FD please bring back Expansion Pack for sale during Gamma, for higher price

[Corwyn]

When the expansion pack was in existence, the way the expansion pack was viewed was that it was covering two major expansions walking around and planet landing. Now it looks like there will be a number of addons of varying sizes and presumably cost with these two expansions broken down into component pieces. I also get the impression FD have committed internally to a number of expansions and probably have a number of others they want to do. I sincerely doubt the expansions pack will come back. The issue with the expansions pack is the revenue recognition - accountancy rules, you can only recognise revenue if its actual revenue, the expansions pack has no end point so you cannot say you have delivered it as its a pre-order with no defined end delievery point. FD will going forward want to recognise the revenue expansion by expansion. This is currently why FD's profits look grisly and why they need to release the game so they can recognise the revenue.

Hate to say this, but, that may be the way you viewed it, I didn't, I viewed it as All future expansions, regardless of what they will be, from now until ED goes the way of the dinosaurs. I didn't consider walking around or landing on planets, because that's not what I view ED as. I do see expansions in future things such as discoveries for explorers, non-human races, derelict ships, a long lost human civilization made up of people who left Earth hundreds of years earlier in cryostatis, or any number of other possibilities.

If walking around and landing on planets end up as an expansion, well, I'll get it, because I did take the risk and purchased the lifetime expansions when they were available, so I don't have to concern myself with future expansion purchases. I could also have been a fool, perhaps future expansions will end up being free, oh well, I made my choice too. But we won't know until it happens, I was prepared.

 

[Corwyn]

As they say - "all good things must come to an end" - that was the case for the Expansion Pass and the limited edition skins that have come and gone. People need to make up their mind what they want and, to some extent, take a risk. That's what all of the Kickstarter pledgers did. Also, selling Sol Permits for £15 in the store would be the first direct pay-to-progress item in the store that has been, up to now, limited to game access packages and cosmetic items.

Exactly. But I do not believe they'll have a pay-to-progress item like a Sol Permit. FD has never seemed to be the kind of company to do such things. The reason for, say, the wireframe limited edition Cobra skin, was to celebrate the 30th anniversary, and those of us that are 'Eighty-Four's', at least many of us, bought them for the nostalgia. I currently have a Cobra, and I'm proud to use that skin, even now, and even after release.

I seriously doubt they'll do anything like this, it'll be more like non-human races, derelict ships. Crash sites after landings are available, that spawn all sorts of new possibilities/threats to humanity.

 

[Chazzie]

Bingo..

Broke and unemployed, I was unable to get in even on the lowest tier of the kickstarter.. and when the beta release was announced with its' small overlap of time with with the Lifetime Expansion Pass, I had only finally managed to scrape enough $ together for the beta. But I had faith that the LEP was going to prove to be a bargain, so I decided to go hungry for a week or so to spring for it as well. Still broke and unemployed, I'm currently scraping the $ together to build a rig to run it on, as this old Core Duo laptop won't even touch it. Odds are it'll be months after ED is released before I even get to play.. (and while I'm at it, thank goodness for the EDTracker project!)

So yeah, for me, that Lifetime Pass and FDs promise of limited availability for it is a big deal.. I'd be rather ticked off if they reneged on it, thereby effectively rendering all my struggle and sacrifice for this game pointless. I managed to get one of the passes, despite my circumstances.. if you missed out, that's your own fault, not Frontier's.

I can so relate to that - been there, done that.
Although I'm lucky that I've had a turnaround in fortunes that mean I can afford the odd skin now. Funny really, as I missed out on the kickstarter for ED cause I was totally broke, wanted the imperial start but just (at the time) could not afford it.
My point is - should Frontier bring in an option to buy this now? Of course not - I missed out and such is life, it simply would not be fair to the early backers to go back on early exclusives.

 

[Chazzie]

Another point with the expansion pass is Frontier did say 'major' expansions - it's quite likely we'll all have to pay for smaller expansions.
Until we know what 'major' is, none of us know how much we might have saved with the pass.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I think the point of the major expansions is that minor ones will be free for everyone (excluding vanity stuff)

not that people with the expansion will have to pay more!.

That being said, looking back it seems a few things that I assumed were a given, I may have possibly read wrong.... whether that is on me for not reading properly or on FD for being vague I am unsure.

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

Exactly. But I do not believe they'll have a pay-to-progress item like a Sol Permit. FD has never seemed to be the kind of company to do such things.

I meant only that these "Sol Permits" would be extended with SAME price that 3+ weeks (that Gamma lasts) for those that pre-order game then, same what people get if they join Beta before 22nd (but those will get to also play Beta and gamma, so I call it fair).

People seem to mistake me all the time promoting something permanent pay-to-win thing. NO.

 

[Robert Maynard]

I meant only that these "Sol Permits" would be extended with SAME price that 3+ weeks (that Gamma lasts) for those that pre-order game then, same what people get if they join Beta before 22nd (but those will get to also play Beta and gamma, so I call it fair).

People seem to mistake me all the time promoting something permanent pay-to-win thing. NO.

The permit to access the Sol system is a Beta (and above) backers' perk. To dissociate it from the game development access to which it is attached would make it a pay-to-progress item, even for a short duration. We already have it available for a short duration as part of the Beta package (and upgrade to Beta) - another eleven days - until the Preview Release on the 22nd of November. However transient, the existence of a stand-alone pay-to-progress item in the online store would forever allow those who rail against any form of pay-to-"win" to say that the store has sold such items so cannot be guaranteed never to do it again - it would be the thin end of the wedge from that perspective.