General ARX DLC/content

[D10N_CB3]

Premise for this post is FDev needs ED to remain profitable to continue to invest and not EOL.

I'd love to see ARX-only ships (IE: really desirable ships that cost ARX and can't be purchased via usual credits), and/or the ability to buy all ships using ARX.

Higher-ability NPC pilots for fighters that take an ARX salary.

Alternative control mechanics as ARX upgrades (for example, the ability to have two separate groupings for weapons and scanners).

Ability to buy a fleet carrier for ARX.

Also, I'd happily pay for ship interiors as paid DLC. Or quite a lot of other stuff.

There is a fine balance between giving pay-to-play shortcuts to the grind, and monetising content. But to me it seems important for FDev to have enough revenue streams for ED to remain viable.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

....

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

Have the people who are suggesting this actually played a game that does this kind of monetization or do these kinds of suggestions spawn from their masochistic fantasies of being abused financially?

 

[amigacooke]

As soon as Frontier decided I needed to buy a mythical currency to buy cosmetics, I decided I wasn’t going to buy cosmetics anymore (except with ARX gathered in game).

Thanks for the Christmas ARXs Frontier.

 

[Jack Winter]

How did one buy cosmetics before ARX?

Personally I'm fine with paying for cosmetics and think Frontier found a nice way to monetize the game, especially since they don't seem to sell many DLCs for it. Hopefully it's enough to keep the game alive..

 

[zimms]

How did one buy cosmetics before ARX?

[...]

Some old fashioned thing called money.

I don't have anything against ARX specifically, but this whole virtual currency thing is extremely consumer hostile.

It obfuscates costs. You usually have to spend more because you have to buy a "pack" and are stuck with left overs. Customers can't complain about broken products because they never bought a certain cosmetic item, they simply bought ARX. The list goes on and on. Customers have all the disadvantages, the companies all the advantages.

The thought of boycotting cosmetics had also crossed my mind, but to be honest I ended up buying ARX. I guess the system works. I've definitely spent less on Elite since its introduction, but that isn't solely due to ARX to be fair. It's also because I already had most of the stuff I think looks good and because of the overall state of the game.

And sometimes like with FCs for example, I think the default model looks ten times better then the ones sold for ARX. Which is lucky for me, since I think the prices for these are over the top.

 

[amigacooke]

How did one buy cosmetics before ARX?

On Windows (and macOS), with real currency, same way you buy pretty much anything.

 

[Jack Winter]

So you had to make a transaction for each skin that you wanted to buy?

Not sure which is better to be honest.

What I don't really like are the time limited skins like for instance midnight black or stygian. I'd like to be able to buy them all year long, and not only at a certain date. They could discount them once a year instead. In fact (and if I don't misremember) it doesn't make much sense to discount them at the only point in time they are available.

 

[metatheurgist]

Have the people who are suggesting this actually played a game that does this kind of monetization or do these kinds of suggestions spawn from their masochistic fantasies of being abused financially?

Apparently people are paying upwards of $300 for The Day Before Steam keys. Gamers have lost their minds.

 

[Hellrider]

What's wrong with people, which in the name of profits of company, where they even arent workers or shareholders are "ok" with p2w content.

If you want support company so much just buy ARX for 20$ monthly

 

[amigacooke]

So you had to make a transaction for each skin that you wanted to buy?

Frontier used to sell packs of skins (do they still do this?), so no. The only plus for ARX was that Frontier were prepared to gift some to commanders for playing the game, otherwise there was no advantage to consumers.

If I remember correctly, it was an adaption of the purchase method on console. Frontier were very keen that Windows and console commanders were playing on a level playing field …. no, really.

 

[Northpin]

As soon as Frontier decided I needed to buy a mythical currency to buy cosmetics, I decided I wasn’t going to buy cosmetics anymore (except with ARX gathered in game).

Thanks for the Christmas ARXs Frontier.

Some old fashioned thing called money.

I don't have anything against ARX specifically, but this whole virtual currency thing is extremely consumer hostile.

Pff...

When i joined ED on XB, i could not pay for cosmetics with money. I had to buy Frontier Points and use those points to buy Cosmetics.
I also had to pay for XBox Live Gold subscription to be able to play ED multiplayer (i rarely did, but i payed the subs anyway)

Same was valid for PS too.

So when they replaced XBox Frontier Points with ARX - nothing really changed for me, except now i could use the word ARX in a way that was definitely not the intended way
Oh, it actually changed - now i get free arx while before i never got frontier points for free...

So, IMO, nothing consumer hostile here. FDev is really not that kind of company.
And i did got a lot of ARX packs for all my 3 accounts, while the free arx helped the rounding errors (so i dont need to buy another pack) if i can put it that way

 

[aRJay]

Premise for this post is FDev needs ED to remain profitable to continue to invest and not EOL.

Most of us on the forums are in favour of that.

I'd love to see ARX-only ships (IE: really desirable ships that cost ARX and can't be purchased via usual credits), and/or the ability to buy all ships using ARX.

However that is pretty much pay to win and most in the forums will be against that.

Higher-ability NPC pilots for fighters that take an ARX salary.

Also P2W and worse effectively adding a subscription which is likely to drive players away.

Alternative control mechanics as ARX upgrades (for example, the ability to have two separate groupings for weapons and scanners).

We already have multiple fire groups for weapons and scanners.

Ability to buy a fleet carrier for ARX.

P2W so no.

Also, I'd happily pay for ship interiors as paid DLC. Or quite a lot of other stuff.

Yes.

There is a fine balance between giving pay-to-play shortcuts to the grind, and monetising content. But to me it seems important for FDev to have enough revenue streams for ED to remain viable.

On the whole while I am happy for ED to remain viable I am against people buying their way through the game.

 

[Northpin]

On the whole while I am happy for ED to remain viable I am against people buying their way through the game.

This

So no for P2W features, but YES for more cosmetics.
More Carrier interiors etc

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

What if instead of asking Elite to add predatory monetization we asked a game that already has predatory monetization to add all the features of Elite Dangerous.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

....

 

[Dillon Fallon]

I think one of the major problems with having this facility to buy your way through the game is that a new player won't take the time to try the different things you can do in the game to see what they enjoy doing. At that point, they've bought everything, there's nothing left to get and now they have to work out what they're going to do with it.

Contrast to someone like me that only reached that point after 4-5 years but with a very clear idea of what I want from the game and how I can best enjoy playing it.

So great for a quick cash injection, but if Arx is meant to be a long term strategy for keeping the game profitable, that's not going to work out - unless of course they spend more money in the first place constantly creating new things to buy with Arx. Then just watch the number of players that walk away because in their view it's becoming a cynical cash grab.

 

[Jack Winter]

Personally I'd like to see new DLCs to finance the game, though after the disastrous Odyssey launch that seems rather improbable.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

What's with the recent stream of begging how we need to spend more cash to keep XY flowing? If a business sees a way to earn money it's gonna see to it. There is no need to ask for random cash dispensal.

 

[Jack Winter]

I agree for once, it's completely up to Frontier to figure out a way to make the game prosper!

Personally I don't mind buying DLCs or ARX when it gives me something I want. I'd hate for the game to change to P2W or milking me for cash all the time.