The day you stop playing Elite Dangerous

[Deekin Scalesinger]

With the video game industry basically being in complete ruin at the moment due to various tactics that take a huge dump on the player base, i'm wondering what would be your breaking point where you say no to elite.

So many publishers/developers have lost most, if not all, all good will with their fanbase and not really caring about customer satisfaction. They implemet shady tactics and give ridiculous boilerplate responses with the usual nonsense like "we're listening to the feedback" and "make the game the best expirience possible".

The latest adition tho the crapshow is bethesda with fallout 76 and all the surrounding controversies like trying to sell the gamers a santa outfit for 20$ as a reduced price by 50% and all the other MACROtransactions. Capcom also pulled a big one by announcing that they are gonna put ADS in street fighter.

As we all know big buissnesses only care about numbers. They will stab you in the back, put a band aid on it and rip it off again. Rinse and repeat. NUMBERS.... So does FD. No numbers equals no game.
Like with us gamers. No numbers mean no home/food/clothes ect...

Now frontier has other titles out there to get money from. Elite has microtransactions in the form of dashboard clutter and of course skins. I'm ok with that.

My breaking point would be if they suddenly decided to over monetize the game.
I'm thinking of garbage like money boosters and paywalling already existing content bungie style.

All the rubbish the game devs (not FD) have done in the last few years has put a nasty bug in the back of my head. If a interesting game is coming out, that bug tells me that greedy sacks of money are gonna ruin it in some shape or form. I have completely lost trust in the industry.

Whats your thoughts on the matter?

Fly safe o7

 

[Stigbob]

I'm a lot less bothered by what FDEV do than if I enjoy playing their game, that's the one thing that would make me stop playing.

 

[Sylow]

Yea. The deciding criteria is: do i have fun?

As long as i enjoy playing, i hang around. If i don't any more, i move on.

 

[Mo Ronik]

Balance... cost vs. entertainment. When the cost outweighs what entertainment I get out of this game is when I'll cut it lose. Right now it could cost a whole lot more and I'd still be playing.

 

[Saikun]

I think I'll voice opinion of quite plenty of people, if I say that FDev managed to make very non-intrusive microtransactions and there is neither pay-to-win content nor content behind the paywall.

Except for that Cobra Mk IV flop, of course. I mean, either make that ship available to all already (trading in for some neat stuff for these Horizon backers, cause I see their point in being against)... or just remove Cobra Mk IV NPCs. It is really annoying then you are taunted with the content you'll never get.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Monthy Fee/Pay-to-Play.

Can't/won't support it. It's a violation of my fundamental beliefs.

 

[Saikun]

Monthy Fee/Pay-to-Play.

Can't/won't support it. It's a violation of my fundamental beliefs.

Agreed on that! Xbox One players already to have pay for Gold, so it is kind of locking content behind the paywall - however, that one is not Frontier Development's fault...

...Yet, I defend Gold. Why? Because it provides its suscribers with pretty nifty deals. Even 50% in some cases is a great price cut, especially if you live in countries with lower wages that cannot adjusts prices due to trade deals within EU.

 

[Han Zulu]

Monthy Fee/Pay-to-Play.

Can't/won't support it. It's a violation of my fundamental beliefs.

Same. It would break it for me. Until then, I'm fine with whatever changes they do, even if the changes are crap. As long as I don't have to pay for it except for items on the store, I'm good.

With that said, I like Chapter 4. Actually enjoying exploring with the new tools, and encounter random scenarios that didn't exist before. Someone offered me to get stuff for him. Didn't pay enough though Another one was a station that was under construction that were attacked and they asked for help. Unfortunately, I was flying my exploration ship. Not much of combat ready, so I had to let them be. And the random settlements that aren't on the map. Makes it more interesting.

 

[Faybs]

To me it all depends on what effect whatever they do has on the game. For example, if they decided to start advertising real companies in the game, if it's all in lore I don't care - I can see Coca Cola surviving into the 3300s.

 

[ADAMtheWELSHMANz]

Capcom also pulled a big one by announcing that they are gonna put ADS in street fighter.

Advanced Discovery Scanner? The bloody cheek of it!

 

[Han Zulu]

To me it all depends on what effect whatever they do has on the game. For example, if they decided to start advertising real companies in the game, if it's all in lore I don't care - I can see Coca Cola surviving into the 3300s.

And Disney.

 

[Urbanski101]

Trying to sum up the entire games industry in a single thread...not possible, it's too diverse.

For every EA and Bungie pulling a DLC, year pass, drop box scam, or the next poorly thought out Battlefield/CoD franchise Xmas release, for every not to be named space game charging tens of thousands of pounds for space pixel ships or real estate that doesn't even exist as pixels yet there is an independent games developer that really care about their craft and delivering a great gaming experience for their players.

There are a tonne of high quality FTP games out there, you could play all day, every day, all year and never pay a penny if you felt so inclined (though they need to keep the lights on too), World of Tanks/Planes/Warships, Planetside 2, Warframe, Dreadnought to name but a few.

As for FD, I think they do care and treat the community fairly. Store items are cosmetic only and don't alter your game or give you any advantage, they also provided a year of additional content in Beyond without charge although many would argue this was to rectify many previous directional errors on their part, I felt that was the right thing to do. They could have just pressed on with charging for another year but they took the decision not to try and fleece their player base, take a step back, listen, and try to fix what was wrong.

Whether they have achieved that is another issue and everyone will have an opinion...but in terms of their business model and how they treat the players, I actually think they are fair and a good example of a dev that genuinely care about their IP and the communities they serve.

 

[SAB380]

The day I finally give up on Elite Dangerous is the release day of Elite Deadly.

 

[Faybs]

And Disney.

The company yes, but because they make movies which are inherently topical, it makes a lot less sense to have their advertising in Elite. Having ads for the latest princess/superhero/whatever movie would definitely break my immersion.

 

[Faybs]

As for FD, I think they do care and treat the community fairly. Store items are cosmetic only and don't alter your game or give you any advantage, they also provided a year of additional content in Beyond without charge although many would argue this was to rectify many previous directional errors on their part, I felt that was the right thing to do. They could have just pressed on with charging for another year but they took the decision not to try an fleece their player base, take a step back, listen and try to fix what was wrong.

Whether they have achieved that is another issue and everyone will have an opinion...but in terms of their business model and how they treat the players, I actually think they are fair and a good example of a dev that genuinely care about their IP and the communities they serve.

I think they do it to a fault. They're leaving a lot of money on the table in their efforts to not "force" people to spend on the game. There are sooo many cosmetic micro transactions I could think of...

 

[Saikun]

There are a tonne of high quality FTP games out there, you could play all day, every day, all year and never pay a penny if you felt so inclined (though they need to keep the lights on too), World of Tanks/Planes/Warships, Planetside 2, Warframe, Dreadnought to name but a few.

I'd love to play Planetside 2, if not one fact. I cannot afford a new rig due to living in Poland - that's why I got Xbox One S last year (it costed me three-four times less than a mid-range GPU alone).

While our wages aren't really terrible, thanks to European Union the prices cannot be adjusted due to free trade within it. What are the consequences? For example, within entire EU the digitally purchased game costs 60 Euro. It doesn't sound terrible, until you realize that for a Polish gamer, paying these 60 Euro is like German had to pay around 250 Euro.

Same applies to electronic parts.

 

[Urbanski101]

I think they do it to a fault. They're leaving a lot of money on the table in their efforts to not "force" people to spend on the game. There are sooo many cosmetic micro transactions I could think of...

No doubt, I think they've probably missed out on a tonne of revenue by being very slow out of the blocks in this regard. However it does point to their inherent unease at seeming "greedy". Is this on purpose or a genuine lack of business acumen...only FD really know but I'd rather that than an avalanche of overpriced micro transaction tat.

 

[Sylow]

To me it all depends on what effect whatever they do has on the game. For example, if they decided to start advertising real companies in the game, if it's all in lore I don't care - I can see Coca Cola surviving into the 3300s.

Hehe, yea. That's what good old Anarchy Online did. There were in-game billboards, which showed advertisements. Paying customers were able to disable them. (So the billboards only showed advertisements for in-game things, no real advertisements. ) But it was well done and logically placed. It didn't disturb me at all.

The same would be true for ED: there's the holo-advertisements around stations. They can put real adds there, i wouldn't mind. It would merely be a detail when entering the station. It's really mostly how it's being done.

I think they do it to a fault. They're leaving a lot of money on the table in their efforts to not "force" people to spend on the game. There are sooo many cosmetic micro transactions I could think of...

And that's something i disagree on. I appreciate the current model. Would i feel "forced" to buy anything, that would really cut into my fun factor. And thus be a way to loose me as customer. Mind you, i have bought a number of paintjobs, some ship kits, decals, etc. And that's additionally to having the LEP. So i am not holding back on money. But if i would feel like FD would "force" me to spend money, i'd quickly leave the game.

So really, that's thin ice there. FD is wise not to go there.

 

[Kiwirat]

TBH I cant remember when I stopped playing.. it was many months ago and about the time I realised I was heartily sick of the repeditive nature of the game, sick of waiting for them to fix bugs that were months and months old, bugs that had taken my enjoyment out of the game.

I do play a monetized game and for some time bemoaned the fact that to advance beyond ordinary I was encouraged to pay money for that priviledge, however despite that I have noticed that this monetized game pays particular attention to their player base, listens to the player community, has very regular (weekly) updates and fixes, and continues to improve the player experience.

So while we bemoan monetization, its the old story.. you get what you pays for.

 

[Strangepork]

With the video game industry basically being in complete ruin at the moment due to various tactics that take a huge dump on the player base, i'm wondering what would be your breaking point where you say no to elite.

So many publishers/developers have lost most, if not all, all good will with their fanbase and not really caring about customer satisfaction. They implemet shady tactics and give ridiculous boilerplate responses with the usual nonsense like "we're listening to the feedback" and "make the game the best expirience possible".

The latest adition tho the crapshow is bethesda with fallout 76 and all the surrounding controversies like trying to sell the gamers a santa outfit for 20$ as a reduced price by 50% and all the other MACROtransactions. Capcom also pulled a big one by announcing that they are gonna put ADS in street fighter.

As we all know big buissnesses only care about numbers. They will stab you in the back, put a band aid on it and rip it off again. Rinse and repeat. NUMBERS.... So does FD. No numbers equals no game.
Like with us gamers. No numbers mean no home/food/clothes ect...

Now frontier has other titles out there to get money from. Elite has microtransactions in the form of dashboard clutter and of course skins. I'm ok with that.

My breaking point would be if they suddenly decided to over monetize the game.
I'm thinking of garbage like money boosters and paywalling already existing content bungie style.

All the rubbish the game devs (not FD) have done in the last few years has put a nasty bug in the back of my head. If a interesting game is coming out, that bug tells me that greedy sacks of money are gonna ruin it in some shape or form. I have completely lost trust in the industry.

Whats your thoughts on the matter?

Fly safe o7

It's a habit now for me, I enter the game and rarely find anything meaningful to do, other than managing the fleet or something pretty dull.

FD need to reach deep and get creative, somewhere in the technical wizardry of the game, it lost its soul.

Come on FD fire some people, or put them out to grass or whatever, and get some young modern visionary blood, empowered to radicalise the game model.

Or ignore the forums completely and coin in what's let of the game, cynically.