Seasons - will season X contain all previous seasons?

Viking84

Viking84
As I missed out on the life time pass possibility, I am wondering what the cost will be to keep updated on Elite. Is the plan to release every season as stand-alone DLC, or will you have to own every prior season in order to play the current one?

Or put another way - if I skip Season 3, and purchase Season 4, will my purchase of Season 4 grant me access to Season 3 stuff? And if not, how on earth are FDev going to keep track of who has access to what in the universe without it becoming a mess?
 

vernonator

V
Viking84 said:
As I missed out on the life time pass possibility, I am wondering what the cost will be to keep updated on Elite. Is the plan to release every season as stand-alone DLC, or will you have to own every prior season in order to play the current one?

Or put another way - if I skip Season 3, and purchase Season 4, will my purchase of Season 4 grant me access to Season 3 stuff? And if not, how on earth are FDev going to keep track of who has access to what in the universe without it becoming a mess?
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I have wondered this myself - having been a developer in a past life the versioning using the "season" method will be a nightmare once you get past Season 2. FD needs to just drop this a go to either a subscription model (monthly/annual/whatever) or a one time fee plus micro transactions. Hell even Free-to-play with micro transactions (LOTS of MMO's doing this).

Having to pay for all the "back" seasons will be a HUGE detriment to expanding the user base - imagine dropping in say Season 5 and having to buy the base game and 5 subs? Even if they are discounted it will be a VERY expensive game.....or if they give them away all of us the kept up will be royally        off that we suffered thru and paid for all the previous expansions.
 

Viking84

Viking84
vernonator said:
or if they give them away all of us the kept up will be royally        off that we suffered thru and paid for all the previous expansions.
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Yeah this is my fear, although I do also see it as the only sensible option to avoid them having to deal with a logistical nightmare. Just imagine the mission screen:

Available Missions
Planetary Missions
Planetary Missions with atmospheres
Missions with Thargoids
Missions with ship X
....

I guess one could see the high season cost as the price to play stuff as it comes out, but then given the way content is released slowly through a season even that hardly makes sense as you are almost at Season 3 before Season 2 is fully developed.

Edit: Imagine trying to meet up with someone:

"Hey mate, want to meet up at system X?"
"Sorry dude, that is a Thargoid system, and I don't have season 4. Wanna meet up on planet Y?"
"Nah man, Season 2 was a bit rubbish, so I skipped it. Where can we meet?"
"Eravate?"....
 
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Apos

Apos
Probably.

Not any different than all the other MMOs dropping the price of the previous MMOs to something like 5 bucks but still asking for them to be bought despite you not going to experience their content anymore at all either. In that regard I'd say that Frontier is actually being the one who is on the more morally honest side, especially since that content won't be obsolete either.
 

Aewarin Jameson

Aewarin Jameson
vernonator said:
Having to pay for all the "back" seasons will be a HUGE detriment to expanding the user base - imagine dropping in say Season 5 and having to buy the base game and 5 subs? Even if they are discounted it will be a VERY expensive game.....or if they give them away all of us the kept up will be royally off that we suffered thru and paid for all the previous expansions.
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If someone comes in at season 5 they will most likely, for the price of ED, get S1-3 free with S4 discounted and S5 full price.

The price of admission to enjoy it now is that you pay for the seasons as they are developed - if you don't want to pay opt out and wait. <shrug>

(The Season process is also very straight forward it's just that FD have a habit of bungling newsletters and making things seem more complicated than it is)
 

Viking84

Viking84
Liqua said:
If someone comes in at season 5 they will most likely, for the price of ED, get S1-3 free with S4 discounted and S5 full price.

The price of admission to enjoy it now is that you pay for the seasons as they are developed - if you don't want to pay opt out and wait. <shrug>

(The Season process is also very straight forward it's just that FD have a habit of bungling newsletters and making things seem more complicated than it is)
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I don't think there has been any communication at all regarding the ability to own only a selected season, say Season 5, without owning the previous seasons? I may have missed it though :)
 

Viking84

Viking84
sleutelbos said:
FD already explained how it'll work. S3 will include S2.
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Cool :) Can you remember where they said that? My not inconsiderable google skills have failed me on this occasion for some reason. Personally I think this is the only option that makes any sense though.
 

vernonator

V
Lysander lysan said:
I can confirm that :)
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Ahhh First I have seen that, and it makes WAY more sense from a version support standpoint than trying to support all the permutations that would spring up. I still would prefer just a plain ole subscription (because that's what it sounds like it will be). Maybe make the base free-to-play and then if you want the expansions you pay sub.....
 

Ian Skippy

Ian Skippy
Viking84 said:
Can you remember where it was stated? I hope it is correct, but I can't find it anywhere :S
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They mentioned it when it became a DLC on steam rather than a stand-alone product IIRC. The advantage over subscriptions is that this way you can stop paying yet keep playing. :)
 

Space Dandy

Space Dandy
Viking84 said:
That seems to be saying the opposite - you have to own all seasons prior to the one you are buying, however there will be a more expensive version of the latest season which contains all previous ones. In addition that is a quote from a forum moderator who cannot quite remember where he heard this. Must say it is all a bit dubious to be honest.
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Last I looked at this, in the relevant thread when they changed the pricing of season 2, they said there would be two options basically. One option is to buy the more expensive "deluxe edition" which will include ALL SEASONS that are currently out, but not future ones and the base game.

Or you can buy just the season DLC for cheaper. I think it was still being debated if the season DLC will include previous seasons or not.

Here found that thread, all 42 pages of it.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=230150
 
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