I just like exploring, and the P2 is not really an exploration ship. Nothing was gained, so I didn't play to win; I paid to play early.
If I pay to unlock the M3 Grant in
Enlisted's North Africa maps and then never use it, or only use it off in a corner alone, and thereby gain practical knowledge that would be difficult or impossible to gain elsewhere, the game doesn't become any less pay-to-win. Same premise with Arx bought assets in
Elite: Dangerous. It's available, for out-of-game money, and can potentially provide an advantage. Not every player has to made good on that advantage for this to be so.
As for exploration, what ship could acquire exploration data (and convert it to influence, ranks, unlocks, and/or credits) faster than the Python Mk II? Jump range is irrelevant for most of the practical aspects of exploration. It takes maybe fifteen minutes to take essentially any ship to an area of unscanned systems. After that how fast the ship gets around in SC is the overriding factor for it's ability to acquire data. The Python Mk II has an edge, small as it may be, over most ships, in this regard.
Of course, one of the biggest benefits to flying a ship is knowing that ship, which provides advantages when it comes to confronting or evading other examples of that ship (NPC or CMDR).
Even if we acknowledge that the entertainment value of having access to the vessel isn't much of a mechanical advantage, the only way to not realize any such advantage from that ownership is to not use it, for anything.
Also, certain people having some specific playstyles, including AX players, are somehow nefarious now.
I don't think Angus was implying this. I think Angus is saying that Angus isn't paying to win...which, if Angus just leaves the ship docked to look at on occasion, could very well be just as true as it is meaningless.
Frontier made the ship pay-to-win. Someone buying it and not using it doesn't change that any more than not buying it does.
Do people genuinely find pay to skip to be attractive as a prospect to new players? Is a game offering you ways to pay to not play it a good thing now?
This isn't a new or even particularly uncommon phenomena.
