Horizons Quick question...

[Geek.Verve]

I bought ED earlier this year. I played it for several hours and decided that there just wasn't enough to it, yet - haul cargo to grind credits to upgrade ship...to haul more cargo, to upgrade new ship... No worries, it was beta. I decided to come back later, after more content had been added. Now I get an email about the Horizons release. Cool, but is this my only option for getting any game updates that will make ED more fun/interesting than what I first experienced? Were there any compelling content updates since early this year that don't require Horizons?

I'll admit, I didn't sign up for the newsletter, and I didn't keep up with the game. Like I said, I just figured I would check back later. I'm not too keen on paying another $45 to add enough to the game to make my original purchase worth playing (IMO). I bought into beta expecting them to continue rolling out content, before hitting me up for expansions. Did that happen at all?

 

[Sysmon]

Quick answer: Yes.

S

 

[buellpilot]

I bought ED earlier this year. I played it for several hours and decided that there just wasn't enough to it, yet - haul cargo to grind credits to upgrade ship...to haul more cargo, to upgrade new ship... No worries, it was beta.

Technically if you bought Elite Dangerous this year you didn't buy a beta game as it was officially launched on 16th December 2014. However, you may have bought beta access to updates but the core game hasn't been in beta for over a year now.

I'm not too keen on paying another $45 to add enough to the game to make my original purchase worth playing (IMO). I bought into beta expecting them to continue rolling out content, before hitting me up for expansions. Did that happen at all?

Yes there where five updates in 2015 '1.1 Community Goals', '1.2 Wings', '1.3 Power Play', '1.4 CQC' and '1.5 Ships'. Depending on when you last played you might have missed a few of those feature releases.
However, it is still fundamentally the same game, which certainly splits opinion on whether that is a good thing or not.

I'm not too keen on paying another $45 to add enough to the game to make my original purchase worth playing (IMO).

Elite Dangerous Horizons is version 2.0 and to play that you need to buy the expansion which will give you access to planteray landings and another year of updates.

If you choose to stay on 1.x you can still play and will continue to get further enhancements in 2016 for the base game, but most of the focus will be on features for 2.x players.

The same will happen at the end of 2016 when 3.x releases.

Elite Dangerous is a game with a paid for annual 'DLC' or 'Season' model just like the majority of games on the market these days.
But unlike many games that come out at £50ish and immediately launch a season of content for an additional £50ish giving only 1 year of content that usually approaches £80 to £100. Elite Dangerous will only be £40ish every year.

If you only played for a few hours this year then you certainly didn't get much value for money, so try 1.5 and if you like it a bit more you could consider 2.0. However, if you still aren't enjoying it that much '2.0 Horizons' won't change your view dramatically.

If you still have a passing interest you could wait to this time next year and pick up 3.0 for probably £40ish and that will include all content from v1, 2 and 3.