4 replies to this topic

[Sandpit]

I've been reading through a few posts lately and it seems like many have their personal favorite mech they like to stomp around in regardless of what's being offered in the form of hero mechs so I had an idea. Why not let players pay MC to turn their personal mech of choice into a "hero" mech. I mean other hero mechs were made famous by their pilots and custom configuration so why not let us, as pilots, make our own claim to fame?

You could work it a few different ways. Once a player has progressed far enough with loyalty points and rank within a faction they have the option at that point to turn their favorite mech into a "hero" mech for xx amount of MC.

They can only choose to do this to one mech (as that's the whole point to a hero mech right?) They pay the MC fee and boom they have their own galactically feared and recognized hero mech.

You could also associate a free mech bay, one color scheme for that mech and add in the C-Bill bonus for the cost of the MC fee. I think you would get a few more of both the hardcore and casual gamers doing this because it makes it a little more personal as well as adds to the immersion that you are actually involved in this game's universe and have an impact.

The requirement of achieving a certain rank, limiting it to one mech, and the MC fee prevent exploitation and give players an incentive to spend some MC (which means buying MC, which in turn means spending $$$$ cha-ching!) What do you guys think? Would you enjoy the idea of stomping around in YOUR champion mech making a name for yourself in the Inner Sphere?

[Felicitatem Parco]

I had posted something similar to this as a Suggestion earlier, and the Developers seem to have noticed the idea. I can only hope that sometime in the future they choose to actualize it and provide such a feature

http://mwomercs.com/...-master-status/

Only, in my iteration, it just grants you a C-Bill bonus and not really too much else. I didn't want to detract from the value of "actual" Hero Mechs, but rather give people a way to make gameplay with their favorite non-Heros a little more rewarding.

However i can see how it would be nice to get a little more attention for yourself, like maybe a special unlockable paintjob or something that indicates your special status.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 04 October 2013 - 10:11 AM.

[Sandpit]

Well my view on it is, we are pilots of the Inner Sphere just like those that originally used the hero mechs. So if you rank up and rack up missions then you would get a reputation of your own within the inner sphere. To me it just makes it a little more personal

[Felicitatem Parco]

I can see how this idea could be split between 2 different playstyles - House/Faction Play, and Mercenary Play.

A House/Faction player's Heroic status would be more prestigious from a Loyalty standpoint, whereas a Mercenary's Hero status would be more geared toward notoriety. Originally I felt that Heroizing your Mech sounded too much like genuine Hero Mechs, so I chose to call it "Bounty Mastering" your Mech to provide distinction, and to justify the increase in C-Bill payout.

Spoiler

Here is my Official Suggestion. I would very much like a way to boost the C-Bill output of my favorite Mechs, in a way similar to the Hero Mechs.

I have a set of Founders Mechs that get a 25% C-bill boost, and Hero Mechs are available that give a 30% C-bill boost, but that creates a situation where I feel somewhat discouraged from using my other Mechs whenever I'm trying to save up some C-Bills for my next purchase. Yes, I can use Premium Time to increase my earnings, but I then still feel obligated to use my Hero/Founders Mechs in order to take full advantage of the increased earnings.

I'm suggesting that we be given an option to throw MC at the regular Mechs to anoint them with a permanent C-Bill boost, like a Hero Mech, just not as much of a boost because it's not an actual Hero.

Since "Hero Mechs" are supposed to be infamously powerful forces to be reckoned-with, I believe that any kind of upgrades to your non-Hero Mechs should only be possible after "Mastering" and unlocking the additional Module Slot for the variant in question. That prerequisite would make sure that only seasoned warriors are passing themselves off as genuine hot shots who deserve a bigger paycheck ;-) Basically, I think once the additional Module Slot is unlocked, the user may be presented with a menu option to Upgrade their Mech for (let's arbitrarily say) 1,000 MC and receive a permanent 10% C-bill increase for each match played... or something like that.

Think of it as not just Mastering your Mech; You're Bounty Mastering it! There ya go... you Master your Mech with XP, then you use MC and bribe some folks to upgrade your Mech to Bounty Master and increase your c-Bill earnings.

Prices/payouts are negotiable... but I think you get my drift. What do people here think? Community comments are welcome, please post away!

(edit - Poll away, too!)


Here's a visual to represent my idea, where unlocking the Cash Out skill for 1,000 MC would grant you a 10% C-Bill Boost [or something like that].




Of course, this idea wouldn't go in until after UI 2.0, but this is just a visual.
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Editwo: w00t, lots of feedback on this!

Several points have been brought up in the thread recently, so I will take a shot at the soapbox:

- Perhaps a different name might be a good thing... since this idea is related to nothing more than getting paid more C-Bills, it can't be earned through Skill, alone, and it can only happen after you Master a Mech, then the name of this function can be changed from "Heroizing" to something that sounds more financial; like achieving "Bounty Master" status.

-The Proposed Idea is to grant a smaller C-Bill Boost than a Hero Mech because the regular Mechs are really just that... Regular. Providing a way to give them a huge C-Bill Boost would not only detract from the Values of genuine Hero Mechs, but it would make this idea too expensive (I anticipate Paying Players will want to "Heroize" any/every Mech they wind-up Mastering and unlocking the Module Slot on because you only unlock those 21,500 point Slots on Mechs that you intend on using heavily)

-This particular idea is not related to subscription models or anything like that because that discussion is more regarding how Premium Time is implemented and stuff like that. My idea, here, is a stand-alone concept related to improving the per-match C-Bill output of individual Mechs by purchasing Mech-specific upgrades. Suggestions regarding subscriptions and stuff would be a different topic of conversation than this thread.

-I would not, at this time, involve the movement of Hardpoints with this idea because I am presenting a non-combat-related performance boost... in this case, it performs better at raking in C-Bills. Once you begin to allow customization of hardpoints, you get into a situation where every single variant has to be combed-over by the Devs to make lists of allowed/disallowed hardpoint configurations based on how they affect combat performance... which would require tons of testing... that would have to be part of a different Suggestion Thread.

-I am suggesting that this cost MC and not be available with C-Bills because it's an End-Game feature that would reward people for continuing to spend more money on the game after they have already spent a significant amount of time and resources into the Leveling of that Mech. It would give Paying Players an option to make their Mastery Experience more worthwhile and improve the productivity of their Favorite Mechs. This is similar to the idea of paid Premium Time; you can't buy C-Bill boosts with C-Bills.

-More than 1 person has suggested a Scaled System. This may be an option, but as my idea as presented required spending MC to gain a C-Bill boost, a scaled system would require multiple MC expenditures to scale the ladder, and eventually cause regular Mechs to approach the economic value of Hero Mechs. For one, any scaled system would have to assume that you can't upgrade to a full "Hero mech Bonus" and for two, it'd have to be affordable. I am not attempting to propose a way to make Regular Mechs as valuable as Hero Mechs... that would be inappropriate, I think, as it may conflict with the purpose of Hero Mechs as created by the game staff. Also, I want to make it easy, simple, and affordable for folks to Heroize numerous Mechs in their Mechbay. A scaled system might be better for a different game Suggestion, such as something that has to do with unlocking things with XP or stuff like that. My idea, in this thread, is for a simple Pay-for-Cbill-Boost scheme to supplement your Premium Time, or for when you want to grind for c-bills using something that's not a bonafide Hero Mech.

-Since this is Paid-Content, it might be cool if "Heroizing" your Mech came with some kind of blingbling cockpit item such as a money clip, or hanging Gold Chains...

However, this kind of bounty-oriented fame isn't too applicable to Faction players who are part of the House MIlitary infrastructures. A House player's Hero Status might be better for generating extra Loyalty Points (+10% or something) along with a smaller C-Bill bonus (+5%) than a Mercenary player would get... But, adding more complication would push the implementation of such a feature back a little more...

[Sandpit]

I am not as concerned about what they would call it. More of a, "You've done a lot, played a lot, fought a lot of battles, here's some recognition and distinguished honors" type deal. Plus it gives a player a chance to feel a little more like they "own" this mech and have a deeper tie to it and the game