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[Neonivek]

At its heart micro-transactions could be a very good thing. It allows you to have a game and pick and chose what features are important to you and expand upon the core experience in very specific ways.

unfortunately what is actually happening is that they are simply ways to charge more than full price for a game that is less and less complete everyday.

My most anger inducing rip offish DLC I saw?

Weapon unlocks for Soul Calibur 4...

Not new weapons, just weapon unlocks for a not cheap price... that you can get in game simply by beating the game as each character.

The worst is that a lot of people will defend it by going "well what if I don't have the time?" which in a way is fine in a way but the problem is that the company will always side towards the money.

[Sheb]

I don't play any AAA games, so my sole experience with DLC is CK2, and as it has been pointed out, they're a very fair deal.

Now, one thing I dislike about all those microtransaction is that it destroy the feeling of community: your game become so customizable that everyone is in effect playing a different game, making comparisons between players moot.

[Neonivek]

The largest problem is that this is pretty much Lowest Common Denominator marketing against the majority situation.

Or rather... most people are "too smart" to buy DLC, they know it is a rip off and won't buy it. Yet it isn't marketed towards those people it is marketed towards people who will buy it.

Yet because it is so lucrative they will skimp content for the people "too smart" and give it to the people who will buy it and they will always get away with it because the "too smart" people are "too dumb" to really get mad.

[zombat]

Horse armor.


And speaking of money grabbing, remember when digital distribution was heralded as the bringer of cheaper game sales?
I remember when it was rare for a game to be over £30 on release.

[Neonivek]

I don't... probably because the price of games was BARELY affected by distribution prices.

[Rolan7]

Powerful gun that you get for free at the start of the game (Fallout DLC): No, why, stop

I do not recall this. I've got both 3 and New Vegas.

I don't think Fallout 3 had this, but New Vegas had four different DLC addons that gave you more stuff. If you got the Ultimate Edition, you started the game so loaded down with crap you barely had room for anything else. You could also walk into the first part of Lonesome Road and pick up an Arc Welder and a few Bowie Knives which would get you several thousand caps in the extremely early game with no risk since the marked men don't start spawning until later. Still doesn't bother me though, single player mode cheats are fine. Especially considering that you could do the same thing by enabling the in-game console and just gifting yourself equivalent weapons.

Yes thanks, this is what I meant.  I'm normally really great at suspending disbelief, but this really ruined my first impression of New Vegas.  It was like a dozen individual alerts popping up while I was trying to listen to the old man, and no explanation of why the gangsters buried me with a freakin arsenal in my pockets.  I scrapped them too because I wanted the joy of adventuring for new weapons, but eventually gave up on New Vegas for other reasons.  I'd rather go back to DC.

The largest problem is that this is pretty much Lowest Common Denominator marketing against the majority situation.

Or rather... most people are "too smart" to buy DLC, they know it is a rip off and won't buy it. Yet it isn't marketed towards those people it is marketed towards people who will buy it.

Yet because it is so lucrative they will skimp content for the people "too smart" and give it to the people who will buy it and they will always get away with it because the "too smart" people are "too dumb" to really get mad.

That's true, but more so for people who actually finish the AAA games they buy.  I find a lot of AAA campaigns get tiresome before they end.  In that case I'm not missing much if some side missions are cut.  (This is also why I usually wait for a <$20 deal even if $60 is a fair price, I know I won't finish).

[Levi]

I hate Microtransactions.

I dislike DLC, but don't mind it if its a fair bit of content, like some of the Borderlands & Dishonored DLC's.  If its just items and crap I think its stupid.

[Iceblaster]

...

I've never understood the thing about horse armor in oblivion...

Mind elaborating?

[nenjin]

It was...what? $10 or $15 for literally one skin of armor for your mount. Within a day, fans had produced dozens of their own horse armor skins, making pretty clear that Bethesda was charging premium DLC prices for something it took their artists like a day to make.

It was really the beginning of people's awareness of abusive DLC, and set the standard for what people wouldn't tolerate. Of course, that level of outrage has died down now, and mixed in with a lot of DLC packages you'll find skins for anywhere from .99 cents to $10.

[scrdest]

...

I've never understood the thing about horse armor in oblivion...

Mind elaborating?

You paid 5 or 10 dollars (don't remember) for 'armor' that didn't do anything. At all. Purely cosmetic. So, it was basically like paying a shitload of money for a new car paint in GTA.

[DeKaFu]

It actually cost $2, not $10. 

It was the first payed DLC for an Elder Scrolls game and the price-to-content ratio was...a bit off. They improved afterwards, but not before horse armor became the catchphrase for ripoff DLC.

Edit: Also, it was two sets of armor, and they weren't just cosmetic; they'd actually double the HP of your horse. It was just... really not worth a dollar per armor set. Its reputation has obviously been exaggerated over time.

[Tellemurius]

Lets see, i think the worse perpetrators for DLC at the moment is Bioware, if anyone that bought Mass Effect or Dragon Age would be well aware of this. Currently Bioware requires PC users to still purchase "Bioware Points" for DLC, not only my stupid games are stored in Origin but i have to purchase separate ass currency just so i can purchase DLC off of Origin, what the fuck? Also considering how old Mass Effect 3 is now theres no GOTY edition out there with all of the DLCs, i have purchase them separately and heres the kicker: NO DAMN SALES. There has been not one sale for the PC DLC at any time, no discounted points no cheaper DLC, its 15 bucks each for the large expansions adding upto more than 80 dollars. It's not my fault Bioware that you pissed tons of people off by some weak ass ending or went broke for making that atrocity MMO but hell you aren't going to make anymore cash just arguing value of work.



For Skyrim i bought all of the DLC expansions available when they went for a bit cheaper.  Hearthfire was ok for me cause i liked the Stronghold building feature back in Morrowind and something that i could customize for a bit i was happy enough.

[WealthyRadish]

A critical factor for me is whether the DLC actually required additional development time, or was essentially sliced off the original game. If they made it post launch, then yeah, it's not unreasonable to charge for more content. But when we get into the shit that really should be in any game on release, and either was removed to grub for an extra few dollars, was whored as a pre-order bonus, or was conspicuous by its absence and should've been in a free patch, that's when DLC is harmful. Also if it affects multiplayer in any way that isn't cosmetic, and isn't free.

[Wiles]

I don't play any AAA games, so my sole experience with DLC is CK2, and as it has been pointed out, they're a very fair deal.

I think CK2 is a pretty mixed bag in terms of DLC. Their main DLCs are good and as a bonus they usually provide free content for non DLC owners. On the other hand their cosmetc DLCs are of mixed quality. There are some that are pretty half assed and show an extreme lack of quality control. The fact that they go ahead and release these low-quality DLCs and charge you money for them is pretty disappointing.

[Neonivek]

Honestly I am surprised that the horsearmor gets all the worst rep when the worst DLC I saw was the vampire cave.

Which was the only way to make being a vampire viable in Oblivion. In other words they made a vital piece of DLC required to use on of the features in the game properly, paid DLC.