90 replies to this topic

[SilentSooYun]

There are games that are worse. SW:TOR blocks much of it's regular content and ALL of it's high-level content behind a paywall if you try to play without a sub. It even teases you with a greyed-out "you could have had this if only you were a paid subscriber" box in it's quest reward window, which is vastly more obnoxious than the Premium tease in MWO.

STO, on the other hand, is beautiful in it's FTP model, and in my opinion stands as the Gold Standard of how FTP ought to be everywhere. You can play the entire game at a high and competitive level up to and including end-game PvP without paying a penny, but has plenty of additional pay ships and character dressing to keep customers spending. It also plays the "random drop-box" tease, where keys for the drop-boxes are for pay credit... BUT you can instead sell (or, obviously, buy) those keys in the auction house for game credits, preventing Pay-to-win frustration. There is a subscription option as well for those who want to support the game directly, and a Lifetime subscription for around the price of a Clan Mech pack in MWO.

Personally, I'd rather have the option of nickle-and-diming my way through a game rather than larger payouts at longer intervals. It means I could choose when and how much to budget into my gameplay without feeling pressured by a burdensome impending expense. At least MWO got it mostly right in allowing us to upgrade Mech Packs to allow up to buy in smaller "chunks". I do, however, feel that they dropped the ball in not adding more RPG elements they could easily monetise, such as Pilot Customisation, Auction Sales, Black Marketeering, Salvage Drops, that kind of thing.

[WatDo]

I've played several F2P games, i don't like the F2P model but sadly some really cool games went F2P rather than full price or sub, which i would have gladly, and rather have paid.

MWO
Rift
Warframe
Planetside 2
Robocraft
Possibly others, that's just off the top of my head.

Compared to the rest MWO does it decently enough. You have access to everything in the game outside of the champion/hero variants which are mostly just for show, and cosmetic items. Most games are like this, but MWO is much more open without paying if you put in the time to grind. The game is decently polished, and there's plenty of events to get in on.
Sadly, the grind is way harder than other games, with grinding for each mech, then grinding IN each mech for experience to master them.

Simply put, the FREE part of the game is good. You can play the game totally free, even if you're at a slight disadvantage grind wise. It's not pay2win either, so that's a plus. The freeMIUM part though? Everything is way overpriced. I've spent 80-90 dollars on the game and don't have much to show for it.

[badaa]

Squirg, on 15 July 2015 - 02:24 PM, said:

Just ask yourself if any other game charged 500$ for a paint job.

There is no FTP game that compares to the greed in MWO's FTP model, and I'm and Steam monster than has played dozens and dozens of FTP games.

MWO's "premium" incentives aren't even that good.

yes, how dare they force ppl to buy .... oh wait

[LordKnightFandragon]

Squirg, on 15 July 2015 - 02:24 PM, said:

Just ask yourself if any other game charged 500$ for a paint job.

There is no FTP game that compares to the greed in MWO's FTP model, and I'm and Steam monster than has played dozens and dozens of FTP games.

MWO's "premium" incentives aren't even that good.

Yeah, 80K+50% or 100K+50% when you need 15,000,000 for one single mech, then you need 3 mechs. Then you need 6 more million per module you want and 15,000General XP, not mech XP, general, so 5% of mech xp per match goes to this unless you fork out money for conversions.

Even 80% bonus is not taht great, esp given how bad the base is.

[InspectorG]

topgun505, on 15 July 2015 - 02:15 PM, said:

Just curious what other people think of how MWO is compared to:



Personally this is the only FTP game I do so I have nothing to compare to.

Who else has done numerous FTPs and has a good base of comparison?

Its 'ok'. Lots of people b*tch about PGI being greedy...i suspect they dont have jobs. It is more Pay-to-Get-Shiny-First.
Anyone who cries 'P2W' prolly doesnt know how to purchase a Stalker, Firestatrter, Thunderbolt, Stormcrow or Timby with Cbills.

Regardless, Mechbays are $ purchase number one, but you can unlock some by playing CW...which can be rough with trial mechs and no efficiencies. PGI should make Trials elited and they are supposedly going to implement better loadouts for them.

Aside from that mastery packs are good for $.

Buying cosmetics for $ or single mechs for $ means you either have money to spend...or cant math.

[Mystere]

Squirg, on 15 July 2015 - 02:24 PM, said:

Just ask yourself if any other game charged 500$ for a paint job.

There is no FTP game that compares to the greed in MWO's FTP model, and I'm and Steam monster than has played dozens and dozens of FTP games.

MWO's "premium" incentives aren't even that good.

Are you still salty about those Gold Mechs?

And just as an FYI, that $500 gave you 25 Mechs, not just 1 with a special paint job. Get your facts straight, please.

And just another FYI, that $500 is just 1-3 hours worth of work for some people.

Edited by Mystere, 15 July 2015 - 07:45 PM.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Mystere, on 15 July 2015 - 07:40 PM, said:

Are you still salty about those Gold Mechs?

And just as an FYI, that $500 gave you 25 Mechs, not just 1 with a special paint job. Get your facts straight, please.

And just another FYI, that $500 is just 1-3 hours worth of work for some people.

Lol 25 mechs? You mean like 5, the other 20 are just copy pasted to make the amount seem like alot more.....

IDK anyone would hate the buyers o the gold mechs, rather PGI for making such a derpy deal. .

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 15 July 2015 - 08:15 PM.

[Mystere]

LordKnightFandragon, on 15 July 2015 - 08:14 PM, said:

Lol 25 mechs? You mean like 5, the other 20 are just copy pasted to make the amount seem like alot more.....

I sure hope none of your Clan Mechs are from buying packs. LOL.

LordKnightFandragon, on 15 July 2015 - 08:14 PM, said:

IDK anyone would hate the buyers o the gold mechs, rather PGI for making such a derpy deal. .

Were you hiding under a rock when potential and actual buyers were ridiculed and threatened with TK? Double LOL.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Mystere, on 15 July 2015 - 08:18 PM, said:

I sure hope none of your Clan Mechs are from buying packs. LOL.




Were you hiding under a rock when potential and actual buyers were ridiculed and threatened with TK? Double LOL.

I Alacarted my Warhawk

And yes, I know all about that. Im just saying, players shouldnt be hating on the gold mech owners. ITs not there fault they had the money and felt they wanted to buy them.

THe entire PGI pack scheme is just derpy to me.....revise the stupid progression tree so we cna get 1 mech mastered, then they dont need to sell us 1 item for 55 bucks, or in the case of gold mechs, *25* for 500.....

Cuz if it was PGI making Armored Warfare, the Lord of War pack, that gave us 30 bucks in gold, 90 days premium, CBT access, a commander, and 4 tanks could cost what? 280? cuz each tank woulda magically been the exact same but with 3 different designations just to inflate the cost of the pack.....blah blah CLan omnipods.....

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 15 July 2015 - 08:23 PM.

[aniviron]

I'm fine with most of MWO's model. Mechbays can be earned from CW and events. Mechs can be bought with CB. Even some paints can be bought with CB.

I'm not okay with the cash-only exclusivity period for new mechs. It was fine when the release pattern had a two week delay between the first release and the CB release, I won't begrudge people a little exclusivity time in their new toys. The six month wait for wave one clan mechs was game breaking however; I stopped playing entirely for the better part of a year when they came out. It's not as bad as it was then, but it's still unacceptable. Especially for mechs that have new tech and are likely to be game-defining, having such a gap between releases is just not okay. It's going to be four months between when the IIC pack comes out and the last mech is available to everyone.

[Kodyn]

My only issue with MWO's F2P model is that I have no real incentive to spend money any more. They've been making such massive and frequent balance changes, changes that effect whether I'd want to buy a mech or not, that I just hold on to my wallet, because I know that there's so much subject to change.

Premium time is really the only thing I'd see worth paying for, and I used to purchase it often, but now I'm just patient, and deal with the grind as-is. I understand that to maintain balance, change is necessary, but they really take it to a new level, making some mechs super powerful and others near useless, and it happens on a pretty regular basis.

Once someone has at least a hero or two, and enough mech bays, unless they want paint, camo, cockpit items, etc, there's really no more incentive to ever spend money. It seems like they'd be shooting themselves in the foot, except I think they know they have enough of a pool of whales who will always spend money on mech packages that it actually keeps paying their bills. If not for that most likely small pool of big spenders, I think they'd have an issue making money, but those guys are mostly older, retired, and have the cash to burn, and keep burning it whenever new mechs are released.

As far as the long-term viability of the game however, I do worry, if they don't make changes, that once those whales start to get bored, die, lose their vision, etc, they'll start running out of income.

[Felbombling]

I think I've bought a couple of premium tanks in World of Tanks that ranged from $10.00 to about $40.00. They range from crappy to fantastic when compared to the tanks you could get for free in game. When I compare a package that I'd buy for MW: O at, say, $40.00, I'm getting WAY more bang for my buck.

Consider the Panther / Enforcer bundle. For $40.00 I got six new Mechs, two of which are premium C-bill earners and fit in nicely when compared to Mechs you could get for free in game. I got three modules worth 16 million C-Bills, six new Mech Bays, six new colours, two new camouflage patterns and some cockpit items. So, one tank in World of Tanks vs. all the items I just mentioned. Yeah... PGI are total con-artists!! Crap... I had to edit this to say that I ALSO got a chunk of premium time to boot.

Edited by StaggerCheck, 15 July 2015 - 08:52 PM.

[LordKnightFandragon]

StaggerCheck, on 15 July 2015 - 08:49 PM, said:

I think I've bought a couple of premium tanks in World of Tanks that ranged from $10.00 to about $40.00. They range from crappy to fantastic when compared to the tanks you could get for free in game. When I compare a package that I'd buy for MW: O at, say, $40.00, I'm getting WAY more bang for my buck.

Consider the Panther / Enforcer bundle. For $40.00 I got six new Mechs, two of which are premium C-bill earners and fit in nicely when compared to Mechs you could get for free in game. I got three modules worth 16 million C-Bills, six new Mech Bays, six new colours, two new camouflage patterns and some cockpit items. So, one tank in World of Tanks vs. all the items I just mentioned. Yeah... PGI are total con-artists!! Crap... I had to edit this to say that I ALSO got a chunk of premium time to boot.

Game coulda been way cheaper overall had they applied that CLan Omnipod style to IS mechs as well. That way they sell "Enforcer", then give us the various "omnipod" sections to let us make our own variants. Even alter the CT spot. Then, make a proper skill tree that doesnt require 3 of the exact same model to master out. Monetize the hardpoints or omnipods instead. Sell those for like 5 bucks a piece or something if you dont wanna grind for it. THen maybe the grind overall would be far better. Cuz 250K per omni pod is better then 15million per mech x3, then 6 million per module if you want those.

[Scratx]

LordKnightFandragon, on 15 July 2015 - 09:08 PM, said:

Game coulda been way cheaper overall had they applied that CLan Omnipod style to IS mechs as well. That way they sell "Enforcer", then give us the various "omnipod" sections to let us make our own variants. Even alter the CT spot. Then, make a proper skill tree that doesnt require 3 of the exact same model to master out. Monetize the hardpoints or omnipods instead. Sell those for like 5 bucks a piece or something if you dont wanna grind for it. THen maybe the grind overall would be far better. Cuz 250K per omni pod is better then 15million per mech x3, then 6 million per module if you want those.

Umm, do you know why the distinction and different mechanics for IS/Clan mechs exists? Because IS Omnimechs haven't been released yet and neither have Clan Battlemechs... you know that, right?

(You can pre-order the first batch of Clan Battlemechs already, though...)

[LordKnightFandragon]

Scratx, on 15 July 2015 - 09:30 PM, said:

Umm, do you know why the distinction and different mechanics for IS/Clan mechs exists? Because IS Omnimechs haven't been released yet and neither have Clan Battlemechs... you know that, right?

(You can pre-order the first batch of Clan Battlemechs already, though...)

Umm, yeah, I do. Im saying, had they, from the get go, done the Omni pod approach to every mech rather then making 3 of the exact same mech, game coulda been cheaper. Rather they sell us 3 of the mostly same mech just to bulk up the price on stuff.

[TheCharlatan]

I've played lots of F2P games (Hawken, Warframe, Hearthstone, just to name a few).
MWO is the only one that i have played for more than a few months: the others have just bored me.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. For example the grind could be made better (not faster... better. there is a difference).
But i can't stop playing it and i have lots of fun with it.

Edited by TheCharlatan, 16 July 2015 - 12:30 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

Squirg, on 15 July 2015 - 02:24 PM, said:

Just ask yourself if any other game charged 500$ for a paint job.

There is no FTP game that compares to the greed in MWO's FTP model, and I'm and Steam monster than has played dozens and dozens of FTP games.

MWO's "premium" incentives aren't even that good.

You think charging $1000 for a digital spaceship is somehow better?

[LordKnightFandragon]

Joseph Mallan, on 16 July 2015 - 01:52 AM, said:

You think charging $1000 for a digital spaceship is somehow better?

What was in the $15,000 package in that game? A real life RC mockup of the best ship in the game? Or a teleporter to some magic dimension where that game actually exists in RL?

As for the 500 bucks for a gold paintjob, I spent 75MC per mech and got a much better looking gold paintjob and it goes on every mech I put it on.......

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 16 July 2015 - 01:57 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

LordKnightFandragon, on 16 July 2015 - 01:57 AM, said:

What was in the $15,000 package in that game? A real life RC mockup of the best ship in the game? Or a teleporter to some magic dimension where that game actually exists in RL?

As for the 500 bucks for a gold paintjob, I spent 75MC per mech and got a much better looking gold paintjob and it goes on every mech I put it on.......

$15K... I may have to change my perspective of what crazy looks like!

[LordKnightFandragon]

Joseph Mallan, on 16 July 2015 - 02:05 AM, said:

$15K... I may have to change my perspective of what crazy looks like!

Thats exactly what I thought...or roughly how I saw someone else put it somewhere.

"The only game where you can buy a ship or a new Honda".....

https://robertsspace...tionist-Digital

and I guess that explains what it gets, but still...wtf!?

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 16 July 2015 - 02:08 AM.