BT, Did you really just try to argue that DLC was good!? That *was* sarcasm right?
I agree, there's no need to be super militant (and it won't get us anywhere), but DLC is exactly as bad as we thought it would be. Day1 and on-disk DLC and content that should be in game is (luckily becoming 'was') rife. and the fact that developers are going out of there way to say that they won't have DLC is pretty much proof of how bad it is.
Voting with your wallet is good but so is expressing that you dislike something. Whilst I wouldn't say that harassing developers is a good way to go, certainly an email/letter stating why you're annoyed is fine way to express your unhappiness.
Yes, day 1 and on-disk DLC is bad. It's horrible. Likewise forced microtransactions.
Extraneous bullshit like A Slightly Better Gun or Flame Paintjob for Armour (and yes, even the infamous Horse Armour) is incredibly annoying and stupid and I cannot for the life of me fathom why anyone would buy that shit in anything but a MP game.
But the big DLCs, the ones which add a lot of content, whole new questlines, locations and characters, those are a bit more of a gray area for me. On the one hand, you have stuff like Old World Blues for NV, The Brightmore Witches for Dishonored or Burial at Sea for Bioshock Infinite are DLCs I'd gladly pay good money for because they add a lot of new content, interesting storylines and are just overall, worth the money invested. On the other hand there's stuff like Project Anchorage for Fallout 3 or Dawnguard for Skyrim which... well they aren't terribly good, let's be honest.
I guess it depends on the DLC in question and there's no easy formula, but rest assured that on-disk DLC, microtransactions and Day 1 DLC (at least, the ones you have to pay for) are despicable, vile monstrosities that deserve all the unabashed loathing they get.
No, what is annoying/downright criminal about DLC is the way it is handled, with large DLCs going so far as to being announced and sold as early as pre-release, provoking a very reasonable question of "why wasn't this included with the core game?". To my knowledge, no publisher has yet answered that question satisfactorily.
Because it's not finished?
When a game is "done" there's usually still a month+ of time left before it's actually sold. What should they do with all the various people who aren't involved in the final bit of polishing and distribution? Put them to work on an unrelated project? Let them sit idle? Fire them?
Instead they get them working on DLC. Sometimes it's finished in time for release and it becomes the dreaded "day 1" DLC, other times it's part of the "season pass" that's released over time as they finish it.
Yes, they could just give the day 1 DLC away for free (and sometimes they do as a preorder bonus or a code in the box or whatever) but if it's something extra that's not something that's part of the original game and is being developed later, I don't feel like it's some huge moral failing to charge extra for it.
I understand, but why advertise the DLC so heavily before the game is released if it is not even done yet?
There's literally no reason aside from this asinine idea that preorders are what determine how well a game will do financially and the only way you can achieve the most preorders is to seemingly hold a whole segment of the game hostage unless people pre-order the game. This is what advertising DLC before the game is even
released basically looks like, holding a segment of the game hostage.
I do not mind big DLC releases, I do not mind a DLC schedule (hell, if anything I welcome the latter as a guarantee that a game will keep receiving official support for a while after release), I don't even mind the
idea of season passes.
What I do mind and find downright criminal is the marketing for these things starting waaay before the game is released, thus basically leaving not only me but large swathes of gamers worldwide feeling like a part of the game is being held ransom. It's an appaling business strategy and it only reflects negatively on the publisher.
Just release the DLC a week or a month after release. It'll be finished by then and instead of people thinking you're holding a piece of game hostage, they will think you have a plan for supporting the game for a longer time. It's a win-win.