87 replies to this topic

[Volez]

The mechs are just way too expensive in real money, and the trial mechs are too bad. The economy is ridiculously badly designed and is severly limiting gameplay experience, fun, balances, and skill output.
What am i supposed to do as a beginner? The trial mechs are too bad and there are too many difference types of mechs to get a good idea of what is really good by playing the trials. So should i buy 10 $30 mechs and try which one i like.......? And then only be abled to use it half of the time because the developers care more about a roleplaying-wise economy than actual gameplay?
Normally i would have no trouble dumping abit of money into a game but i dont even see a reasonable possibilty here.....

[Maelstroem]

ok

[SonOfBDEC]

Well, first off, there's generally a new set of trial mechs every month. They're there to give you a variety, and see what type of fighting you're good with. LRMs, PPCs, or Lasers and ACs, being a scout, or a brawler, or a missleboat. It's just about finding your place.

Second off, if you can get used to the trial mechs, even BUY one of them as your first mech, then you can customize it, and decide what you're BEST at.

And if you're really needing CBills that much, go find a group, and learn from them, and gain CBills while you're at it.

Currently, there's no real issue with the economy, though it takes a bit of time to get started. (Assuming 70K per match, at about 10 minutes per match, a solid hour of playing will get you almost 500K) So, at 2 hours, you just made your first million. A solid weekend of playing will drop you at anywhere from 5-10 Million, depending on how long you play.

EDIT:

This is just what I've seen, what I've discovered. For others it may be different

Edited by SonOfBDEC, 16 December 2012 - 01:30 PM.

[Wraith05]

Volez, on 16 December 2012 - 01:21 PM, said:

The mechs are just way too expensive in real money, and the trial mechs are too bad. The economy is ridiculously badly designed and is severly limiting gameplay experience, fun, balances, and skill output.
What am i supposed to do as a beginner? The trial mechs are too bad and there are too many difference types of mechs to get a good idea of what is really good by playing the trials. So should i buy 10 $30 mechs and try which one i like.......? And then only be abled to use it half of the time because the developers care more about a roleplaying-wise economy than actual gameplay?
Normally i would have no trouble dumping abit of money into a game but i dont even see a reasonable possibilty here.....

I feel that:

1) $ pricetag for mechs is too high.
2) the CBill grind is about where it should be
3) Trial mech grind for beginners is too rough to keep them interested.

My suggestions are:

Adjust the MC pricetag on mechs


Give a new player a choice between 3-4 medium mechs varients as his own personal "founder mech". I say medium because they are suppose to be the workhorse mechs, can fulfill a decent number of roles and they aren't the "best" out there either. And keep the trials available so they can still try out different tonnage mechs before making a purchase.

[Ozric]

In all fairness, the new player experience is pretty rough right now. If you don't have the mental fortitude to get through the grind to your first viable mech, and I couldn't blame you for that, perhaps you should just come back in a month and see if anything has changed. The new player experience is on the devs radar for sure.

As for the prices, well, when there are no whales left in the sea even the whalers must fish for the small fry.

[Wizard Steve]

So crack open your wallets and stop sponging off the rest of us.

[Star Wolves Admin Account]

I would suggest using trial mechs and saving up enough for a jenner or a commando. You're probably looking at around 30 games or so to get there. Not all of the trial mechs are bad either the awesome and cataphract are pretty nice. Both the jenner and commando are cheap and really good money makers if customized. Streak commandos have really good dps and upgraded jenners with double heat sinks and endo, ferro are really good.

Edited by Blueduck, 16 December 2012 - 01:40 PM.

[hammerreborn]

Well good news is that come next patch if they keep to the schedule they are improving new user experience by significantly improving the money you obtain from your first 25 matches to get that new shiny mech faster.

[Wraith05]

Wizard Steve, on 16 December 2012 - 01:37 PM, said:

So crack open your wallets and stop sponging off the rest of us.

I think that is part of the problem.

As a new player to a game he may not want to spend $20-$30 on something JUST to see if he actually likes the game. It's like saying pay $20 for a demo to see if you like it, then pay 60 for the game.

[DrBlue62]

The current mech prices are fine, the most expensive mech takes three hours of minimum wage to earn. If you have not the time to grind out cbills and nor the money to buy a mech then you should probably focus more on real life rather than a game.

Giving new comers a mech they can customize is something I can agree with however, trials are just terrible. Any selection from the medium variants apart from the ones with XL would do.

[PANZERBUNNY]

Play games.

Generate a bank roll.

Use credits to buy stuff.

You know like every other game out there where you earn money from playing the game and killing stuff.

Are you straight off the boat from Tetris or something?

[MadPanda]

Volez, on 16 December 2012 - 01:21 PM, said:

The mechs are just way too expensive in real money, and the trial mechs are too bad. The economy is ridiculously badly designed and is severly limiting gameplay experience, fun, balances, and skill output.
What am i supposed to do as a beginner? The trial mechs are too bad and there are too many difference types of mechs to get a good idea of what is really good by playing the trials. So should i buy 10 $30 mechs and try which one i like.......? And then only be abled to use it half of the time because the developers care more about a roleplaying-wise economy than actual gameplay?
Normally i would have no trouble dumping abit of money into a game but i dont even see a reasonable possibilty here.....

How do you think other people got to playing this game and loving the game? If you didn't feel that this game was good enough based on your experience with the trials for you to spend money on it or keep up with the grind, then by all means go play another game.

The next thing I'm gonna say may come as an emotional shock to you; nobody cares if you choose not to play this game. There is big enough of a player base atm that you can get into a 8v8 game at any time of the day with less than a 15 second queue time. One newbie decided this isnt a game for him? Sorry didn't notice any difference with my experience with mwo.

[Wraith05]

DrBlue62, on 16 December 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

The current mech prices are fine, the most expensive mech takes three hours of minimum wage to earn. If you have not the time to grind out cbills and nor the money to buy a mech then you should probably focus more on real life rather than a game.

Giving new comers a mech they can customize is something I can agree with however, trials are just terrible. Any selection from the medium variants apart from the ones with XL would do.

I'm not meaning this to be mean at all so please don't read it that way.

But how old are you? do you have a job? Do you have bills on top of it? Other interests besides this game?

And in fairness I'll answer my own questions.

I am 25, I have a job in which I make roughly $14/hour. I have student loans and other bills that leaves me roughly 100-200 a month to spend on myself. And I do have other interests that take some $ to partake in.

Now yes I already spent $60 on the game because I know I liked mechwarrior and took a leap of faith. (of which i'm happy with the results).

But a new player coming in playing in trials to see if they actually do like this game or not may be turned away from the game due to a poor experience. Some people will base their decision to put money into this game instead of another hobby based on their first impressions.

So I'm sorry sir but with my budget, if I was new to mechwarrior and played in the trials for roughly 10 games I would not feel it worth putting real money towards continuing my MWO experience.

[Taranchio]

I started ... err... a week ago.

I think it took about a day (no idea on play time) of grinding in trial mechs till I could get a cheapish light.

I wanted to play with lights anyway... so... that was great. If you get a cheap commando and just run arround spotting then paying 2,000,000 cb to get 100k cb about for each match and some gxp and pilot xp seems worth it. I have 2 ravens (neither are 3L :-P) and a centurion now. I suppose they could raise the rewards on the trial mechs a bit... but in the end, since you arent paying for repairs on them the returns arent that much lower than they might otherwise be.

Sure they are not the most efficient layouts. But they have a good mix of the weapons available and honestly learning to manage heat in a badly set up trial mech just makes the extra efficiency of your custom build so much more appreciated.

I am a veteran of Mechwarrior and all sorts of similar games... (miss the AI upgrades system in Heavy Gear) so I suppose my experience (as somebody that grew up with way more sims than simpler twitch games) will be quite a bit different from a FPS generation gamers experience.

Not sure If I want them to mess with this too much right now rather than focussing on other things first though. I would prefer they focus on keeping the players they have for at least till most of their final plans are in place, then they can mess with exploding the number of new players all they want.

[Wraith05]

MadPanda, on 16 December 2012 - 01:46 PM, said:

How do you think other people got to playing this game and loving the game? If you didn't feel that this game was good enough based on your experience with the trials for you to spend money on it or keep up with the grind, then by all means go play another game.

The next thing I'm gonna say may come as an emotional shock to you; nobody cares if you choose not to play this game. There is big enough of a player base atm that you can get into a 8v8 game at any time of the day with less than a 15 second queue time. One newbie decided this isnt a game for him? Sorry didn't notice any difference with my experience with mwo.

For now yes. But PGI is a business and while 1 or 2 people may not matter. If new players don't like the game your money flow will stagnate and you won't make a profit. The more players, the more likely some of them will drop real cash.

[Volez]

I case of buying the lights? Which type of commando is the best? (and in case anyone is like, hurr depends on your playstyle..., my playstyle is wanting to play the most effective mech)

[Wraith05]

Volez, on 16 December 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

I case of buying the lights? Which type of commando is the best? (and in case anyone is like, hurr depends on your playstyle..., my playstyle is wanting to play the most effective mech)

The one that can equip the ECM. Or the one with the most missle slots. Not sure if same mech or not.

Also with that play style you'll be switching mechs like mad as nerfs and buffs come. I recommend finding a role you enjoy filing the most and base your mech decisions off that.

Edited by Wraith05, 16 December 2012 - 02:05 PM.

[Aurien Titus]

DrBlue62, on 16 December 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

The current mech prices are fine, the most expensive mech takes three hours of minimum wage to earn. If you have not the time to grind out cbills and nor the money to buy a mech then you should probably focus more on real life rather than a game.

Giving new comers a mech they can customize is something I can agree with however, trials are just terrible. Any selection from the medium variants apart from the ones with XL would do.

I think you need to check your math. In 3 hours, or 180 minutes, if you're averaging 10 minute matches you can get in 18 matches. Even if you're earning 250,000 C-Bills per match that's only 4,500,000 C-Bills. That's not including any repair/re-arm costs you've incurred. Plus to make that kind of money consistently you're going to need premium time minimum. I've been saving to buy an Atlas D-DC which costs about 10,400,000 C-Bills. To earn that at minimum wage, ie no premium time and just trial 'mechs. If we assume 100,000 C-Bills earned per match, once again always doing good, using a trial 'mech per mach that would only take 87 matches. With 10 minute game matches that would only take 17½ hours of game play to earn the money to buy one of the most expensive 'mechs.

[PANZERBUNNY]

Wraith05, on 16 December 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

For now yes. But PGI is a business and while 1 or 2 people may not matter. If new players don't like the game your money flow will stagnate and you won't make a profit. The more players, the more likely some of them will drop real cash.

There are glaring holes in their business plan without even touching on trial mechs.

All their sources of MC revenue seem to be geared at less people at a higher price, instead of more,w ay more people at a lower price. Moving more profitable units.

[Franchi]

the trial grind would be OK if the trail mechs weren't deathtraps for anyone who isn't an uber experienced mechwarrior, the problem is they are.

Aurien Titus, on 16 December 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

I think you need to check your math. In 3 hours, or 180 minutes, if you're averaging 10 minute matches you can get in 18 matches. Even if you're earning 250,000 C-Bills per match that's only 4,500,000 C-Bills. That's not including any repair/re-arm costs you've incurred. Plus to make that kind of money consistently you're going to need premium time minimum. I've been saving to buy an Atlas D-DC which costs about 10,400,000 C-Bills. To earn that at minimum wage, ie no premium time and just trial 'mechs. If we assume 100,000 C-Bills earned per match, once again always doing good, using a trial 'mech per mach that would only take 87 matches. With 10 minute game matches that would only take 17½ hours of game play to earn the money to buy one of the most expensive 'mechs.

He is referring to American minimum wage, $5.15 an hour.