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Season Passes - positive or negative for DLC?
Topic Started: Dec 12 2012, 01:28 AM (494 Views)
Sheepinator
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Yes, I fully understand the price savings. What I'm asking is, has the quality of DLC gone down due to companies maybe feeling, "We've already been paid anyway, it's good enough"?

Some examples, all IMO of course:

Halo 4 - The Crimson maps are boring. I was planning to buy the Season Pass, got this for free thanks to MS screw up, and I'm not sure I want to buy the next packs if this is the standard to expect.

BF3 - The first DLC, Close Quarters, was OK but TBH it wasn't what I wanted from a BF. The second DLC may have been good on the higher population matches on PC, but on console it sucked because the maps were far too big for the player count. The most recent DLC is excellent though.

Borderlands - In BL1 the zombies and Knoxx were good if and only if you were fortunate enough to have enemies placed at your level. It wasn't unusual amongst my friends and I to find enemies either so high level it required hours of grinding before the DLC could be started, or enemies so low level there was no challenge whatsoever and therefore no fun. Moxxi's was phoned in. I haven't tried the BL2 DLC yet but I gather it's a little short so people say?

Gears 3 - I loved Horde, but they let it die long before the final DLC. No dedicated DLC playlist after release so it was often hard to get into a game unless everyone in the lobby owned that DLC, no public join in session like Gears 2 had.

BLOPS1 - I think all the DLC was good for that, but I don't recall if they had a Season Pass other than for people who bought the Hardened edition?

So, do companies maybe phone it in a little because they already have your money?
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CapwnD
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Long Live the New Flesh!
I don't think they phone it in because they have your money, but I think there's a very good chance that you're not going to like some of the DLC, and I think that reason may be because the developers are listening too closely to the fans. And they listen to the loudest fans. Though that may relate more to game mechanics than added content.
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josh924
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I'm not sure if they can afford to "phone it in", considering that there's probably a lot of people who don't buy season passes for games. To add to what Cap said, its not like there wasn't any crappy DLC before season passes were introduced. For example, I didn't particularly like the first map pack for Halo 3 and there was maybe one map that I liked in the first (and only) map pack for COD4.

Edit: Also, I'd like to add that I don't think any games had season passes when Black Ops was still new, at least not as far as I remember.
Edited by josh924, Dec 12 2012, 01:55 AM.
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Buttface McBoob
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The only one I really have experience with is Borderlands (1&2), and it has been one of the best games for DLC. Loved (and had no issues whatsoever with) the DLC for Borderlands. I bought the season pass for Borderlands 2, and while I loved the 1st DLC, I haven't even DL'ed the new one - I will over the holidays, and am sure I'll enjoy it. To me Borderlands does DLC well.

In my mind the season passes are worth it if the quality is Borderlands-esque. However, I can see it being a problem in the future - especially as more and more companies use it. I bought the BLOPS 2 season pass (actually by mistake :) - Had a few drinks and was dicking around in the menus... Not my finest moment ever!), but don't think it was worth the money - it's a lot of cash! I'd probably be happier spending the smaller amounts as they come rather than larger one off payments regardless of the discount. If season passes are going to be so expensive then I'll be passing more often than not.

Anyway - I have limited experience with the season passes, but so far it's been fairly positive.

What I am concerned about is the possibility for sneakiness. By that I mean, if a developer states the season pass will provide 4 DLCs then I would imagine that there is a high chance of not so worthy DLCs by the third or fourth (similar to what you said about Gears 3). Especially if said DLCs are released quite a while after the original game - after all developers will move on to new projects, or numbers playing the game will drop.
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Sheepinator
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Good points all. Perhaps I am imagining it and actually nothing has changed since the advent of Season Passes wrt quality, i.e. it's as hit and miss as it always has been. Maybe it's just that my expectations are higher because of the higher one-time investment.

Banana, speaking of player population dropping I wonder what the Max 3 Pass owners think of their decision to pay up front, seeing as the MP in the game was dead a month after release (and it was terrible IMO, so no surprise it was dead). Shortly after the game came out Rockstar announced they were closing the main studio responsible for the game, supposedly offering most or all of them jobs elsewhere, but who knows how many of them chose to uproot and move cross country, or whether or not Rockstar paid their moving expenses, etc. I've heard in these situations there are essentially "levels" of employees, i.e. how badly do they want to keep you, like:

Tier 1 - all expenses covered including costs related to home sale, temporary accommodation, etc.
Tier 2 - some expenses covered.
Tier 3 - the job is open next Monday, if you're there it's yours, otherwise goodbye.
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Focian
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I like the idea of them, but I have usually moved on to another game by the time the DLC is out, so a Season Pass is usually useless to me personally.

To those that always purchase their DLC, I can imagine it being a Godsend, though.
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Paka
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Unless the game is an absolute favorite of mine, where I know I'll want to try it all regardless and maybe try for the full score, then I'd rather just see it first and buy what I want a la carte. But that is just me.
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johnpaulroth
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I don't ever see myself paying for a Season Pass, even if there are "savings". I LOVE Borderlands. I FUCKING LOVE IT. And I've gotten all the DLC so far and loved all of it. The Pirate DLC was fun and the Torgue was even better.

I don't know, I just don't feel compelled to buy Season Passes. I guess, financially, it's easier for me to justify spending ten bucks or so every other month than it is to pay 80$ all at once for a new game. Borderlands was actually the first new game I bought in... god... two or three years.

I guess I just don't really have interest in the season passes.
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Deleted User
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What exactly is a season pass with games? It gives you access to all DLC that will come out for a game in a bundle deal or some such thing? Where do you buy it from, Live?

If this is the case, and I were a developer, I would offer Season Passes and make a tremendous hype about future DLC, then eventually release just two DLCs of "Various new colors for shoelaces"
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