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Your favourite expansion content?

laxielaxie Member RarePosts: 1,118
Was there a game where you absolutely loved an expansion (or DLC)?

I've always looked down on DLC. It often feels like something "tacked on", not important compared to the base game. In the era of Season Passes though, the DLC often costs as much as the core. There is also the argument that the dev team gets better with time, so the DLC should feature the most interesting content.

How do you view DLC? Is it marginal to the experience, or is it the highlight?

Comments

  • TalonsinTalonsin Member EpicPosts: 3,619
    Mine usually involve more the memory than the actual content.  When the Burning Crusade came out, I let my 12 year old son stay home from school and we started playing first thing in the morning and played almost all day.  He still talks about that day
    "Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game."  - SEANMCAD

  • waynejr2waynejr2 Member EpicPosts: 7,769
    I like City of Villains and The Burning Crusade.

    And don't forget The Trials of Atlantis!  j/k....haha.
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  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 31,937
    I have no problem with DLC as long as the main game feels like a "main game".

    I loved all the Elder Scrolls DLC's from Tribunal in Morrowind to Dragonborn in Skyrim.

    I really liked Neverwinter Night's Hordes of the Underdark.

    I only ever buy expansions if they seem like "my thing". I really like Middle Earth Shadow of War but didn't buy any of the expansions as they didn't appeal to me.




    ConstantineMerusreybear
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  • AmatheAmathe Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630
    Everquest - Shadows of Luclin 

    EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests

  • DrunkWolfDrunkWolf Member RarePosts: 1,701
    Asherons Call Dark Majesty was my favorite except for the guild mansions, that took population away from the towns but the content they added was awesome.
  • CoatedCoated Member UncommonPosts: 507
    Ragnarok online: War emporium and Juno. Loved the addition of guild wars and pvp.

    WOTLK. The only WoW expansion that got me to return for more than a few months.

    Starcraft: Brood Wars (really elevated the game play and the units were iconic)

    Dont Starve: All expansions were fun, because they added "Don't Starve TOGETHER", the addition of group play with friends. I can't tell you how many games could have benefited from this simple concept.
  • AUNE2018AUNE2018 Member UncommonPosts: 27
    DLC/Expansion quality definitely depends on the game and the publishers. Imho, Bethesda typically has amazing DLC (I loved Dawnguard personally), whereas Sims stuff really pisses me off. $20-40 for some freakin' furtniture?! C'mon. 
    reybear
  • AUNE2018AUNE2018 Member UncommonPosts: 27
    Talonsin said:
    When the Burning Crusade came out, I let my 12 year old son stay home from school and we started playing first thing in the morning and played almost all day.  He still talks about that day
    I hereby grant you the Cool Parent award. :)
    reybear
  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855
    Burning Crusade
  • rodarinrodarin Member EpicPosts: 2,611
    shouldn't burning crusade be unanimous here it improved WOW greatly and WoW was still cool when it came out.
  • sunandshadowsunandshadow Member RarePosts: 1,985
    edited November 2017
    Guess I'm going to join the "Burning Crusade" parade.  I felt that the story content of that expansion matched my interests the best of any expansion, and maybe even any base game.  Gorgeous asshole blood elves getting mutated by their addiction to magical power, and lost injured cute deer aliens.  Demons are kind of overdone, but at least they had an interesting master plan.

    On the other hand, Aldor and Scryers are freaking stupid.  Someone was so afraid that players wouldn't evenly divide between the two that he gave them no personality at all, I guess.
    Post edited by sunandshadow on
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  • LeirosLeiros Member UncommonPosts: 281
    Jump to Lightspeed was an amazing expansion for SWG. It added the ability to explore space and engage in space combat like no other game I've played since. Plus it tied in nicely with the base game in that you could become a shipwright and craft upgrades for different parts of your ship (guns, shielding, engines etc.). Sadly it wasn't out too long before the Combat Upgrade and NGE went live. The period between release of JTL and CU was to me the best time for SWG.
    Octagon7711
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435
    AUNE2018 said:
    Talonsin said:
    When the Burning Crusade came out, I let my 12 year old son stay home from school and we started playing first thing in the morning and played almost all day.  He still talks about that day
    I hereby grant you the Cool Parent award. :)
    Big deal, I took my son (14) at the time to pick up his pre order copy of BC over at EB at midnight the evening before. 

    We arrived in line at 10:00 PM and didn't leave the store until almost 1:00 AM.

    He got to stay home the next day and play but as I had decided to quit WOW with the arrival of BC I went into work.

    B)
    ConstantineMerus

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  • DeadSpockDeadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 403
    Final Fantasy XI Online 2nd expansion called Chains of Promathia.
  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000
    Rock, paper, scissors, Spock...  OK, Burning Crusade.  :smiley:

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  • ConstantineMerusConstantineMerus Member EpicPosts: 3,338
    Kyleran said:
    AUNE2018 said:
    Talonsin said:
    When the Burning Crusade came out, I let my 12 year old son stay home from school and we started playing first thing in the morning and played almost all day.  He still talks about that day
    I hereby grant you the Cool Parent award. :)
    Big deal, I took my son (14) at the time to pick up his pre order copy of BC over at EB at midnight the evening before. 

    We arrived in line at 10:00 PM and didn't leave the store until almost 1:00 AM.

    He got to stay home the next day and play but as I had decided to quit WOW with the arrival of BC I went into work.

    B)
    Big deal! 

    If I had a son (16) we would've been so wasted from all the booze and hos and blos that we would've missed the launch day. So to make up for our depression, we had to get more wasted!
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  • cameltosiscameltosis Member LegendaryPosts: 3,703
    Within the MMO world, I've yet to play an expansion that improved the game as a whole. The game was always in a much better state pre-expansion than post-expansion, the only benefit is that we got new content. 

    Outside of MMOs, I generally avoid expansions and DLC. I'm more comfortable with expansions these days, but they seem to be few and far between. I always judge them on their own merits, but in almost all cases the expansions have not been good value for money.

    With DLC, I've never really approved with how most companies produce DLC. First, if a company releases DLC within the first 4 months of release then I know it was unfinished content that was due to be in the main release, so I feel cheated. Beyond that I'm more happy, so again it comes down to value. The value is almost always missing. 


    So, to answer your question with a concrete answer: Dawn of War 2

    I have just about every expansions and DLC for DoW2. There were 2 expansions - Chaos Rising and Retribution. The DLC I got was new heroes for Last Stand mode. I only bought them when they were really cheap (think I paid about £10 total for 2 expansions and 5 DLC) but I made good use of the Chaos Rising campaign and I've played all the heroes in Last Stand for many hours. 


    But, for example, I love Cities: Skylines and would like some of their DLC. They have 3 in particular that I want, but 2 of them are £10 each, the other £13. Sadly, they add very little to the game so I basically want them for 1 or 2 features, and that isn't value for money. I mean, when I can buy an entire game for less than a DLC....
  • TheDarkrayneTheDarkrayne Member EpicPosts: 5,297
    Mines of Moria for Lord of the Rings Online.

    To my knowledge, no other MMO has gone with a singular massive dungeon expansion and the legendary weapon progression system that was introduced was just addicting as hell.
    Mendel
    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
  • TheDarkrayneTheDarkrayne Member EpicPosts: 5,297
    I also thought Borderlands 2 had an excellent value for money Season Pass. You got a LOT of quality content for what you paid.
    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    laxie said:
    Was there a game where you absolutely loved an expansion (or DLC)?

    I've always looked down on DLC. It often feels like something "tacked on", not important compared to the base game. In the era of Season Passes though, the DLC often costs as much as the core. There is also the argument that the dev team gets better with time, so the DLC should feature the most interesting content.

    How do you view DLC? Is it marginal to the experience, or is it the highlight?
    yes absolutely.

    'Open for Business' for the Sims 2 (before DLCs existed) was a must have in my view.
    Cities Skylines Mass Transit and SnowFall are great.
    All the Project Highrise DLCs
    and for me American Truck Simulator New Mexico was a must buy because I have been in that state many o times so that was fun.


    So yeah, I think DLCs are a good thing

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  • MendelMendel Member LegendaryPosts: 5,609
    Within the MMO world, I've yet to play an expansion that improved the game as a whole. The game was always in a much better state pre-expansion than post-expansion, the only benefit is that we got new content. 

    Outside of MMOs, I generally avoid expansions and DLC. I'm more comfortable with expansions these days, but they seem to be few and far between. I always judge them on their own merits, but in almost all cases the expansions have not been good value for money.

    With DLC, I've never really approved with how most companies produce DLC. First, if a company releases DLC within the first 4 months of release then I know it was unfinished content that was due to be in the main release, so I feel cheated. Beyond that I'm more happy, so again it comes down to value. The value is almost always missing. 


    So, to answer your question with a concrete answer: Dawn of War 2

    I have just about every expansions and DLC for DoW2. There were 2 expansions - Chaos Rising and Retribution. The DLC I got was new heroes for Last Stand mode. I only bought them when they were really cheap (think I paid about £10 total for 2 expansions and 5 DLC) but I made good use of the Chaos Rising campaign and I've played all the heroes in Last Stand for many hours. 


    But, for example, I love Cities: Skylines and would like some of their DLC. They have 3 in particular that I want, but 2 of them are £10 each, the other £13. Sadly, they add very little to the game so I basically want them for 1 or 2 features, and that isn't value for money. I mean, when I can buy an entire game for less than a DLC....
    Some points about this.

    For MMORPGs, the Kunark expansion to EQ1 is frequently cited as the best expansion.  I see it as the second Era of EQ.   It introduced the first (much needed) bump in levels and essentially starting a trend of making each of additional level important.  It made some strides towards balancing the Cleric-Druid-Shaman usefulness for healing, and started addressing the balance of Warrior-Paladin-Shadowknight tanking effectiveness.  Yes, it did put an emphasis on in-camp crowd control, but the next expansion (Velious) added the UnMezzable and UnStunnable flags that over-corrected the Kunark adjustment.  Luclin introduced the Nexus and Bazaar and overly insane content locking (key camps) opening the door for Plane of Power and the raiding game.

    Lost Dungeons of Norrath was my favorite expansion, because it didn't try to change the game. Instead, LDoN allowed group-oriented players an alternative to raiding for gear.  It introduced instances to EQ1, which some will say is raw unfiltered evil, but the fundamental game concepts, character strengths and group-mandatory nature helped bring EQ1 back in line with its group-oriented roots.  I liked it a lot.  (Then SOE released the GoD and OoW expansions out of order undermining the good that LDoN had promised).

    For Non-MMORPGs, the expansions to Civ 5 did almost exactly what you suggest -- dramatically change the fundamental game-play.  Each were okay as expansions, but almost reworked basic game concepts with the introduction of new features.  It almost seemed that Firaxis designed a new expansion to disrupt strategies that players found popular.

    About DLC pricing, I agree with you.  Too many DLCs are priced too high.  Paradox is particularly guilty of this, selling in-game assets (unit sprites and music) and too many expansions.  A complete set of Europa Universalis IV with all expansions list for over $300 US if you buy everything individually.  That's just too steep for my current budget.

    Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.

  • cameltosiscameltosis Member LegendaryPosts: 3,703
    Mines of Moria for Lord of the Rings Online.

    To my knowledge, no other MMO has gone with a singular massive dungeon expansion and the legendary weapon progression system that was introduced was just addicting as hell.
    I wasn't a big fan of Moria myself. I didn't mind the design of Moria and it was beautifully built, but to me it wasn't Moria. Each zone was too big and open, so most of Moria felt like exploring massive caves and then walking through a short tunnel to the next massive cave. I feel they could have gone a lot further and really made it feel like a proper dwarven mine. I also seemed to remember feeling like it wasn't somewhere that dwarves had ever actually inhabitted - there were hardly any signs of habitation that I would have expected. 

    But beyond that, there were two things that really killed moria for me: legendary weapons and radiance gear. 

    Legendary weapons just became an excruciating grind for me. The difference in performance between the perfect LI and an average LI was enormous, so you had to have the best. Playing a captain, that meant maintaining 5 separate LIs, which meant not only the long ass XP grind for each of the 5, but also a seemingly endless grind for scrolls to change out the attributes. Before we got the scrolls that allowed us to change the attributes it was even worse, probably 2/3rds of the 1st age LIs that we looted got trashed. 


    But, radiance is what killed Moria for me. This was Turbine switching from horizontal endgame progression to vertical endgame progression. You had to have radiance to take part in any dungeons or raids. There was only a singular route to improving radiance and radiance massively changed the balance of content, so once you had it, old content was trivialised. It reduced all options for how to spec or play your character because you had to build around the only viable gear. It also killed off half the raiding scene as casual-but-good players could no longer raid - they had the player skill but didn't have the time to grind out radiance gear. 



    I did like some of the zones and thought Lothlorien was a great addition. The watcher raid boss was also quite fun, though sadly I cleared it on my first attempt so the challenge wasn't great. The proper raid was quite well designed mechanically, but it didn't feel like Lord of the Rings and the radiance mechanic screwed up some of it. My favourite thing though was probably the Halls of Crafting. Such an amazingly well designed 6man dungeon and a lot of fun to play through repeatedly. 
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