73 replies to this topic

[Duncan1dah0]

l3elthaz0r, on 03 April 2015 - 08:22 AM, said:

Is the Griffin hero a good investment?

yes.

[michaelius]

Is the supposed to be event for Easter ?

Perhaps that new community manager should look at WoT webpage to see how you should run succesfull MMO game.

[Smoked]

michaelius, on 04 April 2015 - 05:16 AM, said:

Is the supposed to be event for Easter ?

Perhaps that new community manager should look at WoT webpage to see how you should run succesfull MMO game.

Well they did start reporting events run by the community.

The events that MWO has usually are:
1) challenges, where you have to grind
2) MC sales in some form (20% more, free mech/bundle/mech bay, etc)
3) Mech MC discounts
4) Color/Camo MC discounts
5) 2X exp along with 2x Gexp conversion (to promote MC usage)
6) Mech C-bill discount

Other MMO's typically give some type of gift just for logging in. Like when the population of League of Legends was a bit lower three years ago, they emailed 90 day absent people a champion or skin.

World of Tanks is currently offering 50K silver just for logging in and run several different types of events all month long, currently (now calling them missions). They are themed to some extent because they have a tech tree.

Also this game tends to favor better skilled players/veteran players heavily versus new people.
1) Module costs are very high, often costing more than most IS mech chassis. - Allows perks to people that can afford them thus new players are at a higher disadvantage.
2) Elite Mech bonuses gives a lot of extra perks.
3) Also latent differences in mech builds, map knowledge, general strategy, heat management etc makes PUG battle results very skewed.

Basically, MWO has a relatively low population, with few new players, no advertisement, etc. PGI knows that this is a issue but has yet to figure out what to do except their epiphany of putting this game on Steam. However they realize that due to the many bugs, this game may be in a worst situation due to the possibility of the many negative reviews.

They added the 25 free C-bill achievements for new players but is that enough? World of Tanks allow new players to get the base model Tier I's of every country for free whereas MWO offers trial mechs that are not optimized. Perhaps they need to make "loaner" mechs that are simple to play (few weapons groups and low chance for ghost heat), have many heat sinks and have max engines) so that new players can do more than 10 damage their first few matches.

It's odd that each game is logged in many ways (such as each player having a battle ID of the game they've played for point verifcation during events) and stats are logged as well. Does PGI do any analysis of these numbers besides trying to determine quirks? And even some of the quirks are "quirky". If an OEM variant comes with a AC10, why in the world would you give it UAC5 quirks? That skews an inherent advantage to veteran players (due to having more c-bills/earning more c-bllls per match).

While PGI is striving hard to try to make the game better, with the limited resources they have (manpower, technical knowlege of the game engine, limitations of the game engine), they do not have any people with marketing experience. They do read the forums and take note of the complaints, however this is a very small portion of the MWO population. They do not do a customer needs analysis or analyze statistics in general. Most new players do not "wander off the internet" onto MWO. They are all referrals by friends and family. Many other MMO's, even sales companies or jobs recognize referrals and reward them accordingly. MWO does not have a program nor recognizes that it is their primary means of new customer generation.

In summary, PGI's business model is focusing on the heavy spenders of MWO. They know that a few select players are willing to spend thousands of dollars per year on this game. So yes, PGI needs to identify how to generate more money. If they find the right person, that person's salary would be paid for within a month. This product has a lot of man-hours invested in it, yet it feels lacking in a lot of areas. Perhaps it's just the nature of this beast.

Successful MMO's have noted that, while there are loyal gamers, their company would be better off with a lot of traffic, which in turn causes additonal referrals (if the product is good), and reward players for logging in. Instead of players investing 10 hours to get an item valued at $10 (electronic value - no cost associated with manufacturing), they reward them just for logging in to get more traffic. Or they will go after players that used to play and invite them back to check out the changes in the game by offering them something free.

[Appogee]

michaelius, on 04 April 2015 - 05:16 AM, said:

Is the supposed to be event for Easter ?

I too was expecting something more to entice me to put a lot of hours into the game this weekend.

Still, we've had plenty of events in the past couple of months, so I guess we can't complain too much.

[Appogee]

Smoked, on 04 April 2015 - 08:05 AM, said:

(Lots of accurate observations.)

QFT.

I have a marketing consulting background. I fantasize about throwing in my real life role and going to fix PGI's marketing problems just for my sheer lifelong love of BT/Mechwarrior.

But sadly I don't see from PGI management any kind of genuine commitment to product quality or customer experience. Sustained marketing success relies on there being a saleable product and a management team that genuinely wants its customers to love its product.

Edited by Appogee, 04 April 2015 - 08:33 AM.

[Deathlike]

I still think this sale is odd, given the state of Hoverjets™.

[Jess Hazen]

Nice to see the P2P monetization model is still going strong for these sales.

Where in gods name is the c-bill discount? I bet they're still worried that there is not enough content to start including the use of in game credits as an option. How many hours of content WITH PREMIUM will be necessary to start doing this? Everything costs so much so it really makes me wonder.

[Appogee]

It's a sad Paulconomy when I don't have enough time to grind the CBills I need to do the upgrades necessary to make the Mechs I already paid $100 for competitive enough to win the matches I need to win the CBills I need to upgrade the Mechs I paid $100 for.

Edited by Appogee, 04 April 2015 - 10:26 AM.

[Vlad Striker]

It's sad I want GI but this mech have no discounts. Have no cache to full pay

[SethAbercromby]

Big Tin Man, on 03 April 2015 - 10:35 AM, said:

Huggin:
25% missile cooldown + 25% srm 4 cooldown + 10% srm 4 cooldown module = 1.2 seconds recycle time
8.6 dmg / 1.2 seconds = 7.1667 dps PER SRM4
7.1667dps/launcher * 2 launchers = 14.333 dps for the huggin (ignoring MG's)
With 4 MG's you get 3.2 dps more, for a total of 17.53 dps, but people often drop the MG's for more srm ammo or jump jets.

Oxide:
7.5% missle cooldown + 7.5% srm 4 cooldown + 10% srm 4 cooldown mudule = 2.25 seconds recycle time
8.6 dmg / 2.25 seconds = 3.82 dps PER SRM 4
3.82 dps/launcher* 4 launchers = 15.29 dps for the Oxide

Do we need any other evidence that quirks like this are pretty dangerous to play with from a balancing perspective and that even 40%+ quirks well over the reasonable threshhold are?

[Averen]

I just put 4 jets on my victor.


It was despressing. QQ

[Arkbird_]

Averen, on 03 April 2015 - 05:39 AM, said:

I'm missing 50MC to buy the firestarter hero.

Email support. Lots of F2P games like this tend to let you do something to earn the last few points needed.

(ex. in League of Legends if you are less than 20 RP away from being able to buy a champion skin if you draw a picture of the skin and email it to them they will help you get the skin)

No promises it will work and 50 MC might be a little too much but it never hurts to try.

[Smoked]

Arkbird Phoenix Kell, on 05 April 2015 - 11:36 PM, said:

Email support. Lots of F2P games like this tend to let you do something to earn the last few points needed.

(ex. in League of Legends if you are less than 20 RP away from being able to buy a champion skin if you draw a picture of the skin and email it to them they will help you get the skin)

No promises it will work and 50 MC might be a little too much but it never hurts to try.

Lots of work for $2. Average age of League of Legends player 16. Average age of MWO player, 36. But if you are that hard up for 50 MC I would email them.

[ulrin]

Hi all, ty PGI for that sales, that fit perfectly wiz the free MC from lucky charm event.
But, Can u plz make the mantis color glowing inthe dark...

Edited by ulrin, 07 April 2015 - 03:04 AM.