Quoted from jgentry:A little odd that you are making a case not to upgrade to a premium because the value isn't there when you own 5 stern premium/LE's. People that buy premiums want the full featured game and the light show is a big part of that and is no way easily replicated or moded. I also don't see people trying to add additional magnets to a pro, they wouldn't be coded properly anyway. The spinner kit for MET pro is nice but once again it's not coded into the game the same as on the premium/LE.
If you want to make a case that Borg pro's are by far the best value to get and you don't lose much in game play then I completely agree. But 99.9% of the population would not be able to add the things to a pro to make it equivalent to the premium. By the time you buy all of those very highly priced custom mods and spend hours of your life installing them you would have been much better off just buying the premium if those features are important to you. The whole point of the pro is for people that want the cheapest game and don't mind losing a few features.
Not making a case not to upgrade, simply saying I find the upgrades these days hard to justify and like you rightfully said in the past I have often made the jump from Pro to Prem/LE, so your preaching to the choir and I will happily admit right now I have always felt pretty good about it. I was more trying to say that I find it hard to believe Stern removed 2 x $10 spinners and 2 x $40 magnets (and those are our costs from parts retailers, Sterns wholesale price will be pennies) and it was all part of their master plan.
Not once when I brought any of my Prem/LE titles did I only get 2 x $10 spinners and 2 x $40 magnets for the jump up, even my most recent and most stupid purchase BM66LE was worth the jump in materials, it was about £900 more than the Prem but the LE came with the topper, I am not normally a topper guy but the BM66LE topper is awesome, Stern charge about £400-£550 for their official toppers here, side rails cut into Batmanesque designs and powder coated black with silver sparkle, to do all that here, including prepping the existing premium armour, it would have cost me £200- £300, so the difference was there in physical cost and the extra £100-200 that isn't accounted for, I guess we can say that's what I paid for the limited edition status and more importantly the art (translite) package I liked the most.
I am a big fan of Stern don't get me wrong I want them to continue thriving but at the same time I would like them to stop taking us all for granted and at times down right taking the piss. Tron, ST, TWD, MET etc, there was a jump from Pro to Prem to LE, but there was alot of extras on those titles and at least on those titles Stern made you "feel" like you where getting value and your monies worth, even with BM66 if you ignore the base price to begin with and the SLE and just focus on the jump between Prem and LE it was worth it.
IMO GOTG Pro should have kept the spinners and maybe even the opening orb and the Prem/LE could of had Groots hands that move with a magnet in each to pick up or interfere with the balls, I would have made that jump from Pro to Prem/LE in a heartbeat, yeah it wouldn't be worth it from a material stand point but the awesomeness of it would be worth it.