We can have both.
And strictly speaking, we have both. My Chrome Eagle is proof of that. Those Distant Worlds decals I see on ships is proof of that.
Cosmetics: Why they need a change
- Thread starter SaliVader
- Start date
We can have both.
And strictly speaking, we have both. My Chrome Eagle is proof of that. Those Distant Worlds decals I see on ships is proof of that.
Holy hell this thread is a pathetic display of poor consumer behavior. Instead of looking to get a better deal from Frontier you're actively leaping to their defense. You realize you can like ED and like Frontier and still agree with the OP and demand a better deal from Frontier, right? And if everyone does that and steadfastly refuses to go for the nickle-and-dime shop then they can be compelled into better practices.
How dare they have different opinion
Or maybe, just maybe opinion expressed by OP is not THAT popular.
You realize people are free to disagree with the OP and actually like Frontier's current pricing model, right?
Better prices - yep, I'd be OK with that. But not if it impacts the game's development budget. But I think the current prices are OK.
The people here either don't care, support FDev, or don't like it. And if you did a scientific poll you'd likely see a three way split. Doesn't matter what you throw at people, it's very hard to change someone's mind. You're better off aiming arguments of merit at FDev and ignoring community reaction. You'd get a lot further.
It really won't. Steam sales have proven for almost 10 years that lower prices = more volume sold = more profit for a digital item with no per-unit overhead (once initial costs are recouped, 100% of sales are pure profit). There wouldn't be a Season 3 in progress if Frontier still needed us to buy $10 skins "to fund the game's development".
As an owner of many skins, a Kickstarter backer and an LEP holder: I don't think the current prices are OK. Once Horizons dropped (and hopefully it will happen before 3.0) I think all basic colours should have become either free or very cheap, with more complex designs being tiered, and kept the top-end (e.g. Metallic) skins at the upper end (but still capped around $5-$10). Removing those from permanent sale was also a mistake, who wouldn't pay $10 to fly a Gold Anaconda? But since I didn't own an Anaconda for the time the skin was on sale, I never bought it, and now it appears that I never can; that's $10 that Frontier will never get out of me (unless it goes back on sale).
tl;dr cheaper = more sales, removing digital items from sale is dumb, price tiers are good.
Last edited:
Some of the replies in this thread are surreal. I can't believe people are okay with FDev charging people for PLAIN COLOR paint jobs. They require NO EFFORT and should be free, hell, give us an option to use a custom color. It should be the bare minimum of ship customization. Instead people on here are so far up FDev's that they would probably buy a plain white paintjob for $20 because "FDev needs the money."
FDev charging $10 for some paintjobs is more than ridiculous. I already paid $100+ for the game and the Horizons expansion and the only kind of ship customization the game gives you for free are decals no one will notice unless they look really close or you show them a picture of. But that isn't so terrible, the truly terrible thing about the whole deal is the people defending this as acceptable. FDev is not a small indie studio that needs every dollar it can get, no, FDev has been around for two decades and Elite is not their only game earning money. Planet Coaster is one of the best selling games on Steam, and there is free content for said game everywhere on the Steam workshop. Meanwhile Elite is milked like a cash cow because it's a niche game and most of the people who play it are ready to buy everything FDev throws at them.
The fact that his business practice works has already been proven multiple times in the past, take for example Crusader Kings IV, MS Flight Simulator and RailWorks/Train Simulator 20XX, etc. which have more than $1000 in DLC with each one being at least $20. At least the latter involves licensing fees which kind of justify the price and also involve a lot more work, but not in FDevs case where they goof around in Photoshop for 30 minutes and then throw it at the store front.
Hell even Star Citizen shows that people will pay $10'000 and more for a 3D model of a ship.
FDev charging $10 for some paintjobs is more than ridiculous. I already paid $100+ for the game and the Horizons expansion and the only kind of ship customization the game gives you for free are decals no one will notice unless they look really close or you show them a picture of. But that isn't so terrible, the truly terrible thing about the whole deal is the people defending this as acceptable. FDev is not a small indie studio that needs every dollar it can get, no, FDev has been around for two decades and Elite is not their only game earning money. Planet Coaster is one of the best selling games on Steam, and there is free content for said game everywhere on the Steam workshop. Meanwhile Elite is milked like a cash cow because it's a niche game and most of the people who play it are ready to buy everything FDev throws at them.
The fact that his business practice works has already been proven multiple times in the past, take for example Crusader Kings IV, MS Flight Simulator and RailWorks/Train Simulator 20XX, etc. which have more than $1000 in DLC with each one being at least $20. At least the latter involves licensing fees which kind of justify the price and also involve a lot more work, but not in FDevs case where they goof around in Photoshop for 30 minutes and then throw it at the store front.
Hell even Star Citizen shows that people will pay $10'000 and more for a 3D model of a ship.
Majority? I'm sorry, where's the majority? Off the top of my head, only WoW and FF XIV require a sub. On the B2P/F2P side, there's Destiny, The Division, Warframe, War Thunder, World of Tanks, Star Trek Online, The Old Republic, Elder Scrolls Online, Neverwinter, the upcoming Sea of Thieves, probably a few others i'm missing. This isn't including more traditional multiplayer games that also require servers, and dedicated ones at that. Not to mention that Elite's about as MMO as Dark Souls is. It's funny how often people call ED an MMO.
Majority you say?
- - - Updated - - -
I had the same thought with the Chrome Corvette skin. Wanted it, and would have bought it, but wouldn't have been able to use it without a godawful grind.
Was beating it since the very first skins hit the store and will do forever. The current situation of AAA pricing model bundled up with f2p micro-transactions is a complete scam. That's partly the reason why the game lacks money-sinks, since all the sink opportunities were thrown into the store and got a price tag slapped onto them.
Why is it so hard to move the hopelessly simple skins and kits into the game, give people something to spend money on, and create special (better) ones for the store? I don't know, of the not-embarassing-to-take-money-for sort maybe?
Titanfall 2 got it spot-on in my opinion - paid prime titan models and paint packages do exist but nobody is loosing their minds over it cause the in-game paint jobs are enough to have people occupied for hundreds of hours.
If the cosmetic content would have been reasonably divided between in-game and the store (and I don't mean it as 'all people are equal so the paid ones should be as rubbish'), I would not say a single word. But as long as it stays as it is today, I will be coming back and moan over it whenever it comes back in a new thread.
Why is it so hard to move the hopelessly simple skins and kits into the game, give people something to spend money on, and create special (better) ones for the store? I don't know, of the not-embarassing-to-take-money-for sort maybe?
Titanfall 2 got it spot-on in my opinion - paid prime titan models and paint packages do exist but nobody is loosing their minds over it cause the in-game paint jobs are enough to have people occupied for hundreds of hours.
If the cosmetic content would have been reasonably divided between in-game and the store (and I don't mean it as 'all people are equal so the paid ones should be as rubbish'), I would not say a single word. But as long as it stays as it is today, I will be coming back and moan over it whenever it comes back in a new thread.
Last edited:
Pardon me ?
Which "majority of online games is charging us every month for premium accounts" ?
Very few games still have mandatory subscription models at all.
Most subscription options are voluntary nowadays, and many of the games offering them are free to begin with.
As for understaffed, which i have no hard evidence on that they are, there is such a thing as hiring.
Btw, i have no problem with cosmetic items being sold, quite the contrary. I have just seen it done better and more customer friendly elsewhere.
Last edited:
Their initial plan was , making in game earning ways to gather cosmetics and selling them at store if you want them asap.Then they went full monetization
https://i.redd.it/rdi8diisftky.png
I'm particularly loving that in your post describing how they went 'full monetisation' you opted not to highlight the line right after the one you did highlight. You know, the one where they said they'd originally intended to have a cash shop for credits, which is pretty much the defining example of games going 'full monetisation' and indeed pay-to-win, but of course eventually decided not to do that.
I've said this before on here - some of you could do with having a look at games that really are designed to milk money from their players. You'd soon see the very significant differences between them and this game.
I agree with OP, however there seems there is a lot of misdirected critique and arguments being made in this thread according to if cosmetics should be payed only or not.
First of all the argument of "Frontier needs to have payed only cosmetics to cover their costs" vs "Having some cosmetics that are free would incentivize more purchases as they serve as samples." are both with their merits but are both just speculation based of fear and belief as we do not know how big of a part cosmetics serve for Frontier's income. Frontier would have to disclose this information for this discussion to go anywhere (other than the "This company is doing well" as it does not tell us why).
I believe the only thing to discuss here at all is if previously sold skins such as basic colors should be obtainable in-game and if so what is the solution for those who have already purchased skins? I don't think there is a clear answer to this as there is no doubt some customers will be dissatisfied with whatever solution is put into effect.
I just think it is a mess that Frontier from the first place started charging for basic ship colors and even going as far as having colors for individual ships. Having cosmetics as in-game rewards is a natural evolution of any game, and a good evolution at that. To be completely frank the Hutton mug taking up 1 cargo space and not sitting on the dashboard is just dumb and so is the complete inability for anyone in this universe to pick up a spray-can without divine euro intervention. Seeing an entire section devoted for cosmetics in outfitting where I can do nothing except placing my emblems on my ship (Which I do concede is a nice thing to do) is just insulting as it reminds me that the game expects me to put in even more money on top of my 78 euros for the base game + Horizons. Seeing more cosmetics that are paid-only feels like a slap in the face of me as a customer in the same way as day 1 DLC does.
Until we have some disclosure from Frontier there is no reason for this aggressive paid-only cosmetics narrative and should frankly be shot down hard as I want to tell my friends the story of how I got my special space suit. [big grin]
First of all the argument of "Frontier needs to have payed only cosmetics to cover their costs" vs "Having some cosmetics that are free would incentivize more purchases as they serve as samples." are both with their merits but are both just speculation based of fear and belief as we do not know how big of a part cosmetics serve for Frontier's income. Frontier would have to disclose this information for this discussion to go anywhere (other than the "This company is doing well" as it does not tell us why).
I believe the only thing to discuss here at all is if previously sold skins such as basic colors should be obtainable in-game and if so what is the solution for those who have already purchased skins? I don't think there is a clear answer to this as there is no doubt some customers will be dissatisfied with whatever solution is put into effect.
I just think it is a mess that Frontier from the first place started charging for basic ship colors and even going as far as having colors for individual ships. Having cosmetics as in-game rewards is a natural evolution of any game, and a good evolution at that. To be completely frank the Hutton mug taking up 1 cargo space and not sitting on the dashboard is just dumb and so is the complete inability for anyone in this universe to pick up a spray-can without divine euro intervention. Seeing an entire section devoted for cosmetics in outfitting where I can do nothing except placing my emblems on my ship (Which I do concede is a nice thing to do) is just insulting as it reminds me that the game expects me to put in even more money on top of my 78 euros for the base game + Horizons. Seeing more cosmetics that are paid-only feels like a slap in the face of me as a customer in the same way as day 1 DLC does.
Until we have some disclosure from Frontier there is no reason for this aggressive paid-only cosmetics narrative and should frankly be shot down hard as I want to tell my friends the story of how I got my special space suit. [big grin]
Mr. Vader, I 100% agree with you.
I have made 2 posts on the sub in the past about ship paint jobs, and brought the topic up with my fellow Legionnaires several times. It just kills me that something so simple is so unobtainable without spending IRL money. I have played a few of the mentioned F2P games, and in the case of League of Legends I have spent an absolutely embarrassing amount of money on cosmetics. However, I spent that money before they introduced the new "chest" system, and when it was one of the only games I played That game is free, though, and Elite: Dangerous is not. I have spent $60 on the game and the DLC, and I have spent an additional ~$30-$40 on in-game cosmetics. Some of them are pretty cool, like the Wireframe paint on my Anaconda, but some of them are just absolutely basic.
To me, the system feels oh so wrong. I like how you mentioned the slider bar, as it reminds me of a point I have made in the past. I would not be opposed to them selling "pallets" of paint colors, and various "tiers" of customization on your ship. Example (shameless copy/paste of a 6 month old post of mine from the sub):
Level 1: Unlocks some base colors and between 1-3 patterns that allows you to distribute those colors along them.
Level 2: Unlocks more colors and another few (more complex) patterns that allows for more unique designs.
Level 3: Unlocks more colors and patterns still, and maybe some decals or shapes.
That was an idea I had 6 months ago, when I had just started playing. As a new player, the lack of in-game customization options was upsetting. You mean to tell me that I can enhance the drives on my ship to run hotter and dirtier, in order to make me fly faster? You mean to tell me that I can enhance my power distributor to recharge any/all of the different capacitors more quickly, or to hold more charge? You mean to tell me that I can enhance my FSD to make me jump an additional 5-20 ly (depending on ship and build)? You mean to tell me that I can enhance my beam lasers to transfer the heat my ship generates into my target? You mean to tell me I can enhance my multi cannons to tag enemy ships that are running silent with heat rounds, that make it harder for them to hide from my scanner?
You mean to tell me I can't paint my ship blue? What the %^$&
P.S. Your BGS guide has was the bomb, thanks for taking the time to make that for us all.
I have made 2 posts on the sub in the past about ship paint jobs, and brought the topic up with my fellow Legionnaires several times. It just kills me that something so simple is so unobtainable without spending IRL money. I have played a few of the mentioned F2P games, and in the case of League of Legends I have spent an absolutely embarrassing amount of money on cosmetics. However, I spent that money before they introduced the new "chest" system, and when it was one of the only games I played
That game is free, though, and Elite: Dangerous is not. I have spent $60 on the game and the DLC, and I have spent an additional ~$30-$40 on in-game cosmetics. Some of them are pretty cool, like the Wireframe paint on my Anaconda, but some of them are just absolutely basic. To me, the system feels oh so wrong. I like how you mentioned the slider bar, as it reminds me of a point I have made in the past. I would not be opposed to them selling "pallets" of paint colors, and various "tiers" of customization on your ship. Example (shameless copy/paste of a 6 month old post of mine from the sub):
Level 1: Unlocks some base colors and between 1-3 patterns that allows you to distribute those colors along them.
Level 2: Unlocks more colors and another few (more complex) patterns that allows for more unique designs.
Level 3: Unlocks more colors and patterns still, and maybe some decals or shapes.
That was an idea I had 6 months ago, when I had just started playing. As a new player, the lack of in-game customization options was upsetting. You mean to tell me that I can enhance the drives on my ship to run hotter and dirtier, in order to make me fly faster? You mean to tell me that I can enhance my power distributor to recharge any/all of the different capacitors more quickly, or to hold more charge? You mean to tell me that I can enhance my FSD to make me jump an additional 5-20 ly (depending on ship and build)? You mean to tell me that I can enhance my beam lasers to transfer the heat my ship generates into my target? You mean to tell me I can enhance my multi cannons to tag enemy ships that are running silent with heat rounds, that make it harder for them to hide from my scanner?
You mean to tell me I can't paint my ship blue? What the %^$&
P.S. Your BGS guide has was the bomb, thanks for taking the time to make that for us all.
I honestly cant think of any other full-AAA priced games that lock player customisation behind a paywall, got any examples?
In your head. See this is the problem with the internet, it's given way too many people the mistaken impression that their opinion is of importance to anyone other than themselves.
Before you ask, yes I am including myself in that.
Tell you what mate. You highlight where I said anything about 'full AAA priced games' in my post and I will.
What I said was that there are numerous games out there that make dedicated attempts to separate their players from as much of their money as possible and that this isn't one of them.
Ultimately it matters not one jot whether you can find an example of one or not though because all I've said is that (as with any other consumer product) you look at what this game has and decide whether you want it for the price or not.
You may not think it's fair, or right, or proper or whatever term you would choose to use that another AAA price game offers [insert product or service] and this game doesn't. That's fine, it's your decision to make as to what you consider to be 'fair' and if this game fails your test, the ultimate power lies with you as a consumer in that you have the sanction at your disposal already.
True story. I ran out of cigs one night last week and was passing a garage so I popped in to pick some up. He only had 10s in my brand not 20s and they were £5.56. That works out at £11.12 for 20. I didn't engage him in a lengthy debate about how unfair it was of him to charge that price when the shop near to my house only charges £5.03 for 10. I just left the premises. That's how consumer power actually works.
If it were any other Elite player (I speak of the cosmetic crew ofc) they would petition the garage owner to allow them one free cig and for the other 9 to be reasonably priced.
Oh and while they're at it can they change the font on the packet as its immersion breaking or some .
Last edited:
Did the owner try to charge you for the cigarette filters after you paid for the cigs?
Last edited:
Blackcompany
Banned
NO ONE IS ASKING FOR ANYTHING FOR FREE.
Why can.you people not get this through your heads?
We PAID full price for this game. Many of us, twice. Ergo, we want the WHOLE game we PAID FOR. Cosmetics are part of a full price game. Cosmetics should be available in game. Period.
- - - Updated - - -
Like most free games, Elite features a cash shop and repetitive, grind oriented game play focused on stimulating reward centers through RNG rewards designed to enhance the chances of addiction in the same way slot machine gambling does. After all, it was the video game industry that taught casinos how to really game those machines.
Unlike free to play games, Elite also charges full price for its cheap, mobile game grind experience.
Moved on from your being charged to enter a shop analogy?
You know I've been on and off this forum since before closed beta and I've seen so many pathetic things but I must admit this one takes the biscuit.