Quote: Posted 10/31/09 23:15 (GMT) by DLC On The DiscQuote: Posted 10/31/09 15:05 (GMT) by Fernando Melo
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These are the main quest givers for their respective DLC, first and foremost. Regardless of how you get the DLC (or not), you will still be encountering Felix to begin your quest for Shale, or Levi to start the Warden's Keep quest for example - that *is* their role.
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I understand that you have to toe the company line, and that means denying every claim that these are intrusive advertisements for DLC, but you and I both know that they are.
I don't need to quote a company line to disagree - these are neither intrusive, nor advertisements. If you actually read my original post you'd see that as well. And I would argue that until you've played the game and talked to one of these NPCs, that you are claiming something you do not know of.
Quote: Posted 10/31/09 23:15 (GMT) by DLC On The Disc
If these NPCs were important to the basic DAO experience, they would be included in the shipped game and/or any patches without starting a questline for the DLC, maybe delivering some interesting dialogue without hinting at a quest before purchasing said DLC.
If these NPCs were not important to the basic DAO experience, then there would be no reason to include them in the shipped game and/or patches, and to only add them after the player purchases the DLC.
You can put a pig in a dress, but at the end of the day it's still a pig. These are still pitchmen, and I'm not happy about them being in the game.
Again, you've not really read what I posted last time. These are not part of the basic DAO experience, none of the DLC is. You get a complete game without ever touching any of the DLC.
These are quest givers, and work the same, and have the same importance as any other quest giver in DAO once they come in.
Quote: Posted 10/31/09 23:15 (GMT) by DLC On The Disc
So on Tuesday, when I buy my new copy of DAO, I'll pick up an MS points card, I'll put the disc in my 360, and I'll purchase the Warden's Keep, simply because I don't want salesmen in my game unless I can pay them in DAO currency. From then on, I'll make sure to keep my 360 off of LIVE whenever I'm playing DAO. Sure, it'll take an extra bit of work, but it'll be worth it to play the game the way I want to: without intrusive advertisement.
I'll buy DLC on my schedule, not yours. If that means playing an outdated version of DAO then so be it.
I appreciate you picking up WK, I hope you enjoy it and let us know what you think.
I've never argued for anyone to buy DLC on any schedule but theirs. If anything i've always encouraged folks to sit it out and read the reviews and forum posts if they are at all unsure. That is not what doing any of this is about.
And as above - if you re-read my original post, you'll notice that you'll still encounter these NPCs because they are the starting point for these quests, not salesmen for it.
Quote: Posted 11/01/09 00:18 (GMT) by Kasrkin
DLC available from the startup menu in the game makes sense.
Having NPC's in the game, hawking Downloadable Content for *Real Money* seems crass to me. Just not in the spirit of an RPG.
I agree. And that's why that is not what they do. You'll not find these NPCs ever quote you a price, or 'push' any of the content on you, or promote you special offers, or anything of that sort.
Quote: Posted 11/01/09 01:22 (GMT) by Akka le Vil
The problem isn't being advertised for things that won't come before monthes, the problem is being advertised at all
I hear you, and I understand why 'in principle' that puts some folks off - I too, do not want in-game ads. What I'm trying to get at is that I do not believe the way we've done it is advertising something in the way you believe it is - hence, it should be seen first.
Quote: Posted 11/01/09 01:22 (GMT) by Akka le Vil
I can undersand your point of view, but what I can't understand is that, as you know that it can displease lots of people, and you even know this enough to provide instructions to disable this...
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Seems the most obvious solution to me. Why the forceful approach ?
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though I understand what you're trying to achieve, I don't see why it couldn't be handled with a simple DLC tab in the option menu, that would have worked just as well and wouldn't have caused all this argument.
I never said it would displease lots of people, I said that it may not be for everyone - same as some of the social things we're doing, or achievements, or day 1 dlc, or pick any number of 'up in arms' topics we've talked about over the years that we recognized may not be for everyone but did anyway because we believed was right for the game.
If anything, I've said that I believe the majority will be pleased, otherwise we wouldn't have gone the way we did for any of those things.
As for it being obvious to offer up a solution - or implying that by not doing so we've opted for a forceful approach - not so, and given how open we've been about all this that's a bit of a stretch.
Like many other discussions so far, it would have been much simpler to ignore the forums or say 'deal with it' - in the end, it probably would work out just the same. That doesn't make it right, nor it is how we do things.
In the time available, we added options for what we believed people would want. And a commitment to evolve things over time for those that we did not, or opted to get player feedback on after launch. If we were second-guessing all our decisions on DAO it would be another 5 years in the making.
Quote: Posted 11/01/09 12:29 (GMT) by aries1001
But the problem for some of us is still this: (as I understand it)
DLC will be delivered onto our computers, without our consent, via the DA downloader. And then a quest giver for the DLC will show up in the game world with an regular quest icon (the exclamation mark!)above their head; when we speak to him, we'd learned, not up front, but later that 'to go on this ride, you'd need to pay XX amount of US dollars'.
You will have consented to it as part of the agreements when installing the game etc. And no NPC will ask you to pay xx of real world money, they are not salespeople.
But in these specific cases, given their DLC nature, to travel to that area you will need to have downloaded it - so there is an option to go and do that if you have not done so up to that point. That's it.
Whether the content download is then paid or free is irrelevant, and the quest giver doesn't care nor ever reflect that.
Quote: Posted 11/01/09 12:29 (GMT) by aries1001
To me, this sound much like, and functions much like a commercial on tv, enticing you, luring you in - with the hope that you'd buy the -ehm- product, which in this case is,- the dlc.
Perhaps, without seeing it. If it matters, I can say that we've spent a great deal of time making sure it was not the case - again, I don't know how else to try and describe that here in text. Once you talk to one of these then let us know if you still feel that way.
Quote: Posted 11/01/09 12:29 (GMT) by aries1001
As for being online to play the game, DA: Origins, I don't think you have to to be? - especially since Derek French in a post clearly stated this. I don't think you'd have to be online to play the DLC as well? The DLC, I'd guess, would just be downloaded onto your computer (once you've accepted it); you can then play it.
Correct. You only need to go online to download the DLC. Afterwards you can be offline.