As it currently stands, if you want to switch your account from a PC/XB1/PS4 to either of the other systems, you can do so. However, you're limited in that you can only move your credits to the new account; progress, ships, and engineering do not follow to the new account. Additionally, the account transfer can only be done once and once it's done, your original character is gone forever.
My proposal is simple: make it possible for accounts to travel between systems. If you're on a Playstation 4, but you just built a gaming computer, why should you be forced to push through all that progress again? Perhaps you fully intend on playing the game on both systems. Since the entirety of the game is programming and accounts on PS4, PC and XB1 all affect the system behind the game in the same way, why not figure out a way to share accounts?
As I understand it, getting the consoles to play nicely with each other is the biggest reason we don't have cross-platform gaming. It's also got to be difficult to make a PS4 version of the game play nicely with a PC version, etc. This is not what I'm asking for. What I'm suggesting is that an account be able to be played on multiple platforms.
Rockstar uses the Social Club website to link GTA Online accounts together. If your player is in a crew and the Social Club account is linked to both the PS4 and XB1 accounts, then the player's crew and their standing within are shared between the systems. If this is possible for a game that's five years old, I see no reason as to why FDEV couldn't put in an option to switch accounts between systems.
There can be any number of reasons for this. I'll share mine. I received a Playstation 4 as a gift in fall of 2017, and when I went to purchase No Man's Sky to scratch my space exploration itch, a Gamestop employee instead convinced me to buy into Elite Dangerous. I couldn't have been happier with how that turned out. I eventually did get NMS, and it still isn't the experience for me that Elite Dangerous is.
However, there's a reason I originally bought an Xbox One. My friends for the most part play games on Xbox One, so when I pitched to them how awesome Elite Dangerous is as a game, they all dove into it by summer 2018. I was really happy to see this. They'd be able to experience the game I've so thoroughly loved. And they have - but when I got the game for XB1, I was in the same spot I had been at the start of PS4 - in a sidewinder, at Asellus Primus.
My friends play frequently. By the time they had gotten into the game, I had already purchased a Thrustmaster HOTAS 4. I had already fallen in with a PS4 crew, and made friends with people I see online. If I were to switch my account over to Xbox One, I'd basically be throwing that HOTAS purchase down the drain and losing connections with friends I don't want to lose. It's not just ships and Federal rank I'd be losing.
One of my friends, on Xbox One? He's thought of getting into the game on PC. But he doesn't want to go through all the progression on there and he doesn't want to lose the group he has with our real life friends.
Not to mention he has the same problem I have, that my gaming hour with Elite Dangerous is essentially cut in half. For every hour I'm playing the game with friends on Xbox, I'm not gaining anything on my PS4 account. Obviously this hasn't stopped me from playing both, but I log onto Xbox rarely because I don't have my progress. So my friends have to go out of their way to basically let me tag along, my Xbox account being a shadow of what I have on PS4.
My suggestion is simple: allow players to link their different accounts to a central Frontier account so they may play on any of the systems and maintain their progress. It's 2018; plenty of people have multiple systems. I'm sure there are plenty of PC players who have consoles and would appreciate the ability to not have to drag their whole gaming setup away from their computer desk if they want to play in the living room. I know I'm far more likely to finally build a gaming PC and get a VR set-up if I can bring my whole account with me. Even if I were to do that, I'd still like to be active on Xbox One and PS4.
I don't think this is an unreasonable request, and in the long run this could even make Frontier money. I'd be willing to pay as much as $20 a year for the privilege of moving my account freely between systems. At the very least, you'll have players who own multiple systems commit to purchasing the game on other platforms.
I can't see any drawbacks to this. I don't think there's any competitive advantage to gain in Powerplay, other than the fact that you'd have people who could move to other systems and help in Powerplay scenarios. Sure, there's a cost to setting up the capability, but the way you keep track of accounts - essentially just groups of numbers - wouldn't really change at all.
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Also you should totally sell the option to change the interface color in the Frontier store. After 13 months, I'm starting to get tired of orange.
My proposal is simple: make it possible for accounts to travel between systems. If you're on a Playstation 4, but you just built a gaming computer, why should you be forced to push through all that progress again? Perhaps you fully intend on playing the game on both systems. Since the entirety of the game is programming and accounts on PS4, PC and XB1 all affect the system behind the game in the same way, why not figure out a way to share accounts?
As I understand it, getting the consoles to play nicely with each other is the biggest reason we don't have cross-platform gaming. It's also got to be difficult to make a PS4 version of the game play nicely with a PC version, etc. This is not what I'm asking for. What I'm suggesting is that an account be able to be played on multiple platforms.
Rockstar uses the Social Club website to link GTA Online accounts together. If your player is in a crew and the Social Club account is linked to both the PS4 and XB1 accounts, then the player's crew and their standing within are shared between the systems. If this is possible for a game that's five years old, I see no reason as to why FDEV couldn't put in an option to switch accounts between systems.
There can be any number of reasons for this. I'll share mine. I received a Playstation 4 as a gift in fall of 2017, and when I went to purchase No Man's Sky to scratch my space exploration itch, a Gamestop employee instead convinced me to buy into Elite Dangerous. I couldn't have been happier with how that turned out. I eventually did get NMS, and it still isn't the experience for me that Elite Dangerous is.
However, there's a reason I originally bought an Xbox One. My friends for the most part play games on Xbox One, so when I pitched to them how awesome Elite Dangerous is as a game, they all dove into it by summer 2018. I was really happy to see this. They'd be able to experience the game I've so thoroughly loved. And they have - but when I got the game for XB1, I was in the same spot I had been at the start of PS4 - in a sidewinder, at Asellus Primus.
My friends play frequently. By the time they had gotten into the game, I had already purchased a Thrustmaster HOTAS 4. I had already fallen in with a PS4 crew, and made friends with people I see online. If I were to switch my account over to Xbox One, I'd basically be throwing that HOTAS purchase down the drain and losing connections with friends I don't want to lose. It's not just ships and Federal rank I'd be losing.
One of my friends, on Xbox One? He's thought of getting into the game on PC. But he doesn't want to go through all the progression on there and he doesn't want to lose the group he has with our real life friends.
Not to mention he has the same problem I have, that my gaming hour with Elite Dangerous is essentially cut in half. For every hour I'm playing the game with friends on Xbox, I'm not gaining anything on my PS4 account. Obviously this hasn't stopped me from playing both, but I log onto Xbox rarely because I don't have my progress. So my friends have to go out of their way to basically let me tag along, my Xbox account being a shadow of what I have on PS4.
My suggestion is simple: allow players to link their different accounts to a central Frontier account so they may play on any of the systems and maintain their progress. It's 2018; plenty of people have multiple systems. I'm sure there are plenty of PC players who have consoles and would appreciate the ability to not have to drag their whole gaming setup away from their computer desk if they want to play in the living room. I know I'm far more likely to finally build a gaming PC and get a VR set-up if I can bring my whole account with me. Even if I were to do that, I'd still like to be active on Xbox One and PS4.
I don't think this is an unreasonable request, and in the long run this could even make Frontier money. I'd be willing to pay as much as $20 a year for the privilege of moving my account freely between systems. At the very least, you'll have players who own multiple systems commit to purchasing the game on other platforms.
I can't see any drawbacks to this. I don't think there's any competitive advantage to gain in Powerplay, other than the fact that you'd have people who could move to other systems and help in Powerplay scenarios. Sure, there's a cost to setting up the capability, but the way you keep track of accounts - essentially just groups of numbers - wouldn't really change at all.
________________
Also you should totally sell the option to change the interface color in the Frontier store. After 13 months, I'm starting to get tired of orange.
