Orbs - points

[Chris555]

Hello, I was collecting my orbs, when i checked yesterday in the morning I was 30 points from getting a scenery and later in the evening when i checked back all the orbs prices had increased (Like redeem with 250 to 375 ORBS), do developers increase the orbs? Also do orbs have an expiration date if i don't use them? 

 

Thank You.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

I cannot comment on the apparent price difference between morning and evening, because I 

don't know the answer.

However, if you would care to specify which product, I can enquire for you.

I see that all of the terms and conditions relating to Orbs have been added to the Orbx EULA.

It looks like they are valid for a year.

[wolfko]

12 hours ago, Chris555 said:

Hello, I was collecting my orbs, when i checked yesterday in the morning I was 30 points from getting a scenery and later in the evening when i checked back all the orbs prices had increased (Like redeem with 250 to 375 ORBS), do developers increase the orbs? Also do orbs have an expiration date if i don't use them? 

 

Thank You.

 

3 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

I cannot comment on the apparent price difference between morning and evening, because I 

don't know the answer.

However, if you would care to specify which product, I can enquire for you.

I see that all of the terms and conditions relating to Orbs have been added to the Orbx EULA.

It looks like they are valid for a year.

 

Chris is right. Since I have checked the Orbs "prices" the last time a few days ago there has been an insane increase of prices by 50 % (!!). At least for the products I am interested to buy and therefore remember the prices.

E. g. the costs for LIEO and KSBA for MSFS have increased from 200 Orbs per airport to 300 Orbs per airport. That's a bit too much IMO and I do hope that's caused by error.

[Nick Cooper]

Thanks, as promised, I have now asked.

[Chris555]

Hello Nick 

 

For example NA Central Rockies for P3d redeem with orbs was 250 but today 375 , from what I can see all products ( redeem) are up , many of them prices ( orbs)  increased over  100% That's too much.

 

 

 

 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

I have had the answer and it is that the number of Orbs to be redeemed for each product has been increased by 50%.

Of course the products obtained by redeeming Orbs are still a bonus compared to before Orbs were introduced and

still free of charge.

 

[seby.h]

Nick why has Orbs been increased by up to %50? was it a introductory offer that ran out yesterday?  maybe I missed something.

 

If the Orbs required go up by %50 then the Orbs we have built up have been devalued by %50, this seems very unfair.

 

The orbs felt like a little reward for 10+ years as regular customer. At the current Orbs value they don't seem so rewarding!

 

I strongly feel Orbx has not handled this very well, but their probably is a good reason.

 

I think it would be fair to increased by %50 the Orbs we had before this sudden increase.

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by seby.h

[seby.h]

23 hours ago, Chris555 said:

 do orbs have an expiration date if i don't use them? 

 

Nick said 1 year but this is what's in the Terms and Conditions. "The total balance of Orbs will expire when a user account has not earned or redeemed Orbs for 12 months"

 

So as long as you buy something every 12 months you should keep your Orbs if I have understood the above correctly.

[anthony]

I wish they would have sent an email telling everyone the prices on the orbs were going to go up at a certain date. I would have used mine to get some bargains, now I'm done with all the orb nonsense, big gimmick to me. Thanks Orbx. 

[Chris555]

3 hours ago, anthony said:

I wish they would have sent an email telling everyone the prices on the orbs were going to go up at a certain date. I would have used mine to get some bargains, now I'm done with all the orb nonsense, big gimmick to me. Thanks Orbx. 

 

I Agree...........Not professional .

[BPL]

I agree with many of the above sentiments.

 

In addition, an email was sent out a few days ago saying that one could earn 10 Orbs by downloading the Santa Run freeware. The email states, "Earn Orbs when you download the Santa Run!" and "Start flying and earn 10 Orbs." I took that to mean that I could earn 10 Orbs by simply downloading the freeware. I did so, but have not received any Orbs. Perhaps one must do something more than simply downloading the Santa Run in order to earn the Orbs, but if so, that doesn't seem very clear. Perhaps I have misunderstood. Could we have some clarification on that, @Nick Cooper?

[seby.h]

Hi BPL you can earn Orbs by other means then buying addons.

 

Santa run is most likely a mission and as you fly it there will be things to fly thourgh and each one gives you 1 Orb. Their is a Halloween run and a Easter Egg hunt too. I never tried them but I think its a nice touch from Orbx and you can get a few Orbs, although the Orbs aren't worth what they use to be  

 

If you sign up to Volanta you also can accumulate Orbs some how too. Again I havent tried it but Volanat has a few features that are interesting to me.

 

[craigeaglefire]

sadly, Orbs are confusing to us...

 

'points',  like those offered by Flightbeam or Contrail have been of far greater direct benefit to me - very effective $discounts...

[BPL]

8 hours ago, seby.h said:

Hi BPL you can earn Orbs by other means then buying addons.

 

Santa run is most likely a mission and as you fly it there will be things to fly thourgh and each one gives you 1 Orb. Their is a Halloween run and a Easter Egg hunt too. I never tried them but I think its a nice touch from Orbx and you can get a few Orbs, although the Orbs aren't worth what they use to be  

 

If you sign up to Volanta you also can accumulate Orbs some how too. Again I havent tried it but Volanat has a few features that are interesting to me.

 

 

Thanks, seby.h. Perhaps that is the case. I haven't tried these either. The wording in the email led me to believe that simply downloading the Santa Run freeware was all that was required to earn the 10 Orbs, but maybe I misunderstood.

[carlosqr]

This "points" topic has always been very tircky

I had a good deal of points in Flightbeam waiting to be used when the moment comes.....One of this days I entered the site and all the points were LOST because I didn't visit the site for long. Whaaaaat I said?  Next question I made myself was, when did they notify this would happen because not visiting the site?

Third question was, should I ever care about thier points again? Answer was, never again.

 

For Orbx I have 578 Orbs sitting there waiting for something of interest to be redeemed with them

There are currently 27 products for P3D, a platform I don't use

8 products for XP, a platform I don't use

2 products for Aerofly, a platform I don't use

That's  37 products of zero interest, causing a bad taste for this program

 

It leaves me with 13 products for the platform I use, MSFS, (that number has fortunately increased, thank you)

9 of those I already purchased them and 1 is from another company, that leaves me with ONLY 3 products to chose from to redeem my 578 Orbs, products that have not called my attention enough to exchange them for my Orbs. Final sensation, frustration. What do I want Orbs for?

 

So, this instead of motivating is a bit dissapointing, no sense.

 

What's the point in offering customers products for platforms they don't use, and even worst, put at disposal products they already purchased?... What kind of bad joke is that? These Orbs should be personalized, based on the user's sim, his purchases, offer products the customer doesn't have. That is interesting.

 

Do you know how you can increase the insterest in "producing" Orbs? Let people redeem thier Orbs with the product of their interest, in whatever product they want if they have enough Orbs. Every product should have both options to be purchased or redeemed, that is interesting, motivating, but selecting yourselfs what I can redeem, and for platforms I don't use or products I have is pointless.

 

How can I be motivated to get Orbs under current scheme? What for? Nothing offered is of my interest, so they'll remain there until who knows when

 

Can the Orbs be gifted?

I would not mind at all giving @Chris555 the extra ones he needs to get his NA Central Rockies if that's what he is interested in.

I'm planning to buy a good deal of airports during the end of the year sale so that will increase my Orbs anyway and will considerably reduce my chances to redeem products

 

To confirm, If it is possible to transfer him the needed Orbs to achieve his NA Central Rockies please do so.

 

You also mentioned that there will be products that can only be obtain by Orbs....where are those? I've been waiting since day 1 for those, another reason I have not redeemed any.

 

Thanks

Cartlos

Edited December 16, 2022 by carlosqr

[wain71]

I wish it was just something simple like points = discount total that you could use on anything and pay cash for the balance......

 

Just Flight- points equals money- discounts against any purchase you like...

[IvanRS]

Well, now you can redeem freeware products for only 30 Orbs each. 

 

EDBH Barth Stralsund Airport

Cityscape Portland

LWSK Skopje International Airport

 

 

[wolfko]

1 hour ago, IvanRS said:

Well, now you can redeem freeware products for only 30 Orbs each. 

 

EDBH Barth Stralsund Airport

Cityscape Portland

LWSK Skopje International Airport

 

 

 

Now it is becoming ridiculous. 

[paulb]

On 12/16/2022 at 6:22 AM, carlosqr said:

What's the point in offering customers products for platforms they don't use, and even worst, put at disposal products they already purchased?

 

I tend to agree with a number of points above. I currently have 995 points and there is nothing available for MSFS that I have not already purchased. 

 

Orbx is great in terms of the number and frequency of good sales, but this points system could be improved.

[iflygary]

On 12/14/2022 at 8:32 AM, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

I have had the answer and it is that the number of Orbs to be redeemed for each product has been increased by 50%.

Of course the products obtained by redeeming Orbs are still a bonus compared to before Orbs were introduced and

still free of charge.

 

Hi Nick,

 

I have a quick question regarding Orbs. I vaguely remember seeing a post( of course I could be totally wrong) but upon release of the Pacific Aerospace 750 I thought there was a mention of double the number of Orbs for this product?? I purchased it within days of its release and did not see an increase in my Orbs. What made me remember to ask was that I just purchased PADU and saw that my Orbs balance increased by 13 points.

 

Gary

[Nick Cooper]

Hello Gary,

when you purchased the PAC, you gained an extra 30 Orbs.

The system says that this was twice the normal total.

[pilot100]

Yes, the orbs are a customer benefit for loyalty but the sudden uplift of price (or down value of orbs) is not encouraging from a customer point of view. In fact speaking personally it has a negative impact on brand loyalty. A more sensitive approach with some warning of when the points value would change might have been nice (like after Christmas for example). 

 

But, hey, orbs are still free and Orbx has a right to do what they want in the market place.

[wolfko]

Since prices are generally rising these days, I would have understood a slight increase of numbers of Orbs needed but not an increase of fifty (50!!!) percent.

 

And why should anyone spend 30 Orbs for something he can also get for free (e. g. Portland Cityscape)??

 

For me it looks like the apprentice is responsible for managing the Orbs system.

 

[wolfko]

PS: I have judt seen in the Screenshot forum that the price for winning the monthly contest has been reduced from "an Orbx product of your choice" to "100 Orbs".

For 100 Orbs you'll get almost nothing. 

[seby.h]

Their has been very good suggestions on this topic. It would be great to hear back from Orbx about some of the points raised.

 

As I said before we dont always get things right and Orbx seem to be changing their mind about the value of the Orbs. An explanation and a bit of engagement would be most welcome from Orbx. Maybe they had to re think the Orbs but to not say anything to us customers is very disappointing.

 

Their is no rush but please Orbx engage with us customers over this topic.

[iflygary]

On 12/17/2022 at 11:32 AM, Nick Cooper said:

Hello Gary,

when you purchased the PAC, you gained an extra 30 Orbs.

The system says that this was twice the normal total.

Thank you Nick

[Chris555]

WOW WOW WOW! I just checked on the orbs and from what i saw, the prices went up double, why again? for example in begging of december NA Central Rockies was 250 orbs then in the middle of december when i created this post orbs went to 375, and today it went up to 654 orbs.

I don't care anymore, just that its a shame how much the orbs went up, even for the free airports they charge orbs.

 

Thank You Orbx.

[carlosqr]

16 hours ago, Chris555 said:

WOW WOW WOW! I just checked on the orbs and from what i saw, the prices went up double, why again? for example in begging of december NA Central Rockies was 250 orbs then in the middle of december when i created this post orbs went to 375, and today it went up to 654 orbs.

I don't care anymore, just that its a shame how much the orbs went up, even for the free airports they charge orbs.

 

Thank You Orbx.

Something's got to be wrong as it is indeed insane

It's a shame we didn't communicate by private message so we could get an agreement for me to transfer you some orbs

Now I don't even have enough to cover that, and I haven't redeemed any

 

Cheers

Carlos

[Chris555]

Thank you so much, its really kind of you but I already purchased what i wanted. It just shame that In 1 and half month they raised the orbs some over 200% (from 250 to 654), but its ok i don't care anymore about any Orbx points.

[Stephen Ellis]

I wanted to mention a few things about the Orbs and instead of start a new thread, I thought I would chime in on this one.

 

Not sure if I am missing something but the only way to access the Orb store is Volanta which displays your balance on the top bar, I cannot see it in the official Orbx application. Also about available products there are currently 0 products available for MSFS, who decides the products that come up here ? Its a bit disapointing really.

[pilot100]

Hi Stephen, go to https://orbxdirect.com/ in any web browser and log in with the normal password username combo. There you can see the wonderful range of MSFS orb range available (sorry, just dropped into sarcastic mode for a moment). As you will have seen the orb freebies are less than stellar and not much of a loyalty inducement for most. Also I don't think the management monitor these forums and if so they don't ususally comment.

 

Brian

[seby.h]

Disappointing is putting it mildly. I have lost all interest in purchasing through Orbx over this issue, mainly because they have not given any response or explanation.

On 1/30/2023 at 11:25 PM, Stephen Ellis said:

Also about available products there are currently 0 products available for MSFS, who decides the products that come up here ? Its a bit disapointing really.