417 replies to this topic

[ElLocoMarko]

Original Poster: You might be in the minority here.

Need for mech bays is what caused me to hand over some cash which PGI rightly earned with their game. And mech bays are CHEAP when compared to their prices for paint jobs, cockpit bling and hero mechs.

I think I'm up to 10 mech bays and I still really only run about 2 mechs.
I'd like to point out that you do not need to own 3 variants at the same time for elite. Level one of them. Sell it. Buy the next. Level it. Sell it. Try to save the best for last. On your third one you can level it straight through basics and elite. If you are going for master you will have to over-level each mech while you own it but spending points in the pilot tree does not require the mech to be owned (ala trial mechs).

Edited by ElLocoMarko, 14 February 2013 - 01:23 PM.

[Ghogiel]

Rizzelbizzeg, on 14 February 2013 - 01:04 PM, said:

Accounts are free, start another one and BAM 4 FREE SLOTS!!1! (plus a fattie cadet bonus)

This.

[Dragunz Pryde]

OK, i get the argument. But lets face reality here.....were talking about 7 dollars. Hell one hour of minimum wage covers that these days! That is $1.75 per mech bay, i understand you think that this will chase players away, but trust me it wont. Every single player i have introduced to this game loves it and has ponied up some $$ to advance themselves within the game. The first thing they always buy is Mech bays. It's either this or deal with multiple accounts, which i have a friend who does. He has one account with his Atlas's maxed out and another for the Stalker (he is an assault junkie). Either way you go you can work around this limitation.

[Nonoka]

Corpsecandle, on 14 February 2013 - 01:14 PM, said:

This I would like to see as well, but understand why it isn't currently the case. Unfortunately the mechanic is that you need an empty mech bay before you can even see the mech purchase list....they'd have to do a lot of mechLab tweaking before they could include a bay with the hero mech.

Ooooor you go to the MWO Wiki via the frontpage. If that is too much effort ......

[scruffy416]

And for the folks who did actually pony up a few bucks to get extra Mechbays?

Now you're gonna tell them they didn't really have to spend any money on the game at all... sorry about that... and you'll have to say, no, no MC refunds due to this change...

Something tells me PGI/IGP lose more "points" with a move like this than they could make up in new player gains.

[deforce]

so on the 15th and 30th of every month, is it cool if we compromise and compensate you in cheetos and sprite?

[Congzilla]

PGI is a company that needs to make money to pay employees, not a charity. Maybe one day UNICEF will make a Mechwarrior game.

[El Penguin]

No! Stop it. They are very cheap and affordable. Be happy this game doesn't screw you over like a lot of other F2P games. Some even push you in annoyance to spend money even if you already dumped lots of cash.

[Apoc1138]

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who plays this game enough that they want to master more than 4 mechs but doesn't want to pay $7 for 4 mech bays

[Corpsecandle]

Nonoka, on 14 February 2013 - 01:23 PM, said:

Ooooor you go to the MWO Wiki via the frontpage. If that is too much effort ......

Would still require a mechlab change or they risk either:
1) Giving people who buy from mechlab a different value than those who go elsewhere (IE a free mechbay when you don't buy via lab)
2) Not selling hero mechs via the mechlab, which would most likely cut into their revenue

Edited by Corpsecandle, 14 February 2013 - 01:32 PM.

[KhanCipher]

Dragunz Pryde, on 14 February 2013 - 01:21 PM, said:

It's either this or deal with multiple accounts

and this right here is the reason mechbays should've been free in the first place, when you start having lots of people with multiple accounts in a game, and admitting it on the forums, it will make new people wonder if the game really is worth it at all if nearly everyone has either tons of disposable income or lots of accounts (actually i have another account too, so i could go and do some messing around on that account)

[Orgasmo]

Mechbay, the only thing I will spend real money on.......okay I bought a paintjob.

[Mack1]

Am not going to be funny and abuse the OP (I am tempted)

I will just say this, MWO is an awesome game, it's free yes but in order to really enjoy the game to it's full potential you are expected to spend a little money on Mechbays, Hero Mechs and other vanity stuff. This not only gives you the customer more enjoyment but it also pays the wages of the hard working developers which enables them to expand and make the game much better.

I bet you have bought some real stinkers of games like COD So now that you have a game you enjoy, throw a bit money at it and support it's development.

[Vechs]

I think some of you guys need to chill a bit.

I agree with Volume that there needs to be a way to get mechbays without using MC.

Why? So PGI can make more money.

Now you might be thinking, "Vechs, WTF, how does that work?"

Well essentially, I would make mechbays be maybe 15 million C-Bills, or 30,000 GXP, something very expensive and grindy, so getting a "free" mechbay would be a big timesink, but it would be doable. This is so PGI can say "Hey, you can do everything in this game for free, if you really want to invest the time."

But here's the thing -- the main purpose of doing this is to drive MC sales. If someone is sitting there grinding for hours just for a mechbay, and they have that 300 MC unlock button staring at them every time they return to the mechlab after a battle, the temptation is going to make a lot of people cave in.

They have to ask themselves "Is a 8 hour+ grind worth it when I could just pay them a few dollars?"

The people that still choose to grind instead of paying the 300 MC are the ones that either cannot or will not ever buy MC -- but PGI still needs as many free players as they can get, because the free players are game content for us paying players.

One more thing -- studies have been done that show that players who buy Pay Currency in a F2P are very likely to become return customers and buy more in the future. That first sale is the hardest, and I think there is potential here for PGI to basically, well, coax some free players into that first tiny sale with a big grind.

Edited by Vechs, 14 February 2013 - 01:44 PM.

[TygerLily]

I have to agree with the comments.

1) 300MC is pretty cheap. Like $3 or $5 right?
2) Accounts are free so you can have your "assault" account, and "scout" account, etc.
3) Trial mechs allow you to test new mechs.
4) By the time you get to a full bay of mechs, you might as well have put some money into the game! (It's not that much!)

[Inveramsay]

I got 14m cbills out of the cadet bonus and the one day premium (they stack apparently) on my second account. That is enough to buy two awesomes or the most expensive mech and still have some spare change. 1250MC costs very little and will give you an additional four mechbays. Each mechbay is $1.74 if you will

[Protoculture]

Volume, on 14 February 2013 - 01:00 PM, said:

STUFF

I think we should all just start with more. I have 20 right now and I've not been hardcore about it (8 open).

[Dishevel]

M A L I C E, on 14 February 2013 - 01:01 PM, said:

F2P PLAYERS NEED A WAY TO ACQUIRE 'MECH BAYS WITHOUT BUYING MC.


No they don't.

This.

$14.95 will get you extra 10 Mechbays.
If you really like the game and have filled up your free slots with mechs and you want a longer term solution getting 10 more bays for $15 is a real option for anyone.
If it is not worth $15 for 10 more bays you do not really like the game.

[stjobe]

Volume, on 14 February 2013 - 01:00 PM, said:

I understand that PGI needs to make money. I realize that someone who has acquired four of their own well-equipped and upgraded battlemechs has probably gotten many hours of enjoyment out of MWO, and maybe therefore "should" pay for the entertainment.

However, I find it unfair that players can hit a F2P wall and be unable to progress without heavy compromise.

It is not "unfair", it is just the difference between a Free to Play game and a Free game.

MWO is Free to Play, it's not "Free to get everything without ever spending a cent".

In a Free to Play game, what is free is playing the game - and you do not need extra 'Mech Bays to do that.

[Corpsecandle]

Vechs, on 14 February 2013 - 01:40 PM, said:

The people that still choose to grind instead of paying the 300 MC are the ones that either cannot or will not ever buy MC -- but PGI still needs as many free players as they can get, because the free players are game content for us paying players.

I agree 100% that players are content; so this whole thing is basically a player retention vs revenue conversation. I don't think that they're actually going to lose all that many players if they maintain their current scheme, however I do think they'd lose a fair chunk of revenue if they went to a model where bays were cash free. They could of course make the requirements for a free bay absurdly grindy, but that essentially leaves us in the same position and only a very few select players would benefit from it. At which point they would have done a fair amount of dev work, to appease, oh I don't know, 1% of the player-base?

Edited by Corpsecandle, 14 February 2013 - 01:56 PM.