2
I was never personally bothered by the trial mechs. Since I got a founder's package, I haven't had to worry about them very much. But now I'm trying to get some of my friends to try this great new F2P game. Some of them got into the closed beta, slogged through the trial mech grind, and bought their own mechs they could customize and were having fun with the game. But after the open beta reset, they don't want to do it again.
Meanwhile, other friends who never got into the closed beta are interested in the game (particularly the customization) but lose interest the minute they find out they have to grind before they can experience major aspects of the game. They're even more discouraged if they try a couple games and find that they can't use their weapons because they're always overheating.
Comparison to the highly successful LoL model: In LoL, new free players get to choose from a selection of ten free champions. The six free champions are changed every Tuesday. This is better than the current trial mech system for multiple reasons:
-The free week champions are generally balanced fairly well, so these new players are not at a drastic disadvantage in their first games. Trial mechs, on the other hand, are underpowered because they are set up "poorly," for example some don't have enough heat sinks. Free players in MWO have to play their first games at a huge disadvantage.
-When using a free week champion, you can build them however you want, so you still get to experience this aspect of the game. Trial mechs can't be customized, so new free players are not getting to enjoy one of the major "hooks" in MWO.
-The cheap champions in LoL are so cheap that it does not take very long to get enough IP to buy one.
Possible Solutions: This is a bit harder than it looks, I think. Some solutions that seem good at first are actually not. I'll just brainstorm a bit here. (Note: none of these options involve the removal of the current trial mech system, just a slight modification of/addition to it.)
-Give new accounts enough starting CB to get their first mech. The problem with this is that people might just create a new account when they want a new mech. Probably not a good solution.
-Give new accounts one free mech unlock of their choice. Same problem as above.
-Give new accounts one free mech that is not of their choice. For example, give them one of the Commando variants. This seems pretty good to me. There will still be motivation to buy other Commando variants to get elite, or just try other variants. There will be no point in making another account because you'll just get the same free mech.
-Heavily reduce the cost of a few basic variants so that new players can acquire one more quickly. For example, make a cheap Commando, Hunchback, Dragon, and Awesome variant. The problem with this is it makes it very cheap to have a full stable of mechs.
-Allow limited customization of trial mechs for free. By limited I mean probably no engine swaps, no Endo, Ferro, or DHS. Something like that. This also seems pretty good, although perhaps more difficult to code. New players would get to not be so gimped in games, get to experience the mechlab (albiet somewhat limited) and still have plenty of motivation to buy that first mech.
-Instead of the current trial mech builds, use other highly successful/popular builds for trial mechs. Jenners with 300XL engines and 6 SmLas. Gausscats. Laserbacks. etc etc. Perhaps a system
I hope for further discussion/ideas.
TLDR: No one wants to do the trial mech grind and it is keeping people from playing the game, which I am witnessing first hand. LoL model is different and that's why it works. A good solution for MWO is not easy to find, but there are some good options. Please discuss.
Edited by AustinNH, 30 November 2012 - 05:30 AM.
