Foolproof said:
Fr said:
anc[is]
Foolproof said:
Listing off a random sample of games that don't have expansion packs as if that somehow has any relevance
I could tell you weren't going to be reasonable, but that's just funny
I don't honestly know why I'm bothering, but I'll try to explain this in as simple terms as I can, so even you can follow.
The games I listed were from studios, series or genres that have no concept of the expansion pack, and yet have delivered award winning DLC campaigns. This indicates that clearly, what works as DLC does not work in most of the successful cases as an expansion pack. Therefore, attempting to draw the line between an expansion pack and DLC is clearly baseless and deeply flawed.
Do you get the point yet, or will I have to resort to pictures?
Back in the day, maps were almost never premium because they knew it would only split up the player base so the only time people could play was when they had the same maps.
If there was any upgrade then it would be a SINGLE upgrade, not 5-6 separate packs which leads to hundreds of different permutations amongst a group of friends. Any map needed to be easy to download on a relatively quick basis, that was as true for official maps as user generated custom maps. This is a big problem for COD and Battlefield now. Maps are worthless as you can't play with many people on them.
The problem is not with DLC in itself, the problem is the PREMIUM part. Yes, the charging people money.
We have all heard the argument "ooh, there is down-time from going gold to shipping" well that's not a problem for Valve, releases all their maps and new weapons for free on all their games. If you were working on this content continuously as part of the same development process, then it should have been released as a free patch.
One problem with premium DLC as it currently is, that it's so hard to distinguish between what is genuine extra content and what is shovelware.
Diablo 2 had one, count it, ONE expansion pack. Simple. But a mountain of separate DLC from little fragments of narrative to weapons to items is bullshit, you can't tell what you need for the full experience and what is extra shit.
Another problem is games that are quite clearly nothing but expansion packs being sold as full price sequels. Modern Warfare 3 is a blatant expansion pack to a blatantly unfinished prior game, so much of it is old assets remixed in unimaginative ways. COD: Modern Warfare 3 should have been called Modern Warfare: Episode 3 and sold for $20-30, not $60+ DLC.
Games are too expensive. It made sense when they were printed on inherently expensive circuit board ROM chipsets but not when it's just freaking data. And things add up to more than the sum of their parts, just because they play a game for 2 months and they can easily save up $60 over 2 months that doesn't mean they can put down $60 at any one time, this makes people fanatical about games as they need to justify throwing down $60 for ONE thing!
I'd get DLC if it cut down on that $60 price point but it doesn't.