Ok, lets clear up some things.
1: for Frontier to continue to developing the game, paying the people that work there, they need to turn a profit, this is an undeniable fact, its a work, even if it is something they are passionate about and enjoy, it still needs to make money so people can pay their bills, you cannot expect them to work without pay.
2: Cosmetics have always been an interesting subject,
-some do not care one bit and will never buy any, end of story.
-some want some here and there and will buy now and again.
-some will buy a lot.
Now while I agree that some kinds of things could be available, at the same time, I understand why they are not, because of the middle ground people, you get people purchasing less.
So giving things out for free is a loss of potential earnings.
That said personally I've used significantly less on cosmetics that I would have used if it had been a subscription. Assuming a rather low 10€ monthly fee.
So from my perspective I am entirely and totally fine with the payment model frontier is using.
Frontier has been open and honest, and while your point to pool is interesting, they've released power play decals, and who isn't to say more is to come? why not allow them to make that call as the situations arrive? and if they go "Hey lets give this thing freely in store" they will do so?
As for your comparison with F2P games, I don't think it is saying much, we have access to the full game, only cosmetics is where additional costs may occur?
So basically like warframe's buy access to everything + cosmetics? except last I checked in warframe it isn't a one time fee? so yeah? its even better then that?
As for 'block skins being easy to create' I've seen the personal modded skins that some people have managed to make, and there is clearly something lacking in terms of looks compared to Frontiers own skins, so while sure it can seem simple, I don't quite think it is as simple, and remember, creating 'any' skin for people who are hired to do that, is 'simple' so complexity of skin rarely is a factor, because lets face it, even the most complex skins, once you have the design down, its there, no matter what f2p game or such, a good art creator will create it quite fast. Making it look 'right' regardless of skin, yes, can take time, but again, its a person hired to do that task.
As for your claim it affects game play, I do not agree, video creation or such other things? maybe, but in terms of game play, only difference between someone with a 'spike' mod and those not is how cool it looks, and frankly if we were to look at game play if someone flies around with a pirate paint job and spikes and whatnot, a lot of systems might suddenly become very wary of allowing them to dock. So keep that in mind, when you say it affects game play.
And I believe i've answered that yes, it would affect their profit, if or if not it would urge some on the lower tier to buy, I obviously can't say. Seems very individual.
Restaurant comparison, you paid for getting inside, (the purchase fee) you were seated at a table, but you feel like the table cloth is a bad colour so you ask them to change it and they charge you for that.....
commander creator, I really, really doubt it will be that big of a problem, and guess what last I checked you actually do get some basic colours, so.....yeah? likely because there will be more options, because they know people love such cosmetics even more? so they are doing actually what you suggest when it comes to commanders?
So yeah, I'm confused about what point you are trying to make?
