Titanfall's First DLC Map Pack Launches in May - $10 for 3 Maps

[Zac Jovanovic]

So what happens if you don't buy the DLC, but you end up playing with people who do own it? When the server decides to switch to a map that you don't own, will you just get kicked from the lobby? Will it simply be impossible to play with people who own it?

That is exactly what happens, you get kicked from the lobby on map transition. It the same with COD and BF too.

 

[Strazdas]

Can someone please explain to me why most of the commentators here are skipping over half the original post and are focusing all their attention (and resentment towards EA) on the dlc news? Yes, the dlc seems (and is) overpriced and i bet EA had a hand in it but why focus so much on the negative when just a few lines down there is some truly awesome news about upcoming updates which are FREE (just in case some people missed that). Maybe its just that I'm new to the Escapist and this is just how the community here is...hope not.

there is a seperate news post about the free updates they are giving and we already discussed that there, 1 day earlier. this is why the main focus is new information.

The DLC's development is the only problem I really have. Being put out so close to the game's release makes me wonder how far along the content already was to being finished. I can understand paying more for content that was developed post-release, but having to pay extra for content that just needed polish is a bit much.

And yeah, Panera is expensive, but then again I usually pay for two people. But lunch there is something I could easily skip out on.

the way games are developed nowadays is usually months from finished developement till release, and while bugtesting certainly occurs, something like a graphic artist isnt gonig to suddenly become a programmer and start fixing bugs. so they sit around till release. instead of doing that, they start working on next DLC, and so on. altrough i do think its too early as well. i dont remember which company did the testing but i believe 2 to 3 months were found to be the ideal time for DLC releases, as that makes people keep playing it by the time they are about to put it down.

 

[XDSkyFreak]

while such servers did indeed exist they were in far minority and wast majority played de_dust2 (i just shortened the name and i dont know why, bah, i was never invested in CS that much anyway). Im not saying that choice of maps is bad though, im saying that locking soem of thme behind a paywall means that once those maps get popular its hardly optional.

Fair game. But even if we ignore the bullshit value for money scam this game pulls on it's players and the total lack of agency of it's gameplay,

Ok I want to see an explanation for this one. How does the gameplay possibly lack player agency? That's a freaking ludicrous assertion.

Allow me to quote Yahtzee for this one: "Why should I play the same missions over and over to incremently improve my ability to play the same missions over and over?"
What is the reason to basicaly do the same actions in sequence over and over again, your only reward beeing improving your ability to do the same actions in sequence over and over. Playing this game is the same thing as working an asembly line in a factory. There is no reward for you playing, unless you are the kind of guy who draws satisfaction from watching numbers climb. It's the same issues MMORPG's have with their endgame: it's all just a grind to improve your ability to grind until some grind singularity is reached. But hey at least you are receiving early training for the repetitive desk job you will end up performing.
And yeah you can say "because it's fun". Granted it is fun to run around on buildings killing inferior foes then jump in a mech and blow shit up. But that thing stops beeing fun when it's the only thing you're doing for hours and days on end because that is all the game offers. At least it stops beeing fun for me, I have a low tolerance for repetitive bs with no context or udnerstanding of the world around me (and titanfall does nothing to explore the setting and universe it has)

 

[ShinyCharizard]

while such servers did indeed exist they were in far minority and wast majority played de_dust2 (i just shortened the name and i dont know why, bah, i was never invested in CS that much anyway). Im not saying that choice of maps is bad though, im saying that locking soem of thme behind a paywall means that once those maps get popular its hardly optional.

Fair game. But even if we ignore the bullshit value for money scam this game pulls on it's players and the total lack of agency of it's gameplay,

Ok I want to see an explanation for this one. How does the gameplay possibly lack player agency? That's a freaking ludicrous assertion.

Allow me to quote Yahtzee for this one: "Why should I play the same missions over and over to incremently improve my ability to play the same missions over and over?"
What is the reason to basicaly do the same actions in sequence over and over again, your only reward beeing improving your ability to do the same actions in sequence over and over. Playing this game is the same thing as working an asembly line in a factory. There is no reward for you playing, unless you are the kind of guy who draws satisfaction from watching numbers climb. It's the same issues MMORPG's have with their endgame: it's all just a grind to improve your ability to grind until some grind singularity is reached. But hey at least you are receiving early training for the repetitive desk job you will end up performing.
And yeah you can say "because it's fun". Granted it is fun to run around on buildings killing inferior foes then jump in a mech and blow shit up. But that thing stops beeing fun when it's the only thing you're doing for hours and days on end because that is all the game offers. At least it stops beeing fun for me, I have a low tolerance for repetitive bs with no context or udnerstanding of the world around me (and titanfall does nothing to explore the setting and universe it has)

That is just assuming that you simply perform the same actions in sequence over and over again, this couldn't be further from the truth, the freedom of movement afforded in Titanfall means you can approach any situation in a near infinite number of ways.

And Yahtzee has spectacularly missed the point there. It's not about playing over and over in order to simply incrementally improve your abilities. It's about enjoying the moment, enjoying the competition. Much like in any sport.

I do agree though that they should have explored the universe further. It has the potential to be very compelling if done right. Hopefully a sequel will rectify this.

 

[XDSkyFreak]

That is just assuming that you simply perform the same actions in sequence over and over again, this couldn't be further from the truth, the freedom of movement afforded in Titanfall means you can approach any situation in a near infinite number of ways.

And Yahtzee has spectacularly missed the point there. It's not about playing over and over in order to simply incrementally improve your abilities. It's about enjoying the moment, enjoying the competition. Much like in any sport.

I do agree though that they should have explored the universe further. It has the potential to be very compelling if done right. Hopefully a sequel will rectify this.

Sure, you may aproach each scenario in a lot of different ways, but when you stop to think about it the end result is the same. You shoot everything that isn't on your team. So while you can indeed find various ways to acomplish your task, that task stays the same everytime when you boil things down to the core.
That said I do understand what you mean by enjoying the moment and the competition: hell I'm the guy who will play a session of WoT or LoL almpst daily. It's just that ... well Titanfall lacks a hook to masquerade efficiently that all you are doing is getting better and better guns to kill with. In LoL I play because I want to get new champions with new mechanics to experiemnt and master. In WoT I play because I want to get new tanks, with different play styles and different oponents I need to learn weakspots for. At the end of the day both games I mentioned simply allow me to increment my ability to play them more with each round I go through. But they cover that up in an interesting fashion. Titanfall, like most online shooters, doesn;t bother with that, and that kills me because they had an easy way to do it: Let us build our own Titans. Unlock parts, paint jobs, decals, systems, shells, chasis, armour options, etc. That would have been fucking awesome and would have kept me coming back alot more. Hell, why stop there? Make the abilities of my pilot grow with time as well: like unlocking the ability to wallrun longer and longer, higher jumps, more fuel for the jetpack, maybe a gravity altering device, all those through customising what modules we add to our combat armour (also armour customization and decoration). But they went the lazy and boring route of just bigger and blingier guns ...

 

[ShinyCharizard]

That is just assuming that you simply perform the same actions in sequence over and over again, this couldn't be further from the truth, the freedom of movement afforded in Titanfall means you can approach any situation in a near infinite number of ways.

And Yahtzee has spectacularly missed the point there. It's not about playing over and over in order to simply incrementally improve your abilities. It's about enjoying the moment, enjoying the competition. Much like in any sport.

I do agree though that they should have explored the universe further. It has the potential to be very compelling if done right. Hopefully a sequel will rectify this.

Sure, you may aproach each scenario in a lot of different ways, but when you stop to think about it the end result is the same. You shoot everything that isn't on your team. So while you can indeed find various ways to acomplish your task, that task stays the same everytime when you boil things down to the core.
That said I do understand what you mean by enjoying the moment and the competition: hell I'm the guy who will play a session of WoT or LoL almpst daily. It's just that ... well Titanfall lacks a hook to masquerade efficiently that all you are doing is getting better and better guns to kill with. In LoL I play because I want to get new champions with new mechanics to experiemnt and master. In WoT I play because I want to get new tanks, with different play styles and different oponents I need to learn weakspots for. At the end of the day both games I mentioned simply allow me to increment my ability to play them more with each round I go through. But they cover that up in an interesting fashion. Titanfall, like most online shooters, doesn;t bother with that, and that kills me because they had an easy way to do it: Let us build our own Titans. Unlock parts, paint jobs, decals, systems, shells, chasis, armour options, etc. That would have been fucking awesome and would have kept me coming back alot more. Hell, why stop there? Make the abilities of my pilot grow with time as well: like unlocking the ability to wallrun longer and longer, higher jumps, more fuel for the jetpack, maybe a gravity altering device, all those through customising what modules we add to our combat armour (also armour customization and decoration). But they went the lazy and boring route of just bigger and blingier guns ...

Bigger and better guns isn't true in this case. There is only a select few guns, one assault rifle, one shotgun, two SMGs, two sniper rifles etc. The first gun you get, the assault carbine, is pretty much one of the best.

I can't agree with your idea of increasing your abilities as a Pilot as you level up in that fashion, it leads to the game being imbalanced, which is an issue with far too many multiplayer games these days. Keeping it simple is far preferable for this kind of game.

I agree with building your Titan from scratch and having more customization in that regard. That would be awesome, hopefully the sequel implements it.