12 replies to this topic

[Wixard]

I've been a fan of Mechwarrior since the 90s (the games anyways).

But I thought I would leave my thoughts on what I think. Let me start by saying I understand this is a beta, but being open beta and lacking anything but a sliver of content is not a good sign.

1. Lack of Content. This game needs more game modes and maps. Capture the salvage, or *something*. While the combat is interesting, the game itself feels empty. It desperately needs a conquest style game mode or anything else.

2. Confusion to new players. Though I struggled through it, a FAQ would have been great Insead of having to search. All I wanted to know was whether I needed BOTH Cbills and MC to buy a mech or not. Do you know how hard it was to find the answer to that question? The support for this game is really lacking, and it needs to improve because unlike say quake or medieval warfare, this game is not self explanatory. The lack of ingame help is a serious problem to the barrier of entry. Yes I can find what fire power means on the stat sheets of mechs, but it's harder than it should be.

3. The real world cost of upgrades is far too high. I understand this is sort of copying off a world of tanks type cost model, but this is a niche game, and without a low barrier to entry it won't have the kind of legs it needs to build community. My advice would be to offer a monthy subscription for say, 10.00 or something that gives either an allotment of MC, or a bonus to XP/Cbill gain. (I'm not talking about just buying say 8 dollars worth of MC a month, I'm talking about a subscription model that gives you access to content more like an MMO.) But as it is now, it seems like the Mechs are supposed to be the content, while the maps and game modes are secondary. My advice: lower the cost of a few mechs to use as a stepping stone to higher end models. Though I think the starter mechs are actually okay, the game itself quickly becomes a grind/boring without seeing some kind of progress.


Overall I think this game was released to beta too soon. I only encountered a few crashes and graphics bugs, nothing jaw droping to me. Though someone less technically inclined probably would not have guess that Antialiasing caused issues with my setup. The lack of content though is the real problem, as is the grind like nature of the opening hours of play.

I would rather spend $60 dollars, or have a month subscription on top of it, than to face an unforgiving grind or swipe the card with microtransactions that to me seem way overpriced.

The combat is fun though, and the overall atmosphere is good (The graphics too). The panel that launches the game and configures mechs, likewise is cool. (If a bit cumbersome.)

But until the game has a more compelling real money system, and more content, it's more like a mod than something I could see myself playing for a year or five. But there's a lot of promise buried in this game. Anyway, that's just my .02.

Edited by Wixard, 01 November 2012 - 12:34 PM.

[Wixard]

After hanging around the forums, it seems there's a legion of people who've come to this conclusion before me. But I think my thoughts on being a new player don't seem to often be talked about quite as much.

[Noth]

The reason you don't see these discussed much is because they are already known and have things coming that solve them.

[Blackfire1]

This is Open BETA. Meaning there is still tons of stuff that needs to be added and balanced.

1. Has already been addressed many many times.

2. Has already been addressed and is being fixed as we speak.

3. Cost are balanced to play style and effort to earn. They rotate trials ever two weeks. ect ect.

Use the search function. It'll get you farther.

Edited by Blackfire1, 01 November 2012 - 02:13 PM.

[Slaughterama]

Thank you for a your good example of constructive criticism. Too many people are just crying with no real input lately.

Most of us agree it was too soon for open beta.

As far as the rest of the points you've made, check out the developers corner section of the forums. They have addressed a lot in there.

[PYR0MANCER]

They have had some problems getting going and I think were pushed into open beta before they wanted to get into it... It's a small team, not a major company, and they are working...

Nice post though... Alot of others make me wanna rage on them...

Edited by Tyros the Pyromancer, 01 November 2012 - 02:25 PM.

[Vermaxx]

Wixard, on 01 November 2012 - 12:30 PM, said:

<snip>
I would rather spend $60 dollars, or have a month subscription on top of it, than to face an unforgiving grind or swipe the card with microtransactions that to me seem way overpriced.

The combat is fun though, and the overall atmosphere is good (The graphics too). The panel that launches the game and configures mechs, likewise is cool. (If a bit cumbersome.)

But until the game has a more compelling real money system, and more content, it's more like a mod than something I could see myself playing for a year or five. But there's a lot of promise buried in this game. Anyway, that's just my .02.

I'm kind of confused by your apparent paradox: you would rather buy the game at retail price AND pay a monthly fee instead of control how much you buy and what you spend it on; while at the same time the game is not worth paying for. I assume you were speaking figuratively.

OR, would you rather put down 60 up front, and then 9.95 (theoretically) the very next month, instead of just buying 29.95 worth of MC and spending it frugally? I sure as hell wouldn't. Microtrans operates on the principle that you can gimmick people into spending MORE than a retail title, but smart people with self control can easily spend LESS.

I can sympathize that the current features are not really worth paying money for, but that is the nature of an early buy-in. And, to clarify, this is a beta in the most extreme sense of the word. People keep acting like MWO is a semi-finished product. It isn't. It is a functional version of the combat engine, the guts of every battle. The system that links all those battles together, lets you control who and where and why, adds rewards and penalties, and makes each battle part of an addictive game; none of that is here. We have the combat engine, not a game. We have a very fancy demo, NOT "Mechwarrior Online."

It went to open beta because the production company said so. If you got the PGI guys alone and off the record, they would probably agree that they wanted to ride closed beta longer, but their license was either in jeopardy or the production company wanted to start making money. They can't say this openly, so the quoted the reasons given for open beta.

All of your points were valid, and I'm sorry IF you missed founder. If you did NOT miss it, I am not sorry. If you, now or ever, had any thought that you MIGHT some day spend money on MWO, you should have founded. You get it out of the way up front so if the game dies prematurely you do not feel too bad, and you get far more value out of the purchase. I have zero plans to buy MC at its current price levels, so I am not spending a single slip until there is something worth buying.

[Maver0ick]

I mostly agree with 1 & 2 and I believe the developers have already said they plan the address those.  But I don't understand the problem with 3 for which you suggest:

Wixard, on 01 November 2012 - 12:30 PM, said:

I would rather spend $60 dollars, or have a month subscription on top of it, than to face an unforgiving grind or swipe the card with microtransactions that to me seem way overpriced.

You can already pay to avoid the grind.  For $60 you can get approximately 6 months of premium which gives you the cbill and xp bonus.

Edited by Maverdick, 01 November 2012 - 02:42 PM.

[Wixard]

Vermaxx, on 01 November 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

I'm kind of confused by your apparent paradox: you would rather buy the game at retail price AND pay a monthly fee instead of control how much you buy and what you spend it on; while at the same time the game is not worth paying for. I assume you were speaking figuratively.

OR, would you rather put down 60 up front, and then 9.95 (theoretically) the very next month, instead of just buying 29.95 worth of MC and spending it frugally? I sure as hell wouldn't. Microtrans operates on the principle that you can gimmick people into spending MORE than a retail title, but smart people with self control can easily spend LESS.

I can sympathize that the current features are not really worth paying money for, but that is the nature of an early buy-in. And, to clarify, this is a beta in the most extreme sense of the word. People keep acting like MWO is a semi-finished product. It isn't. It is a functional version of the combat engine, the guts of every battle. The system that links all those battles together, lets you control who and where and why, adds rewards and penalties, and makes each battle part of an addictive game; none of that is here. We have the combat engine, not a game. We have a very fancy demo, NOT "Mechwarrior Online."

It went to open beta because the production company said so. If you got the PGI guys alone and off the record, they would probably agree that they wanted to ride closed beta longer, but their license was either in jeopardy or the production company wanted to start making money. They can't say this openly, so the quoted the reasons given for open beta.

All of your points were valid, and I'm sorry IF you missed founder. If you did NOT miss it, I am not sorry. If you, now or ever, had any thought that you MIGHT some day spend money on MWO, you should have founded. You get it out of the way up front so if the game dies prematurely you do not feel too bad, and you get far more value out of the purchase. I have zero plans to buy MC at its current price levels, so I am not spending a single slip until there is something worth buying.

I was more refering to having a standard MMO subscription model (like WoW or AoC.)

The problem I've seen with F2p games is that they're setup to have a punishing grind that makes for a cash incentive to buy in. Rather than a game like WoW, which also has a grind, but is less severe. (At least the last time I played it.)

So what I was saying is, I would prefer a game setup similar to Chivalry where you purchase a game, then unlock the game as you go. Now the difference betwen that and a F2P model is of course that the severity of the 'grind' isn't the same. In addition in a game like Chivraly, no amount of money can unlock your weapons faster. Now I don't have a problem with F2P in theory, and I've enjoyed a number of them. However having a bulk buy in, or even a subscription model I think would have been a better way to go. Keeping the F2P model is fine, but I wouldn't mind an additional buy in program more like a traditional MMO. (like countrstrike, or even a subscription model.)

And yes I missed the founder's program, infact I'm not even familiar with it. I'm guessing it was pre-order perks.

[Rath Kelbore]

1. Agreed. Think they're planning on adding some stuff though so w/e.

2. Meh maybe. I wasn't confused by the buy mc or buy cbill buttons.

3. MC should be cheaper IMO and Premium accounts give you xp and cbill bonus. It's not a monthly fee but you can buy x amount of MC and use it to buy premium access. So that's pretty much the same thing I think.

If we're still playing the same game mode with the same mechs in a month or so, then I might start complaining. For now however, I think it's coming along alright.

Edited by Rath Kelbore, 01 November 2012 - 02:42 PM.

[Vermaxx]

I think the grind in MWO is far less than 1-90 in WoW. And yes, they are directly comparable because you don't get to do anything 'good' until level cap. You CAN have fun while leveling, just like here if you are grouping and not cheese-grating your skin off for credits.

You don't get to do anything 'good' in MWO until you own a real mech, which is (to me) the equivalent of level 90. I far prefer a game that lets me spend real dollars to completely cut out the 'leveling grind.' I would have bought characters from Blizzard instead of on auction sites if they'd done it. I would have bought gold from Blizzard instead of China. Subscription games exist to prolong your pay period with clear speedbumps to your progress.

I am kinda sorry you missed the founder program actually. It was the only 'good deal' in their pricing model.

[Wixard]

Vermaxx, on 01 November 2012 - 02:43 PM, said:

I think the grind in MWO is far less than 1-90 in WoW. And yes, they are directly comparable because you don't get to do anything 'good' until level cap. You CAN have fun while leveling, just like here if you are grouping and not cheese-grating your skin off for credits.

You don't get to do anything 'good' in MWO until you own a real mech, which is (to me) the equivalent of level 90. I far prefer a game that lets me spend real dollars to completely cut out the 'leveling grind.' I would have bought characters from Blizzard instead of on auction sites if they'd done it. I would have bought gold from Blizzard instead of China. Subscription games exist to prolong your pay period with clear speedbumps to your progress.

I am kinda sorry you missed the founder program actually. It was the only 'good deal' in their pricing model.

I think that's a pretty good comparison. I think my critique then isn't so much the F2P vs Subscription model, but maybe the pricing model itself lacking a good purchase option.

Edited by Wixard, 01 November 2012 - 02:52 PM.

[Vermaxx]

Unfortunately, the pricing completely lacks a "good" option as compared to founder packs. Nothing compares to the Elite Founder option. You can get a decent deal if you spend 49.95 on this game, but you don't get the killer deal.

We should probably stop comparing things because they just annoy the new people who never heard about MWO and therefore had no chance to buy the founder packs. Admittedly, I saw banner ads for MWO on my wife's Pinterest screen, so any level of internet troll theoretically should have been exposed, but I realize many didn't hear about it for whatever reason.