All this angst over upkeep on Fleet Carriers - why?

[GunnerBill]

So you've spent multiple hours grinding 5,000,000,000 Cr to afford a fleet carrier and since FD announced that said carrier would require a nominal amount of regular "upkeep" in the form of more grindy credits or materials many of you have spat the dummy out?

Why?

 

[Thepirateorc]

So you've spent multiple hours grinding 5,000,000,000 Cr to afford a fleet carrier and since FD announced that said carrier would require a nominal amount of regular "upkeep" in the form of more grindy credits or materials many of you have spat the dummy out?

Why?

If you ask me that's all pretty sad.

For a start 5 billion credits is quite alot then after spending said amount you need to continue to pay upkeep, why?. The whole concept of upkeep is unnecessary.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

So you've spent multiple hours grinding 5,000,000,000 Cr to afford a fleet carrier and since FD announced that said carrier would require a nominal amount of regular "upkeep" in the form of more grindy credits or materials many of you have spat the dummy out?

Why?

Yup, I don't get it either. There is also the fact that nobody knows how it all works. How easy or hard it is to get this debt, how long it takes etc. Can you make money when not in game and therefore have a profit instead of debt.

 

[Thepirateorc]

Yup, I don't get it either. There is also the fact that nobody knows how it all works. How easy or hard it is to get this debt, how long it takes etc. Can you make money when not in game and therefore have a profit instead of debt.

True but no one like upkeep =)

 

[avow555]

They don't like it, simple really.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

For a start 5 billion credits is quite alot then after spending said amount you need to continue to pay upkeep, why?. The whole concept of upkeep is unnecessary and lets not forget that we need to find premium fuel to fly the thing.

Most things are unnecessary. As to upkeep, well in ED it's meant to be a living breathing galaxy, if the Fleet Carriers are persistent, then they need to be kept. People live on those things and would want to be paid. I think fleet carriers are going to be a mini management game that is online. It shouldn't stop just because you are not online.

Personally, I'm going to wait and see how it's implemented before I decide if it's crap or not.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

True but no one like upkeep =)

Nobody knows what it entails either. So they are not liking something they know nothing about.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

They don't like it, simple really.

They don't like something they haven't seen or tried yet. Sounds like jumping the gun to me.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Frontier dug their own hole with that one.

Ever since frontier had bad steam reviews, the entire emphasis of development has been to turn things off / give things to people for free with zero effort, remove the challenge, remove the gameplay, basically just leaving nothing.

This has happened for so long and for so many years i think people are conditioned to it and won't accept even the idea of anything challenging anymore.

If a sugar addicted toddler goes mental when offered not sugar, its actually the parents fault. Especially considering that nearly all the nerfs frontier spend development resources on could have been equally addressed via communication / education. They dug their own here.

 

[Shanaeri]

Because people have enough worry about paying rent and mortgages in real life without needing to do it in a game they go to to escape the worry about paying rent and mortgages

 

[Dommarraa]

Because people

 

[BirdWisdom]

Many players think they can get the nice FC from a cornflakes package but if they open their eyes a bit and compare other big games out there how long times it's takes to get any epic things

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Because people have enough worry about paying rent and mortgages in real life without needing to do it in a game they go to to escape the worry about paying rent and mortgages

People shouldn't worry about what's happening in a computer game. If they do, I suggest they get some counselling. It's a game, if you don't like that part of it, thankfully it's completely optional, don't play it.

 

[Bigmaec]

So you've spent multiple hours grinding 5,000,000,000 Cr to afford a fleet carrier and since FD announced that said carrier would require a nominal amount of regular "upkeep" in the form of more grindy credits or materials many of you have spat the dummy out?

Why?

For me it's the combination of both that is nuts.

5 billion is a lot of mining.
"Grinding" weekly for upkeep is a chore.

Both combined makes me think it's basely done for player retention, and I guess it'll backfire badly if the features aren't great.
And if the features are great, the entry pricing is too steep.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

For me it's the combination of both that is nuts.

5 billion is a lot of mining.
"Grinding" weekly for upkeep is a chore.

Both combined makes me think it's basely done for player retention, and I guess it'll backfire badly if the features aren't great.
And if the features are great, the entry pricing is too steep.

We don't know how it's done yet, so maybe wait for the reveal. As to doing things for player retention, is that so wrong?

 

[Shaele]

We don't know how it's done yet, so maybe wait for the reveal. As to doing things for player retention, is that so wrong?

If you have to punish players to retain them , then you are already doing something wrong. This charge seems like a big stick held over anyone who buys a carrier - play or else

 

[Shanaeri]

Probably the easiest solution is to bump the cost up to say 10 billion and no upkeep. Fewer carriers and more credits taken out of the game than upkeep would ever bring in in

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

If you have to punish players to retain them , then you are already doing something wrong. This charge seems like a big stick held over anyone who buys a carrier - play or else

What punishment are you talking about? So you know how upkeep works?

 

[Quantis Trap]

For a start 5 billion credits is quite alot then after spending said amount you need to continue to pay upkeep, why?. The whole concept of upkeep is unnecessary.

I agree! For example in another space game which has this fleet carriers idea by another name, you purchase this fleet flagship is a gateway to NEW GAME PLAY and more profits BECAUSE along with this flagship comes competent NPCs who help you run it and even support ships which you can coordinate sending them on autonomous missions. Having similar functionality in Elite Dangerous would be F ing glorious!

If you have to punish players to retain them , then you are already doing something wrong. This charge seems like a big stick held over anyone who buys a carrier - play or else

Well I don't agree in that you aren't required to buy a Fleet Carrier, but a DO AGREE in that once you do buy one it's result should be a net positive versus a net burden on your Elite Dangerous business bottom line. When you buy one of these carriers, it should be like you bought Frontier, your now David Braben in space and you have a lot of competent NPCs to help you. You shouldn't have to micro manage the whole business. It fairly apparent that Braben doesn't micro manage his but it's still doing pretty well.

 

[Shaele]

What punishment are you talking about? So you know how upkeep works?

from the dev post in another thread, if upkeep isnt done then the carrier can be decommissioned and sold off - that seems quite a punishment to me.