Intrepid should be careful on taking everyone's feedback and here is why

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There's no indication in that thread that the poster didn't research the game (much more indication that they did, more than most do), not a ton of indication that they don't understand the game, and not much that one can consider 'feedback', it's just them complaining that the game is 'going to fail' because things aren't done the way they think solves a problem.

A real problem, for which they offer a real solution that a lot of people just wouldn't like.

If you told me that I had a very binary choice between 'this game has zero actual currency' and 'this game has a currency that can be directly converted from time spent and optional currency sinks' I'd definitely have to think about it, and I don't think I'd pick the second one.

In this case, even if you dislike the way the argument is made, or the basis of it, it doesn't imply either of the things you said, so as usual I consider it better to leave it to Intrepid to decide if they care about anything said by a person who basically goes 'Aww this game doesn't do thing I like/think is necessary, that sucks it's gonna fail'.

But that's a matter of comparing the person's ideals and goals to Steven's/the team's, not a matter of 'this person is stupid and doesn't know what they want'.

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Yes, Intrepid themselves are very 'passion' based.

I'll always suggest being measured in this because I've watched many teams have internal friction because some person outside it decides that the 'current path' is a monolithic decision the team is supporting that can't change (not in a game design situation more than once, though).

A passion project has more reason to listen to the passionate than one that's trying to check a specific set of boxes to have a given outcome, so your point is probably the strongest way to interpret it. Players with a passion for nearly any component of an MMORPG exist because gamers are varied and MMORPGs are often VERY inclusive even when they have a clear goal, by their nature.

Obviously I'm in the camp of 'analytics will do its thing'.

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You know... "There's no way they'll actually do that" -> "Proof they'll actually do that." -> [Silence], really has nothing to do with anyone saying "They shouldn't do that." It's a pretty bold assumption to say he doesn't want them to, instead of "He really wants them to, but doesn't believe they'd agree."

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Not disagreeing with your perspective on how things feel around here at all, but they are probably just emotionally reacting defensively to someone assuming they were something they abhor. I think you'd probably be angry in the same situation right (even if it wasn't necessarily right to take it out on said person making an honest mistake.) They'll probably cool off later.

It's definitely a flaw to blow up on said person after they admit they were wrong in my opinion. Up to you whether you perceive that as a flaw worth forgiving just like Liniker should probably decide if it's worth forgiving someone making an assumption out of pattern recognition.

I think you handled the situation maturely for what it's worth. We need more of that around here.