Microtransations confirmed, so what is your preferred way to purchase cosmetics in JWE?

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

First exhibit: its pretty much confirmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWMQXv42XK0&feature=youtu.be&t=16m57s
Second exhibit: for those that havent seen, this is the elite dangerous store with a disclaimer ive personally spent hundreds there.
Third exhibit: the planet coaster store

Just wanted to get myself thinking about how id like to purchase cosmetics for this game. If i could make a poll, the options would be:

- Elite dangerous model, but cheaper (they're actually too expensive for what you get there, im just hooked on elite).
- Planet coaster model of packs.
- Not even close (and i get why modding is being kept out by denuvo now).

I think i would prefer the planet coaster option honestly, a collection for a larger fee rather than one off. I guess if its all through steam wallet frontier don't have to deal with the payment processing small individual items could work. And there's no way in existence that a path fountain is going to be worth the price being charged for a ship skin in elite, unless it added functionality but that would break the cardinal rule.

To get my money for JWE the suggestion would be to go the planet coaster route, not the elite dangerous route as suggested in the interview.

 

[Scout37]

I think there's a big misconception about minor DLC vs. micro-transactions.

I'm not sure if I'd call the cosmetic DLC you're showing in Elite Dangerous or the themed DLC in Planet Coaster 'microtransactions', they're more representative of the modern DLC policy.

Micro-transactions are the minor payments of money to speed up or bypass free aspects of games, such as paying $0.99 to skip a level of a mobile puzzle game, or pay $0.50 to speed up a 72 hour construction (real time) by 50%. For 'Micro-transactions' to exist in JWE they'd be things like 'Pay $3.00 for a private fossile collection, 5% chance for rare DNA!' and you'd have the best/most interesting dinosaurs only have fossils accessible via these packs, and you'd need to buy something like two dozen of these packs to get enough genome to make this mystery / super dinosaur.

What separates micro transactions from actual DLC is that in many cases with a micro-transaction you don't actual gain anything in game. They speed things up by an arbitrary amount, or pressure players to buy one after another by only offering a random chance to gain something. While I'm not a big fan of the shift for reputable companies to use minor DLC expansions for content like planet coaster, I can appreciate how they offer guaranteed content and allow players to only choose what they want as opposed to bundling it into a massive $30 expansion with only a few things you want from it.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

I'm not sure if I'd call the cosmetic DLC you're showing in Elite Dangerous or the themed DLC in Planet Coaster 'microtransactions', they're more representative of the modern DLC policy.

Yeah i understand your point, but i look at microtransactions as anything that is less than the full price or that of a formal expansion. The basis would be coming from pre games as service days (was it that long ago?), where it was standard practice for the game to include everything in the price you paid upfront.

The slimy mobile practice i've seen but havent gone there myself so happy to ignore it. We're so far safe with frontier, even as elaborate as the elite store is, its entirely cosmetic.

Something to keep in mind though, many elite players take issue with the fact that there are ZERO cosmetics (apart from one off events) that you can earn in game. The ONLY customisation is paid. If you don't care about customisation there's no impact, but if you like that sort of thing... However i must add that in Elite, this is balanced by frontier producing significant, free, gameplay adding patches at regular intervals. Free patches that evolve the game for a tip in the cosmetics jar. Im not sure if that balance will be the same in JWE, we have to wait and see.. like planet coaster JWE is being sold as a 'finished' game so people might have different expectations of both the store and the game.

 

[Scout37]

Yeah I completely understand that sentiment, and for the full $60 price (since a $5 dollar difference means the regular might as well be full price) then it sure as heck be loaded with content, being that it's almost double the cost of Planet Coaster. Unfortunately I'm a player of Paradox strategy games so I've become accustomed to regular intervals of DLC, but even those tend to have a large amount of new features and come alongside updates that add new mechanics or features for free.

 

[PCMR4Life]

I use a lot of prepaid gift cards to shop online for security reasons and I usually end up with some money left over. Generally not enough to buy anything with. The stores just give me another place to unload that last few dollars on my card so thanks.

Yeah I don't mind as long as it's cosmetic. I have Planet Coaster and Elite Dangerous and I didn't even know the store for ED existed. I might have seen it before but I forgot. I have never seen the store for Planet Coaster though. I never made any purchases for PC just DLC's on Steam. I bought them during a Steam sale.

I would prefer to buy things in one big DLC pack. I find the whole single purchasing of in game items kind of annoying. Just give me a bunch of stuff in a DLC pack and I will give you $15 or $20 for it if it's stuff I really want.

Oh yeah, I bought all those Planet Coaster DLC packs. I might get the warm cockpit lighting for ED though cause it sounds nice.

They said they would look into modding, they aren't against it. PC has Denuvo, DLC and it has Steam Workshop. But if they don't want to allow modding in JWE and they want us to buy DLC then it should be stuff fans want.

 

[ArchEmperor]

If DLC and micro transactions allowed to purchase University level educational content for our kids to learn REAL knowledge and REAL critical thinking from, then: yes, it is good.

That requires FD to do some serious deep diving in to the two worlds of 1. Academia 2. Platonic critical thinking and true Logic.

Academia stands for current mainstream KNOWLEDGE and Platon stands for current and extrapolated WISDOM. Both are absolutely entangled and CANNOT BE SEPARATED ( as many academics try to make us think that only their view is correct, but as Platon says: no, shut up and have an open mind for new stuff that makes more sense and fits better.(in a nutshell: Academia describes stuff, Platonic Logic explains stuff or allows to reach a real explanation for the descriptions.).

DLC/MT yes if true educational with both parts of knowledge and wisdom for our kids.
DLC/MT no if it is pure cosmetic nonsense or just have Academia parrot repeat after me because I am in authority nonsense. ( Authority by that same authority, instead of true logical/empirical real time test tool )
DLC/MT yes if only Platonic Critical thinking and logic, but preferably with correlating empirical knowledge ( such as genetic engineering and Dinosaur excavation and deep studies are available in some way so that the Platonic WISDOM can be applied and thus immerse, inspire and allow for spinoff scientific grooming of our young for a glorious future.

 

[Mallicious]

This is possibly a good topic to talk about. Micro-transactions is a difficult one since it is subjective as to what the person wants to get out of the game. Some people don't mind cosmetics, others to help speed up their gameplay as they are busy with work/school. As long as they don't force the consumer to feel like they need to get through a paywall to play new features then there shouldn't be any fuss. I expect to see new content come out in forms of DLC. As for micro-transactions I'm possibly expecting aesthetic features or some assistance with collecting specific genomes or DNA. Maybe you can purchase boosters to increase the efficiency of some of your staff/outlets. But I honestly don't expect it to be pricey, then that is just pushing it.

 

[eddiehead]

The devs have already stated they're not interested in mechanics such as loot boxes so there's a massive +1 - I know you don't HAVE to buy into loot boxes but most games that include them also build their gameplay to heavily encourage you to buy into them

micro transactions to speed up any kind of gameplay I also don't think will be seen thankfully, bearing in mind you have research trees that have speed upgrades

As we've seen with PC (which they've implied is the model they're following) I don't think we'll be seeing individual cosmetics being sold, it'll hopefully be a combination of DLC packs and free updates, so similar to the spooky/adventure/studio packs. All three have also come with substantial free content updates that add a decent amount of extra content to the game. Also all three packs themselves have added a decent amount of content

 

[Arnaudosaurus’02]

I really hope they’ll go with the Planet Coaster System of free updates and DLC alongside that.
Because, I really don’t like micro-transactions, I mean, who does?
Planet Coaster has a great system, with a DLC every now and then.
And I think this would suit the game as well, since it is a more, consumer-friendly way of selling extra content.
They might even do this, because the Deluxe edition feels like the game + first DLC.
And I also just prefer DLC rather than a lot of payments of 2-3 dollars.

 

[PCMR4Life]

I will easily give them $2-5 for a blood and gore DLC.

 

[Ace2535]

I will easily give them $2-5 for a blood and gore DLC.

Haha, I take it you have played a few Total War games?

Seeing the backlash gamers have had against loot boxes and micro transactions on full retail releases, I doubt Frontier will go anywhere near those. I could see them doing both large and small DLC bundles. Large being the highly request marine and aviary DLC. Small DLC would most like be a handful of new Dino’s or building options for a fairly cheap price.

 

[SeanDHealy]

Haha, I take it you have played a few Total War games?

Seeing the backlash gamers have had against loot boxes and micro transactions on full retail releases, I doubt Frontier will go anywhere near those. I could see them doing both large and small DLC bundles. Large being the highly request marine and aviary DLC. Small DLC would most like be a handful of new Dino’s or building options for a fairly cheap price.

I understand very painfully Total War Games, thankfully their DLCs came up on Humble Bundle very cheap. In relation to Frontier on this matter, I agree that they will definitely be having both smalll and large DLCs similar to that of Planet Coaster.

 

[PCMR4Life]

Haha, I take it you have played a few Total War games?

Seeing the backlash gamers have had against loot boxes and micro transactions on full retail releases, I doubt Frontier will go anywhere near those. I could see them doing both large and small DLC bundles. Large being the highly request marine and aviary DLC. Small DLC would most like be a handful of new Dino’s or building options for a fairly cheap price.

I got Warhammer Total War as a gift when I purchased by R9 390 a few years ago. I didn't care for it much so I uninstalled. I don't know why they called it a gift cause I had to pay $2 for it. That's the strangest gift I have ever gotten, one where you pay for it. But I guess getting a $60 game for $2 was pretty good.

I just want some blood and gore in the game. Not excessive. Though they could sell me the novel blood and gore DLC. I would buy it.