105 replies to this topic

[Big Tin Man]

So another month, another mechpack. And the reaction is mild. Not a great feeling when mechpacks are the lifeblood that keeps MWO's coders and artists paychecks flowing. More concerning is with the number of mechs in game, how much longer before there are no more favorites or different mechs to add?

So what suggestions do you have to help PGI keep the lights on that isn't another mechpack? What would you open your wallet for?

1. Dekkkkkals. Microtransaction level of cost. $0.10-0.25/ea
2. Solaris arena. Before you rage, my idea is for monthly Solaris access, with monthly leaderboard resets. Keeps the smurf accounts out, deters brand new players a bit, keeps the boards fresh. Low cost per month, $5 or so. Maybe offer multiple pass packs at a discount and you use them as desired.
3. Additional FW drop decks. Hell, call them dropships, I don't care. Just let me save several different decks. $1-4 each
4. Heroes for the heroless chassis. All the clan waves, resistance, urbie, and origins. This opens the door for mastery packs as well, which new players enjoy.
5. There's probably a lot of cool things that could be done to monetize FW, but FW needs more before I'd even start making suggestions.
6. Paint finishes/textures (i.e. gloss, matte, metallic, rust, etc) Premium paint price seems ok-ish

[davoodoo]

Why??

So far only thing they produce at timely manner are these mech packs... So clearly they bring them money, to the point where they skimp on feature development...If you monetize new features then that model is called buy2play and dlc...

What exactly will throwing more money at them fix??

Edited by davoodoo, 08 July 2016 - 11:03 AM.

[AnTi90d]

We're getting decals and extra drop decks, but I'd bet they'll be $5 a deck and $5 per decal per chassis.

I'd like to see a map creation tool added, even if PGI sold it to us.

They can't tie the gloss finishes to paints, as that's in the camo.. but they could give us camos that are just a gloss or color overlay so we could make our own metallic / chameleon paint mechs.

Maybe a flat MC cost to instantly master one variant in a chassis line..

I can't really think of any other monetization strategy that would be possible to implement without breakin the game or creating further player outrage.

Would you like to buy a mechpack open a loot crate?

[ChapeL]

A "Hero token" to be used once on a single mech allowing it to have a 30% C-Bill bonus.

[El Bandito]

Hats for everyone! Just like in TF2.

[AlphaToaster]

PGI could sell pve campaign packs for $ or MC. They could even pre-order it and use those funds to determine how many developers they can add to it. Have goals, need X to get 2 devs, Y to get 3, etc.

The token upgrade idea to purchase for MC to upgrade any chassis to 30% cbills earning. Call it the "My Personal Hero" program or something.

MC buy-in events. Pay 50-250MC to enter the bracket/queue for the weekend event. Chance to win even more MC and prices, but have that buy-in.

Imagine if you paid 250MC per game, but had a chance to win back 1MC per match score? Then on top of it those matches that you win have a grab-bag where you can win other prizes. So even if you don't make back the 250MC, there's a chance at paints, camos, MC, Cbills, etc, if your team wins.

[Mechteric]

Monetizing Solaris would be a great way to ensure it takes an hour to match up against someone.


Lets keep in mind free 2 play works only when all people get to play in the same sandbox without paying.


Instead, they could just make a "level" requirement for Solaris, which they should also do for Faction Warfare. Maybe require X amount of matches, or that some new tutorials are finished first.

[Navid A1]

Big Tin Man, on 08 July 2016 - 10:51 AM, said:

So another month, another mechpack. And the reaction is mild. Not a great feeling when mechpacks are the lifeblood that keeps MWO's coders and artists paychecks flowing. More concerning is with the number of mechs in game, how much longer before there are no more favorites or different mechs to add?

So what suggestions do you have to help PGI keep the lights on that isn't another mechpack? What would you open your wallet for?

1. Dekkkkkals. Microtransaction level of cost. $0.10-0.25/ea
2. Solaris arena. Before you rage, my idea is for monthly Solaris access, with monthly leaderboard resets. Keeps the smurf accounts out, deters brand new players a bit, keeps the boards fresh. Low cost per month, $5 or so. Maybe offer multiple pass packs at a discount and you use them as desired.
3. Additional FW drop decks. Hell, call them dropships, I don't care. Just let me save several different decks. $1-4 each
4. Heroes for the heroless chassis. All the clan waves, resistance, urbie, and origins. This opens the door for mastery packs as well, which new players enjoy.
5. There's probably a lot of cool things that could be done to monetize FW, but FW needs more before I'd even start making suggestions.
6. Paint finishes/textures (i.e. gloss, matte, metallic, rust, etc) Premium paint price seems ok-ish

1- don't be surprised when you see a decal for 8$ each (trust me... mark my words on this one!)

2- In your dreams... not gonna happen before they actually port to another graphics engine

3- its coming... i'm guessing 10$ per additional deck... maybe a little less.

4- this is same as mechpacks

5- FW needs to have a meaning first

6- that'll be like the patterns we have now... though PGI said that they are working on a new texture layer (call that finishing if you will)... kinda similar to the 2015 loyalty mechs with their hexagonal overlay.

[Felio]

I have started to wonder how sustainable the mech packs thing really is. At a certain point, don't we look around our garage and say, "Do I really need another robot with slightly different characteristics?" I mean, I have fortysomething. They will never again produce a mech that gives me an appreciably different experience from what I can already do.

Maybe that's why we're getting supply crates. I don't think it's going to work out for MWO as well as it does for other F2P games, though. For one, we've been buying our equipment with c-bills for years. Second, depending on how they price it and set the RNG, it's either going to be better than buying c-bills or worse than buying c-bills, so all you are doing is cannibalizing a different revenue stream. And I don't think anybody buys c-bills anyway. It's also already cannibalized by the ability to buy champion mechs and sell them for a better return than you get buying c-bills outright.

[Big Tin Man]

davoodoo, on 08 July 2016 - 11:01 AM, said:

What exactly will throwing more money at them fix??

They need revenue to continue to exist, fix bugs, keep the servers on, etc. If not via mechpacks, then how?

AnTi90d, on 08 July 2016 - 11:03 AM, said:

Maybe a flat MC cost to instantly master one variant in a chassis line.

GXP conversion is a thing...

ChapeL, on 08 July 2016 - 11:05 AM, said:

A "Hero token" to be used once on a single mech allowing it to have a 30% C-Bill bonus.

Probably have to make it class or tonnage specific, or one per account only to prevent P2W accusations.

El Bandito, on 08 July 2016 - 11:07 AM, said:

Hats for everyone! Just like in TF2.

Only if I have put a top hat on my urbie and a 'Make the Inner Sphere Great Again' hat on my Kodiaks

AlphaToaster, on 08 July 2016 - 11:15 AM, said:

MC buy-in events. Pay 50-250MC to enter the bracket/queue for the weekend event. Chance to win even more MC and prices, but have that buy-in.

Imagine if you paid 250MC per game, but had a chance to win back 1MC per match score? Then on top of it those matches that you win have a grab-bag where you can win other prizes. So even if you don't make back the 250MC, there's a chance at paints, camos, MC, Cbills, etc, if your team wins.

The forum rage and salt would be astronimical. MM this and pug rage that.

[Bud Crue]

Must
resist
urge
to make snide comments....ahhhhh!! CAN'T!!

Russ made it perfectly clear that our input and ideas are not wanted. So now we are offering up our input and ideas for how they can fleece us even more than they already do?! Why!? PGI knows best.

So here's an idea for how they can make some money:
have Russ publicly apologize to the community, make an effort to fix CW which involves actual communication and interaction with the community, and while their at it put some lore and/or battletech flavor into the game other than just the mechs. Do that, hell do ANY of that, and I will throw some money at the game.

grrr

Edited by Bud Crue, 08 July 2016 - 11:29 AM.

[davoodoo]

Big Tin Man, on 08 July 2016 - 11:28 AM, said:

They need revenue to continue to exist, fix bugs, keep the servers on, etc. If not via mechpacks, then how?

And they dont sell these mechpacks??
Hell i bought few and looking at comments regarding linebacker it will still sell...

Proof that these mech packs sell is pgi continuation of production of those, if you claim otherwise pls bring some evidence...

Edited by davoodoo, 08 July 2016 - 11:40 AM.

[Moldur]

PGI has run into a predicament. Mech packs did bring in money to the point that they were probably a smarter investment than actually developing the game.

They have all the numbers, and I don't, but once the river runs dry, which it appears to be doing... What are they going to do? They are sorely lacking in "features" because they omitted working on any because hey, mechpacks! Now they have to play catch up on actually making the game.

[Big Tin Man]

CapperDeluxe, on 08 July 2016 - 11:17 AM, said:

Monetizing Solaris would be a great way to ensure it takes an hour to match up against someone.


Lets keep in mind free 2 play works only when all people get to play in the same sandbox without paying.


Instead, they could just make a "level" requirement for Solaris, which they should also do for Faction Warfare. Maybe require X amount of matches, or that some new tutorials are finished first.

What about PT users only? Everyone keeps saying they have XXX months/years of PT stored that they're waiting to activate. Or keep it with the monthly monetized idea and add prizes for the top 50 on the boards, essentially making it a buy in tournament. Maybe combine it with Alphatoaster's idea: anybody can play Solaris, but if you buy in you're on the tournament leaderboard and can win prizes. I also like the levels requirement idea.

@Navid, I disagree that adding heroes is truly the same as mechpacks, as a lot of people could be made excited for a Timmy hero or a certain dawg that may be deputized. Continuing to scour the battletech TRO's, we're running low on mechs that will generate that level of excitement. I know a new player would be more excited to buy a Timmy mastery pack than the linebacker pack. Lots of players also skipped buying the big clan packs and don't want to pay $55 to al a cart the (I) variant, but buying a hero is a palatable idea.

[invernomuto]

Big Tin Man, on 08 July 2016 - 10:51 AM, said:

2. Solaris arena. Before you rage, my idea is for monthly Solaris access, with monthly leaderboard resets. Keeps the smurf accounts out, deters brand new players a bit, keeps the boards fresh. Low cost per month, $5 or so. Maybe offer multiple pass packs at a discount and you use them as desired.

In Hearthstone you pay for Arena matches and people do not complain because if you do well you can gain a lot.
It's not necessary a bad thing...

[ChapeL]

Big Tin Man, on 08 July 2016 - 11:28 AM, said:

Probably have to make it class or tonnage specific, or one per account only to prevent P2W accusations.

How so ? Pay to win happens when you pay to get an in-game advantage. This has nothing to do with it.

[Big Tin Man]

davoodoo, on 08 July 2016 - 11:37 AM, said:

And they dont sell these mechpacks??
Hell i bought few and looking at comments regarding linebacker it will still sell...

Proof that these mech packs sell is pgi continuation of production of those, if you claim otherwise pls bring some evidence...

I didn't say that they don't sell mechpacks. I am saying that the cow will eventually run dry, between using up all the favorite chassis and too many chassis being nearly identical and not adding anything to the game. Honestly I don't think that moment is all that far off. Lots of folks saying the linebacker is not really different than a stormcrow except for the armor, and the SC will probably have better hitboxes. Probably a wash in the end.

ChapeL, on 08 July 2016 - 11:55 AM, said:

How so ? Pay to win happens when you pay to get an in-game advantage. This has nothing to do with it.

Fair point, it's pay to grind faster.

[Felio]

Bud Crue, on 08 July 2016 - 11:28 AM, said:

Must
resist
urge
to make snide comments....ahhhhh!! CAN'T!!

Russ made it perfectly clear that our input and ideas are not wanted. So now we are offering up our input and ideas for how they can fleece us even more than they already do?! Why!? PGI knows best.

So here's an idea for how they can make some money:
have Russ publicly apologize to the community, make an effort to fix CW which involves actual communication and interaction with the community, and while their at it put some lore and/or battletech flavor into the game other than just the mechs. Do that, hell do ANY of that, and I will throw some money at the game.

grrr

Sounds like they should consider a Russ Bullock dunk tank at Mech-con. $5 a throw.

I'd like something to change weapon appearances. Missiles. Laser colors. Things I can see.

You'd have to keep colors limited to the right tones for identification: cool colors for large, warm colors for small and greenis colors for medium. (green is right in the middle of the spectrum FYI)

I'd like to deck out my gazillion mechs with cockpit items, but it would be very expensive. They also haven't made any new non-faction ones in a long time, so there aren't many that I really want.

[Jables McBarty]

Big Tin Man, on 08 July 2016 - 10:51 AM, said:

So another month, another mechpack. And the reaction is mild. Not a great feeling when mechpacks are the lifeblood that keeps MWO's coders and artists paychecks flowing. More concerning is with the number of mechs in game, how much longer before there are no more favorites or different mechs to add?

So what suggestions do you have to help PGI keep the lights on that isn't another mechpack? What would you open your wallet for?

1. Dekkkkkals. Microtransaction level of cost. $0.10-0.25/ea
2. Solaris arena. Before you rage, my idea is for monthly Solaris access, with monthly leaderboard resets. Keeps the smurf accounts out, deters brand new players a bit, keeps the boards fresh. Low cost per month, $5 or so. Maybe offer multiple pass packs at a discount and you use them as desired.
3. Additional FW drop decks. Hell, call them dropships, I don't care. Just let me save several different decks. $1-4 each
4. Heroes for the heroless chassis. All the clan waves, resistance, urbie, and origins. This opens the door for mastery packs as well, which new players enjoy.
5. There's probably a lot of cool things that could be done to monetize FW, but FW needs more before I'd even start making suggestions.
6. Paint finishes/textures (i.e. gloss, matte, metallic, rust, etc) Premium paint price seems ok-ish

I firmly believe that microtransactions, if made actually micro, will really help to pull in revenue from the non-paying customer base.

I also like this idea (and others proposed) of monetizing Solaris in some way. Maybe put stats and leaderboard behind a paywall. So anybody can play, but if you want to know your number of Ks and your rank, you gotta shell out.

davoodoo, on 08 July 2016 - 11:01 AM, said:

5- FW needs to have a meaning interesting gameplay first

FTFY

Big Tin Man, on 08 July 2016 - 11:46 AM, said:

@Navid, I disagree that adding heroes is truly the same as mechpacks, as a lot of people could be made excited for a Timmy hero or a certain dawg that may be deputized. Continuing to scour the battletech TRO's, we're running low on mechs that will generate that level of excitement. I know a new player would be more excited to buy a Timmy mastery pack than the linebacker pack. Lots of players also skipped buying the big clan packs and don't want to pay $55 to al a cart the (I) variant, but buying a hero is a palatable idea.

This is huge. I hang around NPH a lot, and the question about Clan Mastery Packs comes up all the time. People want them.

[davoodoo]

Moldur, on 08 July 2016 - 11:43 AM, said:

PGI has run into a predicament. Mech packs did bring in money to the point that they were probably a smarter investment than actually developing the game.

They have all the numbers, and I don't, but once the river runs dry, which it appears to be doing... What are they going to do? They are sorely lacking in "features" because they omitted working on any because hey, mechpacks! Now they have to play catch up on actually making the game.

So what exactly do you want to do??
Introduce new stuff to monetize??
Decals will also need work and wont replace mech packs because 1)they arent expensive enough to bait whales 2)they arent guaranteed to sell.

So whats left?? loot boxes?? god forbid, idea of putting gambling with tons of crap at high drop rate diluting drop tables for low chance stuff that ppl actually want and this idea still isnt guaranteed as 1)decals again might not be popular and 2)either ppl will get sick of gambling at ridiculously low rate or loot boxes will be way overpriced.for what they contain.

If they sold single player/coop campaigns with quality of previous mechwarrior games at 20-40$ that might be a good money for them, but still theres very slim chance that it will replace mech packs... Though this is the thing i would probably pay for, at least cheaper ones as 40$ is pretty steep in my country.

No matter what you propose here theyll still sell mech packs and mech packs will be priority as its guarantee of steady income at least as long as theres something to introduce, at which point theyll just extend timeline and sell more mechs with poorly balanced weapons, if theyll get past canon theyll simply make up few new mechs of their own.

Also its not like they havent got plenty of skins for mechs and theyre selling mech bays already, if they still cant afford development then i would probably say that license costs are too high for such a small game, but without solid proof its just my guess and not a fact.

Basically they already sell everything that warthunder sells and they still went for new "tank" preorders to get extra money, either this money doesnt go to development or something in development is a money hog.
Btw comparison to warthunder is pretty valid as they introduces tanks to their flight sim and quads for mwo is a huge problem...

Edited by davoodoo, 08 July 2016 - 01:26 PM.