Value of upgrade to beta as it stands? (question, not a moan)

[Bazil]

So, I said I'd wait for this newsletter and see what the benefits are for the 'upgrade' to Beta.

OK, so for a pre-orderer the 'upgrade' to Beta now is £15. The benefits are:
30 extra days access
Access to the Sol system without having to build up reputation with the Federation
Free access to one of the 5 extra ships
25% less insurance costs for life.
-
Now I'm patient so the 30 days early access is neither here nor there to me. Last week, access to Sol wasn't a decision maker either.
So the questions are:
1. What does Free access to one of the 5 extra playable ships when they are added mean?
2. How much value will the insurance discount mean in the game long term? (not whether it is pay-to-win - that is covered in other threads)
3. So the benefits as a whole seem good enough value to spend an extra £15 on?

 

[Wavey]

You get free access to 5 ships simples
25% off insurance costs when you go boom
your choice
ps those 5 ships may not be available on release

 

[_Flin_]

Basically it comes down to:
- you like exploring? The easy explores will still be there, not so after a month when Cobras with advanced scanners and 30 ly jumprange got most of the near 1st time explores
- no outfitted pirates around in the first 3 days
- 25% insurance is a lot

Worth 15£? Your choice

 

[Bazil]

free access to one of the 5 new ships when it’s released!

Quoting directly from the newsletter.

Does that mean that when the five new ships are released there will be one parked up somewhere (like the Eagle in the mercenary edition), or; it will be downloadable content that you won't have to pay the download cost for but there will still be an in-game cost of credits for it?

 

[Waldi]

my guess is we will get the option to buy (ingame cr) one of five ships without needing to earn rep or do missions to open up the option to buy it.


And as to if its worth it all you got to do is play it to know that it is so £15 for an extra 30 days of playing is sooo worth it

 

[ste]

Its a short cut kit basically.

 

[Dirk Braben]

@OP: only you can decide if those perks are "good enough" for you to still join beta.

Granted, the few days extra are IMHO not worth it.
Reaching Sol (earlier) or getting a ship (earlier) or paying less on destruction (save some time) depends on your preference, it's just a kind of ingame time saver, which may actually be not wanted.


What I think is maybe beta people get to playtest the expansions, too. But I wouldn't rely on this as it's just my hope

 

[Bazil]

@OP: only you can decide if those perks are "good enough" for you to still join beta.

Granted, the few days extra are IMHO not worth it.
Reaching Sol (earlier) or getting a ship (earlier) or paying less on destruction (save some time) depends on your preference, it's just a kind of ingame time saver, which may actually be not wanted.


What I think is maybe beta people get to playtest the expansions, too. But I wouldn't rely on this as it's just my hope

Yes, the decision ultimately is mine alone - but some other opinions never hurt

My thinking at the moment is to purchase. I'm not going to have hours and hours per week to play, it'll just be fitted around my life. So the value of the -2.5% on insurance is probably the biggest draw. My thinking is that, if playing without undue risk taking, I'll always keep enough credits to cover the insurance. So the drop in insurance just means a larger value of cargo can be traded on each run.

I think the testing of expansions before they are released is another thing that is being left a little ambiguous. You'd think the expansions will need tested before general release. But, as I understand it, for Beta backers to get the expansions they'd need to purchase them or have the lifetime expansions which every Beta tester doesn't have. (I did buy the lifetime expansions).

 

[Chek]

They're all little perks that are kinda nice but aren't going to make much difference really. The big advantage of beta is you'll have more experience in game play on release, but I guess as time goes on that will be negated as there are no actual bosses to kill or quest lines to complete or any actual endgame as such, just a big universe to frolic in

For me beta is very stable atm. I'm having no problems.

So if your really itching to get in then go for it, if your happy to wait then wait.

 

[knowles2]

More than worth my money,

A digital download Elite: Dangerous
• Your very own Eagle fighter ship docked in a secondary location in-game
• Exclusive pack of ship paint jobs
• A ‘day one’ ship decal
• A digital players guide
• A digital concept art book
• 1 free ship from an extra 5
• 15% of insurance. (I hope this can be made optional)
• I'm sure early access to new beta features will also be provided. I don't mind paying up front for these. I want to walk around my ship and go big game hunting as soon as possible.

An well hopefully they have a few other goodies still waiting in the wings, this time next week we will know exactly what we are getting.