21 replies to this topic

[Commander Homer]

Hello,

I saw the recent vlog showing the ability to transfer money from players to their unit. Is it possible for players to make multiple accounts just to use the cadet bonus to contribute to their unit? I'm not advocating this, just wondering if something's in place to prevent this behavior, like limiting players from donating until they've purchased a mech or something.

Thanks!

Edited by Commander Homer, 24 August 2014 - 01:17 PM.

[Joseph Mallan]

I would assume if all the accounts were in the unit, they could. But how would that affect the forces that can be fielded?

I have 4 Accounts (1 for each MAJOR House and a Clanner) I could join the Law with all of them, but could only play one at a time.

Second money going to the Command I would assume would be controlled by the Unit CO and maybe an Executive Officer. So Me putting in money from 4 accounts would need to be approved to buy myself a Mech. I would think.

[Impyrium]

Joseph Mallan, on 24 August 2014 - 01:23 PM, said:

I would assume if all the accounts were in the unit, they could. But how would that affect the forces that can be fielded?

I have 4 Accounts (1 for each MAJOR House and a Clanner) I could join the Law with all of them, but could only play one at a time.

Second money going to the Command I would assume would be controlled by the Unit CO and maybe an Executive Officer. So Me putting in money from 4 accounts would need to be approved to buy myself a Mech. I would think.

I don't think he's worried about units being fielded, but rather the cash being banked in the unit itself. It was my understanding that units will eventually be able to buy things such as dropships, upgrades to planets and such, maybe conventional forces in the future. Newbie bonuses might allow a unit to stock up cash unfairly fast.

[Zyllos]

I would hope that money earned from random drops will not be transferable to the unit.

Only money earned from directly playing CW would be able to be transferred to the unit. This means the cadet bonus should be separate.

For some reason, what has happened with the Artillery and Air Strike on the same mech even though they just introduced a patch to disallow it will happen with the cadet money (and all money made before official CW starts) and CW with units.

Of course, we are in the unfortunate position of not knowing what C-Bills will provide for CW.

Edited by Zyllos, 24 August 2014 - 03:22 PM.

[Joseph Mallan]

AUSwarrior24, on 24 August 2014 - 02:46 PM, said:

I don't think he's worried about units being fielded, but rather the cash being banked in the unit itself. It was my understanding that units will eventually be able to buy things such as dropships, upgrades to planets and such, maybe conventional forces in the future. Newbie bonuses might allow a unit to stock up cash unfairly fast.

It would only be a problem if the unit(CO) is willing to let a member take up valuable man power for personal gain.

[Commander Homer]

Hello,

Post-patch, it appears C-Bills from public matches can be deposited to a unit's treasury. I thought I posted something today on this already but can't find the post- long story short, it would not be difficult for groups of players to create new accounts, rack up cadet bonuses, and donate that to the unit. (My estimate: 12 players playing 25 full rounds in 3 hours --> ~100 million C-Bills from cadet bonuses.) Is there anything in place to stop this potential abuse?

Thanks!

[Alex Warden Wolf]

well, since i doubt it will be relevant for at least another 6 month or even longer (regarding buying plantary assets) i am sure PGI will probably figure something out, like locking the cadet bonus to the account and making it non-transferable..

or, speaking of the infamous "player levels" which should be introduced somewhere down the CW road, they could simply lock restrict CB transfers to a certain player level... many many possible ways

that on the other hand would mean they would probably need to wipe unit coffers at some point, because i am sure some units might already do it, at least now that this threat gave them the idea

Edited by Alex Warden Wolf, 02 September 2014 - 07:09 PM.

[Blakkstar]

Expect it.

"PGI announces thousands of new accounts in MWO after launch of CW! Outlook bright!"

[Commander Homer]

Alex Warden Wolf, on 02 September 2014 - 07:07 PM, said:

well, since i doubt it will be relevant for at least another 6 month or even longer (regarding buying plantary assets) i am sure PGI will probably figure something out, like locking the cadet bonus to the account and making it non-transferable..

or, speaking of the infamous "player levels" which should be introduced somewhere down the CW road, they could simply lock restrict CB transfers to a certain player level... many many possible ways

that on the other hand would mean they would probably need to wipe unit coffers at some point, because i am sure some units might already do it, at least now that this threat gave them the idea

I know CW is down the road, but that wouldn't stop units from stocking up on cash now. And yes I did question about pointing this out, but I figured there are people out there who've already noticed this but don't plan on saying anything for fear of losing their "advantage."

[CN9 ACE PILOT]

Commander Homer, on 02 September 2014 - 07:23 PM, said:

I know CW is down the road, but that wouldn't stop units from stocking up on cash now. And yes I did question about pointing this out, but I figured there are people out there who've already noticed this but don't plan on saying anything for fear of losing their "advantage."

3+ Years is a very long road and it feels like only now it started actual development...I wouldn't get my hopes up till some time next year(or the following one). Some players have almost billions of c-bills, i'm not even kidding there, so the cadet bonus will hardly make a dent to the units that want to get a head start.

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

PGI answer...


NERF CADET BONUS!!!


Face it. Would not be surprised the bonus goes the way of the dodo.

Greeting cadets. After 25 matches you are now qualified to drive a brand new (alright beat to heck in pugland) COMMANDO!!

After this, you are on your own. thank you drive through!

[CN9 ACE PILOT]

Bartholomew bartholomew, on 02 September 2014 - 07:35 PM, said:

PGI answer...


NERF CADET BONUS!!!


Face it. Would not be surprised the bonus goes the way of the dodo.

Greeting cadets. After 25 matches you are now qualified to drive a brand new (alright beat to heck in pugland) COMMANDO!!

After this, you are on your own. thank you drive through!

The sad moment when the double heat sinks cost more than the commando itself lol.

Whops, my bad only slightly more at 1,694,524...but you'll need EndoSteel Structure so...thats 1,750,000 to make it playable! (Disclaimer: weapons and 2 more variants not included)

Edited by CN9 ACE PILOT, 02 September 2014 - 07:49 PM.

[slide]

There would be more than enough Cbills in most veterans accounts to fund what ever a unit needs right now. I personally donated 50m to start off the ARMD account and could easily put in another 100m without it bothering me at all and I am by far from the richest person in my unit. For established units with long standing member bases it would largely be a waste of their free time. Besides for it to happen the new accounts have to be invited to join up meaning it would have to be a top down, organised and sanctioned by a units leader. All of the unit leaders I know wouldn't stoop that low.

Having said that small units or new players wanting to establish a unit may look to this but I personally think the numbers would be small.

An average player in a hero with premium could probably make 5m pugging in 25 matches anyway, so why bother with the hassle. If a unit gets organised and asks for a small amount say 100k per week (one or 2 games worth) their coffers are going to fill up pretty fast anyway. 100k*100players=10m per week if it does take them 6 months to do anything that's 260m cbills with out even trying. Even a small unit of say 12 could go 100k per day. 12*100k*7*26=218400000 or enough to buy a drop ship. Little, often will be far more powerful over time than farming the cadet bonus.

[Sovery_Simple]

Don't new accounts also have a button they can click on this website that gives them a free day of premium? So it's not hard to conceive it to be cadet bonus + free premium bonus for credits. Think it comes up to, one sec. Went and checked google, mittani did a comparison, each player would get roughly 15 million cbills by the end of their cadet bonus when playing with premium. Without premium it's 10 mil, so, basically a 50% increase in cbills. so 12 players x 15 mil = 180 million cbills in the coffers for however long those 25 matches take. 3 hours? One week of 3 hours a day and they amass well over a billion Cbills for their unit.
It's something worth looking into, sadly. Probably best to just find a way to lock the cadet bonus money to the account.

[slide]

Premium time only applies to money earned playing the game, same as anyone. Cadet bonus is on top of that and is not affected by premium at all.

Can't remember the exact figure but CB is about 7.8m a good player in trial mechs with premium might bring that up to around 10m if they have 25 good games (statistically unlikely considering what you will likely be dropping with Elo wise) so I would say in your example would be more like 120m cbills for 12 people farming an account each. I also think you would be struggling to launch a minimum of 8 matches per hour unless you are suiciding in your scenario which would reduce your match earnings. It would be more like 5 hours each player (5 matches per hour)

So yes it's doable but I still don't think it's worth it. It certainly wouldn't be what I call fun but each to their own I suppose.

[wolf74]

Best thing I can think of is Disable the Unit Donate button Unless the Account Owns Two mechs. If they Buy two they can donate but if they Sell Under two Mechs Disable the Donate Button Again. This Option will Keep the "Gold Farms" Down Or Make them work 3 Times Harder for it.

Edited by wolf74, 02 September 2014 - 08:47 PM.

[LauLiao]

Hell, I say if someone is willilng to slog though 25 matches in a trial mech over and over again, then they DESERVE to be able to donate that money to their unit if they want to.

[Sandpit]

Joseph Mallan, on 24 August 2014 - 03:41 PM, said:

It would only be a problem if the unit(CO) is willing to let a member take up valuable man power for personal gain.

?
there's no manpower to take up
create account
run through 25 matches
join unit
drop cash
leave unit

[Alistair Winter]

The saddest part about all the cynicism in this thread, is that it's all warranted and most likely an accurate prediction.

Although I offer a third possible PGI ™ solution:

Increase the cost of dropships to one billion C-bills

Similar to the time they just decided to lower player income overall, because there wasn't enough grind in the game and people were buying mechs too fast.

[Deathlike]

Bartholomew bartholomew, on 02 September 2014 - 07:35 PM, said:

PGI answer...


NERF CADET BONUS!!!


Face it. Would not be surprised the bonus goes the way of the dodo.

Greeting cadets. After 25 matches you are now qualified to drive a brand new (alright beat to heck in pugland) COMMANDO!!

After this, you are on your own. thank you drive through!

That would be a sad day. It would be easier to just give them a startup mech to avoid that system (Shadowhawk would be ideal, but that's not up to me I guess).

Whoops, on 02 September 2014 - 08:21 PM, said:

Don't new accounts also have a button they can click on this website that gives them a free day of premium? So it's not hard to conceive it to be cadet bonus + free premium bonus for credits. Think it comes up to, one sec. Went and checked google, mittani did a comparison, each player would get roughly 15 million cbills by the end of their cadet bonus when playing with premium. Without premium it's 10 mil, so, basically a 50% increase in cbills. so 12 players x 15 mil = 180 million cbills in the coffers for however long those 25 matches take. 3 hours? One week of 3 hours a day and they amass well over a billion Cbills for their unit.
It's something worth looking into, sadly. Probably best to just find a way to lock the cadet bonus money to the account.

When the Achievements system went live, the premium bonus stacked ontop of the cadet bonus was removed.

Sandpit, on 04 September 2014 - 02:34 PM, said:

?
there's no manpower to take up
create account
run through 25 matches
join unit
drop cash
leave unit

Sad. The only way to mitigate the abuse of the system is to not allow new players to give they money away after a certain period of time, say 1 month, or after mastering 3 variants. I don't see how players will want to grind away in a Lolcust to master all 3, just to donate money. It would be excessively painful to do.