Plain and simple, gilding is a costly process that has to be done by hand. The process to this day has not been automated.
He's right - making design changes to the series as a whole now is much simpler than having to "retcon" things afterwards or simply having an inconsistent series of decks.
I simply beg of him to GO EASY on the number of decks in a project. Deck bloat is becoming a serious turn-off for me. A simple project whose decks I really like suddenly costs an arm and both legs if I want the full set before time runs out. A more gradual roll-out in separate projects makes the decks easier to manage financially, particularly for people wanting either complete sets or simply a healthy number of some of the designs. When there's more than two or three designs to a project, it just gets tougher to keep track of and there's bound to be some people left dissatisfied.
I would just like to say that I agree with Don about the number of decks being offered in a project. Deck Overload?
It's become a turnoff and I can't afford to purchase so many of 3, 4 deck "sets", so I had to do without a few others. I usually buy about 4 decks of each so that I can keep one and play with the rest and it's more ideal because of the international shipping. To ship 1 deck costs about $8 and 4 decks about $16. So when there is a 4 deck project I usually pledge for 2 sets, or just 1 when I'm feeling the pinch that month.
Also, sometimes there might be a deck in the "set" that I don't like, but it gets bundled together in a cheaper price than when purchased or added on seperately.