For those who don't know me - I've been a long-time player and backer of Star Citizen since 2014. I have probably over 10k hours logged in Star Citizen, and am still very active to this day posting videos on my youtube channel and I play in a very active organization. I also have around 10k hours or more in FPS MMOs or Looter/Shooters, whether it's Planetside, Rust, Tarkov or more. While I am open to all forms of item recovery systems, the current proposed plan will not mix well with the current "grind/loot" design that exists in SC with Contested Zones, Bunkers, Events or Flight Missions and I'd be happy to explain why in detail from an FPS perspective. Affects on Replayability As it stands, Star Citizen is a relatively easy game to grind. aUEC is plentiful in mission rewards, and high-tier FPS loot is accessible in the basic areas of Contested Zones - even more plentiful by the end of the Contested Zones. With the T0/T1/T2 proposed system, players will likely go into a Contested Zone one time - acquire what they like - and then leave forever once they have it because they can simply pay for it to be returned. This means Contested Zones have little to no replay-ability, and the reason this doesn't change with T1 nor the T2 recovery implementations is because players are still able to recover items and instantly auto equip their kit without having to return to a Contested Zone at all. Realistically, these zones will be "uncontested" literally in the sense that there is no reason to return to them once you've already been there and you are less likely to find people there. Part of what currently makes the Contested Zones have a lot of replay-ability is the fact that you lose items when you die - and you need to return to the Contested Zones to get them either from your corpse or found within the CZ loot. Rare items such as Tweaker Ballistic Mods, Tweaker Energy Mods, P6LRs, Railguns, Grenade Launchers all spawn in Contested Zones or executive hangars and have value derived from their usefulness and rarity - if they were commonplace, they wouldn't be as sought after. They are technological advantages within the game's design, and require a large grind which has been a very successful design in other FPS MMOs such as Rust. It is in my opinion that games without replay-ability die much quicker, such as Planetside. The lack of a grind/reward in the loot system ultimately creates a shallow and boring atmosphere where people feel no risk, reducing the depth of the gameplay. Being able to get equipment back easily/return to the fight is more akin to an Arena game like Call of Duty. We already have Arena Commander Custom Lobbies to easily respawn with gear for practice - there is no need for the Persistent Universe to lack any punishment as well. Issues with "Bricked" Items In T1, we will get the item bricking system - which bricks an item once the original owner claims it. This means the player who looted it will not even be able to use it, and this doesn't change until T2 when the person who is in possession of a bricked item can restore the item. This system will remove gameplay options and lower replay-ability, since players are unable to do things such as "snowballing" (using inferior weaponry to beat other players and acquire their better weapons). You will loot an item and while fighting, it may suddenly stop working. This runs counter to what many successful FPS MMOs/looter shooter games have done, as taking your victim's equipment and using it yourself in that moment is a very popular part of these games. And what exactly is the incentive in looting anything if I already have it all and can simply claim it back/never lose it? There is none, thus replay-ability is removed. Affects on Player Economy/Trading The new item recovery system will massively reduce the amount of legitimate player to player trading of rare FPS items, which has been an immensely enjoyable experience for myself and many others. I am even taking part in an arms deal tonight, selling a lot of my contested zone loot to a player who needs it. This will be a thing of the past since players have no need to grind for any equipment more than one time - the incentive to buy multiple items from a trader doesn't exist. And a system where people sell a single item won't exist, as the end-game loot is still relatively accessible. How is Item Recovery Done in other similar games? I am not saying Star Citizen has to copy these exact item recovery systems, but other games have either completely foregone item recovery (and are still very successful) or they offer insurance on an item ONLY if the item isn't looted within a time period, say 12 hours. If the item is lost, the player does not get the gear back. Some games such as Planetside offer player's entire kit back, but the biggest complaint in those games is a lack of depth and easily achieved end-game. Those complaints do not exist in systems where you lose your gear, as the replay-ability hinges on losing your gear and looking to grind it back. Those who are regularly successful in PvP have more gear as a reward for their accomplishments, which is another very successful game design system for FPS MMOs/Looter Shooters. How does this affect casual players? Casual players rarely run into PvP scenarios in which they will lose their gear to begin with. I regularly watch a lot of mining, salvaging, cargo hauling streams and other than the snaring in the current event between Magnus and Pyro Gateway - these types of players rarely die. Will they die to other players and lose their kits? Yes, but the frequency is so low that they are still profiting a LOT on average - They die only once out of every 10 or 20 mining runs or salvage runs, etc. They are still making a LOT of aUEC and still acquiring a lot of loot. Also, many players simply choose to bring as little gear as possible (think just an undersuit/helmet/maxlift/gun) while doing these activites in "hotspots" which is a smart idea and shows foresight. In games with depth, foresight is rewarded. Players who are concerned with a lack of security and losing their kits in Pyro or during pirate events in Stanton should rest easy knowing we have high-security Terra coming eventually. They will be more protected for the types of content they enjoy there. In addition, I play Star Citizen quite a bit and rarely lose kits despite most of my gameplay revolving around PvP. Even in the most risky situations, a bit of practice goes a long way. If no item recovery, how will Players get their Paid Gear Returned? In other games, gear can be "skinned" by placing it on a workbench and simply applying the skin from a menu of items you already own. This solves a lot of problems regarding pledge/subscriber item recovery as the player can simply apply the skin on any default weapon. Conclusion The current loot pool design in Star Citizen will not succeed alongside the current proposed T0, T1 or T2 item recovery systems as it drastically removes replay-ability and removes motivation for looting if we can just simply pay to get my kit back. While this easy form of item recovery may work well in other genres, it does not often succeed in FPS MMOs or Looter/Shooter style games, both genres that Star Citizen shares a lot of similarities with. Casual players rarely lost gear to begin with so this doesn't really help them. CIG, every single active FPS player I know is against this new item recovery system - and for a good reason. My hopes is that both my post and the opinions of others will help you understand that there has to be a better direction found than simply giving players all their gear back - it will still be too easy even with T1 and T2 item recovery. Losing my gear is a part of what "makes my heart beat harder" while playing this game, the risk plays a massive role especially within the PvP crowd. T0 is the worst of our fears as we cannot even loot other players to increase our own supply as a reward after defeating them in combat. Star Citizen as it stands is less hardcore and less grindy than many other games, item recovery systems such as this only make that grind more shallow. Thanks for reading, hope you all have a great rest of your week.