£30 sex appeal, please

[Bromley86]

A quick look at the KS comments section gives me the impression that Star Citizen pledgers are having trouble justifying £30 for the game. So either some of the existing £20 need to be convinced to jonty, more £20 slots need to be created (but, even if allowed, what does that do to the current £30 pledges) or the £30 category needs to be improved.

I've supplied a way to (perhaps) achieve this. As a whole, it's a little controversial, but I don't think anyone would object to an Eagle Mk1 @ £20 and a Saker @ £30. Or some other non-ship way to sexy up the £30 category.

EDIT: Done!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous/posts/374118

 

[Zak Gordon]

Yeah it is a shame you can't add funding tiers once the KS is underway, a £25 option (etc) would be nice for those that find £30 a little too rich.

Well if they decide to do the extra starting stuff thing (either ships or extra starting equipment etc), this would be one way to encourage those folks that it really IS worth £30, it might shift a bunch of those current £20ers up a notch also?

 

[Kipper]

KS lets you add funding tiers during a campaign.

You can also edit or remove ones that have no backers in them.

You can change the number allowed in a limited pledge at any time (only to add more though I'm guessing).

More £20 would be counter productive at this time I think. I'm not sold on new starting ships but if theres a cosmetic model I'd offer up some custom decals or paint jobs (or credit to buying them in game) at £25 and £30.

 

[Bromley86]

More £20 would be counter productive at this time I think . . .if theres a cosmetic model I'd offer up some custom decals or paint jobs (or credit to buying them in game) at £25 and £30.

Sang froid is peachy, but I'd rather not risk this game not being made because last minute paint jobs and decals didn't have the hoped for effect. It's been a great couple of days in terms of new pledges (thanks Chris!), but the actual income totals are still iffy.

Will the SC push continue? Perhaps, but even then it's close. If they wait to see before doing something about £30 (which, as I said, doesn't have to be ships but it does have to be something that £20 tier or SC people might want), it'll be too late.

 

[NextGame]

A quick look at the KS comments section gives me the impression that Star Citizen pledgers are having trouble justifying £30 for the game. So either some of the existing £20 need to be convinced to jonty, more £20 slots need to be created (but, even if allowed, what does that do to the current £30 pledges) or the £30 category needs to be improved.

I've supplied a way to (perhaps) achieve this. As a whole, it's a little controversial, but I don't think anyone would object to an Eagle Mk1 @ £20 and a Saker @ £30. Or some other non-ship way to sexy up the £30 category.

good idea,

dont know how ships will work in the game, i.e. if we only ever own 1 at a time, or can build up a stable, but given that its multiplayer, an example is that you could have some construct called life insurance, and when you are killed, players on a certain kickstarter tier could have a choice of / better grade of new starter ship.

I think theres things that could be done, but in saying that, including with the example above, doing so might risk locking in game design decisions that might not be right for the game as development progresses.

 

[Bromley86]

Star Citizen forum feedback. Why rely on rumour (as I did in the OP) when you can see what SC fans are saying? I've concentrated on comments that indicate what might make people pledge or pledge more.

Elite: Dangerous discussion thread
http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/forum/showthread.php?13253-Elite-Dangerous-discussion-thread
#7. i would give them some cash but their pledge levels leave QUITE alot to be desired
#8. I've gone with a £30 pledge because of my nostalgia. But they've given me no reason to throw more money at them.
#9. I never played the original and for me there isn't enough to make me want to add my cash to the tally.
#10. I put all my cash into Star Citizen.
#12. 20 pounds, will not/cannot pledge more. Unfortunately.
#30. I pledged to get into the Alpha early on
#32. I decided to pledge for Elite. If Chris Roberts is willing to promote it, then it must be alright.
#34. I agree with Chris . . . Almost didn't . . . it sure seems like the pledge rewards are too weak.

Elite: Dangerous
http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/forum/showthread.php?12955-Elite-Dangerous
#3. I've pledged a little so far.
#4. i might wait til the last day...
#5. I'll pledge some for that game also, but right now I'm broke :/
#11. the boring pledge awards that will make this project fail.
#14. I'm keeping my 20pounds pledge but i'm ready to increase it up to 500 at the last hours.
#26. Pledged to this project as well . . . rewards for pledge levels are not very attractive
#28. strange/expensive tiering of pledges . . . [should try to] blow potential(and existing) pledgers away with great footage
#43. I wish I could afford to pledge a little but all my spare money went to supporting Star Citizen.
#45. 900-Pound ship models - what. Some more serious pledge rewards and I would throw my money into their face.
#49. I would pledge if I hadn't already broken my bank w/ a computer and pledging for [Star Citizen].
#52. i don't have so much avaible atm. I would have joined now on the 20 pound base, but this is completly sold out.
#54. Ok, somebody jumped up by the 20£ pledge. So i took one of them and i am in now aswell.
#64. I did sign up for a small peldge . . . have outright bad=too expensive pledge levels concerning forum and alpha/beta access.
#71. I did end up pledging, but agree that there aren't really many compelling reasons for pledging for the higher tiers, unlike with Star Citizen. I remember on the day the Constellation brochure came out, TONS of people upgraded their pledges. RSI continued to release content, stretch goals, and funding milestones (systems, ships, etc) that really made the whole crowdfunding campaign fun. They engaged with us and really gave us the ability to dream about the possibilities that Chris' universe will have. And I think for that reason is why my SC pledge is 30 times (yes THIRTY TIMES!) larger than my Elite pledge.

[Normally I trim these to a single line, but that last one covers everything. He likely ponied up $1,000.]

 

[The Space Pirate]

Had all sorts of images running through my head when I first saw the title.

I know - I be a dirty dog.

Edit: Interesting responses at those forums - Frontier, you should take a look.

 

[Bromley86]

What, something like:

Now includes: David Braben swimwear catalogue----------------->​

 

[Bromley86]

This should really go in a £50 thread, but that'd be a bit thread-spammy.

David Bond's comment on Update 17 was a good one, especially in light of planetary landings not being in the initial release. Not sure how much Frontier are going to charge for an expansion, but I can't really see them losing any money by going this route:

I know that money is tight for a lot of people, I wond if FD would be willing to make a small compromise and say add 1 free game expansion at £50 tier, 2 at £60 tier then the unlimited at £80?

In terms of a tight-arsed £20 pledger (i.e. me), neither of those would get me to move. But if there was something that enticed me to pay £30, a free expansion would get me to £50. Two free expansions for £60 would seem like a logical choice then and, once there, I'd likely stretch to £80. Would I do £90 for the physical stuff? Not sure, but I do like my books, so maybe.

Total increase - £80 (the vacated £20 slot would be snapped up).

 

[Spacegamer]

I tend to think adding another 5000 of the £20 pledges in the last week of the KS may be something for them to do.

You right about the £30 one, it needs some incentive for people move up from the lower ones.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

In terms of a tight-arsed £20 pledger (i.e. me), neither of those would get me to move.

You are not alone .. so what would get you to move your pledge ?

(I know of others who also pledged the minimum and despite claiming to be HC elite fans won't pledge more - that's their right of course so I am asking someone who's open about it)

 

[Bromley86]

It's one of those things I'm always tempted to dance around, as the downside to a free and frank exchange of views is that you'll usually end up criticising when you're not the one creating, facing deadlines, long work hours, etc.

That said, my position.

1. I'd like to see an Elite. Enjoyed the original, really liked the immersion of FFE (despite absolutely, unequivocally hating the combat).
2. I'm entirely understanding (unlike some) of Frontier's decision to use KS to test the water.
3. I don't view Frontier's stable of games as a positive. Frontier's management of the KS has horrified me (this is not an exaggeration). The two together don't fill me with confidence.
4. A consequence of that poor performance has been real die-hard fans bleeding themselves white. Fair enough, their choice, but a little distasteful that they felt (correctly!) that they have to.
5. To offset that perception of risk, I'd like to feel I'm getting a bargain now. For example, £20-£25 for a game that I'd otherwise be paying £30-£35 offsets that risk (for me). Quid pro quo.
6. To move me up a tier, I need to feel I'm getting something tangible. Not physical, mind. So something that I can either attach a real world-value to (i.e. free expansions) or something that I perceive will make my gameplay better (i.e. better starting ship).

At this stage, add-ons like coloured lasers, skins, personalised plates, ship names, decals, etc. aren't something I'd pay for. They are something I'd pay for after I've got into the game though. Interesting, if it had been made easier for me to visualise myself in the universe, I might have been willing to customise my in-game experience at this stage. However, that ship has sailed. This has been reflected in my posts, where I've been (perhaps unfairly) negative about vanity items at this stage.

Obviously this'll apply to some of the existing £20, but I've no idea how many. Not sure about the potential SC pledgers: they might be more inclined to remain at or near £20, but then as they've experienced a "fun" kickstarter, perhaps they'd be up for trading-up ships. What is certain is that they have little loyalty to the nostalgia (if they did, they'd already have pledged), a number of them are tapped out & only want to pledge £20 based on Chris' recommendation and they appear to view the current rewards as not good enough.

For example, that most recent comment I copied:

#71. I did end up pledging, but agree that there aren't really many compelling reasons for pledging for the higher tiers, unlike with Star Citizen. I remember on the day the Constellation brochure came out, TONS of people upgraded their pledges. RSI continued to release content, stretch goals, and funding milestones (systems, ships, etc) that really made the whole crowdfunding campaign fun. They engaged with us and really gave us the ability to dream about the possibilities that Chris' universe will have. And I think for that reason is why my SC pledge is 30 times (yes THIRTY TIMES!) larger than my Elite pledge.

Anyway, that's me. A curious contradiction of a willingness to invest time for free but not to feel that I might get shafted for a relatively small amount of money.

EDIT: I should say that I don't view the inclusion of more £20 slots as the solution. Another 5,000 (assuming they could be filled) @ £20 is only £100k. Far better to encourage current and potential £20 to pledge £25, £30, £50, etc.

 

[Susimetsa]

Truthfully, I never saw any reason to upgrade my pledge for Star Citizen. They mainly offered ships that they said I could buy with game currency as well, so they were rather pointless in that regard. More like Facebook and its games where you use real money to get in-game perks...

 

[Bromley86]

That might make you smarter than the average bear. Luckily for Chris, not everyone's a Yogi .

BTW, is there any way to read the quote I linked to in the ships thread other than you can use real cash to buy in-game credit?
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showpost.php?p=31089&postcount=40

 

[Susimetsa]

No, both games aim to allow microtransactions. Luckily, both seem to also promise that they will not be necessary to "complete" the game (unlike their Facebook brethren).

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Frontier's management of the KS has horrified me (this is not an exaggeration)

I completely understand and this of everything you wrote hit home the most.

David & Team are great visionaries but terrible sales people.

That's a shame too ... we could easily be on £2mill by now but sadly we're not ... that is down to the **** poor way in which KS has been handled. We're limping through, should make it ... time will tell.

 

[Harbinger]

I think the £30 tier definitely needs a little something extra to encourage those inhabiting the £20 tier to upgrade.

As the £30 tier essentially get the exact same thing as those who pledge £20 you're creating a situation whereby if someone does decide to vacate a £20 slot then there's nothing stopping someone who has pledged £30 from downgrading to take their old slot. They have absolutely nothing to lose by doing so.

Surely you can offer something (I'm sure something purely cosmetic would be enough) for the £30 tier to encourage people to upgrade? If just 10% upgrade that's an extra £10,000 plus the 1,000 extra slots at £20 would no doubt fill up adding an £20,000. That's potentially an extra £30,000 just for encouraging an (in my opinion) achievable percentage of backers to upgrade.

I'm not asking for myself as I'm already in at the founder level, it just makes perfect sense to try and get people to upgrade which would in turn open up more slots at the £20 level bringing in more backers.

Come on Frontier, give the £30 tier level a custom paint job or something. Anything would be better than the current offering.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

I think the £30 tier definitely needs a little something extra to encourage those inhabiting the £20 tier to upgrade.

Whilst I agree with you to some extent, the original premise was that the game was being offered at the £30 pledge level, and for the early-birds they got it for £20. There is no reason to offer anything further at this pledge level.

Having said that though, a little something (extra 100 credits to start with perhaps) to help people think upping by £10 is worth it to them ... in US$ our low pledge levels are quite expensive.

 

[Harbinger]

the original premise was that the game was being offered at the £30 pledge level, and for the early-birds they got it for £20.

I realise that but you just need to look at the numbers to see that people obviously don't find the £30 tier appealing. At the time I write this there are 10,000 backers on the £20 tier and only 692 on the £30 tier. That's 93% less users in the £30 tier.

People are obviously waiting in the wings to take up the £20 slots because they fill up in no time when they become available. I'm sure all it would take is a tiny extra incentive for some of the £20 pledgers to upgrade.

 

[1stBiker]

I visited SC yesterday and I didn't believe my eyes THERE IS ONE MILION MORE in the pot !!

..while there's not a big change in ED regarding the money they have to go ahead...

its all about digital content that brought the money
that would blow up the ED-balloon too - no question

<<<1stBiker