The game is in the red? But FD made a huge profit this year...!
Deleted member 182079
D
Yeah I try to ignore it, but usually on a Wednesday I can't help myself to just scratch a few more Arx together, as I would already have a paintjob I would like to unlock eyed up, so if I do it, I get it a week or two earlier.
I'm glad though that I prefer a pretty good mix of different activities rather than just focus on one (say, exploration) so there's always a steady stream of Arx coming in regardless of what I do. Maxing out the weekly cap is about a 50/50 chance for me.
Edit: I had to google pebcak, and yes, generally agree, although Elite is a game that does contain a lot of activities that are decidedly un-fun, where certain things take a long time/repetition to make progress, so it's not a huge leap to apply the same approach to Arx earning.
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Surely the cost of a virtual item is what people are prepared to pay? I guess they figured people were prepared to pay more.
Stuart Lee standup :
And then he said to me – this is honestly true – he said to me, ‘Well, you can prove anything with facts, can’t you?’
For a minute, I went, ‘Yeah.’ And then I thought, ‘Hang on! That’s the most fantastic way of winning an argument I’ve ever heard! “I’m not interested in facts. I find they tend to cloud my judgement. I prefer to rely on instinct and blind prejudice.”’
Sorry, I'll get me coat....
aaaaarrrrgggghhh, you spoilt the joke that I had lined up. Nevermind.
And the end of the day, people perceive this change as they want to see it.
For some people, it's a scam it's always going to be that, because they want it to be that. They will find evidence that it's a scam, I mean, you can quite easily portray it as such:
Take the lowest price (and worst value) ARX work out all your prices from there, don't include anything else, yup, all prices have gone up (although some are actually cheaper but we can all cherry pick facts) must be a scam.
Say that "you don't know how much money you are spending" ARX obfuscates it. Again, if you have spent £4.99 on ARX then that is what you have spent, whether you bought 1 paint job or 10. Also, have access to a calculator? Then you can easily work out the equivalent cost based on the pack you have bought.
"I'm always left with ARX change" ok, can't really dispute this one, if you buy more ARX than you need for the cosmetic you "need", then yes, you will be left with change. In the same way that I go and take a tenner out of the bank machine spend £5.99 and end up with change in my pockets. Unlike that situation however, in terms of ARX it can be mitigated (if you are prepared to wait) by buying a lower value ARX pack. The penalty to this is the lower cost ARX pack can represent less value for money - this is mitigated by free ARX earned just by playing the game.
That will, of course produce the argument "But then I am forced to play the game!" If it comes down to the only reason you are playing the game is to get that "hot pink" exhaust trail (or any other colour and type of cosmetic) then really you should be considering whether you should be playing the game at all. The game experience after buying that hot pink exhaust trail is going to be exactly the same as it was before - except now you have a pretty thing on your ship. I.e. if you didn't like the game before your hot pink trail, there is a very good chance you won't like it afterwards either.
"We don't get paid enough ARX" I'm not sure whether some people here believe that FD is a charity and not a company or some people are simply not grateful at all. But it is more than enough to "buy" a paint job for the federal Corvette after two weeks, or one for a smaller ship after one. Just as a point of note - the cheapest paint jobs cost around 50p before ARX - with ARX and a calculator you can work out that a basic paint job costs (in real terms) between 27 and 37 pence now. It is true however that some prices in real terms have been increased, but on balance most have stayed the same or been reduced.
Conspiracy theorists are correct in that ARX does save FD money and this is purely due to how the banking system works. A charge is levied to the company for every single purchase made by a customer using a credit or debit card by the bank the company uses. Introducing ARX packs reduces the number of small transactions and therrfor transaction charges levied, this has the net effect of increasing profit made by FD. The other "advantage" as far as FD is concerned is they will start making interest off your payment whether you buy a paint job straight away or not. Once you have bought the ARX pack, the money is theirs and not yours. This is no different than "topping up" a mobile phone mind.
At the end of the day, we asked for this, we wanted a way to "earn" cosmetics through normal play, and we got it. We can spend money or spend gameplay time (or indeed both) to get what we want.
The great thing about it is you can ignore it completely and just play the game in its entirety without any limits other than those you impose yourself.
Feel free to cherry pick folks, it's simply my opinion, doesn't have to be yours.
For some people, it's a scam it's always going to be that, because they want it to be that. They will find evidence that it's a scam, I mean, you can quite easily portray it as such:
Take the lowest price (and worst value) ARX work out all your prices from there, don't include anything else, yup, all prices have gone up (although some are actually cheaper but we can all cherry pick facts) must be a scam.
Say that "you don't know how much money you are spending" ARX obfuscates it. Again, if you have spent £4.99 on ARX then that is what you have spent, whether you bought 1 paint job or 10. Also, have access to a calculator? Then you can easily work out the equivalent cost based on the pack you have bought.
"I'm always left with ARX change" ok, can't really dispute this one, if you buy more ARX than you need for the cosmetic you "need", then yes, you will be left with change. In the same way that I go and take a tenner out of the bank machine spend £5.99 and end up with change in my pockets. Unlike that situation however, in terms of ARX it can be mitigated (if you are prepared to wait) by buying a lower value ARX pack. The penalty to this is the lower cost ARX pack can represent less value for money - this is mitigated by free ARX earned just by playing the game.
That will, of course produce the argument "But then I am forced to play the game!" If it comes down to the only reason you are playing the game is to get that "hot pink" exhaust trail (or any other colour and type of cosmetic) then really you should be considering whether you should be playing the game at all. The game experience after buying that hot pink exhaust trail is going to be exactly the same as it was before - except now you have a pretty thing on your ship. I.e. if you didn't like the game before your hot pink trail, there is a very good chance you won't like it afterwards either.
"We don't get paid enough ARX" I'm not sure whether some people here believe that FD is a charity and not a company or some people are simply not grateful at all. But it is more than enough to "buy" a paint job for the federal Corvette after two weeks, or one for a smaller ship after one. Just as a point of note - the cheapest paint jobs cost around 50p before ARX - with ARX and a calculator you can work out that a basic paint job costs (in real terms) between 27 and 37 pence now. It is true however that some prices in real terms have been increased, but on balance most have stayed the same or been reduced.
Conspiracy theorists are correct in that ARX does save FD money and this is purely due to how the banking system works. A charge is levied to the company for every single purchase made by a customer using a credit or debit card by the bank the company uses. Introducing ARX packs reduces the number of small transactions and therrfor transaction charges levied, this has the net effect of increasing profit made by FD. The other "advantage" as far as FD is concerned is they will start making interest off your payment whether you buy a paint job straight away or not. Once you have bought the ARX pack, the money is theirs and not yours. This is no different than "topping up" a mobile phone mind.
At the end of the day, we asked for this, we wanted a way to "earn" cosmetics through normal play, and we got it. We can spend money or spend gameplay time (or indeed both) to get what we want.
The great thing about it is you can ignore it completely and just play the game in its entirety without any limits other than those you impose yourself.
Feel free to cherry pick folks, it's simply my opinion, doesn't have to be yours.
On balance I prefered having the cash store to ARXs.
...What are you waiting for? That's it...
...I mean I'm not going to go off on one about how I buy dress up for my computer game spaceship.
...Well why would I? It would just make me look silly...
...No really quite happy to simply state a preference no need to make any demands...
...Oh Ok if you insist, FDEV are evil corporate pirates, you swines give my free paint packs / cash only store / a pony (delete as applicable).
I still prefer a cash store but it still isn't one, oh well.
...What are you waiting for? That's it...
...I mean I'm not going to go off on one about how I buy dress up for my computer game spaceship.
...Well why would I? It would just make me look silly...
...No really quite happy to simply state a preference no need to make any demands...
...Oh Ok if you insist, FDEV are evil corporate pirates, you swines give my free paint packs / cash only store / a pony (delete as applicable).
I still prefer a cash store but it still isn't one, oh well.
I can see you put a lot of thought into this, which is a shame, because it's mostly wasted on a discussion like this. The people who have their minds made up without really considering these (and countless other) details about the new system hold their own opinions as sacred.
It was pretty easy to see who was who when ARX was announced but not implemented yet - there were two camps: "Let's see how it works" and "ARX is a bad idea". A lot of the people making all these ARX threads had their minds made up before they even saw it in action.
Also, this thread was started by somebody who is so ignorant about the cosmetics in the game that they still think paint packs exist in the store. So temper those very strong opinions with the knowledge that these very strong opinions aren't very well-informed.
The party's just getting started for me and my alts !
I thought I was Stigbob's alt?
We're all eachothers alts, we're the same person
wait a moment, my alt is difool, if I remember it right
Splitter !
