Insurance not required?

[S.H.A.D.O]

Howdy,

Have Frontier changed their policy on insurance or something? I'll tell you why I ask. I've been telling a mate of mine about the game for months and he finally bought it during the recent steam sales and obviously I've been trying my best to help him and advise him on the game as he's not really into space games and hasn't played any before. (not that he listens to me tbh)

If I told him about insurance once, I've told him fifty times, do not leave the dock until your insurance is covered but alas he ignored my advice like he ignored the manual link I emailed to him. To cut this short he got in a fight yesterday with the coppers and his new ship and its cargo was blown into a million pieces and not being able to pay the insurance he was bumped back to a sidey.

I did try and sympathise but I told him it was an important lesson learned and he'd not do it again. (we've all done it) cut to this afternoon and he's opened a ticket with FD and they have given him his money back. This was after he'd open fired on the coppers, so this isn't a death by a bug but by stupidity.

So no one needs insurance now, just open a ticket if you die and FD will give you your credits back.

(note: I'm not meaning to sound mean but its the principle here, if its a bug I totally understand but if its your own fault why the flip do they give the money back?)

 

[Darrett]

FD set precedence that they'll give you your money back if you complain. It's unfortunate, but it's the way things have sorted out.

 

[deMangler]

I am unhappy to see within myself the willingness to let go of the last remaining dregs of the huge amount of faith in the integrity and belief in the game with which I imbued FD.
Also, I appear to be experimenting with rather complicated sentences....

 

[Brujah]

That really sucks. I had hoped this was an isolated incident.

Elite: Not So Dangerous because support in 2015 can magically give you your money back.

So much for immersion.

 

[Lheim]

You should ask for clarification, but I'm willing to bet that - like most MMOs, you get a freebie or two max for stupid stuff like accidental character deletions. It's just good customer service, and I wouldn't see somebody complaining about the ability to get something restored if they accidentally trashed a legendary in WOW.

 

[Tarman]

I am unhappy to see within myself the willingness to let go of the last remaining dregs of the huge amount of faith in the integrity and belief in the game with which I imbued FD.
Also, I appear to be experimenting with rather complicated sentences....

I am enjoying quite a bit your recent and largely well-formed forays into the tangled morass that is the extended-yet-coherent English language sentence structure crafting field.

 

[AnnuverScotinExile]

You should ask for clarification, but I'm willing to bet that - like most MMOs, you get a freebie or two max for stupid stuff like accidental character deletions. It's just good customer service, and I wouldn't see somebody complaining about the ability to get something restored if they accidentally trashed a legendary in WOW.

There is a huge difference (in my mind anyway) to restating stuff lost through ignorance or stupidity and giving someone their money back because they were stupid or ignorant.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I feel for both sides:

From the Devs side:
Well its a big in game hit that will make a player leave, that player could be worth £X in future expansions and paint packs.
That player will also not recommend Elite to friends and may loose future customers.
Also that player adds to the life of the galaxy.
Also that player could leave negative reviews or other negative articles preventing future sales.

From everyone else's:
Well that kinda makes death meaningless, lots of anger from those who have lost ships in the past.

 

[RG-870]

It would be more honest if they just deactivated the whole insurance system. The way it is handled now only punishes the non-whining players.

 

[tetra]

That really sucks. I had hoped this was an isolated incident.

Elite: Not So Dangerous because support in 2015 can magically give you your money back.

So much for immersion.

Nope, it's becoming common-place now. There have been a handful of threads about it in the past 2 weeks alone, all those involved got their ship magically handed back to them after doing idiotic things like taking on a SSS with an uninsured anaconda. It's now Elite:CryToSupport.

 

[Scudmungus]

 

[specialsymbol]

To admit this, I also got my money back. Well, at least I got an email saying I get my money back (just checked, still have fines and bounty and less credits in my account).
However, I was covered by insurance (and luckily more than enough cash).

But then I also thought this incident to be a bug (and it's still an interesting situation, I got apparently rammed from behind, pushed over the speeding limit, then fined twice and destroyed by the station in a matter of seconds 4 - 10 maybe).

 

[EAGLE 5]

That's what's wrong with the world these days... just like those stupid fun postitive self esteem sports leagues kids have these days where "everyone gets a trophy"... really? without the burn of defeat you'll never grow and get past your hangups and we'd have a game full of logoffskis.

 

[Darth Ender]

Sometime it's hard for companies to have integrity. They get confused and think that treating the customer like they're always right is the same as good customer service. It's not. Sometimes the customer is wrong and it services them and the customer-base in general more to treat them as such.

 

[metatheurgist]

They should just give everyone a mulligan. But make sure everybody knows it's one time only.

 

[Jaeger]

I feel for both sides:

From the Devs side:
Well its a big in game hit that will make a player leave, that player could be worth £X in future expansions and paint packs.
That player will also not recommend Elite to friends and may loose future customers.
.

If thats true (AND IT IS) why does the game have such egregious death penalties in the first place.

One would think that no actual beta testing had occurred.

 

[M00ka]

They should just give everyone a mulligan. But make sure everybody knows it's one time only.

One thing that gets me, the majority of these types of thread" Oh I just lost my ship and don't have insurance are from Commanders flying Pythons, Anacondas and the like. You never see one from someone in an Eagle or a Sidewinder ....

Agreed, I think it is a great idea. The first loss for a player, instead of the usual Insurance screen, another screen should pop up explaining exactly what the insurance system is, how it works and how to check how much it is for your ship at any given time. Then a lovely little blurb stating that as a new player and this is your first claim, FD (or the Pilots Federation) will replace your ship free of charge but any subsequent claims will incur the full insurance cost. Do you accept these conditions Yes/No.

Then there can be no crying that someone didn't know how insurance worked later on.

 

[Gully Foyle]

I am unhappy to see within myself the willingness to let go of the last remaining dregs of the huge amount of faith in the integrity and belief in the game with which I imbued FD.
Also, I appear to be experimenting with rather complicated sentences....

I still have faith.
And you are De Mangler after all.
Perhaps they gave him his cash back because he's a new player with low time?

 

[vindicator jones]

Well a couple of weeks ago, I was one of these guys, did something really stupid in my anaconda and I was just short in my insurance as I forgot to check the amount after installing a new upgrade. I was encouraged to contact FD. Yes, they gave me my ship back, but also a warning, that this was a once off, that in the future there will be no more chances.

I think 1 mulligan is ok, but after that its on your own head. Now I check my insurance amount before I leave space dock every single time.

 

[Eagle Eye]

They keel over easily these days. Got destroyed? send ticket, free money!