Want to know why people pirate video games?

What you seem to have is technical difficulties, you are frustrated that you cannot play the game yet.

This has nothing to do with piracy, or the developer.

As a matter of fact, Impulse is preventing piracy by cutting out the publisher and keeping prices low.
That is something very progressive, look at the other game distribution platform that charges 60$ for lousy games that are only direct downloads.
A platform like Steam could have been the same but they just charge more for the games increasing their profits even more.

Iron Clad games should be saluted for keeping their prices this low and still offering top quality games, imagine what would have happened if this expansion was offered by Steams or EA Games.

Just take a deep breath and wait for them to sort out difficulties.

Antagonistic666 is correct as far as paying for online games, ironclad do seem to be the cheapest and to be honest i have had so little problems that i have found it a pleasure doing business with them. maybe you should look at your own internet connection about your crashes or maybe your pc itself. Might i also add that as Antagonistic666 said this has nothing to do with piracy. 

I prefer direct digital downloads to the invasive DRM you get from physical game purchases.

I cant update fences because the impulse client keeps getting an error trying to download the update.  So yes, I suppose this frustrates uses enough that they may consider using other ways to get their programs.  Stardock, please correct this problem. 

Fair point, to be honest.

It's the garbage you have to put up with to get somewhere that's frustrating.

I brought several games 2001ish, and my CD drive was a cheap one the DRM on the disk meant I couldn't play them.  Was about 3 games out of 20 I brought that year.  One was fixed with a patch from the website, but the other two... Well after buying them over a counter I then downloaded those games 'illegally' even though I'd actually legally purchaced them both.  Under UK law I'm sure I was "legally" breaking the copy right even if morally and ethically I was doing nothing wrong. I'll mention nothing about a music CD I had the same problem with, as to play that I know I broke UK law.    That's why I have to agree that DRM is bad juju.  DRM forced me after actually paying for a product to then 'pirate' it.  As I was working for UK law enforcement at the time it rather amused me.

I have to say I'd agree with Elisius thou.  I'm sat here trying to patch SoaSE which I've brought from a shop, and I'm struggling with the patch it with impulse.  It doesn't encourage me, so do I then start looking for a 'dodgy' copy of the patch from an ureputable location?  What other joys will I encounter there?

DRM to me is no different from a buggy software.  It stops me from just kicking back and enjoying the game I've brought legally.

The main problem with DRM is that any halfway-savvy internet user these days can bypass it. It only hassles the legitimate buyers.

I'm totally in favor of companies protecting their property. But I think they need to find a way that inconveniences the pirates but is totally transparent to legimate users. MMOs have, by and large, achieved this - you need an active, paid account to even log into the game. But it's a bit trickier for single-player games.

I've always thought Stardock tried to strike a nice balance. They release wonderful games totally without copy protection, but in order to play online or download patches you need a verified CD key and online account. It's a sort of sanctioned "try before you buy" arrangement (or perhaps, more accurately, "the first hit is free" :P). And now I'm a loyal, paying customer.

But it irks me to no end seeing a regular, single-player game with layers of copy protection that makes it difficult for me, having purchased the thing legitimately have to jump through hoops to use. 'Cause I know there are pirates out there who don't have to go through that kind of trouble. Why do people who illegally get something for free get a version that's superior, less buggy, and easier to use than those of us who pay? That's just not right.

What was the issue you were having with Impulse?  We'd be more than happy to help you work out whatever is causing the problems.  From your post, it sounds like you just installed IE7 to install Impulse?  Do you have any other Windows updates to install?  Impulse is reliant on the .NET Framework, and it may be that you also have some updates, and probably service packs, for .NET to install as well.