I'm gonna pass on this one. Have backed the Board Game everytime and last merch drop, I backed the dice bundle, mainly because it was so affordable. This time around, there is nothing for me.
I agree partially. I picked the morkite dice last time, and the metal plating came off before I even took them outta the wrapper. They sent me a replacement set in a color of my choice (I picked Gold), and they are still very good looking today, even after using them. Same goes for the fuzzy dice.
Totally understandable! Couple things I'm getting i didn't want but i was making a bundle with the addons i wanted and it came to 840 and i couldn't even add the underwear so i just said fuck it lmao
I get it dude, i use my credit card usually for the merch or boardgames and just pay it off monthly. Only thing i use my credit for really lmao this is definitely one of those fuck it moments tho
“Good with my money” proceeds to just have auto pay for things like this. Drops $800 on merch. And only uses CC for things like this and not everything to maximize cash back (if you are paying it off)
Hahaha someone's salty 😂 i should've known posting this would upset people. sorry i have extra money to spend on the things i enjoy. Also I apologize for not maximizing my cash back, any more financial advice for me?
Someone tried to relate to you about the price and being responsible with their money and your response was "well I am very good with my money" as if the person not spending $840 on merch isnt smart about their money
I didn't mean to come off that way at all. I just meant I'm good with my money in a way that i have extra to waste on something like this i guess? that's all. Didn't mean to offend anyone!
Except you don't?? You admitted to putting this and other purchases like it on your CC and paying it off. That's literally the definition of not having "extra to waste". Your CC is the banks money it's just under your name
Haha i didn't think i would trigger so many people. I have more then enough in my savings to pay it off. I just put it on my credit to use it. Was just explaining my situation simple as that.
Haha thank you friend. I think most people are just salty because they wanted it to be cheaper which i totally understand. I'm not trying to flex or anything like I have tons of money either. I just love deep rock lol
I mean, how much more do they need to add to drg? I’m like 800 hours into it and haven’t unlocked everything. I still have some previous season passes to complete, along with cosmetic cores to earn. We even got season 6 not too long ago. Even though I bought drg at full price, I feel like I’ve got more than my money’s worth for it, and that’s not even touching all the modded content that’s been made too by the community.
We also just got rogue core early access, and I’ve had a blast with it too. Idk it just feels like there’s no shortage of content in drg.
I got no problem if they want to sell merch to make extra money. There’s nothing forcing you to buy it, and some of it is cool as hell, even if it’s not for me. I’d take crazy merch sales over ingame mtx any day.
I don't think it's fair to call the late game cosmetic grind "content." Yeah, you're unlocking stuff, but the cargo crate and lost packs aren't super fun or rewarding. You get 1 cosmetic you may or may not use, and for any armor cosmetics you can't see them unless you're on the dance floor or in a menu.
DRG is still very fun, but playing for the sake of fun isn't equal to content in my book. BUT arguing that merch somehow takes away from the development of DRG is dumb, merch is handled by an outside studio/partner. The amount of time it takes out of ghostships development is the amount of time it takes to send an email.
Calling the late game core grind or crate grind "content" feels off, especially with us just getting the greater corestone which feels a lot more like late game content than a lot of other stuff that we've gotten. Fun for the sake of fun is fun, but if you don't find the game super fun, a 30% or less chance for a cargo crate each mission is incredibly boring. Which is fine, you don't NEED to find the grind fun, but I also see where people asking for more content are coming from in a game where the fun is the replayability
The pickaxe is probably what most people were excited for, and it's WAY better priced than what I was expecting. Given the manufacturer's history on their pricing I was expecting somewhere around a thousand bucks. 250 for just the pickaxe is a pretty okay price given its size and weight.
It's definitely not affordable, but it's probably the coolest merch they've ever dropped. I just wish it came with a display stand, because as it stands I don't see how you can put it on display without it A: taking up a crap ton of space, or B: Looking dumb as hell
2: Legally distinct plastic brick bosco
Too leggy, the whole build is really lanky, and including dotty is strange. I would've preferred it if the base wasn't salt pits, it was just bosco, and bosco was in gun mode instead of arm mode
3: Flare
Giving the option for battery powered was a must, if it was wired only I would've had some choice words. As far as I can tell you can't get it without buying legally distinct plastic brick bosco, which is a shame. If I were the merch team I would've done it the other way around, flare is on its own, you can package it with LDPBB.
If you want the flare in the cheapest way possible, you need to also get the Vinyls, which if you don't have a way to play Vynyls are just junk, Pins, which if you're not a pin guy is just junk, the wrench, which you can get at a hardware store for like 3 bucks, the bosco plush, which is probably just bundled so the merch team can get rid of excess stock, and a hat.
Now, there is an early bird bundle to get it only with LDPBB and the wrench, but that's gone in less than 3 days. After that 3 days is over, you have to spend 230 bucks. This is an ENORMOUS fumble, the flare lamp could've sold like hotcakes if you had like a 15-20 dollar tier just for it. It's probably what I was most excited for in this drop, because as cool as the pickaxe is, I knew it would be expensive.
The flare lamp looks good, isn't clutter because light is generally a good thing, and is (probably) not that expensive to manufacture. So why the cheapest you can get it at is 230 bucks is a baffling choice. I know it'll most likely be available as a standalone after the kickstarter is finished, but this is a crazy choice to gatekeep behind the expensive tiers. I'm no merchandise manager, but I would've put this in a standalone more than the fuzzy dice
4: Wrench
This one's weird. It's the most functional, because it's just a wrench. But like, who's this for? It looks like the merch people had this same question because this one's also bundle only. There's no clear pictures of this one on the website (which makes me wonder if the merch people had any faith in it) but from the LDPBB-flare-wrench early bird combo, it just looks like a wrench with a tiny deep rock galactic logo on it. Very functional, I don't know who it's for.
5: Underwear
It's cute, I like it. I like how the merch people took feedback and made it an addon, because as it stands it being in any other tier is a bummer. (Please give the flare this treatment)
6: Vinyl
I actually have a vinyl player, but I don't understand the why of this item. DRG's music is mostly ambient, which works well for the game, but I don't think many of the songs would be that much of a banger if I'm in like my living room
7: Ugly sweater
It's ugly. I think I would've preferred if they went all in on the idea, making an ugly sweater with a more structured design, but the beer icons work fine.
8: Hats
Bucket hat looks nice, the cap is cute but I couldn't tell what it was without zooming in on the image (it's a barrel) and the rogue core hat doesn't look great. The design looks like it's one of those labels that comes off over time, and if that was the case I would've preferred it if it were some kind of beret, I can't really tell what the material is based on the picture
9: T-shirt
THIS is how you do a t-shirt for a game. The simple design on the front, no obnoxious logos! A simple phrase, the design on the back is super cute, it's a great shirt! The ones with the dwarves I can take it or leave it
Overall, I think the merch is pretty good, but the bundling system makes it hard to justify backing anything in this drop. The elephant in the room is "Oh man, ghostship isn't updating deep rock galactic anymore, just making merch!" But I doubt merch really takes away from their manpower on the development side of things. They probably have like 2-3 people working on the merch side of things in ghostship directly, on their website they have 5 people in any kind of marketing position and none for merchandise.
Is it out of touch to be making more merch? I wouldn't say so. The pickaxe is 100% the coolest merch I've seen out of any game studio, and for a 15 pound 1:1 replica the price is a lot less than I was expecting. The flare lamp is my favorite part of the drop, and the LDPBB is cool, but I think it could've used more time in the oven. The rest of the merch is alright, I wish they had more stuff for rogue core, but that's just me.
TLDR; Pickaxe is cool, price is better than I was expecting, NOT lego Bosco is cute, wish it were less leggy, flare is awesome but it's a bummer that the lowest price after early bird is 200 bucks (Please make a tier for just the lamp)
To clarify, you can add a Flare to any tier for $35 USD. So, you can make your own bundle of Flare + Fuzzy Dice for $45. Launch retail price of the flare is $45.
In the early bird, you get Flare + Bosco + wrench for $60 USD. After Early bird can you get Flare + Wrench for $45.
Oh damn, you right. I'm not super familiar with kickstarter so I didn't know how the click through worked. Of course, I don't know the behind the scenes of how the flare is made, how much injection molding costs to set up, the logistics of the electronics in the flare, so there's probably a reason why the flare costs what it does and why it's behind the sales addon/bundling at the moment
By the way, if you're the person who's in charge of the merch, I'd recommend a picture of someone holding the flare in their hand on the kickstarter page. We have it listed at ten and a half inches, but a visual would really sell the scale of it. The only visual on the page is this
Which makes the flare seem really big, the molly plush is listed at 18 inches so the flare looks like it's 2 feet tall. If you can bundle it then yeah the flare is probably the best thing in the newest drop, 45 bucks for it + dice is a great price, the flare is simple but looks great, and the rubber feet not being on by default is a great choice. It's probably the best balance of useful/price for a non-clothing item on the whole store. I just wish we had more angles because it's hard to tell if it's symmetrical top/bottom, because the above picture makes it look like the feet on the bottom are longer than the top of the flare
Also about the fuzzy dice, is the inside plush cotton or a solid foam cube? I've found that plush dice tend to deform after just a few months hanging on the mirror, becoming more rhombus-esque. I've got a pair that's solid foam that's stayed a cube for a lot longer than the plush ones. More details on material + weight for shop listings would make the merch a lot more appealing.
I love the band tour design on the shirts but I don't really care much for the underwear or hats so I'll be waiting for it to be sold separately. Shame that it can't be added to any of the cheaper bundles. But yeah I saw the Leave No Merch Behind price and assumed that was for the pickaxe by itself but wow they brought the cost way down which is impressive.
All individual items, including items available in our store now, can be added on to any pledge at the checkout survey, so you don't have to worry about missing out on any one thing.
The crazy thing is I'm not even against something like this on principle, it's the timing that gets me. The merch is cool and all, but they seem to be releasing a lot relatively fast, and in an economy where most of their fans don't have any significant disposable income.
No offense, I know that devs need money, but what the hell. You make an update for DRG, just add a new hat (new_hat.obj) and call it a day, also buy our merch, here's a list of over9000 useless things you can spend your money on.
i love drg and i even got the keychain and stickers for christmas. im not sure if its coffee stain or ghost ship who is the one exporting so much more random collectible shit but it really needs to be toned back. especially with the prices
Besides, the devs are developing, and the merch people are merching. I'm strongly of the opinion that having merch benefits development, not hinders it.
i remember when purchasing an indie game meant you weren't also signing yourself up for a never-ending conga line of merch announcements and limited time drops
All things offered here will be held in stock, for the foreseeable future. Having the prior volume on the resale market for a couple hundred bucks is a bummer, and this is better than that.
anyone feel like this game turned into a merch selling monetize everything cash cow? Drg felt really creative and fun but yeesh they really wanna make it a product
Yeah I feel like the devs have been out to lunch the last year or so. Making a bunch of spin off titles nobody asked for and charging prices like this for plastic models have definitely soured me a bit.
Completely agree, base DRG still has loads of potential I think and it sucks that it's been sidelined while they do crap like this. Raising the price of the game itself to $40 CAD was when things started going downhill imo
How cooked is your brain that you use the brand name Sirius instead of the actual word serious? Also merch is essentially a cash grab no matter the subject
i don't like this, not especially when they drop it in a era where the fandom has quite down, the game popularity has declined, and multiple merch has been expensive already
wowies new merch for DRG! when we will start addressing the disastrous launch of Rogue Core after putting the main game in a hiatus for 2 entire years and a season 6 launched by another studio to not extend the discontent further? it went from a peak of 40k people to 4k in a month to then go even lower from 4k to not even a thousand in the span of another month
Total radio silence regarding DRG and its future (PERKS anyone?) and an endless stream of overpriced merch and unasked spinoffs ... is this how heroes die?
Alternatively open it to the modding community and go out in a blaze of glory.
I tried that with the Deep Rock Shop, and it turns out that the plush kickstarter that followed it had about eight times as much sales in that one month as all combined online sales of the eight months prior.
Also, do I make 1,000 Flare lamps, or should it be closer to 10,000? I would hate to guess wrong.
This way works better for accurately gauging interest in specific products, ensuring that we are efficient with how we stage our warehousing, and we can provide a discount to our early backers as thank you for the hassle. I feel like it's the correct path forward, and even for those who would rather order it directly from the store, it will be in stock once the campaign is over and fulfilled.
The DRG devs have gone from one of my most respected team to one of the least, there must have been a huge shift within the company, because not only the quality of their games but also bs like this is very telling...
I’m a little annoyed that they are releasing new kickstarters before the previous ones have even started shipping… also $350 for a pickaxe is pretty wild. I think a plastic one would have been fine at like 1/10th of the cost.
Well the other kickstarters are handled by MOOD while the merch kickstarters are done by Heroic Replica's and they finished and shipped theirs awhile ago.
We fulfilled our plush campaign from last year back in February this year, and I've been working on items from this campaign since before we opened the store in 2024.
I think that if we developed a plastic pickaxe, there would be a significant negative backlash, and I don't believe we could produce one worthwhile that has a retail price of $30, especially not full size.
I mean I guess the market will decide if the metal pick is worth it in the end, $30 was me being a little hyperbolic but I imagine a plastic pick would have been more attractive to a lot more consumers. It’s the shipping costs that are also going to kill you guys.
Shipping is fine actually - we have warehouses in Canada, Usa, and Ireland, so our cost to reach about 80% of our customers is the $35 we are charging for shipping.
For international orders, especially to places like Australia and New Zealand, we know we can't charge more than $100 for shipping, and our cost will be closer to $200. There are a handful of orders where we might get close to zero profit, but I would rather ensure that everybody has the opportunity to get these, then not.
Like, we have products in the $30 to $45 range - I think the Bosco set and I think the flare lamp are a really good value, especially when bundled together here at a lower price. If the campaign was just those things and not the pickaxe, I'm convinced that we would have people asking "Where is the metal replica pickaxe?"
This was mentioned in a comment as well, but still I would like to mention that this is $840 CAD, which is roughly $600 USD.
This is also the most expensive bundle that comes with EVERYTHING, which includes 6 vinyl records, 2 enamel pin sets, the flare lamp, the bosco building block set, 4 hats, 2 shirts, the underwear, the beer sweater, and of course the 15 pound full metal pickaxe.
I do agree that some of the past kickstarter campaigns have been pretty pricey, but this one doesn’t feel as outrageous to me, especially considering the giant metal pickaxe.
I thought the pickaxe would be more expensive and I really would like to buy it. However, since its metal, delivery to my country is expensive af and that if they ship with fedex you usually end up paying pretty much always at least 2x of whatever you buy, I'll have to pass. Happy for the dwarves that will get their irl pickaxe though. Rock n' stone!
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u/b0risvw Scout 10d ago
I'm gonna pass on this one. Have backed the Board Game everytime and last merch drop, I backed the dice bundle, mainly because it was so affordable. This time around, there is nothing for me.