Do not try to sell people beta access via marketing email please. You are not struggling for cash nor do you have a lack of micro transaction revenue sources so please don't act like you are/do. You're not helping your image by being so eager to exploit your own beta process as an extra revenue source.
http://i.imgur.com/UzIoF8Th.jpg
If you need a large number of beta testers to test new features then I suggest you stop charging for early beta access and just make open beta (accessible to all) and closed (invite only) beta stages. That's how productive and effective beta testing is done in pretty much every other game in the industry. I've been part of a few over the years.
@My fellow CMDRS - there are 2 commander faces with smiles in the images, does this mean we now have changing expressions, i.e. a smile animation from time to time?
Also, there is a female face with a black line of paint across her eyes. Is this cosmetic option available currently as part of the feature or will it be a micro transaction addition purchasable from the store? - And if it is a micro transaction cosmetic why is it being advertised as a part of this beta?
Rep +1
You don't buy a car with four flat tires, then thank the salesman for selling you the car in the first place.
That metaphor is exactly how selling Beta access is for a new patch, which all Horizon players will have access to when fully live. People who bought the beta should just get a refund, in my opinion. It was wrong to sell it on top of the Horizons release, and it is wrong to sell it seperatly now.
This is the ONLY game I know of, online, that sells Beta access! I mean... don't you want a variety of test-bed machines and reliable data from determined people? People who are good at testing but won't buy into your Beta (myself included).
Frontier, you have a store filled with paint jobs, weapon colours, ship kits, and bobble kits - why on earth are you trying to sell us a car with four flat tires, too?
Either way, I think it is a trash move, and my opinion of Frontier has lowered considerably because of them selling "Betas" despite the game having sold millions of units on both PC, X-Box One, and soon the PS4/4.5.
Free MMOs have dedicated servers and survive well off of micro-transactions, and without having to ship units for a full-game price-tag - how are you unable to do this, Frontier?
Instead, we're left to rot with Peer-to-Peer and Amazon servers on top of these Beta sells... stop wasting your capital on a Peer-to-Peer concept that should've died in the 90's and 00's and actually get some proper servers. You might actually get somewhere with multi-player if you do this.