what if?

MYcrimsonTEARS · 2004-03-17, 05:16 PM

... SOE got a clue from other games on how to do expantions... i wonder. i was thinking about this when a friend said he would love to see more empire weapons... so i think SOE should make "weapon packs"... one for each empire. they would contain one new empire weapon for each catagory. this way vechs and weapons can be bought in lump sums in store chelf packs rather than large downloads then no one wants.

please tell me want you think.

delta · 2004-03-17, 05:19 PM

Yes, but we all know SOE is too lazy to do anything.
They just merge servers and say "bigger battles".

oddfish · 2004-03-17, 05:24 PM

so, you'd have to buy the upgrades from a store rather than just get them for the monthly fee you're already paying now... that's a GREAT idea.

if it's a weapon upgrade and you don't want to use the weapons offered by the upgrade, don't use them. but, for the most part, the upgrades done by the devs are not optional, they are fixes and improvements that affect the whole community.

as far as expansion packs, like i said, if you download the expansion pack then just choose not to use the expansion stuff. many others still will, but you don't have to. upgrades and expansions, in my opinion, for PS should always be free and downloaded during the upgrade session pre-game. I pay a monthly fee for this game, i shouldn't have to pay for minor upgrades and i certainly shouldn't have to waste gas to go to my local sofware store to buy a weapons upgrade that gives me two new guns and a new vehicle that i could have downloaded over the internet.

the idea of making the expansions store bought like core combat unfortunately is is not the best idea for a game like this, in my humble opinion.

and now, i'm preparing myself for the always cocked and ready flamer.

JakeLogan · 2004-03-17, 05:38 PM

I think if SOE does make another Expansion they should put it out for free for a week and if you like it, Then buy it. It would have saved them after the Fiasco they had with CC. Which I still regret buying to this day. Oh yay I go down to a cavern once every 2 weeks and have weapons I don't use. and vehicles that cause grief worse then the pounder or are just useless.

Krinsath · 2004-03-17, 05:57 PM

I can only think of 2 viable avenues for an expansion at this point: Naval Combat and Space Combat.

Problem with weapons is there is only so much variety you can have before you just start repeating a theme. PS currently has 36 different infantry weapons (counting guns, MAXes, deployables that fix damage and Core Combat not counting knives). Sure, you may have ready access to a limited number, but that's what looting and backpacks and lockers are for.

Compare this to a Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which in the standard game has about 12 weapons. That's 1/3 of the weaponry. Or, BF1942, where there are 15 (or so) infantry weapons usable. PS already has plenty of weaponry, and the Devs have said there are already more in the works (I do *so* recommend listening to the Ask the Devs recordings). Adding in an additional dozen or so...first off come up with viable concepts that are not overpowered and yet are still different enough from the current weapons to be used...second try selling that one to people.

Production costs for a "in store" game far, far exceed the amount that the bandwidth to send it out costs. First, you have to make the cover art, then you need to get the CDs pressed, then you have to ensure that the box will be available on the release date which you have to coordinate with your distributor. It then takes days for some places to get their copies of the new expansion. So, instead of the download taking an hour, you'd advocate them spending tons of money (and trust me, the added expense will be passed on to you) and add a month (at least) onto the process? One month...one hour (at worst)...I think I know which one wins in my book!

oddfish · 2004-03-17, 06:01 PM

well said, Krins

Dharkbayne · 2004-03-17, 06:01 PM

This thread is retarded.

oddfish · 2004-03-17, 06:02 PM

This thread is retarded.

JakeLogan · 2004-03-17, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Dharkbayne

This thread is retarded.

No YOU are retarded

j/k bud

Lartnev · 2004-03-17, 06:12 PM

Sony is very good at expansion packs. EverQuest alone has 8 of em, and I think SWG has one?

Seriously though, SmokeJumper said yesterday that there are no expansions planned so we might as well freeze this thread in liquid nitrogen, bury it, and dig it up when they announce the next one

oddfish · 2004-03-17, 06:14 PM

indeed

Cryptica · 2004-03-17, 07:25 PM

Buying an expansion is ridiculous. If SOE wants to upgrade weapons or add more vehicles or whatnot, then it should be a download. Besides, most downloads are what, 5 minutes long? Oooh big whoop. The game has a monthly fee that includes patches, updates, upgrades, and tech support ALONG WITH playing the game.

oddfish · 2004-03-17, 07:28 PM

Cryptica, you couldn't be more right.

MYcrimsonTEARS · 2004-03-17, 07:47 PM

no you dont understand what im geting at... i mean they wait for a bit and put it out on disk's so we dont have to get it bit by bit... and this is not a expantion pars'e, its more like a pack as i said before... it would only contain weapins,vechs, new cont...things, no updates... that would be stupid.

it also would make BIG changes to come down the pipe faster... think about it. why would you put a litttle bit evry mounth or so when you could get it all ready in hafe the time you would have fixing, seting up the downloads, reading wine post(viea spork) when you could just put it in stores with it complet... then do the fixis in lumb sums...

but i see what you mean. but i dont mean they would be the price of CC for some new stuff, im talking about 5-8 bucks.

oddfish · 2004-03-17, 07:57 PM

it wouldnt BE five to eight bucks, it'd be twenty or more cuz you have to pay for all the other shit that goes into it. money money money. it costs money to put out a cd