11 replies to this topic

[Lostdragon]

I think the new player experience would be greatly improved if we could use cbills to give a friend their first mech. A little while back I created a second account with the intention of playing it enough to buy three mechs then giving the account to a friend so he would immediately have the fun of a competitive mech that is mastered and can be configured any way he likes. However, I learned that this is against the ToS, so I'm not going to do this.

I think the NPE would be greatly improved by scrapping the trial mech system all together and giving new players a mech they can mess around with in mechlab right away, however if PGI does not want to do that then why not allow each account to receive one gift bought with cbills from another player? This would give vets something to do with their cbills while giving new players a better experience, but also encouraging them to continue playing to get the other two mechs they'd need to master their gifted mech.

I really don't care how it happens, but I really, really want new players to be able to get a free mech almost right away so they can have fun in the mechlab. I think knowing they are leveling up a mech they own will encourage more players to stick around than the trial mech system.

[627]

this idea is as old as mwo but somehow pgi is against it. Because the cbill grind has to be ao drustrating that people pay mc for mechs.

It is the same reason the unit coffer is worthless. in every other mwo where you have some kind of guild system you have a unit locker/bank where you can exchange money and items.

But mwo is not into this because reasons...

[Lostdragon]

627, on 03 September 2015 - 08:32 AM, said:

this idea is as old as mwo but somehow pgi is against it. Because the cbill grind has to be ao drustrating that people pay mc for mechs.

It is the same reason the unit coffer is worthless. in every other mwo where you have some kind of guild system you have a unit locker/bank where you can exchange money and items.

But mwo is not into this because reasons...

PGI needs to think more like crack dealers, give the first sample for free to get them hooked then they will keep coming back.

[Kira Onime]

Lostdragon, on 03 September 2015 - 08:39 AM, said:

PGI needs to think more like crack dealers, give the first sample for free to get them hooked then they will keep coming back.

They already do, in the form of free MC every now and then from events.

[Triordinant]

Lostdragon, on 03 September 2015 - 08:00 AM, said:

I think the new player experience would be greatly improved if we could use cbills to give a friend their first mech.

PGI won't do it because it will allow a Tier 1 player to create a second account (which will be automatically Tier 4 because it's new) then "gift" the best 'mech and modules to the second account. He can then use his Tier 1 skills to farm all the new Tier 4 players his second account goes up against. In the new PSR system, a Tier 1 player will never fight against Tier 4s or Tier 5s and PGI has no way of knowing who actually owns new accounts.

[Lostdragon]

Triordinant, on 03 September 2015 - 08:46 AM, said:

PGI won't do it because it will allow a Tier 1 player to create a second account (which will be automatically Tier 4 because it's new) then "gift" the best 'mech and modules to the second account. He can then use his Tier 1 skills to farm all the new Tier 4 players his second account goes up against. In the new PSR system, a Tier 1 player will never fight against Tier 4s or Tier 5s and PGI has no way of knowing who actually owns new accounts.

Yeah, some people would gift themselves a mech, sure. But if they only allow each account to ever receive one cbill gift mech (no modules and stuff, just one single mech) I can't imagine it is going to hurt them much and I think it would probably encourage more new players to stick around and start spending money. I've tried unsuccessfully to get many friends to play MWO and none have made it past the cadet bonus. I think if they had their own mech right away they might be more invested and some may have bought MC or mech packs. These are all guys who have money and love to play video games, but they just were turned off by the NPE in MWO.

Kira_Onime, on 03 September 2015 - 08:40 AM, said:

They already do, in the form of free MC every now and then from events.

That's great and all but it doesn't address the issue of people not being invested in the game until they actually own a mech and are working toward improving it through mastery, modules, etc. The events do help new players, but they don't alleviate the fact that if you are new you are going to be playing trial mechs that you may or may not like or ultimately want to purchase.

[Triordinant]

Lostdragon, on 03 September 2015 - 08:00 AM, said:

I think the NPE would be greatly improved by scrapping the trial mech system all together and giving new players a mech they can mess around with in mechlab right away

This is actually the better idea. It worked in all the past Mechwarrior games. I wouldn't make their first 'mech a crutch 'mech like a Firestarter or Arctic Cheater, though.

[627]

Triordinant, on 03 September 2015 - 08:56 AM, said:

This is actually the better idea. It worked in all the past Mechwarrior games. I wouldn't make their first 'mech a crutch 'mech like a Firestarter or Arctic Cheater, though.

should be a choice from 3 solid light or medium mechs. nothing fancy, just rock solid and easy mechs. A jenner, cent or blackjack and that's it.

Wouldn't scrap the trial mechs alltogether, it is still a good idea to try out all weight classes. But you shoud have your first mech after the tutorial. Maybe make it mandatory to play all three in a tutorial trial or so.


Still, I think giving cbills (or mechs or whatever, in the end it's cbills) between two accounts should be possible, at least for a unit.

And if someone try to game the system with twink accounts you can still lock new accounts out. like play at least 100 matches, the equivalent to "get to level XX" in MMO games befor you can access all social features.

[SpiralFace]

You will never see this because of account farming.

If a system like this existed, you would just farm the 25 cadet bonus / low hanging achievement bonus' that you can probably grind out for a day for tens of millions of c-bills and then just gift your main account.

Will never happen because it will just be easier to farm burner accounts and transfer winnings then it would be to just play the game on your own account.

[Odium]

Triordinant, on 03 September 2015 - 08:46 AM, said:

PGI won't do it because it will allow a Tier 1 player to create a second account (which will be automatically Tier 4 because it's new) then "gift" the best 'mech and modules to the second account. He can then use his Tier 1 skills to farm all the new Tier 4 players his second account goes up against. In the new PSR system, a Tier 1 player will never fight against Tier 4s or Tier 5s and PGI has no way of knowing who actually owns new accounts.

I don't think that is the reason why because that person would raise rather quickly to the top tier in a game with not many players at all. I think people would be quite shocked how many people actually play this game. It is pretty low as I see the same people every day all day. This is not the case in LoL for example. A skilled player can start a new account and stomp noobs for a long time before he gets up to his real skill level.

The real reasons they, and pretty much every Free to Play game I have played, does not allow this is quite simple. One, they do not want people to "sell mechs" to friends. A new player buying a mech with real money could just buy a mech for much cheaper on ebay or something from somebody else. That would cut MWO out of the sale.

The second reason is that new players in these games quite often like the game and throw money at the game right away to skip the grind. If there were people out there who would gift their friend a few mechs with cbill that person may have had their fill of the game before they actually bought anything.

LoL, World of Tanks, and most others do not allow people to buy others items using the in game earned currency.

[Lostdragon]

SpiralFace, on 03 September 2015 - 10:44 AM, said:

You will never see this because of account farming.

If a system like this existed, you would just farm the 25 cadet bonus / low hanging achievement bonus' that you can probably grind out for a day for tens of millions of c-bills and then just gift your main account.

Will never happen because it will just be easier to farm burner accounts and transfer winnings then it would be to just play the game on your own account.

You obviously did not bother to read the whole post. I suggest allowing each account to have a ONE TIME gift of a mech a friend purchased with cbills. In other words, if my buddy made an account I could gift him a DWF-S that I purchased with cbills but he would never again be able to receive another cbill purchased gift mech on the account.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

627, on 03 September 2015 - 10:06 AM, said:

should be a choice from 3 solid light or medium mechs. nothing fancy, just rock solid and easy mechs. A jenner, cent or blackjack and that's it.

You really don't want to put new players in light mechs as I find that new players get frustrated when they get one shot repeatedly.

The best starting mech for new players would probably be the hunchback. It's cheap to build, and it has ballistics, energy boat, and missile variants. Plus you learn how to spread damage by twisting so you can keep your main gun.