Explanation about DLC or expansions please

[juanval]

I see people is confused about this feature. It would be great that devs could explain their plans about DLC or expansions.

 

Will they add story events after the end of the main game (Throne of Bhaal) or during the game (White March)?

 

I ususally play only once the main plot, so I didn't play the White March expansion. If I know that deadfire expansions are like White March, I'll probably wait to play until the release of the DLC.

 

Good luck with the release

[Wormerine]

There is no confusion. There will be three seperate pieces of expansion/DLC released together worth $30. Nothing else is known at this point. Obs usually doesn’t respond on this forum, so you are asking fellow fans, who know as much as you do.

 

PS. You didn’t need to replay PoE to play White March. Just load your pre-finale auto save and do scaled expansions if you don’t want to replay the whole game.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Wormerine

[kierun]

I am sure this will not decent into another DLC are evil vs DLC are good flame feast⸮ No ladies and gentlemen, not here⸮ …

[TheisEjsing]

I think Fergus said somewhere that White March sales didn't cover the production costs. I think most people can agree that it's not the quality of the White March content that's the issue. So even if I and many others loves it, Obsidian needs to adjust their strategy to keep the business afloat.

[Sedrefilos]

I see people is confused about this feature. It would be great that devs could explain their plans about DLC or expansions.

 

Will they add story events after the end of the main game (Throne of Bhaal) or during the game (White March)?

 

I ususally play only once the main plot, so I didn't play the White March expansion. If I know that deadfire expansions are like White March, I'll probably wait to play until the release of the DLC.

 

Good luck with the release

I'm also like you; I play only once the main plot and I didn't like the idea of the White March beign parallel to that. And as that kind of player, I highly recomend that you play the White March. What I did was I loaded before jumping in the final dungeon, return to finish the White March and then just ploughed through the final dungeon and finished it once again in like 10 minutes (I didn't chose to scale its difficulty up).

White March is the best thing in Pillars 1 imo, its better than the base game and a high recomendation for everyone that liked it, even if you're not into playing parallel expansions.

[Mannock]

I think Fergus said somewhere that White March sales didn't cover the production costs. I think most people can agree that it's not the quality of the White March content that's the issue. So even if I and many others loves it, Obsidian needs to adjust their strategy to keep the business afloat.

 

This is a very valid point. The employees of Obsidian need to put food on the table and they can't do that by creating products that don't sell well enough to cover the costs. 

 

So if we, the players, want to avoid micro transactions and the likes in RPG:s, I think we should get used to the thought of paying a higher price for the base game. The price of the base game today is very low if you compare to what a game cost 20 years ago.

[kierun]

 

I think Fergus said somewhere that White March sales didn't cover the production costs. I think most people can agree that it's not the quality of the White March content that's the issue. So even if I and many others loves it, Obsidian needs to adjust their strategy to keep the business afloat.

 

This is a very valid point. The employees of Obsidian need to put food on the table and they can't do that by creating products that don't sell well enough to cover the costs.

 

At say $49.99 per game, if you played around 50 hours (which I more or less played on PoE 1) it would be $1 (rounded) per hour played… A cinema trip will cost you ten times as much per hour.

 

Clearly, paying $49.99 for a game that you end up playing for half an hour 'cause it's ****, yield an utterly different calculation! ☺

 

Hellblade's Ninja theory did a video on their monetary results. It is worth a watch as it does break down costs for an independent studio to do a game.

[Mannock]

 

 

 

Clearly, paying $49.99 for a game that you end up playing for half an hour 'cause it's ****, yield an utterly different calculation! ☺

 

 

That's why a refund function is very good. Steam has it and I'm sure other digital retailers have it too. 

[Sedrefilos]

 

The price of the base game today is very low if you compare to what a game cost 20 years ago.

 

I hate when I have to say that, but, speak for yourself. I could hardly spend my 26 euros to back the game while I wouldn't care about game prices 20 years ago. Things differ in parts of the world and times of the world.

And, in general, I always believed games were expensive, though some totally worth it when you can play them for years and years but the majority of them are just to spend a week with them tops for 50+ euros. Lame imo.

[Mannock]

 

 

The price of the base game today is very low if you compare to what a game cost 20 years ago.

 

I hate when I have to say that, but, speak for yourself. I could hardly spend my 26 euros to back the game while I wouldn't care about game prices 20 years ago. Things differ in parts of the world and times of the world.

And, in general, I always believed games were expensive, though some totally worth it when you can play them for years and years but the majority of them are just to spend a week with them tops for 50+ euros. Lame imo.

 

 

Well then the alternative might be no game at all. Call it lame or whatever you want, but making games is like any other business. There are people behind it that need to feed themselves and potentially a family.

[Wormerine]

I think the most important question was: why White March didn’t sell well? The content itself was stellar.

 

Was it because it was an “in game” expansions and many players didn’t feel jumping back into the game?

Was base game too long and not engaging enough for people to care about extra content?

Did the base game have too much content for average customer to want more?

Wasn’t advertising good enough?

Did extra content come too late after the release?

Maybe it wasn’t the right kind of content?

[tinysalamander]

At say $49.99 per game, if you played around 50 hours (which I more or less played on PoE 1) it would be $1 (rounded) per hour played… A cinema trip will cost you ten times as much per hour.

 

If we are doing these kinds of calculations, imagine that there exist people with about $400 per month icome. Or less. Regional prices exist, though, fortunately, otherwise I probably wouldn't have played the game.

[daven]

I think the most important question was: why White March didn’t sell well? The content itself was stellar.

 

Was it because it was an “in game” expansions and many players didn’t feel jumping back into the game?

Was base game too long and not engaging enough for people to care about extra content?

Did the base game have too much content for average customer to want more?

Wasn’t advertising good enough?

Did extra content come too late after the release?

Maybe it wasn’t the right kind of content?

How long was it after the release of the base game?

 

I guess a lot of people lost interest and moved onto other things. There's so much new stuff being chucked at our faces all the time.

[Wormerine]

At say $49.99 per game, if you played around 50 hours (which I more or less played on PoE 1) it would be $1 (rounded) per hour played… A cinema trip will cost you ten times as much per hour.

 

That’s a comparison and argument I can’t get behind. Price and quality of entertainment has little to do with how much it takes to consume it. Books take a long time to read and yet they tend to be cheaper. Why did I pay $40 for that delicious dinner if I ate it in 20minutes? Why does the same movie that has a run time of 1:30h cost the same as 2:30h movie?

 

There is this idea that the longer the game, the more worth is has, which is just weird to me. If you tell me that a movies is 4 hours long it doesn’t make me more willing to go see it. Do I want to pay the movie $15 AND 4 hours of my time to see it? If you pick up a book and see less than 1000 pages do you say: “nah, it’s not worth of my money - the other book has more pages to read”. Why do we still apply this odd logic to games, as if time it distarct you from life is the only value they present.

 

Gametime does translate directly to “movie watching” time, though I do believe both should focus on being as short as they can. There is no benefit of bloating things up.

 

Is 10 hour experience not worth $50 bucks if it’s really really good? Is repetitive, multiplayer experience but with grind to make you feel like achieve something, make it worth it? Doe padding an open world games with dull, uninteresting content real raise their worth because there is more stuff to do?

[Night Stalker]

 

I think the most important question was: why White March didn’t sell well? The content itself was stellar.

 

Was it because it was an “in game” expansions and many players didn’t feel jumping back into the game?

Was base game too long and not engaging enough for people to care about extra content?

Did the base game have too much content for average customer to want more?

Wasn’t advertising good enough?

Did extra content come too late after the release?

Maybe it wasn’t the right kind of content?

How long was it after the release of the base game?

 

I guess a lot of people lost interest and moved onto other things. There's so much new stuff being chucked at our faces all the time.

 

 

PoE was released on the 26th of March 2015, while WM1 was released on the 25th of August 2015 - almost 5 months later.

 

WM2 was released on the 16th of February 2016, around 11 months after PoE, and 6 months after WM2.

[juanval]

I think the most important question was: why White March didn’t sell well? The content itself was stellar.

 

Was it because it was an “in game” expansions and many players didn’t feel jumping back into the game?

Was base game too long and not engaging enough for people to care about extra content?

Did the base game have too much content for average customer to want more?

Wasn’t advertising good enough?

Did extra content come too late after the release?

Maybe it wasn’t the right kind of content?

Yes. In my case, after finishing the main plot I felt anticlimatic to jump back to the White March events.

 

For this reason I want to know what plans have devs for the PoE2 expansions

[Valmy]

I think Fergus said somewhere that White March sales didn't cover the production costs. 

 

Wow that is sad to hear. Those were very good expansions and well worth the money.

[the_dog_days]

I think the most important question was: why White March didn’t sell well? The content itself was stellar.

 

Was it because it was an “in game” expansions and many players didn’t feel jumping back into the game?

Was base game too long and not engaging enough for people to care about extra content?

Did the base game have too much content for average customer to want more?

Wasn’t advertising good enough?

Did extra content come too late after the release?

Maybe it wasn’t the right kind of content?

From what (little) I remember, the biggest disappointment with the White March was that it doesn't take place after the main game. Other than that, 2015 was a great year for gaming and a lot of people forgot about Pillars by the time part one released.

Edited January 26, 2018 by the_dog_days

[Valmy]

 

Yes. In my case, after finishing the main plot I felt anticlimatic to jump back to the White March events.

 

For this reason I want to know what plans have devs for the PoE2 expansions

 

 

Well you have a few months before PoE 2 comes out. Check it out.

[Sedrefilos]

 

I think Fergus said somewhere that White March sales didn't cover the production costs. 

 

Wow that is sad to hear. Those were very good expansions and well worth the money.

 

I believe the problem with it was that it wasn't a continuatiation of the story. Many wouldn't care to replay the game after a year just to do a parallel story, especially when it was split in two parts with one months after the other. I was a backer and I loved the basic game and still I tried hard to convince myself to play the White March,

Though totally worth it of course

[ShadySands]

I almost didn't play the White March either. I had already beaten the game and didn't really love it but I'm so glad that I did because it was the best of Pillars in my opinion.

[Wormerine]

I believe the problem with it was that it wasn't a continuatiation of the story. Many wouldn't care to replay the game after a year just to do a parallel story, especially when it was split in two parts with one months after the other. I was a backer and I loved the basic game and still I tried hard to convince myself to play the White March,

Though totally worth it of course

Yeah, but I personally am on the other sectrum. I find it difficult to care for expansions set after the main story. Let's take Pillars for example: how do you follow finale of Pillars with a DLC? Its not enough to tackle any of the important stuff, and telling sidestory just feels more fit as a sidequest rather than standalone game. Whatever cool stuff you add is shortlived because it will be used for couplehours only. What you get is more of the same. Adding content to base game means that you can add mechanics, items and other stuff to the main game enriching the base expericene as well. 

 

The best made stand alone expansions were Throne of Bhaal and Mask of Betrayer, but frankly I am not too fond of either. To me neither have enough space to properly breathe even though both have good stuff in them. 

[Sedrefilos]

 

I believe the problem with it was that it wasn't a continuatiation of the story. Many wouldn't care to replay the game after a year just to do a parallel story, especially when it was split in two parts with one months after the other. I was a backer and I loved the basic game and still I tried hard to convince myself to play the White March,

Though totally worth it of course

Yeah, but I personally am on the other sectrum. I find it difficult to care for expansions set after the main story. Let's take Pillars for example: how do you follow finale of Pillars with a DLC? Its not enough to tackle any of the important stuff, and telling sidestory just feels more fit as a sidequest rather than standalone game. Whatever cool stuff you add is shortlived because it will be used for couplehours only. What you get is more of the same. Adding content to base game means that you can add mechanics, items and other stuff to the main game enriching the base expericene as well. 

 

The best made stand alone expansions were Throne of Bhaal and Mask of Betrayer, but frankly I am not too fond of either. To me neither have enough space to properly breathe even though both have good stuff in them. 

 

Writers can intentionally leave some ends unfinished like Dragon Age Inquisition. Conclude the main story but leave some character conclusions or some minor yet important stuff unfinished for an obvious expansion. Pillars 1 was designed from the begining to not have an expansion such as that but I believe more people would be interested to play something that ties up the lose ends of the base game ending rather than having to replay the whole thing.

[Wormerine]

Writers can intentionally leave some ends unfinished like Dragon Age Inquisition. Conclude the main story but leave some character conclusions or some minor yet important stuff unfinished for an obvious expansion. Pillars 1 was designed from the begining to not have an expansion such as that but I believe more people would be interested to play something that ties up the lose ends of the base game ending rather than having to replay the whole thing.

Didn't play Inquisition so can't comment, but leaving character arcs unfinished sounds like a horrible idea. There could be some minor side stories continued (I think New Vegas did a great job teasing sidestories, which would be delved into deeper), but again, I would rather do it as a side content within a game than have "tying leftover threads" expansion. 

 

I do prefer when base game feels complete. While extra content is welcome, it shouldn't feel like part of a game was chopped off and sold seperately. As good as "Shadow Broker" DLC was for Mass Effect 2, the obviously missing Liara's interaction in base game left a bitter taste in me mouth. 

[cokane]

I didn't know the White March failed to make back its cost, thanks for pointing that out, if it is true. FWIW, I bought both expansions at their release, but actually did not feel hugely motivated to play them at the time, in large part because they seemed designed to be best enjoyed as part of a new playthrough. And that is how they're best enjoyed. I'm glad I've gone back and can second others who feel they are the best parts. Excellent dungeon designs, combat encounters, quests, writing and scripted interactions. Outside of the Defiance Bay section, they've been my favorite parts of subsequent PoE runs.