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I went back and tested and there is no confirmation button for 'using MC' on anything paint related. All a (potentially completely new) player has to do is miss those numbers at the bottom to make some accidental purchases. Upon opening a ticket about it I asked for a refund since I would not have made the purchase if I were aware of the cost; I was told refunds are mechanically impossible(?). I'd also unwittingly purchased some of the paint colors which cost MC.
Not only this, but the individual colors cost MC/CB each time you switch Any of them on Any part of the paint scheme (whether it be primary, secondary, or tertiary). Meaning unless it explicitly says it's free in that easy-to-miss part of the readout, everything you're doing is costing you something. It also seems none of your purchases are permanent; if you accidentally save with a different paint scheme, the one you paid for previously is gone for good. You paid 1500 MC for a custom with custom color scheme, then saved something else? 7 bucks gone, too bad for you.
Honestly this system, as it stands now, is pretty skeezy and seems a bit money-grubbing. I had no problem supporting this game financially and buying legendary founders package, but paying so much at the start without even knowing the quality of the full product, I think I'm entitled to a satisfied use of what I purchased, and this is not that. You might say it's on me for clicking 'save' or 'buy' but if you leave no room for error on the part of the customer you alienate them, that's what customer service is meant to prevent. (Customer:) 'I made a mistake' (Piranha:) 'Oh well, thanks for your money' does not equal respect for the customer, or good business.
Here are my recommendations for a paint system that doesn't make players feel scammed.
1. General cost display: The final cost should perhaps be more prominently highlighted, even if just CB's.
2. MC cost display: There should be a note displaying the cost in MC (anything costing real money). Perhaps when clicking to confirm the purchase, put a little receipt readout showing the cost of things, and the sum of the cost in red; similar to how repair costs used to be done. Not just a little OK box with a 'warning changes are permanent.' That's just asking for more angry customers.
3. Total cost display: Another way to simplify would be to use the same 'buy with cb/buy with mc' system you use in the rest of the game. There should be no opportunity for confusion; eliminate any readout which says a total cost comes to '0' unless that is in fact the total cost. As it stands now there can be a 0 at the bottom if the changes cost nothing in C-bills; this is bad design, people are programmed to interpret things according to receipt format.
4. Patterns: A custom pattern applying to only one mech doesn't seem unreasonable, since they seem to be pretty fancy and different for each mech. But once you buy you should get to keep it; you should either be able to switch it between mechs like the pc gamer skin, or switch it on and off the mech you bought it for. Sometimes people will want to change the paint job to match their clan or whoever they're playing with, they should not be monetarily punished for this.
5. Color use: Buying a paint color for a mech should be permanent, and should apply to all possible uses on that mech; no repaying every time you switch to a different part of the color scheme. Perhaps to avoid nickle-and-diming people, color purchases should apply to all mechs. Why shouldn't it be the same as with the various components you put on your mech? Once you buy it it should be available for all of them.
6. Color cost/purchasing: Honestly why even charge for colors? Why make money on something so miniscule, when it's just going to confuse and irritate people? I really don't have a problem with PG making their money on decorative things like this, but you can do it with clarity and fairness. And don't play it off as a design flaw, it's well known that confusing the customer is a predatory business tactic used everywhere. You don't want a reputation in the general gaming community for monetizing customer naivety. That just breeds cynicism, and there's plenty of that already simply due to the nature of gamers. On the other hand, happy, well cared for players means a stronger MWO community and more long term profits.
I suppose what I mean by this is that things need to be simplified. Either colors should be purchased separately from patterns, or they should be bought permanently with the pattern, and the price of the pattern should reflect that cost. Those colors should then always be applicable to that mech without further charge, or applicable to all mechs. The simpler the better.
Note: If you make purchased colors applicable to all mechs, and bundle them with custom patterns, it adds incentive to buy the patterns - so you can use the colors on other mechs.
7. Color selection: If you're going to create custom colors for patterns such as 'pc gamer red,' the color selection is going to get complicated and you'll need to be able to organize it better. For example, a filter by cost button so people can find the free/owned colors easily, and similar colors should be grouped together so you don't have to scroll through all of them to try a different shade of black.
---tl;dr---
Final costs should be highlighted. MC costs should have an extra confirmation with a receipt type readout requiring you to confirm the purchase. There should be a simplified 'total cost' readout which never shows 0 unless the purchase is free. All purchases, whether it be patterns or colors, should have permanence, meaning you can go back to them for free after any changes. Purchased colors should be usable on all parts of a mech and on all mechs. Patterns and colors should be bought separately, and if a custom pattern includes both, the cost readout should reflect this. Both the purchasing of colors/patterns and the application of them should be greatly simplified and made more intuitive in order to avoid screwing the customers.
Also for the record I resent that testing these features cost me real money. I don't buy the response from Reppu @ support:
"Unfortunately I can't refund your customization purchases. We don't have the ability to remove what was purchased, so refunding your currency wouldn't work."
All it takes to remove 'what was purchased' (which is itself unclear in the whole process) is to switch to a default pattern and color scheme--something I have already done with one of my mechs in order to test what is meant by the unclear wording of the warning. If I switch all the camo specs back to default, it's as if I haven't purchased anything, unlike all other kinds of MC purchases in the entire game. Even selling a yen-lo-wang nets me a small amount of CB. This leads to a very misleading dynamic, and you have to walk a fine line when you're charging people to play a game that's in beta. Love the game and the direction it's headed in, but I'll have to say I'll lose faith in the company if something isn't done about this.
Edited by AeusDeif, 27 December 2012 - 09:11 AM.
