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General: MechWarrior Online: All Carrot, No Stick
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MechWarrior Online developer Bryan Ekman has posted a new blog article on the official site detailing the reasons behind the decision to make the game F2P. In it, Ekman states that MechWarrior Online will feature "All Carrot, No Stick". Essentially, Ekman states that MWO will not be "pay to win".
Ekman breaks the article down into these topics:
In summary:
All Carrot, No Stick.
Balanced roles to suit a variety of player styles.
Skill is earned.
You can make your own choices!
Spend money on things YOU value.
MechWarrior™ rules! (Fan Boy moment)
Read all of the details behind all of the above on the MechWarrior Online site.
Comments
This whole conversation is getting weird ... Just plain weird
F2p no thanks, will give this a miss and had been so looking forward to it when first announced, played all the earlier MechWarrior games, and the BattleTech board game. The f2p market is saturated with unplayable trash, and dying titles, plagued by children and idiots who really couldn't give a $h*t.
Pay to play is fast becoming the must have idiot filter.
My Colour Is Vomit green, I puke on the tards with stupid colour sigs. My symbol is ,,!, O ,!,, My enemies are any prat with a colour sig, a meaningless personality test, or a pointless list of games and classes.
Regards Hexcaliber
My problem:
1) Game developer wants to make money to pay bills, feed themselves, and maybe make another game to do the same over again.
2) Game is free to play with a stated "all carrot, no stick" policy (aka no pay2win).
How do we reconcile this?
A lot of MMO's have started a true free-to-plays. But they have "ALL" (And I do mean every single freaking one.) gone pay to win sooner or later. Because the company finnaly realizes they can make 10x more by selling game winning items than tey can with cosmetic only stuff.
It all boils down to greed winning out every time. This game will be exactly the same as all the others.
To find an intelligent person in a PUG is not that rare, but to find a PUG made up of "all" intelligent people is one of the rarest phenomenons in the known universe.
I am optimistic that if League of Legends can do it, then other games can too.
--------
"Chemistry: 'We do stuff in lab that would be a felony in your garage.'"
The most awesomest after school special T-shirt:
Front: UNO Chemistry Club
Back: /\OH --> Bad Decisions
For sure he has to say that no developere is allowed coming out with the real plans, they are trying to hide em as long as possible.
Sad nowadays everything has to be made as an MMOG Mechwarrior should have stayed the way it was.
We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!
"Everything you're bitching about is wrong. People don't have the time to invest in corpse runs, impossible zones, or long winded quests. Sometimes, they just want to pop on and play."
"Then maybe MMORPGs aren't for you."
The "con" is improving.
"Hey, if they're being upfront about the fact that they're out to make money - that's more than most of those bastards out there! Cool, I'll take a further look."
Heck, they even get into the "FOUL" part while admitting that the game is Pay-To-Win.
"Hey, if they're being upfront about the fact that the game is P2W - that's more than most of those bastards out there! Cool, I'll take a look."
The discussion on bigger is better is a distraction. It sounds good. Most of the discussion there follows that path.
SAY SOMETHING REALLY BAD AND ADMIT IT...say something else that has nothing to do with it to make it sound okay.
Over and over . . .
Carrot or stick, I'm not bending over so they can insert it.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
ya, sure is sad to see franchises like mechwarrior actually gettting a game, damn those devs, and there actually making different games for ips.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
Hate to say it as I was looking forward to an actual Mechwarrior instead of mod to other games for it but that statement looks like a sales pitch from a crook more than anything else except maybe them trying to convince 'themselves' of what they are saying.
Though I do get the gist of the statement and what they are saying. Who knows maybe they are actually just bad at public statements. Guess we'll see next year.
He openly admits it will be pay to win then throws up a smoke screen about "roles".
Which, even as I'm screaming Hell No! - hating them for what they plan on doing - and all the rest of that...
...I still find myself oddly respecting him for the honesty - lol. It is more than I can say about most developers out there.
Kind of like Smith admitting that the Ravens should not have scored that winning TD - even as I wanted to drown the refs in a truckstop toilet and want to fling poo at most Ravens fans - I definitely appreciated Smith's honesty.
Honesty appears to be a rare things these days - so yeah, even if I'm flipping these guys the finger with one hand, I'm giving them the thumbs up with the other.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Riot games has it just right with League of Legends. You can buy cosmetic items with cash (Riot Points) and ingame point boosts, but there is no way possible to adjust your character's performance with Riot Points or Influence Points. I hope Mechwarrior adopts a similar route.
"Not meaning to anger anyone with this thread, though I know in these forums its quite impossible. You can say "I enjoy vanilla ice cream" and still have 50 posts of angry, hot-tempered people who have nothing better to do than argue with you." - Dirkzen
The article explains exactly how those that play the game and their money will soon be parted...
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
There are many cosmetic things you can do with Mechwarrior without buying a tactical advantage. The pilot and his uniform can be customized. The mech paint scheme can be customized. Mechs can have different variations in appearance. Logos for the Lance that are fully customizable and can be seen on your mech. Being able to put your call sign on your mech.
Considering that each pilot will likely have more than one mech than can add up. I hope they start with these options first before they consider anything that might go for a Play to Win advantage.
It never fails to astound me how people get all up in arms and are amazed that a company wants to make money....
It's not the companies fault that pay2win exists, its our fault ,the gamers fault. Because we pay. For every whiner who complains about pay2win and not touching a certain game, there is someone who will support the game by buying something. And yes, yo uare SUPPORTING them. When you use cash shops, you give money to the company who can then make the game better.
Or you can play for free and whine on forums about how th egame goes downhill and how you felt you are entitled to more without paying a cent.
It is not the drug dealer's fault...
...I love this particular analogy...
...it is not the drug dealer's fault. If people did not buy the drugs, there would not be drug dealers. It is the fault of the buyers, not the dealers.
If we shot drug dealers in the head on TV, there would be fewer drug dealers...regardless of demand for the product.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
reading that makes it sound like a MWO of APBR.... hopefully the item mall is mostly cosmetic or other less game balancing issue causing.. i really dont enjoy playing games where i wind up in a match where one team is stacked with all item mall max level weapons that do 40x the damage my npc bought best gear can do.. i would rather keep the actual weapons and gear RMTing to a limited amount... rather then everyone with too much money buying max level and owning anything solo..
So which came first the chicken or the egg?
Well we really aint seen much of this but i cant wait to see more...
I love the MechWarrior series
In this regard, the user came first. Whether the first dealer was a user or just an entrepreneur . . . could be an interesting discussion. Regardless though, we have laws that prosecute both for possession and distribution.
We can't hold the users solely responsible and consider the dealers victims... that's kind of ludicrous.
So while those that support questionable models are at fault - so too - are the companies that utilize them.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Actually...actually getting a game?! This franchise has had many good games but a p2w one is not the way to go. I understand they want money why not sell it for 60 $ bucks and let players enjoy the online mode?! No nowadays its about cheap development and throwing "online or MMOG" at a game != not a true MMOG every time.
Back in the days I've paid 50 $ for a game like Quake or UT and could play online without stupid rip off p2w crap.
Want to know why they didn't go into details about their itemshop?! Cause there will be advantages buyable so instead of selling the whole game for a one time only fee they are selling small pieces an forcing everyone to be online all the time.
I know this decision was not made by the devs this does scream publishers BS.
We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!
"Everything you're bitching about is wrong. People don't have the time to invest in corpse runs, impossible zones, or long winded quests. Sometimes, they just want to pop on and play."
"Then maybe MMORPGs aren't for you."
Apparently not...
I don't understand this obsession with winning and loosing, it's about having fun while playing! The most memorable games I played involved me 'loosing' in some shape or form. Be that pnp RPGs, board game, card game, and computer games. Winning is sometimes satisfactory, but that generally lasts for only a little while compared to the time you've been playing. As a sidenote, my 'care not' attitude towards winning or loosing is very frustrating to competitive players. If I end up winning the game, they feel foolish, if they do win, their win somehow means less to them. Which in itself gives me a little bit of satisfaction, fanatacism for winning has no place in entertainment imho.
Let's say that there's this thing called 'pay2win', which is our own fault because we don't pay enough if we don't get enough for it in return. Visual modifications is generally not enough, usefull things are. I also have a very alien attitude, f2p is a wonderful concept, it allows me to 'demo' the game without having to pay for it, nor have an incompatible save (DarkstarOne, I still hate you!). It allows me to play when I want, not when I have to, and it doesn't make me feel like I'm wasting money because this month I don't feel like playing. I don't like the games where I have to keep buying the same thing over and over to 'keep up', I do like games that give me more permanent options through payment. League of Legends has a neat setup, I played about 50 hours and thought that I would be playing many more, and companies need to get paid to keep running good games. So I get paid, they got paid, I spent €50 on RP and bought me some champions. Haven't actually touched any of the new champions, I'm still perfecting play with one of the champions I bought with my own hard earned IP. The point is, I didn't buy something because I wanted something, I bought something because the game desserved it and me getting stuff was bonus. I expect the same with MWO, the problem is that very few think alike and only buy stuff that gives them an edge or something they really want (makes them unique, feeling of nostalgia, etc.). Companies want to make money and cater to the spending habits of it's customers, if the only way to make a decent amount of money is to use 'pay2win', then so be it.
Why not charge $50 ($60 is for consoles) for the game? Simply put, not many folks are paying those prices anymore, there is a huge amount of cheap good games out there and folks don't need to pay $50 for a game anymore, they can pickup good games for $5-$10. If they sell through a retail channel they only get around 40% of that $50 ($10 goes to distribution channel, $20 goes to retail store), another 10% is spend on printing the DVD(s), packaging, storage, shipping, etc. So after al that, every game they sell they earn around $15, that's what WoW (or any other pay for MMO) earns every month from you. The MMO model is the better business model, why do you think that so many companies are trying it? Would I buy a MW game at $50, sure, but that has mostly to do with nostalgia. I bought SC2 CE for €80, good company, good game, great replayability, will be long supported. Diablo 3 I'll also buy the CE from at full retail (if I have money for it at the time). But I bought Mass Effect 1 for €7,50, I bought ME2 for €15, I'll consider buying ME3 at full retail. If I wasn't this big Battletech fan, MW wouldn't mean a thing to me, might spend €15 on it if it was decent and I didn't already have a Mech combat game laying around (I currently have Front Mission Evolved in that category), if I did maybe €5-€10 eventually.
Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss a good single player storyline. I'm absolutely going to hate the fact that in 15 years time the servers will be offline and I'll have a very expensive useless game laying around (expensive because I will spent money on it if it is any fun). There will be a place for single player games, but the MW audience is already pretty small, a MMO might make that audience a little bigger.
In they end the game will rise or fall with gameplay.
I have no problem with free trials and demos. That's basically the "F2P" system. Insert hook, reel in. No problem. But call a spade a spade. There are a few exceptions like LOL, which I will be amazed to see it keep the cash shop to cosmetic items only (though I have a friend who buys stuff there (at about 15 bucks a month, amazingly, to help support Riot games).
But a game like World of Tanks... I wanted to grind up to the big bad tanks, and then I realized I'd spent 300 bucks in 3 months on in game gold. While I enjoyed my time in the game for the most part, it wasn't worth 300 bucks in 3 months. I'll never buy gold from wargaming.net again, not because I hate them, but because I don't support their model. I'd be happy to give 10 bucks a month to the game to support it. But gimping me because I don't (xp and credits nerfs make it extremely difficult to play the bigger tanks unless you're a "premium" account person) sucks.