126 replies to this topic

[Sidra]

Omniparlous, on 08 July 2012 - 07:49 PM, said:

To be fair to people who bring up the issue, please read below, which is (if I remember correctly) directly from the World of Tanks FAQ before release.

[color=#464646]"How does the payment system work in World of Tanks?[/color]

[color=#464646]In World of Tanks, players have credits which they gain by taking part in battles and eliminating their enemies. Apart from credits, there is gold that every player can purchase for real money. Possessing gold will result in some bonuses that will neither affect the gameplay nor give players decisive advantage in battles."[/color]

Now I know Piranha are not Wargaming.net, and I've personally got (perhaps ill-advised; only time will tell) faith in them. But any WoT player was burned by this blatantly fallacious PR. Gold (mostly in the form of gold rounds) most certainly does provide a decisive advantage in battles. A ridiculously decisive advantage. And the developers and PR folks knew this when they released that answer.

In other words I don't really think it's a matter of people baiting anybody into a debate about whether MWO will be pay-to-win so much as natural and justified skepticism/cynicism/realism kicking in to make people dubious about the apparent good intentions of Piranha.

Regarding the objection to premium weapons/equipment, I'm very much against it giving any in-game advantage, but certainly premium weapon variants that are balanced but different (different coloured lasers, different muzzle flash effects, etc) is something I'd certainly consider buying. All contingent upon reasonable pricing, of course.

Omniparlous.

^ this is what I meant by Premium Weapons, only different varients (basically vanity items) nothign more. No power boost or anything

Edited by Sidra, 08 July 2012 - 07:52 PM.

[Tyrvidarr]

I could understand a market for "Premium Ammo" and other Weapons related stuff (nothing too dramatic from the free crap) that can give you that extra little kick on the field... It's a very simple thing that can be applied to the Battletech world. Todays world has various types of quality of Ammo/Weapons manufacturing, the finer stuff always gets a few more $$.

Custom Paint jobs/Logos and insignia is a must have...

I don't like the idea of some consumables. WoT is ****, if this game is anything like WOT I want my $60 back.

[Sidra]

Please never speak of premium ammo, please never EVER speak of that, I absolutely rage quit WoT after Beta when Gold was only buyable by money and anyone who got gold items just Face Stomped anyone in their way

[Bootleg]

I voted for all the cosmetic items. Things that add flavor and personal style are great, however the premium mechs and modules are a bit touchy to me as they seem a bit too close to a pay to win model. I think what they have indicated so far is a good compromise, pay to have your XP and C-bill increase by a good percentage, meaning you still have to go out there and earn the XP and money and you'll get some extra, instead of paying to just increase your XP and money.

[Calisrue]

Tyrvidarr, on 08 July 2012 - 08:01 PM, said:

I could understand a market for "Premium Ammo" and other Weapons related stuff (nothing too dramatic from the free crap) that can give you that extra little kick on the field... It's a very simple thing that can be applied to the Battletech world. Todays world has various types of quality of Ammo/Weapons manufacturing, the finer stuff always gets a few more $$.

Custom Paint jobs/Logos and insignia is a must have...

I don't like the idea of some consumables. WoT is ****, if this game is anything like WOT I want my $60 back.

I'm totally confused... you just advocated for several of the things that made WoT irretrivably bad and then said if its anything like WoT you want your money back..

[Monsoon]

Sean von Steinike, on 08 July 2012 - 07:15 PM, said:

the option to buy a standard mech that anyone can get through normal course of play, more than one mech warrior on an account so I could run different skill trees

Yes! I've been thinking about this one for the last week, probably because in most MMO's I'm an Alt-aholic.
Seriously, I'd like at least one alt now to play a Merc, and in the future one to play a Clanner (if that ever becomes an option.)

[Xigunder Blue]

An in-game player decal creator (level layered if possible)
Aircraft level searchlights - light up the battlefield
MusicBlaster for combat - jukebox for each mech
Auto-repair botts - automatically begin a slow repair of dmged internals
Improved Jump Jets - add (x) feet to standard jump (affects tonnage/criticals)
XL Fuel tanks - adds length of service time to JJ (affects tonnage/criticals)

Omni Hardpoints: Ballistic/Projectile
Ballistic/Beam (All need game control to prevent boating)
Beam/Projectile

Critical point armor - Armors one hit on that critical space (affects tonnage)
Player Mech Creator - Create chassis for a new mech - player selects HP/Crits/Tonnage etc.
Player then selects "look" from game controlled presets
Mech Variants from Canon
More Mech types of course

MWO already has UAV/Artillery strike/Orbital Strike in Skill Tree - possible artillery 'Minelayer'
Mech 'name' to show - player selected - Possible decal (see above)

Just off the top of my head - Before you flame me, the game info already out shows that ALL variations on the mechs we are allowed to make are limited to a very narrow column - Hardpoints. Any single Hardpoint can only be one type, Ballistic, Beam or Projectile. Equipment(modules) and criticals are entirely separate entities. If your mech has a Ballistic Hardpoint then the weapon you want to replace it with must also be a Ballistic weapon. We players work with tonnage, heat sinks and ammo.

Edited by Xigunder Blue, 08 July 2012 - 08:34 PM.

[JediPanther]

I'd go for new skins and decals. Decorations for the cockpit and mechbay would rule.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

This is a damn good question being that what someone (like me) says is OK (mechs - but non founder mechs) is pay to win to someone else

Also; how the hell are ppl really expecting this company to MAKE MONEY here?
Pay to win aside; you do realize the point here is to make money not just to make a cool mech game.

Sorry if I come off confrontational but Im hoping for the best for this game, but this game wont BE the best for any length of time if they cant make money off it without the playerbase flipping out when they try to get money from us.

Edited by 514yer, 08 July 2012 - 09:43 PM.

[Zakatak]

I want fuzzy dice I can roll in my Urbanmech. If I get double 6's?

I WIN.

[Country Gravy]

I bet there will be a real money to c-bills conversion and obviously they have the premium account for XP and c-bills boosts. Other than the cosmetic stuff that they are bound to have (which I probably won't buy), it sounds like they have a limit on the number of mechs you can have at any given time, so I would probably buy extra slots if I wanted greater variety in the mechs I had immediately available. In the future if they have the clans as playable, I would consider doing that. I would think that they have to make the clans playable if they want to keep it strictly PvP since once the clans invade, the houses are going to be fighting them. I guess you could make PvE some sort of account upgrade one time purchase thing that would allow you to fight against the clans, otherwise you just have to fight other houses.

There are a lot of options they have to make money at this. It looks like they made a few million just from the founder packs already and I bet they keep the packs available up until August 7, and then just adjust them a bit and call them something different after the full Beta starts. There would probably be quite a rush for them if they made a marketing push to drive people to the site a week or two before the packs are no longer for sale and the full beta starts. I did the founder pack to start playing in August so that I could play before the clans invade and kind of see how things are going to play out in that regard before things get crazy, as well as the possibility of playing before then and help squash bugs to make the game better.

Edited by Country Gravy, 08 July 2012 - 10:26 PM.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

ID kinda like to see them go the EVE route. Sell in game currency.
Selling C-Bills. Works better in EVE given its a player set amount I think tho

Id buy more mech slots for one lol

Edited by 514yer, 08 July 2012 - 10:29 PM.

[Riino]

Keizer, on 08 July 2012 - 04:00 PM, said:

i would pay for Fuzzy Dice .....and hula girls with different color skirts

hahha same here!
Perhaps a nude calender. One of those realy cheesy ones.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Riino, on 08 July 2012 - 10:33 PM, said:

hahha same here!
Perhaps a nude calender. One of those realy cheesy ones.

Meh, me not so much. But thats a bit of the rub.

Theres only so many ppl that are gonna pay for decoration stuff only and they really only make money on it if a.) its per mech or b.) its really expensive.

Which is part of the problem the cash shop generates especially when theyve said they wont go the WoT route and sell pay to win.
Pay to win suckks from a gameplay and fun perspective but from a money making perspective, its unfortionately viable -.-

[ApocalypseSquad]

514yer, on 08 July 2012 - 09:38 PM, said:

?...but this game wont BE the best for any length of time if they cant make money off it without the playerbase flipping out when they try to get money from us.

This.

Like it or not guys, they have to make money. And to make money they have to offer something of value in return. Furry dice and mech bay paint jobs will make them nothing.

The simplest solution is to persuade as many players onto premium accounts as possible. WOT (sorry for mentioning it) does this primarily by making high tier tanks unprofitable. They are very tedious to maintain unless you have the extra income from the premium account. It is not p2w as you just end up matched against equivalent tanks, so no advantage is gained. But if you want to play those sexy top tanks, you (more or less) have to pay...

From what I understand of MWO, this concept would not translate that well as there is no tiering. But there are very different levels of equipment which will presumably have very different purchase and maintenance costs. So it may be that running a mech with ER lasers and XL engines etc. is simply unprofitable unless you are running a premium account.

So, if you pay, you get to run a big mech with top end kit regularly. If you don't pay, you have to grind your cheaper mechs to make the money for an occasional outing in your big beast.

Is this then p2w? - I would argue not, so long as the match maker accommodates it. But as you get into one to one duels on the map it could easily be construed as such.

Personally I could live with this. But one way or another the game will die if it doesn't make money, and all to often the contributions in these debates are from individuals with no intention of paying for anything stating what bit of trivial gloss they would be happy for other people to be spending their money on to sustain their free gaming....

[Bucky Goldstein]

I like the cosmetic purchases, and I would also pay to be in a limited tournament (Like a Solaris VII arena tourney, where the prize is C-bills/XP). I'd go into the customization on the paint jobs and decals like uploading a pic to have painted onto a part of your mech (within reason). Another option would be buying back a mech that was destroyed in a battle (assuming that if you lose a battle, that mech is gone... I'll have to search for that one), like $5 to get the surviving bits (if any) back (and it would still have all the bonuses attached to it (like xp or c-bill bonuses), then use C-bills to repair the damage.

These are just some random thoughts, but I'm sure I'll find something interesting.

[Caspase]

Since I saw this topic I have been thinking specifically about what I would buy, as opposed to what I am ok with people in general buying. And (no idea if these are already announced things or whatever) I would definately like to see these things on the market, and would very seriously consider buying at least one.
Obviously, the custom paint jobs, I would like to see a 'paint shop' or something around the mechlab, where you go in and can paint designs or whatever on the mech, maybe over specific parts (torso, arm, etc.). Maybe price the paint job by the amount and kind of paint you use, like an actual car paint shop. And then save and share them. This way, some people could come up with some awesome generic designs and if they shared them, I could just paint my mech like that for some price.
Also like to see (seperate to paint job) buttons, stickers, and insignias. Like at specific parts of the mech, you could stick on a team badge or house insignia or whatever. seperate to a paint job, so you don't have to redo the paint job just to incorporate an alleigence. Again, it would be way cooler if people could create and share their own ones. This way, for example, if you joined up with a team you could outfit your mech with team colours, designs and insignias, and also paint on specific ranks and stuff for that team. If this sort of setup would cost $1-5, maybe even up to $10 for something really extensive, I see it as worth it, because the designs would stay around forever and you would show committment to your team, merc corp, whatever. I would be very willing to pay real money for something like this, provided it wouldn't cost more than about $5-10 per mech.
I would also go for cockpit desorations, big customising of HUD, things like bobbleheads and calendars, again it would be best to see anyone able to make them and then share them so if I see something cool, like someone made an awesome 'girls of IS' calendar, I could buy it. Its important to note that the creator wouldn't make a profit from it, the design would just be available for the original cost, but if I made something cool I would probably share it, and maybe put a signature on it, or a counter of how many other people bought your design and you could definately feel worth it.
Just for further clarification I like the idea of premium, I am planning on playing with a good mate of mine, but we both worth full time and do full time uni, so we will need the premium boosts just to keep up with everyone, especially if they had some kind of 'weekend pack' or something, but would probably end up never playing again if there was a 'pay to win' feel to anything.

[Kifferson von doober]

Cthulhu bobblehead and cupholders i think!

[Danai LiaoCentrella]

i'm willing to pay for premium mechs (that is on condition that the only benefit they give is enhanced credit bonus). I dislike having to pay to win (aka WoT premium ammo nonsense), since combat should be determined by skill rather than the fattest wallet.

On another note, I would love to buy a pair of fuzzy dice for the cockpit

[Siegwald]

I'd pay for my beloved Wolfhound.

All the 80 $ worth of founders money equivalent to be exact.
But alas, it probably won't happen...