TKSax, on 06 July 2016 - 12:26 PM, said:
I don't need another mech pack so I will not buy especially when I am not thrilled with PGI at the moment. There are lots of people like me who have over a Year of banked premium time, 200,000,000+ in game cbills and more mechs than they can play. There is not reason for me to buy this when I can wait for the mech to come out for cbills. So there literately is not reason for me to spend money on this game, especially when I am not thrilled with the developer. More and more people will get to this point, and less and less money will come in unless PGI can figure out other ways to generate revenue. However I am not sure they are creative enough for that to happen.
Right in all respects but one.
The money will keep coming.
PGI has done something, intentionally or not (though probably very intentional), that many other devs have done in the past. They have chosen to forsake the game for profit. The way you do this is simple: First, Get invested players, they keep the game limping by providing queues, knowledge, and community for new players to join into. Second, make frequent changes to existing elements, this is how they keep the conversation about the game going and give the impression of caring. Third, prevent established players from being able to communicate on a large scale or establish an economy, this allows them to maintain control over the currencies and prevents players from overcoming their built in sinks. Last, only change the meta to favor the weaker player or smaller unit, this disenfranchises high skilled players from making gains in the community or even to log in. The goal is to lure new players to spend a certain amount of money to "catch up" with the community they want to be a part of, but,,, knowing that it's only a matter of time before those players have obtained the mechbays/chassis/color schemes they desire, and run out of things to pay for, get rid of them, and lure in more new players, repeat.
It is unfortunate that this is what they seem to have chosen to do.
I hope my assessment is wrong, and that they realize that unlike other developers who do this, they are literally sitting on a licensing gold mine and instead of hiring employees to mine it (making it a game to be played long term by all gamers) the are merely content to charge prospectors for access (letting players buy their way into a game that may, or may not, be a fruitful investment for them and their goals).
Because I feel this game has the established background, and niche community, to make it something huge, if they were willing to break away from the WoT model, and free up the community to buy, sell, build and communicate, they could make heaps of money with it. I would encourage them to look into AI, campaigns, and games like Pirates101, eve online, and the communication platforms used by most MMOs.
EDIT: As for the timeline, I think the invasion of the clans was one of the best choices they made. It has the most material for a game and a fiction. I realize that the timeline has continued, but the game itself and its fictions pretty much started and revolved around this fundamental idea and timeline. I think they should stay in this timeline, not until we get it right, but until they do. To move on from this timeline to the next would be folly until they can do it in a nice neat expansion or sequel. Think of this game more like Counter Strike and less like Starcraft. It's Dust over and over for a decade, not Jim Raynor rebelling through the galaxy. Unless PGI decides to up their content by quite a large volume this should be the only timeline we need.
Edited by Brody, 14 July 2016 - 06:37 AM.
9
for a mech reveal.
