What’s so bad about ARX?

in and of itself, nothing.

FDev should be able to generate revenue however they want.

BUT -

1) don't try to spin it to make it look like the players are getting a better deal - we're not. you're raising the price of cosmetics, decoupling the price of your products from actual real-world money to make it harder to calculate that price increase, and making your worthless made-up currency purchasable only in larger quantities than individual items value so in effect were not only spending more per item but having to pay for credit for multiple items in advance using more real money to get the one item we actually want.

2) don't cripple the entire game through ineptitude and lack ot testing to rush out a new store infrastructure inside of what would otherwise be a very minor point release with a couple of bug fixes and and no real new gameplay.
 
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If you think it is unethical for companies to try to get you to spend money on their products, then good luck with life as it is there everywhere. Every town centre, nearly every website, email, social media the list goes on.

It's not about ethics, what they are doing is fine, it is ethically fine. But if people have issues with self control, then they need to get some help. That is not FDevs fault if someone can't control themselves.

It is about ethics. Are you saying loot boxes are OK, and if so, why are they outlawed in some countries - are't those the same under your definition? Are you also saying its OK for companies to target certain sections of the populace based on some genetic or personality flaw because 'those people should seek medical help for their condition'. No. The ethics are pretty straight forward. When a company makes choices that don't protect customers - that's unethical.
 
It is about ethics. Are you saying loot boxes are OK, and if so, why are they outlawed in some countries - are't those the same under your definition? Are you also saying its OK for companies to target certain sections of the populace based on some genetic or personality flaw because 'those people should seek medical help for their condition'. No. The ethics are pretty straight forward. When a company makes choices that don't protect customers - that's unethical.

Its not lootboxes though is it.

Its an altered storefront and some freebies.
 
The whole slimy ploy is to get people to spend more than they need to on a certain cosmetic with left over arx, e.g.

instead of just paying $4 you need to spend $5 or what not. Earned arx is good for little stuff.
 
It's not unethical, it's business. That business being to get you to part with your cash more often and in larger quantities.

I have a couple of problems with it:

The 'overbuy' mechanic. You have to buy a pack of ARX if you want to buy even the lowest cost item. To be fair they have mitigated that somewhat with earning ARX in game but I just don't like the practice. Welcome to modern gaming.

They broke much of the game implementing it and are somehow trying to pass this off as a part of the games 2019 content updates. It's not content, this has not been done for the benefit of the players, it's been done for the benefit of FD.

I think it's these points that are most contentious.
 
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My thought here is that people are afraid of what might happen given how this sort of scheme has been used by other companies. Only time will tell. Arx isn't new, it is just new to PC players.
 

Deleted member 182079

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The 400 ARX a week is green lasers for me toward the end of the year, without any grind or expense required. Then something else a few months later so its nothing drastic.

People who want to buy now will buy now anyway, this changes nothing.

However if they set it too high nobody buys cosmetics which is self defeating.

It's also already 50% of the GNI per capita of Somalia which is an utterly mind boggling example of a first world problem o_O.
I'm not asking for the weekly income to be increased. I have zero problems with it in fact as I can easily just ignore it.

What I do have a problem with is that a substantial number of store items have been increased in price since the introduction of Arx, negating the benefit of that weekly income by a factor of X depending on what item you're looking at (naturally, the more desirable ones are now more expensive).

I don't know what to say to your last sentence other than agreeing that I feel lucky not having been born and living in Somalia, I guess. Not sure what that has to do with opaque sales tactics though.
 
It is about ethics. Are you saying loot boxes are OK, and if so, why are they outlawed in some countries - are't those the same under your definition? Are you also saying its OK for companies to target certain sections of the populace based on some genetic or personality flaw because 'those people should seek medical help for their condition'. No. The ethics are pretty straight forward. When a company makes choices that don't protect customers - that's unethical.
Loot boxes are gambling and can be addictive, that is why they are being banned. Arx packages are not loot boxes and nothing like them. So please tell me what is the difference between buying some Arx to buy cosmetics and buying cosmetic directly from the store, because apart from the cost I am really not seeing any difference what so ever.

If people have a gambling habit then Arx is not going to effect them in any shape or form, and yes they should get help.
 
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The whole slimy ploy is to get people to spend more than they need to on a certain cosmetic with left over arx, e.g.

instead of just paying $4 you need to spend $5 or what not. Earned arx is good for little stuff.
And the old slimey method of forcing me to buy 6 skins when I wanted 1 from that pack. Which one is worse do you think?

At least with the new method you can earn Arx to supplement your left over Arx to get something else.
 
I'm not asking for the weekly income to be increased. I have zero problems with it in fact as I can easily just ignore it.

What I do have a problem with is that a substantial number of store items have been increased in price since the introduction of Arx, negating the benefit of that weekly income by a factor of X depending on what item you're looking at (naturally, the more desirable ones are now more expensive).

I don't know what to say to your last sentence other than agreeing that I feel lucky not having been born and living in Somalia, I guess. Not sure what that has to do with opaque sales tactics though.

If you don't like the prices opt out of buying them and use the free stuff, they don't effect gameplay anyway it just optional cosmetics.
 

Deleted member 182079

D
If you don't like the prices opt out of buying them and use the free stuff, they don't effect gameplay anyway it just optional cosmetics.
Well, yeah, that's what I'm planning to do. As opposed to continuing to spend a fortune on their store as I did over the past years (and no regrets, for the record).

FDev's loss and my wallet's gain, I suppose.
 
Loot boxes are gambling and can be addictive, that is why they are being banned. Arx packages are not loot boxes and nothing like them. So please tell me what is the difference between buying some Arx to buy cosmetics and buying cosmetic directly from the store, because apart from the cost I am really not seeing any difference what so ever.

If people have a gambling habit then Arx is not going to effect them in any shape or form, and yes they should get help.

I outlined why these tactics are bad in a post above - they promote impulse buying and obfuscate the real world value of what you're buying (not to mention the increased cost of everything now). Nothing Arx related in this last patch promotes open or honest customer relationships.
 
The perception of how its been implemented is the issue I think.
Here's my perception. I played the game a bit today, first time really playing it since the update, and I couldn't find anything detailing my Arx count in the game except when I opened the STORE (which is hard to miss). When I opened the store, it said I had zero Arx, which didn't make any sense to me. So I logged out to main menu. It was only then that I was given the 6 Arx I had earned during my gaming session.

IMO, either Arx should update "live", so that when I click on the oh so visible STORE icon I can spend those Arx without logging out of the game, OR just move the STORE itself to the main menu, since it's obviously an "out of game" experience anyway (Arx being a game vs. lore currency).

I find the current Arx system as convoluted as the Combat vs Analysis Modes. Developers at Frontier need to learn KISS, and I'm not talking about the rock band.
 
I outlined why these tactics are bad in a post above - they promote impulse buying and obfuscate the real world value of what you're buying (not to mention the increased cost of everything now). Nothing Arx related in this last patch promotes open or honest customer relationships.
How do they do that. You have not told us how, so I disagree with you.

I don't see any pictures of the products while I am playing, so why would I impulse buy something I can't see. Now Fdev advertise the products on social media, but to buy them I have to open up the game, purchase some Arx and then buy the skin. There is nothing impulsive about it and it is just ridiculous to even imply that it is. If you have no wish for cosmetics, then there is no reason to buy any Arx what so ever.

There are no tactics to promote impulse buying. Now I will accept what you say if when I play the game and a new skin is released there is a massive sign comes up on the screen with a big picture etc etc, you get my drift, then that would be promoting impulse buying, but the fact you have to go through a process do get anything makes your comment null and void.
 
How do they do that. You have not told us how, so I disagree with you.

I don't see any pictures of the products while I am playing, so why would I impulse buy something I can't see. Now Fdev advertise the products on social media, but to buy them I have to open up the game, purchase some Arx and then buy the skin. There is nothing impulsive about it and it is just ridiculous to even imply that it is. If you have no wish for cosmetics, then there is no reason to buy any Arx what so ever.

There are no tactics to promote impuls buying. Now I will accept what you say if when I fly the game and a new skin is released there is a massive sign comes up on the screen with a big picture etc etc, you get my drift, then that would be promoting impulse buying, but the fact you have to go through a process do get anything makes your comment null and void.

Hmm, I don't think you understand how more modern games are monetized. Have a look at something like this and you'll see several of the 'tricks' described there being used here.
 
Here's my perception. I played the game a bit today, first time really playing it since the update, and I couldn't find anything detailing my Arx count in the game except when I opened the STORE (which is hard to miss). When I opened the store, it said I had zero Arx, which didn't make any sense to me. So I logged out to main menu. It was only then that I was given the 6 Arx I had earned during my gaming session.

IMO, either Arx should update "live", so that when I click on the oh so visible STORE icon I can spend those Arx without logging out of the game, OR just move the STORE itself to the main menu, since it's obviously an "out of game" experience anyway (Arx being a game vs. lore currency).

I find the current Arx system as convoluted as the Combat vs Analysis Modes. Developers at Frontier need to learn KISS, and I'm not talking about the rock band.

Having the whole experience outside of game play are would be great, but I don't see how that work work with the livery.
 
What I do have a problem with is that a substantial number of store items have been increased in price since the introduction of Arx, negating the benefit of that weekly income by a factor of X depending on what item you're looking at (naturally, the more desirable ones are now more expensive).
Which prices have been increased? So far as I can see almost everything is cheaper with a few things (COVAS for example) staying the same.
Ship kits were £7 and £8. They are now £6.37 and £7.33.
Basic ship paint was £3 for 6, it's now £2.99 for 8 with a few pennies change.

On which platform and in which currency are you seeing an increase in prices?
 
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