19 replies to this topic

[UnPh4ZeD]

This game needs a way to continue to get revenue from players that come and go. There is clearly a lot of effort going into updating maps and rebalancing the game. Those of us returning will be buying mechs/MC/GSP boosters/etc. It's a nice short term boost but why not set up a model that pulls some of that money year round?

I pay for a gym membership all year despite basically never using it in the summer. Why? It's a hassle to re-up, I would lose my current rate, and I might use it occasionally so it's much easier to not cancel. A gym membership may not be the best analogy but something similar can be done with MWO. It's a niche game that is not competing with mainstream shooters and should use that to its advantage.

If premium time and/or some sort of GSP booster were available, I don't think PGI would have any challenges selling them. Instead of receiving ~$100 from me for 4 - 5 months, they get 2x or 3x, and I might play a bit more during "off season" as I'm still committed and paying. Like the gym, you can include some incentives so people don't cancel. Even if they do, you are likely to get a month or two before they pull the trigger. It's also more rewarding for the players subscribing since they are still earning GSP/C-Bills rather than outright buying them (which can still remain an option).

It has no impact on the hardcore base that is here day-in and day-out except better support for the game. They have little need to reduce the grind.

[FupDup]

The part about "paying for the off-season" is exactly why a mandatory subscription model would be very unpopular. Yes, there are indeed a lot of other businesses that operate that way. And I hate them.

The most absolute hardcore might deal with it, but it would make player base growth nearly impossible. Also consider that the game has not required a sub for ten entire years of existence, so there are probably a lot of veterans who would get REALLY pissed that after all this time they suddenly are required to pay or they can't play anymore.

The only kind of subscription model I could see working in MWO is a hybrid model where people can still play for free but get some extra bells and whistles if they pay for a sub. Something like the Tournament Supporter Pack but a recurring payment.

Edited by FupDup, 03 October 2021 - 11:03 AM.

[MyriadDigits]

Premium time is already a thing... Are you asking for it to get more features to feel worth purchasing?

[pattonesque]

FupDup, on 03 October 2021 - 11:02 AM, said:

The only kind of subscription model I could see working in MWO is a hybrid model where people can still play for free but get some extra bells and whistles if they pay for a sub. Something like the Tournament Supporter Pack but a recurring payment.

it's this, yeah. If they ever end up releasing mechs again you could tie the subscription model into that somehow as well.

[martian]

UnPh4ZeD, on 03 October 2021 - 10:31 AM, said:

Still No Subscription Model?

Paying for being farmed by premade groups?

Paying for experiencing ridiculously tonnage unbalanced games?

Paying for skill unbalanced games?

Paying for literally no new content at all (we have not seen a new content for years)?

Paying for dead Solaris 7 and Faction Play?

I could continue, but ....

Seriously?

[UnPh4ZeD]

MyriadDigits, on 03 October 2021 - 11:09 AM, said:

Premium time is already a thing... Are you asking for it to get more features to feel worth purchasing?

GSP is the #1 reason I personally never bother to buy new mechs. I have no idea if I am even going to enjoy it, why waste so many games playing to skill it up? You're also stuck at a disadvantage, playing against other players with fully skilled mechs. I can buy 200 GSP for $10 so I may buy a couple here and there but it makes much more sense for both player and business to simply add a model where a player can decrease the grind.

[UnPh4ZeD]

FupDup, on 03 October 2021 - 11:02 AM, said:

The part about "paying for the off-season" is exactly why a mandatory subscription model would be very unpopular. Yes, there are indeed a lot of other businesses that operate that way. And I hate them.

The most absolute hardcore might deal with it, but it would make player base growth nearly impossible. Also consider that the game has not required a sub for ten entire years of existence, so there are probably a lot of veterans who would get REALLY pissed that after all this time they suddenly are required to pay or they can't play anymore.

The only kind of subscription model I could see working in MWO is a hybrid model where people can still play for free but get some extra bells and whistles if they pay for a sub. Something like the Tournament Supporter Pack but a recurring payment.

You can do a hybrid model. Subscription models simply shore up the balance sheet so you are not stuck in a perpetual boom/bust cycle. You end up handcuffed, afraid to over commit to costs because your projections vary so wildly. There is a reason so many businesses have moved towards them and a reason why investors further reward businesses that implement them well. I'm not sure why they are viewed as the enemy here.

[MyriadDigits]

UnPh4ZeD, on 03 October 2021 - 11:14 AM, said:

GSP is the #1 reason I personally never bother to buy new mechs. I have no idea if I am even going to enjoy it, why waste so many games playing to skill it up? You're also stuck at a disadvantage, playing against other players with fully skilled mechs. I can buy 200 GSP for $10 so I may buy a couple here and there but it makes much more sense for both player and business to simply add a model where a player can decrease the grind.

I think I'll take that as a "yes" in response to my question? Again, premium time already exists, is available, and fulfills the purpose of shortening the grind.

I do think sweetening the deal on premium time would be advantageous, as 12 bucks for 30 days of +50% c-bill and XP doesn't feel much worth it.

[UnPh4ZeD]

MyriadDigits, on 03 October 2021 - 11:39 AM, said:

I think I'll take that as a "yes" in response to my question? Again, premium time already exists, is available, and fulfills the purpose of shortening the grind.

I do think sweetening the deal on premium time would be advantageous, as 12 bucks for 30 days of +50% c-bill and XP doesn't feel much worth it.

Premium time isn't a full-out subscription model. It should be.

Edited by UnPh4ZeD, 03 October 2021 - 11:45 AM.

[Vindicated]

If there is any subscription model that makes sense in this game, it's "build your own trial mech" which I may have mentioned before somewhere. New players constantly have problems figuring out what they want to play, and often they will also choose the wrong chassis for the build. Trying different builds they might complain about now being able to afford XL engines or having unskilled mechs.

If they can build any mech of their choice (skill tree too) while their subscription is active, the new player "I don't know what to play" or "I only have <insert terrible chassis/build>" gets reduced.

This also doesn't make it pay-to-win (no advantage over existing players who already have a mech built), and it won't cut into potential for mech sales as this mech would be effectively a rental (costs more in the long run than buying a mech and GSP). And it could probably be like the trial mech system as well where the mech (say only one is free changes) is locked in matches. Meaning if this is someone who keeps dying early (not that this is a good thing) and quitting, there is still incentive for them to get another mech (potential for MC, GSP, or even cbill sales).

[Thorqemada]

There is simply no content that is worth a subscription model that is not already covered by the Premium Time option or simple Mech Pack sales.

And if forced onto the whole playerbase would very probably drive away the players that cling to the game for their own indivdual reasons and by doing so fulfiling also the role as content for whales.

MWO in the current form is simply unfit for such a subscription model.

There would be ways to make premium time more cinvincing but that also comes with a risk bcs you would need to take away things that are seen as granted by now.

So, imho that Ship has no sails at all i fear...

[justcallme A S H]

martian, on 03 October 2021 - 11:10 AM, said:

Paying for being farmed by premade groups?

The man UnPh4ZeD is hardcore sweaty nerd META Gamer.

He will be doing the farming. Stirring one of my Fav peeps from Mechcon aside...


His idea is sound.

[JediPanther]

This game is not one I'd pay a sub for in the condition it is in compared to a lot of other games that require a sub. We were told years ago mwo was just a money printer for pgi's other projects. It still is.

SWTOR is the exact opposite. It was sub then went free to play. I had a sub before it did. I didn't quit the game and the most I ever spent on the game after the ftp was five bucks to unlock the hk-51 droid quest.

[PocketYoda]

They would need to do a crap ton more to this game before i ever offered up a Sub... Battletech proper Rescale would be my mandatory before i ever touched a sub.

[Wildstreak]

Subscription models make some people leave and never come back.

I used to use Microsoft Office where you paid a flat price and got the whole thing until a later edition came out. Sometimes skipped a release or two.

They went subscription and I went looking for a new software suite.
Now using LibreOffice that is donation based.

[MyriadDigits]

MechaGnome, on 04 October 2021 - 01:14 AM, said:

They would need to do a crap ton more to this game before i ever offered up a Sub... Battletech proper Rescale would be my mandatory before i ever touched a sub.

This really begs the question, do you mean:

• The arbitrary, nonsensical, and incomplete scaling based upon novels;
  
• loosely volumetric based on the tabletop rules stating mechs are 2 height levels tall (between 6m and 12m rounding upward);
  
• Internally consistent pure volumetric scaling;
  
• or blindly making every mech the same height, disregarding sense, gameplay, visuals, and internal consistency.

[LordNothing]

if the game goes to a subscription model i will leave. im sure a lot of others will too. ive sunk way to much money into this game to have it paywalled.

[VeeOt Dragon]

if you think population is bad now just introduce a subscription model to the game. i honestly think 80% of players would just leave if they did that. i know i would. i hate subscription models and see them as a scam. hell i might go a few months without playing a game while it still charges me, no thank you. oh you could cancel but constantly canceling and resubscribing is a pain and not worth the trouble. there are plenty of things in the game to spend money on (hell the cost of mech bays alone) so adding subs on top just isn't worth the loss of player base. hell i refuse to pay even an upfront cost for any game that is primarily a PVP experience (ok i might in a blue moon pay something like $10-$20 but not full AAA price) with no single player at all.

honestly if they want to make some cash they should cut the cost of the old mech packs by like 80% no one is gong to buy those old packs at their current cost, hell the full mech pack costs as much as a new entire AAA game, definitely not worth the cost. its especialy not worth it on those old packs where you can get most of them with just C-Bills. cut the cost down to just what it would cost in MC for the hero variants and toss in the other ones for like a buck or two each and i think people might actually buy them. as it sits those old packs just aren't worth it.

for those new folks who haven't been around long enough to have seen completely new chassis drop i will explain how they did it. when a new chassis was created (say the Corsair, i think it was the last new mech, don't quote me on that) they first did a x-mas loot bag event where one of the rewards was a free hero varient of the Corsair when it came out (it wasn't out yet at the time and wasn't dropped till i think January or march and the free variant from the x-mas even wasn't even purchasable.). when the mech dropped for the first bit of time i think you could only get the pack with real cash, not even MC. though if you played the x-mas event you got the free mech when the pack dropped. then a bit later they released all the variants for MC. after a couple months the non hero or (C) variants became available for C-bills. this model gives only a limited time frame to sell the pack at full price. if once the mechs were available for C-bills in game they dropped the price on the full pack then people may still want to buy it.

also anything that would make the grind worse if you don't pay cash isn't worth it either. the Grind in MWO isn't that bad honestly as far as FtP games go. (i'm looking at you Crossout). the grind here isn't all that bad really. i can often fully skill a mech in perhaps 20 matches or so and if you add in the GSP we have been given during the last few loot bag events its not even that. hell i think i got well over 200 gsp just from one loot bag event.

there are many ways they could bring income without charging a subscription fee and chasing away players

on a side note--- if i remember right when MWO first released it was a subscription game but that didn't last long before they went free-to-play. not sure the reasons as that was long before i started (i didn't have a PC capable of running it anyway at the time). it could have been because they didn't have enough players to keep the wait times down or something (just speculation no real idea if its true or not, someone who has been around longer than me will have to chime in there).

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 05 October 2021 - 10:21 AM.

[Storming Angel]

Yeah no, i would just end up quitting straight away. The game is barebones in some places and is only acceptable as a short random battle game to play for like 3-10 matches. Grinding skills is probs one of the few reasons why i still play this game, along with the new updates.

The Grind is quick here. Try runescape, eve online, warthunder, world of tanks, warframe etc you know games that basically turn into a full time job half the time?

Just get premium time if you want to skip the grind so bad.

[pbiggz]

Subscription games these days are few and far between for a reason.

Foisting that system on MWO, even if you guaranteed and delivered content and systems updates at a healthy cadence, would gut this community.