The Demise of the Expansion Pack

Who wants them back? Short DLC is ultimately pointless; its only purpose being making the developer a quick buck. Developers should go back to making true expansion backs, especially for RPGs. I hope skyrim can get a tribunal or bloodmoon instead of horse armor.

only want to see more of them for rts games and rpg's. one thing that ticked me off about fallout 3 was how the released small dlc packs wen they could have released a large awwsome expansion

I do. I'd much rather shell out 30-50 bucks for some decent content. I personally haven't yet spent a single dollar on DLC because it seems so terrible. I was browsing the ME1/2 DLC the other day and was appalled.

Its a case of it being priced right. Battlefield 'Nam, all the Borderlands DLC, RDR Undead Nightmare, the Oblivion expansions (Shivering Isles) and others are good examples of DLC done right and priced right. Some DLC/Expansions get their own release, look at Dragon Age:Awakening andDivinity 2. I thik its silly when a developer expects you to pay for something trivial likea weapon for 79p or a single multiplayer map for £1.

Im under the impression that small updates like that should be free, Im guessing afew weapons would take about 5/6 hours of coding to get working, tested, and distributed. So that would mean a studio spent roughly £70 making it and they will sell it for around £3. so if even as little as 100 people buy it they have made £230. A similar thing for map packs and vehicles.

Big story updates with new voice acting, storys, maps, weapons, level cap and allt eh rest deserve to have a markup because some real effort went into it. We all know some studios take real advantage of the fact most gamers systems are wired to the net, Look at Valve (TF2, L4d, CSS etc), Killing Floor, Some MMO's they all regularly update the game without charging you.

Although In some cases I would rather a developer divide up the content so you can choose what you want/dont want. For example If I can save 50% of the price of the DLC by missing out stuff like "Hats" or skimpycharacter clothing, and keep my level cap increase and awesome new weapons Im on board.

I think the little DLC updates are just developers way of letting you choose what you want out of your game.

I do. I'd much rather shell out 30-50 bucks for some decent content. I personally haven't yet spent a single dollar on DLC because it seems so terrible. I was browsing the ME1/2 DLC the other day and was appalled.

Tezcatlipoca666

I also find it amusing that the moment Blizzard announced there would be two expansion packs to Starcraft 2.. That they were ripping off the customer that they were merely splitting the game into three thirds.. And selling it to the customer at a inflated price.. Looking past how stupid of a assumption and claim it is, it shows a pretty big point that many people seem not to care for expansions inless they are for MMORPG's.. They want sequels with new teh graphics.. Which just shows how ridiculously superficial the community has become.

I'm not exactly sad to see expansions go. I've bought a fair number of RTSs over the years, and quite a few expansions as a result. There are some good expansions (DoW: Dark Crusade, Forged Alliance*) and some not so good ones (many of the C&C add-ons, DoW: Soulstorm). I think what we're seeing with some games is increased replayability - games with a decent core such as ME/ME2/DoWII can be replayed time after time with all sorts of permutations to change (I'm currently in the middle of ME as a total renegade bastard after about 3 paragon playthroughs). Even WoL can be done in a variety of ways each time (Different choices up the tech trees, Hive vs Orbit etc etc.)

And then there's DLC. It's easier for them to turn out rather than trying to get shelf space for a cheap add-on with slim margins. Not all companies do DLC well - most of the ME2 DLC is very good (with the odd "meh"/forgettable weapons pack) and adds plenty of options to your game but you can easily get DLC that's downright lazy (Maps! That you saw in the last game...).

I'm not sorry to see expansions go, but some devs really need to realise that DLC needs to be as good as the best part of the game you purchase in the first place.

*Admittedly they were both stand-alone.

It hasn't been that long since DA:O's release, and we got the Awakening expansion. Combined with those DLCs for ME, BioWare has been doing a pretty good job supporting their products.

Dawn of war is keeping it atleast.

Dawn of war is keeping it atleast.

thespywholied

[QUOTE="thespywholied"]

Dawn of war is keeping it atleast.

sSubZerOo

Certain DLC's should actually be considered as Expansion Packs.

But I guess I know what the OP is saying. The DLC's with the *MAP PACKS*, *4 NEW CHALLENGES*, *[Insert Elite-sounding unit] pack*, *Jimmy's repetitive vendetta* are really pointless and insulting. Their end product turns out not to have a lot of content, they realease stuff that should have been in the final version and then blame piracy for their poor sales record. If anything, it's the DLC crap that's killing the industry because who wants to buy a $60 game where they took the features out and sell it separately?

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="thespywholied"]

Dawn of war is keeping it atleast.

F1_2004

Civ five has already had map packs same thing..Dlc if you will..Buy a map pack for certain dollar on steam an such..They may do a expansion only time will tell..Im in agreement with tc we should get expansion packs back..How ever companies have found was to sucker the buyer also..Look at starcraft 2 an diablo 3..DIablo is only doin like lvl 60 or some thing to that effect..Every expansion they will increase the lvl cap..Sounds mmorpgish doesnt it..Im afraid though dlc is here to stay...People just have to say no an not buy it..Ive been ignoring dlc since dao started pissing me off with one hour game-play..Did buy awakening how ever it was a decent game..

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

I do. I'd much rather shell out 30-50 bucks for some decent content. I personally haven't yet spent a single dollar on DLC because it seems so terrible. I was browsing the ME1/2 DLC the other day and was appalled.

wis3boi

6 hours of content added 20 hours to your playthrough?

[QUOTE="wis3boi"][QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

I do. I'd much rather shell out 30-50 bucks for some decent content. I personally haven't yet spent a single dollar on DLC because it seems so terrible. I was browsing the ME1/2 DLC the other day and was appalled.

JangoWuzHere

6 hours of content added 20 hours to your playthrough?

6 hours of content added 20 hours to your playthrough?

JangoWuzHere

I would go as far as arguing the content isn't even 6 hours. At best Kasumi lasts about 20 mins, Overlord is under an hour long and Shadow Broker can easily be done in under an hour.

If anything the Shadow Broker DLC highlights what is chronically wrong with the DLC today. The Shadow Broker is a figure of mystery and has remained hidden and illusive for over 60 years he should have been pretty damn hard to find. Instead what did we get ? oh yeah it was "the Shadow Broker is there, lets get him ..... ok got him now lets have the obligatory snog scene". Just imagine how good the Shadow Broker could have been if it had been a fully fledged expansion with a race across the galaxy following clues to his location.

Ultimately the industry loves DLC because it means maximum revenue for minimal content/risk/cost. In other words things are going to get a whole lot worse with DLC before they get better (if they ever do get better).

Apparently the files for some of the Shadow Broker conversations were found in ME 2. That is what is really wrong with DLC: When they cut content from the game so they can sell it for extra money later.

Who wants them back? Short DLC is ultimately pointless; its only purpose being making the developer a quick buck. Developers should go back to making true expansion backs, especially for RPGs. I hope skyrim can get a tribunal or bloodmoon instead of horse armor.

Former_Slacker

Most of the expansions I've seen haven't been much more than the further adventures of Rambo wanna-be. Since that's all most developers seem interested in doing I would rather they take the ideas of the expansion and apply it to a new game.