Lifetime pass payback time
- Thread starter Crook
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People are complaining about uncertainty.
Never say never and all that but its highly likely that I'm finished with my time in the ED universe but I considered it good value for the money that I spent on the KS LTP.
I think that probably covers it. And will probably get me banned for "trolling".
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Good summary. Wouldn't say it's trolling at all and just reflects the facts (especially the last point on how almost all of the profit from Elite was spent on PC, and PC profit is now being spent mainly on the next title - not mainly on Elite).
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It's a fair point. Sometimes it's easy for those of us who bought into the LEP as part of the KS -- even if we pledged wodges of cash for the whole package -- to lose sight of the fact that some people bought a very specific product at $200 at a time when the "season pass" expansion model was still in place. Under those circumstances I would probably have expected a bunch of extra content at least once per year too.
The collapse of the "seasons" model has made the value of the LEP -- or at least the frequency at which it "pays out" -- somewhat unclear.
But that's a bit disingenuous. There were specific FAQs in the KS that referred to planned features that wouldn't be in the initial release. They're still visible on the Campaign page, along with Development Diaries outlining the longer-term plans for the game. Whether many of those will ever see the light of day is another matter, but the game was most definitely promoted in the early days as a work in progress.
Personally I still think FD launched way too soon, and have been playing catch-up against a weak framework ever since. But the idea that the game would build and evolve has been there since day one. And even if that hadn't been explicit, isn't this how nearly all multiplayer online games are maintained now?
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Feel wary sure. Model changes and delays mean it's wise to. But I think a fair bit of this is overblown and some key bits are inaccurate though. One that jumps out is:
Nope, not true. They're still deferring plenty of it. See page 25 (amongst others) of the last annual report:
I'm no pro at this, but they're still deferring big chunks of it, still classing it as a liability etc. They're certainly acting as a company should who has to deliver further product.
Could argue detail on a lot of your other readings of events, but suffice to say I think you're over-reacting a bit. Only other key bit that I think you should soothe your brow over is:
Yeah so they're going to have roadmap event, which implies further expansion or addition. Unless you think that's some giant smokescreen lie there seems little reason to worry. (Finances are decent, they've voiced their intention to aim for the big pillar stuff like Legs & Atmos many times recently etc). The Community guys have actually confirmed that they're slated to bring out a 'major expansion' after the core updates, they just don't want to discuss details too far in advance etc, as is their way. (Given the move to bigger 'pay for what you see' upfront delivery DLC, I'm not that surprised that they want to manage to flow of info in the run up, and that they're taking more time.)
Overall I'd say, sure be cautious, but I think you can chill a touch
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Wrong. Yes, Elite Dangerous itself was sold as a complete game. Planetary landings, walking around and some other stuff was always going to be part of expansions and David Braben clearly said so during kickstarter.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/354066-Elite-Dangerous-2-4-and-beyond
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Atmospheric planets and FP mode... these probably fall into the domain of expansions.
What they have said, is they do not want to continue the business model of having players pay for effectively largely unannounced content via the seasons model. They are legally bound by their current agreements but the move away from the seasons model is not the same as unequivocally abandoning their commitments to the LEP agreements.
Based on the above (especially the bits I have highlighted), FD consider the x.y major updates "expansions".https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/354066-Elite-Dangerous-2-4-and-beyond said:
What is unclear, is what changes are going to be locked behind a pay wall for non-LEP owners.
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They mentioned major updates and said they are going to release a roadmap later this year.
When they first sold the LEP they never mentioned the word season, it's irrelevant if they call it DLC, Expansion, Update or Season.
That beta was for a minor update, not a major update. Also nobody cares.
It was a limited offer, the LEP they put back on sale did cost WAY MORE MONEY.
The clue is in the name.
Again, the clue is in the name. You would have a point if they stop development tomorrow. They don't. You don't have a point.
They never announced anything about 2.4 apart from saying it will be a surprise.
Also here is the release date: Quarter 3 of 2017.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/357610-Elite-Dangerous-2-4-The-Return
That really depends on how many updates they release in the next years and how much they cost. Something you don't know. You don't have a point. You also don't know if development slowed down, you only know if releases slowed down. It's entirely possible that you don't see many releases because they are working on future stuff.
We are still in the weeks after E3. You don't have a point.
As someone else pointed out above, you are wrong. Even if you would be right, it would still be common business practice. You usually take the money you made with the old stuff to work on new stuff and make more money with it. In this case PS4 releases.
Very unlikely. Anyway, most (if not all) of your points are either wrong or very subjective.
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Honestly, whether you have a chance of seeing your investment pay off, I really regret that I was a student when the last chance to get the lifetime expansion came up and so couldn't get the money together. If they offered the pass tomorrow for twice as much I would jump on it in an instant. Partly because I really do love this game and want to support it. And partly because despite the whinging about slowed release schedules, and the many bugs. As someone who has played the game since 1.2 and watched it solidify more and more. What we have is better than ever and gives me hope for the future of the game.
Stay Frosty
Cmnd Fulsom
Stay Frosty
Cmnd Fulsom
I was a Kickstarter backer and went for the Lifetime Expansion Pass (£80 iirc). I have no regrets even if i have not really played the game yet at all. I'm just still waiting for ED to be at a level i feel like investing time with. If that takes the full '10 year plan' time scale then so be it
In the meantime i get my 'Elite' kick with FFED3D (and a bit of modded Olite from time to time). My buying the pass was more a 'thank you' to David (and team) for all the prior Elite games, and a fingers crossed punt that ED would really be that Elite game most of us longtime Elite players had been waiting for. I'm happy to wait as long as it takes.
In the meantime i get my 'Elite' kick with FFED3D (and a bit of modded Olite from time to time). My buying the pass was more a 'thank you' to David (and team) for all the prior Elite games, and a fingers crossed punt that ED would really be that Elite game most of us longtime Elite players had been waiting for. I'm happy to wait as long as it takes.
OK now I hope I will be forgiven if my memory is faulty here but...
I bought my LEP in August 2015 - the "season pass" change didn't come until well after that. I am sure that at the time it was just a case of "all future expansions will be included". I believe this because on a second account (bought in a "sale" after the LEP offer expired) I bought the Horizons pre-order late November - that account then later got the Gold AspX in view of the change to a "season pass" model.
Since I was therefore in the last tranche of people who bought an LEP I would therefore say that none of us should be bothered how F D market their future releases, we bought knowing that "all future expansions will be included" - not "all future seasons".
P.S. I had not heard of the existence of Elite Dangerous until April 2015 otherwise I would have gladly bought-in at kickstarter - so a black mark to F D Marketing from me there.
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Premium beta here. While I agree with a lot of your conclusions re the future of the game, I got enough gameplay to warrant the cost of the pass, and I'm under no illusion that a refund would ever be possible anyway.
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Future expansions will not be free. If they are it will be the end of ED as it will not make any profit what so ever. It will not go down the monthly sub route either, as that will spell the end of the game too. Expansions will be paid for, like horizons was. It just won't be a season of updates like we had in horizons, that is all. There maybe updates between expansions that are free for everyone, but we had that with horizons as well.
I really cannot understand the worry here. I paid for horizons and will be happy to pay for the next expansion when it arrives.
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Hi commanders,
I bought the lifetime pass after about 10 hours in the game... Elite has cought my heart and it is holding it firmly...
I have not in my life spent so much time in a game, so I would say, that the money was indeed worth it
Now I have no more dillemas... I simply get all the content and I enjoy the ride very much...
Karlos
I bought the lifetime pass after about 10 hours in the game... Elite has cought my heart and it is holding it firmly...
I have not in my life spent so much time in a game, so I would say, that the money was indeed worth it
Now I have no more dillemas... I simply get all the content and I enjoy the ride very much...
Karlos
I just noticed that there are over 10 Thousand views of this thread - is that a lot? What could it mean, that maybe more people want to buy a LEP?
When did they state that it would be withdrawn forever? Please provide a link. As far as I was aware, they've been clear that they would keep the option to run the offer again if they wanted to.
Cobra Mk IV.
I like turkey.
Paranoid, much? I doubt you'd get banned for posting fiction.
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