This will be my one and only post on the issue.
MMP has made the decision to get ASL products much closer to being "ready for prime time" before putting them on the list. When we first started the preorder system, we had no idea how our customers would respond, and how fast some items might climb. It was new territory for us.
Certainly, our initial batch of offerings took their time to hit their number, including ASL stuff (Operation Veritable). As time has past, the delay between "post and ASL item for preorder" and "ASL item hits number" has diminished considerably. Witness Valor of the Guards and Few Returned. Yes, we know this had something to do with subject matter. But we also can be confident ASL stuff is going to hit.
Instead of continuing the pattern of post it-watch it make preorder number in days-finish the game we're going to try get the game mostly finished - set it for preorder - print and ship. The former was based on the early paradigm that assumed the ASL stuff would take a long time to hit. We are attempting to live by what the preorder page says.
In game publishing, as in life, if you keep doing the same old thing, you are going to get the same result. We can make this change with the confidence that an ASL item will hit the magic number in a short time.
We now have three people - Charlie Kibler, Derek Spurlock, and myself - working on ASL layout besides Brian. This *should* speed up the process.
