For me, the whole thing boils down to this: a limited number of ships was added. Some people claim that the differences are small. Others see it differently
Point in case, this video i saw recently:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVuNfm_5kGw
All the ships the producer of the video really recommends are the new ones. Anything older he kind of rates as "second pick". (I am paraphrasing here. You can watch the video if you want it more exactly. )
Now feel free and pick up a similar video of two years ago. You might find that a much bigger variety of ships are being recommended. Which means, players earlier saw more effective and efficient options of gameplay before the new ARX ships were introduced. Which leads me to two questions:
1. From a players point of view: Who thinks that being limited to less options is an actual improvement of a game?
2. From a developers point of view: Who thinks that outdating existing content, which previously was used by players, is a good idea?
(After all, the old ship models, cockpits, sounds, but also ship kits and paintjobs in the store already were created. They merely need to be sold. But if those ships are seen as low value and not worth picking up any more, all these assets loose their value and the potential sales won't happen any more. )
Certainly the current ARX-sold ships are a way to make cash. Which is why FD had to go this way. After neglecting and basically forgetting about the game for several years, their other ventures failed and they urgently needed to squeeze money out of their most loyal remaining playerbase. Anybody who endured so much neglect is ready to spend money eagerly, after all. But in a long run, this permanent power creep means that they now are in a vicious circle of having to outdate and thus devalue their own content again and again.
In the long run, it would be more beneficial for both the game and the developers if the older ships would also be seen as good and adequate options, and not as the old garbage you have to stick with if you don't want to spend ARX. At the same time, this text kind of holds an answer for FD: there are many paintjobs and ship kits, which won't sell any more, as the ships are now seen as low value. Now imagine if magically there would be some supercruise-enhancing modules, giving these ships full SCO capability. And you don't even need to create new ship-kits for all the existing ships. Most players never bought any ship kit. If now adding just one piece of a ship kit to a ship you own suddenly gives the ship better SCO handling, a lot of the old ship kits might suddenly sell.
I would see this as a kind of win on many aspects:
1. Yes, it would still be kind of pay to win. You would still have to spend money to have your ships full capability. A dirty thing, but FD decided to go that way.
2. More ships would be seen as viable options again. A video like the one i linked above would suddenly list a lot more ships again, merely stating that for some of them you should perhaps buy a ship kit for some of them to get optimal performance.
3. Existing ships, their development already paid for a long time ago, would be viable content again.
4. Existing ship kits, their development already paid for a long time ago, would be attractive to many players.
It still would not eliminate the stench of pay to win. But it would keep much more content of the game alive.
