56 replies to this topic

[Birthright]

I recently reinstalled the game, my main reason for leaving being FP being dead and the mech grind being no fun.

Its sad that those two things have not changed.

When i loged back in and played some games I was basically showered with rewards (like 28d premium time and a lot of cbills) but i could still not afford a new mech.

After some testing I realized that the average c-bill gain per match (with premium) is about 250-300k.
Maybe 275k-300k if you count in supply caches.
There is no point in calculating events into this because all that events do is pay for your consumables, I usually have to pay 120k per match just for that.

So even with this generous 275-300k average estimation, this is atrocious.

A good mech is about 10-15 million C-bills, 15m minimum with equipment for sure (even if you have a lot alrdy, usually something you are still missing + some starter skill tree nodes).
I for example only have Clan equipment, if I were to buy a IS mech, OOF.

So quick mafs on this means i have to play around 50-60 (!!) games to unlock 1 mech.
Considering how much this game is plagued by loading screens, waiting times, stuck animations....

First long queue times, and I play on NA and EU, still long queue times.
Then match vote, more time wasted.
Then loading screen again.
Then joining screen waiting time.
Then starting animation where I cannot even look at the map
Then i can finally play.

The bare minimum for a match is 15 minutes, more like 20 minutes with all the timers and delays.
Thats roughly 16 hours of playtime to unlock a mech, or 50-60 matches (with premium!!)
That would maybe mean unlocking a new mech after playing for 1 week straight..
Keep in mind any downtime, "mech labing", chatting, wasting time in FP queue, is not counted in this.

I think this is no fun, I dont see myself playing this game again for that exact reason.
Being stuck with the same mechs for so long...

Esspecially considering you have to pay for skill tree aswell, which immensely increases costs once u have a new mech, so the next mech is even further away.

It used to be that you can make some good money with FP, but that is basically removed from the game.

The only way to improve your c-bill gain is Hero Kodiak with 70 LRMs or in general playing poorly by rushing as much as possbile while using 0 consumables, once u ded, just queue again (2 minute match).
This is obviously not fun either and encourages poor play.

Keep in mind all of this gets worse if you either are a bad player (I would say I am about average) or dont have premium or make poor equipment decisions.

This game has like what 200 mechs? so basically a lot of content many players will never see...
Kinda sad.

[DovisKhan]

Really?

300k per game or 10-50 games for a mech sounds reasonable, especially with events and free mechs available.

I've bought/sold a variant or two of every mech over the years, but really use like 10-15 out of my current 80+ mechs.

Came back after a few years of hiatus a few weeks ago, it seems like getting a new mech is easier than it ever was

Edited by DovisKhan, 06 April 2022 - 03:27 AM.

[Akamia Terizen]

The grind can really be felt when there’s not many events active at a given point in time and you don’t have any of the ’Mechs you actually want; whether the ’Mech is any good even after a rebuild is probably a separate issue, depending on where your priorities are. The free ’Mechs themselves don’t really alleviate that very much, unless of course it is one of the specific ’Mechs you wanted in the first place.

But the surrounding rewards, including events that don’t even offer a ’Mech, do very frequently include large sums of C-Bills. We’ve got a truly large number of events active at once right now; at least for the last month or two, the grind has never been easier this year.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

eh.. dude, have you played ANY other f2p game the last 20years?

-yes, there is some grind involved in the "spend no money - AT ALL"-road.
-it is srsly A FRACTION of what you'd have to do in comparable games/situations. try warthunder for example: had a lot of fun in it, until there was an event and I calculated roughly how long I'd have to play to get the "free" tank..
mwo is a breeze to "grind". you literally just play how much/little you like, and by the end of it, you have SEVERAL new mechs.


or in mwo stats - in the time I play this game, I've bought a few mechpacks and heroes; and over 2 accounts, I have ~350-400 robots I haven't payed for with real money.
it's only a grind if you don't wanna play, really. have some fun and get free robots along the way

[Zeddicuus]

*looks at his 8 mechs acquired in 1.5 months without paying money in confusion*

They're a huge grind to get? Why wasn't I notified?

There are worse freemium games out there that take much longer to get anything you might deem notable without paying cash to advance faster. There's even Paid to Play games that take longer to get anything notable and you even paid cash to get the game.

So far, MWO has not been an issue. Probably the biggest issue I have is that I keep refitting my mechs to try different weapons combinations with weapons I don't have yet, so I keep spending C-Bills as fast as I acquire them. But that's a me issue, not a game issue.

It costs a lot of c-bills to get an UAC-20 to slap onto a KFX and run around as a cannon with legs.

[Birthright]

So you saying because other games do it aswell, its fine?

What a poor argument.
Other games being equally frustrating to play does not make this any better.
Doesnt change the fact is the number 1 fun killer for me and other players aswell.

I dont see any motivation playing this game other than unlocking new mechs, and the grind is to slow,
even with premium and all of that.

Even exchanging real money for c-bills happens at a terrible ratio only.

And getting some urbanmech for free is not helping...

Edited by Birthright, 06 April 2022 - 05:22 AM.

[Error 404 Name Not Found]

Pay attention to the events. The Lucky Charms event made me over 9 million c-bills, around 3500 MC, and a boat load of consumables. Just the event rewards got me 2 new mechs in about a week. It is still active for another 8 days so you have time to take advantage of it.

And if you don't like the free mechs you can always sell them and make some c-bills that way.

[martian]

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

And getting some urbanmech for free is not helping...

Every month you can win a very good 'Mech:

For example the Cauldron-Born, excellent Clan heavy OmniMech that can support all kinds of loadouts.

On top of the 'Mech, PGI gave me three colours, a cool livery pattern, Premium Time (i.e. ), GSPs, a pair of cool decals and .

I did not even have to pay for 'Mech Bay.

[McLaine]

Don't forget your loot bags.

[w0qj]

And a warm welcome to our MWO forums!

Error 404 Name Not Found, on 06 April 2022 - 06:07 AM, said:

Pay attention to the events. The Lucky Charms event made me over 9 million c-bills, around 3500 MC, and a boat load of consumables. Just the event rewards got me 2 new mechs in about a week. It is still active for another 8 days so you have time to take advantage of it.

And if you don't like the free mechs you can always sell them and make some c-bills that way.

[Error 404 Name Not Found]

w0qj, on 06 April 2022 - 06:30 AM, said:

And a warm welcome to our MWO forums!

Thanks! Been lurking for a while but wanted to be helpful today.

[An6ryMan69]

For the OP, I never found it that hard to get new mechs.

I actually recently started a secondary account to see how the game went spending NO real money at all, as I had dumped so much into my main account I was wondering if I had lost touch with the free to play aspect of the game.

Just by finishing the cadet missions I had around 25 million C-Bills. Now, buying only mechs on 50% off sales and only engines on 50% off sales, I was able to get set up with a light, medium and assult mech, each totally customized right off the bat. Not bad I think. Over the next couple of months, playing only sporadically with that account, I got two free mechs from events, and another three regular mechs that I purchased and totally customized, and I was now also playing an additional two hero mechs that I purchased with MC I got from events. Again, if its not on sale I don't bite with this account, as I like lots of mechs and I'm trying to get the most out of the free to play experience.

So after two months of sporadic play, I have ten mechs, all customized, including two hero mechs for additional earnings, some MC left over, and a decent stash of saved up GSP from events too. All legitimately free to play.

I'm certainly not complaining about that; I'm quite happy with it actually!

Edited by An6ryMan69, 06 April 2022 - 06:56 AM.

[Curccu]

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

So you saying because other games do it aswell, its fine?
What a poor argument.
Other games being equally frustrating to play does not make this any better.

Free to play business model, would you rather pay 10£€$ each month? to be able to play?

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

Doesnt change the fact is the number 1 fun killer for me and other players aswell.

Who are these other players?

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

I dont see any motivation playing this game other than unlocking new mechs, and the grind is to slow,
even with premium and all of that.

If you have zero interest to game except playing pokemech I honestly have no idea why do you play this game at all...

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

Even exchanging real money for c-bills happens at a terrible ratio only.

real money to mechpacks probably has better ratio.

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

And getting some urbanmech for free is not helping...

One should not underestimate mighty urbies... and those are not even available for free atm.
but https://mwomercs.com/events/437 Uziel is, we should get another free mech event running this Friday or Saturday.

[Zeddicuus]

Birthright, on 06 April 2022 - 05:15 AM, said:

So you saying because other games do it aswell, its fine?

What a poor argument.
Other games being equally frustrating to play does not make this any better.
Doesnt change the fact is the number 1 fun killer for me and other players aswell.

I dont see any motivation playing this game other than unlocking new mechs, and the grind is to slow,
even with premium and all of that.

Even exchanging real money for c-bills happens at a terrible ratio only.

And getting some urbanmech for free is not helping...

The way I look at it is this way:

When I play an RPG, I expect to play the game to earn the equipment and skill points I want to play the game at high levels. I do not expect it just handed to me. I am not handed the 'best' gear, or instant max level, despite having paid for the game.

So starting off with having to earn my mechs seems par to me in comparison to any other game. I don't exactly see why you would see this as a problem. It doesn't take long to acquire the C-Bills for a mech. I just started a little over a month ago and already know this. just the 25 game Cadet Bonuses got me a Timberwolf, an Arctic Cheetah and all kinds of gear to try out.

C-Bills is not hard to acquire. You get them just for playing the game! I think MWO handles it very well, as a lot of mechs are actually quite viable if you're skilled at piloting and making good use of your weapon loadout (Not exactly me, but I try!) Hell, I slapped an UAC-20 on a KFX-C just for this laughs and actually landed a couple of kills this way! It's not hard to earn up the C-Bills to get more mechs.

Also, you can get free mechs just buy using the free MC you earn from the events. i just bought a Catapult with MC I earned, no cash paid. They even had a bunch of mechs @ 50% off for MC and C-BIlls to make it even easier.

If the only motivation you have to play MWO is to unlock new mechs (You even said this in your post I quoted) and not because you just enjoy playing the game, perhaps the issue is you and not the game.

[Bassault]

Maybe because you keep doing 200dmg and dying

[w0qj]

A warm welcome back to MWO!

I was in the same shoes as you almost 2 years ago, coming back with almost ZERO CBills balance, unskilled mechs.
Here's how to get your basic stable of mechs up and running!
Point (4) setting up your mech stable to help grind for monthly Event rewards is very important.

1) Montly free mech + mechbay + free Premium Time, and even free MC + free GSP. Every month!
~MWO has never been so generous!
~MWO is a very 'flat' F2P game; both you and premium player pilot the exact same Uziel UZL-6P mech!
~Tip: if you really don't like that monthly free mech, just sell the mech, and keep your free mechbay!

2) Play more with Hero mechs (+30% CBills bonus) that you enjoy playing with, for +CBills, +GXP.
Keep playing those Hero mechs for +CBills, especially if you enjoy it!

3) Suggest you do not use Consumables at all, to build up your CBills economy. Yes, you will die a bit more. Especially if you are using Standard Variant mechs with no CBills bonus, do not use Consumables at all.

4) Ideally your basic mech stable should have 3x damage types, to achieve the monthly Event rewards:

4a) Ballistic: any Assault/Heavy of your choice. Hero preferred, but Standard Variant is also OK!
eg: DWF-C. BAS-A. MCII-B. Cyclops Sleipnir. any Mauler. NSR-10P. COR-7A. Night Gyr. etc. etc.

4b ) Laser: STK-7D. MAD-IIC. HBR-Prime. BNC-3M. etc. (also for shooting down UAV).

4c) Missiles: LRM is the easiest armchair general. NCT-B. EBJ-C. TBR-Prime. Archer. Catapult. MAD-4HP with LRM100

4d) AMS missiles destroyed: again, COR-7A with 4xAMS. Kit Fox with 3xAMS+ECM arm.

5) Mech Skill Tree leveling up:
~I always start a new mech, dumping 13 Skill Points (13 SP = 10,400 GXP) to max out Heat Containment.
~After you've finished leveling up your mech to full 91 Skill Points, you will have enough GXP leftover to start your next mech! (Other players said they dump in "40 Skill Points" to make it quicker & less painful.)

6) Your favorite Hero mechs with +30% CBills bonus really helps to kickstart your CBills economy!
Try to find out which Hero mechs you wish to buy after a few months of free Event MC, and wait for 50% Off Hero sale!

7) Your Kodiak Spirit Bear hero mech is very respectable. It can dish out damage for higher match score & CBills!
https://mwo.nav-alph...0365c3a9_KDK-SB
The trick is to get many Kill Assists (8+ is good) to further pad up your match score! Kills/KMDD also helps.

8) Once you've set up your 3 mechs for 3x damage types for Event rewards, then your grinding becomes much easier! (Again, point (4) above).

See you on the battlefield!

Edited by w0qj, 07 April 2022 - 07:03 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

The OP would have just died during Open Beta...grinding Commandos was definitely exhausting. My average payout in those days was more like 75k.

120k for consumables? I think we found the problem. Stop using consumables. They're deliberately designed to be money sinks.

[feeWAIVER]

This really is probably the most generous f2p game I've ever played.

[cazeral]

TheCaptainJZ, on 06 April 2022 - 08:13 AM, said:

The OP would have just died during Open Beta...grinding Commandos was definitely exhausting. My average payout in those days was more like 75k.

120k for consumables? I think we found the problem. Stop using consumables. They're deliberately designed to be money sinks.

And yet consumables such as UAVs do wonders to help the whole of your Team, Cool Shot gives you the opportunity to get the final volley off without blowing up due to overheating and swing the tide of numbers . . . so not money sinks, but useful tools in picking up more wins, more C-Bills and more XP.

[Nightbird]

feeWAIVER, on 06 April 2022 - 08:24 AM, said:

This really is probably the most generous f2p game I've ever played.

True, though it is desperate measures to maintain pop at this point. The pop has gotten used to the freebies so there is no longer an uplift effect yet if the freebies are ever reduced the pop will flop.