CK2 Publishing Diary #1: Pricing Jade Dragon

[Badesumofu]

I'm not a fan of things like EU4's diplomatic macrobuilder or CK2's rally points being part of DLC rather than the patch. I've got no problem paying for content and I buy a lot of PDS DLCs at full price. I can afford it, I got no problem paying for ongoing development. But basic UI improvements should be part of the free patches.

It could be worse I guess, it could be HOI4's paid minimap DLC.

Stellaris seems to have this balance perfect, by the way (a game for which I own all the DLC) and as far as I can see people are still paying for the DLC. I'm more than happy to buy the DLC for that game precisely because it's inessential. It's cream on top. Asking me to pay $15 for an entirely regional DLC in order to get a basic feature like rally points, however, is extremely off-putting and I won't be buying it.

 

[jalner]

Asking me to pay $15 for an entirely regional DLC in order to get a basic feature like rally points,

I think you missed the other game mechanics from the stream and Dev diaries. Or maybe you are one of those players who prefer playing European dynasties. Anyway the region of influence of China if I'm not mistaken can reach up to the russian steppes

 

[Federalist girl]

The thing with season passes is that it's easy to get burned because you've already made that up-front investment. There have been games where DLCs have just sputtered out or been useless, where they might've had to put more effort into It if they had financial incentive to make the DLCs sell.

 

[Badesumofu]

I think you missed the other game mechanics from the stream and Dev diaries. Or maybe you are one of those players who prefer playing European dynasties. Anyway the region of influence of China if I'm not mistaken can reach up to the russian steppes

Did you actually read my post? The very part you quoted contains an implicit acknowledgement of the other features. I'm fine with DLC that have a balance of regional and global features, and I'm also fine with entirely regional DLC. My objection is to slipping a UI feature into what is otherwise a regional DLC. I'm fine with stuff like Third Rome for EU4 because if you play in the relevant region it's good value and if you don't, you don't miss anything by skipping it. That's fine.

To be honest I object to rally points being in paid DLC at all, but I could live with it if they were at least part of an expansion with a focus on global mechanics.

 

[LeSingeAffame]

I think you missed the other game mechanics from the stream and Dev diaries. Or maybe you are one of those players who prefer playing European dynasties. Anyway the region of influence of China if I'm not mistaken can reach up to the russian steppes

The problem is that some players won't be buying Jade Dragon to get Chinese mechanics, but to have the Rally point feature. Maybe not exclusively for this reason, but it will probably have a weight in the decision.
I know that when they released Art of War for EUIV, I bought it just so I could finally use my vassals' cbs, even if I was not, at least at that time, ready to buy it - I first want to see how the free patch is affecting the game before buying the expansion.

The main focus of the expansion is the interactions with China. And that's cool, really, once I can buy once I definitely will. But Rally Points are more of a QoL addition, rather than a new mechanic.
It's not made to make the game more interesting, or challenging, or to make it bring new stories. Rally points are there because it's annoying, tedious, and really not interesting or fun to move your vassals' levies around once you're big enough.

 

[jalner]

because it's annoying, tedious, and really not interesting or fun to move your vassals' levies around once you're big enough.

In my experience, CK2 has been doing fine without the rally points. Maybe I haven't really played emperor level titles long enough not to get bored and play something else. But CK2 has been on development for 5 years if I am not mistaken paradox - I trust their judgement - that if it's annoying players would put that QoL improvement on the first year. Not in 2017 when CK2 is already on life support.

Speaking for myself, I am certain that when I'll buy Jade Dragon it's because I want to play as an eastern ruler that is not in a khanate. And I won't even probably use Rally Points as it never crossed my mind that I need one. I am sure there are other players that feels the same way.

The weight of the rally point feature is that of important to get as a free patch fix. It is just a mere bonus for buying the expansion.

 

[Kayden_II]

Actually, it's more interesting to know, how many bucks you've invested in such a DLC in regards to its production instead to read some vague statements how YOU estimate the (feeled) "value" of such a DLC for ME ...

Estimating value
For every new expansion that’s being planned, the game designers attempt to estimate what the perceived value of the expansion is to the player. They break it down into its features and how impactful each feature will feel. Using this method, each expansion receives a “value score” which can be compared to the value score of our earlier expansions. By looking at the reception (forum discussions, reviews etc.) and financial performance (revenue) of earlier expansions, we can evaluate whether or not you found their value-to-price ratio fair.

Hopefully, you're also considering such factors like bugs in a reasonable manner since it's the one thing to have a working feature "on paper" and an other thing, that it doesn't work in reality.

 

[Ramidel]

Therefore we have taken action to slim down the amount of DLCs available on the store pages, like bundling them into collections and the like. These measures would lose their meaning if we kept throwing new, small piece-meal DLC onto the, now cleaner, store pages. That’s why we opted for this method.

Plus, people who have no interest in cosmetic content will still have to pay for it to get at the actual game changes that they want.

Not that I actually object, though; as you did with India, bundling a regional expansion with the appropriate cosmetics just makes sense.