Concearned about monetization

[Pandagnome]

Sure if subscribers get an exclusive boost then non-subscribers that tag along will constantly have to catch up. What I proposed is that non-subscribers get a 5s window to get the same boost so they are not constantly left behind. subscribers get their convenience without hurting non-subscribers.

5 seconds but what are the intervals e.g.

- Standard no boost
- Teamed with subscriber gain 2-5% (Every 20second a 5second boost matches subscriber after this time goes back to 2-5% until the next 20second mark)

Perhaps it goes to 5% depending on the number in the team lets say as an example
2% = 1 player + subscriber player
3% = 2 players + subscriber player
4% = 3 players + subscriber player
5% = 4 players + subscriber player

This encourages to team up and benefit for the others.

- Subscriber 15% constant

The loot magnet is a double edged sword. If you are a subscriber in a party with the loot magnet and you gather up all the loot for yourself before your party members can

If the player is not within the group radius area and further away the loot automatically highlighted so the player further away have to get there and be in the area of where the group collected it and would be counted.

Lets say they are all in a vehicle and it drives around they are all getting the loot no matter what their status but if it is resource then the subscriber would have slightly more due to the benefit of subscribing boost.

Ask yourself this, what is the lesser of the two evils: A +5% resource boost or a loot magnet. It's the loot magnet. Why? A flat +5% resource boost is kind of in your face with those numbers and makes you take out a spreadsheet to calculate if it is worth the purchase. It also messes up the game balance and makes it difficult for the devs to tweak the game economy. A loot magnet on the other hand is bottlenecked by whatever the mobs drop.

To me resources is the main use to create and do things the loot is handy too but if i have to be honest here a loot magnet is convenience that could be fixed with perhaps a pet or even a team in a vehicle.

Resources is what everyone is after does it mean a boost would mess up the balance i don't know?
Everyone can get a boost free or subscriber.

An example in warframe when you play a mission for longer with the team you can qualify for booster that could be 3 days or so.

Sometimes they pop up on daily login rewards too which is another way to earn boosters or other rewards but would say just login in is not so great they could at least play for 15mins -20mins for the daily login reward to be obtained i think that is good.

Early backers that payed for the game got a bike that you could ride on while all the other poor plebs like me that joined the game though an invite had to walk. After a certain update, poor plebs could earn a bike through missions so if you played the game you could eventually reach parity with the backers. But then in another update, they introduces the Celestial Wings (a glider deployable in mid-air, gotten from loot-boxes) which allowed you to fly further then what all the other wings would allow you.

I remember seeing this about the bikes but you still had a way to create a bike ingame although it did take time.

Dont think i ever got the celestial wings hmm

 

[phoenix]

5 seconds but what are the intervals e.g.

- Standard no boost
- Teamed with subscriber gain 2-5% (Every 20second a 5second boost matches subscriber after this time goes back to 2-5% until the next 20second mark)

Perhaps it goes to 5% depending on the number in the team lets say as an example
2% = 1 player + subscriber player
3% = 2 players + subscriber player
4% = 3 players + subscriber player
5% = 4 players + subscriber player

This encourages to team up and benefit for the others.

- Subscriber 15% constant

What I propose is just a +10% movement speed bonus that lasts for 5 sec, like the FireFall trailblazer. Instead of glider pads like in FireFall, we just have trailblazer pads in cities that subscribers can use. Whenever a subscriber walks over them, a trailblazer is deployed and is available for everyone for the next 5sec. Cheap and easy to implement, offers major convince and does not upset the balance.

I would be against having stack-able subscriber benefits. They should be flat and simple.

loot automatically highlighted

Another great subscription idea: loot radar 0.80$/month.

 

[phoenix]

To me resources is the main use to create and do things the loot is handy too but if i have to be honest here a loot magnet is convenience that could be fixed with perhaps a pet or even a team in a vehicle.

Resources is what everyone is after does it mean a boost would mess up the balance i don't know?
Everyone can get a boost free or subscriber.

An example in warframe when you play a mission for longer with the team you can qualify for booster that could be 3 days or so.

Sometimes they pop up on daily login rewards too which is another way to earn boosters or other rewards but would say just login in is not so great they could at least play for 15mins -20mins for the daily login reward to be obtained i think that is good.

Well, yes, resource boosts in some shape or form could be introduced but would that make the game itself fun? My take on it (and a few other people too) is that it perverse the game experience. I can't quite clearly explain it but, would it still be a fun game if you pay for a shortcut? If you have to pay for a shortcut to have a more fulfilling experience then clearly something is wrong with the game. Imagine paying for a +20% mining boost in Factorio or +20% smelting speed in Minecraft. Would that make the game more fun? No, because the "grinding", which is a core mechanic of those games, has been perfected and well balanced. If a resource boost makes the game more fun to play then something is wrong with the balance. Either the development team failed in that aspect or they did it on purpose to milk players of their money.

The point is, in order for the game to be fun it needs to have a well balanced grinding (resource gathering) experience. Any resource boost will mess this up. Besides, resource contribution to the war effort will be put in leader-boards so any resource boost will fly out the window anyway.

I remember seeing this about the bikes but you still had a way to create a bike ingame although it did take time.

Bikes for plebs was introduced later into the game. I got in way early into the development. plebs had to walk for around a year or two before they were able to get a bike.

Don't think i ever got the celestial wings hmm

Celestial wings were the shit. Allowed you to fly to any point on the map if you had a good afterburner.

Infinite gliding for assault frames was never relay "fixed" throughout the entire game. My most favorable moments in FireFall were areal duels with other Tigerclaws in sunken harbour. We would stay up in the air indefinitely using our abilities and jump jets (which were rare and top of the line). Sometimes we would even reach the map ceiling. Sometimes the loser would plunge to his death (unable to be revived) and would take a durability hit. The stakes were quite high but we all enjoyed it.

 

[Pandagnome]

Was thinking alot about what made games fun for me so here are what i think is fun:

- Exploring because you can find certain things/paths when you take the time and secrets

- Racing league just like in mario kart i know i keep saying this but its fun could really imagine a mek going very fast in some race destroying potential obstacles and annoying npc's that try to stop you.

- Customizing this is big, you can create so many things for pilots, vehicles, Mek, thumpr, this has a good area to put into show rooms or even see yourself in run way think of it like a fashion scene but with big meks this could be for pilots, and dropships too.

- Gifts and prizes this could lead to taking part in the customization fashion showcase events etc In races, and completing tasks etc etc

- Helping others for example lets say you see a request for help on the help board and if you help folks to earn a badge these badges accumulate the more you help giving you some bonus in that time could be % of credits to something else.

- Badge set collection if you complete a set this could give you a special outfit etc etc

- Spaceships/base we all want to have something and say its our own sanctuary in the universe of em8er plus can invite friends.

- Master crafter in one game enjoyed crafting items for a group we all had to get stuff and would make the items for the group it was very satisfying .

- Did play abit of pvp have to admit can be fun but i would have that somewhere in another planet or node it would be more on the battle royale and their own pvp league that does not interfere with pve perhaps in the future?.

- What makes a game fun is when it has no bugs and updated and smooth as a chocolate spread that makes it fun because of good experience and quality customer service too!

The point is, in order for the game to be fun it needs to have a well balanced grinding (resource gathering) experience. Any resource boost will mess this up. Besides, resource contribution to the war effort will be put in leader-boards so any resource boost will fly out the window anyway.

What I propose is just a +10% movement speed bonus that lasts for 5 sec, like the FireFall trailblazer. Instead of glider pads like in FireFall, we just have trailblazer pads in cities that subscribers can use. Whenever a subscriber walks over them, a trailblazer is deployed and is available for everyone for the next 5sec. Cheap and easy to implement, offers major convince and does not upset the balance.

I would be against having stack-able subscriber benefits. They should be flat and simple.

That makes sense ok say there are no advantage in the resources at all and as you mentioned one for movement speed above.

Here are some others with a (Small boost percentage) perhaps these are other ways to improve
convinence and make it interesting?

- Credit boost for more currency to purchase ingame things

- Crafting efficiency for less resources used to make things

- Loot radar and collector convenience to get things [collector cannot get things from far but wthin its radius

- Pilot G-suit boost survival & speed rate increased

- Stealth boost increases sabotage rating and obtaining keys from high priority targets/areas to use key to unlock areas heavily fortified and find nice loots.

- vip boost this increases reputation of the player while protecting vip and staying in their radius.
Reputation can give points to unlock respective items and skins from specific team vendors e.g. like in firefall accord, Omnidyne etc etc

- boost pack select e.g. 3 boost perks to give a small discount lets say you got the pilot g suit boost and crafting and vip you get a small discount.

- Family/team Boost pack e.g.
2 boost packs = 10% off next
3 boost packs = 15% off next
4 boost packs = 20% off next
5 or more boost packs = 25% off next


I think most profit will go towards the customization & boosts too they are nice to have and people seem to purchase them in games.

Packs are great too because they could have a good selection of things for a player to get ready such as a mixture of a boost a special vehicle and even some credits, depending on what the pack theme could be special packs for festive seasons or special edition Biker pack etc etc.


Some even purchase slots but that is annoying & i hope inventory slots are even for everyone!

 

[WatsonDynamite]

Was thinking alot about what made games fun for me so here are what i think is fun:

- Exploring because you can find certain things/paths when you take the time and secrets

Yes. This is one of my favorite parts of Firefall, the game that made me fall in love with open world exploration.

- Racing league just like in mario kart i know i keep saying this but its fun could really imagine a mek going very fast in some race destroying potential obstacles and annoying npc's that try to stop you.

As long as I'm allowed to take my bad@$$ sick monster of a Python bike, I'm all for it.

- Customizing this is big, you can create so many things for pilots, vehicles, Mek, thumpr, this has a good area to put into show rooms or even see yourself in run way think of it like a fashion scene but with big meks this could be for pilots, and dropships too.

Yes. A fundamental part of any MMO game, this HAS to be in.

- Helping others for example lets say you see a request for help on the help board and if you help folks to earn a badge these badges accumulate the more you help giving you some bonus in that time could be % of credits to something else.

Cool way to encourage player cooperation, I like it.

- Spaceships/base we all want to have something and say its our own sanctuary in the universe of em8er plus can invite friends.

As long as it's more customizable than the Warframe Dojos, which I find kinda lacking.

I think most profit will go towards the customization & boosts too they are nice to have and people seem to purchase them in games.

Packs are great too because they could have a good selection of things for a player to get ready such as a mixture of a boost a special vehicle and even some credits, depending on what the pack theme could be special packs for festive seasons or special edition Biker pack etc etc.


Some even purchase slots but that is annoying & i hope inventory slots are even for everyone!

This has to be done very carefully, Black Desert Online for example, also mostly only sells convenience items and boosts to drops and such, but to compensate for this they made the game extremely grindy and repetitive

 

[Pandagnome]

If there are a number of ways to get certain things such as

- Quests

- Events

- Helping other players from help board

- saving innocent npc avoiding collateral damage

- Defending points

- infiltration and hacking

- Storming and capturing

- Racing

- Unlocking areas to strengthen resource in that region for all

- support those who fix other meks and construct new parts

- Healers saving lives, providing anti-toxin medicines to npc. etc etc

- Vehicle experts completing vehicle sets

- Completing daily or weekly Assignments given out by reapers or other faction.

- Reaper Pilot achieve this by outfitting with the top notch devices and suit and survive without your mek more challenging more risky a good reward for those who dare.

- Dropship control take over the enemy dropship and take control of their depot

- Scans and copies - using your time and patience learn the world scan items and figure the stories some stories have tips on how to tackle tasks. Even learn to create alien techs from bp pieces that need to be reconstructed to be revealed

That way it would not feel like a big grind as there are different ways to obtain certain things perhaps some more than others depending on the region too.

Also think it depends what people enjoy too some may prefer blasting stuff and going super fast
while others would like to take their time and experience it all as if they have set foot on another country to discover the history, the culture the scene the food of the reapers and etc etc etc

I like to believe Em8er will have something for everyone and that it would be engaging and talked by those as a quality game to go to.

Referring back to warframe i like warframe but it does need to fix bugs and add more but in due time i suppose hmm

 

[Rawgi]

If there are a number of ways to get certain things such as

- Quests

- Events

- Helping other players from help board

- saving innocent npc avoiding collateral damage

- Defending points

- infiltration and hacking

- Storming and capturing

- Racing

- Unlocking areas to strengthen resource in that region for all

- support those who fix other meks and construct new parts

- Healers saving lives, providing anti-toxin medicines to npc. etc etc

- Vehicle experts completing vehicle sets

- Completing daily or weekly Assignments given out by reapers or other faction.

- Reaper Pilot achieve this by outfitting with the top notch devices and suit and survive without your mek more challenging more risky a good reward for those who dare.

- Dropship control take over the enemy dropship and take control of their depot

- Scans and copies - using your time and patience learn the world scan items and figure the stories some stories have tips on how to tackle tasks. Even learn to create alien techs from bp pieces that need to be reconstructed to be revealed

That way it would not feel like a big grind as there are different ways to obtain certain things perhaps some more than others depending on the region too.

Also think it depends what people enjoy too some may prefer blasting stuff and going super fast
while others would like to take their time and experience it all as if they have set foot on another country to discover the history, the culture the scene the food of the reapers and etc etc etc

I like to believe Em8er will have something for everyone and that it would be engaging and talked by those as a quality game to go to.

Referring back to warframe i like warframe but it does need to fix bugs and add more but in due time i suppose hmm

This sounds much better, I remember doing errands for Oilspill and Aero was a way to earn more XP so you could get more stuff.

 

[Pandagnome]

This sounds much better, I remember doing errands for Oilspill and Aero was a way to earn more XP so you could get more stuff.

I like this too it makes you feel you have helped those who are on the same place even though they are npc you just feel you done your part.

 

[phoenix]

How about the following convenience item:
"No more escort missions" 3.99$/month.

 

[Thorp]

How about the following convenience item:
"No more escort missions" 3.99$/month.

...I'm fairly certain that the current development plan for thumper calldowns in Em8er is an escort mission. Call the thumper mech down, keep the mech alive, escort it back to base to deposit. ...was it confirmed otherwise? Players won't be able to "just send it back into space" like we did in Firefall

 

[Rawgi]

Just can't get away from the money thing, like if you want to play, you have to pay. Guess TINSTAAFL ( there is no such thing as a free lunch ) applies.

 

[Mordeth Kai]

Wow, surprised the thread is still going.

Just can't get away from the money thing, like if you want to play, you have to pay. Guess TINSTAAFL applies

I don't mind paying, as long as it's honest transparent and straightforward. The moment I see monopoly money and things that aren't cosmetic, be it boosters, inventory space, or some other "convenience" item I walk away, they are trying to get rich selling air.

Charging a 1 time fee for access to a game is honest and straightforward. Charging a small subscription is honest and straightforward if it's something everyone has to do for access, otherwise devs have to incentivize with things that should just be available to everyone (look at ESO's sub model for an example, inventory management and crafting is hell unless you sub). Charging for cosmetics is the most acceptable microtransaction you can do, but just as you can drink enough water to kill yourself, anything can be overdone or poorly implemented, Elite Dangerous is a good example of this (no simple base game customization, like color changes, and thousands of dollars worth of skins (mostly the same skin pallet swapped and sold as a "different" skin lmao)).

Really, what it all comes down to is honesty and greed. Each year I used to give at least 1 F2P game a chance, and I regreted it every time, now I'm quite sensitive to the manipulative practices that accompany such things. In recent years we've seen 'live service tm' emerge where greedy bastards discovered a game doesn't need to be F2P to monetize like one. You can't have a business without profit, but that doesn't mean you need to deceive or manipulate people to do so. Anything other than an expansion, cosmetics, or sub is a hard pass for me, not just from the transactions in question but the game itself.

If the faq said 'cosmetic only' I'd have no concearns, but pay for convenience is a huge red flag.