10 replies to this topic

[Skribs]

The new skill system is cheaper if you only have a few Mechs, especially with Rule of 3 being removed (which, why hasn't it just been removed, anyway? It was a bad idea 4 years ago). However, those who have a lot of Mechs and swap modules around are the ones who are going to be hit the hardest.

Let me ask you: who is spending money on this game? PGI is doing something that will be of benefit to players who have not paid money into the game, but will directly hurt people who have accumulated a large amount of Mechs. Those are usually people who are willing to spend money on premium time, Mechbays, and possibly Mech Packs and hero Mechs.

Now, new players already get plenty of boons to get up and running, such as bonus C-Bills and GXP from achievements. The trial mechs are much better than they were during Beta, as you're getting kitted out champions instead of stock Mechs. So new players aren't in a terrible spot to begin with.

However, players like me, who have spent a lot of money on this game, who do not have a lot of modules, now we are in a pickle. PGI, upsetting your paying customers is not a good business strategy. Making the collection process that much harder for people who spend money on this game is not a good way to keep revenue up.

[SmokedJag]

It is most expensive for longtime loyal whales like the OP who thought to move modules around between 'Mechs. The compensation and pricing seems to assume that all such players actually had modules for each 'Mech and so they have nothing to regrind in money. This is not correct and shafting core customers isn't good business.

Cbill costs need to be slashed hard and downright eliminated for respec beyond a single reset fee.

[Y E O N N E]

"End game content."

[MovinTarget]

I have ~250 mechs, all of which are at least elited.

I stand to get 1.6 billion cbills refunded for all the non-consumable modules i have purchased over the years. O.o

1.6 billion/9.1mill = ~175 mechs i could master outright(xp permitting). Considering many mechs were "Rule of 3" purchases and i learned to never sell mechs... i should be fine financially for setting up the mechs i *want* to set up...

Since i have unlocked every weapon skill, 5 deep (~3.5k gxp each skill to lvl 5), and most of the mech skills (may have skipped hill climb lol)... I should be pretty good on gxp too.


I posted this before, but apart from the headache of re-speccing, the losers are the people that only bought mechs, not modules.

[Kdogg788]

So you're saying you have over 300 modules in inventory? That's good for you, but you are in a very small minority. Most players will have many mechs with XP on the, but no way of applying it. This is due to buying mech packs with real money and then using the cbills you earn to build them in different configurations. Are you proposing they remove all mech packs from the store and shift it to an individual variant model? Should we let most of our mechs rot because we can't afford to out any skills on mechs that should be master? Cbills for skill points makes no sense. They'd be better off refunding you for those modules then deleting them totally out of the game. You'd have your cbills for mechs, equipment, and consumables.

-k

[Skribs]

Even with as many modules as you have...you still don't have the ability to set everything up.

And most people don't have billions of C-Bills worth of modules. I'll get around 150 million back for what I have.

[FireStoat]

I started playing this game last September. I'm one of the losers that only bought single modules for swapping because I'm a filthy casual. I'm fine with being 'punished' with the new system, to a degree. I'm not okay with all my work in Mastering and Elite unlocking of mechs being thrown under a bus with a grossly reduced refund in the face of what I'll have to spend to return the mechs to the same bonuses I currently have.

I have nothing to cry about really, in comparison to the whales playing this game for years. If this tree and system is released 'as is', the outcry of bile on Youtube will be spectactular. A new player wanting to learn about the game and looking for the latest videos about MWO will be confronted with outrage, and the forums will be a dumpster fire.

And it will be glorious.

[MovinTarget]

Kdogg788, on 11 February 2017 - 10:37 AM, said:

So you're saying you have over 300 modules in inventory? That's good for you, but you are in a very small minority. Most players will have many mechs with XP on the, but no way of applying it. This is due to buying mech packs with real money and then using the cbills you earn to build them in different configurations. Are you proposing they remove all mech packs from the store and shift it to an individual variant model? Should we let most of our mechs rot because we can't afford to out any skills on mechs that should be master? Cbills for skill points makes no sense. They'd be better off refunding you for those modules then deleting them totally out of the game. You'd have your cbills for mechs, equipment, and consumables.

-k

He was askinig for feedback in general. I agree with you which is why the summation of my post was:

MovinTarget, on 11 February 2017 - 10:23 AM, said:

I should be fine financially for setting up the mechs i *want* to set up...

Since i have unlocked every weapon skill, 5 deep (~3.5k gxp each skill to lvl 5), and most of the mech skills (may have skipped hill climb lol)... I should be pretty good on gxp too.

and:

MovinTarget, on 11 February 2017 - 10:23 AM, said:

I posted this before, but apart from the headache of re-speccing, the losers are the people that only bought mechs, not modules.

I am not unsympathetic to those this is going to hit harder. If you think about it, I lucked out because of the refund, I had no idea they would ultimately be refunded so it could have gone the other way where those that had invested in modules and skill-unlocks got shafted and by your own estimation it would have had less of an impact because there are fewer of us than those with no GXP/Cbills invested in module acquisition.

Since I doubt I'll be actively using 175 fully mastered mechs, its actually overkill...

Edited by MovinTarget, 11 February 2017 - 10:57 AM.

[Skribs]

I think the vast majority of players who have more than 50 Mechs either swap modules or only keep modules in their favorite Mechs.

Part of my problem is I play the game off and on, so there's a bunch of new shiny Mechs to buy.

I don't even have engines for all my Mechs.

[Fox2232]

Well, If I bought all my mechs for Real money, then Mastered them. I'll be left with a lot of C-Bills. (As only ways to sink them are modules and gear for mechs.)
If I bought all mechs for C-Bills and Mastered them. I have sunk big portion of C-Bills from matches into those mechs and I have much smaller reserve (if any).

So it is not as much question of "number" but "how that number came to existence".

[Admiral Brad]

I think this is actually quite terrible for new players. Based on my average match earnings (150k cbills and 1500xp), the cost of a single medium mech (HBKIIC - 9 million) and including the new player bonus (7.8 million) it will take a new player with Premium Time a very long time to get anywhere.

Match 20: 1,800,000, 1 Medium
Match 111: 6,350,000, 1 Mastered Medium
Match 129: 2 Mediums (1 Mastered)
Approximate Time: 35 hours of Grind
For approximation this is 3 mechs in the current system. This is an entire regular game's worth of time (Tropico 5, Deus Ex, Arkham to name a few from my Steam Library). Assuming a relatively 'casual' player that could take a month and a half to get two mechs at 1 hour/day. That is with the cbill boost from Premium time!

It gets worse from there as you now have another 91 matches to play before you can really start grinding for the third mech.
This assumes Zero experimentation.

It isn't friendly to new users, though it does make real money purchases even more required for the ones who are playing in order to make this reasonably fun. The MC and Mech packs I have bought are because I wanted to keep playing, but actually in game rewards have to come with reasonable frequency or there is no carrot to chase.

On top of new mechs the only in game carrot is configuring your mech, which is now astronomically expensive. On top of equipment cost you now have massive respec costs which will put the carrot basically out of sight for many players.