Age of Wonders 4 - Expansion Pass 2 Reveal

[HiddenX]

Learn more about the new expansion pass of Age of Wonders 4:

Age of Wonders 4 Expansion Pass 2 Reveal - Archons are back! | New Content

Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.

 

[Hastar]

I paid for the expansion pass when AoW 4 was released. Now they add another expansion pass? No thanks.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Yearly expansion passes are pretty common. Anno 1800 had about 4-5 years of season passes.
Rainbow Six Siege had even more years.
I'm fine with and will even support if they are indeed of quality and they put work in. That's basically what I'd like from games. To be supported for years with meaningful expansions. Just don't nickel and dime for cosmetics.

On AoW4, I've yet to dive into it properly.

 

[Carnifex]

One I do plan on getting so thanks for the seasonal pass information.

 

[Couchpotato]

I'm fine with it as it adds content to game for a few years.

What I despise is supporter packs and cosmetic DLC.

 

[Hastar]

I'm fine with it as it adds content to game for a few years.

What I despise is supporter packs and cosmetic DLC.

I just paid for the supporter pack for Songs of Conquest yesterday. It was 50% off but that is a company, Lavapotion, that knows how to support a game post-release. I don't do KS projects much anymore so I don't mind helping a company that does it right.

 

[SSIGuy]

I just couldn't get into the game enough to even look at DLC. Don't get me wrong; I think it's an ok game and understand why some people love it, but for me, the recent AoW/Planetfall games just haven't held my attention very long, even though I wish they did.

 

[Couchpotato]

I just paid for the supporter pack for Songs of Conquest yesterday. It was 50% off but that is a company, Lavapotion, that knows how to support a game post-release. I don't do KS projects much anymore so I don't mind helping a company that does it right.

I made my point before on another thread and pissed off a few members. Personally if it's Early Access and they need funding it's fine. It's developers that add it years after release.

 

[Couchpotato]

I just couldn't get into the game enough to even look at DLC. Don't get me wrong; I think it's an ok game and understand why some people love it, but for me, the recent AoW/Planetfall games just haven't held my attention very long, even though I wish they did.

We talked about it before it's because it's now a 4X game, and no longer relies on story campaigns, and quests to keep the player interested. They needed to change though.

AoW 3 was okay but Planet-fall was a vast departure form the older formula. Also new blood has taken over from the veterans, and in their own words the old formula was stale.

Still according to the developer AoW 4 is the best selling game in the series.

 

[Hastar]

I enjoy AoW 4 but not as much as I enjoyed Shadow Magic for AoW 2. That was a fun game.

 

[Vitirr]

I paid for the expansion pass when AoW 4 was released. Now they add another expansion pass? No thanks.

I don't get the veiled criticism. It is new content for the people who like the game enough to enjoy it. I don't see anything bad with it as long as the content is good and priced accordingly, I think this is the perfect situation. Fans get what they want and devs get to leverage the investment in the initial game (engine and so on).

We talked about it before it's because it's now a 4X game, and no longer relies on story campaigns, and quests to keep the player interested.

There are story realms though. They are not connected as far as I know but they kind of serve as campaign scenarios.

 

[Couchpotato]

There are story realms though. They are not connected as far as I know but they kind of serve as campaign scenarios.

Yeah but there not true story campaigns. You pick the scenario/realm and make your own story in a sandbox. Your creating your own godhood origin. That is the whole story.

Age of Wonders 4 does not include a traditional, linear campaign as we know it from the previous titles in the series. Instead, the game offers 3 realms that focus on different way of narrative and gameplay.

Instead of having a fully scripted campaign story that the player follows - with perhaps a couple of branches - the in-game narrative needs ways to adapt to who the player is and their actions. Through this we avoid narrative vs gameplay disconnects, difficulty spikes or blocking parts of the customization/empire development possibilities.

So our goal is to create a universe rich in lore, which reacts to the player’s choices instead of a more linear traditional scripted adventure. (Quote from their own blog)

While I understand there is a small "story realm" (with only 5 maps?) stuff it doesn't really sound like an actual campaign in the way other AOE games (including Planetfall) did, just typical 4x stuff which, honestly I'm not really that interested in.

 

[Hastar]

I don't get the veiled criticism. It is new content for the people who like the game enough to enjoy it. I don't see anything bad with it as long as the content is good and priced accordingly, I think this is the perfect situation. Fans get what they want and devs get to leverage the investment in the initial game (engine and so on).

I don't think the new content is all that great. They are just adding new factions. How about some newer units and buildings for everyone? A story campaign for people who want to play a longer campaign. I guess when you spend $90 when the game was released I was hoping for a little more variety in the DLCs. I have played every AoW game and paid for them on day 1. This fan did not get what he wanted, just a little more variety. I think many DLCs have been cash grabs for a lot of games.

The latest Wartales DLC was awful. Great game and even the developer knows they messed up. They released a statement yesterday apologizing.

 

[Vitirr]

I think you are missinformed. There is free content with every single DLC and the DLC is way more than just new factions (cultures). There are new type of leaders, new mechanics like the forge to build your own artifacts, and new magic tomes which is a fundamental part of the game that help you change/customize your culture in very drastic ways (major transformations like converting you in demons or undead). .

They added a whole new map level (the umbral abyss) with their last expansion as well as a complete overhaul of the Mystics culture (as free content too) adding 3 quite different options to play as (and it is rumored that they may end up doing the same with the rest of cultures).

They definitely added new units in the paid content, I'm fairly sure also some as free content but can't remember which exactly. Not to mention less important stuff like new mounts or hero customization (most of it free).

With the first new expansion in this season pass they are introducing a new renown mechanic for your heroes as general free content too.

So the content of the expansions is quite varied in my opinion and there is quite a good amount of free content coming with it. I may agree that even though it has these story realms it does not provide a proper campaign but this is a design choice from the base game so not fault of the expansions.

I get you don't like the content, ok, but I don't think there is the need to complain just about the fact that they are releasing new stuff as a concept, which is what I got from your first comment.

Yeah but there not true story campaigns. You pick the scenario/realm and make your own story in a sandbox. Your creating your own godhood origin. That is the whole story.

To say the truth I wouldn't know. I've played a lot of this game and still didn't started a single story realm. I hardly play campaign in these type of games because normally it sucks (a lot) in the gameplay department. I know some people like it, and specially here in an RPG site you might be the majority, but I'm not sure if that is the case with the overall audience of these type of games.