CA must balance several things when making DLC because different parts of their fanbase have different reasons for buying DLC. Some people buy for the characters, some buy for the mechanics, some for the units etc.
I highly doubt that CA would ever make a DLC without units until there is truly nothing else left to add. CA would probably rather scrape the bottom of the barrel for obscure units than making straight up character packs. Switching up the formula now is pretty risky.
The issue I always see with this idea is that CA have different teams, doing different things, with different skillsets. A character pack like this would mean considerably less work for everyone involved in making new units (artists, animators, etc.). Like, they'd be some work in making the characters themselves, but a lot of those folks would have nothing to do while the teams that do campaign mechanics etc. do their thing. Unless they're going to shift a lot of those art/animation folks onto another game (and I hope CA aren't thinking of shifting significant resources away from Warhammer 3 just yet, especially not when they've only just remembered that it's worth investing in) I can't see management going for it.
I can only see CA doing this if they keep making DLCs to the point that characters are truly the only thing left to add. Can’t say I’d be against the idea though.
I was thinking the other day - why do we even have separate heroes and lords? It’s too late now - but why not just have characters who can lead armies or attach into others?
I think some people think that if it takes X developers to make a DLC then a portion of those will be working on the Lords (skills, mechanics, voice over, etc) and the other portion will do the units (modelling, textures, balancing, rigging) so if you only do lords then both halves can work on just new lords - when in reality they would need fewer animators, modelers, etc that work on mostly units, and more UI designers, quest designers etc that work on the lords. So instead of the whole team working on a DLC for a set amount of time you have half of that team working twice as hard, with the rest of the team lacking work
I think the outcome would be poor. They’d need to price it low to compete with other dlc with LLs and unique faction mechanics. But that low price means it wouldn’t have a good return on investment for CA.
I just don’t see them deviating from their dlc formula that much.
I think pretty much the same, but since book of grudges mentioned it in a vid and a few commenters hoped we get one once, i wanted to see what the community on reddit thinks about it.
There is no logical reason a character pack would net a low return on investment.
The investment would obviously be much lower for such a dlc and they could of course launch many of them in the span of a single ToD size dlc.
Wether a dlc has a good return on investment is entirely impossible to predict on price alone.
How in the world do you reckon a dlc would not have a good return on investment just because it has a low price? The cost to produce it would obviously also be lower and the production time shorter so they could get to the next dlc faster.
It is entirely realistic that a dlc that introduces a single new faction with a lord and hero would net as good a return on investment as anything else, as the investments would be equally lower compared to the price.
Because CA's current strategy is about squeezing more money from players. If that means spending more money to develop content that's worth a higher price tag, so be it.
Hence why after Shadows of Change the easiest thing to do would have been just slash the price, but they refused, and instead spent several months creating more units to justify the higher price tag.
The closest they came to making a Character pack is Champions Of Chaos DLC. Focused primary on Lords and light on unit variety.
They'd most likely stick to DLC parameters they'd shared for SOC/TOD -
+ 1 LL,
+ 1 LH,
+ 1 Generic Lord,
+ 1 Generic Hero
+ 4-5 Units Per Faction.
Only change being reverting back to 2 Faction Packs.
I'd say yes. Not all characters need some "OMG HUGE SUPER" Mechanics. SOme might also be able to share some (Emprie as Example: Leitdorf could have a mechanic revolving around his madness, taking Luthor as a base, but should also have something representing the fact he's an Elector COunt. The latter would then be shared with Boris Todbringer).
However, at the same time, I think it could be neat if they don't encessarily make it ONLY Characters if there are some heroes and lords left but no major units to add. Maybe some RoR as well to pad it out a little.
I completely disagree- what’s the point of new lords without new mechanics that make them stand out? Especially with warhammer where half the characters are just different versions of beard guy/armor guy/big dude.
What if they were cheap lords who do not have a faction but you can get them after doing some quests. £5 to add Bugman, Grimm, Gunnarson and Alaric. Not sure if they’re better as LL or LH to be fair.
Yeah I mean at that point it’s basically just buying skins with different skill trees and lord effects. I’m sure some players would be interested, but there’s so much more CA should be working on
Was thinking more from a lore perspective. If all lords need original mechanics then it won't hold up in the long run. There are engineers than Ikkit Claw, but only he can have a workshop??? All i am saying is that variery does not come from originality, but from flavour and playstyle.
Clever usage of existing assets can still make a pretty unique campaign, just look at FLC lords like Imrik, Drycha, Alith Anar, etc.
Bugman could be focused on rangers and quarrelers, with a focus on skirmish tactics and ambushing, maybe using a modified version of the beastmen hidden encampment.
If they did, I don’t think it would be any time soon. Across 24 factions (plus possible factions like Ind and Nippon), I’m sure there are plenty new units. If any faction is so complete that every hypothetical unit has been included, I think CA would just develop a different race
I'd be happy with it as long as characters have a unique mechanic to them. Doesnt need to be something huge just unique. i would love to see them go through all the LL in the game and give the ones that don't have a unique interactable mechanic get a face lift like gelt. I mean characters like vlad might not need things entirely unique just give him a dark version or karls elector count system and let him become the dark emperor of the empire that would be fun I think. i think the characters that are usually the most fun are the ones that have a mechanic and unique currency of some sorts tied to them
Hopefully not it would be a waste of a dlc, and would not sell. Lots of races and units missing, maybe a end times dlc to finish the francise off will come with units and characters for all factions. With the doubling of players ca will adjust and make more dlc, lots of money on the table ca need money. I and most will not buy a dlc with no new units, also new units easy to make, and if a faction have no units to add simple make them up they have done it before.
I'd like to see a character pack DLC, but I doubt it will happen. A lord pack with 2-3 races is simply a much safer choice for CA. For example, if you're not interested in playing Elspeth, you can still buy her lord pack to have additional units for Karl Franz or Balthasar Gelt.
If the race has at least one interesting character and unit that don't just seem like cheap infantry/cavalry reskins, there's still a chance for another DLC. For example, Wood Elves could get another lord pack with Araloth/Naieth, Lore of Athel Loren, Shadowdancer lord/hero, Zoat hero, Forest Chariots from 4th edition as a centerpiece unit, and a few new random infantry/cavalry units.
I doubt CA and GW have any trouble finding a few units for another DLC; they've even created completely new units multiple times. Also, almost every[ unit champion](https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Champion) could become a new unit/hero/lord in the game.
I don't think they will, but I hope they do. New units are cool but at some point we really don't need every race to have a unit of every possible type. New starting positions, faction mechanics and skill trees make much more sense than something like High Elf Rangers, especially when the setting has plenty of interesting characters.
Just pair LLs in parts of a DLC so that you won't need to have every LL in the DLC to connect with each other somehow. Focus on rivalries with each piece of the DLC having two rival characters in it, maybe even a shared mechanic for both factions and I bet it would sell well.
No they won't do that because business wise it doesn't really make sense.
The hardest part in making DLC aren't units it's the legendary lords. That's because these LL come with all sorts of effects and mechanics like Elspeth with Gunnery School and her teleport gardens. OTH making units are relatively cheaper cuz they already have material to work with, like Amethyst Outriders literally purple Outriders but they count as new units. Or Steam Tank with Volley Gun right they just mix and match Steam Tank with Hell blaster.
So if they make DLC with just LL they actually do a lot of work but then they can't price it high cuz it's like 3 lords people will complain. OTH if they have a lot of units people will think the DLC is more worth it.
Like if you ask people if they'd rather have 3 lords and 12 units or 6 lords majority of people will say the former even if the latter took more effort to make.
CA must balance several things when making DLC because different parts of their fanbase have different reasons for buying DLC. Some people buy for the characters, some buy for the mechanics, some for the units etc. I highly doubt that CA would ever make a DLC without units until there is truly nothing else left to add. CA would probably rather scrape the bottom of the barrel for obscure units than making straight up character packs. Switching up the formula now is pretty risky.
The issue I always see with this idea is that CA have different teams, doing different things, with different skillsets. A character pack like this would mean considerably less work for everyone involved in making new units (artists, animators, etc.). Like, they'd be some work in making the characters themselves, but a lot of those folks would have nothing to do while the teams that do campaign mechanics etc. do their thing. Unless they're going to shift a lot of those art/animation folks onto another game (and I hope CA aren't thinking of shifting significant resources away from Warhammer 3 just yet, especially not when they've only just remembered that it's worth investing in) I can't see management going for it.
Its very common in game development for different departments to have very different timelines.
I can only see CA doing this if they keep making DLCs to the point that characters are truly the only thing left to add. Can’t say I’d be against the idea though.
I was thinking the other day - why do we even have separate heroes and lords? It’s too late now - but why not just have characters who can lead armies or attach into others?
I think some people think that if it takes X developers to make a DLC then a portion of those will be working on the Lords (skills, mechanics, voice over, etc) and the other portion will do the units (modelling, textures, balancing, rigging) so if you only do lords then both halves can work on just new lords - when in reality they would need fewer animators, modelers, etc that work on mostly units, and more UI designers, quest designers etc that work on the lords. So instead of the whole team working on a DLC for a set amount of time you have half of that team working twice as hard, with the rest of the team lacking work
I think the outcome would be poor. They’d need to price it low to compete with other dlc with LLs and unique faction mechanics. But that low price means it wouldn’t have a good return on investment for CA. I just don’t see them deviating from their dlc formula that much.
I think pretty much the same, but since book of grudges mentioned it in a vid and a few commenters hoped we get one once, i wanted to see what the community on reddit thinks about it.
There is no logical reason a character pack would net a low return on investment. The investment would obviously be much lower for such a dlc and they could of course launch many of them in the span of a single ToD size dlc. Wether a dlc has a good return on investment is entirely impossible to predict on price alone.
How in the world do you reckon a dlc would not have a good return on investment just because it has a low price? The cost to produce it would obviously also be lower and the production time shorter so they could get to the next dlc faster. It is entirely realistic that a dlc that introduces a single new faction with a lord and hero would net as good a return on investment as anything else, as the investments would be equally lower compared to the price.
Because CA's current strategy is about squeezing more money from players. If that means spending more money to develop content that's worth a higher price tag, so be it. Hence why after Shadows of Change the easiest thing to do would have been just slash the price, but they refused, and instead spent several months creating more units to justify the higher price tag.
The closest they came to making a Character pack is Champions Of Chaos DLC. Focused primary on Lords and light on unit variety. They'd most likely stick to DLC parameters they'd shared for SOC/TOD - + 1 LL, + 1 LH, + 1 Generic Lord, + 1 Generic Hero + 4-5 Units Per Faction. Only change being reverting back to 2 Faction Packs.
I'd say yes. Not all characters need some "OMG HUGE SUPER" Mechanics. SOme might also be able to share some (Emprie as Example: Leitdorf could have a mechanic revolving around his madness, taking Luthor as a base, but should also have something representing the fact he's an Elector COunt. The latter would then be shared with Boris Todbringer). However, at the same time, I think it could be neat if they don't encessarily make it ONLY Characters if there are some heroes and lords left but no major units to add. Maybe some RoR as well to pad it out a little.
To do that would be cool. LL's like Grimm or Bugman does not need any new units to be an effective force. Reuse old mechanics and redesign.
I completely disagree- what’s the point of new lords without new mechanics that make them stand out? Especially with warhammer where half the characters are just different versions of beard guy/armor guy/big dude.
What if they were cheap lords who do not have a faction but you can get them after doing some quests. £5 to add Bugman, Grimm, Gunnarson and Alaric. Not sure if they’re better as LL or LH to be fair.
Yeah I mean at that point it’s basically just buying skins with different skill trees and lord effects. I’m sure some players would be interested, but there’s so much more CA should be working on
Was thinking more from a lore perspective. If all lords need original mechanics then it won't hold up in the long run. There are engineers than Ikkit Claw, but only he can have a workshop??? All i am saying is that variery does not come from originality, but from flavour and playstyle.
Clever usage of existing assets can still make a pretty unique campaign, just look at FLC lords like Imrik, Drycha, Alith Anar, etc. Bugman could be focused on rangers and quarrelers, with a focus on skirmish tactics and ambushing, maybe using a modified version of the beastmen hidden encampment.
If they did, I don’t think it would be any time soon. Across 24 factions (plus possible factions like Ind and Nippon), I’m sure there are plenty new units. If any faction is so complete that every hypothetical unit has been included, I think CA would just develop a different race
I'd be happy with it as long as characters have a unique mechanic to them. Doesnt need to be something huge just unique. i would love to see them go through all the LL in the game and give the ones that don't have a unique interactable mechanic get a face lift like gelt. I mean characters like vlad might not need things entirely unique just give him a dark version or karls elector count system and let him become the dark emperor of the empire that would be fun I think. i think the characters that are usually the most fun are the ones that have a mechanic and unique currency of some sorts tied to them
Hopefully not it would be a waste of a dlc, and would not sell. Lots of races and units missing, maybe a end times dlc to finish the francise off will come with units and characters for all factions. With the doubling of players ca will adjust and make more dlc, lots of money on the table ca need money. I and most will not buy a dlc with no new units, also new units easy to make, and if a faction have no units to add simple make them up they have done it before.
I'd like to see a character pack DLC, but I doubt it will happen. A lord pack with 2-3 races is simply a much safer choice for CA. For example, if you're not interested in playing Elspeth, you can still buy her lord pack to have additional units for Karl Franz or Balthasar Gelt. If the race has at least one interesting character and unit that don't just seem like cheap infantry/cavalry reskins, there's still a chance for another DLC. For example, Wood Elves could get another lord pack with Araloth/Naieth, Lore of Athel Loren, Shadowdancer lord/hero, Zoat hero, Forest Chariots from 4th edition as a centerpiece unit, and a few new random infantry/cavalry units. I doubt CA and GW have any trouble finding a few units for another DLC; they've even created completely new units multiple times. Also, almost every[ unit champion](https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Champion) could become a new unit/hero/lord in the game.
I don't think they will, but I hope they do. New units are cool but at some point we really don't need every race to have a unit of every possible type. New starting positions, faction mechanics and skill trees make much more sense than something like High Elf Rangers, especially when the setting has plenty of interesting characters. Just pair LLs in parts of a DLC so that you won't need to have every LL in the DLC to connect with each other somehow. Focus on rivalries with each piece of the DLC having two rival characters in it, maybe even a shared mechanic for both factions and I bet it would sell well.
No they won't do that because business wise it doesn't really make sense. The hardest part in making DLC aren't units it's the legendary lords. That's because these LL come with all sorts of effects and mechanics like Elspeth with Gunnery School and her teleport gardens. OTH making units are relatively cheaper cuz they already have material to work with, like Amethyst Outriders literally purple Outriders but they count as new units. Or Steam Tank with Volley Gun right they just mix and match Steam Tank with Hell blaster. So if they make DLC with just LL they actually do a lot of work but then they can't price it high cuz it's like 3 lords people will complain. OTH if they have a lot of units people will think the DLC is more worth it. Like if you ask people if they'd rather have 3 lords and 12 units or 6 lords majority of people will say the former even if the latter took more effort to make.