Oh man, I was going to wishlist it and wait but now I'll have to buy it on launch week.
EDIT: Sabre Interactive understands that the Emperor's light shields the faithful, making dark machine rites like Denuvo unnecessary. Such heretical rites only agitate the machine spirits, causing discordant whispers that play into the hands of the enemies of Man. The Omnissiah smiles upon this decision.
Factorio did it perfectly. Developed a game and when it was finished 1.0 went yes that is the game state we want. Went 5 years into hiding, came back with a massive DLC, but the quality of life stuff and engine improvements all get pushed to the base game.
I still strongly dislike limiting cosmetics so much, especially in a setting where they can mean so much. Darktide's $20 skins pissed me right off: role-playing is 100% part of the game and that price is absurd.
Honestly, fair criticism, as it is still a $60 game and in my old timer's brain that means everything should be unlockable through gameplay. Unfortunately, that's just not how the market seems to work anymore, so I'll just be glad their extra monetization is only limited to cosmetics and not gameplay stuff as well.
It's like booking a hotel: Basic price will get you a room for the night, with all the common amenities, but if you want late checkout, you'll pay extra. Sure, they could fold that into the basic price and make it the norm, but if you know you'll leave early anyway, you'll be paying for something you don't want.
The metaphor breaks apart if you look too closely - for hotels, early checkout is a convenience since they can get the room ready sooner for the next guest, so they'll incentivise that, while the devs have already put in the work. On the other hand, the late checkout is a service of convenience while a DLC is an excitement feature, where the content is instead an incentive to pay more.
Either way, I feel like add-ons for games aren't too different from add-ons in many other industries: "This is the basic <thing>, with the price we feel we can charge for it. This here is an extra you can have for an extra charge."
But if you don't pay for late checkout, you can still check out. If you don't pay for extra DLC, you just don't get to use whatever is in the DLC full stop
If you don't pay for late checkout, you can't check out late. If you don't pay for the DLC, you can't play the DLC. You can still check out at the normal time (which is the basic service) or play the base game, respectively.
Yeah I just think the allegory doesn't work at that point, but I do understand what you're saying. I honestly still think it's bullshit, but it is definitely a case of each to their own!