BOYCOTT the Panther Clipper to avoid future "Updates"

[IstvaanDCIV]

Still trying to wrap my head around "its P2W". What do you win?

Do I get a "Game Over Congratulations for hitting 1 billion credits"?
Do I get a 1:1 replica Cobra Mk3 delivered to park on my lawn (if I had a lawn, might not fit on my 6th floor balcony)?
Does Jessica Nigri turn up cosplaying Aisling Duval to personally think me for "winning"?

If I do a CG with a PC2 and some other CMDR uses a type 9 what does it matter. Everyone that gets to a particular tier of contribution gets the same rewards so we are not in competition. If only 10 players could get the top tier rewards then those that claim P2W would have a valid claim. If the pre-engineered modules were only available to the top tiers then there would be a good argument for P2W because you could get to the top tiers faster but that isnt the case. You cannot "win" at Elite Dangerous because there is no end goal inside the game itself, goals are set by the players and the only person they are competing against is themselves.

The early access model of releasing new ships is "P2W" in the sense that one will have a slight advantage over other players in whatever activity the ship is optimised for. For example, the PC-Mk2's SCO capability and greater cargo capacity will give one an edge in hauling (as well as in BGS and Powerplay activities where hauling is a factor), over other players who for whatever reason cannot or will not spend the necessary Arx to get the new ship. You also get reduced rebuy costs due to both the Standard and Stellar versions offering a 0-cost hull that one can deploy from any station with a Shipyard, although this is balanced somewhat by the fact that one can only pull this trick with the "off-the-shelf" version of the ship, no user-added modules or engineering can be deployed as part of the ship in this manner.

It is a small advantage, as well as being temporary due to the ship eventually being released for sale in exchange for credits. The reduced rebuy costs don't count for much as an advantage for anyone who's been playing long enough, either because one will have built up enough credit reserves for rebuy costs to be immaterial, and/or because of participation in Powerplay which at the highest levels gives one significant reductions in rebuy costs in many circumstances.

I think it's best to think of "P2W" as being a spectrum of advantage rather than just being an absolute "I win" button which one can buy for cash. In my opinion the P2W advantages of the "early access for Arx" model are minimal and transient, but it is definitely a qualitative change in terms of what FDev have previously been offering players in exchange for Arx.

 

[robbyp]

All I can say on this whole thread is when can I give Frontier a little bit more money to make sure this wonderful game which has made me so happy continues.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

All I can say on this whole thread is when can I give Frontier a little bit more money to make sure this wonderful game which has made me so happy

when ever you want !

 

[Pville_Piper]

All I can say is that this boycott thing is rough... Mooning over new paints and ship kits... I can't wait until the PC releases so I can buy more stuffs.

 

[Born Free]

i like the game and will support the devs
the new ship will be a blast to tweak and test and transport stuff

 

[Doctor Dread]

Be a decent person, support the company which provides your daily entertainment.

FD is extremely fair in this respect - all the ARX early-access ships will be just a bit later freely available to all. (and that early access it quite cheap).
Yep they raised the price of paint jobs and trinkets, vanity items. So what? You don't actually need them. But for the real useful stuff, ships, they are fair.

Go FD go, thank you for all these years and keep this game alive

 

[Rat Catcher]

Be a decent person, support the company which provides your daily entertainment.

I have for all of the previous ships, often on 2 accounts. (so not exactly scrooge-like)
This time, I don't think I'll get value for my £, they won't miss my £20 or so,particularly as there are plenty of 'fresh' purchasers awaiting the PCII release.

 

[angusmadmac1]

Be a decent person, support the company which provides your daily entertainment.

FD is extremely fair in this respect - all the ARX early-access ships will be just a bit later freely available to all. (and that early access it quite cheap).
Yep they raised the price of paint jobs and trinkets, vanity items. So what? You don't actually need them. But for the real useful stuff, ships, they are fair.

Go FD go, thank you for all these years and keep this game alive

I would say that is entirely subjective .
I am more than happy to pay fdev when there is something I like at a price I think is fair.
Hence my reluctance to buy.
Nothing shouts out as worth it to me .
But I am also aware that it's only my opinion and I am only 1 person.
Fdev is a business and works on profits and so prioritises how to make money. If they can charge more for less they will until they don't make money.

 

[Plut0nia]

They haven't stated any reason that they're charging more for the Panther Clipper, Though they haven’t said this the implied justification for the increase is that it's a bigger ship so more expensive.

By that logic why aren't small ships 20% less expensive than medium ships?

To sound less like I'm defending FD due to sunk cost, full disclosure. I have never spent a single cent on any ARX. I have only used free ARX given by the game. So...

As someone who has tried his hand at creating an Elite Dangerous style spaceship 3D model, I fully understand why the Panther Clipper Mk2 costs more than a Type-8. It simply was more work to create. The surface area of the model is massive, and due to the player's ability to walk around it and see everything in close up maximum detail, creating that 3D model is a massive undertaking, which requires tons of planning and specific workflows, in order to end up with a high-quality game-engine optimized model that supports paint job and ship kit customization and modular attachments. It took me a week to model and week to texture this Krait Mk1, and that ship is only the size of a Sidewinder, without a modeled cockpit. Creating a ship is a large investment, and creating a larger ship is a much larger investment.


As for why small ships aren't cheaper than medium ones? Well, as I mentioned cockpits... Those are one of the hardest things to design, because you need to balance the visuals with the usability and you need VR compatibility, so detail needs to be extremely high. That is the reason the Python Mk2 has a Python Mk1 cockpit, why the Type-8 has a Type-7 cockpit, why the Mandalay has a Mamba cockpit with a floor window, and why the Corsair has a Courier cockpit. It was much easier to do that. The one small ship, the Cobra MkV is the only ship so far that has a completely new, original cockpit design that's not recycled from anything else. The ship may not be that huge, but for me it's obvious that the Type-8 was much easier to create than the Cobra V. Less man hours, therefore less wages invested. Same price.