19 replies to this topic

[Suko]

My friend is a software programmer who is never short on money to spend on entertainment. He's like a humming bird with games and when he finds a new one he wants to explore, he doesn't hesitate to drop some cash to get him into the fun faster.

He's decided to try MWO and after a few matches he told me that he wants something in the 50 - 80 ton range and asked me what I'd suggest. Obviously, if he's willing to throw MC at it, a hero mech is possibly the best option due to its C-Bill boosts. He and I both go searching and it sounds like the Ilya is what he'd like. He does the math in his head and says;

"Wait, it's $30 for one mech?"

After doing some similar math in my head I realize he's right. Holy frick, that is ridiculous! I know this isn't news to many of us, but for a new player wanting to jump straight into a mech they can customize, expecting them to pay half the price they would for a brand new AAA game for ONE mech is crazy. Neither of us knows if this will be a game he'll want to still play in a week. He has no problem dropping $10 or $15 to run around in a heavy hero mech and see if this game is his thing or not, but $30 was just too expensive, even for his frivolousness.

Let me point out that I know there are sales. I know there's the Phoenix package, and I know you can save if you buy MC in bulk. But as a new player who just wants an instant leg up, right now; that is doesn't work.

Solutions:
PGI; Have you considered a "newbie" discount? A special offer that allows the player to make a one-time MC purchase, or a mech purchase at a discounted rate. This offer would expire after their 30th match or perhaps could stay valid until the purchase is made. this would be that proverbial "first hit" that could get players hooked on using MC.

All I know is that you could have easily gotten $15 from my friend yesterday if you had a discount like this (or lower prices), but now he's decided to "grind it out". Knowing his fickle, humming bird like nature for games, this may turn him away from the game before he can have the fun of customization. If that happens, you will have $0 to show for it.

Edited by ShadowVFX, 07 October 2013 - 08:56 AM.

[Wintersdark]

$30 for the most expensive mech.

Give it a break. You can buy a regular, non-hero mech for $5-$10, less on sales. You don't need to actually buy mechs with MC at all. Pick some up, buy some mech bays, have fun.

It's not like buying a Boar's Head is the only option here. Hell, he could buy a JR7-F - a very good mech - AND a mech bay for a mere $7 (total cost of the MC, not $ per MC conversion).

You can buy a Jagermech, or similar Heavy, for 2000ish MC. You'd need the $15 MC pack for that, but it would leave 1500MC available for mech bays, patterns and colours.



Of course, I strongly believe the OP here is just someone pushing a "The Boar's Head Is Too Expensive" agenda, as opposed to a factual story.

[Wilhelm Fraek]

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

$30 for the most expensive mech.

Give it a break. You can buy a regular, non-hero mech for $5-$10, less on sales. You don't need to actually buy mechs with MC at all. Pick some up, buy some mech bays, have fun.

It's not like buying a Boar's Head is the only option here. Hell, he could buy a JR7-F - a very good mech - AND a mech bay for a mere $7 (total cost of the MC, not $ per MC conversion).

You can buy a Jagermech, or similar Heavy, for 2000ish MC. You'd need the $15 MC pack for that, but it would leave 1500MC available for mech bays, patterns and colours.



Of course, I strongly believe the OP here is just someone pushing a "The Boar's Head Is Too Expensive" agenda, as opposed to a factual story.

I take it you didnt read it properly did you? His friend wanted to buy a hero mech for the (CBILL BONUS), you telling him to just buy a standard mech tells me you didnt read. Read the guys post again then think very slowly and re write youre post.

Edited by Wilhelm Fraek, 07 October 2013 - 09:14 AM.

[John Wolf]

Lets keep things friendly everyone. Be constructive about the topic, and avoid comments about the players themselves.

Thanks!

[Deathlike]

Incentive for future transactions? Sounds good, except I don't see PGI considering this.

[Caladus]

The point isn't that the 30 dollars was for the most expensive mech. The point in the OP is that his friend opted to 'grind it out' over paying because the entry level was too high for him.

I certainly would be willing to fork over some cash if I felt more invested in the game. But the price point is so high that I'm also opting to grind it out. I'm persistent. I'll get there eventually. And I'll have done it for free.

Saving my money for other games. Thanks.

[Wilhelm Fraek]

John Wolf, on 07 October 2013 - 09:16 AM, said:

Lets keep things friendly everyone. Be constructive about the topic, and avoid comments about the players themselves.

Thanks!

Oh just noticed Your from NS, sitting in Hub of NS as i Write

[Suko]

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

$30 for the most expensive mech.

Give it a break. You can buy a regular, non-hero mech for $5-$10, less on sales. You don't need to actually buy mechs with MC at all. Pick some up, buy some mech bays, have fun.

So, if you read my post, I said he was eyeing the Ilya. It's not exactly $30, but to buy it you do need to buy the $30 MC package to get it, even if he doesn't want to use the extra MC. It's like having to buy a 6 pack of beer to get 2 bottles.

I also mentioned the point of sales and promotions in my post (which I wonder how much of it you read). He is like someone with ADHD. He wants to play something fun NOW, not 2 months from now.

I'm not just ranting here. At the end of my post I gave a suggestion that I think would be beneficial to everyone. Please try reading the entire thing next time before posting.

(Also, what is your "Boar's Head" argument about? I didn't even mention it once, anywhere.)

[Wintersdark]

Wilhelm Fraek, on 07 October 2013 - 09:13 AM, said:

I take it you didnt read it properly did you? His friend wanted to buy a hero mech for the (CBILL BONUS), you telling him to just buy a standard mech tells me you didnt read. Read the guys post again then think very slowly and re write youre post.

I did read it.

The reality is though, he can be every bit as competitive with non-hero mechs. He could jumpstart his way into the game buying a regular mech and have no issue at all. Yes, hero mechs have a cbill bonus. I'm sorry he couldn't buy a Hero as cheaply as he wanted, but a Hero mech is utterly unnecessary. The C-Bill bonus is nice - but the same could be acheived with some premium time, or just doing an extra couple drops.

"I'd like to get into car ownership. I really want a luxury car; but holy {Scrap}! Luxury cars are really expensive. Well, cars are too expensive for me, I'll ride the bus instead."

Play for a while with regular mechs, decide whether or not you feel the premium for Hero mechs is worth the cost or not then.

Clearly, many still feel it is, as Hero mechs sell like hotcakes.

ShadowVFX, on 07 October 2013 - 09:25 AM, said:

So, if you read my post, I said he was eyeing the Ilya. It's not exactly $30, but to buy it you do need to buy the $30 MC package to get it, even if he doesn't want to use the extra MC. It's like having to buy a 6 pack of beer to get 2 bottles.

What I mean is that just because The One Shiny He Wants is too expensive doesn't mean everything else. There's plenty of great options at more reasonable prices. You can't expect everything to be cheap.

[Farix]

He could always wait until they go on sale like most of us do.

Caladus, on 07 October 2013 - 09:18 AM, said:

The point isn't that the 30 dollars was for the most expensive mech. The point in the OP is that his friend opted to 'grind it out' over paying because the entry level was too high for him.

I wouldn't consider Hero mech, especally in the Heavy and Assault classes, to be "entry level".

Edited by Farix, 07 October 2013 - 09:33 AM.

[Kuritaclan]

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

Give it a break. You can buy a regular, non-hero mech for $5-$10, less on sales. You don't need to actually buy mechs with MC at all. Pick some up, buy some mech bays, have fun.

Why spend MC on a regular mech?!? What you propose makes no sence at all. Nobody do so.

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

Hell, he could buy a JR7-F - a very good mech - AND a mech bay for a mere $7 (total cost of the MC, not $ per MC conversion).

The 15$ offer will get you 3000MC. You could buy a Death Knell, Jenner7-F, X5, CN9-A, HBK4P, DRG-5N or CLPT-A1 and have some MC left to spend. The first three are lights and nothing for unexperienced players, without driving skills. The HBK, DRG and CLPT are dependend on loadout and certain playetype otherwise they are feed on the battlefield. The only mech of all the MC Mechs und 3000MC who is "noob friendly" and don't die by staring at them is the CN.

Learning the game as a new player i would say is the best in a brawler like heavy/assault. The only thing a new player have to do. Drive his mech some distance, find a target and blow it of or die while trying.

Edited by Kuritaclan, 07 October 2013 - 09:41 AM.

[Wilhelm Fraek]

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 09:31 AM, said:

What I mean is that just because The One Shiny He Wants is too expensive doesn't mean everything else. There's plenty of great options at more reasonable prices. You can't expect everything to be cheap.

Yah but see the thing is nothing is cheap in this game when real money is involved, If i want 1 mech bay I have to buy the lowest pack for $7 so i can buy the 300 point mech bay, why not just make mech bays a seperate price so I can just buy 1 mech bay without being stuck with a useless amount of MC?

Give me 1 reasonably priced thing in this game

[Kuritaclan]

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 09:31 AM, said:

Clearly, many still feel it is, as Hero mechs sell like hotcakes.

Do you really think so? I'm not so sure. Well if someone is a founder or had payed much money for this game, he would spend more into it or have enough MC left.

But a new player don't see in those prices a hotcake.

A real deal to get some people into spending real money would be a 9,99$ at your first order pack including a mech of your choice and a c-bill-boost/xp-boost to maybee 125 games. Somewhat a follow up on the Cadet entry. So you get new customers. (Note: The 3 newest "Hero-mechs" don't be aviable as a limit for example.)

Playing 5 games each day makes it 30 day's a month of fun. And after a bit of climbing into the game then maybee someone who allready spend some bugs on the game is ready to upgrade his account with some more stuff like another heromech or mechbays etc.

[Wintersdark]

Wilhelm Fraek, on 07 October 2013 - 09:41 AM, said:

Yah but see the thing is nothing is cheap in this game when real money is involved, If i want 1 mech bay I have to buy the lowest pack for $7 so i can buy the 300 point mech bay, why not just make mech bays a seperate price so I can just buy 1 mech bay without being stuck with a useless amount of MC?

Give me 1 reasonably priced thing in this game

...

$7 is cheap.

If you can't afford $7 - knowing that it'll be enough to buy several mech bays, colors, camo, or what have you, well... *shrugs* Maybe you shouldn't be spending those $ on a video game in the first place.

There's lots of reasonably priced things. Yeah, you need to at least buy a $7 MC pack - realistically, a $15 pack will get you pretty much any normal stuff you might want - and that's the standard per-month subscription rate traditionally charged for online games - generally accepted as a reasonable monthly cost.

Once you've bought said pack, you can either wait for sales and buy stuff on sale to get much more mileage out of your money, or screw that and still easily afford more bays, regular mechs, colors, etc.

[Wintersdark]

Kuritaclan, on 07 October 2013 - 09:51 AM, said:

Do you really think so? I'm not so sure. Well if someone is a founder or had payed much money for this game, he would spend more into it or have enough MC left.

I'm not a founder. I've put a lot of money into the game now, but I didn't hesitate to spend what I did when I was starting - $15 packs of MC, every month or so.

Quote

But a new player don't see in those prices a hotcake.

*shrugs* I see a lot of hero mechs in matches, and very, very often in the hands of players without Founder's Badges. Probably 3+ in every single match I'm in. That's a hell of a lot of hero mechs sold.

Quote

A real deal to get some people into spending real money would be a 9,99$ at your first order pack including a mech of your choice and a c-bill-boost/xp-boost to maybee 125 games. Somewhat a follow up on the Cadet entry. So you get new customers. (Note: The 3 newest "Hero-mechs" don't be aviable as a limit for example.)

Playing 5 games each day makes it 30 day's a month of fun. And after a bit of climbing into the game then maybee someone who allready spend some bugs on the game is ready to upgrade his account with some more stuff like another heromech or mechbays etc.

I DO think a "New Player Bonus Pack" would be an exceptionally good idea. They've talked about doing this before, but were unable to package different items together in one deal with the current Mechlab implementation. That's why the Phoenix Pack isn't available inside the mech lab.

I'm hoping to see a reasonably priced "new account only" pack - $10 is pretty reasonable, include say 1500MC and maybe your choice of one of a limited selection of regular mechs.

Gets the player their own mech, and funds to buy some bays/another mech/some customizations for their mech/whatever.

[Wilhelm Fraek]

Wintersdark, on 07 October 2013 - 10:14 AM, said:

...

$7 is cheap.

If you can't afford $7 - knowing that it'll be enough to buy several mech bays, colors, camo, or what have you, well... *shrugs* Maybe you shouldn't be spending those $ on a video game in the first place.

There's lots of reasonably priced things. Yeah, you need to at least buy a $7 MC pack - realistically, a $15 pack will get you pretty much any normal stuff you might want - and that's the standard per-month subscription rate traditionally charged for online games - generally accepted as a reasonable monthly cost.

Once you've bought said pack, you can either wait for sales and buy stuff on sale to get much more mileage out of your money, or screw that and still easily afford more bays, regular mechs, colors, etc.

Now see for what ever reason if I dont want to pay, you assume I cant afford $7 thats less then what I paid for a pack of smokes, If I only want 1 mech I could care less about colors and patterns so what do I need the extra points for? So read my post again and look at where i wrote I just want 1 mech bay I dont "want" to buy $7 worth of mc when Im only going to use 300.

[GRiPSViGiL]

It is a FREE to play game. If you are not happy with the prices....simply DO NOT BUY anything.

[Wintersdark]

Wilhelm Fraek, on 07 October 2013 - 10:29 AM, said:

Now see for what ever reason if I dont want to pay, you assume I cant afford $7 thats less then what I paid for a pack of smokes, If I only want 1 mech I could care less about colors and patterns so what do I need the extra points for? So read my post again and look at where i wrote I just want 1 mech bay I dont "want" to buy $7 worth of mc when Im only going to use 300.

Well, you were implying $7 was not cheap. As you say, it's less than a pack of smokes, I'd say it's cheap. Obviously "cheap" is subjective, though.

I get that it sucks to have to buy the $7 pack instead of just paying some pocket change for 300, but there are reasons for that: It's the common marketing strategy, employed by virtually every F2P publisher. They do it to keep transaction charges down, and also because the price of entry (the smallest pack) is cheap, and ensures you have leftover points. It's the goal. See, then you look at your points left and think "Hey, I can get that Hero Mech by only buying this smaller MC pack, as I still have these points left over."

I know, as a customer, that's annoying, but everyone does it. It's not something you can really hold against PGI
Of course, there's always a use for some MC. You can convert regular XP to GXP, you can buy a couple more mech bays, some colors, whatever. If you don't want those things, well... *shrugs*

It is what it is. That much isn't going to change.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Anyone interested in helping to put together a start pack for $15, or $30?

For $30, 6500MC:
Pickup a Jenner D, Kintaro, 7 days premium time, 2 mech bays for more mechs, and etc.?

I dunno, i feel like the new players are kind of at a loss at what to do, but if they're willing to jump into the game with minimal commitment they can just spend the $15 or $30, and buy the recommended mechs and stuff. to start them off with both a focus towards ease of use, and long term benefits. along with some footnotes for optional things, like if they're interested in camo or colours, take a look at them with their remaining MC?

Thoughts? Maybe I'll start a thread on it in the barracks, collect some discusstion on it, forumulate some packages, and then post it into the new player forum.

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 07 October 2013 - 12:19 PM.

[Verkhne]

As a new player I think this would be a great idea. I just installed the game and am currently using "Holiday Premium Time" (thanks PGI!!). That alone has made a huge difference in grinding as I did play a few days without it.

My idea for a new player package is to give new players the chance to get what has already been offered. This should not ruffle the feathers of established players and also obtain the buy-in of the new player base (cash makes you a committed player!)

The New Player Package would then be a one time only purchase of MC with the 20% addition and the option to purchase Hero Mechs (that have been previously on sale) at the sale prices.

All existing players had these options at one time or another and this lets newbies catch up. As fo me, knowing that MC go on sale I wont buy any until I see that they do. That being said, means no investment in the game beyond time for me until that chance (OK I admit I may have to buy the smallest amount of MC for Mechbays....)

I don't feel a Package of this type has a downside for either exiting players o PGI