An open letter to Frontier

[wet pigeon]

I've been playing Elite Dangerous since last February 2016 and just got Horizons last month. For the past year this has been THE GAME I have played. When I get off work I can go space truckin, or go explore the gorgeous galaxy you have recreated, or I can go dogfighting for hours in a HAZres or a combat zone. There's so much to do! Now that I have Horizons I have so much on my plate. When the next patch hits all of my friends are going to be winging up without having to split bounties and hopping in my conda to go race through canyons (SO HYPED).

I have played 610 hours so far and I've loved every minute of it. It can be an intense shooter, a gorgeous interactive screensaver or a laid back late night space freighter simulator with my pup sitting on my lap.

The reason it took me so long to get Horizons is that I don't have a ton of money to spend on games. After my dog's medical bills, car insurance/payments, rent utilities, etc. I have very little so I have to be very careful with what I buy. It's probably why I've been so happy with Elite Dangerous, I've gotten so much bang for my buck.

Last week I heard you were going to give us the option to name our ships and I am so excited to finally name my ship "The Atomic Dog" since I play lots of George Clinton with my dog on my lap when I'm space trucking. I'm not super excited that it won't be a free feature though. I'm OK with skins costing and cosmetics costing money, but please don't charge us money to name our ships. To me my ship already has a name, I just wanted to make it official that's all.

 

[Alec Turner]

For what it's worth, naming the ship is free, it's displaying the name on the outside of your ship that will cost money. Still a bit cheeky if you ask me (maybe pay for fancy name plates but I kinda feel that a basic bit of plain text on the outside of the ship, the ID code if not the full name, really ought to be free).

 

[Muzz UK]

Just email them directly or put in the suggestions threads or the other naming thread and stop with the OPEN LETTERS.

 

[ForeverN00b]

OP, you are going canyon racing in an Anaconda? [haha]

 

[Kaltern]

I would point out we have a pretty lengthy thread regarding this travesty of a decision, you should probably join that one

 

[iamadud]

For what it's worth, naming the ship is free, it's displaying the name on the outside of your ship that will cost money. Still a bit cheeky if you ask me (maybe pay for fancy name plates but I kinda feel that a basic bit of plain text on the outside of the ship, the ID code if not the full name, really ought to be free).

What is the point of naming the ship if you can't display it, "I think I should name this ship, oh wait!! there is no point naming this ship, nobody will ever see it.". If that is the case, I have Inara for that which has better options than what ed is offering, for FREE.

Edit: I was wrong, other Commanders can see the ship name, I guess they changed it after thinking how stupid their decision was.

When you have named your ship in-game, your ship name will appear in multicrew grouping and in your HUD. In addition to this, in beta 5, when other people scan you, or target you in space they will be able to see your ship name in their UI.

 

[wet pigeon]

Nah in the fighters, when multi crew hits we're gonna go ride Taipans through canyons

 

[Alec Turner]

What is the point of naming the ship if you can't display it, "I think I should name this ship, oh wait!! there is no point naming this ship, nobody will ever see it.". If that is the case, I have Inara for that which has better option options than what ed is offering for FREE.

At the very least I believe the ship name shows up in the shipyard and for ship transfers so, if you have more than one Cobra for example (one for racing and one for bounty hunting say) then you can easily tell which is which. I think the name also shows up for another commander if they scan you, not physically etched on the outside of the ship, but in their scan data.

- - - Updated - - -

P.S. go here ...

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ancial-argument-for-free-universal-ship-names

 

[Cadw]

I think the name also shows up for another commander if they scan you, not physically etched on the outside of the ship, but in their scan data.

Apparently, other commanders can't see your ship name (even when scanning), unless you have paid for a nameplate.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

Any word on whether one purchase covers all ships, or if we have to buy one for every ship?

 

[Bonzodog]

I think the name also shows up for another commander if they scan you, not physically etched on the outside of the ship, but in their scan data.

Nope, for another commander to see your ship name even in a scan, you will need a nameplate.

 

[Alec Turner]

Nope, for another commander to see your ship name even in a scan, you will need a nameplate.

Apparently, other commanders can't see your ship name (even when scanning), unless you have paid for a nameplate.

:O

Well that blows goats!

 

[GormDeGamle]

At the very least I believe the ship name shows up in the shipyard and for ship transfers so, if you have more than one Cobra for example (one for racing and one for bounty hunting say) then you can easily tell which is which. (...)

This is the most important part of this feature IMHO.
Though I certainly would join the choir saying a very basic nameplate should be free!

 

[mojonaut]

Frontier reaches a new scummy money grabbing low - shame on you!

 

[Ian Skippy]

:O

Well that blows goats!

Yup, we're gonna have this discussion for the coming weeks as more and more people realize what FD decided...

 

[Bortas]

What is the point of naming the ship if you can't display it, "I think I should name this ship, oh wait!! there is no point naming this ship, nobody will ever see it."

Following this reasoning why would any solo player ever buy a paint job or ship kit? Not that any noteworthy number of players would ever see let alone care about it even in open. Why do you care wether the odd player you encounter - who likely won't even scan you in the first place because he doesn't deem you as important as yourself - can see the name you have given your ship? Chances are you are the only person admiring the epitome of its creativity anyway.

 

[Rob At Work]

Hooray.. an open letter.

Sssshh... or they will get nerfed (like polls)

 

[Kaltern]

Following this reasoning why would any solo player ever buy a paint job or ship kit? Not that any noteworthy number of players would ever see let alone care about it even in open. Why do you care wether the odd player you encounter - who likely won't even scan you in the first place because he doesn't deem you as important as yourself - can see the name you have given your ship? Chances are you are the only person admiring the epitome of its creativity anyway.

Well, I don't know about other people, but I play in Mobius, and other player groups. Oddly enough, Open is not the ONLY place where there are people. And 'noteworthy' number of players - that's a very subjective term don't you think?

You obviously don't care about ship names and charging. So why are you even responding to these posts? I mean, are you, and the other few posters with your attitude, saying that IF Frontier decide to back down with the pay to name idea, you're going to complain, and start a new thread demanding we are MADE to pay for it, and that it's unfair that we get it for free? Or are you going to ignore everything you have posted, and name your ship anyway?

 

[Alec Turner]

STOP PRESS

Hi everyone,

There’s been a number of questions from Commanders regarding ship naming and how ship name plates will work so we wanted to give you a little more information about how these features will work when they’re released.

In-game ship naming

When you have named your ship in-game, your ship name will appear in multicrew grouping and in your HUD. In addition to this, in beta 5, when other people scan you, or target you in space they will be able to see your ship name in their UI. This feature will be available for all players of Elite Dangerous (both base game and Horizons players) including Xbox One, upcoming PS4 release and PC Commanders.

Cosmetic Ship Name Plates

The ship name plates will offer an added layer of cosmetic personalisation for Commanders wanting to wear their name with pride, much like paint jobs and other cosmetics currently available in the store.

Name plates will be made available in themed packs. These packs will contain three designs, each of which will be available in three colours: black, white, and grey. This makes a total of 9 nameplates per pack. After purchase, each pack will be available for use across all of your ships (Ship launched fighters and SRVs don’t have name plates) and each pack of 9 variant plates will be coming into store at just £2/€2.5/$3. This means that purchasing one pack of name plates will allow you to use that style across all of your current and future ships, at the same time and rename each individual ship as many times as you like. We believe this flexibility offers Commanders great value and is a great way to help support the continued development of Elite Dangerous.

Thanks!

 

[Shar]

Well i'm not too fussed about all this ship naming hoopalah, i do remember plenty of posts in the past begging fdev to give us ship names/labels to make it easier to organize your fleets some were even offering to pay for it but thats in the past i suppose. personally dont care if others see my ships id, probebly not even phisicaly visable in space anyway. i'm more curious to see how much they try to charge for the plates. the other thing to consider is if fdev did not charge to do the considerable extra work to put the names phically on the ship in game we might not be getting this option at all. its like any other feature in the game if you dont want it dont use it. I was more miffed that they charged to color a lazer beam than this.