I was thinking of investing $45 (I think that is 25 pounds) in ED, and wanted your thoughts.
Can you help me out with a few questions?
1. Is there any benefit in becoming an original backer, do you think?
2. Is the pricing of buying in going to increase?
3. What's your take on it compared to SC? (I'm very much interested in 1st Person Dogfighting and have good gear for it). (SC backers perspective would be wonderful!)
4. Do you think the organisation is sound? (The right people at the top / dev's?)
5. Will people still be buying in after the Dec 3 deadline? What will that look like?
6. What is customer service like?
7. Does it make sense to back SC and ED?
8. Any Video's or forum posts that should be my first stop?
9. What excites you guys the most about ED?
10. I loathed some things about STO. I hated the greedy, stinking, money grabbing systems in place to suck ever increasing money out of you. Specifically, Character restricted items, money capping unless you pay MORE, and DROP BOXES. I swear if I see a dropbox I'll have a fit. Is there any link to the dev's thinking on whether subscriptions will be stayed away from, their philosophy on looking after the fanbase and not to leech the game for all its worth after it is developed? Is there a sense of fairness and loyalty to the fanbase in what you have experienced so far?
11. How is PVP being implemented? Is there space for a mainly PVE player?
1. Yes
2. Unknown, but it would be fair to assume that you'll get less for your money even if the actual price doesn't rise.
3. I've no idea, I haven't followed or backed SC.
4. Emphatically yes, DB and Frontier have a proven history of making great products.
5. Unknown, except anecdotally. The tier KS format will become an online store - read into that what you will.
6. Hard to say, but if the amount of input rendered by the Developers during this year is anything to go by, CS isn't something I'd be worrying about.
7. KS backing isn't entirely about getting something for your money, I backed ED originally because DB wanted to make an Elite for the 21st Century and I wanted to see that done. From a gamer perspective, it depends how much time you have to play games, I wouldn't have enough time to justify playing both games, so I had to pick one.
8. The Design Decision Archive on the forums and all of the Developer submissions can be found on You Tube, they're all worth watching.
9. The scope of the game, it's an entire galaxy in a box! DB just invented the TARDIS

10. So far I've seen no aura of pay to win for ED, FD have mentioned being able to buy credits for cash, but the game is designed so that you will have to play it to progress, you can't just throw money at it.
11. The entire game is potentially PvP, there is no way to flag yourself PvE only nor does the format lend itself to having something akin to a PvE only server like WoW. There are options though to play only with your friends in a co-op or solo, whilst still having the benefits of an evolving galaxy derived from player interaction. You'd have to read the Design Decision Archives to gain a more comprehensive explanation.