Because you want to play the game? If you could skip straight to the end of a meal so you can have a full tummy without having to go through the trouble of eating would you? I don't understand your attitude towards gaming? Is the point to enjoy it or is the point to just get the most expensive ship and the bit where you have to actually play the game is a chore to you?
Pay2Win made it to Elite
- Thread starter Einar Donarsson
- Start date
Pay money skip the grind is minor?
This is the end... Tralalala... End of elementary rules, end of legend, end od game. Time for quite and uninstall. Sad... No content or bad content. Sorry. I have no patience anymore.
Respectfully, while the point is valid here, as is the other point another person made about the ambiguity of "winning" in the context of Elite... These both feel like quibbling over fairly small details and missing the big picture.
Game communities almost universally respond extremely negatively to microtransactions that are not 100% cosmetic. Selling in-game advantages is a practice that works only in addictive, exploitative mobile games. In sophisticated games with long-term communities, there's a long and rich history of seeing the damage it does. Even juggernaut IP like the Star Wars franchise have consistently ended up either walking back non-cosmetic microtransactions or seen their player engagement suffer as a direct consequence.
So, while I sympathize with wanting to take a positive view, and I am by no means quick to condemn fdev for most design decisions, this does to me feel like an unforced error. The only question is what that error is.
At minimum, there was a mistake in how this was communicated. If these RMT are not excessive and will not actually have a major gameplay impact, and serve only as an additional source of funding for development and player diversity then that will be a relief—but the announcement completely failed to instill any confidence in that, because it goes into so little detail. And if these RMT do confer major gameplay advantages, then the entire concept is flawed and fails to learn from the history of other games.
I won't say "Elite is doomed" because that's nonsensical hyperbole. But I think it's fair to admit that any dangerous speculation or assumptions people are making could and should have been 100% anticipated and communicated around, because this is not new territory. We've seen this same process in a bunch of other games, and going in this direction, or communicating it this way, is a known recipe for trouble.
I say all of this not because I dislike fdev and Elite, but rather because I love fdev and Elite, and I want very much to see both succeed.
nobody's forcing you to pay though
I don't care about that. It is principle which they did not ever before broke. In fact they made their utmost to prevent players breaking it.
And it is easy to see where things will go eventually. First "rebalance" in game prices, and engineering, maxxing out grind making buying stuff with in-game credits punishing experience. Then "arx-exclusive" ships&modules.
I said MORE specific, not definitive.Ships have all E rated Core modules when you buy them and only a Shield Generator. An A rated ship is a significant upgrade from the base model, even if it's just the core modules.
Stating things you don't know for certain as fact, and spreading that around is dangerous.
Yet, when a Elite dangerous player talks about upgrading, they talk about engineers.
It just would not make sense otherwise since they also mention the players "not being able to commit the time to get a ship going from scratch"
The most time consuming thing about upgrading a Ship is the engineering.
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I think it would be quite impressive if they could force me to pay. The cost of sending goons round to tie everyone up would probably make it unprofitable. If that is the threshold for something being a bad idea though, I guess Frontier is in the clear.
I've just read through the announcement and I really don't see the issue.
They're hoping to attract new players with the new content coming, for a ten year old game it would be a boost for all of us who play the game if they can do that.
However, if it's anything like the Thargoid war new players may feel like they can't possibly get up to speed fast enough to really enjoy the real-time events that are likely a key selling point. FDev's option to entice players in is to allow them, for a bit of extra money to jump straight in to things like AX. We don't know the full details yet such as price, or how players who have only just started in the game will afford the rebuy, maybe that will be the risk you take. You get a cosmetic and ship-kit so perhaps that's for you to enjoy in case your purchased ship doesn't last too long. It doesn't sound like we're going the Star Citizen route with access to ships costing serious money and it being very difficult to earn them in game.
I really don't care, it doesn't affect what I'm doing. I don't see why anyone who enjoys just playing the game would care, people acting like the hours they spent playing the game so they could buy an Alliance Chieftain were spent for nothing now. If that's how you see it then you're treating the game as if it were your job and maybe need to get out more.
They're hoping to attract new players with the new content coming, for a ten year old game it would be a boost for all of us who play the game if they can do that.
However, if it's anything like the Thargoid war new players may feel like they can't possibly get up to speed fast enough to really enjoy the real-time events that are likely a key selling point. FDev's option to entice players in is to allow them, for a bit of extra money to jump straight in to things like AX. We don't know the full details yet such as price, or how players who have only just started in the game will afford the rebuy, maybe that will be the risk you take. You get a cosmetic and ship-kit so perhaps that's for you to enjoy in case your purchased ship doesn't last too long. It doesn't sound like we're going the Star Citizen route with access to ships costing serious money and it being very difficult to earn them in game.
I really don't care, it doesn't affect what I'm doing. I don't see why anyone who enjoys just playing the game would care, people acting like the hours they spent playing the game so they could buy an Alliance Chieftain were spent for nothing now. If that's how you see it then you're treating the game as if it were your job and maybe need to get out more.
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
I imagine similar to if I had of met someone in a Sidewinder when the game launched and I was in my Cobra. Depends on the pilot
but I take the point you're trying to make. In the case of two brand new players, being able to buy an advantage in terms of equipment, is definitely that.I don't think stopping people from saying something is definitely happening, when we don't know that it's definitely happening, is a small detail personally.
Don't disagree at all. We've seen it here many times, not just in other games.
See that's slippery slope fallacy and there's a lot of it on this thread.
It's a slippery slope.
Except CIG who are frankly shameless. But look at their player base.!
Numbers in the millions I'm guessing! Including me at one point. So there's a market for pay to play.
I just think elite was an exception to this.
Apparently it looks like the slippery slopes fast approaching.
Fdev nip this in the bud!
Bad idea let's u turn!
Subs yes. Salt yes. Just not as much.
And it's not as insidious as purchasing ships stealthily or otherwise.
Except CIG who are frankly shameless. But look at their player base.!
Numbers in the millions I'm guessing! Including me at one point. So there's a market for pay to play.
I just think elite was an exception to this.
Apparently it looks like the slippery slopes fast approaching.
Fdev nip this in the bud!
Bad idea let's u turn!
Subs yes. Salt yes. Just not as much.
And it's not as insidious as purchasing ships stealthily or otherwise.
My bet is that, "re-balance" will enforce you to open the wallet. Otherwise it has no sense - sell new product and add option "easy make it yourself for free".
Maybe it is a bad idea, I don't know but from the reactions of people on this thread it's not about whether they think it's a good idea or not, they seem to feel as if they've been robbed of something, as if the hours they spent playing the game were a chore.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Yeah, it is definitely pay to win. What can still be discussed is to what degree it will be. As with many things pay to win has degrees. If the advantages obtained, grind time savings, etc are not huge compared to players who prefer to not pay any money then it could become tolerable. It´s still a shame imo. We´ll see.I imagine similar to if I had of met someone in a Sidewinder when the game launched and I was in my Cobra. Depends on the pilot