Oh i made the mistake and bought the LEP at 170€ back then.
FDev told me i get all future updates for free, and there will be a lot updates as the game goes on.
So i payed 50€ for the Game when it came out and 170€ when Horizons did arrive, I cant remember what Horizons did cost 30 or 40€ ? I think so.
So i thought i could be a good deal but i need at least 4 updates to come close to break even with it.
Not to mention i did buy serveral cosmetics for real money.
Elite was a different game back then, more like the original but with more ships, great overall.
After Horizons, FDev did decide future updates will be free, so we had a lot updates but they where free for all. The LEP holder only got beta access.
Something that is ok for testing but it does not affect the original game aside some knowlege you might get from a beta with likely a lot bugs.
The next paid update was Odyssey, i cant recall what it did cost at release 30-40€ maybe ? Was a desaster and unfinished.
After serveral years another paid update i got free because of the LEP.
But still i did not break even with the price and now ED is 10 years old and honestly i dont play it anymore..
I got some paintjobs as comparson for LEP and free updates for all, but i dont use them and its cheap.
Now ppl say new ships like the Pyton mk2 is not an expansion and LEP owners should not get it free.
It will be another free updates on Elite that adds thease and new features to the game. Another free update i was told it will cost money back then.
Of couse LEP owners should have the option to buy the new Pyton without spending arx, ppl had to pay money to have access to betas too i think.
Only LEP owners had free access. It was nice to have but i would not have spend money to have access to a buggy beta.
Basicly i helped FDEV with bug reports to get the new updates fixed.
Yes of couse LEP owners should get the option to buy it as soon as possible. Will i go and buy it? Yeah for the collection but i dont see me playing much more ED because of it.
What i really dislike is adding pay2win options to the game, as always said it will not be possible or added and not it is added.
Its not that you can win with thease ships, but you can gain an advantage over just starting players that dont go that way.
Is it needed ? I think its so easy to earn credits now and a lot players will miss out on the small ships.
Back then it took quite some time to earn credits and small ships added flayvor because it took quite a while before you could buy the big ones.
Elite does lack a good training for new players and a lot stuff is not explained. You have to figure out by your own.
It lacks so much stuff to make this game more accesable to players and new players.
It wastes my free time by beeing in supercruise 50-90% of the time playing.
It wastes my time, because i have to collect materials of all kinds to access Engineering ship, suit and weapons.
Even if you find a option to speed that up it gets deleted from the game so you have to spend even more time to do so.
This was added that players have to do things FDev did add to the game. Well players will do thease things if they are fun, no need to add needed rewards to it.
The thing is doin that like 100 times to obtain the needed stuff gets the whole thing boring.
It hurts the game even more, wasting my free time because of bad in game things is hurting the game.
What FDev did miss is add new fun content, instead they did add more time wasting content and that leaded in decreasing players.
Doin stuff you dont like and gets boring, drives players away.
Has this changed by now or in the next update? I think not. Every time i log into Elite to do something, i have to do time wasting things. I have to stay in SC for a while in order to get somewhere. If i want to do trades most time im in SC. When i go bounty hunting i have to wait for spawns. Warzones had unlimited spawns but did get changed with side missions and winning the battle, leaves me doin time wasting re entrys.
Collecting materials, leaves me with searching and reenter instances from SC. Before i could save some time just by relogging. A good thing because what i get is random.
I dont have a gurantee i get the stuff i want.
So every time i play, i have to deal with time wasting mechanics. Players wont play longer the game because you add them, they will play something else.
If you want ppl play Elite add fun content and not the next ship to kit out and pimp. Leading to collect more materials and time wasting.