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[Economy] Pgi, Clan Mechs, And Mc Adjustments


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#1 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 12:46 AM

I am going to be breaking this post down into several sections as it is very long, but I hope you find it informative. Also - this is not an inflammatory thread, I am simply attempting to discern what the plan will be regarding the introduction of Clan Mechs from a financial standpoint: that is MC, not CBills.

The Real Cost of Clan Mechs

A while ago I calculated that the Daishi will cost somewhere around 15,000 MC, if not more (here). However because this translates into roughly $65 USD, no matter how you slice it this is an absolutely exorbitant amount of money. People will actively avoid paying for Clan Mechs with money, and we know that PGI will put in some free alternative to obtain them otherwise the game will enter into a phase of actual P2W.

So in short; $65 dollar Daishi's just aren't going to fly. But what does this actually mean?

Well first, let's take a look into how PGI actually comes up with the MC values for (non-Hero) Mechs. Currently the conversion rate is 2,500 CBills to 1 MC. Let's use the Atlas AS7-D-DC as an example that I can demonstrate this as proof:

Posted Image

Notice we have the two values, CBills and MC. Well if we use the conversion rate of 2500:1 as I rated before, then it should come out to 4,195 MC.

10,486,012 / 2500 = 4194.4048 MC

Not quite 4,195, but literally so close that we can see PGI simply rounded up the figure. Now let's see what happens if we apply this again to the Daishi shall we?

Posted Image

29,350,000 / 2500 = 11740 MC

So wait a minute here, if I said that the Daishi will cost about 15,000 MC how come my figure is completely off? Good question. Originally PGI based their CBill values off of rough estimates and the canon costs of the variants. However later on they then actually normalized the values by taking account of the real cost of the components. It's why the Atlas AS7-D is 9,676,072 CBills despite the fact it's cost according to TT is 9,626,000 CBills. This may seem like a slight difference, but on some Mechs and some variants in particular the cost gap between the lore/TT figure and the MWO one is a pretty big divide.

Now because they did this, I can "recreate" a Daishi by using IS equivalent parts. In all likelihood this number will be off by a great deal (in that my figure will be cheaper than the actual one), but it is something of a working model.

(Daishi Prime)
Chassis: 100 Ton Assault (5.918,640 CBills)
Armor: 608 points FF/Clan (319,984 CBills)
Engine: 300 XL (4,900,000 CBills)
Weapons:
- 1x LRM-10 (200,000 CBills)
- 4x ER Large Laser (1,600,000 CBills)
- 4x Medium Pulse Laser (480,000 CBills)
- 2x Ultra AC/5 (800,000 CBills)
Ammo:
- 2 Tons Ultra AC/5 Ammo (18,000 CBills)
- 1 Ton LRM Ammo (30,060 CBills)
Equipment:
- 10x Double Heat Sinks (120,000 CBills)
- 3x CASE (300,000 CBills)

Sub-total: 14,686,684 CBills
Sub-total MC: 5875 MC

Not so bad right? Right, but there's a few things being left out of this figure. Such as the TT equation that PGI will apply that goes into basic Mech building. So let's go ahead and add those multipliers.

Posted Image

14,686,684 x 1.25 (Omni) x (1+[100 Tons / 100]) = 36,716,710 CBills

Total: 36,716,710 CBills
Total MC: 14,687

And suddenly we have a problem. This Daishi Prime ends up costing roughly $65 USD. Especially when you consider that the Daishi Prime is one of the cheaper Configurations. You must then realize that this is an absolutely inordinate amount of money. So much money that they'll never actually move more than a few units via MC; which is entirely counter-intuitive to the way that PGI plans on making said money in the first place. It is only logical that PGI would never squander such an opportunity to bring in additional revenue. Especially since the cost of a single Daishi Prime will cost roughly the same as TWO Hero Atlas's. For reference on how PGI determines their MC pricing and what the future Hero Mechs will cost, reference this thread: here.

I'd also like to make an addendum; it is entirely possible that the Daishi Prime I've used in this example could also be worth 18,358,355 CBills / 7344 MC. I am basing this off the fact that PGI might not use the (1+[100 Tons / 100) part of this equation. It is a definite possibility that should not be ignored.

PGI's Possible Solution

The solution that PGI has is one that we can clearly see them working towards. Originally PGI announced that they'd be doing a sale on Dragons for a meager 20% on January 25th. Based off a poll taken during this sale, a very small number of the population actually took advantage of it. For the most part, the Community seemed to believe it was a rather lackluster offer. They then surprised us a week later and cut the MC price of all the current Trial Mechs in half, the response to this offer was met with a significantly greater positive response. From there they did the bi-weekly update, implemented the new color palettes and adjusted the MC values of these items. They also did something that is quite unusual: they refunded MC and CBills to account for these price changes. And this in particular is very important for the point I am going to make, so please remember it. From there we currently have the 30% Medium Mech Madness deal that isn't quite as good as the 50% deal, but it is still a better discount than the original 20%.

When I see these constant fluctuations in deals, I assume that PGI is gathering information based on sales to try (as Russ has recently stated doing) and hone in on a specific series of discounts that the community likes. Now since PGI has already refunded MC and CBills once before, they have set a precedent that they will undoubtedly happen again. Since the Clan Mechs by and large will be abhorrently expensive and not sell very well at all (Seriously, $65 USD a Mech?), they will have to adjust the MC prices in order to make them more appealing for more players. Now how can PGI do this? Simple. Take the current MC values of (non-Hero) Mechs and slash them in half. PGI then only has to refund a portion of the MC back to the player's account for these adjustments with no fuss from the Community. With this change PGI will be able to add the Clan Mechs at more “reasonable” MC prices that the community will have already been used to; while allowing more frugal players to suddenly buy Mechs that were previously out of their price range. And that's pretty much how I foresee the addition of OmniMechs going.

Edited by Norris J Packard, 15 February 2013 - 02:04 PM.


#2 Thirdstar

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 12:53 AM

View PostNorris J Packard, on 11 February 2013 - 12:46 AM, said:

PGI's Possible Solution

The solution that PGI has is one that we can clearly see them working towards. Originally PGI announced that they'd be doing a sale on Dragons for a meager 20% on January 25th. Based off a poll taken during this sale, a very small number of the population actually took advantage of it. For the most part, the Community seemed to believe it was a rather lackluster offer. They then surprised us a week later and cut the MC price of all the current Trial Mechs in half, the response to this offer was met with a significantly greater positive response. From there they did the bi-weekly update, implemented the new color palettes and adjusted the MC values of these items. They also did something that is quite unusual: they refunded MC and CBills to account for these price changes. And this in particular is very important for the point I am going to make, so please remember it. From there we currently have the 30% Medium Mech Madness deal that isn't quite as good as the 50% deal, but it is still a better discount than the original 20%.


It also struck me that they seem to testing the waters. These deals are an excellent way to gauge interest.

To play Devil's Advocate though, single items at the $50 - 60 pricepoint have found some success in F2P titles in the past. Some are disguised by lockboxes and other camouflage though.

Examples being the Premium Tanks in World of Tanks and Lockbox only starships in Star Trek Online. Not sure if I should mention EVE's 'monocle-gate' here, don't know enough about that.

#3 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:00 AM

View PostThirdstar, on 11 February 2013 - 12:53 AM, said:


It also struck me that they seem to testing the waters. These deals are an excellent way to gauge interest.

To play Devil's Advocate though, single items at the $50 - 60 pricepoint have found some success in F2P titles in the past. Some are disguised by lockboxes and other camouflage though.

Examples being the Premium Tanks in World of Tanks and Lockbox only starships in Star Trek Online. Not sure if I should mention EVE's 'monocle-gate' here, don't know enough about that.


That's very true Thirdstar, however if we are going to assume that PGI will continue the 3 Mechs to progress system that they've been doing so far (which seems likely given they need a time-sink for people to look at buying MC to spend on Premium Time/Mech Bays). I can't see anyone trying to justify that a combined $195 dollars simply to hit Master is a good plan. Especially since I suspect they'll do Clan Founders some time down the road.

I'm not dismissing the potential of high cost items and Mechs (hell, I am going to buy the Hero Atlas). But for the price of a single Daishi, I'd be able to buy TWO Hero Atlas's as I pointed out. That's pretty ridiculous. Especially since the Hero Atlas is most likely going to be the most expensive IS Mech that will be added in the foreseeable future.

#4 costi

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:01 AM

However, it should be noted that premium tanks in WoT are not better than the regular tanks, so no P2W here. However, they earn ridiculous amounts of credits, 5-10 times more than normal tanks.

My point is that while they're expensive, the return on in-game currency is very good, and they're simply a convenience/status item. With Clan Mechs, which are supposed to be better that IS ones, we're going straight into P2W territory. Of course, assuming they won't be available for C-bills.

Edited by costi, 11 February 2013 - 01:03 AM.


#5 Thirdstar

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:07 AM

View PostNorris J Packard, on 11 February 2013 - 01:00 AM, said:

I can't see anyone trying to justify that a combined $195 dollars simply to hit Master is a good plan.


That actually slipped my mind. Excellent point.

View Postcosti, on 11 February 2013 - 01:01 AM, said:

However, it should be noted that premium tanks in WoT are not better than the regular tanks, so no P2W here. However, they earn ridiculous amounts of credits, 5-10 times more than normal tanks.

My point is that while they're expensive, the return on in-game currency is very good, and they're simply a convenience/status item. With Clan Mechs, which are supposed to be better that IS ones, we're going straight into P2W territory. Of course, assuming they won't be available for C-bills.


That's an entirely separate topic though about Clantech balance. Lets assume they ARE balanced somehow and then consider the pricing.

#6 Taizan

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:08 AM

Clan speculation, off you go into the Clans sub forum.

Non volunteer moderator comment:
There probably will be some kind of catch to being able to play a clan mech, while the C-bill price still is acceptable for some, the MC price itself is too high. I'd rather see a one time unlock to be able to play clan mechs, lets say something around 10000 MC.

As Clan mechs would be like a higher tier of mechs, I could see the prices for current IS mechs degrade,just like in other MMOs, when a new item tier gets introduced.

#7 Timelordwho

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:12 AM

What I see them doing is dropping the Cbill to MC conversion ratio to ~75% when clans arrive, which would make the Daishi ~48, which is within the realm of possibility, and it makes the IS mechs reasonably cheap. They may, at this point, give MC to the people who previously bought IS Mechs with MC (~25% of the cost) to get them to buy the rest of the MC they need to get a Madcat, Daishi, or other clanmech. Then when they run the deal on the mech ~3 months later, they will do a ~35% sale, bringing the Daishi to $32.

Assuming they want money, this is a decent strategy.

#8 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:12 AM

View PostThirdstar, on 11 February 2013 - 01:07 AM, said:

That's an entirely separate topic though about Clantech balance. Lets assume they ARE balanced somehow and then consider the pricing.


That's pretty much precisely it. I designed this thread to be made specifically for the implementation of Clans from a financial point of view. If I wanted to speculate on other things, I would have done so.

#9 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:21 AM

View PostTaizan, on 11 February 2013 - 01:08 AM, said:

Clan speculation, off you go into the Clans sub forum.


Also Taizan, not to sound inconsiderate or anything but this thread's basically dead now.

#10 Thirdstar

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:22 AM

Well, the thread's dead now. Whooopeee :)

#11 ConnorSinclair

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:25 AM

View PostTaizan, on 11 February 2013 - 01:08 AM, said:

Clan speculation, off you go into the Clans sub forum.




why....

#12 chimerathon

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:27 AM

View PostTaizan, on 11 February 2013 - 01:08 AM, said:

Clan speculation, off you go into the Clans sub forum.


What, no. This is PGI speculation, not Clan speculation. Move it back dude, this is a quality effort post, it doesn't deserve to be in a dead sub forum.

#13 Crunk Prime

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:37 AM

Quote

I'd rather see a one time unlock to be able to play clan mechs, lets say something around 10000 MC.


Is you favorite number purple?

#14 Thirdstar

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 01:56 AM

View Postchimerathon, on 11 February 2013 - 01:27 AM, said:


What, no. This is PGI speculation, not Clan speculation. Move it back dude, this is a quality effort post, it doesn't deserve to be in a dead sub forum.


What he said. The OP is not really about clans or balance it is about MC costs of upcoming content and really only fits in the General Forum. Come on Mods, not cool.

#15 Taj

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:17 AM

View PostNorris J Packard, on 11 February 2013 - 12:46 AM, said:


(Daishi Prime)
14,686,684 x 1.25 (Omni) x (1+[100 Tons / 100]) = 36,716,710 CBills

Total: 36,716,710 CBills
Total MC: 14,687

And suddenly we have a problem. This Daishi Prime ends up costing roughly $65 USD. Especially when you consider that the Daishi Prime is one of the cheaper Configurations.




I do not see any problem for that price. 37kk c-bills is not so very hard to get. Just a little bit of time and grinding. You want to have cool mecha? Grinding! do not have time? Pay MC. Simple. It's F2T.

Clan mechs need to cost so much. They are very rare, so... grinding! :o


BTW: 37,000,000 / 150,000 (per game) = ~ 247 games ... average game takes about 5-6 minutes, so You need to play about 21h to get Daishi... it's 3h per day, and in week u can buy it.

OK, always playing with the PUG and win one to five games. You will get Daishi in 40h... OMG u need play 2-3 weeks... this is unacceptable B) ;)

So... I'll say it again. Where is the problem?

Edited by Taj, 11 February 2013 - 02:18 AM.


#16 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:19 AM

View PostTaj, on 11 February 2013 - 02:17 AM, said:



I do not see any problem for that price. 37kk c-bills is not so very hard to get. Just a little bit of time and grinding. You want to have cool mecha? Grinding! do not have time? Pay MC. Simple. It's F2T.

Clan mechs need to cost so much. They are very rare, so... grinding! :o


BTW: 37,000,000 / 150,000 (per game) = ~ 247 games ... average game takes about 5-6 minutes, so You need to play about 21h to get Daishi... it's 3h per day, and in week u can buy it.

OK, always playing with the PUG and win one to five games. You will get Daishi in 40h... OMG u need play 2-3 weeks... this is unacceptable B) ;)

So... I'll say it again. Where is the problem?


This thread is not what you think it is about.

#17 Taj

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:21 AM

It is about how the PGI can not make money?
I wonder what percentage of players buying "regular" mechs for MC?

or

View PostNorris J Packard, on 11 February 2013 - 02:19 AM, said:


This thread is not what you think it is about.


:o B) ;) :( :( :blink:

Edited by Taj, 11 February 2013 - 02:23 AM.


#18 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:23 AM

View PostTaj, on 11 February 2013 - 02:21 AM, said:

It is about how the PGI can not make money?

I wonder what percentage of players buying "regular" mechs for MC?


My thread was made to examine the financial perspective of the addition of Clan Mechs, and the MC adjustments that should be made accordingly to reflect this addition. It is not about CBills, it is not about grinding, it is not about actually playing the game at all. It's in the header.

#19 Taj

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:32 AM

View PostNorris J Packard, on 11 February 2013 - 02:23 AM, said:

My thread was made to examine the financial perspective of the addition of Clan Mechs, and the MC adjustments that should be made accordingly to reflect this addition.


If so, IMO perspective to make the MC for the Clan mechs are more complicated.

You have to ask how many "age" people play and spend $ 65 for the Clan Mechs. Unless that plays a lot of teenagers with credit cards. But MWO is not P2W so far :o

People who spend so much most often do not have time to play. Willing to spend that much or not spend at all.
It's hard to guess what they are purchasing preferences without data.

It's rather like reading tea leaves IMO.


Edit: Of course, PGI can change MC policies and their conversion to buy mechs for MC. Just like they did with the camo, which gave back MC previously issued.

But they have all the necessary data to assess this B) - besides, I doubt that the sale of "regular" mechs was the main pillar of the sale of the MC.

Edited by Taj, 11 February 2013 - 02:41 AM.


#20 Norris J Packard

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:40 AM

View PostTaj, on 11 February 2013 - 02:32 AM, said:


If so, IMO perspective to make the MC for the Clan mechs are more complicated.

You have to ask how many "age" people play and spend $ 65 for the Clan Mechs. Unless that plays a lot of teenagers with credit cards. But MWO is not P2W so far :o

People who spend so much most often do not have time to play. Willing to spend that much or not spend at all.
It's hard to guess what they are purchasing preferences without data.

It's rather like reading tea leaves IMO.


You're still kinda missing the point here.





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