"Going forward, these cash sales will focus on newly introduced concept ships and top tier limited capital ships." Chris Roberts, Star Citizen Newsletter - Letter from The Chairman November 18th, 2016 5 months later.. Banu Merchantman, Warbond Edition. The Merchantman is neither a concept ship, nor a capital ship (limited, top tier, or otherwise). Bit of a rant/vent/cautionary tale below, not expected reading As I am a edge case backer, owning a completionist, and having long since arranged the majority of my fleet into the needs of the org my assets are designated for.. I only have a few left over ships waiting on CCU into un released ships. The whole warbond fiasco has kind of put me in a rather trashy place to be, whale or not. As now the only ships left for me to attain (new concept ships), which should be able to be seeded from the duplicates I purchased (ya know, since the completionist isn't really complete).. AND equally protected by CR's statements of " We built this to allow you all to be able to purchase a ship with confidence, knowing that if something you like better comes along you can switch out to it with minimal hassle and no loss." Chris Roberts, Star Citizen Newsletter - Letter from The Chairman November 18th, 2016, in reference to the CCU system. Now I've surrendered that fight, burned by it even, and have now reduced my spending to zero on any warbonded asset. I'm sure my first whale problems generate no sympathy. So what is left un touched by the discrepancy of value between warbonds and credit purchased ships, or even CCU ships where the majority of is new money..but it doesn't matter, only 100% new money qualifies. Well, that would be non-concept ships, non-top tier capital ships. So the good news is, for backers not in my position.. excluding concepts, non-top tier capitals, or re-skinned hero ships listed as concepts... backers should still be able to use credits and the ccu system to one-for-one transition into new the various ships that have existed prior. To include limited release ships that only go on time sales now and again. But this... this new precedent changes that. Now it affects the rest of the community, not just us throw away edge cases. I'm a concierge backer 27x over, would be 29ish times over now..but..eh, ethics and principles. So if this new no-holds-barred all the ships release as warbond... now..the only ships you fine folks can CCU, or melt and buy without someone else getting it for less money then you paid into this still far from complete adventure we're all on, are the always available ships, the auroras, the mustangs, the lancers, hornets, connie, redeemer.. well, the non-limited variants anyhow. But wait.. being always available, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and guess if you were going to CCU to one of those, you already have (for the most part) I can't say for a fact that 'thats' whats going to happen... but, if this trend of say one thing, then ignore it a few months later remains the same.. It would be my guess that your RSI credit and ship values should you wish to CCU isn't quite as protected as CR promised, stated, whatever... So perhaps now is the time to finalize your asset arrangements, as it looks like from here forward, all ships will come at a 12% ish discount for newer backers. And all those funds you helped seed the game with early on.. not so valuable now. Despite a product that isn't finished enough for us to make accurate judgements on which ships we'd like to have in our final launch list. But don't worry you old backers, we gave you LTI as appreciation for..erm.. nm.. dead horse. I'm disappointed. I've spent years defending CIG, excusing shifts and changes in marketing, justifying.. but there comes a point.. The good news is all the amazing work the devs have knocked out, the game is coming along nicely.. wizards of their age I daresay. I just hope I don't feel so betrayed, marginalized, mislead in all the other matters that I'm still enthusiastic about playing when we get to the point where the MMO universe becomes truly consumable. Principles do complicate things. Not a fan of feeling bamboozled. But.. eh.. like I said, the saltiness I have for where I stand as a backer doesn't really even matter. I at least have the majority of my assets sorted for my org. And while it annoys me that I've been given reason not to spend, instead of reasons to spend.. So who am I to complain, dirty space-whale, how dare I presume. We'll just earn those would-have-purchased ships in the 'verse instead. No biggie. This new dynamic though, it affects everyone else. Now the regular backers are going to feel the squeeze. Tell me that 50 dollar difference between the Merchant, and Merchant Warbond doesn't sting, when you'd already put your hard earned money in. Hell, even my backing was something over 4 years in the making, parceled out over time. Despite my heavy investment, my dollars matter to me. I imagine that for 99% of people, they'd like to think their dollars matter equally to the guy or gal to their left or right. I hope people see this, understand, contemplate, evaluate, and call for some accountability. Really, this feels like politics.. where the majority don't see what's going on, or don't care because they don't think it affects them. Yet it does, and will. shrug End of the day... walking away from the issues of the warbond bits, and all that jazz.... the real question is...when did it become okay to tell us one thing, then immediately dump that thing at the first opportunity to scalp a little extra money? ....is THAT really what we're going to let CIG turn into? I mean..come on...what is this..EA? :confused:/ ...not a damn word from the community decrying a direct -go back- on statements given to us, given to us specifically....to assuage anger, worry and concern back when they pulled the Super Hornet sale stunt where they sold it for less than what original backers paid for it (if purchased with cash). When is it too much? ...I'll guess it's too much only when it affects someone personally. Well, it does now. Now it affect everyone but the single ship package, and wait till launch backers. Even if you don't think you'll ever CCU or change out ships.. Ain't a single ship in the 'verse' we have now 'final'...so that ship you 'think' you love now.. could get tweaked in a way that makes it 100% un-fun for you to fly...then when you go to trade it in, trusting in CR's statements regarding protecting your ability to migrate across various ships till you find the 'one' for you, up till closer to launch anyway.. well, now you're not getting the same value back when you trade in. Have fun with that. Such slippery slopes. TL:DR (for the ranty bit) wakka wakka wakka, whale life is hard /cry cry whine. Things that affected only a few, are now going to be affecting the majority. Community should be calling for accountability when we're told one thing, then promptly delivered something else. Dev teams are amaze :heart:, game is shaping up to be great...but still.. lie to us too many times, and it kills the desire to support or be a part of the project. Perceptions are important, and this is why forward facing honesty and direct community statements when policies change, or why..are so important. #TheTransparencyWeNeed