10 replies to this topic

[Impyrium]

If there's one thing I just can't get my head around, it's the Champion 'mechs. What void are they supposed to fill? Ashamedly, I own five of the darn things which I acquired before I realised I had no reason to many years ago. Even more ashamedly, one is a 5K Spider. I feel silly for piloting them, rather than feeling like I'm playing a special version of my 'mech.

The tiny xp-bonus they get is more or less worthless and even more so once you've mastered the chassis.

So why on earth haven't the Champion 'mechs received some kind of other incentive to actually make them a revenue generator? I seriously doubt anyone buys these things, though correct me if I'm wrong.

Give them a c-bill boost! Something like 10-15%. Not so much as to invalidate the hero 'mechs (although with the amount you pay...), but enough to make them actually worthwhile getting. And since you're only adding incentive rather than taking, there's no issue that it's already a sold in-game item.

[TheCharlatan]

Champions are supposed to be "ready to go" mechs for beginners.
I guess.

[Impyrium]

TheCharlatan, on 25 November 2015 - 03:12 PM, said:

Champions are supposed to be "ready to go" mechs for beginners.
I guess.

But how many of us would recommend to a newbie to go and buy a Champion version for their first 'mech?

[Escef]

Dingo Red, on 25 November 2015 - 03:40 PM, said:

But how many of us would recommend to a newbie to go and buy a Champion version for their first 'mech?

Champions give an alternative stock load out to use as a trial mech. Keep in mind that the lead outs of most of the mechs in the game were designed for table top, which uses somewhat different game mechanics.

[Troutmonkey]

It's be nice if they at least gave bonus GXP as well. The extra XP does sorta give you more GXP, but it's tiny

[adamts01]

Escef, on 25 November 2015 - 04:04 PM, said:

Champions give an alternative stock load out to use as a trial mech.

this pretty much nailed it. A player's first impressions will be in a trial mech, it's good they have champion loadouts to give them a taste of what is possible to build. Plus if you are new and want to pay real $ for a single IS chassis, might as well buy one that's ready to go.

[ThreeStooges]

Rats. I was going to go for the raven but I thought they had c bill boost. Xp boost is meh. Stuff in game is uber expensive for c bills yet selling a mech only gets you about one fourth of what the mech costs. Trial mechs are pretty much trash loadouts that are a mix of whatever with no focus on a play style except for the spider with er and mgs. That one wrecks things like no other. I've got enough xp on the trial spider to master it and give enough xp from it to another spider to elite it without dropping in a single match.

[Elizander]

• Trial mech = Champion mech
  
• New guy plays with Trial mech
  
• New guy says "I like dis. Wat du?"
  
• New guy sees it in store. "I want dis nao."
  
• New guy buys and gets efficiencies fast due to xp bonus and doesn't have to worry about buying DHS or XL engine.

Just because it doesn't appeal to some people doesn't mean it doesn't appeal to others. I can't say if it's successful because PGI doesn't add any prompt for new guys to actually go buy a trial mech they use a lot. "If you like this mech you can buy it for c-bills and upgrade it to what you've played or buy it completely set up and ready to go by purchasing it with MC at the store."

That last part is the missing step that PGI has with trial mechs. Also if prompted, it should offer an MC discount of 10%-15%.

[627]

If you buy a mech with MC anyway you can always go for the champ to save some cbills for upgrades. And on discount, I bet the C mech is still cheaper than the normal variant of that mech (for MC).

And the mastery bundles are actually a good value for the price, imho - you get a hero, champ and a third one plus prem time and the mechbays.

[Chados]

I have a couple of (c) mechs, but only one that wasn't part of a pack.

Their custom meta-build loadouts save a ton of Cbills. It costs 2.5 million C to put endo and DHS on a KGC. The 000BC already has it. Plus it comes with the four uAC5 already. Instant dakka, no assembly required. It's also on sale right now. I bought one with bonus MC I got when buying an MC pack plus the MC I got out of the event. That's sort of like getting one free as a bonus!

So I celebrated with a Kurita faction warhorn. Because why not.

Edited by Chados, 27 November 2015 - 05:22 AM.

[C E Dwyer]

slight bonus (very slight) to GXP is the only reason to buy them,