96 replies to this topic

[Felbombling]

I play World of Tanks along with MechWarrior: Online and War Thunder. Of the three, MechWarrior: Online has the most forgiving economy and grind possible. Sorry OP, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree here, both with skill grind and money grind to unlock and access new equipment.

[Gattsus]

I have only two issues with the current system. First, you have to pay to get more mechbays, which is "doh" since in other games you have like a bazillion heroes to choose from, I.e. Dota 2 or Lol.

Second, having to pay for private matches its RIDICULOUS!!!! What in the world are they thinking.

The grind is alright, in my opinion.

Edited by Gattsus, 03 November 2014 - 10:26 AM.

[Ghogiel]

Honestly PGI just need to keep doing what they are doing atm. In the first year or 2 hardly any free premium time was given out in promo codes, no MC, no mech bays, no free mechs. NOTHING.

In the past 6 months free players could have had a dozen mech bays and several hundred MC, plus all kinds of free mechs.

Edited by Ghogiel, 03 November 2014 - 10:50 AM.

[Gattsus]

Ghogiel, on 03 November 2014 - 10:25 AM, said:

Honestly PGI just need to keep doing what they are doing atm. In the first year or 2 hardly any free premium time was given out in promo codes, no MC, no mech bays, no free mechs. NOTHING.

In the past 6 months free players could could have a dozen mech bays and several hundred MC, plus all kinds of free mechs.

I partially agree with you but in the subject of mechbays, I do believe that they should have a cbill price. Otherwise you are obligued to spend money in the game and not because you want to contribute to the game, but because the game "forces you". There are several YouTube videos in why this is not the correct way to have a f2p model.

Edited by Gattsus, 03 November 2014 - 10:30 AM.

[BTone]

I think it's worth noting that the grind is directly related to how well you adapt to MW's style of gameplay.

If you try to play MWO like any other first-person action shooter game, you will most certainly entertain a long and frustrating grind. This is because at Mechwarrior's philosophical core, it rewards cooperation and strategic thinking, not just reflex's and firepower.* If you still try to run into the middle of battle without any support in your Atlas (or any mech), then you're going to have a bad time - and your cbill/xp reward will be small. Continuing to play this way will undoubtedly manifest into a rather unpleasant and difficult grind.

However, if you play smart, I think you will find the end results very different. Of course "smart" is relative, and means something a little different to every player, but the general connotation is that it means to NOT bum rush the enemy, and to stick with the team and maintain the utmost awareness of your surroundings. It doesn't hurt to know how to effectively move your mech and target either.

As a first hand example, I am not a great player; I usually average around 300 - 500 damage a game, but more often than not am destroyed before the end of the game. I am not super accurate with my weapons, but I'm fairly competent. As long as I stick by my team and pay attention, I find I do fairly well. As of late, I am earning about 1 million cbills per hour. I don't know how good this is, but I'm happy with it, and If that's the "grind", then I think it's fairly respectable for a F2P game.

In my opinion, the best thing you could say to your buddies is that MWO is a bit... different than some of the other F2P games, and if you try it, be prepared to approach its gameplay very differently than what you are used to.


*I personally feel MWO is a pretty solid/balanced game at the moment, and that this statement is more accurate than not.

[Gattsus]

BTone, on 03 November 2014 - 10:30 AM, said:

I think it's worth noting that the grind is directly related to how well you adapt to MW's style of gameplay.

If you try to play MWO like any other first-person action shooter game, you will most certainly entertain a long and frustrating grind. This is because at Mechwarrior's philosophical core, it rewards cooperation and strategic thinking, not just reflex's and firepower.* If you still try to run into the middle of battle without any support in your Atlas (or any mech), then you're going to have a bad time - and your cbill/xp reward will be small. Continuing to play this way will undoubtedly manifest into a rather unpleasant and difficult grind.

However, if you play smart, I think you will find the end results very different. Of course "smart" is relative, and means something a little different to every player, but the general connotation is that it means to NOT bum rush the enemy, and to stick with the team and maintain the utmost awareness of your surroundings. It doesn't hurt to know how to effectively move your mech and target either.

As a first hand example, I am not a great player; I usually average around 300 - 500 damage a game, but more often than not am destroyed before the end of the game. I am not super accurate with my weapons, but I'm fairly competent. As long as I stick by my team and pay attention, I find I do fairly well. As of late, I am earning about 1 million cbills per hour. I don't know how good this is, but I'm happy with it, and If that's the "grind", then I think it's fairly respectable for a F2P game.

In my opinion, the best thing you could say to your buddies is that MWO is a bit... different than some of the other F2P games, and if you try it, be prepared to approach its gameplay very differently than what you are used to.


*I personally feel MWO is a pretty solid/balanced game at the moment, and that this statement is more accurate than not.

Yeah, for me too. The grind is alright.

[POWR]

The general mistake it seems is for people to play one game to the exclusion of any other game. Sure, I've put in a bunch of hours in MWO, but I still only have something like 1250 matches played. There are people with 10000+ matches, lots of them. People who play this game night and day. I might go 2-3-4 weeks without even logging on. Maybe to check out a patch or something. Then come back and play a few hours for a few days, then take another little break.

I have a ridiculous game backlog and there's any number of games coming out that I'd like to play as well and I want to play other online games as well. Taking it easy and doing ones own thing is what it's all about.

Also, I don't really consider it very expensive for the money you invest... The mechs I've actually bought I've not really played much.Turned out that others were more interesting, though I do have a lot of teamplay hours in the SHD. I grinded money enough to buy multiple mechs without having spent any of my pre-order premium time, and I've purchased a day or 3 now and again over the years. But the number of hours you can play a single or small group of chassises is extreme. You can configure them in so many ways and do all these different things to try and master the gameplay with one... I used to think that "omg so much for one mech" but as time passed by I've felt it less.
Yes, they're still sort of expensive, especially since you need 3 of one to boost them up, but hey, you could probably buy one and then earn the others through cbills... I dunno. It's just a massive amount of playtime that sits in every chassis. If you are jumping around between 15 different mechs, you're probably doing something wrong or you're one of those guys with 10k games played.

I have more fun leveling the mechs and getting that next bit of gear and the cbills to afford it than I do playing maxed out ones. Yes, I've spent what some would consider a considerable amount, around 200$, but it's been over what, 3 years? That's not much... I've spent the same amount on the same timescale on other F2P games I've been playing.

To me, recommending it to friends is hardest because of the sheer learning curve. Most of them are used to playing LoL or DOTA or not really anything at all. Playing a FPS is far from most of their minds and those that do play a bit of BF3/4 are all about 50% of my own skill level (with a few that are way above in at least CS/CoD), or something like that, and they just bang their heads on this thing because it requires a certain fascination with the idea of just vehicular combat, and vehicular mech combat at that. And it's not "easy" to just boot up and play it. You need to want to play this game before you actually do. And there does seem to lack a softer introduction to create that desire .

Bottomline is, if you don't have that desire, it doesn't matter if the mechs are 100$ each or 1$ each.

Edited by POWR, 03 November 2014 - 10:40 AM.

[Brody319]

This grind isnt a problem if you play it right. PGI really just needs to add more rewards and I'd say its good so far. I can make about a million c-bills in 30 minutes to an hour depending on my team, in an adder!

Really you are hurting PGI by not telling your friends to try it, and teach them how to play properly. Good job.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

The worst part of the grind is if you pick the wrong mech at the beginning. Really need to do some research before making that first purchase. After you have a good mech to fall back on, the grind isn't all that bad. Mech bays are the only thing I feel you must buy to enjoy this game and they're inexpensive.

[Mercules]

Viktor Drake, on 03 November 2014 - 10:19 AM, said:

I also warn about the skill curve and that it is pretty difficult to get the hang of playing, especially without some tutorial or protected game area where they are only going against other newbies...

This would be called "private matches". You set the rules, the pace, and can train people in them. They can run around and get the hang of the mech movement and you can control who they fight so they get real practice.

POWR, on 03 November 2014 - 10:34 AM, said:

The general mistake it seems is for people to play one game to the exclusion of any other game.

I have to agree with this. I know a lot of people are driven to be the "best I can be at THAT game." but I find I do much better mentally if I rotate through games. Right now I play a bit of MWO, some Epoch(ARMAIII mod), XCOM(turn based for while I am taking work calls), and DDO. I also rotate in Diablo3, SpaceEngineers, DayZ SA, and various ARMAIII missions my friend puts together. MWO never becomes a "grind" because I play when I am in the mood to play and the C-bills just flow in as they flow in. I never get frustrated to the point where I consider uninstalling because I just switch up games and in a day or so I come back to MWO.

[Ghogiel]

Gattsus, on 03 November 2014 - 10:28 AM, said:

I partially agree with you but in the subject of mechbays, I do believe that they should have a cbill price. Otherwise your obligued to spend money and not because you want to contribute to the game. There are several YouTube videos in why this is not the correct way to have a f2p model.

f2p model was never intended to be completely free grind can unlock everything in the game type model and not have an eventual roadblock to progression that it requires some finacial investment to lift. At a certain point, f2p often stops the player from progressing. Whether that's a level cap or character slots or whatever.

As long as there are very few of these, are reasonably priced or they don't happen so quick that the f2p model is basically a demo of the full game, then the f2p is pretty good imo. I would be surprised to see them make mechbays for cbills.. I reckon they will just continue to reward active players with mechbays on occasion as prizes. Which if how I think they should proceed anyway.

[Lykaon]

Praslek2, on 03 November 2014 - 12:37 AM, said:

I have roommates. Sometimes those roommates ask me what games I play, and MWO is one of the names I respond with.

Then they ask me if it's worth playing, and how much it costs, and I'm forced to tell them, "No, don't play MWO. It's too expensive and grindy for a new player to get into it. Maybe in the future it'll be better, but right now, don't do it."

When I have to tell my roommates, who are a bunch of guys that play videogames in most of their free time, that they should not play MWO, something is not right with how things are implemented.

Feature suggestion: reassess the monetization strategy for MWO and make informed decisions about changes based on the data available and, more importantly, designed to capture a wider audience, not exclusively the whales that this game is currently designed to harpoon.

I can't stress that last part enough. If your whales aren't extinct yet, they will be soon enough, based on the trend of overhunting them in every free-to-play title that exists. It's time to start fishing and stop whaling.

The grind factor is really a mater of perspective.

Is this game grindy for someone who plays MMOs? Not at all.

Is this game grindy for a first person shooter player? yep.


I do think that PGI may want to examine some of the price points in their store.In particular mech MC pricing.

Sticker shock is majorly off putting for many users.

I am gainfully employed and have spare cash for entertainment. I'm a legendary founder,Overlord Phoenix,I own several (if not most of) the hero mechs.

I'm a whale by the given deffinition.I also no longer spend money unless PGI is running a sale.I still make purchases when there is a sale because the sale price is my pricepoint.the sale prices are what I think the product is worth to me in entertainment value. 30 bucks for a hero? nah...15 bucks? it looks a lot more reasonable.

[Brody319]

Rouken, on 03 November 2014 - 10:44 AM, said:

The worst part of the grind is if you pick the wrong mech at the beginning. Really need to do some research before making that first purchase. After you have a good mech to fall back on, the grind isn't all that bad. Mech bays are the only thing I feel you must buy to enjoy this game and they're inexpensive.

Well every F2P game is like that. one guy will buy a stalker , the other will buy a trenchbucket. Plus the willingness to do research is a sign that you want to do really good at the game. The only problem is that a lot of the videos seem out of date. The videos I watched for deciding my first mech was really rather old. Suggested that the trenchbucket was a good mech because it comes more complete with endo and double heat sinks.

The Wiki is out of date. so really their best hope is to come to the forums and just ask. All the other information in this game is pretty out of date.

[The Strange]

This game isn't that grindy. You get a huge c-bill bonus for your first 25 matches which lets you pick a nice Mech and outfit it. You don't have to buy a Hero Mech your first day out. You'd figure that you would WANT 3 of your friends to play with you, so you can have a strong lance with good communication. I wish I had 3 buddies I could get into the game. I have a hard enough time getting my brother to play with me, and he plays the game, lol.

The pricing is a bit much, but you don't HAVE to buy to play. And there is no pay to win here like most other f2p models.

[TLBFestus]

RetroActive, on 03 November 2014 - 10:07 AM, said:

I just don't see this in the group queue. I'm a mostly pug player. Every now and then I'll jump on the Comstar NA TeamSpeak server and group up with 3 other random dudes and play the group queue. I find that most of the time we win. How is this any different than playing with your group of 3 friends?

Obviously we suck more than your friends.

Actually we do "OK" by our standards, which as Lazy B@stards we set suitably low, but to many more hardcore players we are 'terribad", and they would probably throw something at their monitor if they had our K/D and W/L ratios.

My point was that we have read again and again AND again, about people who like to play, and invite friends who don't stick around due to the brutality of the group queue for the inexperienced, or don't even invite friends because they know it will not go well for them.

That is a problem. You can't expect to draw a lot of new players when the options for many new players are:

1. Play Solo without your friends to find a "casual" game

2. Play with a friend of similar "casual" caliber and be fed as meat to the more experienced groups.

Yes, there are many good players, and good players that will flourish in the group queue and in CW, but the lifeblood of the game if its' to thrive will be more casual players.

Edited by TLBFestus, 03 November 2014 - 02:57 PM.

[Odins Fist]

This thread/post AFTER the Halloween event..??

Wow dude, just WOW....

Edited by Odins Fist, 03 November 2014 - 03:10 PM.

[PappySmurf]

It's free and the grind is fine!!!!!!!!!!!!


I have to say the OP is right to a point just because a game is free does not mean it is a good overall game. Or that the cost of products in that game are worth what the company's ask for them.MWO is billed as a tactical team game it is not over the last month the DEVS have made some improvements but the core game is still lacking so much content it is not worth the cost or time spent playing the game.

MWO should be billed as a single player MMO with low content and high costs its a wonder anyone stays and pays into MWO at all.

[Gattsus]

Ghogiel, on 03 November 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

f2p model was never intended to be completely free grind can unlock everything in the game type model and not have an eventual roadblock to progression that it requires some finacial investment to lift. At a certain point, f2p often stops the player from progressing. Whether that's a level cap or character slots or whatever.

As long as there are very few of these, are reasonably priced or they don't happen so quick that the f2p model is basically a demo of the full game, then the f2p is pretty good imo. I would be surprised to see them make mechbays for cbills.. I reckon they will just continue to reward active players with mechbays on occasion as prizes. Which if how I think they should proceed anyway.

Please justify yourself by providing a list of widely acclaimed games that lock content behind pay walls.

Let me give you a list of F2P games that do not do such a thing: Dota, 6.5 monthly active users. LOL, 20+ monthly active users, Heroes of the Storm and Heartstone, both in "Alpha/Beta" achieved players in the order of thousands.

MW:O on the other hand locks private matches behind a pay wall, i.e.you can't have mechbays using in game currency.

Furthermore, you may think that having these pay modes enabled are the only way for MWO to survive, i.e. collect money. Several other games have shown the contrary achieving great success or saving them from bankruptcy such as Team Fortress 2 or Star Wars the Old republic, amongst others -Conan(?).

I think it's very difficult to argue that MWO's model of F2P will be successful in the long run. There's not much evidence to support this statement.


FYI please watch this series of videos.

[Mercules]

Gattsus, on 04 November 2014 - 10:55 AM, said:

Star Wars the Old republic

Which locks content behind paywalls. For example: Artifact quality equipment is not usable without unlocking it through paying. You receive the gear from some missions. There are also missions you can't access without paying.

[RazorbeastFXK3]

I've been a freeloader for quite some time and haven't made any plans to change that. mwomercs is one of the first online games that has never made me feel the grind at all just because I don't put money into it. The x25 round cadet bonus was more than enough for me to buy my own 'mech and modify it to my satisfaction or two 'mechs without 100% modifications.

To tell your friends (or anyone for that matter) outright that this game is a waste of their freetime is bogus and you are a jerk for dictating what they may or may not be interested in playing or even trying out.

The events in mwomercs have given me free mechbays which is great. I've even earned a Champion Centurion 'Mech through it and a free Thunderbolt. Using Trial 'Mechs helps build up your 'Mech XP stock so if/when you decide to purchase those used 'mechs for C-Bills and/or MC.. you can spend the earned 'Mech XP on your owned 'mechs. (I used the Spider a lot during my Trial 'Mech Runs and had nearly 80k 'Mech XP saved up on it and my mind was blown)

Not trying to make you feel bad about your decisions of turning away potential players to this game but it would be nice if you gave others a chance to determine for themselves whether or not their freetime is worth putting toward mwomercs or anything else they may want to try out.