I pursued a refund earlier this year. It was refused. To make things worse it was refused with an assurance that IM was not set in stone and could be dropped in the interest of balance. This was a blatant lie! Within weeks both Ben and CR made comments along the lines that they could see no iteration of SC that did not contain IM. In the end I simply gave up. It was not worth the effort required to squeeze my money back from a company that is perfectly willing to lie, refuses to respond to direct questions, refuses to clarify their position and devotes far more time and effort in their 'quest' to screw money from the community than they are to actually respond in a meaningful way to that community.
Yet I consider myself lucky! I caught on quickly to the scam, to the rampant dishonesty and lack of clear or meaningful disclosure in respect of the IM disaster. As a result I spent less than $500. A price that I can afford and a price I can write off to SQ 42. As for play in the PU.... I can't see myself spending more than an hour to have a quick look at it. Long term play? You have a greater chance of seeing satan skate to work then you do of finding me in the PU.
Actually piloting a ship in SC has been laid waste on the alter of overly simplistic 'accessibility', represented in large part by IM. It is the epitome of shallow soulless console gaming. There is no room for skill in a PU where you can master control of your ship in mere hours, matching pilots with months or years of experience in a single game play session. An SC universe that insists that the separation of flight and aim is necessary for all but the mouse, or alternately that it should be imposed on all other controllers to dumb down the skill to the lowest common denominator is not one that deserves the money it has raised nor the passion and efforts of those who fought for more depth in gameplay.
THAT is the argument here, that is why @Jarus and many others have fought this fight, put up with the sheer ignorance and abuse. It is not mouse vs stick, not IM vs fixed, the debate is depth and skill vs shallow and soulless. To suggest otherwise, "you just want to nerf the mouse", "you are just whinging" is to prove your own ignorance, desire for a shallow console like 'Freelancer' experience and to be blunt, your own stupidity. That is why you have fixed mouse pilots calling for the removal of IM, it is why you have gimbal mouse pilots calling for the removal of IM, it is why the sim-stick crowd are up in arms. This is the focus that CR and CIG have lost, it is why so few actually play and it is why SC will not have the longevity that CR desires.
Long live @Jarus, long live @Goloith, long live all the other numerous fighters for in depth gameplay! However, I fear, CIG is simply deaf!!!
https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/6053956/#Comment_6053956