It has certainly been interesting to hear all the feedback on this. I mean that in the best of ways to be clear - it is good for us to hear your thoughts as always, and why we frequent these boards.
I'll try to recap the couple of points that keep coming up on this, and try to re-iterate some of what we've been saying...
Why is day 1 DLC not on the disc:
- Think of it this way... forget it was DLC we were making, and pretend it was a web page.
We could continue to work on that right up to game launch day and still have it ready for "day 1". But there would never ever have been a way to get that web page done back in time to make it for the dates for disc, or even the digital versions of the game, which needed to be locked many weeks (or months in some cases) in advance of game launch.
- DLC works on a relatively shorter dev cycle (months, instead of years), and the nature of it being downloadable means there are not the same lengthy lead times to get discs made and out to warehouses for retail shelves. Also, given most DLC is measured in single digit hours it is much quicker to test, the number of issues you find are lower volume which also makes for quicker turnaround of fixes, and even getting through console certification is quicker.
- That combined with the game delay from March to Nov meant we effectively caught up to the launch date. But there would still have been no way to ever get that DLC on to the discs or digi versions - it just was not ready in that kind of timeframe.
- On a similar vein, this is also the same reason why the content was not 'ripped out' at the last minute to make a quick buck. The game content was locked for the disc/digital versions, and taking something out can introduce just as many issues.
Perhaps the more relevant question is - why still choose to launch it day 1 then?
There are a lot of good reasons for this, otherwise we wouldn't have done it. Suffice it to say that it was not a decision made lightly, but I still believe it is the right one for DA even if it means taking a few lumps in the meantime for it.
For the sake of brevity, let me reverse the question. Why delay it?
Sure, the easy thing would have been to artificially just sit on the release of these for a few weeks. But then, what would be the right time? 1 week? 2, 4, 6? More importantly, and honestly now - what would have been the benefit for fans that might want DLC in doing this?
Lastly, and this is my own personal view. The day after the game launches a lot of this will largely go away as the concept of 'it came out day 1 or not' becomes less of a stigma.
The only thing that will matter is whether it was good DLC, or bad DLC.
As always if you have doubts, wait it out - you have a massive game ahead of you before you should ever feel like you "need" to dive into DLC, regardless of how compulsive you may think you are.
Listen to other forum posters' reviews. Listen to public reviews elsewhere on the net. Review the content descriptions, screenshots, and videos we'll continue to post on our sites.
That is already a lot more information than you typically will see with most DLC. And in the end, if you still do not feel it is right for you - tell us why, I'd appreciate that just as much as your feedback if you played it.
But know that you will not be missing any part of the DA:O story because of this. The game will not be less playable, or less fun, or less of an epic RPG because of this.
If you play FPS games but don't like MP, are you really going to feel like you 'missed out' or got an incomplete experience because a MP map pack DLC came out?? Really?
