any news on stuff like atmospheric landings, you know the promised stuff we really wana hear about!
instead of stuff to line FD pockets...……….
instead of stuff to line FD pockets...……….
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Notice ARX and Frontier Points Conversion
- Thread starter Paige Harvey
- Start date
You don't have enough ARX for that information.
No, strore bought ARX don't count!
We understand that Frontier are not implementing this updates just to give us free stuff for playing in the game.
Personally, I suspect Frontier will get little to no money from me in the future. Like many a mobile game, I'l keep wallying around until I get enough currency to exchange for something I want. But, to be blunt, this isn't aimed at me or my generation.
Would a paid expansion like atmospheric landings also qualify as "stuff to line FD pockets" for you ?.
We'll have to just make stuff up, best to start with stuff that hasn't even been mentioned, preferably with nothing to do with the subject, then somehow turn it back around to ARX at the last minute.
as I have already paid for all future expansions yes it would
The concept of a unique cosmetic store currency is not new nor unique to the consoles nor is it unique wrt MMOs on the PC in general: Gems in GW2, Crowns in ESO.
What FD have done by unifying the method of acquiring the cosmetics across all platforms is not unreasonable and adding the ability to earn cosmetic store credits by simply playing the game should make cosmetics more accessible overall. It should allow the younger and less affluent audiences who were previously unable to purchase cosmetic store items at all (for one reason or another) to actually gain access to at least some of them since effectively the need to use real world currency for cosmetics has been deferred.
Those complaining about the bundle pricing nature of the ARX packs seem to be ignoring the overriding point that cosmetics are a non-essential element and if you truly object to spending real world money on ARX then you don't have to - you can earn upto 400 ARX a week (up to about 20k ARX a year) simply by playing ED. The pricing for ARX bundles does slightly favour those that spend more on ARX bundles but only the lowest tier of ARX credits (5k ARX for 3 GBP) is even close to being a lower VFM price point when compared with buying cosmetics directly.
As has been pointed out, with the introduction of ARX FD have also tuned prices for the cosmetics and broken down some of the cosmetic bundles so that in the main most people will probably be better off overall. The only people that may be a bit worse off are those that have already bought most of the cosmetics currently available since they may have bought bundles of paint jobs when really they only wanted one of them or may effectively have paid more real world cash for cosmetics than they would have done under the pending ARX system.
The stuff that lines FDev pockets will help develop stuff like atmospheric planets and space legs, that stuff that FDev want to do, but never promised.
Meh.
The main issue for me will always be the real-world price of a ship kit or a paint job once Ive done the conversion, the same way I treat Frontier Points at the moment. I can't do that conversion until I know the ARX cost of the various items and I suspect we won't get that information until the update goes live.
What will upset me (and presumably everyone else) is if there's a significant difference in the real-world cost of any particular item after the conversion to ARX and/or if my existing Frontier Points lose value in terms of spending power when they automatically get converted to ARX at the time of the switch-over. FD have to be very careful about that.
I often bought the 1000 point bundle on PS4 (which was the best value of the various packs at £9.79 UK) each time I bought a new ship in-game. That would be enough usually for a ship-kit and a paint job, sometimes with a little left over. I was okay with that, £10 to customise a new ship seemed reasonable, I don't often buy ships so it was always a bit of an 'occasion'.
If the new system somehow results in a ship kit & paint job costing significantly more than £10 real-world currency (17,700 ARX going by the info in the OP) I might just give the kits a miss in future and save up the free points to get a paint job.
Of course the other problem for FD in my case is I've now got all the ships I really want - so they better come up with some new ships sometime soon!
The main issue for me will always be the real-world price of a ship kit or a paint job once Ive done the conversion, the same way I treat Frontier Points at the moment. I can't do that conversion until I know the ARX cost of the various items and I suspect we won't get that information until the update goes live.
What will upset me (and presumably everyone else) is if there's a significant difference in the real-world cost of any particular item after the conversion to ARX and/or if my existing Frontier Points lose value in terms of spending power when they automatically get converted to ARX at the time of the switch-over. FD have to be very careful about that.
I often bought the 1000 point bundle on PS4 (which was the best value of the various packs at £9.79 UK) each time I bought a new ship in-game. That would be enough usually for a ship-kit and a paint job, sometimes with a little left over. I was okay with that, £10 to customise a new ship seemed reasonable, I don't often buy ships so it was always a bit of an 'occasion'.
If the new system somehow results in a ship kit & paint job costing significantly more than £10 real-world currency (17,700 ARX going by the info in the OP) I might just give the kits a miss in future and save up the free points to get a paint job.
Of course the other problem for FD in my case is I've now got all the ships I really want - so they better come up with some new ships sometime soon!
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![[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/234/234580.jpg?1612617334){kind=avatar}
So you’re saying that you have proof that we will have to provide receipts to show that that we have purchased the top rank ARX package before we can be allowed to buy a FLEET CARRIER?
I totally agree with that stance. Well done FDev.
FD have declared their pricing strategy in part and @Soron Silin has done an analysis of this already...
[EDIT]For reference purposes, the pricing strategy declared by FD:
[/EDIT]
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...and that was my first thought. Are people going to jump in the game and just go AFK and max out?!
Nope - you don't earn ARX by simply being in the game. FD have not made it clear how much ARX would be earned for each activity but actual interaction with the environment is allegedly required thus AFKing will not earn ARX in itself. See @Will Flanagan's post I quoted above.
Thanks for that. I must have missed that info. It looks like my usual kit & paint job purchases could actually end up being a bit cheaper, which is nice. The converting ARX packs to real money process is complicated by all those added bonuses (although I'm not going to complain about a bonus!).
Now ... about those new ships FD?
maybe it was not promised but the last video dev diary featuring the CEO David braben was released 5 years ago
now I do know Rome wasn't built in a day and the money they got from elite probably went to on too developing a dinosaur park but still
I just cant see it happening ever, if it was going to ever happen we would have had some news on it over the last 5 years but nada
question when is the next major expansion like horizons due out a rough time frame next 5 years or ten? some kind of answer is all many want
my guesstimation is it wont hence no mention of it ,any real development of this game ended when horizons was released I think, all we have had is tweaks and minor additions in reality and that's all well ever get it seems
now I do know Rome wasn't built in a day and the money they got from elite probably went to on too developing a dinosaur park but still
I just cant see it happening ever, if it was going to ever happen we would have had some news on it over the last 5 years but nada
question when is the next major expansion like horizons due out a rough time frame next 5 years or ten? some kind of answer is all many want
my guesstimation is it wont hence no mention of it ,any real development of this game ended when horizons was released I think, all we have had is tweaks and minor additions in reality and that's all well ever get it seems
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I watch Jim Sterling and I agree with him 100%. You should too. Microtransactions in AAA games are mis-used and cynically targeted at gamblers and young people who are subjected to peer pressure to buy the latest cosmetics. They include game-features that either make the player more powerful or avoid unnecessary and painful grind. There's a quest in Horizon:Zero Dawn where you can either search the entire map for multiple unmarked cans of paint, or you can buy them with a small microtransaction. That is predatory and insulting. When a company is forced to remove such microtransactions from their game, they also need to re-balance the game. Recently companies have taken to inserting microtransactions into games after launch so that the initial reviews go out without mentioning them.
It is absolutely right that when a company introduces microtransactions, we should view them with every suspicion. However...
Microtransactions are necessary for a company to sell cheap stuff and not be bankrupted by bank fees. There is absolutely no way that we could buy a decal for £0.03 with a credit card that charges the seller a £0.20 fee, often a currency conversion fee and where a significant number of these purchases will be subject to a charge-back fee. Microtransactions where we pay in bulk for multiple purchases are the only way that we can get the stuff that we want to buy. We do it now with paint and decal packs and we eill do it in the future with Arx.
So while we should treat microtransactions being introduced into a game with deep mistrust, not every microtransaction scheme is evil. Some are a positive addition to the game. Withe Arx we can choose which paint jobs we want to buy instead of being force to buy one of a small number of fixed packs.
The higher the amount we pay for that bulk purchase, the lower the bank fee that FDev pays. It is a business decision where that line is drawn but you will often find high-street shops that refuse card payment for sales under £5, because they lose so much on smaller payments that it is not worth their while to take them, even if that results in lost sales. Drawing that line at £2.99 is not unreasonable. With the bank transaction charge being (around) £0.20+3%, even a £2.99 transaction loses 10% in direct transaction fees.
Most of the gear that we can buy now in the store is priced at between £1 and £3, with almost all of it at the £3 point. By unbundling the paint and decal packs, a huge majority of content is priced under £2.99 and often well under £1. A basic paint job will cost £0.37 and a decal only £0.03. It would be impossible for FDev to allow us to buy them individually with a card transaction. They would literally lose money every time we did it.
That leaves SRV pulse paint and bobbleheads which will cost over £0.50 but under £2.99 Those are the only things that we might complain about due to FDev not letting us buy less than 5000 Arx. We lose a massive £1.03 on one and £1.52 on the other, and we don't lose it; it will wait around forever, slowly increasing until we find something else to buy. How much beer can we buy with £1.52? That's not even a packet of chips (french fries) these days.
Which only leaves bobblehead packs (eg alphabet), COVAS and the ship kits that cost more than £2.99. Let's assume that you only buy enough Arx to buy them even if it means using the £2.99 bundles, which are 10% less cost-effective, whenever possible.
None of that makes me want to scream. I can stand to put aside £2 on the possibility that I might want to spend it later. It's not going to break the bank. In fact I will probably put down £4.99 on Wednesday just to avoid the 10% extra when I want to buy something. I can afford to pay that much in advance, it helps Frontier and it will probably never run out.
I was never tempted by a decal pack; they are too expensive for the very limited cosmetic bonus. After Wednesday they will be what everyone buys with their accrued and left-over Arx. Everyone will have them. You can grind for 26 hours for SRV paint or 35 for ship paint, but you can get a decal for only 3 hours of game-play. That's probably once per session.
Meanwhile Frontier profits from a more streamlined cash-flow with fewer bank fees.
Microtransactions deserve a good, hard and pitieously harsh critique. I've done that and Arx pass the test. They are good for us and good for Frontier.
It is absolutely right that when a company introduces microtransactions, we should view them with every suspicion. However...
Microtransactions are necessary for a company to sell cheap stuff and not be bankrupted by bank fees. There is absolutely no way that we could buy a decal for £0.03 with a credit card that charges the seller a £0.20 fee, often a currency conversion fee and where a significant number of these purchases will be subject to a charge-back fee. Microtransactions where we pay in bulk for multiple purchases are the only way that we can get the stuff that we want to buy. We do it now with paint and decal packs and we eill do it in the future with Arx.
So while we should treat microtransactions being introduced into a game with deep mistrust, not every microtransaction scheme is evil. Some are a positive addition to the game. Withe Arx we can choose which paint jobs we want to buy instead of being force to buy one of a small number of fixed packs.
The higher the amount we pay for that bulk purchase, the lower the bank fee that FDev pays. It is a business decision where that line is drawn but you will often find high-street shops that refuse card payment for sales under £5, because they lose so much on smaller payments that it is not worth their while to take them, even if that results in lost sales. Drawing that line at £2.99 is not unreasonable. With the bank transaction charge being (around) £0.20+3%, even a £2.99 transaction loses 10% in direct transaction fees.
Most of the gear that we can buy now in the store is priced at between £1 and £3, with almost all of it at the £3 point. By unbundling the paint and decal packs, a huge majority of content is priced under £2.99 and often well under £1. A basic paint job will cost £0.37 and a decal only £0.03. It would be impossible for FDev to allow us to buy them individually with a card transaction. They would literally lose money every time we did it.
That leaves SRV pulse paint and bobbleheads which will cost over £0.50 but under £2.99 Those are the only things that we might complain about due to FDev not letting us buy less than 5000 Arx. We lose a massive £1.03 on one and £1.52 on the other, and we don't lose it; it will wait around forever, slowly increasing until we find something else to buy. How much beer can we buy with £1.52? That's not even a packet of chips (french fries) these days.
Which only leaves bobblehead packs (eg alphabet), COVAS and the ship kits that cost more than £2.99. Let's assume that you only buy enough Arx to buy them even if it means using the £2.99 bundles, which are 10% less cost-effective, whenever possible.
- You "lose" £1.34 on a bobblehead pack.
- If you've spent two hours playing the game, you get COVAS for £4.99 -- cheaper than you can buy it now.
- The big ship kits are priced £0.19 cheaper than they are currently and you pay £0.17 more for the Arx to buy them. Even if you only buy enough Arx to get them and ignore the left-over Arx, you make a profit. If you buy more than enough Arx they become £0.37 cheaper than current prices.
- Small ship kits "lose" you £1.17. If you ignore the leftover Arx then all ship kits are the expensive price.
None of that makes me want to scream. I can stand to put aside £2 on the possibility that I might want to spend it later. It's not going to break the bank. In fact I will probably put down £4.99 on Wednesday just to avoid the 10% extra when I want to buy something. I can afford to pay that much in advance, it helps Frontier and it will probably never run out.
I was never tempted by a decal pack; they are too expensive for the very limited cosmetic bonus. After Wednesday they will be what everyone buys with their accrued and left-over Arx. Everyone will have them. You can grind for 26 hours for SRV paint or 35 for ship paint, but you can get a decal for only 3 hours of game-play. That's probably once per session.
Meanwhile Frontier profits from a more streamlined cash-flow with fewer bank fees.
Microtransactions deserve a good, hard and pitieously harsh critique. I've done that and Arx pass the test. They are good for us and good for Frontier.
I agree that Microtransactions on the whole need to be examined with caution BUT disagree with the habitual knee jerk critique that often crop up in related discussions and more often than not fail to fairly and dispassionately assess individual cases.
FD have clearly done their homework and come up with a win-win approach to unifying/revising their in-game-cosmetics store strategy.
which only works out if it's your parents who pay for the power bill ... they could be buying the most expensive worthless 'free' cosmetic junk ever ... from the electric company! as a plus, your contribution to global warming would be orders of magnitude that of the average gamer. way to go ...