Yeah... my copies of Mouse Trap, Cluedo and Monopoly are all free to play.
All I had to do was buy them.
Hey Cmdr! Why don't you have a cool paint job?
Yeah... my copies of Mouse Trap, Cluedo and Monopoly are all free to play.
All I had to do was buy them.
Why?
Want one! How many Arx? Come on Frontier! Bobbleknights now!Well! But! Actually! Frontier doesn't have to give you any ARX for free! You should be grateful! If you're so upset about not having a paint job like mine, why don't you open your wallet
I can't find fault with this logic. Which means ... I'm finally
disclaimer: other toy manufacturers are available.
I'm a bit confused with Horizons features and cosmetics put together in the same category. Well, technically they are both DLC, but I guess I've been sort of left behind on the evolution of the term. When DLC first became a thing it was just small bibs and bobs, a horse armor, a few skins, perhaps a weapon, that sorts of things. The bigger stuff was called expansions and it pre-dates people downloading them from the internet. Call them expansion disks if you want to be real old-fashioned. I think this classification is still worth considering in this case. Horizons is clearly and expansion (was a season pass) and those cosmetics are much more DLC-y.
What was the topic? Oh yes, the free ARX. Well, I've been lucky enough to be engaged in the sort of gameplay that pays off in ARX very well, so perhaps when I move to exploration or some other thing that doesn't pay so well, it'll bother me less because it's not that much of a novelty.
What was the topic? Oh yes, the free ARX. Well, I've been lucky enough to be engaged in the sort of gameplay that pays off in ARX very well, so perhaps when I move to exploration or some other thing that doesn't pay so well, it'll bother me less because it's not that much of a novelty.
Like you, I have been around forever. I never went in for the paint schemes until 3 or 4 years ago there was a Black Friday sale. Blacked out Vulture? Sure. But then ship kits and all sorts of deelybobs... yeah, YOU try to spell it... came along and meh. Never bothered.
And I agree that this game is a galaxy wide and an inch deep with broken RNGeer stuff (better than when it first started though... ) and other mechanics. The thing is... I know it's a broken game that still has bugs from 2015. I know the game is, at times, over run with stoopid gankers who are bored (again, inch deep) and decide to screw with other players just because they can. I know the game COULD be better and I sometimes take long breaks from playing. But... I like flying ships in space. I don't care one bit about space legs or ARX or ELITE status (full disclosure - I have a crap ton of time invested in this game and have not made ELITE yet. I am close on exploration) or atmospheric planets or Thargoid super ships. I like to fly ships in space.
No white hat here, I agree with what you are saying. A lot of it IS akin to what is found coming out of the southside of a northern facing buffalo. Thing is... there is no other space flying game that catches my attention like this one does... broken as it is.
Disclaimers:
Ahem! So, I've never posted on this forum before, but I've been around since the week Elite: Dangerous was released. I paid the full, AAA-game MSRP price tag for it. And I'm ok with that. It was a very pretty game, with a very enjoyable flight mechanic, one whole galaxy wide, even if it was only an inch deep. It seemed a little lacking in mechanics at the time, but it had promise, and there was plenty a promise made about the good things to come. And hey, there's some pretty paint jobs in the webstore! But let's hang around a while and see what this game grows into...
- This is a rant. If you aren't interested in hearing a rant, feel free to click the back button on your browser now.
- This rant is kind of long winded and loaded with sarcasm. If you're still reading, you should go and get a drink, and maybe lean your chair back.
- I am not an industry professional. I don't know the inner workings of Frontier or the details of their accounting and business models.
- I am, however, a gainfully employed adult. I can afford things, I just find some of them to be not worth the price tag.
- This is an account of my personal experiences and the resulting perspective of such. Also, I'm kind of a jerk.
Oh, I see. It's grown a DLC. A DLC that costs near as much as the game itself. A DLC that "unlocks" all the neat, exciting features one would expect to be a part of the core mechanics of the game. A DLC that is required to access engineers, irrefutably a huge advantage over any CMDR with stock parts for just about any play type. And Multi-Crew, which is a cute gimmick, if a little buggy still, but nobody really uses it because it's just a disadvantage all around. There's no real point in doing it.
Well, interesting. Guess it's time to shell out some more cash for all of this new content that is definitely above and beyond the expectations of the base, AAA-priced game. Personally, I took a break from Elite and waited for it to go on sale. And this is fine. I, myself, am not going to shell out more money still for aesthetics at this point. For it's credit, Elite has grown quite a bit in its depth of gameplay over the years. Fighting aliens is cool, even though I think most of us are still at a big net Cr loss there. Still no sign of these "space legs" I keep hearing about-
Oh, they might be in the next paid DLC? I mean, ok. I guess Frontier has to make some fresh income somehow-hey-wait-a-second. What's this ARX thing now? A new way to earn pew pew colors and bobble heads in the game!? Oh happy day! I'm so excited! Let's go! How long will it take me, at the weekly cap of 400, to slap some of those pointy spikes and a mean looking piratey paint job on my ship? About... nine months? Wow uh.... ok I guess. Well, um, I guess I'll go grind out that weekly cap then.
Off to the asteroid ring I go. Still no word on how much these upcoming fleet carriers will cost, so I guess I'll blow up some big, gray space rocks for little, shiny space rocks. That pays well, and it's genuinely enjoyable to do, being one of the newer mechanics and all. A few hours one day, a few hours the next, and what a haul! Let's just find a nice, high-demand station and cash out... 210 Million Cr! Nice! Now for that cherry on top, let's log out and see how many ARX all this lucrative mining earns. Wait for it... Yeah buddy! A whole... wait, six?
SIX?
...
...
...
What the @#$%?
* It's at this point that I expect the white knights among you to be panting heavily over your keyboards, fingers flying in a flurry of Cheetos dust: "Well! But! Actually! Frontier doesn't have to give you any ARX for free! You should be grateful! If you're so upset about not having a paint job like mine, why don't you open your wallet-"
Ok ok, that's enough. I've gotten that part out of the way for you, so you don't need to.
See, I'm ok with the pretty aesthetics being in the webstore. I'm not personally inclined to shell out for them myself, but if that's what you want to do, more power to you. But Frontier has chosen to dangle the prospect of "earning your aesthetics in game," while structuring it such that making actual, tangible use of it requires several hours of grindy play per day, several days a week, every week for months.
Or! You could spend a few bucks to supplement your pitiful in-game earnings! There, look at that pretty paint job you've totally earned with your hard work! Want another one? Just loosen those purse strings a little more!
"Free ARX" is a gateway drug.
"Free ARX" is a distraction from the real purpose of ARX: obscuring the real world price of in-game purchases.
"Free ARX" is Frontier jumping the bandwagon of manipulative, predatory game industry practices, and it is intended entirely to exploit you.
Keep an eye out for special lootboxes on alien homeworlds in the next season! Keys purchasable in the ARX store!
Anyway, back to blowing up rocks.
Fly safe, cmdrs o7,
Erro
Turning players into payers.
ARX (Actively Recurring Xenocurrency) is frontiers attempt to jump in on the big tripple AAA monetization bandwagon.
ARX is free for one reason only and thats to get you engaged in spending. ARX is like a dealer giving you a free sample in the hopes you will get addicted and come back. Its predatory in nature.
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We had Frontier Points on the console from the get go and I haven't seen any addiction problems by myself or anyone else in my friends list.
When you can't controll yourself, fall for the free arx as a stimulant to buy more and become addicted then you've got a problem far beyond the couple free arx you get or the whole arx system for that matter imho.
With a bit of sense you know how much you want to spend on cosmetics and determine if it's worth your money or not.
Gambling systems or lootboxes like EA implements in their games is predatory, knowing what you get for which price isn't imho.
If you spend your free arx, will you become addicted? I'm going to assume you said no, because that's my case as well. So, who are these people who will get addicted? What percentage of the playerbase are they? What percentage would they need to be in order to justify this addiction as the 'purpose' of giving free arx 'to get you hooked'? Should these people actually be exploited? Either because they're too stupid or too rich to realize /care that they are not being rewarded appropriately? Being stupid /rich, I guess in neither case will they care, so the premise falls over again and you have to say, well it's good that such people do exist to pay Frontier extra cash to make more games and make existing ones better! Given the average age and iq of elite players I think you're off the mark here. If this were a housewife game of spot the difference on a tablet, ok sure. I can't reconcile what your say with what I know about freemium models and elite players.
I feel this requires an open letter, petition and a threat to stop playing.
P.S. I got bored reading replies after the first few so apologies if this has already been suggested.
P.S. I got bored reading replies after the first few so apologies if this has already been suggested.
I would contend that is the Cosmetic Items themselves that are the gateway drug.
This I might well agree with, on the same principle that keeps clocks out of casinos - so you don't realize how much time you've wasted there.
It's just not the game industry. It's all industry. No corporation cares about You, your needs, your dreams, goals or desires. They want your cash, and they'll tell you want you want to hear to get it. Welcome to cash-based economics.
I just went to the frontier store. Lo and behold you can't buy extras. Can't even browse them. The rate of earning them sounds persuasive and manipulative, reminiscent of STO. Sad. I suspect you can browse them in-game and decide to purchase ARX.
I like that earning cosmetics for free is a possibility but hiding the purchase behind an opaque layer if you want to just pay for a paintjob is MUNG. I just want the cheese, not the lasagna. I don't want to have a bunch of points left over like a prepaid credit card.
This is a big FU. Sneaky marketing under the guise of inclusivity.
Glad I bought a bunch of cosmetics already except maybe I'm regretting my support now.
Of all the decisions Fdev have made, now that I'm up to speed, I feel this one is the biggest "smiler moves" they've made yet. Disgusting trend.
I like that earning cosmetics for free is a possibility but hiding the purchase behind an opaque layer if you want to just pay for a paintjob is MUNG. I just want the cheese, not the lasagna. I don't want to have a bunch of points left over like a prepaid credit card.
This is a big FU. Sneaky marketing under the guise of inclusivity.
Glad I bought a bunch of cosmetics already except maybe I'm regretting my support now.
Of all the decisions Fdev have made, now that I'm up to speed, I feel this one is the biggest "smiler moves" they've made yet. Disgusting trend.
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Those 400 billion star systems are probably built with a 2d image of the milky way and a seed, then most star systems are procedurally generated except for the odd one the team put in themselves. That does not require a lot of memory.
I think the distribution of fake currency against the various modes of play is uneven.
As the OP has found out, mining does not pay Arx. Combat doesn't seem to pay much either. It's unbalanced (typical frontier).
All these 'I make the limit' etc is a false analysis of the problem. I've done over a billion in mining and still not reached 400. I don;t care about the arx I refuse to buy fake currency. But for those that are relying on the free arx, frontier need to hire someone that knows about balance.
As the OP has found out, mining does not pay Arx. Combat doesn't seem to pay much either. It's unbalanced (typical frontier).
All these 'I make the limit' etc is a false analysis of the problem. I've done over a billion in mining and still not reached 400. I don;t care about the arx I refuse to buy fake currency. But for those that are relying on the free arx, frontier need to hire someone that knows about balance.
Fair point
Looks at all the ships, starports, outposts, megaships, installations, planet textures, animations, spaghetti code, and the mountains and mountains of salt
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
But why would anyone rely on the free Arx? There was no such thing until recently.
I have over 1000 Arx. No clue how I got them, they're just a bonus for spending time in the game which I didn't use to get. I'll have no problem about buying some more if there are cosmetics I want.
Hint to FD: I still want to have a different COVAS in every ship. Take my money!
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I don't have children. I've done my bit.
because some people (me included) do not wish to buy fake currency. My cash stays in my accounts until I decide to spend it. What frontier are hoping is for the players who buy huge packs. Frintier get the cashinto their bank, and the players left holding a fake currency.
I don't know that anything can compete with Refined Dilithium... MAYBE Isk/PLEX.
I don't feel the same degree of, whatever that is. I do note the notable price hike in many cosmetic items, and I absolutely miss seeing new things on the web store. I may not have bought as much as most of the store shoppers, but I tended to do my browsing and evaluating over lunch, in the office, at work, when I had the time, so I could say "Yeah, I will buy that when I get home." Now, with the only viewing option being the in-game livery, I'm going to miss out on a lot of what's new, and likely spend even less than before, simply because I don't want to spend what could be gaming time shopping online in game. That's the real bad move in my eyes.