You aren't paying to win by buying a ship which is worse than one you can build for free. Games been out for a decade, they could have gone the route of a monthly subscription to generate income... Or they could have just put ED into maintenance mode to cost them less. They're using the income to continue developing, plus, when you have shareholders who invest in a company... The whole point is those who i vest money want a return. Welcome to economics 101

They just announced their interim figures, they're making a good profit and their share price is up 25% today.

Whatever they're doing, I hope they keep doing it if it means a longer life and more content for Elite.

I wouldn't call it pay to win(although the new ships can be debated)
You aren't getting any advantage over regular players
It's more paying to skip(shorten) the grind (or starter packs)

Originally posted by The man, the myth, the leg:

I wouldn't call it pay to win(although the new ships can be debated)
You aren't getting any advantage over regular players
It's more paying to skip(shorten) the grind (or starter packs)

I can agree to that that these ships have been around for a long time and such but its the aspect of the "buy" and "get" the currency they use for RealinGame money is able to achieve this, so if I so choose, start at lvl 1, and have an anaconda(its listed on there main site)


note I have an Imperial Cutter, and I worked my A** to get it, and now it seems like things are just being tossed about



Ill toss in something they said that happens during its "beta" self start stage, they took a vote of all beta and alpha access people, the overall result was 90% in favour of pay to look good. Every one is happy with this decision, the game goes for years with no ability to buy a ship........ NOW.... you can buy a ship with Real world money thus breaking there PROMISE to the original founders.... that should be looked at when going into there public trading, (Yes I own stock*legally have to say), but they aspect is they are misleading there consumers to make money for the sake of making money at this point

It's not pay to win, you can easily be destroyed by NPC and other players who are skilled and know how to set up their ships before engineering, this is selected ships to skip a grind if you don't want to grind for that specific ship while supporting the game devs profit so keep this game alive longer.

I was concerned too about P2W in E.D but after looking into it I realise its not that otherwise they could of hiked the price up as its like £10-15 a ship unlike StarCitizen which profits £70-20,000 for theirs. The balance cost of pre-built is great for those who want a bit of a helping hand. As meeting players can sometimes be rare depending where you fly and how you play its not going to destroy the game for casual players but instead helps them. Even in PVE you will struggle vs things like anacondas and a swarm of pirates shooting at you so it does still take skill and knowledge of how to use the ship to get a fair stance.

Im glad they done this because it helps casuals which is probably the majority of the player base by the looks of it that takes part in pre-builds since the game is 10 years old now.

Originally posted by mini:

It's not pay to win, you can easily be destroyed by NPC and other players who are skilled and know how to set up their ships before engineering, this is selected ships to skip a grind if you don't want to grind for that specific ship while supporting the game devs profit so keep this game alive longer.

I was concerned too about P2W in E.D but after looking into it I realise its not that otherwise they could of hiked the price up as its like £10-15 a ship unlike StarCitizen which profits £70-20,000 for theirs. The balance cost of pre-built is great for those who want a bit of a helping hand. As meeting players can sometimes be rare depending where you fly and how you play its not going to destroy the game for casual players but instead helps them. Even in PVE you will struggle vs things like anacondas and a swarm of pirates shooting at you so it does still take skill and knowledge of how to use the ship to get a fair stance.

Im glad they done this because it helps casuals which is probably the majority of the player base by the looks of it that takes part in pre-builds since the game is 10 years old now.

Agreed, the game has changed alot, But they made a very strict PROMISE to their original investors they'ed never do something as the ability to buy a ship with RL money

Originally posted by Child of Light:

Game has evolved. To be more accessible.... In game currency can now be made so easily, engineering mats acquired a lot more easily.

Those pre built ships as others have said are bad purchases... the loadout are subpar and you can whip up much better builds in a short enough time span with experienced CMDR's.

IMO we are now in a great place!

To refer to your imperial cutter mentions... it is still hard to get the rank to unlock it. The cutter and Corvette are not pre built offerings only a few ships are as you can see here.

https://www.elitedangerous.com/store/catalog/all/list?extra_type=554

Thank you!!!!!

As stated, I just wanted to understand why theyd go that route after promising so many times it would never happen, (cant remember if its cutter. corvet or clipper
, but my ship is 1.5 bill in price ;D) (side note think it was the Cutter, cuz the ships name is "Cut'er out"

the answer you provided shows they are alowing for the buying of "prebuid", but as you or I know, its not the ship.... its the CMDR ;D

Prebuilts were requested by fairly large subset of players that don't have a lot of time to play.
While i had preferred another route instead of EA/prebuilts, they are by all accounts selling like hotcakes and that in turn brings more resources to elite. -ie "Least bad" solution.

I think you're missing a couple of things here. Yeah, pre-built ships and insurance plans feel like a shift from the old days, but it's not really "pay-to-win." It’s more about streamlining the experience for newer players so they don’t bounce off the grind. Back in the beta, it was all about earning every credit, but games evolve, and not everyone has the time for that now.

As for the promise to backers, companies do change direction, especially after going public. But it's not always malicious—it’s just about survival in a competitive market. They’re trying to bring in new players who expect convenience, not the hardcore grind we signed up for back then. Frustrating? Sure. But it doesn’t mean the game’s ruined.

If anything, this is just a sign of the game evolving. It’s not the same as it was in beta, but that’s not automatically a bad thing—it’s just different.

Originally posted by Zeproth:

note I have an Imperial Cutter, and I worked my A** to get it, and now it seems like things are just being tossed about

No they're not. You can't buy a Cutter or Corvette with Arx.

Not sure you know what pay to win means.. 1) there is no end game, so there isnt anything to "win" you do not win this game, you just play it. 2) other than a stabilized SCO performance they offer nothing else to the game( save a large medium ship in type 8) zip, zilch, nada... thats the edge they give to anyone. great post though, yeah, great.

P2W in common parlance means paying for something that effects gameplay.

The ability to station grief on an alt account with no rebuy using one of these P2W packages is quite real.
Crush someone into a pad and get them blown up for loitering using a P2W Beluga.
The load out being crap doesn't matter for that, just being one of the heaviest ships in the game.

Aside from that, when monetization dips into gameplay it creates incentives for devs that are not good for the users.

sorry, not buying it, not pay to win. I knew what it means, the OP didint, doesnt, or is just trolling. your points only matter if money mattered in elite. it doesnt, maybe when youre a new player, but after billions in credits, money is irrelevant.

Originally posted by Zeproth:

Originally posted by Child of Light:

Game has evolved. To be more accessible.... In game currency can now be made so easily, engineering mats acquired a lot more easily.

Those pre built ships as others have said are bad purchases... the loadout are subpar and you can whip up much better builds in a short enough time span with experienced CMDR's.

IMO we are now in a great place!

To refer to your imperial cutter mentions... it is still hard to get the rank to unlock it. The cutter and Corvette are not pre built offerings only a few ships are as you can see here.

https://www.elitedangerous.com/store/catalog/all/list?extra_type=554

Thank you!!!!!

As stated, I just wanted to understand why theyd go that route after promising so many times it would never happen, (cant remember if its cutter. corvet or clipper
, but my ship is 1.5 bill in price ;D) (side note think it was the Cutter, cuz the ships name is "Cut'er out"

the answer you provided shows they are alowing for the buying of "prebuid", but as you or I know, its not the ship.... its the CMDR ;D

seriously, a game to develop and to run needs money.
i have 2500 hrs in this game and i am happy to support it a bit that it can be go on.
there are some promises in the past i cant understand, for example hiding the cobra mk iv only for players logged in before at a specific time.

if you go to work you will paid for that?
we have no monthly fees in this game because players
like ME and others are willing to buy things from time to time,
like paintjobs or in this case, ships.
stop with the pay to win thing please, it is not the case