127 replies to this topic

[Dogtoy]

In Free to Play games their are two types of players Whales and Minnows

Minnows - most players, have more time then money. Will grind for hours to get unlocks

Whales - a small number of players have more money then time. Only can play for a short time each night, make up for time spent with money.

I'm a Whale and a Founder, I have a demanding job, I've happily spent over 1000.00 in league of legends. Because of my job I get to play less than an hour a night. I love mech games, LOVE THEM. But half the game for me is custimizing my mech (If I just wanted to shoot I'd play an FPS)

That said lets look at the current pricing model:

For 48.95 I can get 12,000 MC. For 4,195 MC or 17dollars I can buy an Atlas AS7-D-DC mech, thats 1 varrient of a mech for 17 dollars.

Alternitivly I could grind for that mech. I get to play about 5 rounds a night on average. At 200k a round (thats way higher then I get on average after repair costs but we'll hedge) I'd make about 1,000,000 a night. So in 10.5 nights I might be able to buy the same mech.

Really though In order for me to be happy I want to try a new build with my mech and play 5 matches. I'm a builder, I like to build stuff even more then I like to fight. So Lets say I want to try a XL 260 in my cat.

The XL 260 alone costs 4,246,667. So for just this one modification I could either play for 4+ nights or I could buy and sell a mech for the money. Buying the atlas AS7-D-DC I could sell it with items for 5,109,320 leaving me a bit of money left over after the upgrade.

Going down that path swaping out that engine would cost me 14 dollars. Changing out my heat syncs to double would cost around 5 dollars. Realizing I don't like the way the mech plays and switching back to single another 2.5 dollars it goes on...

Basicly for me to experiment with builds I'd be spending at least 10 dollars a night or 70 dollars a week. Not going to happen. I could buy a full retail games and get the same enjoyment out of it... Or 7 champs in league of legends! (actually alot more then 7) or load up MW2...

Your buisness model needs some love. As is my founders money is all your going to get. I'd drop another 100 into this game this week, if I got what my money was worth. Just to be clear I would expect 100 (or even the 80 dollars of MC I got with my founders account...) to buy all content at release. Then I would happily spend 20 bucks a week for all time to buy a new mech and custimize it out. You could potentially be making 1040 bucks a year from me! Please fix your pricing.

Edited by Dogtoy, 10 November 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[Exlor]

I don't think everything needs to have an MC price. That would give too much disparity between whales and minnows. However, I am in favor of giving players the ability to convert MC to C-Bills, but at an expensive price so that it won't go overboard.

[Sevaradan]

Prices are fine. In fact comparing the best premium tank in WOT the Lowe which cost ~$45 iirc vs 17 for an atlas the largest heaviest mech in game its pretty cheep.

[Fugu]

Sevaradan, on 10 November 2012 - 09:44 AM, said:

Prices are fine. In fact comparing the best premium tank in WOT the Lowe which cost ~$45 iirc vs 17 for an atlas the largest heaviest mech in game its pretty cheep.

I view that argument as invalid as WoT has horrible pricing and gold ammo and thus should never be used as an example for reasonable pricing.

Also, it's "Löwe".

[Greyfyl]

Sevaradan, on 10 November 2012 - 09:44 AM, said:

Prices are fine. In fact comparing the best premium tank in WOT the Lowe which cost ~$45 iirc vs 17 for an atlas the largest heaviest mech in game its pretty cheep.

F2P developers love people like you.

Prices are ridiculous to say the least. Let me pay a $60 one time fee that let's me build any mech I want. Charge me for expansions. I don't want grinding in my MW game.

[Elizander]

Maybe someone should just post the sell prices of all the mechs in the game and compare it to the MC costs to find the best conversion rate.

[Sevaradan]

Yes I know its supposed to have the stupid dots over the O, but not going to waste time doing it.

Greyfyl, on 10 November 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

F2P developers love people like you.

You mean people who make enough that paying $17 for a virtual stompy robot doesn't reduce their standard of living and force them to live off ramen noodles?

Edited by Sevaradan, 10 November 2012 - 09:55 AM.

[UraniumOverdose]

Stop complaining about the grind. Your first mech should be a mech you will always enjoy. Spend about 15 bucks, buy a heavy or smaller mech with MC, spend the rest on premium time. Before 3 days are up you will have 10 million or more cbills after fully kitting out your mech. Stop crying about money, when you don't HAVE to spend a dime. In a months time, MC and Free players alike will have more cbills then they know what to do with.

[geck0 icaza]

Exlor, on 10 November 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

I don't think everything needs to have an MC price. That would give too much disparity between whales and minnows. However, I am in favor of giving players the ability to convert MC to C-Bills, but at an expensive price so that it won't go overboard.

They already do, Buy an Atlas K and sell it back. I know its not the same thing but it achieves the same results.

From someone who works in billing department in a free to play gaming company, 1000 dollars is chump change. Don't get me wrong, I consider that a lot of money. But by no means does that make you a whale. Now if you spent that a week or every 2 weeks, then you'd be considered a whale.

[UraniumOverdose]

If you have enough disposable income to spend 1000 dollars on a game every other week, you really need to get outside and enjoy life. Seriously, the things I could do with that kind of disposable income.

[Elizander]

UraniumOverdose, on 10 November 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

If you have enough disposable income to spend 1000 dollars on a game every other week, you really need to get outside and enjoy life. Seriously, the things I could do with that kind of disposable income.

His money, his choice. That reminds me, I just came from a recent event where a player spent around $2,300 buying one weapon in one of the local games. Another game has regular monthly events where people buy in-game items for around $700 a piece.

Edited by Elizander, 10 November 2012 - 10:18 AM.

[Cleverbird]

It's almost like all you people are new to F2P games

[The Herrick]

Fugu, on 10 November 2012 - 09:46 AM, said:

I view that argument as invalid as WoT has horrible pricing and gold ammo and thus should never be used as an example for reasonable pricing.

Also, it's "Löwe".

Not to mention a tier 8 tank and an assault are not the same thing. Atlases are often scared of smaller and cheaper mechs chewing their rear. But hey, he probably heard the Löwe argument and thought he could just parrot it back endlessly.

[bensphynx]

Engines are expensive. Maybe consider buying mechs that have different sizes of XL engines, and swap them between then mechs you are interested in. Slowly build a collection of different engines/weapons etc - once you have them, it costs nothing to try them on a different mech.
Although it is not such a good idea to keep swapping between upgrades, as the price is based on the change, rather than owning something.

[Sevaradan]

The Herrick, on 10 November 2012 - 10:21 AM, said:

Not to mention a tier 8 tank and an assault are not the same thing. Atlases are often scared of smaller and cheaper mechs chewing their rear. But hey, he probably heard the Löwe argument and thought he could just parrot it back endlessly.

um... no. It is relevant as they are both the most expensive real money purchase vehicles. Not to mention that the lowe with its weak armor can die pretty easily too

[Lefty Lucy]

Right now the only thing worth spending MC on is premium time, and that's only if you can actually play a decent amount.

[BertyBargo]

I do agree: The MC pricing is somewhat inconsistent. Why is YLW, a medium mech whose only remarkable equipment is its ac20, just about as much as a fully kitted Awesome? I cant justify spending one assault mech's worth of MC on a medium mech with 2 lasers and an AC20 that only nets me +30% creds. In comparison, a vanilla Centurion is just about 1200-ish MC.
I do hope they lower some of the prices of unique mechs in the future. I like collecting mechs (and tanks in WoT), especially if they're limited edition.

[The Herrick]

Sevaradan, on 10 November 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

um... no. It is relevant as they are both the most expensive real money purchase vehicles. Not to mention that the lowe with its weak armor can die pretty easily too

And your argument is still "Well sure he's beating us with a stick, but I saw another guy getting railed on by a metal pipe so it could be worse."

Also the Lowe is premium only, so really the only comparable one is the Yeng-lo-wang. If you are going to defend things at least do it properly.

[Ritter Cuda]

Sevaradan, on 10 November 2012 - 09:44 AM, said:

Prices are fine. In fact comparing the best premium tank in WOT the Lowe which cost ~$45 iirc vs 17 for an atlas the largest heaviest mech in game its pretty cheep.

your a bit off .the lowe is a substanderd tiger. In this game you can buy any WoT teir 10 for $ and have the same teir 10 as everyine else. So you can buy atlas or play the game and earn cb to do the same. I think the price works if was lower lets say $5 for Atlass we would only have Atlas slugfest.

[Piotr]

As I said many times before this game went open beta, its clearly less F2P and more P2P type of game. The main focus of the devs is to pull as much money from players as possible as a first priority. All aspects of the game when being implmented they are thinking how can we milk people for more, and not how enjoyable or beneficial to the over all game it would be. Honestly im getting sick of all these F2P games that are really not F2P but just throw the term out there cause its the new "it" in the industry. I actually miss the classic sub system cause at least then I know the devs are more focused on the game then on the money making, and I get full access to all content without having to pay for it.

I say bring back the old sub systems, just dont charge for the initial package like in the past. Paying $50 for a months worth of game time, just to have a box art never appealed to me.

Also when they add clan stuff i have a feeling its going to be all pay to use type of stuff, just cause this developer seems to be that type of group.