82 replies to this topic

[Calamus]

Summary:
Veteran Clan players can not use their IS mechs in a meaningful way, through CW. Allow veteran Clan players who supported MWO prior to Clan release to transfer their IS mechs to a second account that they create, or allow a second 'Character' to be unlocked on an account that can be aligned to an IS faction. This will allow veteran Clanners to still use the mechs (Hero/Phoenix, etc.) that they paid money for in the way that they have been waiting for in the game since they started playing.

Proposed Solution:
1) Allow a 2nd 'Character' on your account that can be a part of another faction. Most MMO's have used this feature for years. PGI can charge a fee for 'Character slots', or simply have them cost MC. Don't want to make them available to 'free' accounts? Fine. We've all supported the game with money already. A Mechbay is 300MC. Why can we not unlock a second Mechwarrior, loyal to an IS faction for 1500-2000MC? This covers 4 new mechbays, which all new accounts start out with, plus 300-800MC to unlock the 'Character' slot. Separate the GXP and Cbills per 'Character' if you like, or lump them together if its easy. The details don't matter. Allow members a 1 time transfer of IS mechs, along with those mech's mechbays into the second 'Character' slot. Or, allow ongoing transfers between 'character' slots for an MC cost. 25-50MC per mech transfered between slots, for example.

2) Allow veteran players a 1 time transfer of mechs to a second account. We can create a second account, under a second email address, and align that account to IS. Permit us a 1 time transfer of our IS mechs into that account. Charge us a fee for this. $10USD (or 2000MC if you prefer), for example, is worth the cost to be able to use the mechs that we have already bought, in a meaningful way in the game.

Details:
A lot of people have played this game since Beta, and are still active. There are founders, Phoenix purchasers, IS Hero mech purchasers, and veterans who bought MC that have played this game - and supported its development with their money - for 2 -3 years.

Many of those players have always intended to be Clan players. Some people like the IS, and others like Clans. It's what Battletech has been about since its inception. Since the beginning of MWO, Clan oriented players have always supported MWO under the promise that they WILL get to play Clan, but IS is all that will be available for the early life of the game (That early life being extended in March 2013).

So, Clan oriented players were left with a choice. Trust in PGI (And IGP at the time) and support the game by playing with IS mechs, or leave the game. If all Clan players had left the game at that time it would have meant a huge revenue loss for MWO, I don't think this can be effectively disputed. Thankfully, the large majority of Clan players stayed to support MWO during its early development. They bought MC, they purchased Hero mechs with that MC, and they spent money on Founder's packages, and the Phoenix packages. They bought premium time, and lipstick (paint jobs, cockpit items, etc). In no way am I claiming that Clan players carried the early development of MWO, I don't think they did, but they DID significantly contribute financially to the development of the game; and they continue to do so.

Up until a few weeks ago those players were able to play the game as much with IS mechs as they were with Clan mechs. There's no big deal here. Clanners supported the game by buying IS mechs, and they could still use them. Now, for any Clan player who is involved in CW, we can not use the IS mechs we gained over the last few years in any meaningful way. For some of us this means literally hundreds of dollars worth of content that is not able to be used in a meaningful way in the game.

Before we go off about how we can still use these mechs in regular public queue drops: I would like to say 'almost all', but I can not substantiate that so I will say a large majority of veteran Clan players first became interested in this game due to the promise of Community Warfare. For years we have complained that this game is an empty shell of a mini-game with the public drops. We created our own leagues, and ladders in order to create some semblance of a larger macro-game while we waited on the promise of Community Warfare. Again, it has been the defining feature of Battletech for decades. PGI sold this game on the promise that Community Warfare was a central theme. It is no mistake that PGI chose the timeline that they did. The Clan invasion is an iconic Battletech theme. We have always played this game because community Warfare was 'coming'. If CW Beta was taken away tomorrow, after finally having a taste of it, many of us would probably stop playing the game all together. CW is what makes the game meaningful for us, and we cannot use a large portion of our game assets because we supported the game prior to CW's existance. We are simply asking for some method to be able to use the game assets that we purchased, in a meaningful way, within the mechanics of the new game; Community Warfare.

[Tenore]

Sounds like a great idea!

[Dutch334]

It is true that most other MMO's allow multiple accounts, so why not here? I think people will be afraid of abuse but will it be any worse than any other MMO?

[MandyB]

I support the multiple pilots on one account idea, and it would be nice, to let us customize our pilots looks so we can have our IS pilot with all IS mechs and clan pilot with all clan mechs in the same account.

[Koniving]

From the beginning of the Clan preorder, I stated it'd be best to treat each account as if they were two separate accounts in one. Where you can have a Clan and non-Clan faction alliance, two separate mechlistings with two separate mechbays, two separate inventories and two separate financial systems (IS Cbills, Clan Kerenskies).

Quote

For transactions between different Clans the merchant caste makes use of a form of currency known as the Kerensky (KE). This "macro-currency" allows financial institutions to operate and for the smooth transfer of goods without having to barter materials. Largely electronic, physical forms of Kerenskies do exist for limited use: small coins two centimeters across represent denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 20 KE, while larger two-by-four centimeter rectangular blocks represent larger values of 100, 1,000, 100,000 and 1,000,000. Both coins and blocks are minted in gold and contain ID chips and chemical compounds to prevent forgery.

Aside from Kerenskies, the Clans dealt exclusively in bartering, and do not use Cbills until long after the invasion.

Equipment was usually earned, not bought.

This would also allow you to buy premium time for one account and have it apply to both without a way to 'farm' one while playing the other... as truly separate accounts would allow.

[Calamus]

Koniving, on 31 December 2014 - 12:20 PM, said:

From the beginning of the Clan preorder, I stated it'd be best to treat each account as if they were two separate accounts in one. Where you can have a Clan and non-Clan faction alliance, two separate mechlistings with two separate mechbays, two separate inventories and two separate financial systems (IS Cbills, Clan Kerenskies).



Aside from Kerenskies, the Clans dealt exclusively in bartering, and do not use Cbills until long after the invasion.

Equipment was usually earned, not bought.

This would also allow you to buy premium time for one account and have it apply to both without a way to 'farm' one while playing the other... as truly separate accounts would allow.

How can anyone farm with a second account right now? I don't see how that would work.

[Koniving]

Calamus, on 31 December 2014 - 12:37 PM, said:

How can anyone farm with a second account right now? I don't see how that would work.

Here.
You run a second computer. Have it log into the game with said second account. Let it do that. And voila.
Granted from what I understand PGI is very quick to react to obvious farm bots.

But if we have a second character on the same account, this won't be possible at all.

[Calamus]

I don't get it. you log in on a second computer, and you flail around for a bit until you die?

[Wintersdark]

The "exploits" are meaningless. It's trivial to do now if you'd like, so there's not any reason to curtail useful features to avoid it.

Multiple characters/pilots on one account is a perfect solution IMHO. A fully separate account is a non starter for me - my account has years of play, hundreds of thousands of GXP spent in unlocks, etc. Not to mention hundreds of dollars spent on colors and such.

I don't really care if the characters share an ingame currency or not, but they need to share MC, for example,and MC purchased things (cockpit decorations, colors, premium time, etc.

[Koniving]

Calamus, on 31 December 2014 - 12:47 PM, said:

I don't get it. you log in on a second computer, and you flail around for a bit until you die?

Basically you get money by being in a match, regardless how it turns out. If the accounts are truly separate, you can earn miniscule amounts of money on one while grinding out the other.

This simply goes in favor of a second character/pilot under the main account which can subscribe to a different faction and use the IS (or Clan) mechs that you can't use with your first pilot/character as the exploit simply can't exist.

The only thing in favor of a completely separate account is PGI can claim double the player counts if they ever wanted to claim player numbers at all. It's tangled in messes to do something like that.

[DocDino]

I agree with most of the proposition suggested & the most viable component is having multiple "Pilots" on ONE account as in other MMOs as has been mentioned, for example World of Warcraft - I have 31+ on my Primary acct. & another 23+ on a second acct. both supported by separate "Premium" time paid with Real money. The suggestion of buying "Pilots" slots with MC seems okay but does it need limited to only a single pilot ? One for Clan & one for IS, how about allowing as many as one is willing to pay MC for since it would be more revenue to PGI wouldn't that but a prudent possibility but maybe limit the transfer aspect to the first pilot of opposing faction, whether it be Clan to IS or vice versa ..

[JEB8753]

yes let my is mechs be something other than hangar dressing please

[Nightshade24]

Well Clan Ghost bear does have more functional King Crabs then the entire Inner sphere...

Edit: due to the uncommon use of IS mechs by clans in 3049-3050 how about we restrict it to only 1 mechbay for the dropship instead of allow having all 4 slots?

Edited by Nightshade24, 31 December 2014 - 02:58 PM.

[IC3B3RG]

I think this is potentially a great idea.

I would love to have a IS and Clan persona to make keeping IS mechs viable for play.

Edited by Shadewolfe, 31 December 2014 - 03:44 PM.

[Winters Bear]

I have to agree there should be the option to have 2 warriors on one account to allow people to play both IS and Clan in CW but I also think that the MC should be shared but not the C-bills

[Mordin Ashe]

I support this product!

Limit it to 1 of 4 IS Mechs for Clan drop deck, but please, we have many IS Mechs and would love to play with them.
Also if you allow the same thing to IS factions than this ridiculous "clans are OP" whining would end at instant.

[MilesTeg1982]

I do like the idea of having to multiple characters in one account - however there are some things which should be considered:

1. should it be only 2 (1 IS + 1 Clan) or should it be 2+ (multiple IS / Clans).

imho - we should have both - 1 IS and 1 Clan to start with + the option to buy additional characters for MC

2. how should existing accounts be treated? As of now many people have IS and Clan Mechs in their hangar - along with a bunch of modules, weapons, engines, etc.. Also many people have leveled up IS and Clan Mechs - those XP should not be wastet.

imho - we need some kind of migration programm (once):

(I) on every account - 2 characters should be created automatically with their own hangar each and all mechs (including everything assignd to that mech), modules, weapons, engines, etc which are faction specific should be transfered automatically. Including the Mech-XP

(II) items which are not faction specific (like some mech-modules) which are not assigned to a mechs should remain at the first character with an option to transfer them manually.

(III) 50% of GXP should be transfered to each character

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If a player wants to have maybe a third account in the future - there should be an option to transfer mechs and other stuff - however no XP

[Calamus]

I like your ideas MilesTeg.

[Crovus]

definitely worth some time and though on the side of the devs.... i miss running my WVR.....

[Bregor Edain]

I recently made a second account purely for IS mechs and fighting on IS vs IS borders in CW. I would love to be able to keep playing on 1 account though since I have premium time ticking and plenty of IS mechs (including the Phoenix overlord package). The second problem with a new account is that I am in a lower elo and unlike some, I do not enjoy bashing lower elo players while I pilot ****** trial mechs.

Edit: So I support the OP all the way!

Edited by Bregor Edain, 01 January 2015 - 12:34 PM.