"Cosmetic items" should be part of the game

[Furinkazan]

In what way are the current store items to be considered F2P game type times? There is absolutely nothing that helps you to play the game or improve your performance. The model being followed seems to resemble that of ESO, B2P (Buy to Play). The micro-transactions are optional, if you don't want them don't buy them but for the sake of letting people earn a living don't be getting all entitled over cosmetic only items. As for it not making much financial difference - you and I have no idea how much money the store generates but I suspect it is quite substantial as has been the case in almost every other game that has followed this route, companies like Zenimax, Turbine, Cryptic and many others rely on this type of model and makes them money, a lot of money.

ED's model does not resemble ESO's AT ALL. ESO has reams and reams of free cosmetic options, probably because personal customization is a very important part of MMO's.

If everybody playing ESO all wore the exact same set of armour by default, you'd have a point.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

Sadly, all the fun of having a ship that is truly yours is reserved to people who are willing to spend lots of money on feigned "vanity items".

'Lots'? Oh, come on. Most paint packs are £5. Some are less.

And yes, they are vanity items. They don't alter how your ship performs. You can't gain an advantage over other players or NPCs. This isn't 'play to win'.

 

[B1rdy]

Interesting sidenote: On the subreddit, the frontier forums are generally regarded a pretty negative place. Well, I yesterday posted this topic on r/elitedangerous and I was downvoted/whiteknighted to oblivion. Thanks for the so far very toughtful answers.

However on Steam the game is critizised for the store and its expensive microtransactions.

 

[Furinkazan]

'Lots'? Oh, come on. Most paint packs are £5. Some are less.

And yes, they are vanity items. They don't alter how your ship performs. You can't gain an advantage over other players or NPCs. This isn't 'play to win'.

I love this argument. "It's just visual customization! It doesn't affect anything!"

Tell me, you ever play NFS Underground? How would you feel if 99% of car customization was locked behind a paywall? This goes for any full price games with visual customization.

Visual customization DOES matter. Or maybe you played through Underground in a stock Evo, eh?

 

[Stealthie]

Personally, I think the development of Elite: Dangerous is finally, with the arrival of the Commander Creator and the new cam, heading into a pretty interesting direction.

Can't say it seems that way to me.

The possibility of boarding a megaship and being transported around the galaxy seems pretty interesting though.

As for the paid content, if you can't afford it, don't buy it.
At least FDev have seen fit to restrict it to cosmetic items rather than go down the "pay to win" road.
Good on 'em for that.

 

[JustPete82]

I fully support Frontier with this model for their business and I encourage them to press on with it. Frontier at the end of the day is a small business and they have managed to give us a game that is worthy of some of the biggest studios out there.

I buy skins as and when I feel like it, and will continue to do so if Frontier keep releasing them.

If other people can't afford these, then so be it, they can still play with the exact same gameplay elements and ships (other than looking as pretty). I could turn up in my Vibrant purple Cutter with Pink Lasers and name of the ship (undecided for now) in a system and encounter a player in a standard skinned standard laser coloured un-named Federal Corvette, and he could still kick my behind if his ship is Engineered and or he is a better pilot than me.

 

[Olaf Olafson]

As for the paid content, if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

So "poor" people shouldn't be having fun after they bought a full price game?

 

[GreyAreaUK]

I love this argument. "It's just visual customization! It doesn't affect anything!"

Tell me, you ever play NFS Underground? How would you feel if 99% of car customization was locked behind a paywall? This goes for any full price games with visual customization.

Visual customization DOES matter. Or maybe you played through Underground in a stock Evo, eh?

Then tell me how it matters in Elite? Beyond vanity?

I've bought one skin each for two ships (so two skins total). I didn't have to. It hasn't altered the ships' performance one iota. They are purely vanity items I bought because i wanted to.

 

[JustPete82]

So "poor" people shouldn't be having fun after they bought a full price game?

I believe they are having fun. If they aren't having fun, then the in store extras won't fix that.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

So "poor" people shouldn't be having fun after they bought a full price game?

Oh come off it. If your only enjoyment from the game is painting your ships then you bought the wrong game.

 

[Stealthie]

So "poor" people shouldn't be having fun after they bought a full price game?

"Poor" people should avoid getting hung up on frivolous cosmetic items and enjoy the full features of the game that they paid for. [up]

 

[AgamemnonWhen]

Am I right in thinking that only YOU get to view YOUR skins anyway?

From what I can gather, in Open, your ship looks stock anyway. They may possibly display in Private Group servers, from rumours I've heard.

If nobody else can see them, it really is only a vanity thing and I can't see why we're all apparently so worried about it!

Normally I wouldn't bother buying any skins (a fiver is a fiver I can spend on something else, like beers) but I will admit I've bought a few for my own vanity, but if they weren't available I wouldn't complain.

Maybe (as a compromise) when you buy a new ship, like a car, you can choose what basic colour it comes in from a limited choice of manufacturer paintjobs. Anything over and above that provides a nice little revenue stream for FD and I can't blame them for doing it that way.

Visual customization DOES matter.

Only if everyone else in the game can see it, surely?

 

[Furinkazan]

Only if everyone else in the game can see it, surely?

Nope, not for me. I'm a Solo CMDR. I don't want to show off how much money is in my wallet, i want to look cool, maybe take some screenies.

This applies to literally EVERY game with visual customizations, multiplayer or not. Grandmaster Ursine armour (dyed black) in TW3. Camo paint in Armored Core. Nightingale armor in Skyrim. The list goes on and on.

I don't think i've ever played a game where 99% of visual customization was locked behind a paywall. Before i played Elite Dangerous, that is.

 

[Fishy]

I don't mind the paid cosmetics that much personally, and have picked up a fair few. Like it or not, the game is not a moddable solo game so we don't have much of a choice.

That said, a few in-game cosmetics would be nice both for the atmosphere, and for the players with less of (or without) an income. Things like navy paints and decals for Federal/Imperial navy ranks for example. It would even pave the way for an Alliance (diplomatic? honorific?) rank that would unlock these making it relevant even without exclusive ships. Role-based cosmetics could be a great fit too: search and rescue, medevac, police...

Controversial now: personally, I wouldn't mind if the option was there to buy credits or ships straight from the store. If people want to pay to avoid collecting the money, I couldn't care less. At the end of the day, credits and ships are easy to come, and whether other players fly more expensive ships earlier isn't going to ruin my day. And well, maybe an extra store income could drive the price of cosmetics down (well, no, of course, but one can dream). Planetside 2 sells both cosmetics and weapons for money, and I never felt it broke anything.

 

[AgamemnonWhen]

That said, a few in-game cosmetics would be nice both for the atmosphere ... navy paints and decals for Federal/Imperial navy ranks ... search and rescue, medevac, police...

Yes, lovely. I'd love to be able to put my affiliation on the battle-bus and this is one of the things that could be made free (when you made a certain rank in the Navy, for example). Battleship grey Fed paint and a rank badge? Yeah, I'd love that.

I've waffled on in other threads about "sponsored paintjobs", using the example of Eddie Stobart or FedEx for T-series freighters, Uber / Virgin for Orcas etc ... but this would only really work if everyone could see them in-game.

Controversial now: personally, I wouldn't mind if the option was there to buy credits or ships straight from the store.

Uh, oh... sh*tstorm approcahing! I will fight tooth and nail to prevent this, but that does't mean you're not entitled to your opinion even though you're WRONG...

 

[Jex =TE=]

InB4 white knights attacking...


on a serious note,
you won't change the direction FD is heading (to F2P with microtransactions en masse). They were extremely successful with that (I mean 6€ for some BASIC(!) colors) why should they change that model?

Yep, FD are not going to change their outrageous pricing for the sake of their players. They're firmly a business only, suits from a board of directors and shareholders and the game they're making shows the passion of their crisp Gucci's and ironed socks.

You think this game is going to go F2P? I assume you think S3 is going to sell so badly it will go that route? I was thinking it would be around S4 or 5 unless they drastically changed the content going into it.

Look at the content in SC and you get access to all that for $45 I think. Both games are bug ridden and unfinished. One says their a finished product and the other says their in Alpha still. One charges £10 for a paintjob whilst the other charges £15,000 for the entire ship pack LOL

 

[Lianachan]

Hey Frontier,

I have been following the development of this game since 2014, when I bought into the original beta. Personally, I think the development of Elite: Dangerous is finally, with the arrival of the Commander Creator and the new cam, heading into a pretty interesting direction. However, there is one thing I am very concerned about: The store and it's microtransactions.
I would like, and I'm sure that I am not the only one, that there were at least some Skins, Shipkits etc. earnable ingame. Maybe as a reward for completing missions or engaging with engineers. I mean, Elite will be an RPG, can you imagine an RPG where you have to buy cloths or skins in a store, because they are considered "Cosmetic Items"?

Don't get me wrong: I know that there are servers that need to be maintained. But do you really need to put all the visual costumisations behind a massive paywall? Because I, as a student, consider 10€ as a massive price for a skin. I just want you guys to consider that you need visual feedback in a game like this. You need to see a difference between your A-rated cobra and a brand new ship. You need to see the shipname on the hull. Maybe charge for fancy fonts and colours. But it is time to step back and introduce earnable "cosmetics" into the game.
I have the fear that, once all the possible customisation options are brought to the store, Elite: Dangerous will be missing an important element of reward.

Yup, I agree. They are internal to the game, so should be paid for with in game credits not real world money.

 

[Stealthie]

Controversial now: personally, I wouldn't mind if the option was there to buy credits or ships straight from the store. If people want to pay to avoid collecting the money, I couldn't care less. At the end of the day, credits and ships are easy to come, and whether other players fly more expensive ships earlier isn't going to ruin my day. And well, maybe an extra store income could drive the price of cosmetics down (well, no, of course, but one can dream). Planetside 2 sells both cosmetics and weapons for money, and I never felt it broke anything.

I don't have a problem with it in theory.
The problem is that, as all games prove, there are people who simply enjoy making life miserable for others.
In ED those people have, at least, got to spend the time getting themselves into a position where they can act that way.
If you could buy credits/ships/weapons then it'd probably be fine for a lot of people but it would undoubtedly increase the number of griefers to be found.

That being the case, you've got to admire FDev for restraining themselves from indulging in a lucrative opportunity that would damage gameplay.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Yeah, £10 isn't exactly a micro transaction..

Vanity items I said from day one FD should do (Path of Exile fund their entire game on this model) I was suprised to see how expensive they decided to set their prices though. The thing with whales is they only help your stock price, not the game and I believe that charging less would make more sales and bring in more revenue. £10 is certainly not a micro transaction or worth the work gone into them. Look at those awful spoilers for the Sidey and they wanted £8 for those? I bet they cost £8 to make! lol

 

[Jex =TE=]

I love this argument. "It's just visual customization! It doesn't affect anything!"

Tell me, you ever play NFS Underground? How would you feel if 99% of car customization was locked behind a paywall? This goes for any full price games with visual customization.

Visual customization DOES matter. Or maybe you played through Underground in a stock Evo, eh?

That's not a fair comparison though. In NFS it's a fundamental part of the game to pimp your ride and upgrade it. I don't think selling vanity items is a bad thing - it's a great way to earn some extra money as long as you're not pricing it ridiculously. We're talking one tiny paint job and we know piant jobs cost nothing to make otherwise ED would have cost £500 to buy on launch day.