27 replies to this topic

[Ch1r0n]

That's not a question. 1.25 mill credits for a handful of the basic colors, and $7 real currency for one or two of EVERY other color. Why, I get putting money into the game to keep it going, you have premium Mechs, Premium time, Patterns, Basic mechs, and so many other options for which to put money into the game.

I feel it should be changed. and heres my suggestion.

Basic and standard colors: FREE

All the other colors NOT counting the faction colors: Credits costing between 50k to 500k

ALL Clan and Faction colors: 250-500 MCs

Still gives incentive for people to buy MCs, doesn't make you go broke to paint your mech bright pink.

[VonBruinwald]

I get where you're coming from but I'm not with you.

PGI have to monetise something, cosmetics are the only things they can get safely away with without falling foul of pay-to-win. There's arguments to be made around heromechs and premium time.

It would be nice if there was a few more colours and decals in the CBill category but PGI have a nice habit of giving them away free during events so it's not the end of the world.


If we want more colour on the battlefield we should link it to FP Loyalty:

• If you become a Steiner loyalist you unlock the "Steiner loyalist" camo to equip on your mechs
  Same as the purchasable Steiner camo, but the colours are locked
  
• If you stop being a Steiner loyalist the "Steiner loyalist" camo is removed from your inventory
  Any mechs in "Steiner loyalist" are reset to default/drab green

• Mercenaries/Freelancers do not get camo unlocks

Nice and simple and encourages people to dip their toes in FP if only for the camo.

[martian]

Ch1r0n, on 20 November 2020 - 07:48 AM, said:

Colors: Too Expensive....

That's not a question.

Russ Bullock has never quite managed to grasp what "MICROtransactions" are about.

[LordNothing]

most of mine i got through mechpacks. i won several in events. i think i may have actually bought 2 of them. its the most expensive 6 hex digits you will ever buy.

[Squiggy McPew]

Most of my colors came from mechpaks too but I did buy a black, grey and light grey as there are 500 mc options for those and that combo is the best for blending in on the majority of maps especially the desert and urban. The one shot camo patterns are fairly cheap too if you don't keep a bunch of same chassis variants.

[w0qj]

There are sale campaigns for color and camo a few times each year. Watch out for them!

At least the colors are account-wide, so you can color your IS mechs with Clan colors, and vice versa

But seriously, MWO has to make money to run the servers to keep things going for us!

"F2P" is just a loss leader to get customers at least inside the store, and then hopefully they would buy something!

Edited by w0qj, 22 November 2020 - 09:26 PM.

[The6thMessenger]

They could have made colors one-shot, like the patterns. But nah man.

[ingramli]

VonBruinwald, on 20 November 2020 - 08:05 AM, said:

PGI have to monetise something, cosmetics are the only things they can get safely away with without falling foul of pay-to-win. There's arguments to be made around heromechs and premium time.

The income doesn't occur unless someone consider it worthwhile and shell out bucks for it. While I am by no mean a big sponsor, I did buy a few hundred USD worth of MCs during MC sale in previous years. I spent most of them in Hero Mechs, mech bays and even some SPs in late games, but I never bought any color/pattern in MCs, IMHO they are just too expensive for my favor...

You can price as you like for any commodity, but remember people have a choice to buy it or not, unless that is a necessity, which color is obviously not.

Edited by ingramli, 23 November 2020 - 01:22 AM.

[Hunka Junk]

Welp, PGI got this playerbase by overcharging for everything: a bunch of nostalgic middle-aged people who can afford to drop $40-$80 on mech packs.

There was a different path to go: volume sales. Kids look a this game and say "I could buy a new AAA game for the price of an Assault pack, and I could buy an indie game on Steam for the price of imaginary digital paint for these mechs. Bye!"

Or they don't ever come to begin with.

But gouging us got them MW5. Gotta give them credit. Now there's a community manager to show PGI cares again...so they can gouge this community further...to pay for the MW5 revamp.

The moral of this story is that the odds of them changing the price of the overpriced colors is about as likely as them actually finishing the development of this game or, for the new people, following through on the 2014 townhall meeting.

[Zigmund Freud]

I don't get complainштп about cosmetics in F2P game, it's the best way for them to make money without messing up the gameplay part.

Besides, you get colors sales, colors and MC in events even if you don't want to pay.

Hunka Junk, on 23 November 2020 - 04:02 AM, said:

volume sales. Kids look a this game and say "I could buy a new AAA game for the price of an Assault pack, and I could buy an indie game on Steam for the price of imaginary digital paint for these mechs. Bye!"

Not really, they don't leave, they stay and form the bulk of freeloading players, contributing to game's survival. After all I don't think MWO would survive for this long on paying peops alone.

And I don't think there ever was enough players to go with volume sales. Surely PGI did their market research and decided to rely on whales for a reason.

[Hunka Junk]

Zigmund Freud, on 23 November 2020 - 07:30 AM, said:

it's the best way for them to make money without messing up the gameplay part.

Right. I forgot about the amazing gameplay...so we should overpay for overpriced, imaginary paint so the developer does not mess up the game.

Got it. That says so much about this game.

Edited by Hunka Junk, 23 November 2020 - 10:47 AM.

[Zigmund Freud]

Hunka Junk, on 23 November 2020 - 10:47 AM, said:

Right. I forgot about the amazing gameplay...so we should overpay for overpriced, imaginary paint so the developer does not mess up the game.

Got it. That says so much about this game.

No, you should do whatever you want, nobody's making you overpay for anything, that's the point

OP talks about cosmetics, that IMO can be as expensive as devs want, because it won't turn the game into P2W. How well devs spend the money is different, and completely unrelated question.

[Kodyn]

The point the op is making isn't that they shouldn't monetize colors, it's that the prices suck, which they do. The prices suck for POE MTX as well, but most of them look way way better than anything in MWO, so it works out better.

I've spent hundreds on MWO, but most of that has gone towards mechs, premium, GSP, bays, etc. I refuse to spend real money on cockpit items and paint at the prices they have, it's just not worth it. I'll use MC from events and such, that's fine, but it doesn't encourage me to spend money- which PGI should want. Besides, I tend to use a matching color scheme for all my mechs, black and gold, and I've had that covered for years now. I just throw 1-shot camos on mechs I like and call it good, because the camo system is also overpriced, unless you like to run 3+ of every mech for some reason.

Main point is this- more low priced items will sell more and make PGI more money than they currently make with their terrible price points- which is why nearly every other F2P title has better pricing. PGI is immune to logic and has zero marketing/sales knowledge however, so they rely on whales and an overall gullible community to keep the lights on.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Yeah, they should simplify the camo costs for sure. But if it's any consolation, once you buy a color, it's available everywhere forever.
Pro Tip: Skip the cbill colors. They're crap.

[VonBruinwald]

TheCaptainJZ, on 23 November 2020 - 02:02 PM, said:

Pro Tip: Skip the cbill colors. They're crap.

Improper attitude: CBills are relatively easy to come by. There's no excuse for not buying them once you have a decent stable of mechs.

[CFC Conky]

The standard colours aren't that bad, decent value when they are on sale.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

[martian]

Hunka Junk, on 23 November 2020 - 04:02 AM, said:

There was a different path to go: volume sales. ...

The Road Not Taken ...

[Horseman]

Hunka Junk, on 23 November 2020 - 04:02 AM, said:

There was a different path to go: volume sales. Kids look a this game and say "I could buy a new AAA game for the price of an Assault pack, and I could buy an indie game on Steam for the price of imaginary digital paint for these mechs. Bye!"

Resistance II and Origins IIC award a decent amount of paints on top of the mechs just FYI

[martian]

TheCaptainJZ, on 23 November 2020 - 02:02 PM, said:

Pro Tip: Skip the cbill colors. They're crap.

Pro Tip: Some people like C-Bills colours.

My Griffin in the Marik Militia livery.

[il1il]

You can earn mc in events and unlock your favorite one or 2 during a sale and not worry about it again, so the price isn't that much of a problem. The really issue is not the price of one color but of many colors and how they add up, maybe what your looking for is a bulk price?

Also I don't think the c-bill price is high I bought them as a new player. and would buy more if I had the choice.

if I was to make any criticism it would be that a simple dark gray/black is not available for cbills to be used in stealth mechs. but the purple is close