117 replies to this topic

[Surn]

https://docs.google....G6M58g/viewform

Please fill out the survey to determine if and what might be valuable enough for you to support development of the game with a subscription.

UPDATE 25HRS IN:
148 responses


There have been a few people posting multiple times in a row, and the obvious trolls have put profanities in attacking me personally, but generally we are getting good information. Thank you for participating, this is the first piece of real data that I have seen regarding how many people will support PGI's efforts regardless of if this is the path or not.

I will not clean up the data to ensure there is no bias claim about the data collected. Troll messages and multiple submissions will eventually be cleaned up by a neutral party.


I remind everyone that I have put tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of development into the MechWarrior franchise. I have hosted servers since the days in which a fast internet connection was expensive and servers had to be built by hand. Some of these servers have been maintained and still run today.

Everything I do is to help players enjoy this game. It is a franchise that I believe should be much bigger than the "Star" franchises. It is a more human story, without magical powers or perfect societies.

Please share this survey with anyone that is a mechwarrior or battletech fan. This is an actual path for players to be heard without gatekeepers shutting them down or dismissing them.

Update 175 responses

11/21/2020 Update:

Poll has been closed at 200 entries


Basic Tier Support:

• 0: 26.5%
  
• <= $2.99: 20.5%
  
• 3.99: 4.0%
  
• 4.99: 19.5%
  
• <=6.99: 10.5%
  
• <=8.99: 2.5%
  
• <=10.99: 13.0%
  
• >11: 3.0%

Premium Tier Support:

• 0: 26.5%
  
• <= $2.99: 14.5%
  
• <= 4.99: 10.5%
  
• <=6.99: 10.5%
  
• <=7.99: 9.0%
  
• <=9.99: 15.5%
  
• 10.99: 19.5%
  
• >11: 4.5%

Requests:


Periodic Premium Time: 40%
Unique End of Year Loyalty Reward: 40%
The Satisfaction of Supporting MechWarrior Development: 34.5%
Specialty Mech Pattern: 34.5 %
Specialty Warhorn: 32%
Specialty Mech Based on Tier of Support: 31.5%
Specialty Mech Pack Based on Tier of Support: 30.5%
Monthly Gift Bags: 30.5%
Monthly Supply Cache: 30%
Specialty Cockpit Item: 25%
Specialty Color: 24.5%
Developer Progress Report: 23%
Monthly Randomized Gift Code: 22.5%
Specialty Bolt-On: 21%
Specialty Badge: 20.5%
Animated After Action Report: 19.5%
Advanced Reports: 19%
Supporter Achievements: 19%
Automated Content Generated When I Play: 18%
Periodic New Player Reports: 13.5%
Periodic Successful Mech Per Mission Report: 13.5%
Periodic Tier Filtered Leaderboard Report: 13%

Other suggestions:
None/Nothing
New Maps
New Mech
Continuous Premium Time
8v8 Group Queue with Solo Opt
Battle Pass
c-bill/mc trickle

Edited by Surn, 21 November 2020 - 04:08 PM.

[Kynesis]

Putting aside the fact that I'll never give Russ another dime, I'll consider a few of your points from the survey and add my own.

To begin, I'm going to assume for the sake of my own sanity that any and all further potential production will be done by a company other than PGI, with no connections of any kind to current or previous PGI staff or associates.

With that said, my first order of priority for game specific features would begin with in-game communication and how people form groups. It is essential that people be able to create or find groups of like-minded individuals and effectively communicate with them, both in-matches and through the rest of the game.

Each of those are hotly debated in terms of exactly what and how people would prefer things done, so I won't say anything more about them here other than noting that they are not optional.

Rather than just ticking a box, allow me to rank these suggestions in order of importance, both to me personally and in terms of how I think they'd add value to the game (in the variety of forms that constitute 'value').
1 is the highest while 10 is the lowest.

5 Advanced Reports (higher resolution graphics, more detailed information, etc)
9 The Satisfaction of Supporting MechWarrior Development
10 Specialty Decal
9 Unique End of Year Loyalty Reward
11 Monthly Supply Caches
9 Specialty Bolt-on
8 Specialty Mech Pattern
4 Automated Content Generated When I Play
Ha! Developer Progress Report
10 Monthly Gift Bags
5 Periodic Successful Mech per Mission Report
7 Periodic Premium Time
8 Periodic New Player Reports
9 Specialty Warhorn
8 Subscriber Mech Pack (based on tier of support)
10 Monthly Randomized Gift Code
9 Specialty cockpit item
8 Specialty Mech (based on tier of support)
9 Supporter Achievements
8 Periodic Tier filtered Leaderboard Reports
13 Specialty Badge
4 Animated After Action Report
9 Specialty Color
Other:

The animated after-action reports seem like a great idea. World of Warships by comparison however lets you save a full recording of each match that you can play or share at any time, with full playback and camera control.
Let me offer an alternate list based on the idea that instead of a subscription, the game be effectively crowd-funded with specific and well documented goals to be achieved on a regular basis, including long and short term goals along with special milestones for features that don't necessarily fit neatly into a more regular framework.

Full rework of the 'skill' system so that it's opt-in, obvious on Mech selection UI, drastically simpler and more purposeful, and is specifically not a time-sink.
Full reworking of the engine de-sync
Re-scaling mechs in a much more thoughtful and reasonable manner.
Pre-match UI that allows players to choose their initial drop point, preferably also choosing a mech from a drop deck.
In-match objectives of real value
In-match options for players whose mechs have been destroyed (eg nobbing around in tanks, vtol etc largely for the fun of piloting something interesting while having a chance to watch the remaining fight unfold).
Free and regular 'starter packs' for new players to help bring them up to speed.
In-game regular training / game sessions lead by community managers to help players, new or otherwise.
Creation of maps that much like tabletop BattleTech, can be fitted together
Map specific options for team vs team matches - allow them to set gravity, sun position, lighting levels, density of ground clutter or difficult terrain; Allow them to set rules for these matches, mech, component and weapon selection for example.
Animated After Action report (as per your idea, seems like a no-brainer to want to include)
Map priority filter for players - eg let players simply rank maps and map features in a UI in the mech bay and then use those to generate suitable matches.
Handicap system - let players opt into a random handicap to help top players better mix with the rest while not missing out on rewards for playing well. Alternately grant struggling players a leg-up.
Medals - another idea lifted from world of warships, really show players where they excel.
Congratulate feature - (also from WoW) just a little something so that at the end of a match, players can given one another something positive to remember, just a little +1 in the UI somewhere so players can offer recognition that scores alone can't.

Do this (or the equivalent, if these precise items that I've spent the better part of ten minutes thinking of may have better options) and then we can talk ongoing payment options of whatever form that may take.

Edited by Kynesis, 12 November 2020 - 11:16 PM.

[nuttyrat]

The main problem with this survey is that people are allowed to make as many responses as they wish, which means that anyone can boost their answer by simply submitting more survey responses. I appreciate that you are trying to make it anonymous, but since it can be abused so easily ... the results will ultimately be meaningless.

[Y E O N N E]

Kynesis, on 12 November 2020 - 10:11 PM, said:

Rather than just ticking a box, allow me to rank these suggestions in order of importance, both to me personally and in terms of how I think they'd add value to the game (in the variety of forms that constitute 'value').
1 is the highest while 10 is the lowest.

You misinterpret the point of the survey, which is really to prove that his idea of providing an after-action battle report and playback capability in exchange for a subscription has merit and lots of support. Which is why he basically put that answer in there four times, split into piece-parts.

[Kukulza]

Is there a reason like 4 or so of these answers are your MWO cloud instead of just one? Comes off as kinda disingenuous, no?

[Surn]

Love the responses and FYI the order of the options is randomized except for the "other" item

[RickySpanish]

Why don't you put this up on the sub-reddit?

[VonBruinwald]

Some thoughts:

Supporter Achievements
- If by "achievements" you mean forum badges and such, fine.

Unique End of Year Loyalty Reward
- If a player has subscribed for 3 months, why not.

Monthly Gift Bags/Randomized Gift Code/Supply Caches
- Basically loot boxes, no thanks.

Specialty Mech/Warhorn/cockpit item/Decal/Mech Pack/Color/Pattern/Badge/Bolt-on
- Would have to be a reward for subscribing for x length of time as there's no way to remove them once earned and would need updating regularly to encourage continued subscriptions.
- Alternatively combine them into one reward package with unlocks every month. e.g. 1st month Badge, 2nd decal, 3rd colour, 4th bolt-on etc...

Periodic Premium Time
- Premium time should be standard with a subscription

Developer Progress Report
Periodic Successful Mech per Mission Report
Periodic Tier filtered Leaderboard Reports
Periodic New Player Reports
Advanced Reports (higher resolution graphics, more detailed information, etc)
Animated After Action Report
- Standard feature and shouldn't require a subscription

Automated Content Generated When I Play
- Examples?

The Satisfaction of Supporting MechWarrior Development
- A player should feel satisfied supporting a developer because the developer is doing a good job, not because they're throwing money at them. If the developer isn't doing a good job the player won't be satisfied no matter how much (or little) money they throw at the problem.

Edited by VonBruinwald, 13 November 2020 - 06:35 AM.

[Bud Crue]

Lemme get this straight...

The idea here is that people would pay a monthly subscription fee in order to get access to what essentially comes down to extra bling (warhorns, goodie crates, paint, patterns, etc), which is stuff PGI already gives away fairly regularly; is that right? Knowing that isn’t going to cut it, you propose to throw in this after action report thingy, which as far as I can tell is beyond PGI’s ability to institute (it would require effort, perhaps even actual programming effort, no?), even if players expressed interest in having access to such a feature (which, to put it kindly, they have’t). But lets posit that PGI is all about this cloud/after action report thingy and are just itching to put it into the game. What this poll really comes down to then is “would you pay for a subscription fee in order to find out what went on in a match after the fact?”

For me that is an obvious “no”, but what I would be interested to know is why would anyone but the truly competitive crowd be interested in such a thing, let alone be willing to pay for such a thing? I ask with all sincerity, as nearly everyone I play this game with is pretty much interested in just getting to the next game as quickly as possible, and don’t really care what just happened beyond “well, that was a stop” or “holy crap I did 273 points of team damage with that arty...better drop the next one without me”, etc. All I can envision is that if someone in the future with access to the after action report thingy said into chat: “you know guys, I’d really like to take moment to think about what went right and what when wrong in that last match, now please pay attention to the after action report screen and lets go through the match together.” Realistically that would never ever happen in this game because no one would ever be allowed to complete that sentence, because they would be drowned out with cries of “ready the **** up!” by everyone else in the channel, and if they persisted they would get booted.

Anywho, good luck with the poll, but I just don’t see this going anywhere.

[KodiakGW]

Kynesis, on 12 November 2020 - 10:11 PM, said:

with no connections of any kind to current or previous PGI staff or associates.

Don't lump the mech designers and mech artists in with management. Any company that takes over the license would do well to employ the artists. Management, and to whom they listened, has always been the problem with this game.

[Nightbird]

no to all, all of these ideas will kill the game faster

[Ignatius Audene]

At an earlier point pgi could have switched / introduced an battlepass feature. But in return people expect content on a regular basis (season). And the hole marketing /twich /socialmedia in generall was never there strong point. Damn i love battletech but i only found mwo because of an coincidence (ok was still in open beta).

Edited by Ignatius Audene, 13 November 2020 - 10:21 AM.

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

RickySpanish, on 13 November 2020 - 06:25 AM, said:

Why don't you put this up on the sub-reddit?

Because he knows people on OHPG and even mwo are going to call him out for continuously banging on about muh CLOUD

[VeeOt Dragon]

i am against any subscription fee in any game on principle. most of the time they make it easy to sign up but a pain in the *** to cancel. mind you MWO is free to play and thus needs some kind of cash flow to keep it going. as far as i'm concerned in any free to play game (subscription option or no) nothing you pay for should be pay to win. cosmetic micro transactions seem to me the best option and that wouldn't be worth subscribing for considering you might not like the look of the subscription items. hell i even think that mech packs in MWO are way overpriced for what you are getting, its not worth more than the price of a brand new game for a couple variants of one mech frame half of them you might not ever even use.

any kind of pay wall is just going to chase off more new players, something this game needs more than anything right now. without a stable population even a subscription wont save it. not only do you need people to play the game but people to continue playing and enjoy it enough to spend some cash here and there (mind you i have barely spent anything on this game, a little years ago when i first started playing so i could get some mech bays but nothing since) there are a lot of people like me who barely play anymore. i come back now and again to see if there is an event or something but thats it and unless the event has something i wont i don't bother.

i'm pretty sure if they lowered the price on older mech packs new players would be willing to pay for them making the cost something like $20 for a full mech pack instead of $70 (though of course they wouldn't get the pre-order stiff just the mechs and bays, perhaps the colors). hell back when i cared enough to pay money i might have bought a mech pack at $20 for the entire pack. (not likely as i am poor as **** but still). mind you we are talking older packs here, if they release a new mech they may still keep that rip off cost then lower it after a year or something.

[Fae Puka]

If memory serves, both EQ and Anarchy Online used to use an account locked voting system, i.e. before you logged in you were faced with a poll that had to be answered before allowing you to complete logging into the game(s). As this was account locked, it meant only one vote per account.

Certainly before looking seriously at subscriptions or significant game changes, 8v8 &/or 12v12, PGI has the coding ability to set out a fixed polling system?

[JediPanther]

Never. Pgi has proven plenty how little they care about their 'customers' At least with games from companies like bioware I can get regular updates, actual communication, real bug fixes and not hack work arounds etc.

[Surn]

RickySpanish, on 13 November 2020 - 06:25 AM, said:

Why don't you put this up on the sub-reddit?

I put it on r/mwo and r/outreachHPG.

[redacted] is stalking me to try to stop me from participating in MWO at any level out of hate. His attacks got me banned from several sub-reddits that I have never joined or posted to.

example: [link removed]

I have had girls stalk me, but this guy is a loon. I think he thinks that I am secretly Donald Trump

Edited by Ekson Valdez, 13 November 2020 - 03:16 PM.

[Ken Harkin]

The ability to select any other mech of the same chassis, or for a higher cost possibly weight class, after the map has been selected.

THAT is what I want.

[LordNothing]

after sinking north of $300 into the game im not paying a subscription. sunk cost fallacy only goes so far.

Edited by LordNothing, 13 November 2020 - 02:34 PM.

[MyriadDigits]

Surn, on 13 November 2020 - 02:04 PM, said:

I put it on r/mwo and r/outreachHPG.

[redacted] is stalking me to try to stop me from participating in MWO at any level out of hate. His attacks got me banned from several sub-reddits that I have never joined or posted to.

example: [link removed]

I have had girls stalk me, but this guy is a loon. I think he thinks that I am secretly Donald Trump

Yeah he's definitely finding your posts because he's stalking you, and not because you practically spam your videos in low traffic subreddits he's known to be active in.

That was sarcasm in case it wasn't clear.

Edited by Ekson Valdez, 13 November 2020 - 03:15 PM.