, non-game directed goal, should be repairing their relationship with the community. It won't happen overnight, but every journey starts with a first step.

My suggestions;

- Hire someone to craft a heartfelt apology and honestly explaining their rationale for some of their decisions. Find someone who can apologize/explain the companies position without sounding derisive or condescending.

I was reading old forum posts and came across Paul's announcement after they re-worked consumables due to player outrage (remember when they did things like that?) and I think that's what needs to happen now. We don't need heartfelt apologies with wringing of hands and rending of garments. We need "okay, you don't like it, that's what we care about, so we're going in this direction instead." The best way for them to repair their relationship with the community is to just start doing better. Better content and more of it. Set a clear vision for the game and stick to it. Apologies are cheap; trust is built one good deed at a time.

Quote

- Seriously consider adding a 1st person only queue, or explain clearly and concisely WHY it is a bad thing. Honestly, if you explain why it's not a good idea, ie. low numbers, players will ACCEPT that, and rally around you. Show a little humanity, some personality and I'll bet that the community will start to turn your way again.

Seriously consider taking out 3rd person altogether. Admit it was a mistake, drop it from the game, and move past it. Right now it's like you're dragging a corpse around screaming "he's still okay, he's still okay! And he smells great!" Bury the body, leave it behind you, and repurpose the code for kill cam shots.

Quote

- Reconfigure your mech prices, colors, patterns, and doodad prices. I remain convinced that if you permanently dropped prices by 30-60% you would make more money based on the increased volume of sales. Many people who sell retail can tell you that THIS WORKS.

Instead of messing with prices, introduce a player economy. Let players sell their excess MC for C-Bills. The mantra should be "everything accessable to all players". I want to buy a mechbay, but I can't just buy a mechbay worth of MC. Let me buy it off a player who has extra. Ever played Spiral Knights? They do this beautifully. The prices are self-correcting, free-to-play players get the benefit of MC-only purchases, and people who buy MC buy more of it so they can get C-Bills.

Quote

- After the cadet bonus time expires, GIVE THE NEW PLAYER A FREE MECH. Then they can spend their c-bills equipping it. then they might still use their c-bills to add another mech AND buy a mech bay slot (which they are encouraged to do since you dropped the cost). Well, suddenly they ar playing in the mech lab, and they want to add paints, patterns and doo-dads. Suddenly they need more c-bills...., well I think I'll just buy some reasonably priced premium time to speed that process up....

Instead of a free mech, allow people to use the mechlab to customize and trick out any mech with any weapons and then bring that mech into the Training Grounds to see how it handled. Then they can use the money from their cadet bonus to get exactly the kind of mech they want. Personally, I never would have bought that 'Phract 1-X if I'd known my 4x LPL build was garbage; I'd have gone straight for the 3-D instead and been happier.

And one suggestion of my own:

Please, PLEASE bring back Repair and Rearm! You can always easily tinker with C-Bill payout until it works, but putting it back in solves two of your major problems:

1) No Tactics in Mechwarrior. Large blob of mechs kills small blob of mechs. There is no strategy other than "stay with the blob". This game was pitched as "first-person tactical combat" but there's precious little tactics going on. Force people to have to spend money to repair their machines, and people fight cautiously and smarter rather than just charging in and blasting away. The average length of a match should NOT be 6 minutes. There should be back-and-forth, charge-and-retreat, flank-and-counter.... i.e. TACTICS!

2) Trial Mechs Suck. There is a huge gulf between the efficacy of trial mechs and customized mechs. Heat sink upgrade is considered manditory, as is endo steel in a lot of cases. Weapon loadouts appear to have been chosen at random. But if people can fly trial mechs they don't have to Repair and Rearm against custom mechs who do, the field is levelled quite a bit. The trial mech can be bolder and take more risks without sacrificing reward.

Edited by Aesthir, 21 September 2013 - 11:01 AM.

[Thunder Lips Express]

lol you are all ridiculous....QQ

[Kaemon]

Imagine for a minute if you will..

Launchmas day sale...500 MC Urbie...it's ironic and awesome at the same time.

variant name - UM-FA1 - 'The Ironsome'.

I would have accepted that as an apology and they would've make a profit at the same time.

profilogy.

[DonBennos]

Atlas Hero Mech - half priced of course... last chance to make it up for me... and lines from the very first "Neverwinter Knights" apear in my mind:

"...the evidence seems to indicate that it woun´t happen..."


I know something else which woun´t happen... spending a single cent for something I don´t want. This is nothing personal - so I leave with Arnies words: "I´ll be back..."

[NocturnalBeast]

theta123, on 21 September 2013 - 02:40 AM, said:

PGI really shows what moneyhogs they are. Every event is the same MC event. Every other free MMO like WOT, WT. always include events for both non-paying as paying customers. Like a while ago, It was USAAF aniverssary in WT. All USA-planes discount in regular ingame currency while premium planes recieved a discount in money currency..


Or a 5x EXP/silver event for the first battle of the day

Don't be an entitled child. PGI is not a charity. You can play MWO and be competative completely for free if you have patience and don't want all the vanity items. PGI actually has one of the better cash shops, since you can not truly buy any advantage (other than vanity items) that you couldn't get after a while by playing for free.

Ecliptor, on 21 September 2013 - 11:40 AM, said:

lol you are all ridiculous....QQ

True, if people think the sale sucks, or that cash shop items are too expensive, then don't spend money on it. Whining cause you don't get extra free stuff does not accomplish anything.

Edited by Ed Steele, 21 September 2013 - 01:02 PM.

[Nutlink]

What happened to the MC sales we used to have? I haven't seen one in a while, but I recall something like 20% more MC, which I think was actually when I bought my largest amount. Or the double XP and MC weekends? THOSE made sure I only spent time in MWO that weekend. These sales are just.....meh. I have zero motivation to buy any of these things, but if you let me buy discounted MC then I can and I'll save it until I find something I want. Not to mention that my impulse buys would be more frequent. If I already have the MC sitting in my account I'm more likely to spend it on things I normally wouldn't, and I'd end up buying more MC at another sale. I spent more money on Planetside 2 thanks to the double and triple SC sales they had last winter.

EDIT: Of course, these are my personal opinions on what would get me to start dropping cash on the game again. I've already given then $180ish, and I'm not very willing to go beyond that as of right now with things that I want at full price. If these kind of sales work for them, that's great, keep doing them, but some of us would like to see something a little different.

Edited by BOTA49, 21 September 2013 - 01:26 PM.