76 replies to this topic

[Kanatta Jing]

So one of the things we can buy is Mechs. So about what should a Mech be worth?

For example the stock Centurion listed at 3,491,500 C-bills on Sarna. How much money do you want to pay to get one?

http://www.sarna.net...ion_(BattleMech)

[UncleKulikov]

I'd like to say $5 individually, $2.50 in large packs.

[Arbhall Sommers]

Yup I agree, 5-10 bucks per mech. Nothing really special about the mech, other than a faction specific paint job. Some sweet special effects like a glowing pulse effect sillouetting a mech after it fires a Gauss Rifle. Spectacular damage effects when its hit, or a comical wounded leg walk.
Flickering lights and sparks from engine hits unique to this mech, along with different computer voices. I am paying for a mech with a unique experience while i play it.
Yes i know each one of these represents dozens if not hundreds of hours modeling, skinning, and animating, not to mention coding and then testing.
It should cost more than that to represent the effort gone into making it. But im thinking they could have something special with small tweeks like these spread over a bunch of mechs, so that there is a reason for thousands of players to drop a dime on a virtual nerdsuit.
Just shooting in the dark here.

[Zephram Zaphod]

It's hard to say. It depends on how long it takes to get 3,491,500 C-Bills in game through normal play after repairs and maintenance. Time = Money, Money = Time, therefor the ratio of Time to Money both in game and cash needs to be fixed (or at least generalized) before an amount can be set.

[StandingCow]

Ehhh, for a mech I am thinking around 10 bucks.

[Zakatak]

1$ USD --> 2000000$ C-Bills

Edited by Zakatak, 18 May 2012 - 11:05 PM.

[VarietyOfCells]

I'd say around $10 as well. Though I'd pay $20 if I was put over a barrel. I think I'd stick with one mech for a while if that was the case, but I could see myself buying more if they were $10.

[ChalybsUmbra]

Well, considering there are at least 10 mechs for now, and probably 12 or more by the time of launch, and we assume that buying all the mechs is akin to having about 60% of the purchasable things in the game, and a game of this caliber is worth $50.

($50/12mechs) * (.6ofcontent) = $2.50 per mech

But ultimately this depends on how much in-game currency we gain per match. If we gain about $0.03 worth every match, it will take about 83.33 matches, which at 15 minutes each can be ~21 hours to buy one mech. This seems slow, but fair to me, since if the player can put in 10-20 hours per week, on average they'll unlock a new mech every 1.4 weeks. Of course factoring in maintenance of your mechs can slow this down significantly. But this kinda gives an idea of how much real money is worth, which for a free2play game should be worth your time you'd spend otherwise.

Edited by ChalybsUmbra, 19 May 2012 - 12:00 AM.

[Redshift2k5]

Of course there may also be a wide range of costs for mechs based on their loadout/equipment/variant, as well as overall difficulty, and a Raven should cost more than a Jenner.

Less than $5 CAD (yes, I went there) for what could be considered basic, average, and not difficult mechs, and less than $10 for fancier, more specialized mechs.

Bundles of mech/boost/cosmetics, or mech/variant/variant for less than the sum of their parts would be welcome as well.

It will really depend on how long it would take to grind it out otherwise, you're paying for the time you would've spent to grind for it (mechs and armaments being all available for C-bills), and we don't know how long that takes.

Edited by Redshift2k5, 19 May 2012 - 03:45 AM.

[Jakebob]

comparing to examples in other games, I'd bet it'll be more like $15-$20 or so... WoT has an extreme one (the Lowe is $35 or so I think), but that seems a little excessive to me.

It'll be an economic balance for the devs... you want to keep them rare, but you want enough people to buy them so they are seen and so you make money off them.

Personally, I'd seriously think about shelling out $50 for an Unseen Marauder if the opportunity arose. (just don't tell my wife)

[Morashtak]

Please add any thoughts you may have to here. Thank you.

[Siilk]

I say $0. Mech should not be boughtable with cache, period. "Mech hats" should be the only thing that could be bought with real money.

[Kanatta Jing]

Siilk, on 19 May 2012 - 11:35 AM, said:

I say $0. Mech should not be boughtable with cache, period. "Mech hats" should be the only thing that could be bought with real money.

The Mechbay videos that we have seen shows a "buy with Mech credits" option when buying Mechs.

You don't have to like it, but it is clearly the Intention of the developers at this time to let people buy Mechs with RL cash.

[McSniffles]

Because there aren't that many mechs (compared to lets say champions in league of legends) I think they should be about 10 bucks a mech.

[ChalybsUmbra]

Siilk, on 19 May 2012 - 11:35 AM, said:

I say $0. Mech should not be boughtable with cache, period. "Mech hats" should be the only thing that could be bought with real money.

I mean just look at that spelling and grammar.

[Morashtak]

McSniffles, on 19 May 2012 - 01:25 PM, said:

Because there aren't that many mechs (compared to lets say champions in league of legends) I think they should be about 10 bucks a mech.

See the Mech Lab video. The Mechs are listed at different MC prices;

Jenner - 500
Hunchback - 600
Catapult - 700
Dragon - 700
Atlas - 900

Will interesting to see what 100 MC will end up costing in real money. If 1:1 then... oops, real life currency conversion will be needed. Hate to see our British friends have to pay 5 pounds for a Jenner when we colonists only have to shell out 5 bucks.

[ChalybsUmbra]

Morashtak, on 19 May 2012 - 01:30 PM, said:

See the Mech Lab video. The Mechs are listed at different MC prices;

Jenner - 500
Hunchback - 600
Catapult - 700
Dragon - 700
Atlas - 900

Will interesting to see what 100 MC will end up costing in real money. If 1:1 then... oops, real life currency conversion will be needed. Hate to see our British friends have to pay 5 pounds for a Jenner when we colonists only have to shell out 5 bucks.

Looks like they're going to use the standard Microsoft Points currency. That is 800 points = $10. Bioware also uses this same model for Mass Effect 3 on the PC. It also makes it very difficult to fully use every point, meaning there's always going to be points we don't use but end up paying for anyways. And of course they have real life currency conversions, otherwise I'll buy my credits in yen.

Edited by ChalybsUmbra, 19 May 2012 - 01:40 PM.

[Zakatak]

Commando = 1.900.000 C-Bills
Commando = 1.900.000 USD

Fair conversion?

[Pvt Dancer]

Kanatta Jing, on 18 May 2012 - 10:16 PM, said:

So one of the things we can buy is Mechs. So about what should a Mech be worth?

For example the stock Centurion listed at 3,491,500 C-bills on Sarna. How much money do you want to pay to get one?

http://www.sarna.net...ion_(BattleMech)

No... one of the things we can buy are 'Legendary' mechs. Your ASSUMING that you can buy standard mechs with money. Bad research, bad thread.

[Haakon Valravn]

As a proponent if the idea that anything that you can buy with dollars, you should be able to buy with C-Bills and vice versa, I propose the following:

1USD=1.0 Million C-Bills

A 'Mech that costs 5,000,000 C-Bills would then cost $5.00. The Centurion in the example, at 3,491,000 C-Bills, would be $3.49. &c.