Being a RW pilot and having been into flight sims for years too, I've had and used a lot of joysticks. Never been that impressed with the build quality of X52 (owned three of them and had two of them break on me - specifically the rudder control). I realise that might just be bad luck, but it is nevertheless the case. I would say that build quality is a general issue with much of Saitek's stuff, I've never had any Saitek bit of hardware that hasn't had some sort of issue with it eventually, although most of the time it's been fixable with a bit of taking apart and patching up.
On the plus side, the X52 is very similar to the real-world F-16 Fighting Falcon's flight and throttle control layout in terms of button placement, and this is a good thing because that is one of the best-designed cockpit layouts in terms of haptic that there has ever been. So don't let my negative experiences with the X52 be your sole guide in making a purchasing judgement.
These days I have Cyborg joystick which I use in combination with Saitek rudder pedals, which to be honest is principally because I prefer a set up which is most like the aircraft I fly for real, so actual rudder pedals are a must, but pedals might be a bit over the top for the average Elite Dangerous person, and they do take some getting used to, whereas a twist function joystick is fairly intuitive in terms of muscle memory. Nevertheless, if you want to be a bit more pilot-like and have the cash, rudder pedals are fun and intuitive, as they are in real life, when you get used to them.
Another thing to be aware of is desktop footprint. The average computer desk is probably going to get fairly crowded with a big joystick base and a big throttle base when you also have to fit your keyboard and a mouse mat on there, so bear that in mind too. This is another plus point for rudder pedals.
But rudder pedals aside, this is why you might want to consider something which has the throttle(s) on the same base as the stick. Granted these do not look quite so 'I'm a cool fighter pilot', but they generally work as well and take up a lot less room, and twisting a joystick to invoke yaw is actually fairly intuitive when it comes to muscle memory, which is a good thing where dogfighting is concerned, as anything which comes naturally will take less time between your brain thinking it and your hands doing it. Moreover, twist-function joysticks with a built-in throttle are generally cheaper to acquire than flashier set ups such as rudder pedals or separate throttle units.
One such 'all in one' that is particularly innovative among these, is Saitek's AV8R (usually costs about 25 quid), because it actually has two throttles, so you can simulate asymmetric thrust on games and simulations where your plane/spaceship has twin engines. Whether or not Elite Dangerous will have individual left and right throttles for any of the craft it portrays is another matter, but if it does, you would be able to gain more yaw authority with a combination of 'rudder' and reversing one engine and firewalling the other, which might enable you to make that elusive snapshot off a barrel roll on occasion during a dogfight, which incidentally, you should always be able to do if you are positioning behind your opponent correctly. Of course if ED doesn't add twin throttle support, you are no worse off and could assign one of these to some other graduated function.
One last thing to definitely bear in mind with any sort of hardware controller, is the way your hands (or feet) sits on it. Some controllers for games are designed with younger people in mind, so one or two of them can be a bit small, some of them can have very stiff spring centering too (I actually ended up cutting two spirals out of the spring centering device on my Cyborg stick so that it felt more like an aircraft control, as by default it would lead to wrist strain). Because of this, if you can, try popping along to a store which has control sticks on display, places such as PC World often do this. It's definitely worth getting your hands on any stick you are considering if you can. You don't have to buy it from the place of course, but this is something you are going to be spending a lot of time holding, so make sure it feels comfortable if you can. The X52 is very good in this respect incidentally.
Last but not least, bad habits are hard to drop, so here's a last bit of advice for when you do get your stick. Most people tend to hold joysticks in a vice-like death grip whenever a dogfight ensues. This is also true in the real world when flying complex patterns such as aerobatics in an aircraft for real, and you won't even realise you are doing this at the time, but you sure as hell will notice it hours later. It's understandable of course, as most people stiffen up a bit when stress levels go up, but it won't do your hands and wrists any favours and it will actually make your piloting less smooth. So, right from the off, try to train yourself to relax on the stick at all times. You will fly better and your hand and wrist will thank you for it after hours of playing something such as ED. Therefore, every once in a while, take notice of how you are holding the stick to check if you are actually relaxed on it. If you are doing it right, it should be like driving a car, where you are almost thinking your way into turns rather than concentrating on how much you are moving the control.
