22 réponses à ce sujet

[pokemaughan]

He's an obnoxious salesman, what with his neon exclamation mark and (Download content that costs you money to do this quest) button. I've no interest in paying money to see him leave, so is it possible for one of you excellent modders to give him the snip?  

Modifié par pokemaughan, 21 novembre 2009 - 05:30 .

[pokemaughan]

And thus the Maker said,



"Bump."



And it was so.



- Forumianis 11:3

[FollowTheGourd]

Worse is how talking to him mucks up your quest log with a "premium content" category - reloaded after that since I don't want to see that break in verisimilitude for the rest of the game. There's probably a way to do it, like a custom script for the area that removes him from the game.

Modifié par FollowTheGourd, 21 novembre 2009 - 06:38 .

[pokemaughan]

Hopefully. He's just an unnecessary billboard stinking up my little camp.

[NewYears1978]

The only way I know of to remove him, is buy the content, complete the content...gone.



Figures huh? lol

[pokemaughan]

I will not give in. That's what EA wants you to do.



Either way, my gull-darn 50 dollar investment in this diamond of a game should be advertisement free! Or at least petty-annoyance free.

[sofly]

I didn't mind more people in camp before I got the DLC. Now that I have it, and he's gone, it is a little more lonely... /tear.

[sillyrobot]

I built a tiny mod to dump him. I'll upload it

[sillyrobot]

Here you are. Enjoy. It includes the source in case you're interested (it's tiny).

[Epantiras]

Interesting!

[EJ42]

pokemaughan wrote...

I will not give in. That's what EA wants you to do.

Either way, my gull-darn 50 dollar investment in this diamond of a game should be advertisement free! Or at least petty-annoyance free.

You act like it's such a terrible thing for a company to try to make money.

Heaven forbid you should try a game like World of Warcraft.  You pay your $40 up front, plus an additional $15 per month just to keep playing what you've already purchased.

Is $7 so much money that it will break your bank?  That's not even enough to get you into a movie theater in most places for about two hours worth of entertainment.  The add-on content will likely get you more entertainment value than that.

I do agree that the character in the camp is a bit annoying, and I would prefer that the add-on advertisements be put at the initial log-in instead of obtrusively in the game, but I simply disagree with your moral outrage at the concept of paid DLC.

[FollowTheGourd]

I have nothing against BioWare making money, and the cost of Warden's Keep isn't something that I even care that much about... they have marketing people who I'm sure know what they're doing pricing it the way they are. In fact, I say good for them - and I don't mean it sarcastically.

I don't think the outrage is necessarily focused on premium DLC, but instead just wanting to spurn them for advertizing it in-game. I'm not saying that's my view, just one that I don't think we can discount.

It's not unreasonable for people to object to having an NPC hawking it in-game. If there were some notice in the main menu - a news section like "buy Warden's Keep and then talk to a new NPC, Levi, in camp", then I don't think people would care as much as they do now.

I just manage by not talking to Levi (after having reloaded the first time), so I don't have an empty premium content section in my quest log for the rest of the game.

And I've also blocked ads in other games that I've paid for when they've become too annoying... I'll give BioWare the credit that they won't make an NPC in Return to Ostagar extol the virtues of Intel processors, but for some people it's still just annoying.

/Rant mode off

Modifié par FollowTheGourd, 04 décembre 2009 - 01:35 .

[EJ42]

FollowTheGourd wrote...

I have nothing against BioWare making money, and the cost of Warden's Keep isn't something that I even care that much about... they have marketing people who I'm sure know what they're doing pricing it the way they are. In fact, I say good for them - and I don't mean it sarcastically.

I don't think the outrage is necessarily focused on premium DLC, but instead just wanting to spurn them for advertizing it in-game. I'm not saying that's my view, just one that I don't think we can discount.

It's not unreasonable for people to object to having an NPC hawking it in-game. If there were some notice in the main menu - a news section like "buy Warden's Keep and then talk to a new NPC, Levi, in camp", then I don't think people would care as much as they do now.

I just manage by not talking to Levi (after having reloaded the first time), so I don't have an empty premium content section in my quest log for the rest of the game.

And I've also blocked ads in other games that I've paid for when they've become too annoying... I'll give BioWare the credit that they won't make an NPC in Return to Ostagar extoll the virtues of Intel processors, but for some people it's still just annoying.

/Rant mode off

I was primarliy replying to the "I will not give in. That's what EA wants you to do" part of what I quoted.

In-game advertising isn't all that evil, especially if it helps keep good things like DA:O coming to us.  With the state of the gaming economy, it's amazing that people still invest the resources required to create something as grand as this game.  I'm willing to accept the reality that they may have to take certain measures to remain afloat.

I really don't mind Levi's presence, but I would prefer that he did not have a quest or the giant marker over his head.  If he just stood there, quietly, with the dialog available, I doubt so many people would complain.  He should go away after you talk to him once.  If you purchase the DLC, then he should come back to offer the quests.

I'm sure they are testing the waters to see what works and what does not.  It will likely get better over time.

[Quaxo]

I think it's ridiculous and cheap. If they want to put an ad on the main menu, the launcher, or even in the DLC menu, fine. It shouldn't be put into the middle of a game WE PAID FOR. Cheap, low-down, and disgusting marketing strategy.

Modifié par Quaxo, 04 décembre 2009 - 02:14 .

[EJ42]

Quaxo wrote...

I think it's ridiculous and cheap. If they want to put an ad on the main menu, the launcher, or even in the DLC menu, fine. It shouldn't be put into the middle of a game WE PAID FOR. Cheap, low-down, and disgusting marketing strategy.

You're being a bit overly dramatic.  About the only real problem is the quest aspect of the NPC.

Warden's Keep is a real place in the game, and it makes sense for an NPC to be aware of it.  They should have done better with his dialogue.

If I had done it, I would have created a virtual persona for an out-of-game seller of maps and information, which is very effectively announced to each player.  That way, any in-game "advertising" NPCs could simply refer you to "speak to <SoAndSo> to find out more information."  It wouldn't be quite as immersion-breaking, and yet it would still get the message out.

I really do dislike the quest aspect, though.

[SilentCid]

Quaxo wrote...

I think it's ridiculous and cheap. If they want to put an ad on the main menu, the launcher, or even in the DLC menu, fine. It shouldn't be put into the middle of a game WE PAID FOR. Cheap, low-down, and disgusting marketing strategy.

This isn't a new thing, EA has been doing it for a long time. Look at Battlefield 2142 which contains billboards of products inside the game.

[pokemaughan]

EJ42 wrote...

pokemaughan wrote...

I will not give in. That's what EA wants you to do.

Either way, my gull-darn 50 dollar investment in this diamond of a game should be advertisement free! Or at least petty-annoyance free.

You act like it's such a terrible thing for a company to try to make money.

Heaven forbid you should try a game like World of Warcraft.  You pay your $40 up front, plus an additional $15 per month just to keep playing what you've already purchased.

Is $7 so much money that it will break your bank?  That's not even enough to get you into a movie theater in most places for about two hours worth of entertainment.  The add-on content will likely get you more entertainment value than that.

I do agree that the character in the camp is a bit annoying, and I would prefer that the add-on advertisements be put at the initial log-in instead of obtrusively in the game, but I simply disagree with your moral outrage at the concept of paid DLC.

Oh, give me a ****ing break. I've got no problem with my developer making money, but obvious in-game advertisements, ESPECIALLY with an immersive RPG, is shoddy. Go fanboy it up somewhere else.

[BaronIveagh]

Yeah, as a long time Bioware fan I was dissapointed by this, myself, putting an add for DLC in the player camp. I mean, come on, what's next, paying to level up? "We're sorry, Hero, but the princess is in another castle! (Please Pay X dollars to complete quest!)"

[EJ42]

pokemaughan wrote...

EJ42 wrote...

pokemaughan wrote...

I will not give in. That's what EA wants you to do.

Either way, my gull-darn 50 dollar investment in this diamond of a game should be advertisement free! Or at least petty-annoyance free.

You act like it's such a terrible thing for a company to try to make money.

Heaven forbid you should try a game like World of Warcraft.  You pay your $40 up front, plus an additional $15 per month just to keep playing what you've already purchased.

Is $7 so much money that it will break your bank?  That's not even enough to get you into a movie theater in most places for about two hours worth of entertainment.  The add-on content will likely get you more entertainment value than that.

I do agree that the character in the camp is a bit annoying, and I would prefer that the add-on advertisements be put at the initial log-in instead of obtrusively in the game, but I simply disagree with your moral outrage at the concept of paid DLC.

Oh, give me a ****ing break. I've got no problem with my developer making money, but obvious in-game advertisements, ESPECIALLY with an immersive RPG, is shoddy. Go fanboy it up somewhere else.

Try growing up a little bit.

While I admit it was a little blatant in DA:O, in-game "advertisements" for expansion packs have been standard fare for MMORPGs since before you were out of preschool.  Just look at the highly successful World of Warcraft.  There are portals you cannot pass through without owning the expansion pack.  There are entire races you cannot play without an expansion pack.  There was even a character named "Adon" who stood by the future entrance to an expansion zone.

I am, by no means, a Bioware "fanboy."   I do have many complaints about the game.  I'm just not going to throw an unreasonable temper tantrum about a very insignificant, easily dealt with, "nuisance."

Having an NPC in the game to make the player aware of expansion content is not a problem, as long as it's done tactfully.  If the NPC hadn't been place in the camp with a giant quest marker over his head, then this wouldn't have been quite as big a deal to many people.  The truth of the matter is that all the NPC needed to do was leave the camp after the player declined his offer.  At a later time, if the DLC was purchased, the installation process could have returned him to the camp.

I'm not sure why I am even bothering, though.  I don't expect much from someone named after a children's cartoon.

[Wynne]

Can't you buy the content with Bioware points? Which you get from achievements? I would think you'd have enough by now.

[Aesir Rising]

The DLC items and powers and such are overpowered when compared to existing items of similar/same requirements. So... I started a campaign with no DLC enabled. And found two NPCs that wanted to hawk the DLC to me. Levi was one and I guess the other was the merchant that wanted to send me to the Stone Prisoner. Cheap. Tacky. Those were the words that sprung to mind. Good job, Marketing!

[CimmerianJester]

Aesir Rising wrote...

...Cheap. Tacky. Those were the words that sprung to mind...

Agreed. We are all aware of the existence of DLC; the presence of Levi and his Glowing Exclamation Point in our home camp is the in-character equivalent of a telemarketer you can't hang up on. I love this game and I certainly don't begrudge Bioware making money (I own the game on both PC and X360, as well as all available DLC so far on the Xbox version... Cheapness is not the basis for my argument!).

But this in-camp intrusion is simply done in poor taste.

It's well past time for gamers to stop mindlessly swallowing any and all marketing strategies the gaming industry unilaterally decides are proper/it can get away with. Of course, I also remember a time when consoles came with 2 controllers and at LEAST 1 game with every system. This was simply expected. The erosion of that one-time prerequisite speaks VOLUMES concerning what we as consumers fail to expect from the industry. But I digress.

Is it a viable marketing strategy to have some goon just show up in my Camp intrusively glowing and generally mucking up the scenery? Sure. But it is, as Aesir states, both Cheap and Tacky.
Kudos, pokemaughan for saying as much!
And kudos, sillyrobot, for the mod!

[rc_car_guy29]

do you have to buy the points to unlock the mission on levi or do you earn them in the game?