The reason for that is a combination of a flaw in Kickstarter, and real life issues.

Only one person has the password to our Kickstarter account, because Kickstarter does not allow levels of access like other platforms. Whoever has the password has access to [i]everything[/i]. User emails, funds, sending out updates, everything. We don't want to go around giving that out to just anyone, so it's kept on a pretty tight leash.

That one person has been sick, and hasn't been able to compose and post the updates into Kickstarter. They were finally feeling better this week, and got those sent out.

Thankfully, other than sending out updates, we don't use Kickstarter much anymore. We have this site, the Discord, and our own store page now.

As of today, Kickstarter is where 5003 of the 6137 people stepped up to the plate to support this game. It's where $678,189.00 of the $777,405.04 funds received for this game were generated.

I've stayed off these forums for years out of respect for the "true believers" and not to "poison the well" here as badly it is over at Kickstarter (Lothic, your an absolute sweetheart compared to how some people who gave a lot more money than me feel at this point). But I have had it and just can't remain silent any longer.

I get it. Kickstarter is "old money" that MWM can't really milk anymore. And it's really uncomfortable for MWM to have to face the music on where this game is at versus where they said it would be (or even where it should be to be successful IMHO... I know most of you here don't agree with me on that point and I accept that).

MWW can chose to bite the hand that feeds them by putting Kickstarter on benign neglect ignore. But that isn't going to change either this game's development status and how at least some supporters feel about it.

Warlocc: Aren't you the guy that said: "Thankfully, other than sending out updates, we don't use Kickstarter much anymore."? That was honest. It certainly shows by your level of engagement as creators on Kickstarter. Maybe you are afraid of fanning the flames of the abuse you are taking on Kickstarter. I dunno.

Let's forget about how one person's misfortune throws a monkey wrench in multiple updates to a large percentage of your customers and how that appears to them and as a business practice (although I find it very much a symptom of the problems with your operations as volunteers in general on handling continencies). Let's talk about what it truly means to not ignore your constituents. If you had one gauge to measure the overall progress of COT to launch where would it read? (halfway?, more?, less? does anybody know? will anybody say? will you put it on Kickstarter?).

I think the best strategy for me at this point is to refrain from participation on this forum for another couple of years before this turns uglier than I intended. Let's see how things turn out then.

Fire Away wrote:

Warlocc: Aren't you the guy that said: "Thankfully, other than sending out updates, we don't use Kickstarter much anymore."? That was honest. It certainly shows by your level of engagement as creators on Kickstarter. Maybe you are afraid of fanning the flames of the abuse you are taking on Kickstarter. I dunno.

Let's forget about how one person's misfortune throws a monkey wrench in multiple updates to a large percentage of your customers and how that appears to them and as a business practice (although I find it very much a symptom of the problems with your operations as volunteers in general on handling continencies). Let's talk about what it truly means to not ignore your constituents. If you had one gauge to measure the overall progress of COT to launch where would it read? (halfway?, more?, less? does anybody know? will anybody say? will you put it on Kickstarter?).

I think the best strategy for me at this point is to refrain from participation on this forum for another couple of years before this turns uglier than I intended. Let's see how things turn out then.

What I meant was, if we used Kickstarter exclusively, one person being in the hospital would have shut down all communication entirely. That's a flaw in Kickstarter, they don't have levels of access. They give all or nothing, no middle ground. It'd be like asking a business owner to give his bank account info to all his HR employees.

Having these forums and Discord (which we promote in our Kickstarter updates), with multiple people in the PR department, means we can continue to provide support and answer questions no matter what happens with Kickstarter's system or the people in control of it. Most companies that use Kickstarter don't even bother with it at all once they get their donations, because that's what it's for- donations. It's not set up as a support portal, which limits how we can use it.

And I say this as someone that donated on Kickstarter myself. I was just another person complaining on the forums for years before I joined the team.