With the speed at which news comes out in the gaming industry we sometimes miss important or news worthy things. Some of these things we want to talk about in a way that is both easy for you guys and allows us to get all the facts together as some of these stories develop quickly. Sometimes we also just cover topics that we find interesting and want to discuss.
Frontier Developments announces Elite Dangerous update including new store options, ARX currency, and Fleet Carriers
Source: Frontier Developments forums
Frontier announced at LaveCon (Elite Dangerous focused meetup) of the September and December update of this year. September Elite will once again get another update to help out beginning commanders as new ways of teaching new pilots how to play and pilot in the game. All voice acted across multiple languages, veteran pilots will also have access to it if they so wish. With this update the cosmetic store will also be updated including adding of a new premium currency: ARX. Not only will you be able to earn ARX by playing the game normally, the shop will also be completely accessible in game and if you know how there current store works (lot of things in packs) they will be selling all items individually as well as in packs. So if you only wanted one skin (say only orange skins) you wouldn’t have to buy a whole pack of other colors just to get the one orange skin. As should be noted, ARX will NOT be for paying to win or giving any unfair advantage . It is strictly cosmetic items.
The December update will include the long awaited Fleet Carriers which had to be delayed from last years last major update due to internal working schedule working on next years major update. As of now, no more information other than what the community has already known has been added about the carrier system.
Ozzy’s thoughts: Being a loving fan of Elite, I can say I’m happy with all these coming updates. Like all of us, the store, while lots of a variety, was sometimes annoying when you wanted to buy only one skin and had to buy six. Of course, like the rest, I wanted ways to earn skins in game. Nothing fancy, just a simple skin that makes my ship look different. While I’ve spent enough money on the store as of now, Frontier adding ARX I’m a bit stuck in the middle about. While finally having a way to get skins ingame and easier to get what I want, I’m always worried when it comes to premium currency and ways to get it. I’d still rather just buy something outright with money because the conversion rate of premium money is always iffy. That and while yes we can get ARX by just playing the game (you don’t have to do certain missions or certain things thing to get it, just play normally) if it takes me 3 months of maxing out my limit of ARX (which take, what? A week? A day? No details yet) to buy one skin that’s not going to be on my list of needing to do it.
I know Frontier will need to make it attractive to spend money on the store rather than waiting for you to accumulate the currency, that’s a given. But if it’s just another grind to waste time on…I don’t know. While Frontier does make mistakes now and again, they always listen to the community and try to make up it in the end. So maybe I’m just overthinking it and if I’m not, they’ll respond to the community. Another reason I love the game.
Source: Frontier Developments forum
But obviously the main focus of the community is finally the Fleet Carriers. While I do not own nor am in a Squadron (in game clan system) having a “base” to call my own and having it move to where I want it might be attractive enough for me to have my own squadron. Frontier did say you can have a Squadron as big or as small as you want it and you won’t be punished by how small it is if you want a carrier. Yeah it’ll take me time to fuel it up to jump it but hey, I might enjoy the ride and having my own base out in the middle of no where like I like it…why not?
