ARMA 2 (OA) : DLC discussion thread

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Now, who wants some donkey armor?

[Tonci87 163]

AS said Wolle, I have seen way to many companies beeing corrupted by DLCs. Can you promise us that this wont happen to BIS?

[nodunit 397]

moding in Empire Total War has been screwed only to sell DLCs. How can you be sure that BIS doesn´t turn the same way with the next Arma?

They wouldn't do something so stupid, without modability this games popularity would plummet veeery quickly, since many..more likely, most users purchase the game for it's modability, they get rid of that then results would at the very least be disasterous.

Modding is what keeps these games alive, even to this day the 10+ year old operation flashpoint has a modding base, without the ability to mod these games would stand on one leg while balancing on a unicycle perched atop a rickety ladder with no supports. And I believe they understand that what you can do with the engine is what interest a metric portion of the community.

Edited June 11, 2010 by NodUnit

[Muahaha 10]

I felt we should at least give BIS a chance in doing their business, as they said the way the y handle DLCs are different than other companies. If anyone has any concerns/dislikes just voice it out later once the DLCs are out, it's not like you MUST buy it in order to play, there is always an option to switch off add-ons.

So far they have been very responsive to the community, I bet they will listen and change for the better as they venture into this way of business...

[Tonci87 163]

They wouldn't do something so stupid, without modability this games popularity would plummet veeery quickly, since many..more likely, most users purchase the game for it's modability, they get rid of that then they might as well shoot themselves in both legs because it would amount to the same effect for the game.

Yeah that also what the Total War Community thought before......

[Clavicula_nox4817 0]

i

getting pissed over a videogame may be silly to some, but if it's your (only) hobby, i find it perfectly understandable.

I think that's a bigger problem than you realize.

[mcvittees 0]

If it encourages BIS to develop arma3 (and even if it doesn't) I'd happily pay for DLC they've developed.

[archaon98 10]

My personal preference for non paid DLC would be maybe a new singleplayer scenario, or maybe new vehicles or weapons.

For paid DLC, I would think, new campaigns, new islands, stuff like that.

[W0lle 1052]

AS said Wolle, I have seen way to many companies beeing corrupted by DLCs. Can you promise us that this wont happen to BIS?

No of course not. As I said in the OA thread yesterday, I'm not part of BI so how should I be able to give any promises on behalf of them. :p

I just can hope that this "experiment" goes well for both sides, the customers and the developers.

However you hardly can say now it will all be a giant tragedy and BIS gets corrupted by this because right now we know little to nothing about this. We can talk about corruption again when the first bunch of paid DLC has been released. Until then everything is just speculation, not more not less.

[jw custom 56]

AS said Wolle, I have seen way to many companies beeing corrupted by DLCs. Can you promise us that this wont happen to BIS?

Nobody can or will promise that just like with million of other things in life, get over it. If it's that hard to swallow then don't buy Arrowhead and move on.

[nodunit 397]

Yeah that also what the Total War Community thought before......

Hey no quoting posts after they are edited, :P

All in all I think we're having a pre stress panic, jumping the gun a bit, we haven't seen what the effects are..

I would trust BIS to know that modability is what has kept these games life spans so long, but if they do go that route then...well it was a fun run I guess, and there is nothing saying we can't stick to the older in the series.

[Tonci87 163]

BIS has joined the "Dark side" for me, but yeah we will see how this will turn out...

I wouldn´t mind if they would Provide Things like an 3-D Editor as DLC, this wouldn´t have nothing to do with MP but would be really usefull...

[james mckenzie-smith 1]

Let me wade into this den of intellectuals, and have a quick word.

About the only useful posts so far have been people suggesting what they would like in a DLC, also with price suggestions. So, here are my suggestions:

I would like DLC packs with at least one major faction, at least one island, not less than 8x8km (larger than that is, of course, better), with a medium length campaign, and a handful of single missions. There could also be extra game play or mission editing features. For all of this, 25% to 50% of OA's price would seem fair to me, depending on the amount of content.

Content I would like to see:

Armies:

British Army

USSOCOM forces (USSF, SEALs, Rangers, 160th SOAR)

Minor NATO/ANZUS forces (Dutch, Canadian, German, Australians) - These would not necessarily need to have all kit used by each nation, just enough to represent what could realistically be used on operations in fictional Takistan, or wherever.

French Foreign Legion

+ any new OPFOR/neutral units.

Regions:

Another Takistan map

Coastal regions of an area of Takistan bases on the Persian Gulf coast of Kuwait/Iraq or Iran, complete with an oil rig or two.

A map based on the Horn of Africa. Useful for the FFL.

Something rather like Indonesian islands.

All of that could be done in say four major DLC packs. That means that I would be willing to pay out a total of twice what OA costs, over a couple of years, say $80 total. Less than $4 a month, in effect. I think I can swing that.

[Richey79 10]

Total War 'totally' jumped the shark for me some time ago. They have a PR manager who lies and lies to the community, and have a habit of moving on to the next project before they've delivered anywhere near what they promised their community (No time to create the unit editor, but plenty to make Shogun 2 trailer...?).

The PR manager Bis hired has always been a million miles from this. Look at the community Q&A: lots of flat 'no' answers and 'we have no intention to implement this feature in the engine'. Good! It currently seems to be the norm for game devs' PR to either lie outright, or at least by what they hint or fail to mention.

Presumably Bis aren't daft, and realise they'd be shooting themselves in the foot, if they put the kibosh on modding in future versions of the engine. What proportion of the changes that make it into later versions of the game have been directly inspired by community-made addons?

Who's to say we won't get the Brits as a first taster DLC pack? Yes, it's optimistic, but we can't say what will or won't happen yet.

Queen's Gambit was rubbish, and if Bis create something at that level of quality and breadth of content, noone will buy it. For DLC to be successful, they really need to produce fleshed-out faction packs, maybe with a new map with the faction. I don't personally care about missions from Bis.

[jw custom 56]

BIS has joined the "Dark side" for me

Just like million of other people trying to make a living... lol

[Herr_kalashnikov 10]

Didn't read the post above but my 2 cents.

If paying for DLC means higher quality add-ons and more manpower on this franchise, I'm more then willing to buy them. But there are some concerns which BIS should think about

With more 'official' add-ons there is change that the community (especially MP) will be more divided. Servers requiring certain paid addons which the clients don't have can result in even more closed MP.

Also the fact that they are gonna release more 'official' add-ons will make the mod community less fun. For instance if BIS is releasing a UK infantry pack there is bound to be mod team without a job. Over time i can imagine this being frustrating.

I hope that BIS will adopt the mod community and try to get their add-ons into the official releases and reward them for their work. For instance with the proper development tools or plain old dollars, although i know this is wishful thinking.

[Bandito 10]

I refuse to pay for something that's developed in stride with the retail product, but held back for release.

It's so unethical and I'm surprised BI is even considering it. What's next, acquired by EA? How disrespectful to the mod community and fans! I would rather donate to the ACE 2 Dev team than pay for some repurposed models/textures.

[Tonci87 163]

Yep I really think the Brits were just held back to sell them as DLC, nevermind if there will be an additional map with them or something

[nodunit 397]

Also the fact that they are gonna release more 'official' add-ons will make the mod community less fun. For instance if BIS is releasing a UK infantry pack there is bound to be mod team without a job. Over time i can imagine this being frustrating.

If people want to add things or develop something new from it they will likely do so anyway, just because something exists doesn't mean that would stop people in the community from making something else to try and beat it or do something differently.

[Fred DM 0]

If it encourages BIS to develop arma3 (and even if it doesn't) I'd happily pay for DLC they've developed.

well, why don't you just send them £50 in cash, then?

what does having to pay for DLC have to do with the development of a sequel? if you have to pay for DLC then it's to cover the cost of the DLC development and has nothing to do with the development of an all-new game.

you pay cash for goods, not for encouragement.

[Zipper5 74]

Damn you guys, who said they were held back? All we've seen are a few infantry models and one helicopter. Who says 1) that they were 100% working, and 2) that's all they had in it? For all we know we could be getting an entire British faction the size of the regular US Army, with choppers, tanks, vehicles, infantry, SF, everything.

Let's stop with the irrational speculation and try to keep things realistic, please.

[Fred DM 0]

Damn you guys, who said they were held back? All we've seen are a few infantry models and one helicopter. Who says 1) that they were 100% working, and 2) that's all they had in it? For all we know we could be getting an entire British faction the size of the regular US Army, with choppers, tanks, vehicles, infantry, SF, everything.

Let's stop with the irrational speculation and try to keep things realistic, please.

nobody said that, but that's how DLC is usually made, and that's one of the reasons why it has a bad reputation on the PC. companies these days announce detailed DLC plans way before the actual game is even finished, see Rockstar with Red Dead Redemption.

that doesn't mean BIS will follow them down the same road, but it does leave a sour taste in the mouth of people who thought BIS were safe from the consolization of the PC gaming industry. apparently, they're not. :(

[mchide 0]

Would you die of a heartattack if you knew a good portion of the "official" content e.g. in ArmA2 is actually based on "unofficial" work, same with Arrowhead :butbut: ?

do you think my age is 14? or maybe 16? Be serious.

Im sick and tired of whining on this forum. Its worse and worse every year.

Most of you fu cks would like to see that company like BIS would give you all their stuff for free, tools and their cars...maybe their wifes too. Thats not adult thinking my friends. If somewhone is working for money, than he must be payed, that their kids can eat and go to school so our kids recive A12 when they grow up...

If they say DLC is !price! Evro this time, well thats the price. Take it or leave it.

And im not sorry for bad word most of them deserve eaven worse words!

[hamm 10]

Damn you guys, who said they were held back? All we've seen are a few infantry models and one helicopter. Who says 1) that they were 100% working, and 2) that's all they had in it? For all we know we could be getting an entire British faction the size of the regular US Army, with choppers, tanks, vehicles, infantry, SF, everything.

Let's stop with the irrational speculation and try to keep things realistic, please.

Exactly what I think :)

And Tonci, I know what you're talking about with the Creative Assembly, but we've simply reached a point where no further discussion can take place unless we get more info. Try and reserve judgment until we see what the DLC is like, what the price will be, and if it will have any special restrictions on modding.

[tsb247 0]

Damn you guys, who said they were held back? All we've seen are a few infantry models and one helicopter. Who says 1) that they were 100% working, and 2) that's all they had in it? For all we know we could be getting an entire British faction the size of the regular US Army, with choppers, tanks, vehicles, infantry, SF, everything.

Let's stop with the irrational speculation and try to keep things realistic, please.

I'm still not convinced that those infantry models are from BIS. If it has been stated in another thread that they are (OA official discussion thread maybe...), then I suppose I missed that. For all we know, those awesome Brisith models are simply a well-made community mod. I know there are quite a few British vehicles, skins, weapons, and the like floating around the various ArmA/ArmA2 mod sites.

However, I would not put it past BIS to develop a large force of Brits specifically for DLC, and if they did, I would happily pay for it.

I'm an American. I do love to play the game from my own point of view, but it would be refreshing to see a diverse coalition force (such as the one in OA) play a role in an offricial campaign.