10 replies to this topic

[Kshat]

So, I had a brief eMail-exchange with the support and they assured me that the status quo of the early bird-omnipods is working as intended.

For those who are not aware: with buying Wave 3 ahead of the time you gained a fourth mech-variant. You're able to buy any omnipod of the first three mechs which you get if you buy the package after the early-bird deadline had been passed. The fourth variant comes with its stock omnipods - and that's it. You can't buy another one of them. Period.

The explanation of the support had been: "working as intended, since you can't buy the mech for cbills. You'll have to wait until they're available for cbills"
Eh, what?! Sorry to inform you, but out of the sixteen mechs which I've paid for in Wave 3, the following number is available for cbills: ZERO. none. nada.

This doesn't make sense at all. Is it to sway people to buy another one? Nope. Even if I would buy another Wave 3, no way to get the early bird-mechs.
Is it for some kind of "game balance"? Nope. I'm just shuffling my pods around. Tedious work, but it works. Okay, I can't field a second set of these pods during a CW-match, but... I guess it will work out somehow. It's not as if we wouldn't stand a chance without these pods.

Furthermore: if there's a mech in the game whose omnipods break gamebalance THAT easily, stuff is terribly wrong from the beginning.

I can't find a sane explanation - except that this is an oversight.
I bought all those mechs months ahead to gain some kind of "early access" and now they tell me it's only partial. This annoys the hell out of me, now I play the game of pod-shuffeling which is even funnier with the long saving times this game has to offer.

If anyone of you got an explanation why this mechanic has to be in the game, please enlighten me.

Otherwise, I suggest they'll change it. If I own the mech, I have the right to gain unlimited access to spare parts.

[Monkey Lover]

Clan problems ha-ha.

[Nathan Foxbane]

Kshat, on 23 July 2015 - 03:02 PM, said:

The fourth variant comes with its stock omnipods - and that's it. You can't buy another one of them. Period.

The explanation of the support had been: "working as intended, since you can't buy the mech for cbills. You'll have to wait until they're available for cbills"
Eh, what?! Sorry to inform you, but out of the sixteen mechs which I've paid for in Wave 3, the following number is available for cbills: ZERO. none. nada.

This doesn't make sense at all. Is it to sway people to buy another one? Nope. Even if I would buy another Wave 3, no way to get the early bird-mechs.

I can clearly buy other omnipods for my Wave III OmniMechs for c-bills if I so desire. Can a buy extra CTs? No, but anything else I can get. The bonus configurations though, they are something not everyone who got packages has access and it is reasonable that players who have the bonus configurations cannot access extra omnipods for those specific configurations.

You are inconvenienced, nothing more. So unless you hop from 'Mech to 'Mech after death it is not a big deal.

Edited by Nathan Foxbane, 23 July 2015 - 03:16 PM.

[ProfessorD]

I'm kind of amazed that we haven't seen a total flood of topics like this already, considering that all of the good omnipods for the EXE came with the early bird EXE-D variant. This should have been fixed weeks ago.

EDIT:

Nathan Foxbane, on 23 July 2015 - 03:13 PM, said:

... The bonus configurations though, they are something not everyone who got packages has access and it is reasonable that players who have the bonus configurations cannot access extra omnipods for those specific configurations.

Help us out there, Nate. Why is that reasonable?

Edited by ProfessorD, 23 July 2015 - 03:17 PM.

[MrJeffers]

Kshat, on 23 July 2015 - 03:02 PM, said:

<snip>
If anyone of you got an explanation why this mechanic has to be in the game, please enlighten me.

Otherwise, I suggest they'll change it. If I own the mech, I have the right to gain unlimited access to spare parts.

Because if they turn on the sales of the special variant omni pods it turns them on for everyone including those who didn't qualify for the pre-order bonus. So it isn't turned on. Take them off the special one and then they are in your inventory and can be installed on *any* of your mechs. The only limit is that you can run that set of omnipods on only a single mech. It's not that big of a deal.

Edited by MrJeffers, 23 July 2015 - 03:20 PM.

[Kshat]

MrJeffers, on 23 July 2015 - 03:16 PM, said:

Because if they turn on the sales of the special variant omni pods it turns them on for everyone including those who didn't qualify for the pre-order bonus. So it isn't turned on. Take them off the special one and then they are in your inventory and can be installed on *any* of your mechs. The only limit is that you can run that set of omnipods on only a single mech. It's not that big of a deal.

Wait, why? I paid for it already. Do they expect I re-buy another one out of the gift store? It's not as if I would be able to sell these pods to other players...

It is a nuisance for those who paid for these mechs - in term of game balance or for other players, there's ZERO change if I could buy them freely.
I don't expect them to open up these pods for other players, but for those who already own ONE WHOLE SET - and the corresponding mech.
As I understand your post, you're saying to me that the database of mechownership and pod-buying is a mess. It should be possible that the game checks "okay, I identified the Shadowcat P in the hangar - feel free to buy pods".

[MrJeffers]

Kshat, on 23 July 2015 - 03:29 PM, said:

Wait, why? I paid for it already. Do they expect I re-buy another one out of the gift store? It's not as if I would be able to sell these pods to other players...

It is a nuisance for those who paid for these mechs - in term of game balance or for other players, there's ZERO change if I could buy them freely.
I don't expect them to open up these pods for other players, but for those who already own ONE WHOLE SET - and the corresponding mech.
As I understand your post, you're saying to me that the database of mechownership and pod-buying is a mess. It should be possible that the game checks "okay, I identified the Shadowcat P in the hangar - feel free to buy pods".

No they don't expect you to buy it again. And yes it's a coding issue with database. It's a simple to describe problem that is difficult to fix, and so it won't be fixed because currently it would open the omnipods for everyone who has the pack not just the people who qualify.

http://mwomercs.com/...17#entry4577917

Deal with it. Because the ***** fest that would ensue from them opening it up to everyone would be epic it just isn't going to happen.
You and everyone else got one extra mech if they qualified for the pre-order. You're not shorted *anything*. You're just not granted unrestricted use of that omnipod set until they go on sale to gen pop. Chill out, it's not game braking and it's not really that limited unless you are trying to take duplicate builds in the CW. And with the low population of CW and the limited number of pre-orders it really can't be that many people who are stopped from doing something that can't be done in a few minutes with the mech lab for solo/group drops.

Edited by MrJeffers, 23 July 2015 - 03:42 PM.

[Kshat]

MrJeffers, on 23 July 2015 - 03:39 PM, said:

You and everyone else got one extra mech if they qualified for the pre-order. You're not shorted *anything*. You're just not granted unrestricted use of that omnipod set until they go on sale to gen pop.

Well, strictly speaking - we ARE short of something.
They advertised "access to four mechs if you buy until date XYZ", including omnipods. It doesn't matter that it had been some kind of special auction. It's just another form of a sales discount. Because, in fiscal terms, what those early birds have done is to give PGI a credit in advance. Money generates interest, therefore PGI "bribed" (or baited) us with a "free" mech. It hasn't been free.
Would be the same if you bought a car with a "free" ACas a sales discount included. And afterwards they tell you "oh hi, yeah, it's the free version, therefore it only works in Alaska. I'm sorry, but our technicians can't do it properly".
I'm pretty sure that there isn't a judge in the US or Europe which would wave it through if you don't sell what you've advertised.

Regarding the game: yes, it only takes minutes to switch stuff. Every. Single. Time. Minutes. And everyone in your group keeps waiting. At some time, this will've cost hours.

But yeah, in the end it doesn't matter what we conclude or what we're thinking. If it's a technical issue, there won't be a change. Which is sad. Because it isn't that hard to code a simple database the right way...

[MauttyKoray]

You're getting an 'Early Bird' variant. Its a promotional gained by purchasing 3 variants of a mech and getting a bonus 4th one free. Until the variant is released normally you won't have access to its omnipods, only the standard 3. Its unfortunately a technical limitation as they can't just add the ability to purchase the omnipod solely for those that purchased the variant. If added, it would be available for everyone who bought the mech to purchase the additional 4th variant pods.

But seriously, you're bitching that you can't buy the omnipods for the 'BONUS' variant that you didn't actually pay for?

/run whiningabouthavingtomoveitemsaround

Edited by MauttyKoray, 23 July 2015 - 04:11 PM.

[MrJeffers]

Kshat, on 23 July 2015 - 03:56 PM, said:

Well, strictly speaking - we ARE short of something.
They advertised "access to four mechs if you buy until date XYZ", including omnipods. It doesn't matter that it had been some kind of special auction. It's just another form of a sales discount. Because, in fiscal terms, what those early birds have done is to give PGI a credit in advance. Money generates interest, therefore PGI "bribed" (or baited) us with a "free" mech. It hasn't been free.
Would be the same if you bought a car with a "free" ACas a sales discount included. And afterwards they tell you "oh hi, yeah, it's the free version, therefore it only works in Alaska. I'm sorry, but our technicians can't do it properly".
I'm pretty sure that there isn't a judge in the US or Europe which would wave it through if you don't sell what you've advertised.

Regarding the game: yes, it only takes minutes to switch stuff. Every. Single. Time. Minutes. And everyone in your group keeps waiting. At some time, this will've cost hours.

But yeah, in the end it doesn't matter what we conclude or what we're thinking. If it's a technical issue, there won't be a change. Which is sad. Because it isn't that hard to code a simple database the right way...

And that is exactly what was delivered, three fully functional variants with full omnipod support. And One special variant with one set of omnipods. Your car analogy doesn't make any sense or even align with the issue at hand. It would be more like you buy a new car by end of month and we'll give you a coupon for a free service. It doesn't mean that you get free service for life nor does it say it's valid at any other dealership (unlimited usage at any location/unlimited omnipods used on any mech). This limitation has been known since the release of the Ebon Jag and the Executioner, it's not exactly news.

MWO's database is anything but simple, and was originally architected 3+ years ago before clans or omnipods were even a fleshed out idea. So yeah it is freaking hard to code database changes.

Time wise, if you are rebuilding your mechs after every match to swap omnipods I don't know what to tell you. I do my theory crafting mostly out of game in Smurfy or Li-Song (Highly Recommended) and then built it in game and run it for many, many matches. If I have to switch something while dropping it happens once not at every drop. So my total swap time is measured in minutes, not hours. But that's just me I guess.

Edited by MrJeffers, 23 July 2015 - 04:45 PM.

[MauttyKoray]

I find the above quoted argument funny 'its the free version, it only works in alaska'.

You're halfway off there, it IS free you got that right. However they didn't promise the omnipods available for purchase for the 4th variant until its actual release. If you'd read the FAQ you wouldn't be complaining about it, also the FAQ is linked on the store page so don't complain that you didn't see it. It promised access to 'four mechs' and it delivered that. We were given 4 mech variants with a full set of omnipods each, however only access to the standard 3 variants is promised. From what I know some of the 4th variants are PGI created as well, so its probably to keep the number of the omnipod in play low until it can be properly balanced if needed.