ARX and the end of my financial support.

Northpin

Northpin
WolfgarVT said:
I tend to spend my money in the store on cosmetics. I have always been a fan of cash shops in most games as long as it doesn't give the player an edge beyond a morale boost!
With the change over to ARX I will no longer spend my money on Frontier's products. It is a needless change. These schemes are always unbalanced. You buy ARX in a predefined amount. Then you buy a product in the store and you are left with a few ARX in your account. Not enough to buy anything but enough to prompt you to buy another bundle to get just those few ARX you need to get that other paint job.. or other "thing" but you are always left with those few credits/token/ARX that you don't want to waste.
It is a business, I get it. This however is a scheme designed to entice people with OCD or poor impulse control to spend more, a kind of "polite extortion".
There was no need to remove dollars as an option which could be spent in exact quantities. So you have in effect removed the few hundred dollars I would have spent over time on two accounts since I won't purchase ARX.
It seems as though the trickle of "free ARX" you have added are enough to put most players on the side of this change as well.
Click to expand...

so, did you actually got any cosmetics or you were only planning (for how long) to spend "a few hundred dollars" :rolleyes:

Asking because those concerns seems to be raised only by people that purchased 1-2 paintjobs in 4 years or never made a purchase.
If that's the case, you will have the opportunity to get them by simply playing the game. No need to spend dollars.
 

Siobhan

Siobhan
I don't like the idea of Arx either, but it does level the field. Console players have had to deal with it from the start. And as to the "have a few left over but not quite enough to buy something", well then just play for a few weeks and you'll get some extra free.
 

GodBlock

G
Console players get what they pay for, a lesser weaker system.

There is no need to introduce mobile gaming mechanics into a PC title, I am not pleased with that, but then didn't I hear something about tencent and frontier?

The trickle of free stuff is always a nice thing I have no issue with that at all. Don't see why they didn't just charge for items as they always have done, worked fine.

Oh yea, tencent 🤷‍♂️

I hope the 9% they own of FD didn't buy their pride lol only time will tell, but this step is a bad sign in my own, admittedly, highly cynical view.
 
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WolfgarVT

WolfgarVT
Northpin said:
so, did you actually got any cosmetics or you were only planning (for how long) to spend "a few hundred dollars" :rolleyes:

Asking because those concerns seems to be raised only by people that purchased 1-2 paintjobs in 4 years or never made a purchase.
If that's the case, you will have the opportunity to get them by simply playing the game. No need to spend dollars.
Click to expand...
I joined during beta. I have a few dozen paint jobs over various ships, flag schemes, packages,etc. Hadnt done any fighters yet. I have a few SRV packages. Bobble heads, lights. I just started another account in which I would have duplicated most of those.
 

Red5x5

Red5x5
WolfgarVT said:
With the change over to ARX I will no longer spend my money on Frontier's products. It is a needless change. These schemes are always unbalanced. You buy ARX in a predefined amount. Then you buy a product in the store and you are left with a few ARX in your account. Not enough to buy anything but enough to prompt you to buy another bundle to get just those few ARX you need to get that other paint job..
Click to expand...

I agree I "NEED" skins and I don't want you to make money! No no no work for free plz. I could NOT live with the knowledge you are making money to make the game better or bigger...no no no Frontier!!!

/sarcasm

So they are giving you FREE stuff and you expected them to "Print" real money out of thin air? That sounds familiar? Where have I heard of this in the real world...humm. So you are playing the game and you suddenly have REAL money earned in the real world on your steam wallet...hum I can spend that on ANY product on steam. Yea that won't be abused buy sudden HORDES of money farmers. Lets make Elite a gold farmers dream come TRUE.

Frontier, Plz just make the game have a monthly sub, because I want this game bigger and better and, I worry the funds from ARX will not be enough. Many MMO's have perks for sub customers that don't take away from the customers who are poor, stingy, frugal or entitled.

OP: As for extra ARX causing you to have to buy more ARX to "round off" numbers, do you have someone to talk to? Do you feel safe at home? Have you fallen in the last few months and are you using addictive substances? ...Oh I lied I guess there was more sarcasm, oops my bad.

The games industry is alive because sometimes you earn money to entertain people. Some times your game is a passion and so you make money and make your passion come to life. This game is not perfect (looking at you encoded data) but it's a gem and without being able to pay for the overhead and infrastructure it will fail.

You just go ahead and STOP supporting the game and turn red and pout. The rest of the folks who want the game to succeed will be over here not going mental over a skin or bobble head you don't "need". ------>
 

DiabolusUrsus

D
WolfgarVT said:
I tend to spend my money in the store on cosmetics. I have always been a fan of cash shops in most games as long as it doesn't give the player an edge beyond a morale boost!
With the change over to ARX I will no longer spend my money on Frontier's products. It is a needless change. These schemes are always unbalanced. You buy ARX in a predefined amount. Then you buy a product in the store and you are left with a few ARX in your account. Not enough to buy anything but enough to prompt you to buy another bundle to get just those few ARX you need to get that other paint job.. or other "thing" but you are always left with those few credits/token/ARX that you don't want to waste.
It is a business, I get it. This however is a scheme designed to entice people with OCD or poor impulse control to spend more, a kind of "polite extortion".
There was no need to remove dollars as an option which could be spent in exact quantities. So you have in effect removed the few hundred dollars I would have spent over time on two accounts since I won't purchase ARX.
It seems as though the trickle of "free ARX" you have added are enough to put most players on the side of this change as well.
Click to expand...

Nope.

The fact that ARX is passively earned for free means that having a positive ARX balance is NORMAL. At that point you can't reasonably argue that having "left-over" balance is being used to encourage more pack purchases, because even if you never spend a dime you'll end up with "left-over" balance. While a 400/week cap may be relatively slow, it still means that you'll eventually be able to use it without spending.

I would usually agree that obscuring costs with "premium currency" is a slimy practice, but this particular implementation is perfectly fair and surprisingly progressive. To be clear I'm not criticizing your decision to not spend money on ARX (that's entirely your own prerogative) but let's not pretend that players somehow drew the short straw with this change.
 

Crimson Echo

Crimson Echo
Arx are basically just a way to get you in the store and looking at paint packs. The Arx earn rate per hour seem rather low. (i do not mind the cap itself) The issue is the time investment needed per week to max out (without exploits) is looking to be part time job levels of time. If you want a paint pack etc grinding the 'free' arx is probably the least sensible manner to get the Arx on a value/time basis.(strange how fdev left the time of the previous session stat off the previous session stats that shows the arx you 'earn') (you could probably go collect redeemable cans at after an outdoors concert or tailgate and ear 10s of paint packs in a fraction of the time to 'earn' them via 'free' arx. At best the 'free' arx are a slight discount to get you looking at the store. Arxs are not a loot box exactly, but they definitely seem to be designed to appeal to the same sorts of folks.

Most players play on PC. If platform parity was to be established it should have been for console players to be able to use the normal fdev/steam cosmetic stores not the other way around. Previously I could turn booster packs/ trading cards or TF2 drops into steam credits to then spend on elite cosmetics. For steam sales I set my self a strict budget ahead of time, and load that into my steam wallet. (when i did not do this i found myself being too indiscriminate with what i was buying. With a budget i have too be more careful with what i spend on. Often there was a few dollars left at the end of the sale, and no interesting enough game to spend it on. This left over' already 'spent' money often got spent on cosmetics for elite. Via this I have gotten paint packs for basically every ship i fly on any sort of regular basis, multiple 'detailing' items, and several bobble heads. I have even gotten some thing multiple times for my alts (only a few favorite/must have items as i do not like buying the same thing again for accounts i do no use nearly as much given the price. With the system now in place (steam.elitedangerous.com) this does not appear to be possible. (can't even see a option to buy arx with steam wallet funds.) The end result is am going to be far more selective of when i open my wallet for elite cosmetics. I can no longer use 'steam sale scraps', or 'free steam wallet funds' from selling cards/TF2 drops to get 'free' elite cosmetics.
 

WolfgarVT

WolfgarVT
Red5x5 said:
I agree I "NEED" skins and I don't want you to make money! No no no work for free plz. I could NOT live with the knowledge you are making money to make the game better or bigger...no no no Frontier!!!

/sarcasm

So they are giving you FREE stuff and you expected them to "Print" real money out of thin air? That sounds familiar? Where have I heard of this in the real world...humm. So you are playing the game and you suddenly have REAL money earned in the real world on your steam wallet...hum I can spend that on ANY product on steam. Yea that won't be abused buy sudden HORDES of money farmers. Lets make Elite a gold farmers dream come TRUE.

Frontier, Plz just make the game have a monthly sub, because I want this game bigger and better and, I worry the funds from ARX will not be enough. Many MMO's have perks for sub customers that don't take away from the customers who are poor, stingy, frugal or entitled.

OP: As for extra ARX causing you to have to buy more ARX to "round off" numbers, do you have someone to talk to? Do you feel safe at home? Have you fallen in the last few months and are you using addictive substances? ...Oh I lied I guess there was more sarcasm, oops my bad.

The games industry is alive because sometimes you earn money to entertain people. Some times your game is a passion and so you make money and make your passion come to life. This game is not perfect (looking at you encoded data) but it's a gem and without being able to pay for the overhead and infrastructure it will fail.

You just go ahead and STOP supporting the game and turn red and pout. The rest of the folks who want the game to succeed will be over here not going mental over a skin or bobble head you don't "need". ------>
Click to expand...
IF I thought you knew what you were talking about, or if indeed I even knew what you were talking about I could respond but I just can not read through your hysterics. Go get your vapors cured, then come back and maybe you can converse in an intelligent way and I can generate a relevant response.
 

WolfgarVT

WolfgarVT
I will try to be as concise as possible.
I don't mind the addition of ARX. I mind the removal of cash as an option. Have both!
I dont care if they quadruple the price for cosmetics if money were an issue for me I wouldt be spending it on something as useless as computer games and I dont care about the uselessly slow accumulation of free ARX. You can acquire 1.5 high end paint jobs a year with free ARX

edit:
I also understand how little the money you or I spend in a cash shop means individually. The OP is merely my opinion. I expect exactly what is happening here to happen. I do not believe that anyone connected with Frontier will even see this post nor would it affect the plans of the company if they did.
Much like voting however, if you don't participate in the process you don't have a right to an opinion.
 
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DiabolusUrsus

D
WolfgarVT said:
I will try to be as concise as possible.
I don't mind the addition of ARX. I mind the removal of cash as an option. Have both!
I dont care if they quadruple the price for cosmetics if money were an issue for me I wouldt be spending it on something as useless as computer games and I dont care about the uselessly slow accumulation of free ARX. You can acquire 1.5 high end paint jobs a year with free ARX
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying, but it comes across as a bit out-of-touch with the realities of microtransactions in general.
  • Keeping direct cash purchases alongside ARX negates the entire point of ARX, and means that earning it gradually by playing may as well be the ONLY way to acquire it.
  • While the rate of free earning is certainly slow, it is still incredibly significant for 2 reasons:
    • First, as mentioned previously it allows players to actually make use of the "residual" balances they paid for without actually needing to pay more.
    • Second, it's still entirely free and better than nothing. If you can't/won't spend money, earning 1.5 high-end cosmetics a year is infinitely faster than never getting to earn them in the first place.
  • Quadrupling the price of cosmetics utterly destroys the attractiveness of microtransactions. The price for individual items has to stay relatively small, or too few players will even consider buying for the system to be worth it.
That said, thanks for staying sanguine about exchanges of opinions.
 

Kaocraft

Kaocraft
Northpin said:
so, did you actually got any cosmetics or you were only planning (for how long) to spend "a few hundred dollars" :rolleyes:

Asking because those concerns seems to be raised only by people that purchased 1-2 paintjobs in 4 years or never made a purchase.
If that's the case, you will have the opportunity to get them by simply playing the game. No need to spend dollars.
Click to expand...
Nobody's ever getting anything by "simply playing the game." Have you seen the rates at which Arx are earned in-game? It's a joke. In-game earnings of Arx exists entirely as a pretense to shove Arx-related data in your face at all times. Nothing more.
 
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