What would probably happen instead is:
People buy the cobra 4 en-masse, fly it around, say "Wow, this thing is as slow as molasses" and sell it again.
Well, even a slow ship, when kitted well and properly managed, can function pretty well. I hate how slow the Type-9 is, but it's still my trading ship of choice, especially after a bit of engineering to perk up it's FSD to make it actually USEFUL in the role that it's supposed to be best for "by lore". I love the Cobra Mk3 for its versatility, but just because the Mk3 is a good jack of all trades doesn't mean the Mk4 has to be. With a bit of elbow grease (fueled by the endless grind), the Mk4 could be a pretty good ship. I'd certainly like to at least be able to give it a try.
I agree in terms of immersion/realism that we are all flying around in space with fortunes in the bank yet aren't able to buy a ship which we see flying around. In real life, anyone wanting one would be able to buy one. Would make more sense to me had they come up with a different reward for early supporters.
But FD said it was exclusive at time of launch, for me it's important that FD do what they say they will do, so I think it should remain exclusive.
(And I only joined the game this year, love my Cobra MkIII and would love a MkIV. But fair's fair.)
o7
I can see your point, and respect your stance, but sometimes it's better for a company in the long term to not keep exclusive content as exclusive. I can't think of any games off the top of my head at the moment, but I remember playing a few games in the past where exclusive content was eventually made available to the game's general population. Plus, as you mentioned, it takes away from the immersion. I see Mk4's flying around every single time that go into an RES, and by all logic, it would just make sense for everyone to be able to get their hands on it by now. It was honestly a bad move on Frontier's part to offer a SHIP as an exclusive item over a special paintjob unlocked across all ships, and maybe some unique bobble heads and decals, but not a ship. Besides, how many times have they gone against what they've said in the past anyway? Personally, I think it's more important for them to fix their mistakes, like in this case, rather than sticking to their guns.
I know that opinions on the ship are mixed, but honestly I think the only way for players to know for sure if they are missing out or not, or for them to find out if the ship is good for them or not, is for them to actually be able to fly it. Besides, with the exception of the Capital Ships, we can pilot almost all of the types of spacecraft available in human space, it doesn't make any real sense for the Devs to keep this one behind a wall with the weak excuse of it being an "exclusive" (Which is really all that is. A weak excuse for why they haven't made it available for everyone yet when it really should be). I'm not asking for space legs, if those come along then they'll come along, if they ever do come along. I'm just asking for a FDev to throw a small bone that I'm quite certain would be easy enough for them to do, maybe a little bit of changed coding here and there. (I'm not a programmer, so I could be wrong, but still).
It would certainly be an excellent gesture of goodwill from them with how many times they've brought down the "Balance Hammer" on people's heads.
