Bud Crue, on 20 November 2015 - 06:10 AM, said:
Nightshade24,
I agree with your point about the straight up value of these packs as you have broken them down. Your analysis does reflect the currency value if reality was the issue. But it is not, the issue with all marketing is not reality but perception.
From the existing player perspective:
$60 bucks for 2 mechs? I can buy 6-12 mechs for $60 bucks in the Resistance or Wave packs. Those packs come with all sorts of extra goodies too. For less money I can get any one of the unseen packs in total. etc.
To sell these to existing players I would make them have three mechs of only IS or Clan with the bells and whistles.
From the new player (Steam) perspective:
"Wow that is a lot of money even for "premium" content." If they spend even a few moments perusing the Store, they will see that as far as mechs go (and lets face it that is why they are here: the mechs, the big stompy robots) they can get a lot more bang for their buck with other packs.
To better market to newbs I would do as others have suggested and put one mech from each weight class and include some corresponding bells and whistles (perhaps a couple of weapons or mech upgrades, consumables, etc in lieu of the MC and/or C-bills).
Unlike you, I don't think either of the general groups I am characterizing really care about much of the extras including the "special" nature of the mechs, their patterns, even the MC. The c-bills might be an attraction to some, but even there it is still in game currency that you gain by playing, so even that is a bit of a stretch as something that will drive large sales.
Whatever, PGI will do as they will. I wish them the best. MY perception is that I want to spend money with PGI but these packs do not encourage me to do so. Now a straight up mech sale would fit my reality nicely (hint, hint PGI).
I have been around many games and looked into others and games like World of Tanks, War Thunder, Star Citizen, Robocraft, etc have similar prices if not worse. At least to my WT knowledge- The WT premium packages which offered less relative content for a higher price (granted- it also came with 2 separate single player campaigns... but no one ever plays single player in WT) and for a game with an indie developer the prices are not to bad- BUT I have mentioned on another thread that the formula for MC to hero mech ratio as well as cockpit items would require a reduction- as packages float in a good value area because they often side step the current economic situation of the game.
To be honest- I personally do not have a problem knowing the relativity and the fact that PGI was essentially bankrupt when they first started thanks to harmony gold. However in another thread i have mentioned that times are no longer like that anymore and a small reduction of MC or a change to the hero formula is needed because let's be honest- no one ever buys stuff in this game with MC unless it's a large sale or they are already loaded with money.
Another thing that clouds my judgement is my sense of currency. for me. a large McDonnalds burger costs around about 4 USD or approx 7.50 NZD. For me the light performance pack has the same value as about 6 burgers from McDonnalds. Or about short shift on min wage for a day. (could be the fact I rarely spend money in general and that I could make a 100 dollar bill last a year in USA if I wanted to...). People in USA have a different story as most things relative to them is cheaper. ie their big burgers are 2 USD, half the time 1.5 USD. Or in Russia you can get 2 large burgers with 2.50 USD... For me it isn't an outrage to see a mech pack at 30-60 dollars. For some that'll blow a hole in their collage funding. I also look at other games and I see microstransactions at high prices as well, such as WT which recently released the only MRL (mobile rocket launchers) in game for ground forces for the player-but at quite high prices as well as al of them being premiums as well... not that I find this acceptable- but MW: O is doing better so far.
Back to the fact it isn't 2012 anymore- 1 problem with changing premium currency is that c-bill currency should be left alone thus causing odd connections from MC to C-bill. Which can be fixed with the c-bill purchases with MC is increased c-bill count or reduced MC requirement to make it better than simply buying a boars head and selling it to get a lot of c-bills.
With simple fix like this, they can easily change it from 75 mc per ton to say 40. Thus a Boars head is 4000 MC instead of 7500, while a Locust is 800 (hero mechs that is)
Following the logic of making things cheaper will resault in more people purchasing it because lets be honest- excluding us mech loving fans how many casuals and non-mechy fans purchased a hero mech?...
Also reduction in Cockpit and paint is quite necessary... I once made a suggestion before about really lowering the cost of these items BUT also including a c-bill price.
So for eg to get that paint colour.... you need 300 mc but 300,000 c-bills. (rough example, I'm tired and I forgot how much paint costs, I know the premium high end paint is like 750 while C-bill paints are 1,000,000 -ish).
However to reiterate- the packages at least the light pack is still worth it's buck- it's worth however is greater the more mechs you have- as the skin can be applied to the other raven/ ACH's as well as the colours to every mech.
I am rambling becuase it's 4 am... grrr....
Okay- your example of 60 bucks for 5 mechs. Ignoring extras. The price of 2 x 100 tonners hero is nearly equal to that. minus the skin for all variants and stuff- of course we are relating back to the games current state...
it is a bit hard to compare it to anything if the base game isn't- I can't start compiring it to WT because how doeso ne compare a Sherman Firefly to a Direwolf W (S) ? Or how do I look at this robot in Robocraft that can fly and shoot plasma but you can easily pull it appart and make it a car that shoots lasers to a Timberwolf (S)? Using other games as example isn't a good way as most likely you do not play these games as example... I can't relate it to real life due to relativity. for eg I can't sya how many cheese burgers a direwolf costs because for you, you can cram much more burgers than me for the same price...
Yes, I am drowning in confussion here on what is better to compare these mechs to compared to nothing. Besides sayign it's something rather than nothing...
Would I like most MC items to be cheaper? yes. Even if they are do I consider packs over priced? even if we reduce colours, mech bays, mechs, etc by 50%, these mech packs still have a kicker of value... for eg taking one of my lines of math above...
[Raven 3L (c)] / 2 + [Arctic cheetah Prime (c)] / 2 + [Phranken skin unlock] + [Phranken colours unlocked] / 2 +
![Posted Image](https://static.mwomercs.com/img/ui/custom_icons/mc_icon.jpg)
+ [premium time] + [mechbay / 2 ] x 2 + [c-bills]
16.35 / 2 + 21.52 / 2 + 6.65 + 16.68 / 2 + 8.43 + 13.90 + 1.67 + 9.27 = 67.195
67.195 is still muchh higher than the 30 dollars you spent- not the 100 dollars that it valued before I calculated but it's still more than double 30 dollars- and this is halfing most of the values above in a theoretical situation that PGI right now cuts all prices in half.... Now I compare the mech pack with "not" over priced mechs and it still holds out well...
Another topic is that I have said that the speical mechs which comes with a 30% c-bill bonus is more 'concentrated' than other packs as I have demonstrated when compairing it to the marauder pack. It issn't the fact you could get 12 standard mechs for the price of 2 premium ,but it's the fact with those 2 premium mechs you buy you get 30% more c-bilsl which means you can get other content with c-bills 30% faster. It's part of the deal with these packages compaired to the others...
I'm sorry- I'm rambling like a headless chicken due to the fact i haven't slept in a long time. I hope I got some info through such as I wouldn't mind-if anything I support a drop in price for all current MC dominant mechs (packages still hold up lots of value, it's just not in the hundreds as before... I remembered the locust pack for phoenix was worth 150 dollars for that tier alone while the top tier of clan wave 1 saved over 600 USD (meaning even if you got a golden mech you saved 100... 'saved'...))
Those big numbers do not really mean anything if they just reflect the big numbers on the normal level...
I wounder if PGI has any plans for economic changes... probably not... I hope one comes for heroes when the clan heros arive...
On another note- the concept of 1 of each weight class is one I actually haven't heard before. It may be a bad idea in the long run for some as most often than not most people want a specific weight class or so. A guy who wants to be a slow tanky juggernaut does not want to play with the other 2 or 3 weight classes that odesn't like his atlas-like skills... Part of what makes MW unique... but anyway. In the short run it does help people experiment HOWEVER in the end of the day it isn't enoguh,... if the pack made it so that 1 of them is a harraser/ short range/ scout (light), one of them is a fast mobile sniper (medium), one of them is a heavy LRM boat (heavy), and one of them is a juggernaut heavy armoured behemoth (assault) it will make it vary a lot more...
BUT an LRM boat is different from 20 tons to 100 tons, very different rules, as well as if you got B + M or E + M or both... or if you have 30% of your firepower LRM's or 100%... etc... Let alone sniper rules, harraser, juggernaut, brawler, skirmishers, etc... in reality 1 of each weight class isn't really enough and this is where trail mechs come in...
I think it would be better if we cut it to a cheap medium and heavy mech pack. SImply because throughout BT these are the easiest mechs to play due to the ballance of firepower, speed, and armour (For eg in all games besides I think MW2, the tutorial had you in either a medium or heavy with a specific focus on ballance... including MW: O's original and current tutorial).
Making it a little duo of the same tech base with most of the special stuff cut away for modules, 15 day premium time, and maybe a reduced C-bill bonus (ie 10% but 10% exp as well?) could make a great starter pack while they have a light and assault seperately as upgrades to that pack as a way to progress from your medium to a light or a heavy to an assault as many MW: O players have. (those who often start as light/ assault usually take a long time to get used to it or abandone hope and go to a medium/ heavy before returning.). I thought the exp/ c-bill reduced combo will cut the price down but improve what makes a new person experience the easiest- Exp bonus for modules and c-bills for buying stuff...
I also just realised they can not use a module they got until they unlocked it... so module idea is a bit of a bust..
I am rambling again- pm me tomorrow.