Would you pay to unlock Cutter/Corvette?

[Robert Maynard]

lol. True.

Still, I don't understand how letting a person shortcut said time-gate diminishes the experience for anyone else. The arguments put forth in here so far don't resonate with me.

For me it probably comes down to loss, or more specifically causing others losses - the player who has gone down the "buy it all" route would just open the wallet to restock their credit balance whereas the non-buyer may take a significant time to recoup the loss.

Is the point of Elite to have fun (blaze your own trail) or is the point of Elite to slog through said time-game? I say it's to have fun, and if having fun means clawing your way up the ranks so be it. If it's more fulfilling to PayPal your way to an end-game ship, that's fine too.

It depends on what type of game E: D is - without time invested is there as much fun?

 

[Jenner]

For me it probably comes down to loss, or more specifically causing others losses - the player who has gone down the "buy it all" route would just open the wallet to restock their credit balance whereas the non-buyer may take a significant time to recoup the loss.



It depends on what type of game E: D is - without time invested is there as much fun?

Fun is subjective, so the answer will depend on who you ask. Me - I find enjoyment just flying the ships I like and doing the missions I enjoy, not so much in the progression (as it stands). Others will certainly have a different take.

As for the argument on loss, that's a bit outside of the context of this thread anyway. If we confine ourselves to speaking about buying your way out of the navy rank locks, wouldn't that negate the loss argument? No one is losing anything then if they are destroyed.

Taking a broader perspective, personally I'm fine assuming that risk myself, and even for putting someone at the receiving end of it. I've said before that flying in Open means you take your chances.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Fun is subjective, so the answer will depend on who you ask. Me - I find enjoyment just flying the ships I like and doing the missions I enjoy, not so much in the progression (as it stands). Others will certainly have a different take.

Indeed it is. For some the progression is key.

As for the argument on loss, that's a bit outside of the context of this thread anyway. If we confine ourselves to speaking about buying your way out of the navy rank locks, wouldn't that negate the loss argument? No one is losing anything then if they are destroyed.

If the genie is let out of the bottle regarding removing time barriers then it's out. We were discussing buying shortcuts around time barriers - credits take time to accrue and would presumably be a popular store shortcut, hence my comment about loss and its different impact on a buyer and a non-buyer.

Taking a broader perspective, personally I'm fine assuming that risk myself, and even for putting someone at the receiving end of it. I've said before that flying in Open means you take your chances.

Indeed.

 

[Xenith]

Let's not also forget, that if you can buy ships with real money, then what's to stop the developers from messing with the non premium progression? It would be in their best interests to make it harder to purchase things, without dropping real money on them. That's F2P business 101, and we don't really want that here.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Let's not also forget, that if you can buy ships with real money, then what's to stop the developers from messing with the non premium progression? It would be in their best interests to make it harder to purchase things, without dropping real money on them. That's F2P business 101, and we don't really want that here.

Yup - if we think some very rare materials / data drops are scarce at the moment....

.... just £5.00 per 100 in the store....

 

[Valethar]

Elite needs nothing more than cosmetics, and that's how it should be. We don't need paygates to content. The next thing you know, we'll have those idiot gambling crates and other drek like SWTOR, ESO and others have implemented.

If you want P2W, there are games that will let you get your fix of easy mode by letting you open your wallet. This isn't one of them.

 

[Jenner]

All this slippery slope stuff.... man!

 

[Robert Maynard]

All this slippery slope stuff.... man!

http://orig03.deviantart.net/6084/f/2012/190/0/f/mass_hysteria_by_ghostbustersnews-d56mw0m.png

Knowing when one is at the edge of the precipice is a useful skill....

 

[Jenner]

Knowing when one is at the edge of the precipice is a useful skill....

On THAT.... I totally agree.

Spoiler

Now where can I buy my Cutter? ;p

 

[Robert Maynard]

On THAT.... I totally agree.

Spoiler

Now where can I buy my Cutter? ;p

A system under the control of Li Yong-Rui would do for a 15% discount (17.125% after achieving any Elite rank) - once you've earned the rank in the Imperial Navy, of course....

 

[LeoBartlet]

lol. True.

Still, I don't understand how letting a person shortcut said time-gate diminishes the experience for anyone else. The arguments put forth in here so far don't resonate with me.

Is the point of Elite to have fun (blaze your own trail) or is the point of Elite to slog through said time-game? I say it's to have fun, and if having fun means clawing your way up the ranks so be it. If it's more fulfilling to PayPal your way to an end-game ship, that's fine too.

Why stop with ships.

5 quid on the frontier store for the elite rank.

Want to be allied with the Fed? 10 quid and its yours.

Sick of having to wait 6 hours for your ship to transfer? 6 quid please.

#RemovetheGatesFrontier let us buy our way to success.

 

[Xenith]

A system under the control of Li Yong-Rui would do for a 15% discount (17.125% after achieving any Elite rank) - once you've earned the rank in the Imperial Navy, of course....

The rank grind is part of the problem, it's slow, boring, and there are a bunch of ranks which give you literally nothing for your efforts. If there were more rank based ships, then it would actually be a bit more rewarding, but there aren't, and it's not.

 

[Jenner]

Why stop with ships.

5 quid on the frontier store for the elite rank.

Want to be allied with the Fed? 10 quid and its yours.

Sick of having to wait 6 hours for your ship to transfer? 6 quid please.

#RemovetheGatesFrontier let us buy our way to success.

And none of that affects anyone else in any appreciable way. So yeah.... I'd be fine with it.

Besides, that's all hypothetical. OP is talking about a very specific case.

 

[Robert Maynard]

The rank grind is part of the problem, it's slow, boring, and there are a bunch of ranks which give you literally nothing for your efforts. If there were more rank based ships, then it would actually be a bit more rewarding, but there aren't, and it's not.

I would agree, to an extent, if it is the only thing that one is doing in-game (and even then, there are different ways to accrue SuperPower rank so there's no need to do exactly the same thing all the time).

I would disagree on there being a need for more rank locked ships - because, in my opinion, that would likely cause more complaints about a need for grinding SuperPower rank to gain access to them....

 

[LeoBartlet]

And none of that affects anyone else in any appreciable way. So yeah.... I'd be fine with it.

Ah so P2W is your thing.

 

[nicomak]

Maybe, if it's cheap(no more than 5€) AND (if you still have to pay for insurance OR is time limited) AND is still available as is.
But it looks like P2W a tad too much IMO. And cheap might make it too available, more expensive i may not buy it myself, but i might accept that some others do(££ for FD).

I'd rather not see it happen though.

 

[Miss Anne Thrope]

I vote no to P2W. If the game leans too much towards corporate MMO style I am out and going back to X-rebirth. I do like the cosmetics though, cheap and cheerful non game play impacting retail therapy.

 

[Garbarrage]

I have not played games considered P2W, no. I suppose if that invalidates my argument, so be it.

That said, I understand your concerns but I do not share them. To me it's not any different now that we have to pony up cash for flight suits or weapon colors or tattoos. I don't think buying ships is sufficiently different from those to impact other players too much or to fundamentally change how FD approaches development and adding content.

Flight suits and ship skins do not affect performance in any way. Larger more powerful ships obviously affect performance. Allowing players to pay for a competitive advantage with cash, is the start of a slippery slope. This has been the case in every single game that I've ever seen the business model adopted in, without exception. Each update after the point the model is adopted becomes progressively more blatant a cash grab, and the quality of gameplay suffers, as the Developers sell out to the whales with big wallets, large egos hiding even larger inferiority complexes.

If you want to make the argument that the grind is too much, I'd be inclined to agree. FD rely on grind to slow progress far too much imo. Peronally, I think they need to either make the process of gaining rank/credits/materials/upgrades, much less repetitive, more organic, more interesting and possibly even a touch shorter on top. When you use grind as a barrier to everything in the game, it adds up to being too much. But, taking cash to skip the process is not the answer. As I said, I wouldn't look back to see if they'd changed their minds. The fact that it would even be considered would be enough to convince me that the ethos was not as solid as I thought it was.

 

[Garbarrage]

lol. True.

Still, I don't understand how letting a person shortcut said time-gate diminishes the experience for anyone else. The arguments put forth in here so far don't resonate with me.

Is the point of Elite to have fun (blaze your own trail) or is the point of Elite to slog through said time-game? I say it's to have fun, and if having fun means clawing your way up the ranks so be it. If it's more fulfilling to PayPal your way to an end-game ship, that's fine too.

End-game ship? I think I see the problem. The Cutter is not an end-game ship. I did the grind to Duke. It took a few weeks once I gave it my full attention. By the time I got there, I had more than enough credits. The minute I got it, I gave it a half decent fit out, and took it for a spin. I promptly parked it in the nearest hangar, where I bought a Hauler to take me back to my home station, and I've never flown it since. I haven't yet sold it, because there isn't anything that I need the credits for, but the point being it isn't really all that. I certainly wouldn't consider it an "end-game" ship.

Now, were FD to adopt the P2W business model, it would most certainly have to be an end game ship. We'd have the forums full of noobs complaining that it needs a class 10 power plant because.... cash.
"We want extra HP and a larger class shield... we paid good money to pwn noobs... where is our uber ship?"

Seriously, if you'd paid cash, and then jumped into the Cutter, you'd be pretty annoyed that FD thought that the current ship was worthy of a cash sale.

 

[Iori]

No need already ranked in the Empire, no need for federal junk.