Lyoto Machida, on 04 December 2015 - 11:09 PM, said:
Who cares what we remember? We're not the target demographic...
Exactly. Everything they have done so far the last months is because of the new players aka Steam Release. Which is as a thought of prepping for new players not bad. But it painfully shows (again) that the current players usually the big spenders are not the target audiance. A initial release of Steam is something that had to be communicated ad first then just announcing it out of the blue.
While i understand PGI intentions, but i also understand why most of the current players says the game is not ready for Steam. It's all closed/beta over again. And the signs are in my opinion not good, despite most people find the patch good, i call ot a desperate action to gain a large influx of new players while screwing the oldbies.
This game has no long rentention.
A post on Reddit from ncshooter426 is pretty damn spot on:
Quote
My .02
MWO will see an influx of players as folks just try out the new/free shiny of the month. However, the game is not currently designed for long-term retention of new players. The strategy revolves around large purchases -- mechs mostly. There is little in the way of small cap purchases. Decals aren't implemented, and cosmetics are essentially limited to colors and patterns -- on mechs that the new player probably won't use long term. New players aren't going to drop coin on premium time, as it doesn't really add much value unless you plan on playing quite a bit. Most data from popular F2P games show the money makers tend to be the small/cheap things that people add over time, rather than the large packs.
Next you have the new player experience. Someone who sees giant mech shooter may be expecting a titanfall/HAWKEN style play. This is much slower, far more methodical, and the lack of respawn will be a shock for sure. MWO isn't casual friendly. The new training section is nice, but the game kinda throws newbies right into the fight with little in terms of prep. It doesn't go into how to build a mech, or what the weight classes mean. Our progression tree is non-existent -- If you have the coin, you can any mech you want. Unlike other games where you "graduate" from one chassis to the next (thus learning in the process), this game will turn a greenhorn loose in an atlas by the afternoon...with dire consequences.
Content is the next biggest hurdle. MWO is a pure PVP game. That design is inherently limiting. Look at Titanfall, or even SWBF3 -- great IPs, but many don't want to just run around and shoot each other on the same maps over and over again. MWO has zero PVE (unless we count training). It has no incentives to log in - dalies, flash points, etc. Even CW currently doesn't really gain you anything for fighting over ground - aside from some basic rewards. It doesn't "feel" dynamic, engaging, or otherwise interesting to someone who isn't hanging out on comms with their friends/lance mates. I think this is a huge fault, and one that will ultimately eliminate a large chunk of potential revenue streams from ever being realized.
And, just for the final kick in the nuts, any steam players who group with with their other steam friends will be dropped into the group queue. Not a good place for a newbie to be. Can you imagine it? Your buddy pings you and says "dude! Mechwarrior is back! holy ****!" and you both install it. All excited, you finally figure out how to add someone to a team (why the hell do they need to be friended still after 3 years? who knows) you guys get all amped up for a drop together. You then get eaten by the premades, all without even being told how internal voip works, calling targets, coordinates, etc. It's a harsh learning curve, and let's be realistic -- if you+your friend have a bad experience at the same time, you'll likely both bail. Misery loves company.
Honestly, all of these things stack heavily against MWO. If PGI had invested more time into getting some PVE/Casual or even progression-based gameplay implemented, the blow would be far less. But right now, with the way things sit, I don't really see this as a boon in the long run. In fact, it kinda makes me nervous, since we have no real idea of player base currently -- opens up the room to speculation about being a last-ditch effort to stay afloat rather than the next stage of the business model/deployment.
What kills me most about all of this, looking back, is how we shouldn't have ever gotten to this point. The Battletech/Mechwarrior IP should practically print money. When I compare the progression since CB to other small studio publications -- Such as Star Conflict (go check it out on steam), it really makes me sad. The SC team is pretty small, but extremely talented. They've managed to implement PVE, PVP, faction and now open space roaming in a F2P space game. They even built their own engine. Gaijin only has about 160 people, and the large chunk are dedicatedto War Thunder rather than SC. Hell, even the Mektek guys who are working on Heavy Gear took the feedback from their fanbase. The masses said "esports are cool, but we really want a solo/stand alone campaign". And thats what is being built -- in tandem with the PVP stuff. If that tiny team can continue to crank out material at a decent rate, then surely PGI can too.
I love MWO, have lots invested in it, and will continue playing...but man, it really does hurt to know what could have been vs. where we are now.
Edited by Sarlic, 04 December 2015 - 11:47 PM.
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