79 replies to this topic

[Dracol]

The 80/20 ratio is found throughout business theory.

80% of a business's revenue comes from 20% of their clientel.
80% of retail sales happen the 20% of the year right before Xmas.

So, when it comes to the Clan pre-sale....

The majority of the money gained in presales will only be from 1/5th of the player base
The majority of discretionary spending happens before Christmas, and there would be no other time for PGI to sell the clan pre-package except now.

Those of you waiting for features, protesting balance, or just playing the game for free are not the targets of the clan prepackage sale.

No, the Clan pre-package was released for those who are patient, enjoy playing the game, and have a desire to spend money on it. These people, the 20%, will receive the majority (80%) of PGI's attention.... since they will be providing 80% of the sales.

Edited: Corrected a misspelling

Edited by Dracol, 17 December 2013 - 02:08 PM.

[FergieJ]

Execpt im not some scrub playing for free, I have spent $100 USD so far on this game, that I have played, maybe 3 months now..... along with the small group of my friends who play with me ( currently 5 of us) one I know has spent even more than I, not sure how much, but a bit more, with 2 others about matching mine and another just dabbles with i think about 30 bucks or so bucks in the game


We have played many F2P games, and have enjoyed them, from Warframe to Warthunder, PS2, WoB and many many others..... if I like a game I always spent at least 10-20 on it, and it can get a bit out of hand...but its fun

but listing mech packages at $250 bucks, and having some gold plated mech at 500.....really? 500 bucks? it just screams wrong to me

So as of right now, I will not be spending any more funds, when my 30 days of premium are up, oh well.... I know from talking over vent none of my friends are going to spendy any more cash.... and on top of that. if I was to see a gold plated mech on my team, im going to quit the match, and so with the rest of our lance

and he can play in his $500 mech in an 9 v 12 or 8 v 12, and I urge anyone else to do the same that feels wronged by this gold plated clan mech "sale"


The devs have the right to charge whatever they want, and we, paying and non paying customers, have the right to play as we see fit.

And if the Devs lock this post for what I have said, or edit it for whatever reason, a paying customer just speaking his mind on the current state of the game, Then I will uninstall MWO, there are to many good games with great dev teams in the world, and such easy access to them and reviews with steam and XBL etc to have to deal with that.

[Fuerety]

You also forgot to calculate in your 80/20 ratio that if they wanted to make money for christmas they would have released UI 2.0 and CW by now and postponed the Phoenix Pack release till this month. Instead of releasing Phoenix pack when they did and giving nothing to show for contribution. And then getting greedy for their 80/20 ratio and pushing Clan Mechs out 2 months after Release of Phoenix pack. Some people spent their christmas money on Phoenix Pack and have nothing more to give for the rest of the year how's that for 80/20..... They F'd it up.

[Khobai]

You also conveniently neglected to mention that MWO's competitors like Hawken are having 20% off sales during Christmas. While IGP/PGI decided to jack up their prices 50% higher than the previous Phoenix package.

[Fuerety]

Khobai, on 16 December 2013 - 01:55 PM, said:

You also conveniently neglected to mention that MWO's competitors like Hawken are having 20% off sales during Christmas. While IGP/PGI decided to jack up their prices 50% higher than the previous Phoenix package.

No, I didn't neglect, just chose not to go that far.

[Khobai]

Quote

Though keep in mind that, just like with our previous PreOrders, these Mechs are still offered at a significantly reduced price compared to normal MC unlock prices and come with a number of other value-added bonuses.

Sales and Pre-orders should not be regarded as the normative price and the value on such offers may vary with each different iteration.

Thats true. And I was very satisfied with the Phoenix pack. I just cant bring myself to pay that much more for a Clan pack.

[Prezimonto]

FergieJ, on 16 December 2013 - 01:12 PM, said:

The devs have the right to charge whatever they want, and we, paying and non paying customers, have the right to play as we see fit.

Actually, this is grossly untrue.

Khobai, on 16 December 2013 - 04:29 PM, said:

Thats true. And I was very satisfied with the Phoenix pack. I just cant bring myself to pay that much more for a Clan pack.

That's the biggest issue. The last package isn't even totally released. I'm still happily playing with that content, and we still haven't seen the benefits of the loyalty bonuses in any way. It's just too soon to milk the majority of the people who purchased the last package.

Keep in mind, hard feeling occur because players care. They feel mistreated because these are truly grand shiny toys, and many of us just can't condone spending more now. There's lots of side issues, but cost is the primary one in place. I can say definitively that I wouldn't have bought a Phoenix package if I truly thought there were going to a Clan mech sale opened before Dec. 17th. I actually figured it'd be released Q3 next year after CW had some time to set in. But then we don't have CW or UI 2.0 yet either... so meh.

Edited by Prezimonto, 16 December 2013 - 04:37 PM.

[FreeZe]

Niko Snow, on 16 December 2013 - 04:20 PM, said:

Though keep in mind that, just like with our previous PreOrders, these Mechs are still offered at a significantly reduced price compared to normal MC unlock prices and come with a number of other value-added bonuses.

Sales and Pre-orders should not be regarded as the normative price and the value on such offers may vary with each different iteration.

Yes, a significantly reduced price that conveniently places the mechs people want the most at the most expensive tier. Why not offer people the choice to choose the clan mech they want like with the founders packages. It's blatantly obvious why this pricing structure was chosen and it was not to give the customer extra savings...

I mean you guys just don't get it. It's not the sale that ticks people off. It's the timing of this announcement compounded with all the other issues. Your professionally developed power points don't instill that much faith into me any more.

Edited by FreeZe, 16 December 2013 - 05:01 PM.

[Xeren KelDar]

Niko Snow, on 16 December 2013 - 04:20 PM, said:

Though keep in mind that, just like with our previous PreOrders, these Mechs are still offered at a significantly reduced price compared to normal MC unlock prices and come with a number of other value-added bonuses.

Sales and Pre-orders should not be regarded as the normative price and the value on such offers may vary with each different iteration.

Value added bonuses like Community Warfare, DX 11, UI 2.0, collisions, or anything else the community has been waiting for?

[Idzy]

Holy WTF!!! $500 mechs am I ever glad I never dropped a dime on this game after getting my founders refund. Maybe in 20 years someone will make a decent mechwarrior game.

[Enzane]

I'm pissed by this:

A) Phoenix was 4 mechs (+8 Variants) for $80. - $6.66 per mech.
Saber Package was 2 mechs (+4 Variants) for $30 - $5.00 Per mech
Founders was 4 mechs for $120 - $30 per mech
Clan is now 8 Mechs (+16 Variants) for $240 - $10.00 per mech.
This is an insult at how much this costs.

B ) It is proof the player pool is dying off. Not only did they dial the clock back two years (Invasion shouldn't start for another year!) So they had to bring out the clans to get the old fans back in.

C) More unknowns: When we bought the PP, We got Loyalty medals that we don't know what they do. Now, once again, we are getting WarHorns, wtf are those?! why are you promising us MORE Command Modules That aren't even in the game yet!?

D) Gold Versions. Now this is really starting to annoy me. $500 for ONE, count them, ONE Gold mech with a bunch of add-ons. Are these game breaking? What are we ACTUALLY buying here? WHY is this even offered in a "Mech Sim" where the gameplay is supposed to be balanced?

E) Will the money ACTUALLY go to MWO this time? Will it actually go towards Community Warfare? Role Warfare? all the upgrades and gameplay polishing we were promised? Or will it go to other games? IE:Mech Warrior Tactics Like the Last time.

F) I'm already at, if not over, $400 into this game. And I don't even own HALF the mechs in the game. Why is it I can't own half the game for $60? Founders: $120, PP: $80, SR: $30, One year gametime: $100, Paints: $30. thats $360 bucks right there. Not to mention buying the other mechs, Highlander: ~$35, Ilya: ~$25, Flame: ~$25. The amount of money I've put into this. I should see more then some 12 V 12.



Okay okay, I knew they were going to milk clans. But I didn't know they would go this far. How could you charge $240 for digital content PGI? this is a downright slap in the face in my opinion!

Edited by Enzane, 16 December 2013 - 06:08 PM.

[MechWarrior071507]

FreeZe, on 16 December 2013 - 04:55 PM, said:

Yes, a significantly reduced price that conveniently places the mechs people want the most at the most expensive tier. Why not offer people the choice to choose the clan mech they want like with the founders packages. It's blatantly obvious why this pricing structure was chosen and it was not to give the customer extra savings...

I mean you guys just don't get it. It's not the sale that ticks people off. It's the timing of this announcement compounded with all the other issues. Your professionally developed power points don't instill that much faith into me any more.

you see what that is supposed to do? Carrot people into buying those expensive packages. Incite jealousy and/or competitiveness in other players to spend as much. Its smart from a shady business tactic perspective.

Enzane, on 16 December 2013 - 06:08 PM, said:

I'm pissed by this:

A) Phoenix was 4 mechs (+8 Variants) for $80. - $6.66 per mech.
Saber Package was 2 mechs (+4 Variants) for $30 - $5.00 Per mech
Founders was 4 mechs for $120 - $30 per mech
Clan is now 8 Mechs (+16 Variants) for $240 - $10.00 per mech.
This is an insult at how much this costs.

B ) It is proof the player pool is dying off. Not only did they dial the clock back two years (Invasion shouldn't start for another year!) So they had to bring out the clans to get the old fans back in.

C) More unknowns: When we bought the PP, We got Loyalty medals that we don't know what they do. Now, once again, we are getting WarHorns, wtf are those?! why are you promising us MORE Command Modules That aren't even in the game yet!?

D) Gold Versions. Now this is really starting to annoy me. $500 for ONE, count them, ONE Gold mech with a bunch of add-ons. Are these game breaking? What are we ACTUALLY buying here? WHY is this even offered in a "Mech Sim" where the gameplay is supposed to be balanced?

E) Will the money ACTUALLY go to MWO this time? Will it actually go towards Community Warfare? Role Warfare? all the upgrades and gameplay polishing we were promised? Or will it go to other games? IE:Mech Warrior Tactics Like the Last time.

F) I'm already at, if not over, $400 into this game. And I don't even own HALF the mechs in the game. Why is it I can't own half the game for $60? Founders: $120, PP: $80, SR: $30, One year gametime: $100, Paints: $30. thats $360 bucks right there. Not to mention buying the other mechs, Highlander: ~$35, Ilya: ~$25, Flame: ~$25. The amount of money I've put into this. I should see more then some 12 V 12.



Okay okay, I knew they were going to milk clans. But I didn't know they would go this far. How could you charge $240 for digital content PGI? this is a downright slap in the face in my opinion!

you should be able to own the whole game for 60$, and the rest of the stuff in it for 5-10$ a pop. It's all completely out of orbit.

[TLBFestus]

The only time you see what I consider a realistic price is during one of these sales. Seriously, top price for a mech should be no more than $10, so they do that, but ONLY if you buy them in large groups, 2/3s of which are useless piffle.

I'm a tad pissed at PGI and their "sales" and big brother forum moderation. If you really want to know whats going on be sure to go read the posts buried by "snow" (it's a play on words, ..... get it?) in the "Jettisoned Communication" forums.

It's the place that a lot of shrewd observations, complaints, and things that are generally considered "inappropriate" by the powers that be "go to die".

Can't find it? Well you see it's buried under"off topic", a forum that is designed to be difficult to find and seem uninteresting.

Then, select "Off Topic Discussions", and under that layer you will find "Jettisoned Communication". DOn't get your hopes up about what you read there, most threads are also "locked" to make sure they are dead.

Really, everyone should visit portion of the forums regularly.

Edited by TLBFestus, 16 December 2013 - 06:28 PM.

[xMEPHISTOx]

Niko Snow, on 16 December 2013 - 04:20 PM, said:

Though keep in mind that, just like with our previous PreOrders, these Mechs are still offered at a significantly reduced price compared to normal MC unlock prices and come with a number of other value-added bonuses.

^^^This appears to be a copy/paste from the sales/marketing team (ie. propaganda team).

Quote

Sales and Pre-orders should not be regarded as the normative price and the value on such offers may vary with each different iteration.

^^^This appears as though it were a copy/paste from the legal team.




***Edited for addition.

Edited by xMEPHISTOx, 16 December 2013 - 06:52 PM.

[Daggett]

FergieJ, on 16 December 2013 - 01:12 PM, said:

but listing mech packages at $250 bucks, and having some gold plated mech at 500.....really? 500 bucks? it just screams wrong to me

So as of right now, I will not be spending any more funds, when my 30 days of premium are up, oh well.... I know from talking over vent none of my friends are going to spendy any more cash.... and on top of that. if I was to see a gold plated mech on my team, im going to quit the match, and so with the rest of our lance

and he can play in his $500 mech in an 9 v 12 or 8 v 12, and I urge anyone else to do the same that feels wronged by this gold plated clan mech "sale"

I don't get it why so many guys have a problem with those gold mechs.
It is not targeted at you or me who have a limited budget for games.
It's targeted at whales who want that little extra bling-bling and are willing to pay for it.

Personally i would not want to drive a golden mech and show my wealth, but if those guys are pumping in money to keep that game going then i'm the last one to blame them for that.

So really where is the problem? No one forces us to have a golden mech. And i also don't get why people are whining about unknown special modules. Who says that they must have a gameplay-effect? Maybe it's a normal airstrike module which plays wagner's "ride of the walkyries" when activated?

You can be pretty sure that PGI is not that dumb to give the whales an actually powerful unique module.
That's why the pre-order phoenix mechs have no special configuration and the clan prime mechs will also not have anything which makes them better than their free counterparts.

So i ask again: Who really cares about expensive golden mechs? They are meant to be a unique and rare sight on the battlefield and if one's ego needs one of these badly then he will pay the price.
None of us is blaming Rolex for selling status symbol watches which are not better than non-golden ones. We simply don't buy 'em. So why starting to whine about golden mechs no one really needs? ;-)

And regarding the preorder packages: It sure is a steep price, but don't forget you are essentially paying for the right to play them first. Nothing else. All those bonuses are secondary. Beside being one of the first guys to play the mechs the packages have no advantage compared to the free variants. So if the price is too high then you just need to be patient and you have no problems.

Actually there are guys here in germany who pay a whopping 900+ dollars to get a PS4 which they can have for less than 700 bucks in a few months.
Or if you want to play a brand new game like GTA5 right on release day then you pay much more than a few month later.
The same rules apply here: If you want to be the first, you pay lots of extra money.

So why whining? Just wait to get everything much cheaper (in our case: for free) if you don't like the price.
Only the impatient are getting 'milked' ;-)

[gtyida]

still I like to know what some of the items do like warhorn and the unique modules.... some insight would be great... though there are some already given to us.....

[xMEPHISTOx]

Quote

Zagum, on 13 December 2013 - 07:38 PM, said:


After this I will never spend another dime of my hard earned money for an unfinished game. Fix this dam game, then pull this {Scrap}.

Hey Zag...

Yeah not only fixes but really need to give us the features that will keep sp interested and playing ie. Clan Wars. But instead it is just one 'package' after the next each more expensive than the last but no reason to buy them if lose interest due to lack of CW.
I am so glad I only bought the founders package. Told myself after that I would not buy anything else (w/exception to mechbay slots) until they implemented CW's.
Games fun and all but not interested in wasting so much moneys on promises...as they have broken so many promises along the way.

[Craig Steele]

I am willing to bet I am in the 20% bracket but I don't get why the angst about what is an individual purchaser decision?

This marketing offer has no impact on CW, UI2.0, those are still not here. It's just a waiting game, situation normal.

If you want to pay these prices, you will. If you don't you won't. If a silent majority purchase the package then the marketing guys will be proved correct, the ragers wrong. If the ragers are right we might see the prices come down or some other marketing tool but more likely we simply won't know either way, so why get angry?

The marketing of the Clans is not going to change a single hour of Dev time on any other aspect of the game, its a cashflow issue.

Personally I have a concern with paying that number for a product I don't know what it contains and won't be available for me for over 6 months. This company doesn't have a track record of delivering on their promises to date so I am going to wait and see if they can deliver on their other promises. Maybe closer to delivery date I can be tempted, or maybe if I knew what I was getting by buying early, but not this offer. Not for me.

I want to know what I am paying for and I want to get what I pay for, its just an expectation I have when I hand over my cash.

Its like that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

[FarEYE]

I have spent lots of money on this game.

I am starting to wonder if I was tricked...

[MechWarrior071507]

.. and in the end days, people will know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.