Have your buying behaviours changed since Arx?

[jojon]

If I only want to spend 2 dollars, I don't see why I must give 5 dollars.

Of course, very reasonable.

To play the devil's advocate, and outline the situation somewhat past the scope of the discussion:

I suspect - not "know", just "suspect" - that under a certain transaction level, you get precious little left, after credit card companies and banks have extracted the fees for their services, eating up the profits, making sellers rightly reluctant to use such payment methods for things like single sticks of bubble gum.

If we assume sellers therefore wants to abolish really small purchases; The intermediary virtual credit system then at least lets you receive some sort of change on a purchase at any imposed lowest real-money purchase, without forcing the seller to in effect having to set up a registered bank services subsidiary, with all the liabilities that comes with that, which wouldn't be the case without.

They could of course equate the exchange rate with one real-world currency, to make things easier to oversee, for the customer, but there are of course many currencies out there, and their mobility to take into account.

In the best of worlds, everything in-game would of course be coherent, and consistent, there would be no micro-transactions, and you'd buy everything that is in-game, in plausible in-game stores, using the game-world currency you earn in-game.

As soon as you do add things that can be purchased for real money, though, whatever one may think of such to begin with, you do not want the real currency to be exchangeable with game-world currency, of you would end up with a pay-to-win situation, where you could buy ships and equipment with real money. Hence the secondary virtual currency for cosmetics.

For these reasons, I can accept there being a minimum purchase of Arx.


Changes I might appreciate would be (assuming things are not already that way - have never had any interest in looking):

- Over the minimum real-currency purchase value: Let the Customer type in an arbitrary number of Arx to buy, instead of only offering fixed bundles.

- Always display Arx price tags together with the corresponding real-world currency value, in the user's chosen currency, and at current exchange rate.

- Always display the user's accumulated spending in both virtual and real currency, with in-game-earned Arx separated out -- people with undiscerning spending habits can need some such help, to keep sight of the larger picture.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Of course, very reasonable.

To play the devil's advocate, and outline the situation somewhat past the scope of the discussion:

I suspect - not "know", just "suspect" - that under a certain transaction level, you get precious little left, after credit card companies and banks have extracted the fees for their services, eating up the profits, making sellers rightly reluctant to use such payment methods for things like single sticks of bubble gum.

If we assume sellers therefore wants to abolish really small purchases; The intermediary virtual credit system then at least lets you receive some sort of change on a purchase at any imposed lowest real-money purchase, without forcing the seller to in effect having to set up a registered bank services subsidiary, with all the liabilities that comes with that, which wouldn't be the case without.

They could of course equate the exchange rate with one real-world currency, to make things easier to oversee, for the customer, but there are of course many currencies out there, and their mobility to take into account.

In the best of worlds, everything in-game would of course be coherent, and consistent, there would be no micro-transactions, and you'd buy everything that is in-game, in plausible in-game stores, using the game-world currency you earn in-game.

As soon as you do add things that can be purchased for real money, though, whatever one may think of such to begin with, you do not want the real currency to be exchangeable with game-world currency, of you would end up with a pay-to-win situation, where you could buy ships and equipment with real money. Hence the secondary virtual currency for cosmetics.

For these reasons, I can accept there being a minimum purchase of Arx.


Changes I might appreciate would be (assuming things are not already that way - have never had any interest in looking):

- Over the minimum real-currency purchase value: Let the Customer type in an arbitrary number of Arx to buy, instead of only offering fixed bundles.

- Always display Arx price tags together with the corresponding real-world currency value, in the user's chosen currency, and at current exchange rate.

- Always display the user's accumulated spending in both virtual and real currency, with in-game-earned Arx separated out -- people with undiscerning spending habits can need some such help, to keep sight of the larger picture.

I understand the fact that very small purchases are less profitable because of the banking services.

But Frontier is not a small neighborhood store and they have the financial means to use banking services.

I don't think that the costs of these banking services can jeopardize the survival of society.

 

[Notwyn]

In reply to the OP, "nope".

Arx doesn't change how I buy stuff.

 

[avow555]

A lot of talk about Arx but truth be told there is nothing else to talk about.
Game has nothing new to discuss. Not even the fake beta we had.
Very sad state of affairs.

 

[xaisis]

I know that, at least in my case, ARX were a shot in their own foot for Frontier.

Have a pleasant day.

Einar.

Hello Einar.

Yes, the last X-masses i bought stuff, not this time.
There is more then one reason.

1. I am not playing. i found better games to enjoy. (elite is uninstalled)
2. Dev's ways of doing things have put me of.
3. When i see a game that has a healthy development i will open my wallet.
4. I do not like the new shop.

Good day.

 

[Cyclinguy]

As far as purchasing arx goes, I've decided to wait see what happens with the next bug fix update. If there are significantly fewer old bugs and not too many new ones (swiftly erased) then I may show my appreciation by buying some arx and splurging on one of the fancy new paint jobs. Until then, I've bought a few of the older and cheaper paint jobs out of my free arx. I have to admit that using free arx to buy stuff is surprisingly satisfying

 

[Linnunrata]

To the original question, not really. I bought a pile of Arxes with my spare Steam wallet cash and that has been enough. Frankly I bought more stuff last year, but there's only so many paint jobs I need for my fleet and I'm not that much into bobbleheads.

I wish there were more decals and typographic choices for nameplates.

 

[M00ka]

To the original question, not really. I bought a pile of Arxes with my spare Steam wallet cash and that has been enough. Frankly I bought more stuff last year, but there's only so many paint jobs I need for my fleet and I'm not that much into bobbleheads.

I wish there were more decals and typographic choices for nameplates.

Good point, I haven't actually answered the question either, guess I have been too busy making fun of the 'anti-Arx' fraternity.

Yes, my cosmetic buying have changed since the introduction of Arx - I finally bought some I did buy some Arx, the minimal amount so I could get the Midnight black for a couple of ships, the rest I have got for free. I even bought an ugly green one for my new bug hunting Chieftain - thought the colour was appropriate. I would never have purchased those before Arx, just couldn't be bothered. Will I buy more, kind of doubt it, all my ships now have pretty paint jobs, can't see the need for them to have more than one.

 

[Old Duck]

What is changing my buying behavior is the realization that I tend to fall out of love with ships that I spend a lot of money on. The most recent example is the Vulture, which I sold last night to get my first Python in ages. I used to love the Vulture and hate the Python, but switching to VR caused me to dislike the Vulture and very much enjoy the Python. Thankfully I used free Arx to buy a very cheap red paint for my Vulture, so I'm not out anything, but had I invested tons of real $$ to decorate my Vulture, then that would feel like wasted $$ at this point. And I've done that in the past, like the nice Midnight Black paint I bought for my Conda on PS4 to help hide the Elephant Butt Leather.

So with this in mind, I really don't see spending any more $$ on Arx, at least not for things like paint and ship kits. Perhaps someday when we get space legs and station social hubs I'll get a outfit for my CMDR, but until then, I'll stick with cheap paint (which is often the best paint) paid with free Arx.

 

[JonesTheFilm]

I bought a couple of the black paint jobs recently with Arx I had that were converted from the old Frontier Points. I haven't actually bought any 'new' Arx yet.

I think it's unlikely I'll be buying any Arx in the near future. I'm slightly annoyed they seem to represent a "stealth" price increase in many cases, and I considered most of this stuff over-priced to begin with, but the main reason is I only buy cosmetics in ED when I buy a new ship in-game. I usually buy a paint job - or two if I can't decide which I like best - and often the ship kit if there is one and I like it.
The thing is I've reached a point where I have all the ships I want now and I already have all the engine & weapon colours I want... so until such time as FD release a new ship that I like I can't imagine I'll be buying any in game cosmetics at all.