BioWare Responds to Mass Effect 3 Day-One DLC on Disc

[FateOrFatality]

What really annoys me is that Chris Priestly accused someone who unlocked the Javik files on their disc of piracy. He said they were illegaly accessing the DLC - by unlocking stuff on the disc they found. Seriously...

There is a screen cap of the conversation on the Bioware forums somewhere, but I don't have it. If anybody has a copy I'd appreciate it if they could post it.

 

[Frostbite3789]

a sizeable chunk of gamers who've sworn off buying the game completely.

Because gamers are known for their fortitude when it comes to not buying a product.

 

[lacktheknack]

Companies should just go back to the old method of DLC i think, it all seems the same except this method kicked a mightier shit storm than the old ways.

Internet shitstorms are preferable to firing all your staff and rehiring them.

 

[Avatar Roku]

While we're on topic of DLC:

More is on the way.

But that, unless I miss my guess, is free DLC. When he says "you buy it from the store like any other [pack]", he means that you buy it with in-game currency you get from playing the game (you can also spend real money, but why would you?).

Also, those new classes look AWESOME. I want a Geth Infiltrator and Krogan Battlemaster right now.

 

[Murmillos]

Internet shitstorms are preferable to firing all your staff and rehiring them.

And slash and burning brand loyalty is where on that "preferable" scale? Because its clearly the modus operandi of EA with no signs of slowing down.

I won't say I'll never buy a EAWare game every again - but they lost me as a day one pre-order collectors editions buyer.

I can easily wait until their games are $30. Just like nearly every other publisher on my list - as very few games hold $50+ status for any measure of time. BioWare was the last major company that was on my full pre-order collectors edition support list.
We had a rocky weekend after DA2 came out, but I guess I was naive that her new pimp EA would make her change so much.

I don't think full boycotts are needed - but hurt them where it matters, pre-orders and week 1 and week 2 sales.

 

[lacktheknack]

Internet shitstorms are preferable to firing all your staff and rehiring them.

And slash and burning brand loyalty is where on that "preferable" scale? Because its clearly the modus operandi of EA with no signs of slowing down.

I won't say I'll never buy a EAWare game every again - but they lost me as a day one pre-order collectors editions buyer.

I can easily wait until their games are $30. Just like nearly every other publisher on my list - as very few games hold $50+ status for any measure of time. BioWare was the last major company that was on my full pre-order collectors edition support list.
We had a rocky weekend after DA2 came out, but I guess I was naive that her new pimp EA would make her change so much.

I don't think full boycotts are needed - but hurt them where it matters, pre-orders and week 1 and week 2 sales.

They've realized that you're one of about six people who actually do this. People can complain and claim burned loyalty all they want, but in reality, the impact is nearly negligible.

 

[Murmillos]

They've realized that you're one of about six people who actually do this. People can complain and claim burned loyalty all they want, but in reality, the impact is nearly negligible.

True.. I just wish people knew how EA operated, as for their shareholders.

Shareholders are so flighty with their investment money, that if a game doesn't "print money" the first week it's released - its considered a failure. People would heavily hurt EA by not buying in those first few weeks (or doing so in very low numbers). Do this a couple of times and EA would be forced to listen to bring gamers back on board to week one sales.

Thats the whole other reason for paid day-one DLC. More straight up income means better financial come that following Monday.

Oh but gamers... the vast majority have no will on their wallets that matches their "out rage".

 

[Price0331]

Here's my 3 reasons I'm not going to buy this game.

1.Day 1 DLC of a Prothian character, not just any character, but a Prothian. (Total biscuit hit that point home pretty good.) I'd be somewhat OK with it if it wasn't a particularly lore-important character, but an F'ing Prothian? That would be like be like a Halo game coming out in which you can play as a Forerunner, but only if you pay an extra $10. No thanks.

2.It uses origin, of which it's terms of use enslave you to have it on without your permission forever. Basically you are signing a contract to let a virus on your computer.

3.And it all gets wrapped up and put with a cherry on top by BioWare lying about content not being on the disk. Bullshit. 600 megs is nothing nowadays in game data. I'm almost comparing apple to oranges here, but World of Warcraft is almost 18 Gigs.

I'm personally (key term personally) kind of surprised that so many people are willing to throw money at these kind of practices. I understand that they did development time during the testing phase, supposedly after the game had gone "golden" but it just seems like a cheap cash grab, where you're paying $10 for 600MB of data, of which there is already some data for that said content on the disk. The lot of you just sound like you don't care about the politics behind these things, or what it could do to the industry as a whole, and whatever, that's cool, but I do. Keep throwing your wallets at these people for this garbage, give them an inch, and they'll take a mile. They are already doing that with this online pass nonsense.

As an ending note, check out this cracked article.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18817_5-reasons-future-will-be-ruled-by-b.s..html

 

[beniki]

You want I should show you the chart?

*snip of pretty chart*

Huh... just looking at the chart, and it occurred to me that the shown process supposes that the Pre-Production team is different from the Production team, and so on.

I can see the Test team being different, since fresh eyes would lead to better quality control. I just wonder why the first two stages are separated. Kind of thought it would be better to keep the team the same to keep the initial ideas and tone the same.

Unless, of course, they are the same teams, and publishers are getting the developers with a launch date deadline to do more work on top of what they should be focusing on. In which case, that would explain a lot of the mediocrity in modern games.

Hmm... nope, doesn't convince me that Day 1 DLC is a good thing, only that it reduces the overall quality of games for the benefit of publisher profit margins, and the expense of devs sleep cycles. I'm old now, and don't have much time for games. I prefer quality over speed. I can wait.

I'll still buy Mass Effect 3 of course. Either when the price drops, or they release the Super Special Full Complete All-DLC-Inclusive Mega Game-of-the-Year Platinum Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Edition.

It's not that I'm angry, or upset over the issue. That's just what the game is worth to me. Now excuse me, I'm going to keep dodging spoilers until this whole thing blows over.

Angry Fan: HEY! DID YOU HEAR WHAT THEY DID TO TALI?!?!?! SHE TOTALLY-

Lalalala!! Not listening! Lalala!

 

[Sotanaht]

I feel that it is the developers responsibility to its customers to provide the most complete and best game experience they possibly can on release. By limiting certain features that could otherwise be available on release to only certain customers, they deny their responsibility to those others to whom they are not providing the best experience possible. "From Ashes" could have been included in the full standard game on release. Doing so would have been an improvement to the game, deliberately failing to include said content is equivalent to deliberately damaging the potential game experience.

This is not a matter of 100% without, 110% with. Anything and everything that is possible is required to attain 100%, and anything less then 100% is completely unacceptable. 101% can only be achieved after the deadlines have come and gone.

This is distinct from DLC that is not finished until after the game is released. The assumption is that that DLC could never have been finished along with the actual game given it's release date. The developer (hopefully) has already done the best job they can, already provided 100% of the full game experience, and now they are going above and beyond to improve the game after the fact.

The development cycle is fine, sort of. The problem is they aren't including all of the fruits of the game's development cycle in with the actual game. Instead they are separating them out and selling them as DLC, when all they really are is another part of the finished game.

 

[LetalisK]

As I said in another thread: Day one DLC, especially when it's already on the disc, just looks bad. Production realities aside, the optics of it are just terrible.

If they delayed it even a few days to a week (and hey, maybe added an extra mission or two) after launch, I bet a lot fewer people would be crying over it. (or hell, even just to fucking test it more, as From Ashes has a CTD bug where if you watch the wrong video signal first, you'll crash. WTF?)

It's all about managing perceptions.

Pretty much this. Seems like most gaming companies see fit to do without a competent and dedicated PR department, which makes sense for smaller companies, but not big ones releasing huge blockbusters. And then on the other hand you have a vocal minority of the gaming community itself acting less than gracefully. It's a clusterfuck all around.

 

[Strazdas]

just to point out that DLC WAS INCLUDED in the disc. pirates were playing it straight from the disc with a little 5MB size patch. now while pirates are not "good source" im sure that the million downloads confirming that it works should speak for itself.
P.S. no i didnt pirate it i dont paly mass effect.

 

[disgruntledgamer]

LMAO this is an out and out crock of shit. The DLC is on the disc when you buy it all you're doing is activating it, this has been proven. If you doubt it check your Bandwidth usage when you download it, it no where near the size of the DLC even if it was zipped it's 5MB in size.

Bioware doesn't even lie good.

 

[carnex]

No, according to the Bioware and the people who unlocked Javik, DLC is not on the disc.
Javik is, and the rifle is. Mission and most of his interactions are not.

Pirates got the Origin colectors edition with DLC included. Not the disc version.

And again, without Jack and the DLC you get everything, including best possible ending. DLC just gives you some more background informations which is really important only for fans that are invested and attached to the Mass Effect universe.

 

[Stevepinto3]

There is an intelligent, necessary conversation to be had here about the nature of DLC, day one or otherwise, and the pricing of games in general. Sadly I don't see this discussion taking place until after we can move past individual examples like ME3, there has been so much commotion about this game that I don't think there is any way to salvage the dialogue at this point. Those opposed will just keep insisting that they're expected to pay more for something they've already bought, and those not opposed will just reference the aforementioned chart. It's not really going anywhere.

Either way, it's not like publishers are going to change there policies when it's clearly working for them.

 

[Sexy Devil]

*deleted*

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

By all rights you shouldn't even be allowed to complain.

Now that is a can of worms. Killer worms.

How about the basic proposition that DLC in general is taking away from the necessary things like photoshopping much-loved characters, stealing artwork for endscreens, bug testing, product testing and making the NPCs not entirely dependent on the PC?

I think people are complaining about a badly written book that has a chapter 2a, 3a, 4a that can be seen - but is blank at the moment. Either you've just included "pay for extra stuff that doesn't matter" or "pay for stuff that matters". The former penalises DLC buyers, the latter penalises non-DLC buyers. (And it is penalises in this case)

So regardless of what the consumer - as a whole - does, they end up getting a partially complete story.

Now, if this was modded through another characters VP, then you'd have worthwhile DLC that you could include on the disk, without damaging the main story.

If I'm buying a cameo walk on of a guest actor, which is what this DLC seems to be, then I want to know who the guest actor is first - not "someone really special".

And especially not some tacky journalist placed there for fanservice.

 

[MercurySteam]

And especially not some tacky journalist placed there for fanservice.

I think we can all agree on this. This is probably one of the only complaints I have. WTF, Bioware?

 

[carnex]

And one question please. How is not haing DLC damaging to the story?