8 replies to this topic

[Mister Blastman]

I've spent a lot of time in Team Fortress 2... 1599 hours to be precise. I've played it since the day it came out and even for a few weeks before. I paid for the Orange box and it was worth every cent.

Team Fortress 2 wasn't free-to-play at first. It eventually became it. They are as I see it, very successful pioneers in the category. They let you buy all sorts of bling/weapons/items etc. They let you pay CASH for these items too.

However, they do one nifty little thing that PGI, you could learn a lot from and try yourselves.

They give you items in random drops!

Some items have a higher chance to be received while others have a much smaller. There are a few exceedingly rare items (unusual hats) that can never be found in a drop and must be found in a random crate drop which costs the price of a key (a couple of dollars). Most of these unusual hats end up costing someone between 50 - 150 bucks to get... some sell on the trading exchanges for 700 bucks.

Team Fortress 2 also has festive items for every season. They let you buy these items too. They also let them be found in drops.

On average, every single user should expect to receive about one, maybe two of these items for FREE from random drops over the course of the season--say Christmas, Halloween etc. The only catch is... They must PLAY the game to have a chance at getting them. The more the play, the higher the odds they'll get one in a drop.

PGI--are you paying attention here. That paragraph above, that is the most important part.

Team Fortress 2 lures people into playing MORE by letting them have a small but reasonable chance they'll get a couple of those festive items for free, randomly, at some point. Nobody gets them all for free, it is practically impossible (however someone might be REALLY lucky to get most) so those who want more... end up spending money! Lots of money!

Call it a little goodwill to boost the spirits... that ends up boosting their wallets.

Think about it. I like the festive stuff. It is really nice! It'd also be nice to see more faces in the game.

Why not dangle a carrot that we might catch a little of--maybe some tastes of? It could only HELP this game in the long run.

Edited by Mister Blastman, 04 December 2012 - 11:58 AM.

[Socket7]

Drops are already implemented in game in the form of salvage bonuses.

You are rewarded for cutting the arms and legs off of your enemies in the form of C-bills. Thats right, this game rewards dismemberment. How awesome is that? Furthermore this C-bill reward is consistent and allows your bonus to be spent on whatever you want, as opposed to dropping items on you that you might not be able to use.

What is a randomly dropped AC20 going to do for a raven pilot?

What will a dropped ECM do for a hunchback pilot?

Salvage is where it's at, and if you bother to cut off the limbs of your enemies the bonuses for doing so are quite significant. I'm not even very good at it and I've gotten over 30K in salvage bonuses.

[Lin Shai]

Mister Blastman, on 04 December 2012 - 11:57 AM, said:

Team Fortress 2 wasn't free-to-play at first. It eventually became it. They are as I see it, very successful pioneers in the category. They let you buy all sorts of bling/weapons/items etc. They let you pay CASH for these items too.

::sigh::

TF2 is a unique and completely non-reproducible F2P model.

The reason their model is so awesome is that it's a long-tail sales strategy. They sold millions of copies of the game at retail, paying for all their development costs and making a huge profit. Once they'd sold pretty much every copy they were ever going to sell, they came up with a "Free to Play" model that extended this income, leveraging an enormous and loyal fan base.

They never had to fund the game with it, and they have millions of players.

And that's ignoring that they (valve) don't even run all the servers; it's a completely different type of game.

[Socket7]

But Lin, he's played TF2 for over 2 straight months.

He must know everything about MWO with that much experience in a different game. We should listen.

[Lin Shai]

Socket7, on 04 December 2012 - 12:07 PM, said:

But Lin, he's played TF2 for over 2 straight months.

He must know everything about MWO with that much experience in a different game. We should listen.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm not really a fan of "Free to Play" in general, and my personal opinion is that PGI's current pricing is a complete departure from reality in terms of what they're charging and where the game is in terms of value for your money compared to other games.

That being said, I just hate it when people post things that are simply not feasible or ill-informed.

[mekabuser]

irregardless, he speaks of creative ways to earn the dough.
So far, nothing creative going on here, not even a promo or sale items, or free anything via facebook or what not. Nada.
Hell , theres not even one single easter egg as far as I can see.
No buzz...
Its not as if hes blasting the game<no pun intended>, its a suggestion to improve the game or player experience.

[Socket7]

For 15 bucks I got myself a mech and a month of premium time, and I've got MC left over still for a few extra mechbays or a paint job. Seems a good deal to me.

I've got no desire for flair in my mech. What tactical advantage does a bobble head give me? Nothing.

At least camo can theoretically make me harder to see on a map.

There are certainly things that are out of whack with the pricing structures, but I opt not to use them. They don't drive me away as a player, and bobble heads aren't going to tip the scales for a player on the fence. "Well, I don't really like the genre or the way the game plays but gosh darn it, I might randomly get a hat! I gotta play this." is a sentence that has never been uttered without sarcasm.

I too hate when people post infeasible, ill informed ideas like "random drops should be included"

I mean, does everyone on your team get a hat? or is it just 1 person on the team? Does there need to be a trial of honor to decide who the hat goes to? When you can make so much money on salvage that can be used to buy actual weapons, does randomly dropping hats really make the game better?

[Lin Shai]

Socket7, on 04 December 2012 - 12:28 PM, said:

For 15 bucks I got myself a mech and a month of premium time, and I've got MC left over still for a few extra mechbays or a paint job. Seems a good deal to me.

So, it is, but only if you're really into the game and can ignore all the problems and don't care that it's not finished.

I've had to clarify my thinking on this a bit to better describe how I feel about their pricing.

Their pricing is fine for a year from now if they manage to not crash and burn and produce the game they have said they're going to produce.

IMHO in this "open beta" when the game is super-buggy and half finished, they should be heavily discounting MC. But they can't do that because they'd **** off the 80k founders they sold MC to. So at the very least things should be super-cheap in terms of MC costs, then raise the prices later.

Quite simply, I don't think the value is there when compared to other F2P games.

[Mister Blastman]

Lin Shai, on 04 December 2012 - 12:04 PM, said:

They never had to fund the game with it, and they have millions of players.

And PGI collected millions from the founders. What is the harm in making MORE money than they would without doing something like I suggested?

PGI wins in the end. We all win. Give players a taste... and they want more!