46 replies to this topic

[Gas Guzzler]

Ted Wayz, on 15 September 2015 - 04:06 PM, said:

I want PGI to do whatever makes fiscal sense for them and therefore the game. If the choice aligns with what we think is right, okay. But in most cases the community is wrong, fiscally speaking.

The single pack for iconic mechs works. Of course burying one of these in a pack with more mechs to get people to buy higher tier packs would also work. And could mean more income for PGI. Raise your hand if you would buy a Charger to get a Marauder.

Looking back how many people would buy the proposed Standard, Collectors and Hero upgrade Ice Ferret? Mist Lynx? Gladiator? Etc. etc. Those mechs sold only because they were bundled. Take that away and there will be a bunch of items in the store until available for c-bills.

The Marauder in the current pack is more a result of PGI needing a quick influx of cash (as predicted previously) than it being the new way to sell mechs. Don't get used to this format, you will only see it again if PGI needs another quick bump to pay for the Steam release development. From my POV another sale like this would be a bad sign, not good.

They already said if this goes well they will do it again for another classic mech. When that happens I'm not sure, but I also doubt that they will cease selling the larger packs. And actually, I hope they don't stop those. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced another $80 collection in October, and then after the early adopter phase for that one is over, they will move into another classic mech release like this one. Just my prediction though.

[Karl Marlow]

I very much agree. With the massive packs you were for as to get the custom geometry mach which they never get around to allowing custom patterns for. I seldom like the patterns these things come with. Same with the hero Macy's. With these 1 mach packs I kinda like the duplication since I get a copy of a variant I like that I can paint however I want. On the other hand putting a duplicate variant in the collectors pack isn't much of an incentive to get the collectors pack.

So I would be on board for collectors being a 4th variant

[Gas Guzzler]

ThomasMarik, on 15 September 2015 - 04:39 PM, said:

I very much agree. With the massive packs you were for as to get the custom geometry mach which they never get around to allowing custom patterns for. I seldom like the patterns these things come with. Same with the hero Macy's. With these 1 mach packs I kinda like the duplication since I get a copy of a variant I like that I can paint however I want. On the other hand putting a duplicate variant in the collectors pack isn't much of an incentive to get the collectors pack.

So I would be on board for collectors being a 4th variant

Just an FYI, they are now releasing mechs that can have a custom pattern applied over the special unique pattern, this includes Wave 3, Resistance 2, and the Marauder special variant and hero.

[Karl Marlow]

Doesn't help the dozen or so Mechs sitting in my hangar that look like crap.

Boars head
Every resistance special geo
Every clan 1 and 2 geo
Illya
Heavy metal
Not to mention some Mechs that haven't even got an around to giving patterns to the normal variants. Uebie comes to mind.

[patataman]

Bishop Steiner, on 15 September 2015 - 01:57 PM, said:

And when the Warhammer gets released for MC, then Cbills, the Collector Variant gets released minus the custom geometry and Cbill bonuses.

The urbie package hasn't yet been released for MC or C-bills, and AFAIK there is not a planned date for said release. I expect the same for the marauder package.

I think PGI will continue using the Gigapacks for "common" mechs, and use the new pack format for very iconic mechs, keeping them as $ purchases only. I like this new format because you are not forced to buy mechs that you are not really interested in... but a mc/c-bill release after the pack is sold would be welcome.

Also, PGI has to be careful with their choices, if all the awaited mechs are released like the MAD, the gigapacks sales will suffer.

[El Bandito]

I missed the old days when I could choose my Founder mech. I naturally picked the Atlas.

Packs shuold operate the same too. Allow us to choose the contents in the packs.

[Wintersdark]

Bishop Steiner, on 15 September 2015 - 02:52 PM, said:

The Pretty Baby, Misery, etc were never listed as custom models either. Wit the Dragoons you certainly won't know because they guarded their stuff so jealously. There is no more famous WHM in the history of the Inner sphere though. Even more famous than mine.......


my hope is the Urbie and MAD will spell the end of the Jumbo Pack.

Me too.

I really prefer these smaller, more affordable packs. While they still cost as much per mech (ignoring horribly expensive a'la carte options) they're a lot more appealing.

I've skipped a few recent packs, personally, because I just can't justify the total outlay all at once. I'd buy one mech pack a month happily, and while I realize I could buy, say, the first tier of a pack, then the second, and so on upgrading... I don't. There's a psychological hesitance to buying a $80 pack (that, after exchange, is for me roughly $110) that doesn't exist for buying a $20 pack... Even though with ones like the Urbanmech and Marauder, I didn't hesitate to buy the collectors editions for $40 per chassis!

[Vlad Ward]

1453 R, on 15 September 2015 - 03:06 PM, said:

Twenty-dollar singleton packs, with optional double-up Collector's packs and the occasional bolt-on Hero, sounds like a much more sustainable model than this constant flood of MegaGigaUltrapacks that just don't get bought as much anymore.

Huh. I guess Assaults sitting at 75% of the queue for days after the Mauler release was just my imagination.

Wintersdark, on 15 September 2015 - 05:46 PM, said:

While they still cost as much per mech

Except they don't.

It costs $40 to get a Collector's Edition of a single Mech in the Urbanmech style.

It costs $20 to get a Collector's Edition of an IS Mech in Resistance pricing, and $30 to get a Collector's Edition of a Clan Mech in Invasion/Origins pricing.

This model is significantly more expensive on a per-mech basis unless you really just want the a la carte of a Heavy/Medium and even then it's fairly similar (identical if you buy the Hero).

[Wintersdark]

Vlad Ward, on 15 September 2015 - 06:25 PM, said:

Except they don't.

It costs $40 to get a Collector's Edition of a single Mech in the Urbanmech style.

It costs $20 to get a Collector's Edition of an IS Mech in Resistance pricing, and $30 to get a Collector's Edition of a Clan Mech in Invasion/Origins pricing.

This model is significantly more expensive on a per-mech basis unless you really just want the a la carte of a Heavy/Medium and even then it's fairly similar (identical if you buy the Hero).

depends if the collectors edition is important to you or not. You still get 3 variants for $20, after all.

As well, if you buy the $40 pack, your getting 60 days of premium time and 4 mechs for that money.

Imho (and I get some people will disagree) this ends up being largely a wash.

[Bishop Steiner]

Vlad Ward, on 15 September 2015 - 06:25 PM, said:

Huh. I guess Assaults sitting at 75% of the queue for days after the Mauler release was just my imagination.



Except they don't.

It costs $40 to get a Collector's Edition of a single Mech in the Urbanmech style.

It costs $20 to get a Collector's Edition of an IS Mech in Resistance pricing, and $30 to get a Collector's Edition of a Clan Mech in Invasion/Origins pricing.

This model is significantly more expensive on a per-mech basis unless you really just want the a la carte of a Heavy/Medium and even then it's fairly similar (identical if you buy the Hero).

75% Assault Queue.... yet..oddly wasn't seeing anywhere near 10 Maulers per drop..... despite the MM allowing 5 Assaults per side.

In fact, still was seeing a lot more DWF than Maulers.

[BarHaid]

Ted Wayz, on 15 September 2015 - 04:06 PM, said:

<snip>
Raise your hand if you would buy a Charger to get a Marauder.

I think you have that backwards, son.

[Vlad Ward]

Bishop Steiner, on 15 September 2015 - 06:36 PM, said:

75% Assault Queue.... yet..oddly wasn't seeing anywhere near 10 Maulers per drop..... despite the MM allowing 5 Assaults per side.

In fact, still was seeing a lot more DWF than Maulers.

You must've been living in Bizzarro World, because I was seeing 8+ Maulers per drop constantly.

And there's nothing else that you can really attribute the huge spike in Assaults to. Yes, 20%~ or so of the population was still playing Dire Wolves. But that extra 50%? Nothing else but the Mauler changed to account for it.

Wintersdark, on 15 September 2015 - 06:34 PM, said:

depends if the collectors edition is important to you or not. You still get 3 variants for $20, after all.

As well, if you buy the $40 pack, your getting 60 days of premium time and 4 mechs for that money.

Imho (and I get some people will disagree) this ends up being largely a wash.

Normal uberpacks come with Premium Time and Warhorns too btw.

Edited by Vlad Ward, 15 September 2015 - 08:52 PM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Vlad Ward, on 15 September 2015 - 08:42 PM, said:

You must've been living in Bizzarro World, because I was seeing 8+ Maulers per drop constantly.

And there's nothing else that you can really attribute the huge spike in Assaults to. Yes, 20%~ or so of the population was still playing Dire Wolves. But that extra 50%? Nothing else but the Mauler changed to account for it.



If you just buy the basic collections, it's rather a waste of money imo. I don't bother buying mechs with no c-bill bonus with real money. For 3 normal variants I'd rather just spend c-bills - assuming, unlike the Urbanmech, that these packs did become available for c-bills eventually.

thats good for you, lots of players do buy while MC or Cash.

[Vlad Ward]

Bishop Steiner, on 15 September 2015 - 08:42 PM, said:

thats good for you, lots of players do buy while MC or Cash.

Sure. But it's still a false comparison.

The Uberpacks give you Collector's Editions for less money. You can't really compare them to Basic Packs which still cost the same amount of money but don't come with a c-bill bonus (since we haven't seen the price point on a Clan Urbie-style pack, we can't really compare the $20 basics to the $30 Clan Collector's).

Either way, it's still a lesser value, which was the point.

Edited by Vlad Ward, 15 September 2015 - 08:45 PM.

[Wintersdark]

Vlad Ward, on 15 September 2015 - 08:42 PM, said:

You must've been living in Bizzarro World, because I was seeing 8+ Maulers per drop constantly.

And there's nothing else that you can really attribute the huge spike in Assaults to. Yes, 20%~ or so of the population was still playing Dire Wolves. But that extra 50%? Nothing else but the Mauler changed to account for it.



If you just buy the basic collections, it's rather a waste of money imo. I don't bother buying mechs with no c-bill bonus with real money. For 3 normal variants I'd rather just spend c-bills - assuming, unlike the Urbanmech, that these packs did become available for c-bills eventually.

Normal uberpacks come with Premium Time and Warhorns too btw.

what is and is not a waste of money is entirely subjective, and you'd do well to remember that. For example, I can rarely play for more than an hour or two, 2 or maybe 3 times a week. For me to buy a set of three Marauders with cbills would take probably upwards of three months.

On the other hand, I'm paid $30hr, and can do overtime anytime I want. $45 for an hour of time and a half overtime, and I've paid for a collectors pack.

And while yes, the $20 pack comes with 1mo of premium time and 1 warhorn, the collectors pack comes with another month and 3 warhorns.

All in all, a mech a month is very easily attainable by me, and allows me a lot of variety when I play. I really prefer these single releases to big packs.

[Vlad Ward]

Wintersdark, on 15 September 2015 - 08:48 PM, said:

what is and is not a waste of money is entirely subjective, and you'd do well to remember that. For example, I can rarely play for more than an hour or two, 2 or maybe 3 times a week. For me to buy a set of three Marauders with cbills would take probably upwards of three months.

On the other hand, I'm paid $30hr, and can do overtime anytime I want. $45 for an hour of time and a half overtime, and I've paid for a collectors pack.

And while yes, the $20 pack comes with 1mo of premium time and 1 warhorn, the collectors pack comes with another month and 3 warhorns.

All in all, a mech a month is very easily attainable by me, and allows me a lot of variety when I play. I really prefer these single releases to big packs.

I'm editing that part out because it's not worth it to waste time arguing about how other people spend their money.

The point? You're getting less for your dollar. You claimed otherwise. You spend less in one sitting if you only choose the Basic pack, but you get absolutely nothing unique out of it.

Every single Megapack comes with unique variants. All of them. And they start at 20 bucks.

Edited by Vlad Ward, 15 September 2015 - 08:55 PM.

[Wintersdark]

Vlad Ward, on 15 September 2015 - 08:54 PM, said:

I'm editing that part out because it's not worth it to waste time arguing about how other people spend their money.

The point? You're getting less for your dollar. You claimed otherwise. That's patently untrue. You spend less in one sitting if you only choose the Basic pack, but you get absolutely nothing unique out of it.

Every single Megapack comes with unique variants. All of them. And they start at 20 bucks.

But have less premium time, worth $15/mo, and must be bought in lumps. If you don't want all the mechs, the value tanks dramatically. For these, you can still get the mechs at $20 per 3 variants, and only get the mechs you want... And they're exactly as effective in game.

I prefer these smaller packs, personally. To each their own, though.

[Roadkill]

Vlad Ward, on 15 September 2015 - 08:44 PM, said:

Sure. But it's still a false comparison.

The Uberpacks give you Collector's Editions for less money. You can't really compare them to Basic Packs which still cost the same amount of money but don't come with a c-bill bonus (since we haven't seen the price point on a Clan Urbie-style pack, we can't really compare the $20 basics to the $30 Clan Collector's).

Either way, it's still a lesser value, which was the point.

Except that with an Uberpack purchase, I'm forced to buy Lights and Mediums that I don't want in order to get the Heavies and Assaults that I do want. So really, it's the same value for the money. 2 c-bill variants for $80 plus a bunch of crap (including 2 lesser c-bill variants) that I'll never use.

Choice has value. Being able to buy only the Mech you want, still get the c-bill variant, and still get all of the bonus stuff is worth something.

Urbie/Marauder packs blow a la carte out of the water, too.

[Vlad Ward]

Wintersdark, on 15 September 2015 - 08:58 PM, said:

But have less premium time, worth $15/mo, and must be bought in lumps. If you don't want all the mechs, the value tanks dramatically. For these, you can still get the mechs at $20 per 3 variants, and only get the mechs you want... And they're exactly as effective in game.

I prefer these smaller packs, personally. To each their own, though.

Even if you don't want all the Mechs, buying a single A La Carte ($35) costs less than the comparable Collector's Pack ($40). Though, in that case, you do lose out on Premium Time (they used to include those things in ALC, but I heard they stopped doing that), so it's a bit of a wash.

As with virtually every F2P game on the planet, the more you buy the better the value. I'm cool with these single Mech pack options. They work well for people who only want a single Heavy or Assault and don't need Ice Ferrets clogging up their Mechlab. But their overall value isn't that great compared to existing options.

Edited by Vlad Ward, 15 September 2015 - 09:08 PM.

[Lugin]

Gas Guzzler, on 15 September 2015 - 02:03 PM, said:

Sounds really cool but did she use a custom variant? Sarna just says "she piloted a jet black Warhammer", its not listed among the custom variants.

If I had to guess, I'd say it was likely a 7A, a variant which saw action in Op Klondike. Probably mothballed, then broken out when the Clans were equipping the Dragoons.
(And if you go "But Lostech," remember the Bounty Hunter stole her Marauder. The 3015 version of it has Doubles.)


As for pricing... I've actually been very happy with the lights and mediums. There have been certain variants that set my teeth on edge building for them, but generally I don't mind paying for the light and medium levels of the packs.