11 replies to this topic

[Darkfire66]

So, instead of being stuck in crappy trial mechs, let people buy a mech on credit.

20% of the money goes towards paying interest back, and then 70 % goes to the mech payment, and 30% goes to the account. This way they get XP, get a little money to customize, and they are still encouraged to keep playing and not just suicide.

[matux]

Honestly not a fan of this. Instead doing missions/objectives in trial mechs, would be more enjoyable from my point of view. *eg get x kills in each trial gives cbill bonus" win x gives cbill bonus as once of rewards to help players along. it would also be more of an incentive to play each mech to a point where you have learned how they work or better idea before you spend those cbills on something you may not like

Edited by matux, 17 November 2012 - 03:27 AM.

[KBob]

Darkfire66, on 17 November 2012 - 01:12 AM, said:

So, instead of being stuck in crappy trial mechs, let people buy a mech on credit.

20% of the money goes towards paying interest back, and then 70 % goes to the mech payment, and 30% goes to the account. This way they get XP, get a little money to customize, and they are still encouraged to keep playing and not just suicide.

when metagame is in place, I'd like to see banks that lend people money ( cBills ) to get mechs in exchange of percentage of the income etc. ( provided that metagame allows debtjails )

[cmopatrick]

i actually think that with a bit of tweaking, the op has a reasonable and doable point. i do think that to do it right, houses and units would need to have something similar but modifiable to suit their needs. being able to drop in a stock mech as a lone wolf would mean the bank gets involved, but if you are in a great house, a merc unit, or (when we finally have the option) a Clan, their rules for how you would be able to buy a mech should be more nuanced to the unit structure (maybe have them submit a tweak sheet to pgi for approval before allowing it... to prevent unit x from giving away mechs just to get recruits only to have them leave immediately).

another thought would be that once mm actually works for unit play, units may be able to field a stable of mechs (only in unit play, never in daily pugs) that they can assign to pilots for the duration of a match or series of matches, or long term league or match play. in other words, they are owned by the unit (much like a house or clan owns the mechs, even though the pilot has some leeway in customizing it). it is only in the pilot's inventory for those type drops. this might also promote unit discipline, since the commander may well be able to restrict or take away a pilot's right to drop a unit mech, forcing them to bring their own or not drop with the unit. repair costs would be absorbed by the unit and income go to the unit to be distributed as they see fit. xp/gxp would still be the pilot's for the chassis and they would be able to level its skills accordingly.

Edited by cmopatrick, 17 November 2012 - 10:05 AM.

[Spirit of the Wolf]

I can say that there are times I'd love this, but it would also need a security system in place so that it wouldn't be able to be hacked by players or exploited.

I can tell it would take a lot of coding, but players should be able to do something like this for at least a few mechs. (Maybe only one or two variants per chassis, though.)

This gets my vote, but it needs tweaking, as cmopatrick has said.

[sycocys]

With the speed you can rack up c-bills in a Commando or Jenner simply through spotting - then - assisting your team and the short amount of time it takes to get into either one, I just don't see the need for this.

Another thing is if your mission is to get into a mech/out of trials faster there is a method already built in to speed that process up. Buy some MC and then go buy a mech.

The trials are there to introduce you to the gameplay and get you into your first light mech, if you want to fast track buy into the game as that's the way the f2p model here is designed so that the gameplay itself stays balanced.

[Moonsavage]

OP says Trial mechs are crappy. In comparison to a customized mech, he has a point. (Actually I prefer the term "Balanced" rather than crappy, but there you go)

BUT the OP may have missed that the cost to customize a mech is generally much higher than the mech's cost itself. I believe it would actually be faster to save the entire amount for a mech, then start earning customization money, than buy a mech on credit, and not be able to afford to **** it, because you're paying off your "student" loan.

[Bhael Fire]

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

I'm fine with trial mechs just the way they are.

[Zirand]

In my opinion I think this would be horrible for the free to play business model. Impatience is one of the big money makers. That's the reason for the option to purchase new mechs with MC. If you can just get a loan so to speak for c-bills, it knocks that income source out.

Personally I think PGI would do better working on balancing repair/rearm costs to make working for a new mech more fun and less painful.

[sycocys]

Zirand, on 19 November 2012 - 06:44 PM, said:

In my opinion I think this would be horrible for the free to play business model. Impatience is one of the big money makers. That's the reason for the option to purchase new mechs with MC. If you can just get a loan so to speak for c-bills, it knocks that income source out.

Personally I think PGI would do better working on balancing repair/rearm costs to make working for a new mech more fun and less painful.

Take out a loan from your credit card!
We can't just kill the f2p model because people want things now and free (essentially) - you get to test things out with the trials and even earn enough to get into whatever mech you want, or the option to speed things up. The power to choose which route to take is up to you.

[Zirand]

Not sure if you're just agreeing with me, or I didn't explain my position clearly.

I think the way it's structured now is just fine. I could argue about prices, but that's not the point.
If you're impatient and want the mech now, you can just buy it with real money.
If you're broke, take advantage of the free to play and just work your way to the mech you want.

[sycocys]

Totally agreeing with you - just dawned on me to frame it in the form of the post's title. Taking out a loan - and if you want to fast track with a loan who you could get a loan from.

I agree the stock prices may be a little meh, but if cutting out the grind is your goal, well then it's probably not the worst case considering what other f2ps sell consumable items for.