106 replies to this topic

[Sean von Steinike]

Well, I would have given them 3 variants instead of fluff but it is a good step.

[Victor Morson]

InnerSphereNews, on 18 February 2014 - 12:01 PM, said:

I'd like to see this broken up far more than just weight class. I'd also like to see a "2nd tier" of these starter packs with bundles on *3* variants for a chassis, so you get everything you need to master one right out of the gate.

[Zeus X]

Hey look at this, another money grab!

Who would have thought.

[wanderer]

DCM Zeus, on 18 February 2014 - 02:43 PM, said:

Hey look at this, another money grab!

Who would have thought.

What, implying that a game that relies on transactions and sales to remain solvent wouldn't....y'know, sell stuff? That being said, I hope they made the Catapult at least be a custom job. Sticking a newbie in an all-LRM boat would be cruel for a "starter package".

[Bront]

Eizel Crow, on 18 February 2014 - 02:24 PM, said:

great step PGI, just not quite in the right direction. Take out the Fluff as mentioned above and give two variants and some MC.

Why would you include MC in a pack that costs MC?

[xJohnWolf]

Keep the gimmicks, same price, but add two other variants.

With only one mech you can't call it a "starter" bundle in any true sense of the word.

[Prezimonto]

I'd say in any starter pack I'd want something like this:

3 variants of a mech, one of which is a champion farming XP. This is enough to master all or at least one variant of the purchased mech.

3 extra mech bays to go with my new mechs.

1 month of premium time, to help earning cash while I'm tricking out my new rides.

200 MC, along with a ticket allowing you to convert XP to GXP at 50 to 1 once. The implied idea being to give a quick boost to earning that first module. Together that nets you 10k GXP + the 5k or so while you earned the XP for the conversion.

I'd probably toss in several MC priced consumables as well:
5x advanced UAV
5x priority airstrikes
5x coolshot 18

This exposes the player to advanced consumables, and gives them a little MC to spend on more, or to spend on upgrading modules to get the improved versions going.

All told this exposes the player to each possible form of actual cash revenue on the micro-transaction level:
Premium time, XP to GXP conversion, MC consumables, and one MC only mech (on the low end).

I'd suggest an advanced customization package that applies a set of colors, a skin with full colors, and a suite of cockpit items along with a single champion.

[Necromantion]

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA Eeeep ..... ahahahah really?

If you people for one second think this is worthwhile in any sense you should do a bit of math essentially youre getting a bunch of gimmicky crap when only one of the 4 mechs is the best or better variants (the jenner). The atlas is ok and the A1 is undoubtedly the worst catapult, and well hunchbacks > most other mediums? I think not.


Dont waste your money people. Get a good hero and a few mechbays or some mech bays and premium time.

[aniviron]

Deathlike, on 18 February 2014 - 12:12 PM, said:

Having the start packs cost more than the basic $15 pack (which is 3000 MC) is crazy.

If you reduced by slight more than 50% for the first two, you'd have a better deal. It seems over the top expensive and insulting.

I'm not going to say it's insulting, but honestly each of these should be 3000MC exactly; and maybe should include 2 colours and a one-use camo skin. I think it's a great, even fantastic idea to have a new player bundle, and I'd assume that it will help with retention. But at the same time, not a single one of these can be bought for $15, and the next smallest increment is $30. Asking a new player to drop $30 on the game is a bit much for a free-to-play title; you guys are supposed to be like drug dealers, giving them a hook for just a little money here to encourage people to spend more later once they want more than just a little taste of everything which was given to them in this pack.

I'd also question the choices of the CPLT-A1 and HBK-4P as starter mechs. The 4P was pretty good, but really is not something I'd with on any player who wasn't up for a challenge these days, what with ghost heat nerfs that specifically targeted this mech out of all the hundred we have, and that gigantic "SHOOT HERE" right torso. Putting a new player in it is just cruel; it's not as bad as the STK-3F that's on the field right now, but it's pretty close. It's not like mediums are wanting for better options; many of the Cents or all of the Shadowhawks would have been obvious choices. The A1 is also a mech with fairly limited options, being all-missile; the A4 or C4 might have been a better choice.

Edited by aniviron, 18 February 2014 - 03:34 PM.

[Aluminumfoiled]

Nice intro packs. The whole ( c ) mechs program is good. Including the Cat A1 bothers me a little. A new player with a mech that can be totally neutered by a single ECM seems a frustrating start. My new shiny mech won't fire! There are ways around that of course but do they know?

Like this idea and hope it sells.

edit: 1 way around 1 ECM for the A1, BAP. And NARC, nuff said there. Smurf that <-- loadout as a new pilot for an education.

Edited by MicroVent, 19 February 2014 - 05:58 AM.

[xJohnWolf]

Looks like the community overwhelmingly agrees that these packs should include 3 total variants of a single chassis and 3 mech bays. Otherwise these aren't starter packs. These are "bling" packs. And almost completely worthless.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Necromantion, on 18 February 2014 - 03:33 PM, said:

I am a crappy A1 pilot

FTFY.

Just because YOU don't do well with it or like it does not make it the worst.
The 4SSRM 2LRM15 A1 is one of the only mechs my light mechs fear.

[Grouch]

Prezimonto, on 18 February 2014 - 03:25 PM, said:

I'd say in any starter pack I'd want something like this:

3 variants of a mech, one of which is a champion farming XP. This is enough to master all or at least one variant of the purchased mech.

3 extra mech bays to go with my new mechs.

1 month of premium time, to help earning cash while I'm tricking out my new rides.

200 MC, along with a ticket allowing you to convert XP to GXP at 50 to 1 once. The implied idea being to give a quick boost to earning that first module. Together that nets you 10k GXP + the 5k or so while you earned the XP for the conversion.

I'd probably toss in several MC priced consumables as well:
5x advanced UAV
5x priority airstrikes
5x coolshot 18

This exposes the player to advanced consumables, and gives them a little MC to spend on more, or to spend on upgrading modules to get the improved versions going.

All told this exposes the player to each possible form of actual cash revenue on the micro-transaction level:
Premium time, XP to GXP conversion, MC consumables, and one MC only mech (on the low end).

I'd suggest an advanced customization package that applies a set of colors, a skin with full colors, and a suite of cockpit items along with a single champion.

great ideas. Quick PGI hire this guy

Edited by Grouch, 18 February 2014 - 04:04 PM.

[Suko]

*Commence beating of dead horse*

A move in the right direction, but dice and hula girls? That seems useless to a new player. How about a camo pattern and three pre-determined camo colors? They could even be the boring colors.

Also, you still need to buy the $30 MC pack to buy any of these. That's not very smart. An "intro" pack should be cheap and easy to get people invested. Make this a once per account offer and have it under $15. Reduce the benefits if needed (no premium time and such), but get that price lower.

Edited by ShadowVFX, 18 February 2014 - 04:13 PM.

[xJohnWolf]

Since the community overwhelmingly agrees that "starter" bundles should include 3 mechs and 3 bays and no one wants or cares about the "bling". Also, the bling that is included features 3 pieces that can't even be used together because two are standing items and 1 hanging item. Did the Devs even think about these bundles before they implemented them? Is there a quality control that does a common sense test before this stuff comes out?

I try to avoid inflammatory posts, but I am dumbfounded by these bundles. I simply cannot help myself but to say these things and ask these questions.

[Silas Farseer]

You should put these up for real $. Not having things an even MC cost means people have to pay more than the price in order to get the pack.

Also, these would be great for Steam.

Some people are reluctant to try F2P games that aren't on Steam. (like a friend of mine) I know you take a % hit, but you would likely make up for it with more players.

Edited by Silas Farseer, 18 February 2014 - 04:24 PM.

[Deathlike]

aniviron, on 18 February 2014 - 03:33 PM, said:

I'm not going to say it's insulting, but honestly each of these should be 3000MC exactly; and maybe should include 2 colours and a one-use camo skin. I think it's a great, even fantastic idea to have a new player bundle, and I'd assume that it will help with retention. But at the same time, not a single one of these can be bought for $15, and the next smallest increment is $30. Asking a new player to drop $30 on the game is a bit much for a free-to-play title; you guys are supposed to be like drug dealers, giving them a hook for just a little money here to encourage people to spend more later once they want more than just a little taste of everything which was given to them in this pack.

The insulting aspect is the price, just being barely above the $15-3000MC package. If anything, the packages (light+medium) should be at that MC value point. It's probably not "insulting" to that degree, but it draws the reaction of "really?"

The thing is about microtransactions is that the value of the deal needs to equal what you would have paid in the equivalent transactions. So if the package were worth $15/3000MC, a new player can see value in that, even if the some of the stuff is not as interesting/useful as it could be. Considering you're only getting 1 Champion mech for 2 cockpit items that cannot be used in tandem, that's a silly type of scenario that shouldn't come up in the first place.

Giving the player the idea that they need 3 mechs of the same chassis to progress is a lot more ideal (although some people will insist this is not necessary, which unfortunately for MWO, is not actually helpful in the long run, especially when you're trying to get better with the game - just eliting out a mech is good enough, but basics only unfortunately is not).

Quote

I'd also question the choices of the CPLT-A1 and HBK-4P as starter mechs. The 4P was pretty good, but really is not something I'd with on any player who wasn't up for a challenge these days, what with ghost heat nerfs that specifically targeted this mech out of all the hundred we have, and that gigantic "SHOOT HERE" right torso. Putting a new player in it is just cruel; it's not as bad as the STK-3F that's on the field right now, but it's pretty close. It's not like mediums are wanting for better options; many of the Cents or all of the Shadowhawks would have been obvious choices. The A1 is also a mech with fairly limited options, being all-missile; the A4 or C4 might have been a better choice.

At this point, they pigeonholed themselves with their own selection of the Champion mechs... like, a K2/C1 would have been better than the A1.. and ghost heat nerfed their own 4P creation. So... it's kinda like drawing blood from yourself to unsafe levels because you get some free unique stuff from a blood drive. It's not a good thing.

Edited by Deathlike, 18 February 2014 - 04:29 PM.

[Chemie]

You have to pay $30 to get enough MC to buy even the cheapest package. Really? Starter?

I would tell a starter to buy an oxide hero for 2625 MC or just the good old C jenner for 1450MC instead (only costing $15 MC package to buy) add mechbay for 300 and you are still saving money.

Edited by Chemie, 18 February 2014 - 04:37 PM.

[MavRCK]

^^ lots of good points

Emphasis:

1. cosmetic items don't really add value to these packs
2. the light package should be 3000MC so it's obtainable with the $15 MC package.

Consider:


Decrease the price of the light package to 3000MC. Drop one of the cosmetic add-ons and add 3 mech bays. This way you can encourage players to farm cbills and buy other mechs.

[Dan Nashe]

It's a good idea to have starter bundles.
I think they made a mistake with the price point.

The idea being that once a player spends any amount of money on a game, even $1, their chances of spending more is greatly increased. I think these are priced way too much for a "dipping your toe" in bundle. They're not bad deals, but let's look at them:

Light: 3,250: $30
Medium: 3,600: $30
Heavy: 4,100: $30
Assault: 5,200: $30.

Why? Because $15 only gets you 3000 MC.
You *must* spend $30 to get any starter pack.
These are not bad packs, but are they really starter?
And we have 50% off hero sales, so 45% off is already not the sharpest PGI can cut it.
At a minimum, drop the light and medium to 3000.
Honestly, even if you have to drop the premium time to 7 days, do it for the Heavy and Assault too.

I know when I started that first $8 and $15 MC pack were what got me in. I would not have started with a $30 buy in.

You really want to hook players? Something like this:
$8 Starter Kit: 1250 MC
Jenner-F© [Reg 1450]
Mechbay [Reg. 300]
3 Days of Premium Time [Reg. 650]
Total Reg: 2,350
45% off: 1250 MC ($8!)

3 Days is enough time to get a real taste of premium time.

Upgrade to the Elite Starting Bundle for 1750 more MC (3000 Total): Exactly $15
All of the Jenner Basic Bundle Above Plus:
Hula Girl [500]
A Jenner D [1205 Normal]
A Jenner K [1260 Normal]
Two Mechbays [600]
Total: 3,500
50% discount: 1750

You're still in normal sale range, and you've just let a new player elite a great mech.

Basic Medium Starter Bundle:
HBK-4P©: 1800
+ Mechbay: 2100
+ 1-Day Premium: 2350
Less Than 50% off: 1250

Elite version: 3000 Total MC, includes the Basic Hunchback Pack, Plus:
HBK-4SP: 1455
HBK 4G: 1480
Two Mechbays: 600
Total: ~3500
So ~50% off is 1750 again.

There, 4 starter packs priced at $8 and $15 that I absolutely would have been willing to jump in and buy after a few games.

Edited by DanNashe, 18 February 2014 - 05:27 PM.