"Beyond" free for Horizon owners - LEP musings

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I think a point lots of people are missing is that FDev probably didn't have much of a choice here either.

Most of the new stuff coming in Beyond is fundamentally changing the base game. It's not something they can easilly restrict access to without essentially splitting the game in two and doubling the amount of code they have to maintain. Everything announced except the new ships is just base-gameplay being improved.

In horizons they essentially restricted access by making some stuff planet-only and I expect them to take that route for future paid updates too.
Vulcanic planets, planets with atmospheres, planets with life, walking around ships, walking around stations. Those will probably be paid upgrades because you can easily restrict access and keep the rest of the game playable without them.
 
Any expansion will be perceived as paid to win in some fashion or another (as is true with all multi-player games). You get an expansion it has to by it's very nature give you something you never had before (or why make it or pay for it). So far that makes sense. So you can walk around your ship as one example, fine but what else will it do? There must be some benefit, and hence that paid for content give you something some one without it will never have. The shout of (by those who never are satisfied, have their own agenda, or simply want everything for free), you are selling power, you said you never would etc.. (we all heard it before). The difference is that it is being sold as a game expansion, not as cosmetics or as a single ship, weapon, shield etc.... it is expanding the whole game and not individual items in the game. In other words an expansion changes the game play overall and adds new abilities/content not just upgrading an item or 2. (People know what I mean, some of course may argue semantics, time will tell). Lifetime expansion owners will get all expansions for free but not cosmetic non game changing items which is fair.
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Calebe
 
Hey Astral! This is a very reasonable and understandable post. Hopefully I can put your mind at ease a little.


In addition to all the content talked about at Frontier Expo, we also have some pretty cool things in the works which will be available to purchase. We're not ready to talk about them just yet so we can't give you any details but rest assured that the lifetime expansion pass owners will be looked after and will be getting their hands on premium content as part of their lifetime expansion pass before the end of 2018 and the Beyond series of updates.

I hope that helps,


Zac

Well basically until they go to 3.0 I suspect the same free with Horizon to stay around. Once they hit 3.0 I can see that as a NEW charge
 
Any expansion will be perceived as paid to win in some fashion or another (as is true with all multi-player games). You get an expansion it has to by it's very nature give you something you never had before (or why make it or pay for it). So far that makes sense. So you can walk around your ship as one example, fine but what else will it do? There must be some benefit, and hence that paid for content give you something some one without it will never have. The shout of (by those who never are satisfied, have their own agenda, or simply want everything for free), you are selling power, you said you never would etc.. (we all heard it before). The difference is that it is being sold as a game expansion, not as cosmetics or as a single ship, weapon, shield etc.... it is expanding the whole game and not individual items in the game. In other words an expansion changes the game play overall and adds new abilities/content not just upgrading an item or 2. (People know what I mean, some of course may argue semantics, time will tell). Lifetime expansion owners will get all expansions for free but not cosmetic non game changing items which is fair.
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Calebe

If you just add new ways to play game, does not mean it's pay to win. It will balanced against old ways to play game.
 
I have paid for the LEP. I'm OK with some new stuff being available to all Horizon buyers. Like s few mentioned in other posts, it was a gamble, betting on the future. We still don't know what the future holds for Elite. As long as I can get some additional expansions in the future, I'm not going to complain. Heck, even if there is no more additional big expansions, I'm OK with it. I knew very well what the risks were when I purchased it. But if Frontier ever devises another similar all content free pass, I will most likely pass. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me...
 
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I have paid for the LEP. I'm OK with some new stuff being available to all Horizon buyers. Like s few mentioned in other posts, it was a gamble, betting on the future. We still don't know what the future holds for Elite. As long as I can get some additional expansions in the future, I'm not going to complain. Heck, even if there is no more additional big expansions, I'm OK with it. I knew very well what the risks were when I purchased it. But if Frontier ever devises another similar all content free pass, I will most likely pass. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me...

Luckily for you it looks like nobody is fooling you this time
 
Luckily for you it looks like nobody is fooling you this time

To be fair, Kantos admits taking a gamble, doesn't shift 'blame' to anyone, and only indicates that if a company doesn't deliver what he personally expects than that would influence his future purchases from the same company. Sounds pretty fair to me. Whether he should or should not be pleased with his LEP purchase is of course his business and his alone.
 
To be fair, Kantos admits taking a gamble, doesn't shift 'blame' to anyone, and only indicates that if a company doesn't deliver what he personally expects than that would influence his future purchases from the same company. Sounds pretty fair to me. Whether he should or should not be pleased with his LEP purchase is of course his business and his alone.
At this point, there is no obvious cause for concern where VFM wrt the LEP is concerned, as things develop over the next 12-18 months this may change but ONLY if pay walled content of any significance is not included with the LEP.
 
Uhm ... what does LEP mean?

I legit have no idea what it's supposed to mean, but I'm guessing a sort of season pass thingamabobber?

And what's the reason people are a little miffed about it and the announcement of everything next year being free if you have horizons?
Does it seem like the value is off?
 
At this point, there is no obvious cause for concern where VFM wrt the LEP is concerned, as things develop over the next 12-18 months this may change but ONLY if pay walled content of any significance is not included with the LEP.

Honestly I think there is. From my perspective 'season 3' is already a year overdue, I really was expecting a new 'season' (whatever they call it or model they use) of premium content. This is the break even point, I don't see there being enough time remaining in this game (it's lifespan or when I lose interest from waiting so long) for the LEP to become worthwhile.

As several others mentioned very early in this thread I anticipated roughly £30 worth of stuff each year. Some of the stuff has been included in Horizons (for example I was expecting the Thargoid content to be a season, similarly I expected what they are calling Squadrons to be a premium package), other stuff has been pushed much further down the line than I expected.

So based on it's cost (£120, or 3-4 expansions) I was looking at a bunch of stuff, some of which I wouldn't have bought individually, some I would. I really just want atmospheric landings (2 or more expansions) and maybe getting out of my seat (1 or more expansions). That would have made the LEP a reasonable cost, and anything else chucked in for free.

We are at the point now (IMO) where if the next expansion (anticipated to be basic atmospheric landings ie mars/venus/gas giant-like, not water worlds or earth-likes) turns out not to be something I would have bought anyway, I'm out of pocket. At best I just about break even taking into account stuff I probably wouldn't buy if I didn;t have the LEP.

I didn't take a gamble on the LEP, I bought a glorified 3-for-2 (actually 3/4-for-8/10) deal. The point at which the LEP comes good or not is 2018.

So for me, FDev needs to get on with it, and get it right first time from now on so we don't have another consolidation year where they go back & fix stuff that should have been part of a wider plan in the first place.

The path of least resistance for me is to just let this mess all wash over me.
But if I can gather the energy I'd really, really like to persuade FDev to put a coherent action plan down in writing (I'd also accept powerpoint) or recognise that the original plan has been delayed so long the LEP is no longer a viable product & investigate alternatives.

I don't think it's over the next 12-18 months, I think it needs to come good by the end of this year.

Uhm ... what does LEP mean?

I legit have no idea what it's supposed to mean, but I'm guessing a sort of season pass thingamabobber?

And what's the reason people are a little miffed about it and the announcement of everything next year being free if you have horizons?
Does it seem like the value is off?

LEP = Lifetime Expansion Pass.
 
Well, I'm guessing they really want to get everybody to upgrade to Horizons before adding the next big thing.

Seems so. Will the community cry out if they give it out for free? If you're going to get complaints either way it gives you the freedom to make the decision based on sound reasoning rather than whether there will be complaints.

I like a good dilemma, me ;)
 
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No one is "crying" over having free content. Some are just "crying" for paid for content they haven't gotten.
 
I never said that they are lying. As you said that is what they are willing to commit to with the shareholders. But if the game continues to make money, they will revise that and extend it.

To us, it is meaningless and people shouldn't look at that and say "they are going to close the game down in 2022". That is not the expected lifetime of the game, as nobody really knows and I doubt Fdev know either. But they have to put something down.

Just to clarify, I didn't think you were saying they were lying. I was disputing the notion that the annual financial report is meaningless. Those words do mean something, something very serious, from a legal standpoint.

The big take away for me is that this is the only solid evidence of Frontier's commitment to at least 2022. That deserves more weight than some vague plan somebody thought they'd heard at a convention panel a few years ago. Also, I'd feel far less optimistic about getting my money's worth out of the lifetime pass if their official financial documents stated they were only committed through, say, 2019.

So I don't find that document meaningless at all.
 
Just to clarify, I didn't think you were saying they were lying. I was disputing the notion that the annual financial report is meaningless. Those words do mean something, something very serious, from a legal standpoint.

The big take away for me is that this is the only solid evidence of Frontier's commitment to at least 2022. That deserves more weight than some vague plan somebody thought they'd heard at a convention panel a few years ago. Also, I'd feel far less optimistic about getting my money's worth out of the lifetime pass if their official financial documents stated they were only committed through, say, 2019.

So I don't find that document meaningless at all.

I was saying that the date doesn't mean much as they can extend it as they see fit.
 
Honestly I think there is. From my perspective 'season 3' is already a year overdue, I really was expecting a new 'season' (whatever they call it or model they use) of premium content. This is the break even point, I don't see there being enough time remaining in this game (it's lifespan or when I lose interest from waiting so long) for the LEP to become worthwhile.
They have abandoned the general concept of the Seasons model, that has been made explicitly clear months ago.

As for the break even point, for me that would have to be around Season 4 by my estimate.... £120 for the LEP which I bought instead of Horizons at £40 meaning at least 2 more Seasons at £40 would have to appear before we hit the break even point (from a financial perspective). However that is moot where LEPs are concerned - it is however more relevant where specific season passes are concerned where such passes cover a number of pay-walled and optional DLC.

I do understand your perspective, but I believe you are wrong in your general outlook since the LEP does not have an expiry date and as long as FD develop paid for content which is free to LEP owners then there is no cause for concern. Only if they release paid for content of any substance that is not free to LEP owners would there would be any true cause for concern.

Well, I'm guessing they really want to get everybody to upgrade to Horizons before adding the next big thing.
Partly, but I think the main issue is that there has been a lot of questions about VFM where the Horizons "expansion" is concerned and complaints about Horizons itself being pay-to-win because of Engineers, I think that FD is trying to address both points to some degree by effectively expanding the scope of Horizons and retagging it Beyond.
 
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