I fully understand the viewpoint of paying for something that is not even out yet let alone paying over 100 bucks for such a think. That is a HUGE turn off for even me. But with that said this is THE game I have been waiting for since I first booted up elite and then privateer all those years ago. I think I am about 500+ in the hole for this game and I dont regret any of it. (granted I may later if the game gets canceled before release or turns out to suck, but with the team they put together that is unlikely.)

As for the DRM. AFAIK the game will come with 1)SP/COOP campaign that you can play offline or ONLINE. If you play it online what you earn will transfer over to the #2 point. 2)An online MMO open world game that can be played online (with your transfered SP campaign stuff) Offline in SP mode or you can even host your own private server and mod the game or play with your friends. (though what you do on your private server wont transfer over.

To me that is huge and pretty much covers all the bases.

The LTI is interesting in itself. The way that works is you get a base ship and can replace it if destroyed (within a limited game timeframe IE every 3-4 hours so you cant abuse it.) If you dont have LTI then you will have 6-12 months of free insurance on the aurora when the game first comes out. After your insurance runs out then you will have to pay to replace your in game plane. If you cant then you can A)start a new character and buy a ship with starting money or B) crew for an AI ship / player until you make enough cash to buy a ship of your own.

The LTI is not really even needed to effectively play the game. I think they just needed something to entice people to donate money and it seems to have worked well with over 9million in donations sofar.