55 replies to this topic

[Psydotek]

I'd love to start spending my MCs to grab afew 'mechs but not until I feel like i'm getting a decent deal...

$5/mech and I'd be spending freely. $15/mech? Not going to happen unless it's a hero chassis.

[ElmoWithAGun]

sgt scout, on 02 January 2013 - 03:04 PM, said:

ERMMMMM, items are not per mech. They are for every mech, a hula girl can be placed in whatever mech you are piloting. You can take them out and put them in a cockpit of another mech.

This bothers me. Why is that we can only place an item in one mech at a time? I have to agree the prices are a bit overpriced, but I understand that no one is forcing you to buy them, but is it that much to ask to be able to put an item I've purchased in any mech I own all at once?

[F0gh0rn Legh0rn]

I agree that the money spent on this game for many is getting old.

Part of the problem is selling prices of mechs though. I have a newbie player friend. He played a old mechwarrior game on the PS2. He's spent $75 bucks so far and has little left to show for it due to the expensive mechs and the poor resale value.

As a newbie he wants to experiment with the game and thats really hard with the system as it is. Selling a mech devalues your money 50% easy... more I think. He isnt likely to keep spending money on the game.

Changing the resale value of mechs and letting peoples money last a bit more would help the newbie player that isnt saving all his mechs as he explored this game.

---

I played all the mechwarrior games on the pc and only spent a smaller sum, and I enjoy the game but would likely spend more if I felt I was getting a better value for the money. I think lower mech prices would only increase money spent on this game and hiking the prices up will hurt this F2P game for most players that could become part of it.

The game is great, but has few maps and doesnt seem complete. The more you play a game the more you should have... and given.. I get bored of mechs and want to try new ones, but paying so much everytime I want to change one isnt going to happen. How much is good... Well, paying $50 for a game once would be preferable if it meant I had a game to play without paying more and the game mechanics would increase my 'merc companies' wealth and mech stores. As F2P, paying $40 onces in a while... say every couple months wouldnt be that bad as the game improves... more mechs.. more maps... more weapons... the clans... etc.

I think your going the wrong direction with game rewards and the value of the dollar in the game. It will drive away many potential gamers from really getting into this game.... and you will make more with a larger fan base then a few spending a lot.

[F0gh0rn Legh0rn]

Wanted to add a suggestion, make it possible to buy weapons, engines, etc with MC.

[Edustaja]

Only things i've spent mc on are:
1. mech bays
2. some holiday trinkets that were 25/50 each

I could see myself buying a hero mech though or premium time if I were a new player.

Overall I agree that the prices need some adjusting. Especially the paintjobs.
Now most players are stuck with the only reasonably priced paints; the PC-gamer ones.

[Enaris]

Whoa, whoa whoa. Ok, people, let's stop for a moment.

There is no reason whatsoever to use MC for any mech aside from the Hero Mechs.

Again, there is no reason. Using MC for a standard Mech is a straight trade for cash for time. If you want to do that, fine. If you'd rather just burn the time, that's fine too. This is especially true now that there is no continuing money sink (repairs or the like). If you get your dream mech set the way you want, you don' t need to ever pay a single C-Bill for anything... ever. (Much less MC).

[Rayne Vickers]

Gladewolf, on 02 January 2013 - 02:34 PM, said:

This DOES highlight a hole in the F2P strat currently used. Premium accounts offer no trickle of MC like several other F2P titles( My understandng is that my founders account is not the same a basic premium). I think it could be made much more attractive if it offered say..1.5k MC a month for the current going price. That way you have a paying customer that can, with a little patience, afford any feature in the game, while granting this title needed revenue at the same time.

-If I am mistaken on how Basic premium accounts work, please correct me, in any case, it's past due time to put up a "what you get for X page that is a clear and concise advert on this site besides just "Buy MC" As it stands now, it appears as if 12 days premium time is 14.95(30 dollars for MOST of a month).....that's more expensive than a WoW account and I'm not sure that's what MWO intends to represent.(250 MC per day is what i can currently see)

-At the current set up, that's $180 MORE per year just for basic premium than a non-F2P account(WoW), so the OP has a very valid point(thanks for the post caused me to do some quick research). Again If I've gotten anything wrong, it's because i can't locate the truth on this site at the moment, so I apologize for any innacuracies and hope that they are corrected by someone more knoweledgable on the subject than me. (There is probably a standard discount for a months purchase, but again, i can't see it)

You're kind of doing it wrong. Premium status gives you a 50% boost in the amount of XP and CBills you earn per match (which is good regardless, better the better you play--and the CB bonus from an MC purchased or Founder's mech stacks with the CB Bonus of Premium), if you buy your MC in larger batches (i.e. $29.95 or $49.95) and purchase your premium time by the month (2,500 MC/month) you end up averaging out to an MC cost of 83.3 (repeating) MC per day, if you bough the 14.95 3000 MC package every month, that leaves you 500MC to play with each month (comparable to the points most F2P games like ToR, LotRO etc. give you per month for being a sub) if you buy the 29.95 package you get 6,500 MC which gives you 2 months of premium time and 1500 MC left to play with (or put toward MORE time later). The best value comes from buying the 49.95 (12,000) or $99.95 (25,000) packages, at that point you get 4 months of premium with 2,000 MC remaining to do other stuff with, or put toward more time; The best value comes from the 99.95 package giving you 10 months of premium with no remaning MC for the cost of what is just over 6 months of a subscription to a standard MMO.

The prices are exactly on par with World of Tanks (WoT) for Premium account, garage slot pricing, and XP conversion the only difference is WoT doesn't let you purchase regular tanks for gold (if they did, I bet it would be done a lot, though it'd be as silly there as it is here...they DO let you trade gold for credits which I hope DOESN'T happen here).

Sometimes I think people can't do math or figure out value for their money, this is why the US has so much trouble.

[Bhael Fire]

Garen Thorn, on 02 January 2013 - 05:10 PM, said:

Wanted to add a suggestion, make it possible to buy weapons, engines, etc with MC.

That'd be something I'd spend MC on regularly, if it were cheap enough. I think roughly 1 MC per 10,000 c-bills sounds about right. So for example, an XL Engine 220 (3,593,167 c-bills) could be purchased for 359 MC instead. Items below 10,000 c-bills, like AMS ammo, could be purchased for 1 MC per unit.

[Bhael Fire]

There's a reason why I don't and will not play WoT. Their pricing model is a little steep for a F2P title, IMO.

Edited by Bhael Fire, 02 January 2013 - 05:50 PM.

[Rayne Vickers]

Bhael Fire, on 02 January 2013 - 05:44 PM, said:

That'd be something I'd spend MC on regularly, if it were cheap enough. I think roughly 1 MC per 10,000 c-bills sounds about right. So for example, an XL Engine 220 (3,593,167 c-bills) could be purchased for 359 MC instead. Items below 10,000 c-bills, like AMS ammo, could be purchased for 1 MC per unit.

NO.


They would destroy their entire model by doing something like this, and they know it. Won't happen, I can almost guarantee it, if it DID happen, I would bet serious money (like..75-100 bucks) that it would be 1MC/400 CBills. It might be slightly better..but not much...and there's a good reason for that, it's the ratio WoT uses for Gold to Credit conversion. Personally I'm happy to NOT see it in this game, but if it was, I'd bet that'd be much more in line, you'd be talking 143k MC for that engine at those rates, not a good deal, and it's a horrid deal in WoT for that exact reason. Granted that runs closer to a tank price in WoT and less close to part and engine prices but WoT has a different (tiered) model where tanks can't complete cleanly with one another at differing tiers, so less comparison there.

Bhael Fire, on 02 January 2013 - 05:47 PM, said:

There's a reason why I don't and will not play WoT. Their pricing model is a little steep for a F2P title, IMO.

I agree, but it's the standard MWO seems to have matched themselves to, difference is, we don't have repair costs (anymore) and CAN choose to buy mechs with MC, and do not need consumables and have premium ammo sinks, so we're actually much better off.

[Bhael Fire]

Precocious Rayne, on 02 January 2013 - 05:52 PM, said:

I agree, but it's the standard MWO seems to have matched themselves to

I think it would behoove them to follow the pricing model of successful F2P titles instead of obscure ones...especially for a such an iconic franchise like Mechwarrior.

Precocious Rayne, on 02 January 2013 - 05:52 PM, said:

They would destroy their entire model by doing something like this, and they know it. Won't happen, I can almost guarantee it, if it DID happen, I would bet serious money (like..75-100 bucks) that it would be 1MC/400 CBills.

Perhaps. However, while I understand that they want to maintain some "grind" element to the game — if for no other reason than to eat up players' premium time — many successful F2P titles allows player to do this sort of thing. It's the small, barely noticeable transactions that add up quicker than the moderate to expensive ones. People tend to budget more carefully with expensive items...but will throw their money away en masse when the cost is small. They are called "micro-transactions" for a reason.

[Rayne Vickers]

Bhael Fire, on 02 January 2013 - 06:05 PM, said:

I think it would behoove them to follow the pricing model of successful F2P titles instead of obscure ones...especially for a such an iconic franchise like Mechwarrior.

*laughs* Do me a favor, look up WoT's stats, and how many records they've broken, then come back and tell me they're "obscure". Granted 50% or better of their player base is in Russia, and North America probably accounts for 15-20% of the total (with the rest being in Europe) they're far from obscure. While I would LIKE for MWO to be more "lax" pricing-wise, it doesn't behoove them to do it from a finacial perspective. I can also nearly bet WoT is their target, because when I and others suggested that their lowest level premium was too expensive back earlier in beta, they dropped it to our suggested target (a match for WoT's equivalently priced tier).

[Seijin Dinger]

the only other F2P MMO I have spent money to buy things equivalent to a mech is Star Trek Online with a few starships and those range up over $20

[Enaris]

Comparing the CBill cost of a mech to MC cost, the current "exchange rate" is around 2500 CB=1MC

[Rayne Vickers]

Seijin Dinger, on 02 January 2013 - 06:11 PM, said:

the only other F2P MMO I have spent money to buy things equivalent to a mech is Star Trek Online with a few starships and those range up over $20

Right an Champions Online (also from PW) can get as spendy if you buy enough slots/costume slots/stuff. Really it's in the ballpark with other F2P games.

[Bhael Fire]

Precocious Rayne, on 02 January 2013 - 06:07 PM, said:

Do me a favor, look up WoT's stats, and how many records they've broken, then come back and tell me they're "obscure". Granted 50% or better of their player base is in Russia, and North America probably accounts for 15-20% of the total (with the rest being in Europe) they're far from obscure.

Ok. I misspoke. I meant they are fairly obscure in North America. The majority of MWO's fan base is in Canada and the USA. I just think It would be better for them to follow the lead of successful North American F2P titles. North American audiences have different expectations from F2P titles.

[Rayne Vickers]

Bhael Fire, on 02 January 2013 - 06:40 PM, said:

Ok. I misspoke. I meant they are fairly obscure in North America. The majority of MWO's fan base is in Canada and the USA. I just think It would be better for them to follow the lead of successful North American F2P titles. North American audiences have different expectations from F2P titles.

What specific "expectations" do "North Americans" have, praytell? I'm North American. My expectations fall in line with WoT, Champions Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars tOR (who's actually the most expensive F2P game running out of the batch I'll list), and City Of Heroes (RIP). That falls well in line with what MWO is doing, IMO IF you don't consider purchasing regular CBill available Mechs with MC (which, apart from a first mech to get you out of trials, I wouldn't consider at all at current prices, and even then I'd get YLW or another equivalently priced HeroMech for the CB Boost if I was a non-Founder player).

The model you're suggesting while fun for the players, and cheaper runs the risk of MWO faceplanting due to lack of funds. It's not the freeloaders who keep an F2P game running, it's the "wallet warriors" and the most profitable thing for Wargaming.net (the creators of WoT) has been premium time purchase, and that will be the case here as well. If they do anything less, they risk dying.

I'm not sure how many "subs" MWO has right now, since they dropped the current population numbers from the corner of the UI (funny that), but I would bet that, as a whole, BT/MW is more obscure than World of Tanks is right now, as MW hasn't been on the videogame stage in about 10 years or so.(6 if you count Mech Commander 2).

[Biscuithammer]

Precocious Rayne, on 02 January 2013 - 07:38 PM, said:

The model you're suggesting while fun for the players, and cheaper runs the risk of MWO faceplanting due to lack of funds. It's not the freeloaders who keep an F2P game running, it's the "wallet warriors" and the most profitable thing for Wargaming.net (the creators of WoT) has been premium time purchase, and that will be the case here as well. If they do anything less, they risk dying.

Thank you. People need reasons to buy MC and there are a LOT of people out there that don't care about having a bright red mech or a hula girl.

Seijin Dinger, on 02 January 2013 - 06:11 PM, said:

the only other F2P MMO I have spent money to buy things equivalent to a mech is Star Trek Online with a few starships and those range up over $20

Here's the thing. They aren't comparable. Mechwarrior has always been about trial and error and having lots of mechs at your disposal. Heck, even the XP trees seem to assume that you'll be buying many different variants of the same mech. Unfortunately the current model of MC and earned credits doesn't really make that kind of thing very possible. I'll be lucky if I have a third mech by the end of the month.

[Rayne Vickers]

Biscuithammer, on 02 January 2013 - 07:45 PM, said:

Thank you. People need reasons to buy MC and there are a LOT of people out there that don't care about having a bright red mech or a hula girl.

I think the camo patterns are a bit pricy currently. They may want to consider lowering them in general, or going to a model similar to *gasp* WoTs where you get "timed" camo for CBills (in incriments of days, weeks, months), or "permenant" camo for MC. As they stand though I think the camo prices are probably the most expensive MC purchases (a bit high) aside from buying CBill Mechs with MC which is the most expensive (and most "wasteful").

[Ryvucz]

Biscuithammer, on 02 January 2013 - 12:24 PM, said:

Essentially it boils down to the fact that MC prices are out of control. One of two things needs to happen: either increase the amount of MC you get with real money, or decrease the prices of mechs with MC. It's one thing to have hero mechs be expensive, but who is going to pay $15 for an Awesome? I think the cockpick items and paints are quite reasonable, but frankly I don't care about those things enough to warrant spending real money on just that stuff. Especially when that stuff is on a per-mech basis.

Your title needs more cow bell.

Your post needs a little more oompf.

[REDACTED FOR EVILNESS]

Aaaaand, I like pie, sometimes.

Perhaps you should, oh I dunno, buy the cheapest MC pack possible, once a month, and maybe you will feel it is less daunting over time?

Or just enjoy the fact that it's free to play and you can actually get mechs by... playing the game.