108 replies to this topic

[Nesutizale]

Kynesis, on 07 September 2019 - 01:00 AM, said:

With respect,you may have missed the memo. MWO has no income.
There's no way for them to do anything about your petition.

Not so certain about that. Mechpacks don't make the money they made in the past and hardly make a profit. That is different from "no income" but I did say it seams as if MWO is hardly makeing a plus. Maybe hardly beeing + - zero income.

When MW5 is out they have to think about a strategie to get the money flowing again and by that I don't mean just findind different ways of monitasiation but a rework and patching of the game that is worth for those who stayed with MWO so far and is interesting enough for new players to take a look.

[ingramli]

No doubt the game is sort of "dead" literally. Selling of SP pack (GXP) is not something imaginable years ago, PGI knows people are leaving, those haven't are not going to take a long venture with MWO, making the grind to master new mechs meaningless, selling end game content (mastered mech) today or it does not exist, and what PGI can and should do is juice the last penny from the remaining player base while they still can.

[A1Ste4kSauce]

Is this a joke?

[Burning2nd]

fk these looser's pgi, hang it up....

its done son you guy lost back in like 2014 when you did that first front end and weapon change,

then the skill tree change..... well..

GAME OVER

[TheArisen]

Sadly OP this has been tried many times over the years but has only come to nothing, minimal or borked results.

Edited by TheArisen, 09 September 2019 - 12:48 PM.

[Galenthor Kerensky]

Galenthor, 2011 open beta... ( would have been earlier but was responsible about my spending , aka, newborn )

[A Really Old Clan Dude]

The simple answer is that PGI did not take the long term(or a very good strategic) approach of how to get money out of the playing pool to fund development.

PGI primary money making model.
Mech packs, MC purchase
These would have seemed ok to begin with but almost all mechs/variants developed become Cbill purchases. The game as a grinder is fairly easy to earn cbills even without events.

Now that we have almost every mech for cbills and events giving away MC for playing they have a very little room for income in from medium/long term players. Seriously you can play this game well without spending one dollar on the game.

Other MMO games keep the majority of content behind the pay wall permanently and will only release the primary version of a mecha for in game currency while all the variants are pay walled (MC).

Bad business model = low income = staff reduction = low development = low content = players leaving = end of game life.

[FinnMcKool]

when did i start ? before ???
well in Beta anyway

[Nesutizale]

Is it even possible to hold the free to play model indefinitly? At some point players reach the point where they have everything or at least it feels like they have everything they want.
Sure you can hold the model for quite some time as other games show and MWO as well has made its money for quite some time. Still its a finite thing I think.

[FRAGTAST1C]

Nesutizale, on 13 September 2019 - 01:52 AM, said:

Is it even possible to hold the free to play model indefinitly? At some point players reach the point where they have everything or at least it feels like they have everything they want.
Sure you can hold the model for quite some time as other games show and MWO as well has made its money for quite some time. Still its a finite thing I think.

It's only finite if there's no new content being made. I keep bringing the Path Of Exile game as a e.g., when discussing F2P games 'cause their model is very good.

Basically, the devs of PoE know that people will lose interest in their game. They're ok with it. But the thing is, they keep bringing out new and interesting content twice or even thrice a year. It ensures that people will hang around to play PoE and exhaust its juice and leave. But by then, new content will be announced. As the population drops, new content is released and the people come back to play it again.

MWO's content is non-existent besides Mech packs. That isn't content, if you ask me. That's just trying to milk what's available. Real content would've been to have new maps and modes. Now, they did integrate FW and then made Solaris but they failed to do it properly. If they had stuck by the modes and improved it, they'd have a community willing to stay on. Instead, it was all about mech packs and barely any delivery on the promises. So, yeah. F2P can be good if new content is made regularly and isn't milked all the time.

[Nesutizale]

I think there is a differance in "population comming back" and "people are spending money".
Sure its nice that they make new content that brings people back but do these people also spend money on the game?

When I still don't have anything to buy...what brings in the money for the company?
In case of MWO, new maps and modes would be awesome but if I allready have tons of mechs, weapons, premium time, mc and all....what makes me spend money on MWO?

[FRAGTAST1C]

Nesutizale, on 13 September 2019 - 03:27 AM, said:

I think there is a differance in "population comming back" and "people are spending money".
Sure its nice that they make new content that brings people back but do these people also spend money on the game?

When I still don't have anything to buy...what brings in the money for the company?
In case of MWO, new maps and modes would be awesome but if I allready have tons of mechs, weapons, premium time, mc and all....what makes me spend money on MWO?

In PoE, the Item Shop sells only weapon and spell effects, some extravagant costumes, extra storage space and so on. They don't sell unique weapons and gear. People spend money on that game as a means to provide support. If I'm not mistaken, PoE was made and is run by hardcore Diablo 2 fans and people who play PoE understand this. The kind of content that is released for PoE puts many AAA companies to shame 'cause there's new areas, new enemies, new effects and of course new synergies to discover in character building.

Coming to MWO's case, sure if you have anything above 100 mechs, you probably don't want to buy any more. But you might spend on the "swag" to show your support, provided that you're happy with PGI's service.

How would you be happy with the service if the main content is Instant Action and mostly uninspired mechs that get hit with the nerf hammer if they perform well. Furthermore, the tinkering with the weapon systems EVEN WHEN NO NEW WEAPONS ARE BEING ADDED, is extremely annoying. When was the last time new weapons were added but how many times has there been tinkering... tinkering to the point of making some weapons and play-styles quite useless in the endless NASCAR-queue? That's what people are angry about. I get that, which is why I keep saying that Mech packs aren't content. But if there are new maps, improved FW with nice events, etc., then as a sign of support, you will spend money. This number will be more than what it is now i.e., people who just spend occasionally and very little at that.

[Nesutizale]

Lets say I like MWO, what "swag" is there? Bold ons, colors and camos. Except for Bold ons I have a good bunch of the others stuff too. Again a finite way to spend money.

Also I don't like it but World of Warships way of doing it seams to be a much more profitable way in that you have to buy premium time to be able to battle in the top 3 Tiers or you will pretty fast reach a point where you can't fight those battles anymore effectifly because you lack the premium consumables that you need.
That way people keep buying premium and can buy something "rewarding" as it keeps them afloat, literaly.

Not only does this bring in a steady stream of money it also keeps the "die hard fans" seperated from the casuals without a matchmaker.

[Anjian]

A Really Old Clan Dude, on 12 September 2019 - 03:28 PM, said:

The simple answer is that PGI did not take the long term(or a very good strategic) approach of how to get money out of the playing pool to fund development.

PGI primary money making model.
Mech packs, MC purchase
These would have seemed ok to begin with but almost all mechs/variants developed become Cbill purchases. The game as a grinder is fairly easy to earn cbills even without events.

Now that we have almost every mech for cbills and events giving away MC for playing they have a very little room for income in from medium/long term players. Seriously you can play this game well without spending one dollar on the game.

Other MMO games keep the majority of content behind the pay wall permanently and will only release the primary version of a mecha for in game currency while all the variants are pay walled (MC).

Bad business model = low income = staff reduction = low development = low content = players leaving = end of game life.

I want to know what game is this.

But that's what should have been done in the first place. Or at least by a typical F2P game. You divide content into three groups.

Content that can only be grinded or purchased with ingame currency. This does not prevent you from changing gold (real money) to silver credits (in game money) to purchase said item directly.

Content that can only be obtained through a paywall. This can be divided into two, those obtained through direct purchase, and those obtained through a random roll. Some games may implement both.

Content that can only be attained through achievements. You simply can't buy this, you have to work hard for it.

There are also limited event only content, which means you can obtain the content through the above three means, but only within a limited time span. When that time span passes, it passes, until the event is repeated again.

[FRAGTAST1C]

Let's just say that before we can even talk about a company's financial health to keep its product running, we have to consider the product's value. The value of MWO has decreased 'cause there isn't enough content. Even if you kept the mech variants behind a pay-wall, without actual content, no one would be buying anything and there'd be enough people complaining about the traditional "F2P but P2W".

The fact is, MWO has made enough money to serve as a means to develop a new game and keep the current servers running for a couple more years on its own.

[Bistrorider]

I know nothing about PGI financial status, but they did some others games too. And I think (and I hope) they want MWO running. The players base is other question. Some are saying that game is stagnant. All of us agree that MWO needs to develop somehow. Another petition or statement probably won't help, whatever. I have the right to feel concerned.

[FRAGTAST1C]

Bistrorider, on 17 September 2019 - 01:56 PM, said:

I know nothing about PGI financial status, but they did some others games too. And I think (and I hope) they want MWO running. The players base is other question. Some are saying that game is stagnant. All of us agree that MWO needs to develop somehow. Another petition or statement probably won't help, whatever. I have the right to feel concerned.

Well, they could just stitch some maps together and re-texture it to create "new" maps. It won't take long and releasing something like 2 or 3 a month would be an improvement. It probably would bring back some players or not. But at least there'll be some meaningful content instead of just mechs and mechs that all have problems in not being unique enough nowadays.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Bistrorider, on 17 September 2019 - 01:56 PM, said:

I know nothing about PGI financial status, but they did some others games too. And I think (and I hope) they want MWO running. The players base is other question. Some are saying that game is stagnant. All of us agree that MWO needs to develop somehow. Another petition or statement probably won't help, whatever. I have the right to feel concerned.

oh yes ...worked by Parts of Duke Nukem 3D and Die Hard:Nakatomi Place , thats was a big Disaster,and converted Games to consoles ..or Marine Sniper

[Tombstoner]

TLBFestus, on 05 September 2019 - 08:58 PM, said:

Response from Russ and PGI ito your questions different font;


Greetings Mechwarriors!

This is a petition I wrote to Piranha Games. If you want to sign it, write your nickname and date when you've started playing in reply below. I will send that petition to Piranha Games management. With link to the topic with your signatures.


PETITION TO PIRANHA GAMES

We, The Mechwarrior Community, which is still active and interested in MWO game development and well-being, appeal to Piranha Games management in points mentioned below:

1. We are concern about current situation of our Community and we want to be assured that the servers will not be closed from day to day. The best would be if we can be assured that Piranha Games is not planning to close the servers at least for few years. The reason we are asking for this is some negative feedback about MWO and it's future which is a big concern for us.

Why, sure we can do that. We personally promise to give you more than a days notice. Not much more. So hows a week sound?

2. We want to be assured that Piranha Games is not planinng to abandon MWO and it's Community.

I can understand your concerns and we here at PGI want you to know that we are NOT planning to abandon MWO and the Community. We did that years ago when we told the founders that they "were not the target audience" (but thanks for your money suckers), and we long ago got tired of abusing the Community (Damn...that reminds me, I miss Niko!) and started to consciously ignore you. Have you not been here very long?

3. We want more presence from company employees at game forums. This including opinions about changes proposed by players (and explanations about why some changes may be implemented, some not, some shouldn't).

We tried that with the best Community Manager ever, Niko Snow. While we loved his technique we eventually settled on the idea of a CM that holds the title and does nothing. She's so good most of you can't remember her name. Over the years you people have come up with some of our favorite ideas/suggestions we have ever had the pleasure of ignoring.

4. We want further development in some of MWO elements. We understand that balancing on-line competitive game is very hard task. That is why we are asking for changes in aspects which will not disrupt that balance. Like new maps, improvements in Faction Play (which has great potential), new game modes.

Rest assured that while we take all the money we bilk out of you and put it into the new game, we have a devoted and dedicated team of people who are squeezing every last drop out of MWO. AT this very moment we have a couple of guys whos sole job is to develop stuff when they not working on MW5 full time.

5. We want dialogue at game forums with company employees about implementing or not implementing changes and everything else. We understand that maybe the best would be to leave the MWO as it is and implement only minor changes, but there should be a space to talk about it.

We tried dialog, remember our Town Halls? Honestly, they were great. We had our trained monkeys at No Guts No Galaxy pitching us softball questions. Unfortunately, Russ' liver was taking to big a hit and he was mangling the english language more than a certain president, so now we stick to no dialog. WE do really like you suggestion of doing nothing though and we are doing our very best to not accomplish anything!

Not sure if this is real or fake...

[Nesutizale]

Fake