Is this well known? Are we sure it's true? Given the general attitudes towards "game is dying" posts it seems like the concensus was that things were well and fine.
ARX store inflation
- Thread starter Fnord Velkor
- Start date
It's a bit odd that they would devalue ARX rather than increase the cost of it. I get that they need to increase prices to keep up with inflation, but it seems kind of rude to devalue all the stuff that people have already purchased.
Especially after they went and gave away so much of it from the Titans. All things being equal, I now might as well not have done the Titans at all, as the cost inflation has pretty much deflated the entirety of my Titan income.
It feels to me like a better move would have been to increase the price of ARX, and then offer the seasonal paint jobs at a substantial premium outside of their appointed dates. That more or less captures the whale Market, without negatively impacting the people who aren't going to spend anything anyway.
Especially after they went and gave away so much of it from the Titans. All things being equal, I now might as well not have done the Titans at all, as the cost inflation has pretty much deflated the entirety of my Titan income.
It feels to me like a better move would have been to increase the price of ARX, and then offer the seasonal paint jobs at a substantial premium outside of their appointed dates. That more or less captures the whale Market, without negatively impacting the people who aren't going to spend anything anyway.
A little bit? Nope, that thing is huge. (Click on my quote and you ll see the differences.)
Including you. (Click on my post.)
If the entire notion that they have been / are running the servers at a loss is incorrect and a complete misconception, that would make me really happy. It would mean there's no real danger that the game will be shut down in the near future, and all the "the game is dying!" cries are nothing but baseless fear-mongering.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's so. There's too much evidence of the contrary.
What I wrote had nothing to do with what you wrote, and the part that you quoted from my post had nothing to do with store prices. I don't even understand your point, or how your response has anything to do with what I wrote.
![[VR] DDM_Reaper20](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/44/44021.jpg?1588332101){kind=avatar}
I get that. I honestly do. Elite: Dangerous is the ONE game that always pulls me back in. ALWAYS. I do get that Frontier needs to make money.
However. We are not talking about stuff that is actually being manufactured, with according production costs that can be lowered over time. Once a paint job is done, it's done. It can be rolled out without any further production costs. It's not like making chairs, or computer parts, or cars, after all.
As such, the move seems counter-intuitive to me. A moderate rise would undoubtedly have been swallowed by the majority of forumites (myself included), but THESE price spikes are . . . difficult to swallow. Yes, they are allowing us to gather more Arx when engaging in Power Play 2, but I really doubt it's going to be enough to offset those MASSIVE price hikes.
As it is, I'm going to tighten my purse strings, not because I am pouting, not because I am upset, simply because I do not think I am getting fair value for my money -- and that is, after all, my decision (and prerogative) as a consumer.
If they are testing the waters, let us hope that they'll realise such a steep increase is not going to make them enough money to offset the negativity created by the impression of being greedy.
It always was. Clickbait garners revenue; that's how it works. Server costs are covered; latest statement was 4out/6in (cost/income - million)
Bit of a weird move. By creating a store that uses it's own currency rather than actual cash they have the mechanism for raising prices across the board very easily and even change them per region to take in to consideration inflation.
Why didn't they just increase the price of ARX then put a higher cost on the new items they've introduced?
Why didn't they just increase the price of ARX then put a higher cost on the new items they've introduced?
If that's true, then I'm glad. Would mean there's no huge danger of the game dying, and we might even see even more interesting new development (even if it happens at a relatively slow pace).
As for all this drama, well, it appears that the community loves drama and every single thing that Fdev does seems to be the end of the world and the absolutely worst thing. I'll let others fight it out in the forums and go back to actually enjoying the game.
Can't wait to get my hands on the new ship.
Not exactly drama, but...
I bought a £12.99 pack for one of my accounts less than a week ago, anticipating the classic PJs coming into the store. So, that cash spend will buy half, or less, of the items it would have done on Wednesday. Is that drama?
If I recall, their last financial report stated that Elite was acceptably profitable.
Because that wouldn't devalue existing amounts of Arx, and in some executives mind, that means that people will happily buy more to make up for it.
Sheet with old and new prices
Missing
Missing
- Tatoos, we only have 2 glasses, and the sunglasses are normal glasses in Odyssey, they didn't add the dark glass.
- Some Hydrolisis paintjobs for the Intimidator (some have discounted price)
- Some Stygian paintjobs, they only put the basic stygian: Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSdlzuJgMWc
- Some Military paintjobs: Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/1cimnr3/comment/l2a8g1h
- Lunar New years livery, including lights and suit (could be intentional)
- Halloween lights and suits (could be intentional)
- Sortie, Dust and Solar missing:
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/1cj29k6/comment/l2dvv69/
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As @Rat Catcher has pointed out, this "drama" involves real money changing hands. It's not the standard grousing about "the grind" or the endless Open vs PG/Solo debate, where players simply have a difference of opinion. Even the pre-builds fall under that, I'd say. This decision to devalue Arx by such a large amount was a calculated anti-consumer move by FDev, and it's a decision that negatively effects anyone looking to spend Arx, regardless of whether they buy it or just earn it in-game.
Sorry to quote you quoting me, but...
I am not a "whale", I'm not poverty stricken either, so can decide if I want to spend real money on stuff that I consider gives value, for me... (note that conditional?)
I play several accounts, so buy a pack of Arx for each account (not all at once!!!) when I want to change things around for them, corporate image & all that. the store was already hovering around the point where perceived value was faltering, but not completely done.
Arx purchases cannot be refunded (as @amigacooke {macOS} discovered a while back - yes, I remember!) so I can't even protest that way...
Yes, FD are in a hard place, yes, I intended to do my bit, no, I won't be taken for an absolute fool...
The increase is bad enough. Worse is they haven't added anything for a long time that I would want to spend money on.
FAS ship kit when?
FAS ship kit when?
