*Edit at the top* A shade harsh Wolf?
Veevslav, on 06 July 2012 - 03:09 PM, said:
I am just looking for more information and trying to decide if there is enough value there for me to buy in. I was going to boycott the game completely if I did not buy the founders package, but realized it was a null point since there is not as much advantage as I thought in the founders plans. But now I am still trying to talk myself in it and assumptions don't prove anything.
I'll begin by pointing out I'm not a fanboy of anything in this life, but if the above question is being asked, then the answer is no - It's not worth it to you.
This is *not* a criticism of you, it's just an honest answer to an honest question.
Personally, I already know how the mechanics of Mechwarrior games work, give or take the odd tweak between versions, because I've played all of them, and enjoyed all of them thoroughly. (well, as much as you can enjoy a very short SP campaign that only last a week or so)
I already know I enjoy online FPSs, because I've played loads, and thoroughly enjoyed all the good team-based ones.
I already have a
very strong suspicion* that PGI are going to do all the things I like about the above-mentioned games, so the odds are that to me it will be very worth it.
* Suspicion will have to do, because no-one can ever make any more detailed an analysis than that, about any game - Short of having a fully-playable demo which doesn't really work for a FTP game where more than half the point is you need to be online with everyone else in order for the game to work.
So given those points above, it's highly likely that it
is worth it to me.
However, this thread is about your question, which is;
Is there is enough value there to make it worth it for you to buy-in, and more specifically, is the level of advantage gained worth the monetary outlay of 30/60/120 Dollars US?
The reason(s) I say it's not worth it to you, is because what's being sold is
not advantage. It's three-fold;
Choice,
Recognition, with a little bit of
Donation to the Cause thrown into the mix.
1) Choice; Founders start with 1x or 4x extra 'Mechs. These come with a booster, but C-Bills can be earned for free over time, so let's ignore that.
Founders' packs also come with X-amount of real-money to spend, but that can always be bought later, and a little at a time which is easier to swallow than $30/$60 up-front, so let's ignore that too.
I run 3 motorbikes IRL. Having 3 bikes does not gain me any advantage over my fellow man, nor does it make me go any faster (in other words its doesn't make me a more "effective" biker).
But it does let me choose how I get to work each day. It lets me choose to ride the big-sexy bike when girls are present, and run the cheap old man's maxi-scoot when I want to save fuel.
Just like in MW, my aim is not to be the most
effective biker in the world, it's to have fun on my bikes.
In the same way, you will be equally
effective in a basic free mech as you will in a fancy Founder's mech.
But the important thing is that if you enjoy Mechwarrior, you will likely have more fun among your clan/group if you have a choice of which mech you drop-in. Tis' all the same in life and gaming; More choice = more fun, sooner.
That covers choice.
2) Recognition; The founder' tag is nowt more than a little mark to say "I was there at the beginning."
For the same reason that vets keep their military badges years after they were discharged, and notice each other's unit-tattoos.
For the same reason that the alumni of elite schools and universities keep their old school tie, so that other alumni will recognise them years later when they meet in the board-room.
For the same reason that sports fans spend hundred upon hundreds of pounds/dollars for their team's shirt, year after year, so that everyone knows who they support.
Yes, there is a chance that MWO will not last long enough for this to matter, but that is a chance many people are willing to take, and for $30/$60, it's hardly the most expensive risk we take every day.
That covers recognition.
3) Donation to the "Cause"; Assuming (
and this is the part where we must all go out on a limb somewhat) - assuming that the game will not fold a month or two after launch, the donation part is in recognition of the fact that PGI are not EA, Blizz, Sony, et-al.
It's basically a guy who set up his own company, who played BT as a kid (like many of the members here did themselves), and the nano-second he got the chance, he did something that none of those mega-corps above would ever
dream of doing; He took a massive f/koff risk.
Game co's hardly ever take risks for the love of a thing any more, they're far too "professional" for that. (
Amateur; "someone who does it for the love of it")
Like hollywood, the big companies take the safe, bland, risk-free option and hire the game equivalent of Micheal Bay to produce
Call of Duty X - Space Commies!
It would be like me buying the rights to Warhammer 40K, and taking on all the risks that entails without the financial might of GW behind me should I fail.
Many people here consider that on it's own to be quite the achievement, and in this modern age there's not much you can do to provide your support other than with cold-hard money.
We can't go and donate our skills or livestock to provide sustenance while they work on the project, or till the land on their collective homesteads while the labour of love goes on, the world simply doesn't work like that any more; But if we genuinely think that we will benefit from this game we
can put our money where our mouth is.
People do it all the time. Look at all those volunteers who spend countless hours in the run-up to elections. They have no guarantee that their guy will win, no guarantee at all that the things they want to see come about will actually come about.
Hell, they have no guarantee that even if they
do win, their candidate is even telling the truth? It's 100% risk.
But they do it because to them it's a risk worth taking, because if it pays off it will be worth it to them.
That isn't hopelessly naive, it's the simultaneous calculated risk by hundreds of people who pretty much want the same thing at the same time.
And we had all better believe that those volunteers could have been earning cold-hard cash in the meantime, so it's definitely the same as donating money.
That covers donation.
I'm sorry to have gone on so long (Christ, this short post has become like a dissertation), but those 3 key elements are what is being "sold" in this package, and all three of them are based on the premise that a good, solid online Mechwarrior game is something you want to see happen & succeed, and furthermore that you're confident it
will succeed.
If your objective is to gain advantage, then those 3 criteria are not met, and thus the Founder's package is not for you.
If you do meet those criteria, then it is most certainly is for you.
Edited by BigJim, 06 July 2012 - 05:43 PM.
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