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Looks like Frontier Developments will be busy up until the holiday getting this new expansion out too folks, check out the details below: Elite Dangerous: Horizons launches this Holiday. The first expansion, Planetary Landings introduces players to planet surfaces and the first all-new Surface Recon Vehicle (SRV) the ‘Scarab’. Scanning airless planets and moons brings new gameplay as players detect signals, crashed ships, mineral deposits, outposts and fortresses. Alone or with friends players will explore, mine and engage hostile forces as they attempt to infiltrate strongholds guarding valuable rewards. Players will explore new worlds, coasting over mountaintops, diving into canyons, landing on the surface and rolling out onto the surface in your SRV, all without loading times or breaks in gameplay. Elite Dangerous: Horizons will continue to introduce new features and gameplay as the season continues into 2016, enriching the Elite Dangerous experience with new activities and new ways to play.Elite Dangerous: Horizons includes all Elite Dangerous content to date, and all players will continue to fly together in the same galaxy. Existing Elite Dangerous players receive a £10 loyalty discount off the price of Elite Dangerous: Horizons, retaining their progress and unlocking the exclusive ‘Cobra Mk IV’ in-game spacecraft. Order now and be among the first to land, Holiday 2015.

I can see that players can already preorder or join the beta, but I cannot see how to claim this 10 pounds loyality bonus.If they sent one in their newsletter, then im screwed :O Seriously though, pushing paid updated into this game kind of misses the point.... but well, the idea is epic. For now. We will see how this ends up (Ill end up buying it and leaving it alone again)

I've had my mixed feelings about E:D (mainly the damned awkward flight model), but I'm plenty excited about this. Despite there being too little to do at the moment, and some baffling design choices by Frontier, it's a great game. Moreover, there is really nothing else out there like it at the moment, nor is there likely to be very soon (I'm assuming that the space-flight in No Man's Sky will be as it so far looks: terrible). I have absolutely no problem with them making this a paid expansion (assuming it will ultimately include all planetary landings). It's a huge, technically challenging feature set, not to mention the fact that Frontier has already given us some pretty substantial free updates in 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4. Most of all, I'm thrilled that they are doing planetary landings BEFORE walking in ships and stations. It's what I was expecting, but I was a little nervous.

(assuming it will ultimately include all planetary landings). I get the impression that it will not include all planetary landings! They're talking 'seasons' of updates - more cash to grab!

I get the impression that it will not include all planetary landings!I'm getting the opposite impression. Reading their website it sounds like all the planetary landing stuff (with the exception of walking) will be done in the next "season" which as I understand it is the $40 or whatever they're charging. Of course, I could be wrong.

I'm getting the opposite impression. Reading their website it sounds like all the planetary landing stuff (with the exception of walking) will be done in the next "season" which as I understand it is the $40 or whatever they're charging. Of course, I could be wrong. I think Cody was pointing out they will be doing only airless rocky planets first. I assume that other landing feature such as atmospheric entry are added on later.

This[/url] post is not entirely clear, but lack of clarity is not at all unusual with FD - sales weasels will be sales weasels!

This[/url] post is not entirely clearActually, it seems you are correct and that not all planet surfaces will be accessible anytime soon (i.e. not in this expansion). Certainly disappointing, but for the most part I've been pretty impressed with the rate at which they've added contact, if not with what they've added. I certainly don't see in what way they've had bad sales practices: there's been no sort of pay to win and the microtransactions so far have been reasonable, modest and completely unobtrusive.

This[/url] post is not entirely clear, but lack of clarity is not at all unusual with FD Very true another vague announcement from them, there's a bit more on the blog https://community.elitedangerous.com/node/247[/url] Get the feeling that this announcement has more to do with No Mans Sky than anything else and what happened to that Thargoids expansion was it not meant to be the next big add on.

I think the next two expansions (after Horizons) will probably be more planetary stuff - first airless moons, then gas giants, then planets with atmospheres and/or life. Going walkabout could be in there too, I suppose - but I see problems with that. As for Thargoids - they may not be an expansion. Something about players who don't buy expansions not seeing any, while all expansioned players do. Already, there'll be some players who cannot do the planetary stuff playing alongside those that can. Certainly makes for more cash grabs, splitting planetary landings into two or three 'seasons', eh?

It's all about the money and the example they are following is WOW. Anyone who has not bought into this may want to wait and see where they go with future expansion as it looks like it's going to get pretty costly.

It's all about the money and the example they are following is WOW. Anyone who has not bought into this may want to wait and see where they go with future expansion as it looks like it's going to get pretty costly. Yes, it has some similarities, with a significant twist: you can still play without the expansions - naturally not benefiting from all the content. But I kinda disagree on the pretty costly: even if you don't go for the lifetime expansion, 50USD per year is far from a very costly affair, as long as you play it with some regularity. If one looks at BF, FIFA or COD series - or Football Manager you basically have a yearly content update in the form of a new game, at the cost of 50USD. So at the end, playing ED is not more expensive than those games, and surely quite less expensive than WoW (which is not expensive for regular gamers - gaming is a rather inexpensive habit compared to other entertainment activities).

Not so long ago that games would be complete when released although they might have a few bug in them, but this lifetime or season pass is just another excuse by the games industry too screw the games buyers. As I said before anyone thinking about buying this may want to wait until they finish the game otherwise you will end up paying £150/£200 for a game you will be able to buy for £40 in a couple of years.

Price model aside, here is nice sum up of what is known about Horizons, I hope this all gets in (probably not, but I can still hope): https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172362[/url]

Nice list of features that will be added to Horizons. I know personally I haven't bought this game yet because I was going to wait until some patches and content came out for the game before I got it. I think in the 'future seasonal expansions' section of that post that once I see: Landing/ driving / prospecting on airless rocky planets, moons & asteroidsWalking around interiors and combative boarding of other shipsCombat and other interactions with other players and AIs in the internal areas of star portsAccessing richly detailed planetary surfacesAvailability of giant ‘executive control’ ships to playersI think I will be sold, but we'll see. It's nice getting insight from everyone who is playing it now to gauge when to finally get the game. I don't mind paying for expansions.... IF they are of quality and really 'expand' the game. If the expansion gives me 5-10hrs of additional content I usually don't buy it unless it comes bundled with the game itself. I know in some MMO games you can earn special in game currency that you could use towards the purchase of expansions. Does Elite: Dangerous provide this?

I know in some MMO games you can earn special in game currency that you could use towards the purchase of expansions. Does Elite: Dangerous provide this? No. You have to buy them!!!

Not so long ago that games would be complete when released although they might have a few bug in them, but this lifetime or season pass is just another excuse by the games industry too screw the games buyers. As I said before anyone thinking about buying this may want to wait until they finish the game otherwise you will end up paying £150/£200 for a game you will be able to buy for £40 in a couple of years. Well, we now live in a world of permanent beta. Tbqh, almost any £40 game that is currently released in the "traditional way" (meaning no DLC, permanent online multiplayer support) can also be picked up for £10 or less in a couple of years also (I'm looking at you Steam - and my 493 game library  ). While you spare some money by waiting, you also do not enjoy the game. Imho for most people gaming is more expensive in terms of time than money (meaning we are more limited by time than mactually money when it comes to gaming). For someone who enjoys ED it is quite worthwhile to spend the money and not worry about it. Nice list of features that will be added to Horizons. I know personally I haven't bought this game yet because I was going to wait until some patches and content came out for the game before I got it. I think in the 'future seasonal expansions' section of that post that once I see: I think I will be sold, but we'll see. It's nice getting insight from everyone who is playing it now to gauge when to finally get the game. I don't mind paying for expansions.... IF they are of quality and really 'expand' the game. If the expansion gives me 5-10hrs of additional content I usually don't buy it unless it comes bundled with the game itself. I know in some MMO games you can earn special in game currency that you could use towards the purchase of expansions. Does Elite: Dangerous provide this? No, I don't think there is any way to purchase the expansions using ingame currency. You also cannot buy ingame currency through IRL money, at least for now. In ED model and game concept it makes sense to be so. Their financing depends on sales, not on regular sub - but unlike most (all?) freemium games (which ED is not, as it is a pay to play) - they don't sell anything that gives a player ingame advantage on their store. So being able to earn the expansion ingame wouldn't make much sense (at least to me).

With such Horizon's features I think ED has really added meat to the plate and is equalizing with the FFE and FE features, but much better I imagine and with today's grafics. If now they add a good Single Player mode I for sure add it to my buying list. XenonS

To me what Elite needs the most is emerging mini story arcs that generate content and missions beyond the typical "fetch". For that it needs to have system that creates and uses believable characters and events. Not easy, and while I think FD is working at it, it still is not there.

I've just made a litlle enquiry about any sort of Single Player mode. Actually there is what is called "Solo play" mode which hides all players and puts you against NPCs. The other mode is "Open Play" which you chose for PvP or MMO. For anyone interested, here is a good description of the difference between the 2 by FalconFly: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28540&page=2[/url] This just adds to my reluctance of playing MMO. A total chaos is what generally results. I really hope FD makes a pure Single Player Offline Mode available, I dont' care if the universe will be somewhat smaller (how smaller is the XBox universe, and is it Single Player and offline?). XenonS