52 replies to this topic

[DaZur]

"What is MWOs revenue stream Alex."

I'm gonna sound a bit like a grouchy homer here but can we stop with the mech / mech pack derision?

Right, wrong or indifferent these are MWOs chosen revenue stream. They will continue to pump out mechs because this is what they're selling.... Not weapons, not maps, not game modes. Mechs.

I get it... We want more out of the game from PGI and lord knows we've waited patently enough. But denigrating PGI for continuing to feed their consumers the only real thing they're selling is kinda short sighted...

Yes, please continue to vote with you wallet. This is means to let PGI know how you feel about things. That said stop the forwarded premise that PGI needs to stop the provision of new mechs. It's disegnuous and myopic.

Buy a mech or don't, it's your right to be a conscious objector... That said, like any producer PGI needs to continue to bolster its product line. We all can agree to disagree about the quality of the product or discuss the merit of invigorating it with some parallel revenue stream. But at the end of the day PGI sells mechs and we the consumer buy them.

Or not...

Edited by DaZur, 07 September 2016 - 06:43 AM.

[dervishx5]

[0bsidion]

I think most people here get that, and they're just frustrated with the lack of any substantial progress in adding other features/content to actually flesh out the game. To be fair, PGI has been adding content and features, just in relatively small increments compared to the pace they crank out new mech packs.

If PGI established more of an equilibrium between content/features and mech pack releases, I think you'd see a lot less grumbling about them.

[Bishop Steiner]

DaZur, on 07 September 2016 - 06:41 AM, said:

"What is MWOs revenue stream Alex."

I'm gonna sound a bit like a grouchy homer here but can we stop with the mech / mech pack derision?

Right, wrong or indifferent these are MWOs chosen revenue stream. They will continue to pump out mechs because this is what they're selling.... Not weapons, not maps, not game modes. Mechs.

I get it... We want more out of the game from PGI and lord knows we've waited patently enough. But denigrating PGI for continuing to feed their consumers the only real thing they're selling is kinda short sighted...

Yes, please continue to vote with you wallet. This is means to let PGI know how you feel about things. That said stop the forwarded premise that PGI needs to stop the provision of new mechs. It's disegnuous and myopic.

Buy a mech or don't, it's your right to be a conscious objector... That said, like any producer PGI needs to continue to bolster its product line. We all can agree to disagree about the quality of the product or discuss the merit of invigorating it with some parallel revenue stream. But at the end of the day PGI sells mechs and we the consumer buy them.

Or not...

I have no....well, FEW, issues with Mechpacks, in and of themselves.

My issue is that the sole purpose of Mechpacks seems to be to pay Alex and the Modelers to make the NEXT Mechpack, not actually fix the game or add content.

Beyond that, the current model for Collectors add ons is, to be frank, stupid, and the pricing model makes the chances of new Light Mechs extremely dicey.

As for using them to generate revenue, and all, I'm fine with that.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 07 September 2016 - 07:27 AM.

[DaZur]

Bishop Steiner, on 07 September 2016 - 07:12 AM, said:

I have no....well, FEW, issues with Mechpacks, in and of themselves.

My issue is that the sole purpose of Mechpacks seems to be to pay Alex and the Modelers to make the NEXT Mechpack, not actually fix the game or add content.

Beyond that, the current model for Collectors add ons is, to be frank, stupid, and the pricing model makes the chances of new Light Mechs extremely dicey.

As for using them to generate revenue, and all, I'm fine with that.

And this my astute friend is a reasonable stance to take. Granted you're making a fairly wild assumption in regards to how GP is distributed across operational costs. Then again I can't provide this metric either...

That all said, MWO has operational costs and they need to meet and exceed them to generate revenue. Right now for better or worse it's mechs and mech packs.

My beef is the derision is both pointless and counter productive... Without this revenue stream neither their goals nor ours will come to fruition.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

DaZur, on 07 September 2016 - 07:53 AM, said:

That all said, MWO has operational costs and they need to meet and exceed them to generate revenue. Right now for better or worse it's mechs and mech packs.

Then maybe it is about time they shift their focus onto another way to make revenue? Like better costmetics.

[SQW]

If the only substantial income stream PGI has from an venerable IP like battletech is selling mech packs then it's game over already.

Edited by SQW, 07 September 2016 - 08:05 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

DaZur, on 07 September 2016 - 07:53 AM, said:

And this my astute friend is a reasonable stance to take. Granted you're making a fairly wild assumption in regards to how GP is distributed across operational costs. Then again I can't provide this metric either...

That all said, MWO has operational costs and they need to meet and exceed them to generate revenue. Right now for better or worse it's mechs and mech packs.

My beef is the derision is both pointless and counter productive... Without this revenue stream neither their goals nor ours will come to fruition.

It is indeed hard to measure. The only baseline I can follow is the game itself, which aside from micro-metric changes in balance, and map cleanup, has largely been stagnant on any actual new major features for over a year. One could point to ED, but really is that realyl that "ALL HANDS ON DECK" earth shattering a feature? The Re-scale should never have needed to be done, if they had simply listened to us 3 years ago. FW is dead. Their Marketing Model (amongst other things) have killed any value to releasing new Light Mechs.

The only major game changer we might have seen was Info War, which in fairness, the Tryhard Nation killed before it ever had a chance to be tested, but also because instead of pushing forward with input like they have with ED, they completely panicked and ran the other way from the QQ.

Because of an instance on pushing made up mech variants, they are sabotaging (possibly intentionally) any move to Future Tech, and while I would love to give the benefit of the doubt, Russ spent most of the first half of the year telling us exactly how much he, and thus, PGI by extension, actually valued our input.

So I guess, based on examination of the facts before us, the information we have, what other conclusion am I supposed to reasonably draw, 4 years into this experiment?

[Vxheous]

They monetized additional dropdecks (poorly implemented of course) and people screamed bloodly murder.

[Bishop Steiner]

Vxheous Kerensky, on 07 September 2016 - 08:07 AM, said:

They monetized additional dropdecks (poorly implemented of course) and people screamed bloodly murder.

well, lets face it, because they usually do a pretty piss poor job of monetizing other things. I do think the QQ over the drop decks is a bit much though. Most people don't realistically need the extra, and the only people I see doing so, Competitive type units, really I don't see blinking much at the cost, overall.

[DaZur]

SQW, on 07 September 2016 - 08:04 AM, said:

If the only substantial income stream PGI has from an venerable IP like battletech is selling mech packs then it's game over already.

How and why?... Or is this just more misplaced derision?

Can't sell maps or missions without causing epileptic seizures... Can't sell game modes... Don't want to go the route of gold ammo... Doors is quite frankly still open for cosmetic (no not hat feathers) possibilities I will however admit.

[Idealsuspect]

Vxheous Kerensky, on 07 September 2016 - 08:07 AM, said:

They monetized additional dropdecks (poorly implemented of course) and people screamed bloodly murder.

Who care ... nobody play FW anymore

[Bud Crue]

Vxheous Kerensky, on 07 September 2016 - 08:07 AM, said:

They monetized additional dropdecks (poorly implemented of course) and people screamed bloodly murder.

Not to quibble (who am I kidding?) but they monetized 2 additional drop decks, and people screamed bloody murder because as they currently function (until tomorrow's hot fix), the drop decks prevented you from modifying your drop deck once you were in queue. That made it seem like you NEEDED to buy those two extra 1200 MC decks just to play the game.

Yes the cost of the decks is high, but the QQing was not about the cost per se, but the cost of a feature that seemed to be an add on, but as it currently functions is a requirement that is less functional than the game was before the drop decks were introduced (again: at least until tomorrow's hot fix).

[Dolph Hoskins]

FTP simplified. Repetition until it is no longer profitable. Know what you are buying into, and everything else is an advertisement.

Note that how I feel about this business model is not the same as how I feel about the work PGI has done as a whole. The best ideas and creations rarely have any monetary value in life.

[9thDeathscream]

DaZur, on 07 September 2016 - 07:53 AM, said:

And this my astute friend is a reasonable stance to take. Granted you're making a fairly wild assumption in regards to how GP is distributed across operational costs. Then again I can't provide this metric either...

That all said, MWO has operational costs and they need to meet and exceed them to generate revenue. Right now for better or worse it's mechs and mech packs.

My beef is the derision is both pointless and counter productive... Without this revenue stream neither their goals nor ours will come to fruition.

Yep. buy the mechs and keep the servers live or don't and loose the game!!

Simple decision for me. But I dont like bludging of others so im happy to fork out for mechs

[Zolaz]

I would be ok with buying more mech packs if PGI could bother fulfilling some of those 4 year old promises.

[Cabusha]

If this game were serious about an actual content expansion, they would have done another little kick-started to make it happen. Eg Solaris mode, single player, coop vs bots, whatever. They could put it out there as a paid expansion that if enough buy in will be implemented for all. Some minor bonuses for the people that bought.

But they won't because then they would owe that content to us, the consumer. So instead they pump out mech packs.

[Plastic Guru]

Hey
(waving hands)

Again...noob here. Not someone who's been playing for 4 years and feels mistreated. I'm also a console convert (hisssss)...

I just want to put it in perspective..ok? NOT start a flamewar or anything.

MWO is trying to be a casual game...like COD.

COD is a pay to play game ($70). They (MS and PS) charge a monthly fee to play ($3.95). They make you buy either a season pass (varies but lets say $50) or you buy each map pack individually ($20 each). You want that cool outfit or, God forbid, the Purple Monkey Wrench of God? You either grind forever for credits to buy Supply Drops (which do NOT contain upper tier items) or you purchase credits to buy them.

Sound familiar?

AND....COD has been doing it longer and harder than PGI.....

One of the reasons I feel for you legacy players but don't feel your special....

It's how any company makes money....and it's why Las Vegas stays in business.

Again...not flaming...just saying...

Plastic Guru

The Ripper13, on 07 September 2016 - 08:24 AM, said:

FTP simplified. Repetition until it is no longer profitable. Know what you are buying into, and everything else is an advertisement.

Note that how I feel about this business model is not the same as how I feel about the work PGI has done as a whole. The best ideas and creations rarely have any monetary value in life.

Exactly....It costs money for the game, artwork, servers...if they don't charge to play they HAVE to make money somewhere..

Plastic Guru

[Dolph Hoskins]

Cabusha, on 07 September 2016 - 09:25 AM, said:

If this game were serious about an actual content expansion, they would have done another little kick-started to make it happen. Eg Solaris mode, single player, coop vs bots, whatever. They could put it out there as a paid expansion that if enough buy in will be implemented for all. Some minor bonuses for the people that bought.

But they won't because then they would owe that content to us, the consumer. So instead they pump out mech packs.

Now this is what I would like to see and be glad to pay some extra for. I am actually kind of surprised they haven't tried to diversify the major content they sell already. Eventually the mech well will dry up, and PGI seems to be comfortable with things as is...buzz killer.

[Plastic Guru]

The Ripper13, on 07 September 2016 - 10:10 AM, said:

Now this is what I would like to see and be glad to pay some extra for. I am actually kind of surprised they haven't tried to diversify the major content they sell already. Eventually the mech well will dry up, and PGI seems to be comfortable with things as is...buzz killer.

Which is just like buying a season pass or map pack DLC...and I'd be good with that. BUT...then you wind up with some who do and some who don't have the DLC. I'd still be up to an expansion KS....but they'd have to make it available to everyone at some point. So what would the backers get? (Oh Lord..no one say extra mechs). Know what I'd like to get? The WHOLE color palette if I backed it. THAT would be a good deal for backers, wouldn't alter the game play, nor would it be a 'special' mech that no one would use.

Plastic Guru