We’re talking about individual models and the amount of work put into them.
AOE2 sprites still require you to make the full 3D models. It’s also a lot of work. And those new monks and castles models are so different from the base ones that you can’t tweak one or two details and call it a day.
I could also understand it that the made the base AOE4 “too unique” (in terms of visuals), giving them a huge barrier to make real new civs, so that they have to find ways to get across it and make more revenue.
Just don’t deny it when people point out they don’t worth the price. In fact many still will buy them despite complaining about the price.
And don’t phrase it like they’re doing a big favor or charity. It’s business.
False!
They are adding two. The uniqueness are the mechanics for both civs, especially the Knights Templar’s ageing-up system. A large set of unique bonuses and units will be added!
Yes, that is the problem. This DLC should be priced no more than $2.99 because it simply lacks value and lack of content. But, they wont price this as low as it is. They are simply milking more money from the players. And that is not good thing for us!
I was talking about the Keep. In AOEIIDE keep is called as castle. In AOEIV, keep is a keep.
Also, about content wise, AOEIIDE’s FREE update has more value and content in every aspect than the AOEIV!
Yep its all business matter
In fact all of their decissions are based on that!
And yep a lot of work is been added with the 3D models for both games.
The IV upcoming DLC feels not enough and way smaller than Sultans Ascend DLC.
Personally was waiting for more Casual Content, too (SP and Co Op). Only 4 missions is not quite enjoyable,
But on top of that Im sure It would be a nice addition to the game!
No, It would be around 10 dollars
3 is low as hell if compared the amount of work
Im getting into game developing and 3 would be not a price tag for this content ever. Only in discount and Special Scenarios
Questionable DLC marketing and ambiguous language:
Why in 1 year and a half have they had to split a large DLC into 2 (which is what it seems to be) and offer us only this and still no release date or price?
How long have they been developing the DLC?
Why don’t they explain things clearly to an adult audience like in AoE2?
Don’t they realize that the variant concept (especially without minimally famous and more asymmetric civilizations) appeals to very limited consumers and generates controversy?
Why don’t they at least advance how many civs are coming out of the next DLC will be released to create hype?
A quantity that tastes little compared to all the time we have waited: As in the company’s communication they have not said anything about when they started to develop, this DLC in quantity tastes little and yes, comparisons are odious compared to AoE2, and if it comes out at a high price, almost no one will buy it except some die-hard fans. It is a reality.
The toxic positivism of a part of the community: While we complain that there can be so pessimistic people here that generates toxicity and bad atmosphere, we also have the opposite, where they practically jump on your neck if you make a legitimate complaint and that is not good for the community of a game.
Maybe it comes out with good quality, but it tastes like little.
From $4.99 to $7.99 should be the right price tag.
If you consider the size and scope of first DLC of 4 variants 2 new civs and a campaign of 8 scenarios for $14.99 against Knights of Cross and Rose content of 2 variants and 4 missions
Nah, since the civs only cover European ones I dont think it will hook a lot of people.
The previous DLC mixed variant and base civ regions from Europe and Asia.
That is a good choice to hook more players. But all European is just boring and plus they look the same. So nah!
And I also change my mind, this DLC needs to be FREE!!!
People see what just happened to 3DE and are now nervous their game could be next. I’ve seen posts on Reddit from people willing to pay those prices just to keep the game going.
BeastyQT didn’t cover 3DE’s downfall out of concern for the game itself but for IV, which is a very odd thing to do considering one social media stated that Sultans is the best-selling Age DLC ever.
Exacto Adri,
En efecto Los Caballeros Templarios pudieron haber sido etiquetados no como una civi variante sino como una civi nueva sin mas, tranquilamente. Hacen mal mercadeo a grandes escalas!
Tendría que ver a fondo a esa variante para valorar, pero entiendo que no es considerada “Nación”. Igual creo que ha sido una estrategia muy cuestionable. Ojalá me equivoque.
Creo que nos avisan “desde ahora” porque en realidad están pensando a futuro:
Al parecer van a seguir sacando nuevas civs que “compartan algo” con otras, como arquitectura o idioma, pero van a ser diferentes en casi todo con la civ con la que comparten características.
Por ende, el termino "Variantes" ahora solo va a ser estético, y relacionado a la historia de la civ, y no como las primeras 4 (Joan,ZhuXi,DragonTales) que lo eran porque compartían 80% de los bonos base de sus civ padres.
En fin, mejor tarde que nunca, aunque creo que van a tener que arreglar el menú de selección de civs, ya que girar tanto la rueda del mouse para buscar entre tantas banderas va a ser problemático, y más para final de año, que si tenemos 2 o 4 civs más, tendremos 20 o 22 en total.
Yo me alegro si es que esto permite que salgan cosas como Sultanato Mameluco, como variante Abbasida, pero que no tenga porque compartir la Casa de sabiduría (que ya no existía para entonces) o pueda cambiar a ser civ de Caballería en vez de Camellos (que casí ni los usaron), todavía mejor. Además que ya es suficiente con 2 civs con camellos, y hacer a los Mamelucos como caballería pesada sería lo mejor.
I think the real reason is that during that year and a half, “For a year” they didn’t really work on new DLC.
Here’s my theory:
From November 2023 to February 2024, they were monitoring people’s reactions to the variants and new civs. Because of this, they focused solely on “balancing” them to fix the problem that some were too superior to their parent civs (and in fact, the rest of the civs in the game).
From March 2024 to July 2024, there were many changes in the company. Sega, due to its low sales of “other games,” took it out on all the companies it controlled, even those that sold well. Not only did it lay off Relic employees, but it dissolved entire sub-companies.
And the problem is that Microsoft hired Relic, not Sega, to make the game, so Sega was ruining Microsoft’s business. They may not have made it public, but the situation must have been very serious. That’s why, instead of a “sale,” there was a “change of investor,” and now Relic is independent.
But I don’t think the transition was easy: Perhaps they lost the lease on several computers, the rooms where they worked, many translators licenses, they had to change all the contracts, and that could take months.
On the other hand, I also imagine they were aware that not everyone liked the variants, or that they were critical of various aspects of them (Juana level 4 with a hand cannon on horseback, DOTA heroes, Gigantism, Zhu Xi name). I assume all of this will have changed the company’s plans for future variants or content.
That’s why there was almost NOTHING in Season 7 other than a single event, and they had to wait until the middle of Season 8 (August) for new content, like the Khan Hunter.
But hey, they won’t reveal those things to the public. It would be worse to be constantly reminding them.
If they’ve only started working on their concept (with all the feedback regarding the bugs from the first 4 variants) since August 2024, when they finish the last touches of the 8 Season middle patch:
I’d say they’ve only been working on it for 7 months and are still in the final touches.
Since the layoffs and restructuring took them so long, I guess it’s easier to sell in parts of the big DLC they were planning for 2025, and that’s why they’re selling us the first part in April and the second in November.
In fact, from personal experience I would tell you that it must be pressure from their distribuitors (Microsoft, Steam):
Regardless of the problems that the whole Sega mess caused them, perhaps they have already agreed to sell SOMETHING in 2024 for the companies, and they have already postponed it to 2025. Because they want to sell it as quickly as possible, they are going to release the DLC in two parts, one for these 2 knight civs (The name “Knight of Cross and Rose” is great) and leave the other 2, 3 or 4 civs for the end of the year.
I think they were quite courteous in their message, especially when they said they listened to the community’s feedback.
They know, but there’s a problem:
“To represent many future civilizations, both for the base game and for Campaigns, they’re going to have to create variants:”
The Mamluk Sultanate (Abbasid), the Almogavars of the Catalan Company of Aragon (Spain), the Seljuks (Ottomans), and the Timurids (Mongol). Historically, all of them would be variants and would share “something” with their parent civs, not everything, but perhaps language and architecture.
And on the other hand, in order not to waste content they create for campaigns (such as the Crusader Knights) and various ideas that won’t work if they’re not used as variants, they’ve changed the concept of variants:
Now, it seems they won’t be a simple copy and paste of the parent civ in 80% of their content, but they would only share some aesthetics, such as architecture and models of some units, but bonuses, mechanics, and unique units could all be different.
I suppose it’s a drastic change, because otherwise we wouldn’t be arguing or being afraid of the process.
And yes, I also noticed how they repeated “Historically correct” about 10 times to try to alleviate the fear generated by the four original variants, so they are aware of it.
Bro at some point they need to do variants because there are different nations with same culture.If they done correctly its so good.I think they should inform the players before they start doing a variant so we can discuss and find the best solution.
And they are not re-inventing anything entirely new. There are models to follow in other AOEs. The entire AOE2 is like different nations within 1.5 templates (native Americans count as the 0.5). Yet for all the variants we have now, only Ayyubids is somewhat a real “nation with the same culture”.
They could directly copy how AOM handles gods within the same culture, and AOM did not have Zeus, Sparta, Hercules, “Legacy of Homer” and “Heroes of Iliad” in their selection menu.