Why does all DLC suck so much?

[pmv]

I hear they've got these things called 'books,' with story, plot, character development and descriptions so real you can imagine the scene in high def. Crazy, I know!

I fear that with the rise of the e-book we'll start seeing restrictive licences and DLC for books as well.

Though, come to think of it, Charles Dickens's stuff was originally serialised in magazines, was it not? Which I guess was kind of an early form of DLC.

The modern form I suppose would be to buy the main novel, then pay extra for bonus chapters.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I solve this problem by never buying games at release. I wait for them to go on sale, preferably with all DLC included. It's rare for me to buy a new game - I did a few times last year, but so far this year the only game I got new was Mass Effect 2. And I should have gotten it used instead; I mean it's friggin' $16 new on Amazon right now, that basically lets me buy all the DLC and still come in under the $50 I paid to get it new.

I liked Fallout 3 and I want to get New Vegas, but there is no way in hell I'm buying it at release. There will be a Greatest Hits version eventually that will have all the DLC, or maybe I could just pick up the original version for next to nothing once the Greatest Hits one is released.

Hell I don't even necessarily buy used. Since, you know, the video game industry considers "used" to be as bad as "pirated." Most games drop in price by 50% or more within six months of release.

 

[Maximilian]

Fallout 3 DLC is pretty cool.

 

[Soundmanred]

I enjoyed the Borderlands DLC (and the new Claptrap one is great too!).
I only got one of the Fallout 3 DLCs, and it was good, but I wasn't really a fan of the game in general.
Like some others, I usually wait for games and DLC to go on sale since I don't need to play day one releases as I'm busy enough in the real world.

 

[shortylickens]

It doesnt.

But just like television and movies, you are not required to support the game industry if you dont want to. Vote with your dollar.

As for the issue at hand, I find myself digging up more older games. Not only do I not have to pay to play them, (or activate them online) but overall they have more content and replayability than new stuff.
I just found a huge fix for the original Magic The Gathering and have been playing that like crazy for the past week. Now I have more free cash for ammo and targets and range time.

 

[Bateluer]

Fallout 3 DLC is pretty cool.

No, it wasn't.

And every time they released a DLC for FO3, it broke the game. And I use the term 'broke' loosely, given how notoriously crappy FO3 is coded.

 

[Rifter]

This is exactly why i wait like 1-2 years after a game is released then buy the "gold" or whatever edition for like under $20 that has all the DLC included.

 

[thujone]

This is exactly why i wait like 1-2 years after a game is released then buy the "gold" or whatever edition for like under $20 that has all the DLC included.

yup... this right here is why i don't buy dlc. got burned by fallout 3's absurd dlc prices. i played through the main storyline really quick like a lot of people did... uninstalled it and didn't pay too much attention until there were already 3 dlc's out. those alone were over half of what i paid for the game itself.


now i'm in the position of... do i either pay $50 for all of the dlc (same price it's always been) or do i just essentially throw away my copy of the game and drop $50 on a new version (GOTY) that has all of them intact.

neither of these are very good options in my opinion and so far i have just decided to not buy any DLC until companies get their pricing in line with what the pricing for the game itself is.


would you pay 80 grand to fix up your house you paid 80 grand for? knowing full well it's still only going to be worth 80 grand in the end?

 

[pmv]

This is exactly why i wait like 1-2 years after a game is released then buy the "gold" or whatever edition for like under $20 that has all the DLC included.

I try to do this, but it takes me far too long to get round to playing a game after buying it. For example, I bought Neverwinter nights when it came down to a budget price. Then, before getting round to playing it, it came out in gold edition with the expansions, so I bought it again (again at budget price). Then before I got around to it it came out in platinum edition with the expansions _and_ DLC, so I got that also on budget price.

Still haven't actually played it.

 

[FuryofFive]

WoW expansion's were huge. so 40bux were something like another 20-40 hours of gameplay if not more is not unreasonable. considering now that 40$ DLC is now 20$.

Other DLC's that are very welldone,

so far ive only played 2 borderlands DLC. Dr. Ned and Moxxi. Moxxi was a pain. i did not go throught the massive 20 round fun yet, probaly gonna skip that and come back

Fallout 3 was very good, only played broken steel(is that the one with the ghoul in the mansion?),the pitt and anchorage.

im pretty sure there are other's im forgetting.

 

[zinfamous]

b/c DLC is all minor side quests and content that were either uber-buggy prior to release, or simply deemed to be "enough" content to try and charge people an extra limb to add to their incomplete game.

I hope more and more people just stop buying games released at 60% completion and wait for them to go on huge sales with "DLC" included to curb this marketing scam.

 

[Rezident]

It does not all suck - I actually bought DLC for the first time (Just Cause 2) it was extra (arguably OP, but certainly fun) weapons - they were interesting and fun and a nice change from the in-game weps and they were only a couple of €uros each, so fair enough.

Also bought a key from Valve for a TF2 crate and got a Pugilist's Protector hat! very happy with that 2.49 spent also.

It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it.

 

[qliveur]

Horse armor.

 

[Maximilian]

b/c DLC is all minor side quests and content that were either uber-buggy prior to release, or simply deemed to be "enough" content to try and charge people an extra limb to add to their incomplete game.

I hope more and more people just stop buying games released at 60% completion and wait for them to go on huge sales with "DLC" included to curb this marketing scam.

I was tempted to do that with fallout new vegas but since fallout 3 impressed me so much without the DLC ill probably just pick it up on release.

 

[Dumac]

It does not all suck - I actually bought DLC for the first time (Just Cause 2) it was extra (arguably OP, but certainly fun) weapons - they were interesting and fun and a nice change from the in-game weps and they were only a couple of €uros each, so fair enough.

Also bought a key from Valve for a TF2 crate and got a Pugilist's Protector hat! very happy with that 2.49 spent also.

It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it.

So you paid for guns and a hat.

Yeah, that totally just makes the point about DLC. The content is shitty, and totally overpriced.

Is that hat really worth 1/10 of a game to you? You can get a lot of good games for 24.99, or you can get 10 hats, cosmetic items that don't affect gameplay at all.

This kind of DLC (the selling of small in-game items for real money) is the worse kind. Like horse armor in Oblivion, or $1 for a door in The Sims 3.

 

[Elcs]

Whilst most DLC's are overpriced for what they offer, it is a consumers choice as to what they purchase.

Some DLC's can be likened to some of the microtransaction MMO's that are out there now. Cosmetic items and minor item upgrades are offered and those who wish to prance around in a clown outfit whilst murdering an Orc or some sort of magical Ent is free to do so.

Those who wish to open the doorway to a new realm of exploration with new monsters, quests and storyline can venture forth too.... but beware of the greedy Publisher beast. Some of these tales can be very short and leave you disappointed.

From my perspective, I have only played DLC's from Dragon Age: Origins and Borderlands... what I got was rather a mixed bag with DA:O's DLC being rather average and Borderlands expanding the game and providing more enjoyment.

 

[simonizor]

Well, it's pretty simple. The majority of games that charge for people to download additional content (DLC) on a PC are not good games to begin with (MW2, Borderlands, etc). There are a few exceptions, however. Fallout 3 is one of them. The game itself is a very good game (in most people's opinions), but the DLC was not very fun at all and hardly worth the money.

To me, all DLC that you have to play for sucks because it's not free. In my opinion, any additional content released for the game anything short of a full expansion pack should be 100% free. Not releasing future updates for the game for free is like asking people to pay full price for a game that wasn't finished and then asking them to fork out more cash for the rest of the game. Sure, some people will do it, but I for one will never do it again. If a game has rumors of future paid DLC, I'm waiting for the GOTY edition.

 

[xCxStylex]

^ What he said. Unless they're MP games that I want to play right away, I hold off on single player games, especially for GOTY editions and what not.

Hell, I just played Fallout 3 last month and didnt even realize vegas was coming out. I'll play it in half a year

I solve this problem by never buying games at release. I wait for them to go on sale, preferably with all DLC included. It's rare for me to buy a new game - I did a few times last year, but so far this year the only game I got new was Mass Effect 2. And I should have gotten it used instead; I mean it's friggin' $16 new on Amazon right now, that basically lets me buy all the DLC and still come in under the $50 I paid to get it new.

I liked Fallout 3 and I want to get New Vegas, but there is no way in hell I'm buying it at release. There will be a Greatest Hits version eventually that will have all the DLC, or maybe I could just pick up the original version for next to nothing once the Greatest Hits one is released.

Hell I don't even necessarily buy used. Since, you know, the video game industry considers "used" to be as bad as "pirated." Most games drop in price by 50% or more within six months of release.

 

[fatpat268]

As I said, I'm not opposed to paying for content. Just give me something worth the money I paid. I'm thinking DLC should be 1 dollar per hour of game play. Thus your typical Bioware DLC, ME1/2 and DAO should be between $1.50 and 3 dollars. Bioware can still deliver a fun game, and decent expansions, but their DLC is a joke. EA's doing?

I have to agree. I love Bioware and their games, BUT, their DLC isn't that good.
All the Mass Effect DLCs I've played, I ended up thinking: "That's it?" (I played all of them except Shadow Broker in 2, and Pinnacle Station in 1)

They're short and offer no continuation to the story. Additional characters tacked on in ME2 (Kasumi and Zaeed) had zero meaningful dialog after you did their missions. Your party members don't utter a single word in DLC missions (presumably because they couldn't get all the voice actors to record pieces for the DLC). Bioware DLC is nice I guess, but it has to be a LOT cheaper. If you compare the experience you get compared to Fallout's or Borderlands' DLC, Bioware is way behind.

 

[Bateluer]

I have to agree. I love Bioware and their games, BUT, their DLC isn't that good.
All the Mass Effect DLCs I've played, I ended up thinking: "That's it?" (I played all of them except Shadow Broker in 2, and Pinnacle Station in 1)

They're short and offer no continuation to the story. Additional characters tacked on in ME2 (Kasumi and Zaeed) had zero meaningful dialog after you did their missions. Your party members don't utter a single word in DLC missions (presumably because they couldn't get all the voice actors to record pieces for the DLC).

I've had a few people tell me that Shadow Broker isn't half bad, but I'm pretty sour on DLC right now.

Just because you can't get all the voice actors back, doesn't mean the characters can't have written dialog though. Shoot, some of the best RPGs ever made didn't have spoken dialogue for every character.

 

[zinfamous]

^die

 

[Ackmed]

Thank the morons that support the "Pay to Play" PC gaming model.

Luckily every one except WoW has pretty much failed......

BC2 Vietnam says hi.

 

[motsm]

I see a lot of you are arguing that you've enjoyed a lot of DLC, but I don't think enjoying the DLC is the point here. The point is, almost all DLC is insanely over priced for the content you are getting, especially thinking of it from a developers perspective.

Take the aforementioned Dragon Age for example. The initial game development included creating a game engine, lore, a story, all the game mechanics in their entirety, NPC's, enemies, weapons, armor, sounds, textures, levels, game balance, loads of play testing and dozens of other things.

Most DLC on the other hand contains maybe a couple new NPC's and items, new levels that recycle the assets already created, and a new short story. So you'd think they would give you a huge price break for all the work they don't have to do. No, they gouge you with probably 3X the price to playtime ratio on content that was already 20X less work for them to make. Of course as long as people are dumb enough to buy it, it's hard to blame them.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Why is Dragon Age dancing around the continuance of the Morrigan storyline? Witch Hunt as you say - no closure, Awakening didn't touch it, and DA2 has virtually no relationship to the DA1 story.

 

[gorcorps]

I see a lot of you are arguing that you've enjoyed a lot of DLC, but I don't think enjoying the DLC is the point here. The point is, almost all DLC is insanely over priced for the content you are getting, especially thinking of it from a developers perspective.

Take the aforementioned Dragon Age for example. The initial game development included creating a game engine, lore, a story, all the game mechanics in their entirety, NPC's, enemies, weapons, armor, sounds, textures, levels, game balance, loads of play testing and dozens of other things.

Most DLC on the other hand contains maybe a couple new NPC's and items, new levels that recycle the assets already created, and a new short story. So you'd think they would give you a huge price break for all the work they don't have to do. No, they gouge you with probably 3X the price to playtime ratio on content that was already 20X less work for them to make. Of course as long as people are dumb enough to buy it, it's hard to blame them.

Price won't change without a change in demand. People are buying, so prices aren't changing.