96 replies to this topic

[Praslek2]

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 Massive]

It's free and the grind is fine.

[Lily from animove]

Its not even that grindy, and its not expensive, lol, you should probably go out and play other f2p games to get in touch what "grindy" in other games really means, and what definition of "expensive" really is, and further than that throw some p2w on that. because thta is how the regular f2p landscape looks like.

[Ashstomper]

Turning people away from the game. Hmmm... Who needs enemies?

[ToxinTractor]

You should be at least showing them some game play and see what they think.

Turning people away from a game like MWO isnt going to help matters. If there is issues with the game then the new players will post about it on the forums or they will stop playing. Let them decide for them selves.

Not to mention the cadet bonus helps a player buy any mech and the trails are actually not bad since they added champion mechs.

They just need to be patient players.

[Alek Ituin]

Yes. Get rid of all the filthy freebie peasants and let the "Pay 2 Play" royalty take charge.

PFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHA

Hah... haha... heh...


Oh man, couldn't keep a straight face, sorry. But yeah, some of the prices could be slashed by a permanent 20% or more. Thing is, PGI has to make money somehow if they aren't going to use a P2P model, right? Right. Because PGI is staffed with people, and people need all this silly crap like food, and healthcare, and shelter.

[General Taskeen]

What could you do is have your friends download this and then you can all play MW4 for actual free, no ridiculous grind required, choose from a host of different Mechs, and you can setup a dedicated server with a bunch of different server options (confirmed that it works on on Win7 64-bit, as I have been playing it recently). MW:LL is another option, either option overall has a better BT experience.

[kf envy]

I cant get any of my friends to play more then a week at most. they all tell me there just to much grind. with that said more Cbill per round = more mech bays your going to sell more MC and make more $$

[Joseph Mallan]

Alek Ituin, on 03 November 2014 - 08:34 AM, said:

Yes. Get rid of all the filthy freebie peasants and let the "Pay 2 Play" royalty take charge.

PFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHA

Hah... haha... heh...


Oh man, couldn't keep a straight face, sorry. But yeah, some of the prices could be slashed by a permanent 20% or more. Thing is, PGI has to make money somehow if they aren't going to use a P2P model, right? Right. Because PGI is staffed with people, and people need all this silly crap like food, and healthcare, and shelter.

Hellslinger Battlemaster $30
Battlemaster Mini $13.75

Yes, the price for pixels is to high.

[Alek Ituin]

Joseph Mallan, on 03 November 2014 - 09:00 AM, said:

Hellslinger Battlemaster $30
Battlemaster Mini $13.75

Yes, the price for pixels is to high.

That's pretty much what I said, yeah.

All prices -20% would be pretty nice. -25% would be even better.

[Logan Hawke]

C-bill payout should definitely be higher and I think they should reavaluate their MC to Cbill conversion ratio they use to determine MC prices for mechs, especially now that clans are in the mix.

But at least it isn't World of Tanks :/

[Mercules]

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

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."

No one is forcing you to say that. You have come to that conclusion on your own and decided to tell people that. Now, it might be true, it might not, but you could just lay out the circumstances of the game and let your friends decide. "Well, it's a long climb to get rolling in the game, but if you wanted to try it I'm willing to show you the basics." You are just feeling negative about the game and "Paying it Forward".

[TLBFestus]

The biggest problem is not the "grind", nor the costs when using real money.

It's the lack of any method to allow small casual groups of friends, say 2-4 to get together, drink a few beers, laugh on TeamSpeak and play together without being thrown into the group queue MEAT GRINDER.

It's death to casual players, and new players. As such they are pinching off the supply of new players at the start of the game.

Not offering any solution, just an observation.

[RetroActive]

TLBFestus, on 03 November 2014 - 09:57 AM, said:

The biggest problem is not the "grind", nor the costs when using real money.

It's the lack of any method to allow small casual groups of friends, say 2-4 to get together, drink a few beers, laugh on TeamSpeak and play together without being thrown into the group queue MEAT GRINDER.

It's death to casual players, and new players. As such they are pinching off the supply of new players at the start of the game.

Not offering any solution, just an observation.

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?

[Kiryuin Ragyo]

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.

Dear lord you shall please leave this filthy freebie peasants place and uninstall this lousy game.

[Rizzelbizzeg]

Why don't you want your friends to play with you? Do you think they're too dumb to figure out the game or what? You were a new player once and now you play the game, what happened between there that your friends can't figure out?

Sure the new player experience doesn't hand you everything and it takes a little while to build up momentum in acquiring mechs, but telling your friends that it'll be too hard for them is kinda rude to them.

Your friends actually have access to the best resource for new players... a veteran player... YOU! It's a bummer you don't seem up to the task of supporting your friends.

Edited by Rizzelbizzeg, 03 November 2014 - 10:08 AM.

[Kitty Bacon]

Rizzelbizzeg, on 03 November 2014 - 10:08 AM, said:

Why don't you want your friends to play with you? Do you think they're too dumb to figure out the game or what? You were a new player once and now you play the game, what happened between there that your friends can't figure out?

Sure the new player experience doesn't hand you everything and it takes a little while to build up momentum in acquiring mechs, but telling your friends that it'll be too hard for them is kinda rude to them.

Your friends actually have access to the best resource for new players... a veteran player... YOU! It's a bummer you don't seem up to the task of supporting your friends.

With CW right around the corner and PGI stepping up their game we will see in game tutorials for new players by next year, according to Russ, once everything is out of the way. Veteran players are the only reliable source for new players to get into the game if they enjoy it. This game is not for everyone, but it can be if the time was taken in to learn it.

As for Cbil rewards, with the new reward system in place a normal pilot can earn a mech in 2 days. If they have the cadet bonus.... in probably 3-5 matches.

Edited by Kitty Bacon, 03 November 2014 - 10:13 AM.

[Alexander MacTaggart]

Maccasimus, on 03 November 2014 - 01:04 AM, said:

It's free and the grind is fine.

Well, you're right about it being free.

. . .

Kind of? As long as you're okay with only having 4 mechs.

Now, 'the grind is fine'. That's a different matter.

[Ultimax]

kf envy, on 03 November 2014 - 08:51 AM, said:

I cant get any of my friends to play more then a week at most. they all tell me there just to much grind. with that said more Cbill per round = more mech bays your going to sell more MC and make more $$

How many mechbays do you think they would need to sell on a weekly basis to keep the entire business afloat?

[Angel of Annihilation]

Actually I agree with the OP to a large degree.

I actually have told a few friends to check it out but not unless they want to invest in premium right off the bat and I also suggest they start out by picking up a hero mech if they want to have fun. That right there is a $30-$50 investment in a game that is suppose to be free to play at least initially until it gets you hooked.

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 and lastly I warn them that you really can't just group up and hang out with one or two of your buddies because you get stuck in the group que competing against organized teams if you do that.

Finally I warn them that getting even a few new mechs is going to require them to invest months into the game and that the best way to enjoy the game is to go for broke and pick up one of the existing packs. Unfortunately even this isn't a great option because aside from Clan Wave 1, the rest are all pre-orders and aren't accessible to the new player immediately.

At the end of the day, that's alot of hurdles to overcome.