Upcoming Merc Pricing Changes

(Chris Mullins) #1

Next week, we’re releasing an update that includes the reworked Dome.

In this update, launching on August 22, we’re also making some big changes to the cost of Mercs in the Store.

Smaller Steps

We launched on Steam in 2015 with 12 Mercs split into two price tiers. Since then, we’ve almost doubled the number of playable Mercs in the game, all releasing at the higher price point.

Over the years, many newer players have felt that most Mercs seem unattainable; Once the ‘cheap’ Mercs have been purchased, the jump to the next price point felt too steep. Some of the cheaper and less team-focused Mercs (we’re looking at you, Vassili), have also been bought by newer players to the detriment of their teams. To improve this, we’re introducing a five-tiered price point system for the Mercs.

Five Tiers of Frags

From the 22nd of August, we’ll be breaking down Mercs into the following tiers:

50,000 C / US$9.99 45,000 C / US$8.99 40,000 C / US$7.99 35,000 C / US$6.99 30,000 C / US$5.99 Free
Turtle Nader Phoenix Arty Bushwhacker Skyhammer
Kira Proxy Fragger Fletcher Sawbonez Aura
Vassili Stoker Aimee Thunder Rhino
Phantom Redeye Sparks

These tiers are based on a number of factors, including general difficulty and how long they’ve been in the game.

Alongside these changes, we’ll be updating our Steam DLC bundles to suit, and replacing the existing in-store bundles to the following:

Store Bundles

Veterans Bundle - US$19.99 (save 50%)

  • 5 x Mercs (Sawbonez. Arty, Proxy, Rhino, Aimee)
  • 10 x Golden Equipment Cases
  • 1 x 6 Hour Booster

Strikeforce Bundle - US$29.99 (save 50%)

  • 5 x Mercs (Fragger, Fletcher, Kira, Phoenix, Redeye)
  • 10 x Golden Equipment Cases
  • 2 x Elite Cases
  • 1 x 12 Hour Booster
  • 10,000 Credits

Firestorm Bundle - US$29.99 (save 50%)

  • 5 x Mercs (Thunder, Vassili, Sparks, Nader, Stoker)
  • 10 x Golden Equipment Cases
  • 2 x Elite Cases
  • 1 x 12 Hour Booster
  • 10,000 Credits

If you want to get in early and purchase a Merc that will raise in price, or one of the many that will get cheaper (hey, we’re not ones to judge if you like spending money!), you have until August 22.

(Press E) #2

Arty, Fletcher, and Thunder for 35k

Prepare for stickies, artillery strikes, and concussion grenades absolutely everywhere

(LIGHT_BAGHEERA) #3

Finally, proxy isn’t 30k credits anymore! Thanks!

(MPGlenn1202) #4

What about those who have bought most / all of the mercs and spent more money on them? Will we be receiving credits back for each 50k merc we bought that are now being reduced in price, or no?

(Press E) #5

@MPGlenn1202 said:
What about those who have bought most / all of the mercs and spent more money on them? Will we be receiving credits back for each 50k merc we bought that are now being reduced in price, or no?

Doubt it, considering how SD didn’t retroactively give arsenal crates to high level players.

This is an open beta game after all, everything is subject to change.

(MarsRover) #6

@STARRYSOCK said:

Arty, Fletcher, and Thunder for 35k

Prepare for stickies, artillery strikes, and concussion grenades absolutely everywhere

I’ll take that over my team containing 2-3 level 4 MLG pros crouching 10 meters out of our spawn, zoomed in on a random doorway.

Looking at price tiers I wouldn’t mind if Stoker (45k) and Aimee (40k) switched places to further make it harder to buy a sniper with your level 4 bonus.

(Blubehriluv) #7

Where’s the price for Skyhamper?

(everlovestruck) #8

I have to disagree on making Bushwhacker and Thunder cheap

(Press E) #9

Also, is anyone else worried about creating the illusion of a false hierarchy system?
When I first joined, I remember thinking that more expensive mercs must be more expensive because they’re better.
Hell, fletcher even says he costs more because he’s “the best” (although now he’s only 35k, lol)

This might lead new players to call the game pay to win tbh.

(Mc1412013) #10

@STARRYSOCK said:

@MPGlenn1202 said:
What about those who have bought most / all of the mercs and spent more money on them? Will we be receiving credits back for each 50k merc we bought that are now being reduced in price, or no?

Doubt it, considering how SD didn’t retroactively give arsenal crates to high level players.

This is an open beta game after all, everything is subject to change.

Do you get mo ey back when u buy something in a store that goes down in price months later. How is this any different.

Though i wish they would revert to old daily credits as this new system sucks.

(NightfIy) #11

I like the idea but I would have liked to have seen Fragger moved down to 30k and move Rhino and Thunder up a tier each to 35k and 40k respectively

(Eox) #12

The idea is great. Proxy being the most expensive engie will probably prevent newbies from swarming around her too much and get bad habits. I’m also very glad to see Vassili and Phantom as the most expensive merc (same story of bad habits). However, I think the price cost of some mercs should be changed.

Fletcher should be bumped to 40k instead of 35k, while Phoenix should be lowered to 35k instead of 40k. I’m suggesting this because I consider Phoenix an excellent choice for beginners thank to his self sustain and self revive, while Fletcher tends to be harder to handle at first glance due to his unique playstyle.

Sparks should be bumped to the maximum price (50k) due to the fact that she’s one of the hardest mercs to play. Definitely not a fitting choice for a beginner. Kira can replace her at 40k, as she’ll be much easier to play.

I’m not sure if we should allow a sniper to cost 40k. Maybe Aime should be swapped with Nader ? Though I understand that newbies have a lot of bad habits with Nader, I’m afraid to see a lot of them swarming around Aimee since Vass now costs 50k.

I don’t really get why Stoker costs 45k when Arty is technically hard to play for a Beginner. You might want to swap those two.

Rhino costing 30k feels dangerous. Sure, he’s the easiest assault to play, but he’s the absolute bane of newbies.

(Cookie3) #13

Pros - Proxy and the recons cost more now, reduction to Aimee cost and Redeye is scary but at the very least this will hopefully discourage new players from immediately grabbing Vassili as he’s no longer in the price range. Placing Bushwhacker, Rhino and Sawbonez in the 30k choices was definitely a smart move and is better for new players to grab over the previous ‘main picks’.

Cons - Though Prox and Vassili are now more expensive, Redeye and Aimee are now cheaper and people are still undoubtedly going to go for the snipers as soon as they can afford it. Let’s just hope they’re discouraged from doing it sooner now so they can at least learn the game with a suitable merc rather than throwing a fit in the first hour because they can’t hit shite.

edit: Oh, I forgot to mention Fletcher and Thunder are now 35k. Fuck.

(K1X455) #14

I’m sad Bushwhacker and Fletcher got devalued.

(BlackboltLW) #15

Vassili is finally 50k

Thundering clap

(MPGlenn1202) #16

@Mc1412013 said:

@STARRYSOCK said:

@MPGlenn1202 said:
What about those who have bought most / all of the mercs and spent more money on them? Will we be receiving credits back for each 50k merc we bought that are now being reduced in price, or no?

Doubt it, considering how SD didn’t retroactively give arsenal crates to high level players.

This is an open beta game after all, everything is subject to change.

Do you get mo ey back when u buy something in a store that goes down in price months later. How is this any different.

Though i wish they would revert to old daily credits as this new system sucks.
I just thought of it as a possibility since it would imaginably be very easy to distribute the credits for each merc for each player

(MPGlenn1202) #17

@Eox said:
Rhino costing 30k feels dangerous. Sure, he’s the easiest assault to play, but he’s the absolute bane of newbies.
Maybe it’s for the best; after all, if Rhino is the easiest to get, noobs will damn well make sure to learn how to counter him more quickly

(DynoSauR) #18

I own all the Merc’s already and you better find something desirable to put in the Store since there’s next to nothing of value there left to buy. I’m sitting on 300,000 credits because there’s nothing I want to buy and Crafting a Cobalt requires too many fragments.

(Teflon Love) #19

Good move. Vassili and Phantom with all their game ruining ability (due to their utter uselessness in unskilled hands) should be at least 100,000 credits though. :wink:

(AspergerKid) #20

Well, I just bought stoker for full 50k and arty for 30k, looks like I saved/lost exactly 0 credits
Anyway, I will drop down an Opinion to this matter:

I am finally happy to see Bush at 30k, in my opinion he is simply weaker than the other engies, but Rhino at 30k?! Hell no! Making a merc that slow and aggressive so accessible?! It would be suited better if changed with Fragger, because the technique of Cooking won’t be that hard and a regular grenade is more simple

Fletcher should swap with turtle, Fletcher is way harder to control and his sentence of him costing more because he’s the best would lose it’s meaning

I think it’s too late to stop the aproxylypse by bumping her up, but defnetely not too late to stop the vassicalypse! Yet I think Vassili is the most simple sniper of them all, he should actually be at 40k whilst amy is the 45k one and Redeye the most expensive, the smoke grenade comes with great responsibility and outside of the just ended free rotation, he is almost nowhere to be found…

I am still rooting for Sawbonez replacing Aura as the beginner merc, I can’t say if Aura or Phoenix should be the 30k medic, but one thing for sure: it mustn’t be Sparks!

Other swaps/transfers I would do are: I would do are:

Kira <=> Sparks (Kira is a bit easier to use)
Stoker <=> Thunder (Learning from dying by your own flames is fast, learning how to not concuss yourself is not)
(Perhaps) Nader <=> Aimee (even though I already made a sniper plan earlier, maybe switching those wouldn’t be that bad since Snipers shouldn’t be cheap! Yet Nader’s Martydom is what concerns me on this swap)
(I don’t know but…) Arty <=> Phantom (I know, Phantom shouldn’t be THAT cheap but I don’t want the faith of all good Skyhammer mains to end once they got Arty, like it did with me, also if Aimee and Nader would change, there still has to be one Recon who needs to be on the cheaper side… Anyway, this swap is quite tricky)