55 replies to this topic

[Kill Dozer]

In with a bump and a like.

I love my coconut monkey but I have no idea where it is, I think on a Hunchback I haven't run in a year, maybe.

[Morgan]

This, do this please.

[BlackholeZ]

I wholeheartedly agree. These aren't engines for crying out loud. I'm not buying forty-some odd clan wolf pendants I don't how cool they are. This is the exact reason that I haven't bought any cockpit items. You can apply a color to every mech once you've bought it, why not a damn bobblehead?

[Mazikar]

I 100% agree with the OP. Changes like this would make me spend more money in the long run. I haven bought a module in a long time and have simply stopped training them. I also like the dashboard items but as the OP said they are flare rarely used as looking for what mech got what is silly.

[fatalist]

Homeless Bill, on 04 August 2014 - 04:10 PM, said:

Ultimately, everyone wins. People that bought duplicate modules get to sell them back for what is effectively free money (whine all you want about how you got cheated out of half that money, but it was useful for not having to switch up until now).

When they run through the database and switch the modules from n=0-to-infinity to n=0-or-1, they could refund those c-bills automagically. Same with the MC for duplicate cockpit items.

[Warchild Corsair]

What he said.

I am one of the lazy guys with 50 Mechs and a dozen modules. Often I do not bother to search 'em anymore.

[Homeless Bill]

For Sale Sign cockpit item out today. Would totally buy it if I could use it.

[Sethliopod]

Oh!!! I thought they were trying to discourage purchasing more than one or two Mechs.
The process of finding and moving cockpit flash and modules is so clunky and inconvenient, I can see no other motivation, other than to discourage playing multiple Mechs.

btw: Fifty Mechs is way more than it takes to deter purchasing compulsion. After 15-20 Mechs, cockpit items become a burden. Paid too much to leave them where they are, but too annoying to move around.

Edited by Sethliopod, 05 August 2014 - 01:58 PM.

[ShinobiHunter]

The UI layout is such a pain, the cockpit items aren't worth screwing around even between 4 or 5 mech. I would also like to add camo patterns to this if I may. It seems kinda counter-intuitive to purchase colors for all chassis' but have to re-purchase the camo for each. Especially at 750 MC a piece.

[Kaeb Odellas]

They could do do a two-tiered system like they did with camos Sell single-use items for 50 MC a pop, or the full price for a lifetime supply. Any cockpit items you own now would become unlimited.

[Felbombling]

Bill nailed it. I have thought about buying Christmas lights, a statue, the new hamster wheel... but then I think about how messed up the UI is and how much of a hassle it would be to find/mount them from Mech to Mech, and I just back out of the screen. Who needs the frustration? Modules are on slightly higher footing only because they add an in-game benefit, but even they are a trade off between time in Mech Lab and time in battle.

I tend to only play two Mechs a session now, or I try to strip my Mechs at the end of a session to make sure I'm working with a clean slate next time I log in.

[Doctor Proctor]

My 46 mechs and I all agree with the OP on this. When I was hopping around in different mechs for the challenge yesterday, I was surprised to discover that indeed yes, I HAD bought some Christmas Lights awhile back during the last sale on them. They were just in one of my Hunchbacks and I didn't know.

I could switch them to one of the BJ's that I'm currently working on Mastering, but as Bill pointed out that's kind of futile since in a little while I'll be mastering new mechs (with 2/3 mastered, that's going to be sooner than later). So, they'll just sit there without any decoration at all. I also won't be getting any warhorns I think, as those too will just end up lost in some mech that I mastered long ago and am not using currently, while my current mech that I'm running sits empty and devoid of decoration.

[TLBFestus]

Here is the real kicker;

Suppose, just suppose that PGI were to design a clear, smooth easy way in the UI to move modules and cockpit items around.
Everyone would obviously buy only 1 of everything (maybe 2 if you were feeling "flush") and deck out each mech just before they drop. No sales of large numbers of multiple items (which I assume doesn't happen anyway).

If they went with HBs suggestion, you would end up with no need to by multiples at all. Same result, but less work I would think.

That leaves us with the only other reason, that PGI isn't doing this because somehow they think they will make more money doing it the way it is now. I assume that THEY ASSUME we all just keep buying a new module or cockpit item instead of looking around for it in the byzantine UI setup. "OH dang, I wanted my disco ball schwag for my Victor but I don't know where it is. I guess I'll just buy another one....for the 6th time".

That's not going to happen, at least not for the vast majority of sane players it isn't. If PGI can get it thru their thick skulls maybe they will consider dropping the price, and making them "universal" Heck...if they were universal, I wouldn't complain about the price, because at that point it would be a reasonable deal for both parties.


EDIT---

It's almost as if they are sitting there thinking, "Well geez eh, we are only making "Y" amount of dollars on these things, so if we make them universal we are totally hosed man".

I hate using that Canuck talk, being one myself and being "on an Island" right near Vancouver, but I swear that they can't figure out that if they do this that a ton more players will likely spring for these doo-dads than before.

Take a chance you Canuckleheads!

Edited by TLBFestus, 09 August 2014 - 10:10 PM.

[Doctor Proctor]

TLBFestus, on 09 August 2014 - 12:16 PM, said:

Here is the real kicker;

Suppose, just suppose that PGI were to design a clear, smooth easy way in the UI to move modules and cockpit items around.
Everyone would obviously buy only 1 of everything (maybe 2 if you were feeling "flush") and deck out each mech just before they drop. No sales of large numbers of multiple items (which I assume doesn't happen anyway).

If they went with HBs suggestion, you would end up with no need to by multiples at all. Same result, but less work I would think.

That leaves us with the only other reason, that PGI isn't doing this because somehow they think they will make more money doing it the way it is now. I assume that THEY ASSUME we all just keep buying a new module or cockpit item instead of looking around for it in the byzantine UI setup. "OH dang, I wanted my disco ball schwag for my Victor but I don't know where it is. I guess I'll just buy another one....for the 6th time".

That's not going to happen, at least not for the vast majority of sane players it isn't. If PGI can get it thru their thick skulls maybe they will consider dropping the price, and making them "universal" Heck...if they were universal, I wouldn't complain about the price, because at that point it would be a reasonable deal for both parties.

Yes, they need to learn that when comparing "Hmm, do I want 5 more meters on this weapon, or a new Thunderbolt" that I'm never going to buy the stupid weapon range module. I'm also not going to buy 5 or 6 copies of a module I already have 1 of, when that would total 30-36,000,000 CBills, and would totally drain a bunch of the money I was saving up to buy Clan mechs.

And that's just CBills, I'm going to get even more stingy when it comes to MC. Know what I buy a ton of though? Colors on sale and one shot camos. 75-125 for a camo job? Sure. That's small enough that I can justify say giving all of my BJs new camo jobs for the cost of a single mech bay. That is a GREAT value and I've probably done it to like 20+ mechs. And now that I've bought a bunch of colors from various sales that I can use on any of my mechs I deck all of them out. I also keep buying more as I get bored of old colors and want new combinations.

Fact is, dropping your prices on modules will encourage adoption of them and more people using them. This will get more people into matches faster, making players happier and keeping your concurrent player counts up, which creates good matches that keep players happy. Cheaper/universal MC items also mean that more players will use them, which means that more noobs will be spectating some dude's cockpit and think "Oh man, that PUG statue is awesome, I want to get one" and perhaps open up the wallet and purchase something.

Look at any of the NUMEROUS articles on Steam sales and see how reducing the price of items can actually massively drive sales of said item. Or how universal and easy access to what you purchased really helped drive up adoption and market share in the beginning. Do these things and your players will be happier and then spend more CBills and MC.

[The Iron Chancellor]

Agreed, with a bump and a like.

I see this as a major required quality of life update needed.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Didn't completely read the entire original post but I can definitely agree on the concept behind the shared items.

I am very interested in buying a Warhorn (singular) for my mechs (plural). Yet unless I want to go through the whole, Click configure, click cockpit, click unequip, click save, click on new mech's configure button, click cockpit, click equip, click save....every damn time I want to change mechs, I would have to buy multiple horns at like $7 a piece. That is just crazy and the average person isn't going to buy multiple horns for each mech.

Bad enough we have to do that with modules due to their overwhelming C-bill cost, but to also have to do it for a stupid, cosmetic, cockpit item, are you serious PGI?

Seriously, I just don't understand why PGI doesn't realize that this sort of stuff just hurts their revenue stream. I mean here I was all set to give them my money but now I am holding off because I am not sure a stupid warhorn is worth the hassle I will have to go to, to swap it out between mechs all the time. Result = net loss of money for PGI.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 23 August 2014 - 12:51 PM.