I knew I was signing up for an online game, the fact that offline was a potential extra was a bonus but not a deal breaker.
If it was a deal breaker for you then you should have waited until release before commiting anything.
For me online only mode is also not a deal breaker.
But your second sentence is ridiculous. The "Offline People" wanted a new Elite and after it was stated that it would contain an offline mode
they backed this development as anyone else, because they wanted this game to come true. There is no "wait for the release".
If not enough people backing a project on Kickstarter it will not happen, or it will not as good as when more people spend money on this.
You just try to turn the fault from the developers to the customers, but this is IMHO not legit. It's the developers fault to give promises
that they might can't fulfill, or might not want to fulfill in the future. It's their fault, not the one of the backers who believed in those promises.
And offline vs. online mode is not something like 20 vs. 25 ships or "sorry we just do 100 instead of 200 billion stars in".
This IS a dealbreaker for some players. No matter of it is for me and you. Just try to think yourself in their situation,
as they might work on a oil platform in the Atlantic or for whatever reason have no internet on their gaming machine.
And the other thing on this is making promises and then not stick to them is no good behavior.
Especially when you make people spend money on those promises and then break them.
And even when they refund every one of them now, its just a major disappointment to them, waiting 2 Years for something they care
and in the end, only got punched in the face by a company that just feel no needs to stick on their promises.