185 replies to this topic

[HorriblePig]

Certainly paying say, 80USD/Euro even with the current economy is quite a lot for virtual materia, and the joy of experiencing a simulated environment.

Personally I find myself not having paid for either when I decided to spend a lot of money on the phoenix pack, I suppose this post is to record my feelings and thoughts about these high prices, and assert (to myself, primarily) -- and perhaps to discuss -- why one would waste 'precious' currency on such mere and frankly lacking entertainment.

Truly it was definitely not because of the advertised 'hype' of the "exclusive" mechs that warranted the high price, or made me purchase them.
It was not because i especially enjoy the newest franchise edition of Mechwarrior either. The game itself is very lacking when looking at it as a part of the whole Battletech universe it's based in.
The gameplay is bittersweet and generally unrefined, and far from depicting battles of the grand scale of Battletech campaigns. Namely it lacks all the larger, or, smaller details like for example support vehicles combat, or simply a thing like 'mech combat *in urban areas* being dangerous for certain mechs with a lot of portruding appendages'.

Of course merely the mech combat in itself is fun, but a game like this has a lot more potential that devs seem to disregard by blaming the engine for its limitations.

//// I will digress even more by pointing out that the mod MW:Living Legends achieved a lot more with an older version of cryengine. It seems also prevalent that comparing cryengine2 - (Crysis 1) was designed for generally larger gameplay areas than cryengine 3 - (Crysis 2 & 3), just by comparing Crysis and Crysis 2 & 3 with each other. (Crysis 1 having a lot more "freeroaming" elements than it's sequels)
So it seems to be acceptable to assume that CE3 is indeed more limited than it's predecessor, but it does make me wonder why it had to be the engine for MW:O.

Of course this issue has probably been discussed elsewhere but in my ignorance i have not researched my subject, and my opinions are based on loose assumptions and tied in fragments of info I've noted. ////

So it is not for the game itself it seems, that I pay PGI for. The usual response would of course be "There's the door. You don't have to play if you don't want to." or perhaps "Mechwarrior fans are used to paying for anything related to their beloved franchise."

The latter applies to me pretty well, although I must say I'm a "bad" fan in the way that I don't follow battletech as much as i should to be truly knowledgeable of the whole fictional universe.

I've thus come to the conclusion that it is 'hope' that I pay for. Hope that -- if not today -- in the future the ones who hold rights to make Battletech related games will provide us the best mechwarrior experience (within the limits of the gaming apparatus of course) that there is to be had.

So it is not what the game is what I as a gamer and a customer pay you, PGI. It's because I want you to evolve, get better at what you do, and strive on to make better Battletech games!

I suppose this is the message i want to tell PGI wheni recklessly throw my moneys at them. I do realize addressing the devs like this is rather silly, and thus I'll end this wall of text here.

Thank you for reading, and if you didn't, Meh!
Signing off.

Edited by HorriblePig, 18 October 2013 - 12:00 PM.

[IC Rafe]

Sorry, i dont pay for hope, i pay for a finished product which has the features it advertises now, not in an undisclosed timeframe.

[Ecto Cooler]

I was in the grocery store today, they were selling a candle for $20.

A candle.

How much do you want to bet the majority of the complainers in this thread and others don't have a Founders Badge or Project Phoenix one?

[KAT Ayanami]

Ecto Cooler, on 18 October 2013 - 12:50 PM, said:

I was in the grocery store today, they were selling a candle for $20.

A candle.

How much do you want to bet the majority of the complainers in this thread and others don't have a Founders Badge or Project Phoenix one?

You are so smart you are making my screen brighter!!!

Was it difficult to figure out that people that do not agree with PGI's prices will not buy PGI's merchandise?????

Its logical that people that bought Founders or Phoenix packages will be less likely to complaint since they already agreed with the terms and conditions of the purchase.

[Saarna]

Ecto Cooler, on 18 October 2013 - 12:50 PM, said:

How much do you want to bet the majority of the complainers in this thread and others don't have a Founders Badge or Project Phoenix one?

Eighty buck for what amounts to an average DLC's ($10-15) worth of content is a damn lot, even if it offers fairly low prices on individual units when compared to the ridiculous baseline prices. Case in point, ten years ago the Mechwarrior crowd cried bloody murder when the two mech paks were released for MW4, each featuring four new mechs and assorted goodies for around $20.

And I'll bet you anything that quite a few of that crowd are still here, lauding the good content/price-ratio of Project Phoenix.

[Madara Uchiha]

HorriblePig, on 18 October 2013 - 11:57 AM, said:

Certainly paying say, 80USD/Euro even with the current economy is quite a lot for virtual materia,

Dude i woud pay 6 times that for Materia. You can shoot fire and **** out of you hands. Or bring about the end of the world.

[Ecto Cooler]

KAT Ayanami, on 18 October 2013 - 01:10 PM, said:

You are so smart you are making my screen brighter!!!

Was it difficult to figure out that people that do not agree with PGI's prices will not buy PGI's merchandise?????

Its logical that people that bought Founders or Phoenix packages will be less likely to complaint since they already agreed with the terms and conditions of the purchase.

It wasn't difficult to figure out, but I am having a logical issue perhaps you could help me with?

Why are people who don't agree with PGI are still here on the forums and still complaining?

[Sabazial]

Madara Uchiha, on 18 October 2013 - 01:14 PM, said:

Dude i woud pay 6 times that for Materia. You can shoot fire and **** out of you hands. Or bring about the end of the world.

Bahamut for $80, if only

[IC Rafe]

Ecto Cooler, on 18 October 2013 - 12:50 PM, said:

I was in the grocery store today, they were selling a candle for $20.

A candle.

How much do you want to bet the majority of the complainers in this thread and others don't have a Founders Badge or Project Phoenix one?

Indeed, i do not have a founder or phoenix pack, because i like to see what i get when i pay for something. There used to be a time when a company made a game with the best that they could and then sold it instead of asking: pay us and then we'll make a game.

Ecto Cooler, on 18 October 2013 - 01:26 PM, said:

It wasn't difficult to figure out, but I am having a logical issue perhaps you could help me with?

Why are people who don't agree with PGI are still here on the forums and still complaining?

Easy one: i still like the battletech franchise and would like nothing more than having a good complete game which i want to pay for. If noone gives the feedback, nothing will certainly change. And even though you might not like criticism on a game, some people will say what they think and try to give the feedback to try and make the game better.

I agree, totally subjective, but as the game is now, we have a 12v12 game with "classes" for which you have to pay, without anything extra like the promised community warfare, buggy hitboxes with jumpjets, Terrible economic model (MC pricing of mechs, cbill pricing for people who dont play fulltime, MC pricing on paintjobs) and a launch which as only update had the MC store changed. If i had paid for what was described to the founders (I have followed the game since the founder days), i would not be a happy customer now, but i still hope that the game itself can become something i might enjoy (and else, nothing lost, i dont have money invested in this game. I just would find it sad to get the battletech game we waited for, for a long time, to be reduced to a generic shooter but just in mechs)

[ImperialKnight]

you like it, you buy it. you don't like it, don't buy it. if you want to wait until the "full" game comes out, go ahead. your choice

different people has different perception of value

there's nothing to stop you from maxing out 2 of your favourite mechs without paying a cent. And that's more play time than any retail game is going to offer.

mech bays are very reasonably priced if you want to have more mechs. the other bells and whistles are just that. bells and whistles.

Edited by knightsljx, 18 October 2013 - 06:51 PM.

[IC Rafe]

Indeed, but because i wont buy the game as it is, i dont have the right to give the feedback which would make me actually spend money on the game? I have spent enough money on other games which i like, which have a more reasonable pricing model. The only thing that is reasonably priced in this game, is as you say: the mechbays. (not very reasonably, the standard price if you look at another popular arena game with tanks).

maxing out 2 favorite mechs without spending a cent: that takes a few months , during which you are playing very suboptimal due to modules etc. also that means you need to play 4 other mechs which you might not want to play. If i want to play a raven 3L, i dont want to be forced to level 2 other mechs which dont have any similarity to the 3L other than the looks and that they are lights. same for any mech.

True that the perception of value differs though. For me personally, in the state that the game is in, i dont see me getting my money's value given that i dont have time to play that much (2 hours a day) due to family matters/work. Definitely without any features other than: "drive big mech, stomp other mechs, why? noone cares, just smash them"

[Cion]

It's all about the demand, people. Prices are what they are because people buy. If people did not buy then prices would drop.
I have purchased MC before. Havent on phoenix cause I have more urgent priorities, but others have purchased (they beat all the crowdfunding goals). That means that prices will at least stay the same.

Cheers

[Ghogiel]

Ecto Cooler, on 18 October 2013 - 12:50 PM, said:

How much do you want to bet the majority of the complainers in this thread and others don't have a Founders Badge or Project Phoenix one?

100 cbills that founders and phoenix owners complain.

I'll be the first.

[Sandpit]

The pricing model that PGI uses is what I would consider exceptionally high. There's no way I can justify, to myself, that a single mech in this game can cost as much as an entire game. The only thing that is really reasonably priced in the game at the moment, again in my opinion, are the mech bays. Unfortunately they seem to be making enough money as is because they haven't dropped prices yet. As long as people are paying and they're making what they consider a good profit margin they're not going to drop prices. If you REALLY want prices to drop then use your power as a consumer and don't buy. Realistically their pricing model is actually pretty smart from what I've seen. By charging such high prices on their individual mechs they rake in tons of cash when they have offers like the phoenix package because the prices spread out across that package are phenomenal in comparison

[Johnny Reb]

Personally, I wont buy any Hero. Bought 2 early in the game and one on sale, on valentines day (ylw). That was enough for me. Now, if an exclusive or any Urban mech for mc only is available I will bite. Other than that I will keep my 6k mc, from founders and last year holiday sale.

Edited by Johnny Reb, 18 October 2013 - 08:28 PM.

[Donnie Silveray]

I've seen worse pricing models in the past. Just as a joke, EVE Online has ships worth in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and in theory you can pay for them in real money .

On a more serious matter, it's no surprise. There are very few F2P games that use a relatively cheap economic model. The only hardcore F2P game I know that has a bloody cheap pricetag is HiRez's Smite where each playable God is $4 and if you pay like $30 you get all gods and many future ones as it is considered a sort of 'retail package' of sorts. League of Legends is about $10 on new characters with $10 for each skin. $30 for special skins.

Warframe is about $5 for 75 platinum. 75 platinum nets you.... not much really. I paid $40 for the starter kit, got a better deal than doing it the normal way but frankly, although I liked the starting boost, I think it wasn't necessarily worth that $40.

To me with my Overlord pack, I honestly felt like it was worth it. I got exclusive models before they are available for the general free public with awesome model features (I <3 Battlemaster Gear Shoulders) as well as those additional bonuses and 90 premium time. Plus those medallions for what's to come. More or less I havent' felt this excited for any other game and most of all I felt it was a sweet deal, regardless of how overpriced other mechs in MC are.

[Johnny Reb]

Well, I will shell out for packs but not individual sales!

[HorriblePig]

There is also the side where, I want these devs to keep making games and thus i'm willing to support them. This is by far the best game they've attempted since Nakatomi plaza.
It seems to that pgi has always tried to do their best with the commissions they've been given, and with the resources they've had available.Not to mention for an indie developer company MWO is very good work. But as many of their projects it oozes inexperience.

Edited by HorriblePig, 19 October 2013 - 05:37 AM.

[Zerberus]

To be honest, I stopped reading at

Quote

Certainly paying say, 80USD/Euro even with the current economy is quite a lot for virtual materia

I work a normal job with halfway decent pay (15$/hr gross, 40hr/week, late shift), and lead a normal lifestyle, and I do not consider less than a day`s pay to be "quite a lot" for, well, just about anything. Many young people drink themselves into a stupor for a similar amount week after week after week..... Maybe I just consider playing MWO to be more fun than lying in a puddle of my own vomit on some street corner, I dunno...

But since it is obviously a value of money issue, at least this discrepancy between us, and I just barely fit into the lower middle class with my net income, maybe with all due respect you need to try to find a better job, or at least one that pays actual money?

Edited by Zerberus, 19 October 2013 - 06:24 AM.

[IC Rafe]

Sorry, but i find a pricetag of 80$ (58euro) quite steep actually, considering bills, food, transport, rent, insurance etc. I have 50 euro per month in my budget for gaming, and can usually get a subscription out of that + some games off steam which has a lot more value for me.