56 replies to this topic

[w0qj]

That's if one uses the consumable properly, which in and of itself has a steep/expensive learning curve!
And OP is already struggling in his MWO mech right now.

Strongly warn OP away from using any consumable on Standard Variant mechs for now!

cazeral, on 06 April 2022 - 08:34 AM, said:

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.

[feeWAIVER]

Nightbird, on 06 April 2022 - 08:50 AM, said:

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.

I don't think its desperation, and I don't think free mechs really are keeping anyone here.
They've accumulated well over 300 variants in the past decade, there's only 12 months in the year, it makes perfect sense to give some free variants away to help newer players build their mechbays up.

I will say the skill tree grind can suck...I miss the old 3 Mech leveling system that let you choose siesmic sensor or radar derp the or whatever when you mastered it.

And to the OP, don't stop using consumables, just make sure you don't throw them away.

Edited by feeWAIVER, 06 April 2022 - 10:42 AM.

[Nightbird]

feeWAIVER, on 06 April 2022 - 10:40 AM, said:

I don't think its desperation, and I don't think free mechs really are keeping anyone here.
They've accumulated well over 300 variants in the past decade, there's only 12 months in the year, it makes perfect sense to give some free variants away to help newer players build their mechbays up.

If it not the free mech, then it is the 3000 MC you can get for free every month (=free Hero mech), then free 2 weeks of premium time every 30 days, the free 5 million cbills for another free mech, the free 200 GSP...

[TheCaptainJZ]

cazeral, on 06 April 2022 - 08:34 AM, said:

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.

Useful if used at the right time, yes. Does popping a UAV increase your winnings by more than 40k on average each match it is used? And more than 80k if you use 2? Maybe for some players, probably not for most.

I'm not saying you should never use consumables, but using 4 of them (120k) each match is excessive if you're trying to earn cbills for purchases. In that case, it is better if you don't use them, or maybe just one.

Edited by TheCaptainJZ, 06 April 2022 - 11:49 AM.

[DaZur]

Grind?!... What grind?

I haven't felt the grind in over 8 years.

Nightbird, on 06 April 2022 - 08:50 AM, said:

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.

I suspect when the freebies are eventually pulled so to will the power cord on the server...

Right now I think PGI probably earns just enough to keep the servers powered and the DNS registered.

[feeWAIVER]

Nightbird, on 06 April 2022 - 10:52 AM, said:

If it not the free mech, then it is the 3000 MC you can get for free every month (=free Hero mech), then free 2 weeks of premium time every 30 days, the free 5 million cbills for another free mech, the free 200 GSP...

That's fair.
The biggest grind is actually filling out a skill tree.
Click click click click click click - and that's just to get 1 node to populate.

[Curccu]

feeWAIVER, on 06 April 2022 - 01:11 PM, said:

That's fair.
The biggest grind is actually filling out a skill tree.
Click click click click click click - and that's just to get 1 node to populate.

Or just load saved skilltree.... I seriously have about 6 different kind of skilltrees and even those have same base most of the time.

[Horseman]

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.

The argument is that compared to other vehicle combat games, MWO is substantially less grindy, not "equally" as you try to paint it.

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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 don't enjoy blowing up giant robots, why are you playing a game about blowing up giant robots?

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

It's a lot more than "getting some urbanmech for free":
February 2021 - Huntsman Prime
March 2021 - Grasshopper 5H
April 2021 - Mad Cat Mk II B
May 2021 - Timber Wolf C(C)
June 2021 - Javelin 11A & Arctic Cheetah E
July 2021 - Atlas 7D
August 2021 - Shadow Hawk 2K
September 2021 - Warhammer 6R
October 2021 - Hellspawn 8P
November 2021 - Ebon Jaguar B
December 2021 - Mauler 2P(S) & Marauder IIC A(S)
January 2022 - Hunchback IIC A
February 2022 - Firestarter S(C)
March 2022 - Uziel 6P

This is without the premium time awarded from the events and without the MC (past month - 1K from the Uziel event, 2K from the Lucky Charms event, plus another ~1K from the bags themselves, enough to get a hero mech on sale)

Edited by Horseman, 07 April 2022 - 12:27 AM.

[cazeral]

Yes it is a grind, more so than the old, much simpler one if you are talking about time to complete it. While not perfect by a long way, it does the more flexibility to customise how your mech behaves.

Roadmap suggests changes coming up, so lets see if they create another dogpile or make it work better.

[PocketYoda]

I'm pretty average player here and many would be quick to agree with me but i make between 300k - 500k a match.. I think thats pretty ok to collect for a mech..

For me the biggest money sinks are ENGINES also switching heatsinks and endo... are a pain. I feel if you've paid once changing back should be free or much lower..

But it is do able i have nearly 400 mechs.

[Horseman]

Akamia Terizen, on 06 April 2022 - 03:34 AM, said:

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.

You can always sell the mech and its' engine to get closer to purchasing the one you want.

Zeddicuus, on 06 April 2022 - 07:00 AM, said:

Hell, I slapped an UAC-20 on a KFX-C just for this laughs and actually landed a couple of kills this way!

I actually built a UAC20 Kit Fox using the Prime pods and KFX-P left arm. It's a bit of a meme build, but surprisingly effective.

w0qj, on 06 April 2022 - 07:53 AM, said:

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

PIR-A with 4xLAMS also works, as does NVA-S with 3xAMS

Birthright, on 05 April 2022 - 10:19 PM, said:

Its sad that those two things have not changed.
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.

The payouts have been increased by about 20% a while ago. I'm hearing that the Cauldron also recommended changing the AMS so that it pays out in C-Bills rather than match score - if true, then an AMS Nova might be a good investment (if you don't have the free one PGI gave out for accepting the GDPR terms of service update).

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I usually have to pay 120k per match just for that.

Consumable abuse is a horrible addiction.

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

If you're burning 50% of your match income on consumables, that's a you problem.

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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...

You're focusing on not having the newest shiny instead of finding out how to better enjoy the mechs you have. That's a you problem.

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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.

Events award GSP, which is enough to kit out your new mechs with the basics and grind out the rest. If you're conservative about their use, they'll keep piling up.

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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).

No, that's stupid. The Kodiak hero is terrible for a LRM platform in the first place. If you seriously want to LRM then good Clan options are Ebon Jaguar B and Nova Cat B - both of which can slap their omnipods onto the hero / special variant of the chassis to get that C-Bill bonus you desire.

Edited by Horseman, 07 April 2022 - 12:57 AM.

[martian]

Nomad Tech, on 07 April 2022 - 12:42 AM, said:

For me the biggest money sinks are ENGINES

Designing 'Mech loadouts around some common engines size like 300, 325, 350 etc. can be a good idea. New players can always remove such engine from one 'Mech that they do not want to play right now, and place the engine in another 'Mech they wish to play.

[MrMadguy]

CBs aren't problem. My previous bottleneck was Mech Bays, because for me it's choice between buying Hero 'Mechs or more 'Mech Bays. As sometimes I just couldn't buy anything, I was stacking lots of CBs. But since all of a sudden at some point devs started to be more generous about 'Mech Bays - my new bottleneck is SPs now.

[TheCaptainJZ]

I'm just thankful we don't have the closed beta grind. 4 mechbays, 3 Commandos required to fully skill any of them, no new player bonus--it was rough. 100k on a win was great for me. There were no freebies for a couple years. I think the first one was a centurion or cataphract and you had to work hard in an event to get it. Now with loot bag events 4x a year, a free mech each month and other goodies, PGI might actually lose money with all the free stuff they give out.

[Curccu]

TheCaptainJZ, on 07 April 2022 - 04:46 AM, said:

I'm just thankful we don't have the closed beta grind. 4 mechbays, 3 Commandos required to fully skill any of them, no new player bonus--it was rough. 100k on a win was great for me. There were no freebies for a couple years. I think the first one was a centurion or cataphract and you had to work hard in an event to get it. Now with loot bag events 4x a year, a free mech each month and other goodies, PGI might actually lose money with all the free stuff they give out.

Founders at least had free premium time until open beta or so if I remember correctly.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

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...

so.. I don't know in which year you were born, but in this timeline -that is still before startrek-, most people are used to the idea of giving currency for a good or service.
"free" to play must pay for itself at least to work, sorry to burst a bubble right here.


and yeah, it boils down to this: you don't pay anything to play this game, nor is anybody asking you to; if you're that unhappy with playing it .. why play? do something you enjoy instead.
play some music (on those free instruments you get at the store), paint some painting or minis (also free at the store), climb a mountain, discover a lost civilisation in the jungle (remember to get the free flight ticket..) or something else, entirely.
nobody is forcing you to play this awful "grindy", free mech game

Edited by Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, 07 April 2022 - 06:38 AM.

[feeWAIVER]

Also it really shouldn't be unreasonable to drop $20 on the game, to get mech bays or mc or gsp or whatever, after every 20-30 hours you played.. or every few months...or whatever.

Like, it's a service you're clearly enjoying, why not invest in your hobby a little?

[feeWAIVER]

Curccu, on 07 April 2022 - 04:53 AM, said:

Founders at least had free premium time until open beta or so if I remember correctly.

They also had repair/rearm bills to pay.
Those streak 2's in your catapult were expensive.

[DaZur]

feeWAIVER, on 07 April 2022 - 08:23 AM, said:

They also had repair/rearm bills to pay.
Those streak 2's in your catapult were expensive.

It was wiener-punch for sure...

To be fair, I actually liked the re-arm / repair mechanic because...well... I kind'a liked pretending there was consequences for playing poorly.

I found it reminiscent of the original Mechwarrior game. My founder Atlas would take too much damage and I'd have to go out with my Hunchie or Jenner and farm enough c-bills to full repair it.

That said, I know I'm an odd-ball and kind'a pseudo-mech-masochists.

[Curccu]

feeWAIVER, on 07 April 2022 - 08:23 AM, said:

They also had repair/rearm bills to pay.
Those streak 2's in your catapult were expensive.

Oh yeah already forgot that repair and rearm, now that you mentioned it I remember sheapskate dropping lurm mechs with just that free 50% of max ammo (or was it even less 50%... cannot remember too long time ago.) to make more money to unlock new mechs.

and how that repair punished bad players who played fat mechs only and die almost every game

Edited by Curccu, 07 April 2022 - 09:15 AM.