24 replies to this topic

[SeanM]

Let me get this straight, to play 1vs1 with a friend we both need to have active premium time?

I'm a big fan of the game and all, but I don't have endless hours to play, I have other time commitments. Activating a full bank of premium time to play a solo match with a friend is just dumb. If I can't play for the next week, that premium time (money) goes down the drain. I know people are going to argue that PGI needs to make money and that's fine but let us use the basic game features.

Edited by Egomane, 04 May 2014 - 02:01 AM.

[Scratx]

Sean, a server running a game for 2 players still consumes a large amount of resources. Less overall than for 24 people, naturally, but still much more per person.

Is it really wrong for them to want to get back something for that by requiring premium for the players involved?

[SeanM]

I never said it was wrong for them to try to make money, read my post again.

Having to use my entire bank of premium time to play one private match is my problem.

I'd gladly make a reasonable trade for a private match. How about using one day of premium time so that I can play private 1vs1 matches for that whole day?

[TimePeriod]

SeanM, on 03 May 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

I never said it was wrong for them to try to make money, read my post again.

Having to use my entire bank of premium time to play one private match is my problem.

I'd gladly make a reasonable trade for a private match. How about using one day of premium time so that I can play private 1vs1 matches for that whole day?

That's not a bad idea, given the option I think people would like that as well. Being able to decide when I want to withdraw money from my bank account is just about the same and we are indeed paying for it.

Edit: We already paid for the MC, why shouldn't we be allowed to decide when to use it? We already have a nice counter here on the web page.

Edited by TimePeriod, 03 May 2014 - 09:33 AM.

[Mike McSullivan]

The problem for me here is: If i understood it right both players in a 1vs1 need premium time (both groupleades). Its ok for tournaments etcpp, but: if i want to test things together with a friend who just started with MWO, like a real trainingground, i cant. Even the possibly coming "payperplay" is no option in that case.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Many people have commented on how they feel about Premium Time working in "banks" instead of being off/on toggleable.

I'd rather comment on their requirement for premium time in 1v1 matches. All Free-to-Play games thrive on the recruitment of additional players. Every person who players, regardless of their spending, acts to improve the gaming experience of everyone else by serving as additional targets/teammates. When more people play -> waiting times go down and the field of battle expands. More players in the public queue makes the game better.

However, once you exit the public queue, you're no longer acting to improve the game for the rest of the playerbase. This game is based on 12v12 matches where 24 players get to play every time they create an Environment Instance on the servers. There are free ways to play in the 12v12 private gametype where you can set two predetermined teams against eachother. The caveat is that you have to abide by the public game rules since you're still playing the game without contributing any money. they way you're contributing to the game is by helping to fill teams and encouraging everyone else to perhaps buy some MC because they like this game. If all you're contributing is you own presence, then you have to play be the public rules since you're only supporting the free public-style of play.

If you want to play in a gamestyle where you can change the rules to your liking and play with FEWER PLAYERS, then you will have to contribute something to counter-act this exclusion of players form the Game Environment Instance. You're having their Server computers dedicate processing time to your Private Match that could have less than 24 players, even as few as 2 players. They *could be* using those server cores to host 24 other players, but instead their using them just for 2 of you. You're gonna have to pay a rental fee for that processing power if you're not sharing it equally with others.

That's my take on why they make you use premium time for small matches. You're supporting the game when you play for free in large matches, but if you want to play in smaller matches and not support the game for theentire community, then you have to pay a small cash fee for the segregated server time.

- P.S. - The Developers have said that the Premium Time Model is more temporary than permanent, and they may move to a MC-based system. That would not require the use of Premium Time Banks to host Custom private matches

Edited by Prosperity Park, 03 May 2014 - 09:36 AM.

[-Natural Selection-]

We don't like pug matches, so I activated a week of premium. Friends and I did some matches and now they don't want to go in there because they are trying to earn cbills. So I guess its back to farming pug matches.. Cant win for loosing

[TimePeriod]

Scratx, on 03 May 2014 - 09:15 AM, said:

Sean, a server running a game for 2 players still consumes a large amount of resources. Less overall than for 24 people, naturally, but still much more per person.

Is it really wrong for them to want to get back something for that by requiring premium for the players involved?

But....We already paid for the premium time in advance. We don't have that money any more and we cannot get it back. We paid for it why shouldn't we be allowed to decide when we wish to spend it? >_>

[Jabilo]

Good post Prosperity.

I think only making one person per team have premium time active is more than reasonable.

C Bills in private matches would be ludicrous, as it would be hugely open to abuse.

If large portions of the player base simply segregate themselves from the public queue it will be detrimental to the game.

All members of the community will have to make some form of contribution to the development of the game, whether it be purchasing premium time or participating in public matches (at no charge). Otherwise there will be no game at all.

I can not understand how some people think they should be able to play the game, and access all features, for no money ad infinitum or how that could be possibly be sustainable for the game.

*Edit*

On the other hand I see no problem what so ever in letting people activate chunks of premium from their bank. It would be a nice gesture for folks that are unhappy and a good compromise.

Edited by Jabilo, 03 May 2014 - 09:49 AM.

[Aresye]

One of the guys in my unit had a computer meltdown shortly after activating his banked premium time.

He lost 90 freaking days of premium time because he couldn't build another computer for 3 months!

[Rawyn]

The mid-size MC package is 6500 MC for 29.95 USD.
One day premium time is 250 MC.

That is 26 (single) days of private Matches for 29.95 USD or roughly 1.15 USD per evening full of private matches per player, when you're talking about 1 on 1.

That's not too harsh when you factor in all the above noted reasons for that fee, i.e. taking up the server resources with 2 players when it could have been 24.

Edited by Rawyn, 03 May 2014 - 09:48 AM.

[SeanM]

AGAIN for the people with the same replies, I would love to pay PGI for private matches.

Their current setup is like a vending machine that takes everything in your wallet once you made your choice.

Lets say I've got 2 hours of spare time today and none for the rest of the week. I've got over a week of premium time in my bank. So I have to waste a whole week of premium time to play a few private matches?

Derp.

[crossflip]

TimePeriod, on 03 May 2014 - 09:24 AM, said:

That's not a bad idea, given the option I think people would like that as well. Being able to decide when I want to withdraw money from my bank account is just about the same and we are indeed paying for it.

Edit: We already paid for the MC, why shouldn't we be allowed to decide when to use it? We already have a nice counter here on the web page.

Because you're not supposed to use it conveniently whenever you want. If you can activate specified amounts of premium time at a chosen time, you can buy a week's worth and use it on seven power-gaming saturdays. Of course PGI(IGP) doesn't want that. You wouldn't buy premium time for seven whole weeks, rather than just one. Because logic and greedy greedy monsters.

Edited by crossflip, 03 May 2014 - 09:58 AM.

[Veranova]

They're going to implement pay per use at some point.
However conversely many of us would prefer to keep the Premium Time option as value added.

I hope that when this is done, both options are available to users, as it will only be better for everyone's experience

Source:
http://mwomercs.com/...93-feb-27-2014/

Quote

Special Note: The use of Premium Time to get access to the more advanced options is currently a temporary implementation. The plan is to eventually move to a pay-per-use model which will fit much better into both the player experience and business model requirements.

Edited by Veranova, 03 May 2014 - 03:14 PM.

[L Y N X]

I think you can download MW4 for free and then run your own server for free and play the game the way you want for free. As for PGI, one of the primary ideas behind premium time is that it shortens the grind for people like you, Sean, who are short on time by accelerating the C-bills earned and XP gained, as an added feature you also GAIN the ability to customize your private matches but this all comes at a cost of a subscription like fee call premium time. Again, if you want MW for free, then you can have that too with MW4. I support PGI but will not spend another dime until CW.

[Mike McSullivan]

Jabilo, on 03 May 2014 - 09:44 AM, said:

I can not understand how some people think they should be able to play the game, and access all features, for no money ad infinitum or how that could be possibly be sustainable for the game.

Hi Jabilo
Easy answer in my case: i FOUNDED this game and invested more money then 2(!) lifetimesubs in big MMORPGS cost. And now im forced (hm, not really - still my decision) to pay again for the full product?

[-Natural Selection-]

Veranova, on 03 May 2014 - 09:53 AM, said:

They're going to implement pay per use at some point.
However conversely many of us would prefer to keep the Premium Time option as value added.

I hope that when this is done, both options are available to users, as it will only be better for everyone's experience

huh, I asked a dev specifically about that yest and he said he knew nothing about it and didn't see it ever happening. I am not saying it will never happen, but I am just saying that is what I was told.

>next statement not direct to you Veranova, just the peanut gallery<

*and no, I do not copy chats, record conversations or share who says what to me. So don't bother asking. Don't care if you believe me or not, and don't care to argue the validity of it with a bunch of links. "just saying"

[-Natural Selection-]

Jabilo, on 03 May 2014 - 09:44 AM, said:

I can not understand how some people think they should be able to play the game, and access all features, for no money ad infinitum or how that could be possibly be sustainable for the game.

There is a whole lot to argue with that one.

Basically a divide is further being created. You have groups who do not care to play in pug matches. You have solo players that do not want group players in their matches. So apparently there was a great enough demand to create this option. Now by originally reducing the amount of players in a group, then reducing the amount of groups for team, you now are forcing people to go to an entire different arena to play together.

So then you are told your desired choice to gaming experience is a cash burden. Then you charge them fees that are not applied to other players, then do not allow them to share the same rewards to boot (xp, gxp, cbills). Further isolating them from the "target audience".

I didn't ask for conquest, you should pay to play it? I didn't ask for assault, you should pay for it? I didn't ask for solo drop matches, should you pay for it? There are MANY things implemented into this game which consume "server recourses" that I never asked for. Should it be fair for me to assume you should pay to use them?

If group ques are in the works then make this free till it is available. I have to say, in almost 20 years of PC online gaming, this has to be the most "ANTI GROUP PLAY" multiplayer game I have ever seen.

ok, ill go get back in my hole over there with the rest of my friends

[Jabilo]

@mike

Yes I see your point. You invested heavily for a product and now you find out the product you thought you paid for - well you have to pay for it again. That sucks.

The problem is (though we have no real evidence) we suspect the player base is small. If you do not keep paying - who will?

Not a problem with an easy solution.

I do not think having a person on each team having premium is a problem for group games. That's fair.

Maybe some sort of exception could be made for one on ones (like a challenge mode) where only one person needs to have premium? A good compromise?

In any case I hope you get some feedback on your concerns.

Edited by Jabilo, 03 May 2014 - 11:08 AM.

[Wintersdark]

SeanM, on 03 May 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

I never said it was wrong for them to try to make money, read my post again.

Having to use my entire bank of premium time to play one private match is my problem.

I'd gladly make a reasonable trade for a private match. How about using one day of premium time so that I can play private 1vs1 matches for that whole day?

They've talked about this. They went with Premium Time right now because it was the easiest way to implement.

Moving forward, they're considering instituting a flat MC fee for premium private matches. I honestly don't think this is better, personally, but whatever. In your case it might be.

I'd LOVE to be able to start and stop premium time, but that isn't going to happen. Otherwise, people would just resume it before a gaming session, and stop it afterwards. PGI won't do that.

Not saying that's good or bad, just that it's how it is.