I totally agree with you.
It amazes me the unwillingness of people to educate themselves especially when the info they need is readily available. Sickening. You don’t want to go to PMDG forums and know what’s up, you see things you don’t agree with, you don’t seek an explanation, you make comments based on no facts at all, just assumptions, and these assumptions, you have absolutely no reason to have because they’re based on ZERO facts. Now, “you” does not refer to you, mhron. I’m agreeing with you. I’m referring to the multitudes of people on the forum complaining with absolute unwillingness to know what’s going on.
YouTube is already littered with videos of folk claiming all the jets fly the same, and it’s just an extension of the fuselage, bla bla bla, meanwhile, they only own the 600 or the 700, have never owned any other PMDG product, but somehow, they’re sure PMDG is out for blood. One claimed it didn’t have a cabin. The other just skimped over his walkaround, claiming it was just an extended fuselage of the 700, and why isn’t it $35 like the 600? Looked at the overhead panel and missed the new packs. On the exterior, he didn’t even notice the tail skid. One claimed “oh it’s the same aircraft, in fact, the -800 is bouncy…” because he convinced himself it was the same flight characteristics, and now was wondering why he couldn’t fly the same vspeeds.
Make your arguments (again I keep using you, but I don’t mean you, lol) based on, for instance, PMDG claims the plane flies in such a way, but after testing, I’ve found that out to be false." Then you’d have an argument, otherwise, you’re just willfully ignorant, and wasting everyone’s time.
If you’ve owned PMDG’s products, you’ll know they pay attention to detail, and nothing is cosmetic. The BW variants fly differently from the SSW variants, just like IRL. PMDG categorically states this, and IRL pilots both on and off PMDG tech team have confirmed this. The 800 obviously flies much different from the 700, and anyone who disagrees with this established fact is either being ignorant (sometimes willingly so), or plain dishonest in order to make a point. The only time PMDG has ever made a cosmetic expansion was in their first Queen of the Skies 747-8i/f expansions of the 747-400. And with this expansion, they made it abundantly clear that it was visual only, and the cockpit, flight dynamics and engines, etc., were still that of the -400. In fact, you had to check a box stating that you understood this before you could pay for it.
People create so much drama about features that don’t exist, meanwhile everyone knows that these features are coming for free because we bothered to check PMDG’s development updates. We know the EFB is coming. We know why it’s not available yet, and that it’s a from-scratch new EFB. We know the wheel well is just a placeholder, and they’re modeling the actual one, and it’s coming and whenever it comes, it will be passed down to earlier models. We know a better resolution cabin is coming, we know what’s keeping the weather radar. You have a $5 discount because you got in before all features have been completed (actual price is $74.99), and you have so many equipment options that other people would charge for. Heck, you’re getting 8 airplanes for $69.99. I don’t know which is better, getting the exact variant you want for $69.99, or getting an expansion pack for $29.99 which requires the base pack of $99.99 to function. Yes this is not an exaggeration. That’s how it used to be. We didn’t like that, so they made it cheaper, yes, CHEAPER. If you think it’s the same thing, why are you fussing about other variants? get the one you like and be content. After all, according to you, they all fly the same.