Overall Monetization Overhaul

[Vincer]

TL;DR: discuss different things that the devs could charge platinum for that you would buy or like having the option to.
IF YOU SEE ANY IDEA YOU LIKE quote its name with a +1 for it, and when giving ideas make a name for then more pronounced so we can discuss ideas around using the names.

I like this game. Damn, i loved it. Actually i got hooked by it, ive played many other games with similar 'adctive' design choices and never any made that to me, ive always had some serious grieves towards f2p models... everything on this model would have put me off but didn't, and that means a lot.

Still i didn't spent a dime and im not keen on doing so with it as is, and it seems the conversion rates are below what they could be(even for a beta in this state). Theres more to this than just monetization model(since gameplay aspects and balance do have a impact on value for the end consumer) but ive lost a lengthy topic yesterday about that and will not tap on that, just the monetization for now.

 

Why? Why someone who loved the game, almost to the point of addiction isn't converting into a buyer?

You: why you aren't buying platinum, or more of it?

Thing is i love this game and the model right now seems to me lacking; I would hate to see this game dying anytime because of bad revenue.

So what i want to propose is to get the talk to another level; A brainstorm of suggestion as well, but for everyone here to try to think out of the box and more importantly try to understand what deep down would make you change the way you look at rewards; What you would happily buy and such.

And please, no more 'reduce warframes prices'. DE surely already heard that one and not changed it for some reason; This is the right time(beta) for then to try different things and see what ticks, let that one sink in with more feedback, if it isn't working they will know that and much better then us.
Besides im sure they're testing a model to reinforce game frequency(daily rewards) together with pricing, so smart buyers will login and play more for that discount.

So, what else could be changed?

Some of the things on my mind:

Test warframes: Ive got tempted to buy a warframe right away but im on a really low and tight budget here... so im picky with my choices. Why i didn't bought? Because im not sure if i will like whatever one i buy. If i don't like it i will feel like ive wasted my cash, and any feeling like that with a service make customers less likely to risk spending again.

So there should be some way of testing frames before getting then; From 'time limited test drive' ones like some other games do or any other way.
One crazy but fun idea to make things different would be... swapping frames with someone else for a mission; A one-time only thing related to some kind of drop so you can't do that all the time. This takes things on a whole new level for 2 things: not only its more social, it would be the first game to allow players to 'share builds'. I would be able to see what and how others are customizing, wanting to swap and try even frames i own of someone i see playing in a tottally different setup.

Beyonds that and the obvious and common things already suggested, i have some others i would call 'better facilitators'. We're all familiar with the 'pay for convenience' idea, but single itens, xp boosts and such aren't the best way to do that. Most f2p games do just that, but thing is both the suceeding, barely suceeding and tottally broke ones that got shut down did that. Theres no causal relation here with sucess or failure so theres no reason to stick with only that. The game is in beta so why not try different things?

These are bad because of all the temptation and 'traps' associated; "Were not selling enought of those, maybe leveling is too fast? If we slow it down buying boosts would increase..."- this sort of thing happened elsewhere and is not cool. Just the most stupid example, there are lots of traps much harder to notice, this happens on every business, much harder on games, even more dangerous on f2p games with complex stats and balances everywhere(harder to see bigger picture without try and miss changes).

So im taking from the most sucessfull itens on the shop as well and expanding on it...

Custom/alternative loadouts: So i have a bunch of guns and mods, ive even bought more slots for those... but i barely try or use some since it takes time to change in iventory when everyone is voting or the alert will disappear in seconds.

What if i could buy a second loadout for guns, or even a third one? Not that i would buy a third one but once custom/faster changing lodaouts are in place it wouldn't be hard to let someone spend on even more if they wished.

Much, much, MUCH more interesting and sucessfull would be custom mods loadout. Man, if i could create a bunch of builds for different playstyles, changing not only for some missions but whatever i feel like changing the pace without flicking all around the whole inventory...

Theres 3 possible paths here; I prefer 'different areas as different products' loadouts that are attached to my account(applying to every frame and weapon i equip); Another path is 'loadouts for all areas', that is, i buy a second loadout it would appear for my guns, warframe and mods at once.. but bought for each warframe.
The third, worst and more grindier one would be to buy those for each thing separate; Like buying a second loadout for my [put whatever gun you like here]. The third, obviously, would mean cheaper products.

 

The first and second ones are the ones that add the most value; The convenience and lasting effects add a lot of value, im improving my game without breaking balance and buying something that i will never stop using and always have around.

 

+>>Improved lobby: where i could see/perceive somewhat what frames and builds i will be playing with. If i could hover at the other players in the lobby and see their loadouts, health and energy values are i could change mine to better complement then. This adds not only more value to loadouts, it adds some lacking social/planing/co-op features that the game needs so much.

 

+>>refill stations: This is an idea attached to other suggestion ive made in my previous lost post, for some harder game modes or a random variation on missions that would remove much of the resources popping around the level(health, energy) and put then on stations(imagine for instance a defense nightmare game where you only refill those every couple of waves).
Anyway, regarding loadouts, those levels with stations would allow to change loadouts inside a level. Not for every level, thats for sure, nor that easy to create, but that would increase loadouts value even more. The stations should appear as some sort of 'drop' or strange/'alien' tenno tech that lotus sneaked in before the mission started, so no questions about how some griner locker have tenno weapons would never pop up. Maybe even a artifact that would spwan one randomly on the level.

 

Platinum partial refund/selling itens: say i buy a warframe right away but dislike it, if i sell it do i get any platinum back? Im not sure how it is right now, i guess not, but i think the game would benefit if SOME(%) of it returned for re-use.
That would reduce the risk taking and frustration(from a bad choice) when buying something you regret soon after; It would return some platinum, but since its a lower value(i don't know, 50%?) you still need to cash in some more if you want to re-use it on something same-priced as what you've sold.

 

!Enemy 'hacking' artifacts(enemy changes): Not sure if easy or hard to make, but i know it would surelly sell; I love all enemies within the game(yeah, even the ones called annoying) and im not alone. They're important for the overall gameplay and difficulty of the game, the way we do tactics, and sincerely i think there should come some new ones with other debuff atacks and such(yeah).
But i also know a bunch of people who would like then removed.. how to please both parties?

 

Point is im really very afraid of the devs cutting or changing some of them because of annoyed players asking for it, and the players that dislike are always more vocal then those who like(after all, no one creates a topic to say 'i love this guy, keep him!' right?).

So here's an idea; Something you have to sacrifice another benefit for(another artifact) but that would affect one kind of displeasing enemy for you.
There are two ways here: the enemy is removed from spawn lists(that would affect other players) or gain some sort of 'bug' towards the player using the item. What changes for each enemie could differ, and each enemy effect being a different artifact.
The fluff would be some sort of hacking from lotus or something that emanates from the artifact that make some people ill or malfunctioning, or whatever(artifacts right now have no fluff explanation so whatever).

 

For example the roller balls: in co-op they would choose your character last, while in solo they would disappear; If another player comes in or drop out the next enemy wave/spawn would change accordingly. Or would reduce the stagger you get from them for each artifact level.

The griner scorpion: each level of the artifact would add a chance of that cable not sticking in you, the highest one you would be immune to the cable.

And so on, for each of those enemies. Thing is those artifacts are super rare to drop or cash only. Im all for players better suiting the game to their liking as long as this doesn't affect me.

 

Tenno mods(convenient variations): After you understand the game, play it and see the prices... who ever buys mods packs? Surely their value increases as more mods will be added to the game, but the farming player will still prefer to farm those most of the time.

The idea is making mods alternatives that are exactly the same as normal ones, but with some added features for convenience(that don't impact gameplay); Calling then 'Tenno Mods' would work, they're the versions from lost-older tenno tech and thats why they don't drop from enemies missions.

What would these features be? Im not tottally sure, im sure some people could come up with lots of interesting suggestions. Some examples would be a mod you could install on multiple frames; Instead of having to unequip from one frame/weapon to another, the mod is installed but not disappear from the inventory; so you can fusion and install that same mod in all things you like without needing to find and fusion another one or fickle with inventory wenever you want to change.
Or maybe they also could be 'deleveled', reseting their rank and spawing a fusion core on your inventory, one with value proportional to the deleveled mod, but obviously lower then all the fusion spent to rank it in first place. Or(that would change a little bit of balance) they don't have the +1cost penalty when installed in a wrong slot.

 

Single/specific mods for buy: Not now, but like trading card games once we have a bunch more of mods around being able to buy directly that rare one you crave but have being unlucky to drop would surely work(if not overpriced of course). Would add even more value if coupled with the 'tenno mods' idea above.

 

Faster switching weapons mod/something: One that i would surely buy, im really craving for anything that makes my tenno switch weapons faster; It isn't gamebraking, the slower weapon switch rewards some little bit more foward thinking and care but the final impact of any tenno on a level would differ very little from that change. A convenience that could even add value to other things in game(some weapons combinations i would like to use more IF i could swap guns faster; for instance sniping would be more pleasant if i could swap from it faster). I wouldn't bother this being cash only if not overpriced, not at all.

 

Sentinel behaviour added variety: A couple of things beyond skin. Again im talking off added overall features instead of 'modify this/that item' as a better choice.

Ive seen people who hate or love sentinels; People who don't like their position, people who like that and don't want it changed... what if that could be customized, for a price?

For instance, i like sentinels but only sometime i like then shooting and killing things instead of me. For example i use the shade one with a waframe lacking cloaking, and without any shooting attached for it. Thing is i only like the sentinel flying around when he is shooting and i would rather not have him buzzing around me in other moments... thats only one example.
Maybe you would like a sentinel always cloaked(he still would take damage, mostly from area attacks), or only decloaked when you're attacking(so enemies don't spot him); Or what about one that only appears(kinda like 'from you' with some nano-tech particles) when you have your primary or secondary equiped? Much better, what if i could program my sentinel to hover a little further from me(towards the next waypoint) like a scout or the opposite, further back on my trail dealing with enemies left behind? Or maybe someone would like theirs flying orbiting around the tenno... anyway, most aestethic, feel or behaviour changes that aren't game breaking and are different then skins.

My guess is most selled version would be the changes in position; If someone like then but want their position on 'that part of the screen instead' you provide it, instead of making changes that will please some and annoy the rest.

I could keep going on as i have some more other ideas, but the topic is already long enought. What are your ideas?

Edited July 11, 2013 by Vincer

[ArcSynder]

When sentinels were originally brought up as a possibility, we were told that we would be able to custom tailor them to our liking with precepts that would dictate various behaviors. 

 

I'm not even sure if we can fill up all the mod slots on them yet. 

[Ced23Ric]

I can assure you that a similar topic with over 650 upvotes and multiple pages of replies has been seen and reviewed by DE an is on their tables. Since the nature of development and changes is a fickle one, your feedback is appreciated, but you may not get the response you are looking for. Regardless, rest assured that there's change a-comin'.

 

Hang tight, Tenno.

[TheHeraldXII]

Agreeing with a 1 day trial period where you can get a Warframe for credits but it disappears at the end of the day. I think a lot of people would appreciate trying before they buy. This change doesn't personally affect me, I never bought a Warframe and I own them all already, but I think people would appreciate knowing what they're buying.