Started Jaws of Hakkon last night. What I've seen of the map so far feels chaotic. Maybe I'm just getting old but running around felt more like a chore than fun.
"I see everything twice!"
0
BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
Maaaaan. The post-release plans have been really lackluster. Very little communication. "Say nothing meaningful for months" is not a great way to keep momentum going.
I really liked DA:I, but my enthusiasm is at an all-time low.
Yeah, it's hard not to contrast it with Witcher 3, which has been getting tons of new content, and they've been fairly clear on what their long-term plans are on additional content.
Meanwhile, Mass Effect Andromeda gets announced a year and a half before launch. Did they already throw in the towel on DAI for some reason?
+1
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
Inquisition had so much hype building up to and on release - almost as much as Mass Effect 3 - but without nearly as much momentum afterwards. It might have been the ending controversy bullshit or whatever, but every DLC from Mass Effect 3 was big on content (and for the SP DLC, story) and people were waiting for that shit.
Inquisition's DLC news is like, "oh yeah we're working on a new one, please be excited" and then fucking nothing.
+9
BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
Not only does it read as very defensive, but it also kinda glosses over the biggest problem: a lack of communication. It also does a lot of "See, you people whined about day one DLC, and this is what you get!"
Of course there will always be people who whine, but really, just a bit of news about what the plans are would keep the quiet majority of fans happy and excited... or at least satisfied about whether they're going to be interested in what's coming down the pipe. I'd like to know if there's going to be story-heavy DLC coming. If not, that's ok, I enjoyed the game... but I'd certainly pay a lot more attention if I knew they were working on something of interest to me, and that's the important business part of things. If you don't keep people interested in what you're doing, you're lost in modern video game land.
Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
Looks like the team got to take vacation instead of just keep grinding out silly DLC for some fans, sounds like a worthwhile trade to me. It's okay to wait a bit, chill.
+2
IlpalaJust this guy, y'knowTexasRegistered Userregular
edited August 2015
I still haven't even done Jaws yet because I'm still 'full' after as close to 100%'ing the game as a sane man can get. (Why the hell are there some mosaic pieces that can't even be accessed? Is it a statement? Was my quest to collect all the things doomed from the start because no one man can possibly know all there is to know?!)
Ilpala on
FF XIV - Qih'to Furishu (on Siren), Battle.Net - Ilpala#1975
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
0
BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
Looks like the team got to take vacation instead of just keep grinding out silly DLC for some fans, sounds like a worthwhile trade to me. It's okay to wait a bit, chill.
My problem has never actually been the days between releases. The core issue I have is the lack of meaningful communication from BioWare about what the plan is. They need to check in with their community, and give people a heads-up on how things are going if they want to maintain any enthusiasm whatsoever.
"Chill" seems pretty dismissive of legitimate criticism to me.
To be honest, I left a ton of the random area completion junk just sitting there and went crit path, so DLC that doesn't have a strong story component (like jaws sounds like) just doesn't have very much draw, to me
I don't know if anyone cares, but multiplayer has gone through some rather sweeping changes that I don't think were ever documented. There's 5 difficulty levels now, and they've all been rebalanced. A bunch of skills have had cost and cooldown reductions to make a lot of build much more viable. A bunch of weapons have been added to the item pool, and the reward chests have been redesigned a bit and are much improved. And everyone has way more armor now. I think it's much better overall, they just didn't really tell anybody for some reason. I've been having fun murdering the crap out of everything on perilous with my templar, which is a sentence I never thought I'd be able to say.
Not only does it read as very defensive, but it also kinda glosses over the biggest problem: a lack of communication. It also does a lot of "See, you people whined about day one DLC, and this is what you get!"
Gross.
I just read the post, and it seems totally reasonable and not defensive at all?
I dunno, maybe it's because I've been arguing in favor of day 1 DLC for years. So many people, even otherwise reasonable people on these very forums, were so sure that if they yelled loud enough about day 1 DLC that that content would just magically get added to the game for free. My position has always been that if you fight hard enough to get rid of day 1 DLC, then you're just going to lose that content with nothing to replace it. And that appears to be what happened.
Did they fix how a lvl 21 white is better than 95% of your other drops, including the purples?
Equivalent lvl white drops have less damage and less bonus stats than rares or epics. But that's always been the case, so maybe you just have shit luck. The new boxes are better for getting upgrades imo. You're guaranteed a rare or better, and you get 7 more equipment pieces as well. higher rarity stuff seems more common, but that might just be me.
0
BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
Not only does it read as very defensive, but it also kinda glosses over the biggest problem: a lack of communication. It also does a lot of "See, you people whined about day one DLC, and this is what you get!"
Gross.
I just read the post, and it seems totally reasonable and not defensive at all?
I dunno, maybe it's because I've been arguing in favor of day 1 DLC for years. So many people, even otherwise reasonable people on these very forums. Were so sure that if they yelled loud enough about day 1 DLC that that content would just magically get added to the game for free. My position has always been that if you fight hard enough to get rid of day 1 DLC, then you're just going to lose that content with nothibg to replace it. And that appears to be what jas happened.
Oh, I'm sure there are numerous logistical reasons why the DLC plan is the way it is, and he's giving us a reasonable explanations why it's taking longer than people expected. But the tone of it bothered me a lot — specifically the repetition of the day one DLC backlash in his post. To be fair, tone is a pretty difficult thing.
Did they fix how a lvl 21 white is better than 95% of your other drops, including the purples?
Equivalent lvl white drops have less damage and less bonus stats than rares or epics. But that's always been the case, so maybe you just have shit luck. The new boxes are better for getting upgrades imo. You're guaranteed a rare or better, and you get 7 more equipment pieces as well. higher rarity stuff seems more common, but that might just be me.
Of equivalent level sure, but a 21 white had way more damage than a purple, like, 17 or so. I'd double check, but I uninstalled to clear space on my SSD to install win 10
Did they fix how a lvl 21 white is better than 95% of your other drops, including the purples?
Equivalent lvl white drops have less damage and less bonus stats than rares or epics. But that's always been the case, so maybe you just have shit luck. The new boxes are better for getting upgrades imo. You're guaranteed a rare or better, and you get 7 more equipment pieces as well. higher rarity stuff seems more common, but that might just be me.
Of equivalent level sure, but a 21 white had way more damage than a purple, like, 17 or so. I'd double check, but I uninstalled to clear space on my SSD to install win 10
There'd be a gap in that case, but I don't think it would be huge. I could very well be wrong though. The axe my templar is using now is only 1 item lvl higher than the mace I was using before, but it has 50 higher base damage. Both epics. Shit just gets weird sometimes.
Not only does it read as very defensive, but it also kinda glosses over the biggest problem: a lack of communication. It also does a lot of "See, you people whined about day one DLC, and this is what you get!"
Gross.
I just read the post, and it seems totally reasonable and not defensive at all?
I dunno, maybe it's because I've been arguing in favor of day 1 DLC for years. So many people, even otherwise reasonable people on these very forums. Were so sure that if they yelled loud enough about day 1 DLC that that content would just magically get added to the game for free. My position has always been that if you fight hard enough to get rid of day 1 DLC, then you're just going to lose that content with nothibg to replace it. And that appears to be what jas happened.
Oh, I'm sure there are numerous logistical reasons why the DLC plan is the way it is, and he's giving us a reasonable explanations why it's taking longer than people expected. But the tone of it bothered me a lot — specifically the repetition of the day one DLC backlash in his post. To be fair, tone is a pretty difficult thing.
Bioware gets a pass when it comes to fan interaction. Half the people who play their games are unstable lunatics looking to get their rocks off with incest fantasies and theses on the taste of alien sweat. The other half argue endlessly about lore and the validity of romance in video games. If my work produced such weirdness in everyone around me I'd be just little defensive too.
"I see everything twice!"
+6
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
That said they could have a bit better communication.
But I think they have yet to get a new community manager after Jessica quit.
Honestly, for as much as they're bringing up the Day 1 DLC complaints, this is actually the first time it kind of feels like they're doing like they were always accused of - slicing off bits of an already finished game to sell seperately on its own
Day 1 DLC in the past was always like, this feels more or less like cut content, or post-gold content, and it comes free with the game when you buy the thing anyway, whatever. Releasing the $5 "spoils of the _____" packs alongside $15 dollar _____ expansions...
Yeah, I'm starting to feel a little like this is a more than a little bit questionable.
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Honestly, for as much as they're bringing up the Day 1 DLC complaints, this is actually the first time it kind of feels like they're doing like they were always accused of - slicing off bits of an already finished game to sell seperately on its own
Day 1 DLC in the past was always like, this feels more or less like cut content, or post-gold content, and it comes free with the game when you buy the thing anyway, whatever. Releasing the $5 "spoils of the _____" packs alongside $15 dollar _____ expansions...
Yeah, I'm starting to feel a little like this is a more than a little bit questionable.
Funny. This is exactly what folks say about day one DLC.
Also, DA2 had the $5 horse armor packs too so not really new.
0
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
Honestly, for as much as they're bringing up the Day 1 DLC complaints, this is actually the first time it kind of feels like they're doing like they were always accused of - slicing off bits of an already finished game to sell seperately on its own
Sometimes I have an issue with this sentiment even when it's true - like, we all know at this point that sometimes things are cut out or scheduled to be released later because of time or budgetary constraints and including them would mean we'd be able to witness it in all its half-baked dreck
But the greater vocal majority of people out there jump to conclusions that it happens because they wish to expressly nickle and dime consumers since it fits the narrative of The Corporation, Man.
+3
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
The real problem is that people nowadays absolutely refuse to withhold judgment on anything until they have a chance to evaluate the entire product. It's all hot-takes and bullshit narratives. If there's Day One DLC that comes out but the game itself has very few bugs and a ton of content, then that's meaningfully different from a game that comes out and plays like shit (if at all) and then shoves a bunch of cosmetic DLC out the door in order to drive the price up from $60 to $80-$100 after all is said and done.
But apparently people are fucksticks and it's too hard to just not have an opinion on something until you have more information, because God forbid you jump on the Dumbass Knee-Jerk Reactionary Feelings bandwagon too late.
Take Witcher 3 (a great game), and it's lookit all this free dlc for the first couple months!
I mean, great, but if you want to nitpick half of it is horse armor, and a few are what I would consider basic features (new game+, storage chest), with only a little bit of 'content'.
The only difference I can tell between that and "day one dlc" is they cut it up and stretched it over a short time period instead of releasing it all on day one.
Take Witcher 3 (a great game), and it's lookit all this free dlc for the first couple months!
I mean, great, but if you want to nitpick half of it is horse armor, and a few are what I would consider basic features (new game+, storage chest), with only a little bit of 'content'.
The only difference I can tell between that and "day one dlc" is they cut it up and stretched it over a short time period instead of releasing it all on day one.
I'm.....fine with day one dlc.
I was a bit skeptical of the Witcher 3's free "DLC" plan thinking it was just content they cut from release. But it seems like they are legitimately spending time working on this stuff after release which is why it was spread out over so long. And hey at least they didn't charge for it!
Although I still can't understand why the fuck a storage chest needs to be patched into games these days. Who isn't getting the hint that it's something players want?
Take Witcher 3 (a great game), and it's lookit all this free dlc for the first couple months!
I mean, great, but if you want to nitpick half of it is horse armor, and a few are what I would consider basic features (new game+, storage chest), with only a little bit of 'content'.
The only difference I can tell between that and "day one dlc" is they cut it up and stretched it over a short time period instead of releasing it all on day one.
I'm.....fine with day one dlc.
I was a bit skeptical of the Witcher 3's free "DLC" plan thinking it was just content they cut from release. But it seems like they are legitimately spending time working on this stuff after release which is why it was spread out over so long. And hey at least they didn't charge for it!
Although I still can't understand why the fuck a storage chest needs to be patched into games these days. Who isn't getting the hint that it's something players want?
I think those are the kind of issues that separate developers - who play the games repeatedly for a living and thus have a different relationship with the systems - and gamers. That's especially true with the Witcher and other RPGs, where a lot of gear is simply incremental improvements on previous gear.
As for DLC, I think it depends on how it is handled. Splatoon is getting a lot of positive notice for slowly rolling out content for free, with a strategy based on opening up more and more of the game each week. That's despite the fact that the game shipped barebones and many of the updates are already on the disc waiting to be unlocked.
0
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
Take Witcher 3 (a great game), and it's lookit all this free dlc for the first couple months!
I mean, great, but if you want to nitpick half of it is horse armor, and a few are what I would consider basic features (new game+, storage chest), with only a little bit of 'content'.
The only difference I can tell between that and "day one dlc" is they cut it up and stretched it over a short time period instead of releasing it all on day one.
I'm.....fine with day one dlc.
I was a bit skeptical of the Witcher 3's free "DLC" plan thinking it was just content they cut from release. But it seems like they are legitimately spending time working on this stuff after release which is why it was spread out over so long. And hey at least they didn't charge for it!
Although I still can't understand why the fuck a storage chest needs to be patched into games these days. Who isn't getting the hint that it's something players want?
They were pretty schizophrenic with some of their design decisions, but it's bound to happen with a game of this magnitude. It's just unfortunate that a lot of the really big issues all coalesce around the same areas (UIX, inventory management, weight management, etc. etc. etc.).
I played this a little as a Rogue when it came out but life got busy and I shelved it. I've recently found myself with time on my hands so have booted it up again as a Mage, and I'm having an absolute blast, I'm specialising as a Fire / Rift mage and just started the Orlais diplomacy stuff at lvl 16.
If I had to criticise it, I'd say the Crafting system is damn near impenetrable, in particular the 'Upgrade' side of things - If there's a way of knowing if my 'Thin Staff Grip" schematic is better than my 'Robust Staff Grip' (or whatever) for example, I've yet to see it.
ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
Steam: adamjnet
+1
TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
New Dragon Age DLC announced.
Venture with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson into the Deepest of Roads in order to figure out why we keep having earthquakes that we just haven't noticed until now.
Figure out how many Darkspawn can be killed in the longest Darkspawn killing simulator in Dragon Age history.
Be thoroughly underwhelmed with the trailer as it's so poorly produced and really doesn't leave you wanting to find out more!
BEHOLD
BEHOLD
BEHOLD
I played this a little as a Rogue when it came out but life got busy and I shelved it. I've recently found myself with time on my hands so have booted it up again as a Mage, and I'm having an absolute blast, I'm specialising as a Fire / Rift mage and just started the Orlais diplomacy stuff at lvl 16.
If I had to criticise it, I'd say the Crafting system is damn near impenetrable, in particular the 'Upgrade' side of things - If there's a way of knowing if my 'Thin Staff Grip" schematic is better than my 'Robust Staff Grip' (or whatever) for example, I've yet to see it.
Schematics have a tier rating that generally tells you which ones are better. Unfortunately, you can't see the tiers without buying the schematic, which can be annoying. A decent metric for gauging quality is just looking at how much materials the schematic requires, the more the better.
0
BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
edited August 2015
Interestingly, the new DLC is launching on all three platforms at once.
I wonder if the delay and lack of communication was (at least partially) waiting for that timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft to expire.
_____
Also, selling this as "Dragon Age's biggest, seamless dungeon" does very little to excite me. I want talky-talky, not fighty-fighty. It's not even set after the ending... And the lack of a price announcement makes me think they're going to want more money than this DLC is actually worth.
Bassguy on
0
TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
I wonder if the delay and lack of communication was (at least partially) waiting for that timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft to expire.
_____
Also, selling this as "Dragon Age's biggest, seamless dungeon" does very little to excite me. I want talky-talky, not fighty-fighty. It's not even set after the ending... And the lack of a price announcement makes me think they're going to want more money than this DLC is actually worth.
It's $15 if I recall correctly.
Bless your heart.
0
BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
Man, back into the Deep Roads is pretty much the last thing I want in more DA content. I was glad to be nowhere near it in DAI.
There were a few glimpses that make me think we're going to get an underground "world" that's more complex than just a Deep Roads trudge. That could be cool.
Honestly, I feel kind of bad for Bioware at this point. Inquisition was a massive improvement on Dragon Age 2 (which I did actually like), but it has been massively overshadowed by The Witcher. There's not much they can do about that at this point, but it kind of feels like the DA franchise is a bit cursed.
And its just a personal thing, but I'd hoped one of these expansions would add a city. The depth of a good city map would have added a lot to the mile-wide, inch-deep design of the original game.
Posts
Maaaaan. The post-release plans have been really lackluster. Very little communication. "Say nothing meaningful for months" is not a great way to keep momentum going.
I really liked DA:I, but my enthusiasm is at an all-time low.
(But seriously, while I'm not shelling out as much as the base game costs for them, I heard the DA2 DLCs were really good)
Inquisition's DLC news is like, "oh yeah we're working on a new one, please be excited" and then fucking nothing.
Not only does it read as very defensive, but it also kinda glosses over the biggest problem: a lack of communication. It also does a lot of "See, you people whined about day one DLC, and this is what you get!"
Gross.
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
"Chill" seems pretty dismissive of legitimate criticism to me.
Not much in the way of story outside of lore stuff.
The next DLC looks like it'll have something to do with the Darkspawn. Here's to hoping its substantial.
I just read the post, and it seems totally reasonable and not defensive at all?
I dunno, maybe it's because I've been arguing in favor of day 1 DLC for years. So many people, even otherwise reasonable people on these very forums, were so sure that if they yelled loud enough about day 1 DLC that that content would just magically get added to the game for free. My position has always been that if you fight hard enough to get rid of day 1 DLC, then you're just going to lose that content with nothing to replace it. And that appears to be what happened.
Equivalent lvl white drops have less damage and less bonus stats than rares or epics. But that's always been the case, so maybe you just have shit luck. The new boxes are better for getting upgrades imo. You're guaranteed a rare or better, and you get 7 more equipment pieces as well. higher rarity stuff seems more common, but that might just be me.
Of equivalent level sure, but a 21 white had way more damage than a purple, like, 17 or so. I'd double check, but I uninstalled to clear space on my SSD to install win 10
There'd be a gap in that case, but I don't think it would be huge. I could very well be wrong though. The axe my templar is using now is only 1 item lvl higher than the mace I was using before, but it has 50 higher base damage. Both epics. Shit just gets weird sometimes.
But I think they have yet to get a new community manager after Jessica quit.
Day 1 DLC in the past was always like, this feels more or less like cut content, or post-gold content, and it comes free with the game when you buy the thing anyway, whatever. Releasing the $5 "spoils of the _____" packs alongside $15 dollar _____ expansions...
Yeah, I'm starting to feel a little like this is a more than a little bit questionable.
Funny. This is exactly what folks say about day one DLC.
Also, DA2 had the $5 horse armor packs too so not really new.
Sometimes I have an issue with this sentiment even when it's true - like, we all know at this point that sometimes things are cut out or scheduled to be released later because of time or budgetary constraints and including them would mean we'd be able to witness it in all its half-baked dreck
But the greater vocal majority of people out there jump to conclusions that it happens because they wish to expressly nickle and dime consumers since it fits the narrative of The Corporation, Man.
But apparently people are fucksticks and it's too hard to just not have an opinion on something until you have more information, because God forbid you jump on the Dumbass Knee-Jerk Reactionary Feelings bandwagon too late.
Take Witcher 3 (a great game), and it's lookit all this free dlc for the first couple months!
I mean, great, but if you want to nitpick half of it is horse armor, and a few are what I would consider basic features (new game+, storage chest), with only a little bit of 'content'.
The only difference I can tell between that and "day one dlc" is they cut it up and stretched it over a short time period instead of releasing it all on day one.
I'm.....fine with day one dlc.
I was a bit skeptical of the Witcher 3's free "DLC" plan thinking it was just content they cut from release. But it seems like they are legitimately spending time working on this stuff after release which is why it was spread out over so long. And hey at least they didn't charge for it!
Although I still can't understand why the fuck a storage chest needs to be patched into games these days. Who isn't getting the hint that it's something players want?
I think those are the kind of issues that separate developers - who play the games repeatedly for a living and thus have a different relationship with the systems - and gamers. That's especially true with the Witcher and other RPGs, where a lot of gear is simply incremental improvements on previous gear.
As for DLC, I think it depends on how it is handled. Splatoon is getting a lot of positive notice for slowly rolling out content for free, with a strategy based on opening up more and more of the game each week. That's despite the fact that the game shipped barebones and many of the updates are already on the disc waiting to be unlocked.
They were pretty schizophrenic with some of their design decisions, but it's bound to happen with a game of this magnitude. It's just unfortunate that a lot of the really big issues all coalesce around the same areas (UIX, inventory management, weight management, etc. etc. etc.).
If I had to criticise it, I'd say the Crafting system is damn near impenetrable, in particular the 'Upgrade' side of things - If there's a way of knowing if my 'Thin Staff Grip" schematic is better than my 'Robust Staff Grip' (or whatever) for example, I've yet to see it.
Steam: adamjnet
Venture with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson into the Deepest of Roads in order to figure out why we keep having earthquakes that we just haven't noticed until now.
Figure out how many Darkspawn can be killed in the longest Darkspawn killing simulator in Dragon Age history.
Be thoroughly underwhelmed with the trailer as it's so poorly produced and really doesn't leave you wanting to find out more!
BEHOLD
BEHOLD
BEHOLD
THE DESCENT
Schematics have a tier rating that generally tells you which ones are better. Unfortunately, you can't see the tiers without buying the schematic, which can be annoying. A decent metric for gauging quality is just looking at how much materials the schematic requires, the more the better.
I wonder if the delay and lack of communication was (at least partially) waiting for that timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft to expire.
_____
Also, selling this as "Dragon Age's biggest, seamless dungeon" does very little to excite me. I want talky-talky, not fighty-fighty. It's not even set after the ending... And the lack of a price announcement makes me think they're going to want more money than this DLC is actually worth.
It's $15 if I recall correctly.
It doesn't give a price on the announcement post: http://www.dragonage.com/en_US/news/the-descent
It was mentioned somewhere before the actual announcement I think.
Sounds about right. I think all the story DLCs will be 15
GameSpot says: "Pricing for The Descent was not announced."
There were a few glimpses that make me think we're going to get an underground "world" that's more complex than just a Deep Roads trudge. That could be cool.
Honestly, I feel kind of bad for Bioware at this point. Inquisition was a massive improvement on Dragon Age 2 (which I did actually like), but it has been massively overshadowed by The Witcher. There's not much they can do about that at this point, but it kind of feels like the DA franchise is a bit cursed.
And its just a personal thing, but I'd hoped one of these expansions would add a city. The depth of a good city map would have added a lot to the mile-wide, inch-deep design of the original game.