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ishtmail

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Everything posted by ishtmail

  1. Lots of cooking analogies in this thread, so here's mine: If DCS is a 5-star restaurant and DCS Hawk is an expensive steak, then commenting on how the Hawk sucks at this point in time is like commenting on how a steak sucks in a real restaurant, before it's even been grilled or seasoned. Instead, comment on how you prefer your steak to be done, and only comment on the end result when... well.. you even get the end result.
  2. Yeah, you can post a ticket. ED has full capability of checking whether you ever used your key (remember, every module needs to be activated online before first use, and ED has those records). So if you have a key that you never used, I'm sure ED can take the key away from your account and block it, and grant you the open reward system like everyone else. ED has been VERY accomodating and has changed the backer rewards considerably to make things right for the backers, so if you ask nicely and politely, hopefully they will oblige.
  3. What hostility towards lower backers? I have frequented the threads quite a bit and remember no such thing. Also, I think the backers in general were very much kosher about the whole rewards system that ED has envisioned, and once the comments were heard about the fixed airplane rewards (P51D for $20) and how it would be better to let us choose, ED did the most gallant thing and revised the backer rewards to make most everyone happy. There are those who still feel aggravated at not getting 6 airplanes for $40, but they are few and far between, and I don't pay any heed to them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am thoroughly annoyed at the idea that ED had nothing to do with the campaign though, and even more so at the idea that they are now doing everyone a favor by honoring the pledges. Now I've written this before, but it needs to be said again: Perhaps technically, legally, RRG was the only party involved, but morally, ethically, ED has been very closely involved: they gave RRG serials for P51D and Dora, to use as backer rewards; they advertised the project very much, set up the Paypal page on their website, even set up the Backer section in our DCS profiles. They even gave RRG access to P51D and Dora modules, to use in DCS:WW2. Far too much involvement to just shrug it off and say "RRG is the involved party here". Secondly, ED is not continuing the project only to appease the campaign backers. That would be foolish. That would be disastrous. We raised $150k, not even enough to develop ONE aircraft. And yet, ED has seemingly decided to go forward with the project and develop ALL airplanes (four). Would ED do this just for us, the backers? No. They are doing it for the tens of thousands of WW2 flight sim fans out there who are thirsting for a DCS quality WW2 sim. The 2500 backers are a very very small insignificant portion of the full WW2 sim market. So, writing that ED is doing us all a huge favor by continuing the project is a completely wrong thing to do, because ED would NEVER continue this project if they didn't have a business plan in place, making this project economically viable and profitable. ED has picked up RRG's remains because they can sell the product, not because they want to serve the backers. That being said, I am grateful to ED for doing it, all the same, simply because I am one of the fans thirsting for a proper WW2 sim. And while objectively I know that ED honoring the pledge rewards is simply the right thing to do for your loyal consumers, who will remain loyal because of being treated right, I am still grateful to ED for providing the backers with a decent reward system. Anyhoo, I would appreciate if everyone came to these two realizations: 1. That ED is doing its best to make this project work for most everyone 2. That ED is not doing this project for the backers, but for the much wider audience
  4. Technically, you get all 6 airplanes, all of them will work in DCS:World, and you get ONE additional DCS module of choice (which should include the WW2 planes), so you've got all your own personal stuff (six airplanes) and one key that you can give to your brother. Also, if you already own the P51D, you can probably select another second copy of any of the airplanes (instead of the P51D), which you can again gift to your brother. ;)
  5. This was already confirmed... Full price of individual planes will be $50 per module (possibly $40 if they keep the pre-purchase discount the way they did it with Dora).
  6. Alpha seems to be removed for airplanes completely, if I'm reading Wags post correctly. Don't know what you mean about the 262 though, it's still there and it will be a selectable airplane.
  7. ... Feels kinda "meh", but whatever... Nevermind. Just a note here that it seems after Wags revised the first post a tidbit, that there is no Alpha access for any of the airplanes, only for the Normandy map (starting at $140).
  8. Awesome! Well, my plan right now is to get the four new planes (Spit, BF109, P47, Schwalbe) as rewards, and buy the Dora outright... Do ED a solid because you guys did us a solid :)
  9. Hey Sith, do you know if the Schwalbe will be among the selectable airplanes below $120?
  10. Epic update, Wags. Many hugs. Also many hugs to Sith who's been very patient with us :)
  11. The system is already in place, in the already existing backer section of our DCS profiles. And notifying backers is simple: just post on Kickstarter, and everyone gets an email.
  12. I'm just debating the wider causality that happens from choices that ED has before them. Good customer service and giving your customers a proper compromise is key to success. I'm speaking from experience as a customer: I've spent a lot of money backing Star Citizen, and I wouldn't have done that without the amazing customer service that helped me out on every step of the way.
  13. You only have to do it once, because this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Never again will ED run a similar gig (taking over a failed overzealous project that has backers waiting to get their pledge rewards).
  14. There is no more money. It's all tied in the assets RRG made, assets that ED will now finish and sell. That's the point. In any case, I am firmly convinced that keeping backers relatively happy by granting them this one little thing (the ability to swap planes) is a huge long-term plus for ED, even if it's a small minus short-term. Having loyal customers that are happy with how you treat them goes a long way. I personally would rather have 2500 happy customers, and have a short term loss of 25k dollars (or 50k dollars), because those 2500 happy customers will keep coming back for more and will spend another 200.000 dollars in the next two years. If on the other hand you drive the 2500 customers away to gain that short term 25k, you're losing a whole lot in the long term.
  15. THIS :) I would up my pledge from $80 to $120 in an instant, if allowed. It's not the two planes, though, it's the Alpha access to those two planes.
  16. Only relevant if sales of the full priced modules aren't good enough. But my bet is that ED has done their research and that they are fully planning to sell MANY licences of the modules. Why do I think that's true? Simple. Not only has ED taken upon themselves to develop SIX ww2 airplanes, VEAO is now also doing it with other airplanes of the era. This means ED fully realizes the huge potential of the WW2 fanbase. You can rest assured that ED wouldn't dream of developing all the airplanes (or letting VEAO do their stuff) if they had any inclination that the market could become oversaturated and the project could at any point be economically not viable.
  17. In Star CItizen, things are different. Basic ship costs $30 in a package, and that's really all the investment you need to do: you can earn all the other ships in the game (because of the in-game economy). But backers still fight over buying ships that cost $1250 (400 of them sold out in under a minute), even though technically, you only need to grind for a while (ok, months), and earn enough credits to buy it in the game. There's no way to make an analogy like that in DCS since DCS doesn't have an economy, you don't earn any in-game money for running missions. From your posts, I understood that you were talking about how much money ED loses by honoring pledges. That's what I was calculating. The 2500 backers mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, where ED sells 10k copies of each airplane.
  18. The comparison was not with Steam but with Star Citizen.
  19. Absolute peanuts. ED isn't going into this to barely break even, the market for these modules is tens of thousands of copies. Also, you're assuming that if 2500 backers didn't receive the Dora at a $20 discount, that they would all buy it at full price. Don't make such assumptions please. RIAA makes such assumptions often, and their assumptions have been disproven.
  20. Not an entirely fair comparison, mate, because in DCS, you can't earn new airplanes just by playing the game ;)
  21. Simple math. P51D retail currently costs $30. Dora currently costs $40 (safe to assume other modules will have a prepurchase price like this). That's a $10 difference. If ED allows us to switch from P51D to other modules, that's $10 per switch. There are 2500 backers. 10 x 2500 = 25.000 dollars. That's the potential cost of allowing us to switch to other modules. And that's peanuts compared to the full development costs of any module (200.000 dollars and more), or how much ED can earn when they sell the module outright in their store (to tens of thousands of buyers).
  22. Yes, but the money isn't with you. It's with ED at this moment, tied into the assets they're developing.
  23. No, they could not, because they would have to start from scratch. Normandy that RRG did? Gone. BF109? Gone. All the modeling for the Spit, P47, ME262? Gone. If ED went down this path, they would have no right to use ANY of the assets developed by RRG, because those assets were payed for by the backers.
  24. Please explain to me how giving people the possibility to change from a P51D module to a different one would endanger the stability of ED? The 'cost' of such a change, if every backer did it, would be 25.000 dollars. That's nothing compared to how much money development of even ONE airplane costs, and it's absolutely nothing compared to how much ED will get from the sales once they start selling the modules at full price. Not to mention they would make the backers happy and would keep many loyal customers for years to come.
  25. Have you shared the graphic and physics engine with RRG? Have you promised WW2 backers access to the SDK? Have you given RRG use of the P51D and Dora, to include in the WW2 sim? Have you prepared a backer section on your website, letting people choose their rewards? Have you set up a Paypal page on your website, accepting pledges outside of Kickstarter? This isn't as simple as saying "this is a cool thing, check it out", this is much deeper. No other 3rd party project for DCS has received this kind of treatment. I also wanted to add one more thing: Eagle Dynamics did not pick this project up from RRG from the sheer kindness of their hearts, in order to give backers something in return for the pledges. ED has predicted that it will be profitable for them to make this product (or products), and they intend to sell far more than just the measly 2500 copies of each airplane (there are only 2500 backers of WW2). So while I am grateful to ED for continuing the development (even though technically they had no obligation), I realize that they're not doing it for me or any of the 2500 backers - they are in fact doing it for the tens of thousands of purchases of full priced modules, once the planes are developed and sold.
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