16 replies to this topic

[Riverboat Sam]

Spent the full three hours listening to Russ' Town Hall, and can honestly say I learned one key fact.

Russ is first, last, and always a businessman who is looking after the bottom line of PGI. Sure, that's fine because he is running a business and it needs to make money, but PGI definitely DOES take it to the point of manipulating the expectations of players in order to maximize PGI's income.

What do I mean by that? Look no further than the Timber Wolf. When the question came up about how long would IS players have to put up with it being as dominant as it has been since its' introduction Russ assured everyone that the days of seeing Timber Wolves in every match are almost over. He went on to say that it will soon be available for C-Bills, and implied that as soon as it is a "free to play", chassis it will be nerfed into the ground hard just like the Nova was.

In other words, if you even think of approaching MWO from a pay to play perspective you will be taken to the cleaners every time as surely as if you went to a casino thinking you could beat the house. PGI is the dealer. They hold all the cards. They will manipulate the community to buy one hot mech after another and then nerf the crap out of each as soon as it becomes free to play.

The only way to "beat" this game is not to pay. Never pay cash for a mech. Never. Just find something free and have fun playing for free. Don't be a sucker.

[Xarian]

He said nothing of the sort. How's that tinfoil hat feel?

[MadPanda]

This is the pgi way. They don't mind selling over powered stuff for real money. They start caring about balance only when players can obtain it "for free". But you are wrong on how to beat the game. You know if you pay real money, you are getting overpowered stuff for a limited duration. So buy it and enjoy the good times. That's how I saw it when I bought the timberwolf. I had my fun with it, pgi can nerf it now as much as it likes. The peasants should not have as much fun as I did .

[Kilo 40]

I think the OP heard what he wanted to hear, because he sure didn't hear what was actually said.

[MarineTech]

[Black Ivan]

Not that I'm surprised of that. I alreday thought about asking for a refund for my Kit Foxes and Timberwolves.

[EgoSlayer]

He said nothing of the sort. He was responding to the P2W criticisms that were leveled against the Clan mechs, most specifically the TW. What he said was it's coming up for C-Bills soon so the P2W criticism no longer applies because all the best Clan Mechs will be available for free. Nothing more, nothing less. No mention that it's going to be nerfed at all.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Anybody else conjure up this image from reading the Title?

Spoiler

edit: tags added.

Edited by Praetor Knight, 04 October 2014 - 01:43 AM.

[CycKath]

Moral of the story is again, people who bought Clans packages assuming they'd be superpowered were foolish. Only reason to buy any package is get 'Mechs early, not the bonus C-bills, special paint or cockpit items.

[El Bandito]

OP, MWO is not pay to win. Anyone who did not think the T-Wolf was OP, or that it will not get nerfs in the future, are childish dreamers.

Balance before all else.

Edited by El Bandito, 04 October 2014 - 01:54 AM.

[Impyrium]

I don't get where you heard this stuff.

He didn't go all sweet and talk PGI up and pretend they didn't do things they did. He did admit they made mistakes, but he also admitted when he personally was happy with features, even if that didn't line up with what most of the chat wanted. He also was sure to emphasis that they are a F2P developer that needs to make money, and that he believes doing these packs is the best way to do that. He genuinely sounded like he believed that the 'P2W' stuff with the early Clans have passed... and frankly, I agree. We're not going to see overpowered technology anymore, since it's already been balanced pretty well. The packs are simply a way to grab 'Mechs sooner- though I sort of feel that the pack dates go a little too long.

He was really, really honest. And that's something I can appreciate, because now I have a much clearer idea of what PGI and Russ want and think of the game. Remember that PGI are NOT Indie developers. They're not going to sound like the hyper free community style developers of certain other games. He has to balance the business side with the community side, and I think he's done a fantastic job of that lately.

[A Man In A Can]

And here I thought this thread would be about the House of Lords - in which case you'd probably be right.

[totgeboren]

I don't really understand the problem here? PGI is a business and needs to earn money in order to pay its employees. To earn money they need both people to pay them for stuff, and they need enough people playing that the ones who do pay have someone to face, otherwise the game dies.

Of course new MC-only mechs will be slightly op, more people will buy them that way. But it can't be too OP, since then people who don't pay will stop playing, and the game will quickly become stale meaning the population decreases and thus the game dies. When it becomes available for free it needs to be nerfed to the same level as everything else, otherwise people wont pay money for the next new thing and so on, and as said, variation is more fun for everyone, and people are willing to pay as long as they are having fun.

I don't see the conspiracy nor what the problem is? Servers don't pay for themselves and even programmers need to eat.

Edited by totgeboren, 04 October 2014 - 02:03 AM.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Enlil09, on 04 October 2014 - 12:13 AM, said:

The only way to "beat" this game is not to pay. Never pay cash for a mech. Never. Just find something free and have fun playing for free. Don't be a sucker.

I liked the way he said to vote with your wallets.

IOn an arrogant way. Arent they supposed to be contrite after the fail of Transverse?

Kilo 40, on 04 October 2014 - 12:37 AM, said:

I think the OP heard what he wanted to hear, because he sure didn't hear what was actually said.

Irony right here

[Kilo 40]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 04 October 2014 - 02:21 AM, said:

I liked the way he said to vote with your wallets.

IOn an arrogant way. Arent they supposed to be contrite after the fail of Transverse?



Irony right here

The irony is that you did the exact same thing the OP did, then tried to project that onto someone else.


Russ: "Hey guys if you feel you don't want to buy something because features you want aren't in the game yet, then don't buy them. I respect that"

You: "look at how arrogant he is!".

[SaltBeef]

Those that are just fine on their F2 Play accounts Cheepskates!! What yah got 6 mech bays! Master of the universe they are.

[Levon K]

Oh cool, more conspiracy theories from bananas who don't know how the world works. Cute.