86 replies to this topic

[Xetelian]

I'm in a situation where I often don't have the money to buy the pre-Order until the next month. I get paid once a month and later in the month I have a hard time freeing up enough funds to buy a mech or any video game related purchase.

Thus, I miss the bonus goodies.

What I want is the bonus goodies to last until just before the mech comes out. I understand that they want to incentivise the purchase early but why does it only last a couple weeks when the mech doesn't come out for 3 months?

As it is still a pre order, it should at least last until July, the Camo is what I'm really after, free camo is a real selling point for me and the hanging items.

If you agree with me, that preorder bonuses should last longer, please tweet this to Russ.
https://twitter.com/russ_bullock

If you don't agree, please explain why?



Talking about EARLY ADOPTER rewards lasting longer than 3 weeks.

Edited by Xetelian, 03 June 2016 - 04:32 PM.

[WarHippy]

Xetelian, on 03 June 2016 - 07:18 AM, said:

I'm in a situation where I often don't have the money to buy the pre-Order until the next month. I get paid once a month and later in the month I have a hard time freeing up enough funds to buy a mech or any video game related purchase.

Thus, I miss the bonus goodies.

What I want is the bonus goodies to last until just before the mech comes out. I understand that they want to incentivise the purchase early but why does it only last a couple weeks when the mech doesn't come out for 3 months?

As it is still a pre order, it should at least last until July, the Camo is what I'm really after, free camo is a real selling point for me and the hanging items.

If you agree with me, that preorder bonuses should last longer, please tweet this to Russ.
https://twitter.com/russ_bullock

If you don't agree, please explain why?

I find it strange that they don't keep the bonus available until the mech is released. Pretty much every game keeps pre-order bonuses available until the game/content is released. Heck, some keep it for a short time past release. It really is a lost opportunity on PGI's part.

[ScarecrowES]

WarHippy, on 03 June 2016 - 08:10 AM, said:

I find it strange that they don't keep the bonus available until the mech is released. Pretty much every game keeps pre-order bonuses available until the game/content is released. Heck, some keep it for a short time past release. It really is a lost opportunity on PGI's part.

The pre-order bonuses ARE available until a mech is released... the EARLY ADOPTER rewards are only available during the initial announcement window.

The early adopter rewards are additional to the pre-order bonus as a way to incentivize players into dropping money on a mech pack sight-unseen, thus paying for the development cost of that pack. Having the multi-tiered rewards system places a certain amount of urgency on the most interested players to make a purchase (which is the best time for PGI to gain income for that pack), and rewards the player accordingly for their faith. This is as it should be.

What irks me about this topic, and the many that came before it, is this notion that these amazingly generous rewards should be available all the time. And the only reason ever given is that the particular posting player couldn't get their financial house in order to purchase during the known-in-advance early adopter window, and thus missed their chance to receive those rewards. It's like the person who shows up in a store after a sale has ended and gets mad at the clerk because he won't be sold a product at the lower sale price.

"The sale ended last week."
"Well I didn't have the money last week. I have the money NOW."
"Well NOW it's regular price."
"But I don't WANT to pay the regular price."
"Well, then you should have come in and bought it when it was on sale."
"But I didn't have the money when it was on sale."

And so on. The reality is, the reward items are set up to encourage players to give up their money when PGI needs it most. Not whenever players feel like getting around to it. Both the preorder bonuses and the early adopter rewards are very generous, and ONLY getting the preorder bonuses is still worth a LOT. It's like getting the mech pack for 50% off. Saying that it's a rip-off for you because you missed the BOGO event and only got the 50% sale sounds a little... I dunno... off. You're still getting an incredible deal.

Now, having said all that, if getting the early adopter rewards is THAT important to a person, the only thing to say is that person should get their financial house in order. If you don't have the disposable income to buy mech packs when you want to buy them, it's probably not a good idea to be throwing money you don't have at mech packs. And if you DO have the money, just not freely available during the right window... they have credit cards. You can buy the pack on credit, and then immediately repay it when the funds are freed up. OR... pre-pay a card or set some cash aside in a fund for when you run across a pack you want, so it will be available right then.

There's a world of options here for you to get your **** together.

PGI, in all seriousness, will NOT expand the early adopter period. That's a LOT of free stuff they'd have to hand out, and it makes no business sense at all.

[WarHippy]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

The pre-order bonuses ARE available until a mech is released... the EARLY ADOPTER rewards are only available during the initial announcement window.

What are the pre-order bonuses? I don't see any listed only early adopter rewards which are the same damn thing as pre-order bonuses. You can buy any of the packs for mechs that are already released and get everything listed except the early adopter rewards, and that is exactly what the OP and I are referring to when we say pre-order bonuses. What I said is true and it is really strange that PGI does it they way they do compared to pretty much every other game out there. Once the mech is released those early adopter rewards go away.

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

The early adopter rewards are additional to the pre-order bonus as a way to incentivize players into dropping money on a mech pack sight-unseen, thus paying for the development cost of that pack. Having the multi-tiered rewards system places a certain amount of urgency on the most interested players to make a purchase (which is the best time for PGI to gain income for that pack), and rewards the player accordingly for their faith. This is as it should be.

Again, what pre-order bonus are the early adopter rewards in addition too? None of us have a problem with the rewards going away we just don't see the reason for them to go away before the mech is released. Anyone buying the pack before it is released is buying sight-unseen.

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

What irks me about this topic, and the many that came before it, is this notion that these amazingly generous rewards should be available all the time. And the only reason ever given is that the particular posting player couldn't get their financial house in order to purchase during the known-in-advance early adopter window, and thus missed their chance to receive those rewards. It's like the person who shows up in a store after a sale has ended and gets mad at the clerk because he won't be sold a product at the lower sale price.

When did the OP or anyone else say these rewards should be available all the time? The only thing that was asked is why PGI does early adopter rewards differently than pretty much everyone else. There really isn't a good reason for them to not make those rewards available to anyone who pre-orders the pack.

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

And so on. The reality is, the reward items are set up to encourage players to give up their money when PGI needs it most. Not whenever players feel like getting around to it. Both the preorder bonuses and the early adopter rewards are very generous, and ONLY getting the preorder bonuses is still worth a LOT. It's like getting the mech pack for 50% off. Saying that it's a rip-off for you because you missed the BOGO event and only got the 50% sale sounds a little... I dunno... off. You're still getting an incredible deal.

Again, there are no "pre-order" bonuses outside of the early adopter rewards. Maybe if PGI was allowing people to get those rewards up until the content was released they would have more sales and thus more money on hand for the next one. Instead they seem content with people in situations like the OPs saying screw it I will just buy them with C-bills.

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

Now, having said all that, if getting the early adopter rewards is THAT important to a person, the only thing to say is that person should get their financial house in order. If you don't have the disposable income to buy mech packs when you want to buy them, it's probably not a good idea to be throwing money you don't have at mech packs. And if you DO have the money, just not freely available during the right window... they have credit cards. You can buy the pack on credit, and then immediately repay it when the funds are freed up. OR... pre-pay a card or set some cash aside in a fund for when you run across a pack you want, so it will be available right then.

There's a world of options here for you to get your **** together.

There are certainly a lot of options out there and some are good while others are not. However, that doesn't mean PGI can't or shouldn't be more accommodating to potential customers.

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

PGI, in all seriousness, will NOT expand the early adopter period. That's a LOT of free stuff they'd have to hand out, and it makes no business sense at all.

Tell that too all the other game companies, and for that matter also happen to be significantly more successful than PGI.

[Felio]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

PGI, in all seriousness, will NOT expand the early adopter period. That's a LOT of free stuff they'd have to hand out, and it makes no business sense at all.

The "free stuff" is generally things people don't pay real cash for anyway. Maybe getting it as an extra reduces the need to buy premium time for extra c-bills or something, but even that's a stretch.

As for business sense: If you don't buy in time to get the early adopter rewards, there is no reason to buy sooner rather than later, and there is no reason not to cancel your preorder. It becomes very easy to just put it off to some day in the future and forget about it. I've done it many times.

[C E Dwyer]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

The pre-order bonuses ARE available until a mech is released... the EARLY ADOPTER rewards are only available during the initial announcement window.

The early adopter rewards are additional to the pre-order bonus as a way to incentivize players into dropping money on a mech pack sight-unseen, thus paying for the development cost of that pack. Having the multi-tiered rewards system places a certain amount of urgency on the most interested players to make a purchase (which is the best time for PGI to gain income for that pack), and rewards the player accordingly for their faith. This is as it should be.

If only the faith ended up in a good product, sadly the generic weapons sysatem PGI uses has completely screwed over many of the smaller mechs which magnifies it's faults, i'm so close to cancelling the Pheonix hawk, it looks that bad

[Mister Blastman]

Send support an email and explain your situation. Perhaps they'll have heart and help you out.

[Ted Wayz]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

"The sale ended last week."
"Well I didn't have the money last week. I have the money NOW."
"Well NOW it's regular price."
"But I don't WANT to pay the regular price."
"Well, then you should have come in and bought it when it was on sale."
"But I didn't have the money when it was on sale."

Above is how not to approach a negotiation. On either side.

In the real world there is no such thing as a set price or a limited time offer. If people want a sale they will find a way to sell it. If you don't want a sale then by all means stay rigid and inflexible. The consumer will find somewhere else to spend their money.

[ScarecrowES]

WarHippy, on 03 June 2016 - 11:37 AM, said:

What are the pre-order bonuses? I don't see any listed only early adopter rewards which are the same damn thing as pre-order bonuses.

Again, what pre-order bonus are the early adopter rewards in addition too?

Again, there are no "pre-order" bonuses outside of the early adopter rewards.

<editted to remove all the other nonsense that becomes irrelevant due to extreme lack of understanding of the pre-order process>

Ok... so, since you have no idea what you're talking about but feel the need to post anyway...

The pre-order bonus for every mech pack will include MINIMUM 1 mech bay per mech to house your mechs, 30 days of premium time, 3 cockpit items, a badge, and a title. The Collector's Pack will double most of those rewards. You get that pre-order bonus at any time before the release of the mech pack.

IN ADDITION to the pre-order bonuses, if you buy during the early adopter period you will also get 3 additional cockpit items, an unlocked pattern, 2 weapon modules, 2 mech modules, and 6.5mil currency.

So as you can see, there are pre-order bonuses and early adopter bonuses. You will always get SOMETHING for pre-ordering that will be worth roughly half the value of the mech pack. If you order early, you get even more.

So yes, there IS a separate bonus OTHER than the pre-order bonus, and you get THAT no matter when you order before release.

[ScarecrowES]

Ted Wayz, on 03 June 2016 - 04:04 PM, said:

Above is how not to approach a negotiation. On either side.

In the real world there is no such thing as a set price or a limited time offer. If people want a sale they will find a way to sell it. If you don't want a sale then by all means stay rigid and inflexible. The consumer will find somewhere else to spend their money.

Walk into pretty much any store and offer $700 for a $900 TV and see how that works for you. Even if the TV you want was on sale for $700 the week before, you're not getting it for $700 now, because the offer was for a limited time and is now over. In fact, ever single advertisement for that sale will specify, even if just in tiny print, that this is a limited offer.

We're not in some 3rd world farmers' market where you can haggle over the prices of goods and services.

[Xetelian]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

The pre-order bonuses ARE available until a mech is released... the EARLY ADOPTER rewards are only available during the initial announcement window.

The early adopter rewards are additional to the pre-order bonus as a way to incentivize players into dropping money on a mech pack sight-unseen, thus paying for the development cost of that pack. Having the multi-tiered rewards system places a certain amount of urgency on the most interested players to make a purchase (which is the best time for PGI to gain income for that pack), and rewards the player accordingly for their faith. This is as it should be.

What irks me about this topic, and the many that came before it, is this notion that these amazingly generous rewards should be available all the time. And the only reason ever given is that the particular posting player couldn't get their financial house in order to purchase during the known-in-advance early adopter window, and thus missed their chance to receive those rewards. It's like the person who shows up in a store after a sale has ended and gets mad at the clerk because he won't be sold a product at the lower sale price.

"The sale ended last week."
"Well I didn't have the money last week. I have the money NOW."
"Well NOW it's regular price."
"But I don't WANT to pay the regular price."
"Well, then you should have come in and bought it when it was on sale."
"But I didn't have the money when it was on sale."

And so on. The reality is, the reward items are set up to encourage players to give up their money when PGI needs it most. Not whenever players feel like getting around to it. Both the preorder bonuses and the early adopter rewards are very generous, and ONLY getting the preorder bonuses is still worth a LOT. It's like getting the mech pack for 50% off. Saying that it's a rip-off for you because you missed the BOGO event and only got the 50% sale sounds a little... I dunno... off. You're still getting an incredible deal.

Now, having said all that, if getting the early adopter rewards is THAT important to a person, the only thing to say is that person should get their financial house in order. If you don't have the disposable income to buy mech packs when you want to buy them, it's probably not a good idea to be throwing money you don't have at mech packs. And if you DO have the money, just not freely available during the right window... they have credit cards. You can buy the pack on credit, and then immediately repay it when the funds are freed up. OR... pre-pay a card or set some cash aside in a fund for when you run across a pack you want, so it will be available right then.

There's a world of options here for you to get your **** together.

PGI, in all seriousness, will NOT expand the early adopter period. That's a LOT of free stuff they'd have to hand out, and it makes no business sense at all.

Actually, working in a retail pharmacy, we honored sales from previous weeks all the time if someone asked. We had a lady come in and ask to return her shoes, she had obviously worn them and they were destroyed but we accepted the return and let her walk off with a new pair of shoes. To the company, dollars and cents were nothing compared to goodwill, our management worked on the premise that if people are happy then they're likely to come back and tell people. Customer is always right was what kept us the highest frequented pharmacy in our district.

Another store that does the same thing is Nordstrom, my wife frequents them and they take ANYTHING back, even a shirt that you spilled a little bleach on after buying it. They have a HUGE mark up on their products so if taking one item back keeps a customer coming back then they're going to get their money back on the next sale.


The early adopter rewards, especially the camo and hanging items, are really what I'm after. $20 is a decent amount of money and I can spend only that much per month on games, some months I save that $20 when I know that a game like Fallout 4 is coming out in a few months I'll save it up over time. However with PGI I don't know what is coming out for pre-Order, months in advance and the Early Adopter rewards only last a few weeks, I don't know exactly how long the Night Gyr's early adopter window was but I bought Rocket League last month and that was it. I don't get paid again until the 3rd (today) so I'm out a camo and 3 hanging items which isn't much but it doesn't come out until Sept. which is a long way away and everyone who buys from now till Sept. is an early adopter as far as I'm concerned.


Anyone who is arguing against having a longer early adopter window is welcome to explain why, but just understand that I think it is silly to want less people to get free stuff. It doesn't affect you in any way, why would you give a **** if someone got a camo and hanging item or not? What is in it for you?

Edited by Xetelian, 03 June 2016 - 05:00 PM.

[ScarecrowES]

The point was, you're arguing you want a longer window during which to get a free gift. I'm telling you that gift exists specifically to get you to buy their product within a certain window. It serves no purpose for PGI to continue to offer free items outside the window where they need to incentivise your purchase.

It's not frickin DLC welfare here. If you can't afford it you can't afford it. I'm sorry your financial situation does not allow you to make snap purchases... or that you make snap purchases without discrimination.

If you'd like to explain your situation to PGI and see if they'll make an exception for you, you can contact their support system and ask. But don't expect them to change the policy. You have a solid month to get in on early adopter rewards. That's plenty of time to get $20 figured out. And if you can't find $20 over a one month period, you REALLY shouldn't be buying gaming stuff at all.

The policy won't change, nor should it. It makes no sense whatsoever for PGI to expand the window given its purpose. And I doubt PGI would make an exception for you, because if it ever got out that they let you get early adopter status outside the window, that would be the end of early adopter rewards for everybody. The forums would literally explode from all the ill will to PGI if they did that.

[Y E O N N E]

There is zero reason for anybody to pre-order if they aren't getting the extras. At that point you should just wait for release, because the package is identical.

PGI might get more pre-orders if the extras were retained for the entirety of the duration of the run-up to release.

[Mystek]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 04:09 PM, said:

Ok... so, since you have no idea what you're talking about but feel the need to post anyway...

The pre-order bonus for every mech pack will include MINIMUM 1 mech bay per mech to house your mechs, 30 days of premium time, 3 cockpit items, a badge, and a title. The Collector's Pack will double most of those rewards. You get that pre-order bonus at any time before the release of the mech pack.

IN ADDITION to the pre-order bonuses, if you buy during the early adopter period you will also get 3 additional cockpit items, an unlocked pattern, 2 weapon modules, 2 mech modules, and 6.5mil currency.

So as you can see, there are pre-order bonuses and early adopter bonuses. You will always get SOMETHING for pre-ordering that will be worth roughly half the value of the mech pack. If you order early, you get even more.

So yes, there IS a separate bonus OTHER than the pre-order bonus, and you get THAT no matter when you order before release.

Actually what you are calling the pre-order bonus is incorrect. The bonus mech bays, premium time, and so forth are received whenever you purchase the pack. The early adopter bonuses are only for that narrow window. I do know what I am talking about because I just bought a pack recently and had no mech bays free but they came with it, plus cockpit items, badge and title, and the premium time I am enjoying right now. The "pre-order bonus" does not go away, but the early adopter bonuses do.

[Ryllen Kriel]

Cathy, on 03 June 2016 - 11:48 AM, said:

If only the faith ended up in a good product, sadly the generic weapons sysatem PGI uses has completely screwed over many of the smaller mechs which magnifies it's faults, i'm so close to cancelling the Pheonix hawk, it looks that bad

Same here, I was super excited when the mech pack first went on sale. Now the weapons look awkwardly pasted on and the mech appears nearly the same size as a Griffin, despite being ten tonnes lighter.

[Unforgiven]

I've always wondered why they don't hand out the C-Bill and Module part of the pre-order bonus when you put in the pre-order, instead of waiting until the mech is released. That would be an incentive to buy early.

[Walsung]

Ryllen Kriel, on 03 June 2016 - 07:16 PM, said:

Same here, I was super excited when the mech pack first went on sale. Now the weapons look awkwardly pasted on and the mech appears nearly the same size as a Griffin, despite being ten tonnes lighter.

not going to return it, i live with my decisions but I do suspect it will be a pile of poo.

[GRiPSViGiL]

Sounds like you can't afford to buy but still do. Odd. Not sure why your buying mechs when it doesn't lead to making the game better but then again people will vote for Hillary so whatever I guess.

[ScarecrowES]

Unforgiven, on 03 June 2016 - 07:39 PM, said:

I've always wondered why they don't hand out the C-Bill and Module part of the pre-order bonus when you put in the pre-order, instead of waiting until the mech is released. That would be an incentive to buy early.

I would imagine it's quite difficult to then remove the bonuses from your account if you change your mind, which PGI allows you to do.

They give you 6.5mil credits, which you then spend, and then cancel your preorder. What's PGI gonna do, give you negative credits?

[Ted Wayz]

ScarecrowES, on 03 June 2016 - 04:12 PM, said:

Walk into pretty much any store and offer $700 for a $900 TV and see how that works for you. Even if the TV you want was on sale for $700 the week before, you're not getting it for $700 now, because the offer was for a limited time and is now over. In fact, ever single advertisement for that sale will specify, even if just in tiny print, that this is a limited offer.

We're not in some 3rd world farmers' market where you can haggle over the prices of goods and services.

I rarely pay retail. If the store I walk into won't sell at my price I will go to one that will. It is amazing how flexible sales people are when they know you have money and you start to walk out the door. Today I saved $150 on a $700 bike just because I asked "is this really your best price?". In my line of work we negotiate daily and we are expected to save on costs in the millions every year.

It is easier to negotiate in America because most people don't and therefore don't have the skills. Go to a third world country where they haggle every day and where you don't know fair market value for the region. That is where you end up on the short end of the stick.