Remember this post I made 3 years ago on the upcoming MechWarrior game?
It has been announced officially as MechWarrior Online, a free to play game, launching sometime this year, and with no singleplayer campaign at all. They're aiming at an action oriented online arena feel, ala MechAssault.
I should have added another criteria to that wishlist: that it wouldn't be a whored out f2p game with tons of cash shopping to win. In my inbox today, I received an email offer from MWO for their upcoming cash shop packages. There are $30, $60, and $120 packages, giving you 1, 2 or 3 months of exp boost respectively. You also get some exclusive founders-only mech variants with a reskin. It's not clear from the wording whether or not the variants will be exclusive too, or if it's just a reskin/remodel of an existing variant available to all players. You also get a bit of in-game cash shop currency and some prestige crap.
Holy damn, that is a massive amount of money to pay, especially before a game launch. $120 is beyond what I'd even expect for a collector's edition, so why would anyone pay that except to get massive advantages? I'm not against all F2P games, but the setup here gives me the wrong vibe. I was expecting players would pay maybe $10 and be able to buy/unlock 3-4 items which could be obtained over a period of 1-2 weeks. But 60 USD for a 2 month buff, 1 reskin and $80 of cash shop? Just how pricey are the items going to be??
Next, it really seems these guys are copying the Tribes: Ascend formula. Fast-paced, jump-into-action game with unlockable items per class in an online arena. It worked pretty well for Tribes, but I'm not so sure it will for MWO. It's going to be just like MechAssault if it does that, and that's not how Mechwarrior is supposed to play at all. MechWarrior isn't about arena-deathmatches (although Solaris Arena is), instead, you play a battlefield with objectives and smart tactics and coordinated strategy with a full arsenal of Air, Infantry, Vehicles and Mechs.
Worse, MW has an incredibly rich history of lore that's just going to be abandoned for F2Ping. No doubt they'll add more and more items as the game goes on to milk it, but the rich backstory that MW is built upon is going to be unimportant. Who cares what's happening in Tribes? Who even knows the lore for that? You just go in and FRAG. That's not a mold MW fits into, no matter how hard MWO is jammed into that role.
Last thing, it seems rather likely now that mechs cannot be customized, and players will be limited to variants. This is probably the best way the devs can continue to milk players harder and harder. It also means things will be a little more bland, and less freeform as MW is supposed to be.
Well... At least there's MechWarrior Tactics coming out soon.
Wait, that's F2P too. Shit.
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1 comment:
I feel your pain. I saw cash shop in the download window and closed down the program. Greedy Motherfucker. They don't have to produce a quality game that way. Players don't have right to bitch if game is quote "free". Like you said free play.. Bull-Shit. More like free to play at a handicap and of course NOT FUN!
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