Are You Buying Less Or More Dlc Now?

2021 was the year i started with tsw and after my initial invest, i was a day 1 buyer and got all dlcs except the br 187. So yes there is plenty of content now, and i like to have a big collection in variety.

For 2022 i decided to choose my "dlc purchais" after preview stream or after the community feedback.
This because the chain of the release state of the 187, the 38 stock and the genious dtg strategy to cut out features in sherman hill like the speed control or train lenght counter. On top the lazy excuse "it just would take too long to implement that".

I can afford buying every dlc full price, on top i would even pay a higher price for good loco dlcs.
But for example the harlem line didnt convince me, so i dont get it. On the other side the tharanter ramp was a day1 after i saw the stream.

The only exception might be spirit of steam, no way they are gonna screw this up.

 

Don’t forget about the audio train track sound as well.

 

Less/None.

My most recent purchase was the Rush Hour pack, of which I've barely touched Boston and not done a huge amount on Dresden. Nothing since then has been of any real interest to me except maybe WCL, but quality was questionable.

Harlem might be worth a look (if it has trophies), but not at full price and probably not for a while...

Also, Gran Turismo 7.

 

Less as I have a PS5 and if I download any more I will lose substitutions

 

Let's iterate my answer a bit then

In the past, I was probably ok about buying all the DLCs of the year. They were fewer overall, and a bit different from each other. Currently, why should I buy, for example, all the German DLCs released last year? The same, again and again, basically. So I stopped buying any German DLC.

So, maybe, if DTG was to make fewer DLCs but with better quality/length/diversity/completeness, I would buy all their content again more willingly.

 

I would normally buy most things on PC and the ones I play a lot on PlayStation.

However I’m over the limit on PlayStation now and despite fast internet, swapping out routes is becoming tiresome, so I stopped buying PlayStation DLC some time ago.

Not sure about the new US route yet. Will see what people make of it. Will definitely get the new Swiss route as it’s fairly local and I want to try it as soon as it’s out.

Regarding routes being short. Not a problem for me. I tend to play for about an hour each session. I wouldn’t play longer routes anyway (Though a working save might change that).

I also want to see all that Preservation crew content that seems blocked. But it won’t stop me buying new stuff. My view is that I’m not paying anything for it, so I’ll be patient.

I also play on XBox occasionally. But that is frustrating. The sound bug and the lack of sales means I am not buying any DLC for that. It’s main purpose, for me, is that you can play it on cloud gaming, so it’s great when travelling.

 

Less, but that's entirely because I ran out of money... and then ran out of computer

I did buy a couple things in the New Year sale though as they were very cheap and I figured I'd like something brand new to me once I'm back up and running

 

Releasing PreservedCrew Updates would really help returning to the day-1-nobrainer mode ;-)
But since I'm waiting for some things to be fixed and kind of hold up playing certain routes or locos until then my TSW experience feels kind of crippled. When things go worse (I'm no steam enthusiast) there might be no purchase from me until TSG releases another loco.

 

Less than before as I now have a nice library of routes and trains to choose from and less free time.

I will continue to get all/most of German addons and a lot of British ones in the future, less US ones. But I've long since switched to "wait for preview stream or reviews" mode. The visual quality has been certainly going up, but DTG seriously dropped their ball in the polishing department - with the latest DCZ release, there is floating track, reversed catenary, missing grade crossings,...

 

I’ve never been a day one buyer, as I usually like to await reviews, however, I have even less incentive to buy on day one now.

I don’t think I have ever seen such a shambles when it comes to post release fixes. Endless amount of times we’ve been told on promo streams that x, y & z issue will be fixed shortly after release but quite literally MONTHS after said product has been released we are yet to see one bug fixing update for it. I honestly think it’s all talk, as we all know this clearly won’t be the case the way things are handled.

The way the preservation updates have been handled is even more of a farce. They’ve been ready for several months yet nothing has been released.

DTG really need to step up their game, as it’s clear from the responses in this thread that a lot of people have gotten fed up at the way things have been handled since Rush Hour release.

 

(Double post) ignore.

 

The CRR SD40 horn immediatly comes to my mind. It was supposed to come soon after launch as it just about didn’t make it into the release build. That was like almost a year ago now?

That’s just the tip of the ice berg though. Judging by the forums (which probably aren’t indicative of the player base at large, to be fair), it seems that we’re rapidly approaching a point at which DTG need to change things up - both for updates and content.

As far as updates are concerned, nothing new I need to mention. Post launch updates rarely come and Adam’s work is both sitting around and often too little (working level crossing instead of fixes to signalling etc.).

As far as content goes, DTG have gotten rather comfortable recycling stuff they already have. I’ve lost track of how many different DoStos I’ve got lying around. Anyone in need of a spare Br 185? Loads of them to go around as well. That’s only the German stuff - I won’t talk about the UK since that is not my forte. The new Br 612 was a welcome change of pace and hopefully indicative of DTG understanding the need to start delivering new rolling stock (and new experiences) instead of endlessly recycling what they’ve got lying around.

 

It seems many of them were not ready actually. The work that was done by the preservation crew has been waiting for QA for many months.
Guess what. There were "unexpected problems". I mean you do not know exactly what the problem is going to be, but of course if you send several weeks of work for testing it is to be expected that something will probably not go as you want it to.

Result: the preservation crew will need to go back to fix the problems several months after they did the original work. They were probably working on something else now, so they will need to drop it to fix the problems or we will get more delays. Of course, it would have been easier for them to fix the problems if the testing was done soon after they finished and not after many months. It is not easy to remember what you coded a month ago, let alone 6 months ago.

 

Making the pseudo-roadmap monthly helps as there are less opportunities to have to comment on things.
But wait, they will acknowledge the discontent once more and continue by their habits immediately.
GG WP

 

it’s surprised me , as a very small cross section of a much larger audience, all here are fairly established on the forums and probably recognise one another’s names, that If we feel like it and vocalise it to help the community, how many feel it and just have the game euthanised in their collection instead.

I think there’s some value in this thread (I’m bias, I started it, but I do).

 

Especially since there has been personnel turnover and the guy who did it originally may not even be there any more.

 

It’s really been held up by the QA Team which is so annoying especially how Adam's Team have work so hard on it and push his way through while the QA team is not. If they would have been passionate, they would have work really hard and try to get them out as well.

 

I still say the Qa Team waited this long to test the work therefore it’s the reason why we might get these update late. Adam and his team have already finish most and maybe all of the preservation crew update already since last year around December or somewhere in the early of this year, while the QA team took their lovely time to work at their own pace and mostly like check Adams work the last minute or else we wouldn’t get upsetting news about things have been push back, things have change again and we basically get the same answer over again.

 

I'm not blaming the PC or the QA team. Probably everyone did what they were told to do and they did it the best they could.
If anything, maybe something can be learnt from this by the ones making the decisions. Probably Matt and up the chain.

 

I just hope some constructive value is seen within the team that the churn of similar products may (we don’t know the console base sales figures) “may” be wearing thin.

 

Sam gave us some figures. IIRC it was something like 40% old consoles, 20% next gen consoles and 40% PC.

 

The impression I get is that QA is a company asset and doesn't fall under Matt's chain of command as TSW Poobah.

 

For content I'm interested in, I still *usually* buy day 1 (I decided to preorder Harlem today), but only because there is usually a discount - and since new routes usually don't get featured in sales for several months after release, I usually take up the pre-release discount.

But for me, the question isn't so much are you buying more/less, but are you playing more/less - and that answer is less. In the last week, I've probably fired up TSW 2 or 3 times - I used to play daily. The inconsistencies of the various DLC features, the "minor" bugs that detract from game play, the lack of the post-release updates despite being promised, and of course this QA preserved collection fiasco all just detract from my enjoyment. Also, a lot of recent content takes upward of an hour (or more) to complete and we don't have a reliable save function - and my max time in the game of late is about 30 minutes. I probably shouldn't be a day 1 buyer because it leads to disappointment every time, but usually each route has something new that interests me and FOMO is a thing.

 

I’m another one who’s become jaded by new releases.
I used to preorder releases and couldn’t wait to try them out.
Now I found myself turning off the Harlem preview mid stream.
More of the same.

Will I buy it? Probably, when it goes on sale in six months time.

We desperately need more variety in the selection of routes

As to the fixes and upgrades, I also find myself irritated by the long delays.
I don’t doubt their intentions but their execution is abyssmal.
The explanations for the interminable delays has become embarrassing.

 

(quick off topic related to bugs that hold people off)
Yesterday, on Riesa-Dresden I was doing my usual 143 Meissen to Dresden run. I get overtaken by a freight train and 10 minutes later the same train passes by me on the same track as before in the opposite direction being pushed by the loco instead of pulled.

I also have an open ticket for an issue on the same route related again to freight. In one of the timetable runs I get to a red light where there is an AI train 50 meters ahead on the same track stopped at a red light too. We were blocking each other's way...
It's not loading issue as I haven't loaded and I did the same run twice with the same outcome. Well, one time the AI 185 was black and the other time red.

There many places with missing catenary on the route. Good thing I have enough speed to coast past them...

To go back to the topic, this is why I don't buy at full price.

The funiest thing I heard someone say was when I asked about a day patch for issues known and I got an answer from Sam on that stream saying that there is no such thing as a day one patch, it's called release day. I mean, each to its own...

 

I honestly think the gameplay is tedious too. Everything is just a cut and paste, albeit with a route specific timetable, half of which doesn’t often work. The tutorials are almost identical (even down to the script), journey mode is the same half-baked selection of things that appear in no logical order (a tutorial appearing after you’ve driven the train in question) etc etc. Even in Timetable mode many of the services are cut and paste. Same signal colours at the same point etc. You know that whichever country you buy for, the clutter posters etc will be the same ones you’ve always seen, cut and pasted from way back when. There is absolutely nothing dynamic about the game at all. Nothing. Even in scenarios that appear to be dynamic it’s still scripted dynamism.

It just doesn't have the same feeling as TS1, and it should be way better. It’s difficult to put a finger on it, but I think the sound and the visuals play a huge part. There’s no warmth to them, and they create no atmosphere at all. Everything feels flat and lifeless. It is sad that TS1, running on an ancient engine and on DX9, is able to create far more atmosphere than TSW. The closest TSW got was Great Western Express, but they then went off on a tangent and the game has never been the same since. I think they really had something at that point, but they went the wrong way with it IMHO.

Best of all though…after 5 years you still cannot save a game. If you’re brave enough to try it you still only get one save slot. One!!

I’m just sick & tired of it but it’s a computer game, and there are far far worse things in the world than a game that isn’t up to scratch. I don’t know what it will take to make me buy another DLC though.

 

Both of these are the same issue. Some freight runs running towards Dresden have a go via Coswig instruction after a go via Dresden-Mitte, which causes the AI to run backwards and gives you a red signal (if you check the map, you should have an objective in and green signals to Coswig). I think the runs in question are the ones with an estimated completion time of around 50 minutes.

 

At least the night and very early morning runs were free of such issues. I started plyaing through them in cronological order as they are in the timetable and as I am getting to the busier hours anomalies like these started to happen.

We always wanted dynamic events on the track. It looks like we finally got some of that.

 

I actually do not mind short routes or anything like that. What I do care about is having something new. For example, Hamburg-Lübeck was the first German route I did not buy, because the route does not have anything special to offer and the rolling stock has nothing new included (the BR 112 is almost exactly the 143 so that does not count for me)
As long as a new German route has new rolling stock or at least a new special feature, I will most likely buy it

 

Thanks wxtr7 I totally agree and see the same playtime degradation for myself, too

 

I'm bying less DLC
mainly because i have nothing of my interest coming out... lst DLC I bought was Tees Valey Line LCass 31 and Class 20, last year... and I'm only planning to buy Spirit of Steam's route. Every europeen dlc by DTG basically looks more of the same

 

I echo a fair bit of this to be honest, when I’m watching streams I’m looking for that “so what” point. The point in the stream that makes me think “yes that’s the so what and why I should be buying it” . Steam has that for me but the other lately I’m finding it hard to locate.

 

As I stated in one of the threads about it, the only other DLC (apart from Scousy Steam) I can see myself buying is the DB BR420 EMU, mainly because it is an older design and looks as if it will be more fun to drive than its newer successors. And maybe the German 232 diesel but gut tells me that won't be out until much later this year if not next year.

 

Maybe it's one for another post but what would be a "so what?" point when it comes to driving trains?
Given the whole point of driving a train is to set off smoothly, stick to near the speed limit observing signals and signs and then stop smoothly at the designated stops (rinse and repeat for 9 hours) what level of "so what?" are we talking?

 

For me personally it’s something new and unique.

Sometimes it could be a route but these are starting to become very similar. A new country would be a “so what” which would intrigue me. We’ll see what rivet deliver but I consider them with caution.

Steam for me personally would be, aware it’s inbound.

Something we’ve not seen before, as an off the cuff example, somewhere with docks where you’re having to park under the cranes. New tasks we’ve not seen.

VR.

These type of things would intrigue me more than some of the recent things. Good question though and you’re right in what you say

 

Looking at my purchase history, I bougth more than before, especially this and last year. Mostly during the sale, I have to add.

And I'm sure I will continue to purchase the DLC that interst me, as Rush Hour reignited my interest in the game. I personally like all three routes a lot. I can look past the most bugs, as I play the game more like a "traingame", and less than a simulator, so any specific PZB or similar bugs, for example, don't affect me. I am still worried about the state of the game tho, the bugs, even if I can look past them, are still present, the missing save game function keeps me away from even attempting american fright routes, and therefor from buying them aswell.

 

I think spirit of steam is definetly the right thing for you, if you search for a variety change.

About the rolling stock (especially german traction), i think reusing them has resulted in the fact we got pretty busy routes.

I also would be happy for classic german diesels, but this requires an initial dlc similar to spirit of steam, connected with all new wagons and scenery and first routes might not have the variety we have now.

The more content tsw gets, the more interessting in variety and substitution there will be.
But for this big goal its nessecary, dtg keeps the level of quality and solves the problems step by step.

And right now i have more the feeling Dtg got into a giant "hamsterwheel" not knowing how to get out of it.

Pretty clear to me since what is said & promised on streams, not matches with the result they deliver to the customers. (at least in my opinion)

Things dont usually go as planned, we all know that. But beside the thing with the preserved updates, which reminds me more of a comedy soap by now, i dont get why level crossings are placed open again on new routes, while adam is putting a giant effort to get them right in older routes.

Nah, as a customer reading between the lines i think preservation updates were never ready when told 4 months ago, the team works 100% for already paid content does exist in fact by working on actual future releases, while this preservation thing is more of "we work on it, when we have time left". Why should they pay an entire team working on content doesnt actually having a business aspect and wont generate money?.

Every company, which has a serious bottleneck is interessted in solving this, only DTG seems to have this permanent Q&A issue, where a lot of input with no output happens. Guess why, its because it doesnt exist.

Nomatter, still cool we get updates like pis on older routes etc, even the vehicle updates like the class.166. In fact i liked the gameplay dlc for the 3 base routes, so maybe they should also focus on making older routes busier with payware after putting a giant effort into the scenery. It makes a difference like day and night and im willing to pay for enhancing my experience.

 

When I first got TSW2 I feel in love with the game, I may only buy the UK routes but back then with the GWE (Even though it is really lacking) I invested money into the game, I even invested in a Raildriver on the promise that GWE would get RD support as it is a 'simple' thing to do. I'm still waiting.

The truth is now we are still living with bugs from the core update and Rush Hour, all the promises of how all the routes will see extra passengers, yeah right. The players on consoles (every platform and gen) have been shafted they must be so disappointed with DTG with what they are going through.

I'm on the PC but I have stopped playing Dec 2021, I couldn't take no more of the false promises of the Preserved routes. In my eyes DTG have lost a lot of credibility. No wonder they moved the Roadmap to once a month as they are not believable any more imo. I invested in the game cause I thought with the promises it could be a special game, spoiler it isn't yet. There is still UK routes I haven't bought, Cathcart and Cornwall, spring to mind and when the pres. updates come I might buy them but for me the longer DTG put off these updates the harder it will be to get back into this game which is a shame.

For DTG going forward obviously release the updates a.s.a.p but then start adding Loco's to routes to flush them out. I'm only guessing but I am sure players would appreciate it more if Loco DLC came out making their routes busier rather than yet another barren route. They could also look at doing a career mode just to give the game some life. I hope things change for the better.

 

I so badly wanted rush hour to be great but here we are months after release and the routes are still unfinished. I believe that in the end TSW2 is broken far beyond what DTG can do to fix it and this mad rush out more content allows them zero time to REALLY fix the issues the game has, did they really need to go to a newer version of unreal and support PS5 / Series at the same time or could that have been staggered and make it stable at first. Rush hour has not lived up to expectations and I believe Steam will be a big disapointment as well. I do wonder if it would be easier to start on a TSW3 with unreal 5, from ground up than to try to fix TSW2 and deal with all those legacy issues?

 

This is a good thread. I hope they do take some of this into consideration. More loco DLC for existing routes would be great. Of course, my dream is to see more routes in different countries. Until then, I wait for whichever company comes along with a train simulator that's as good as this but offers a far better variety in terms of countries.

 

The accountants pressuring the dlc release cycle have shifted the issue into a far bigger problem I fear. They are not allowing the devs to measure twice and cut once. They’re quickly measuring and then having to go back and cut twice

 

I would like to see acknowledgment of this thread in some guise. This cross section however small or large shows passion in the game by everyone taking the time to reply. We’re all posting because we want it to succeed. Myself included. I’ve said elsewhere before this game got me through two hard isolated years so I’m thankful and indebted to everyone involved for that but i wish things were running smoother.

 

Thank you for this thread. I too would really would love to see acknowledgement from DTG.

During the dark days of the first lockdown, TS, TSW, Assassin's Creed, ETS, and The Witcher 3 got me through those moments. I was able to explore the world without leaving home. I want to see nothing but the best for DTG. As DTG becomes more successful, they shall reap the benefits of a passionate community.

Maybe they just don't have enough staff... but they can't just go out and expand the size of the staff without increasing revenue. Could be a tough spot they are in.

 

nobody wants DTG / TSW2 to fail we all want to see the game at its best its just I feel we have seen far too many missteps. I hope they sort the issues. 3rd party content on TS 2021 is amazing makes you wonder why they dont try to hire some of those guys ?

 

Mastering Unreal Engine can be challenging and time consuming. Very different from using the TS editor which many players have used to make routes and scenarios, and lots of studios have used to develop content. So far, only a few studios and individuals are working in UE for TSW.

 

Whatever the reason for the cascading and overlapping issues that are occurring it is very apt that on a day when DTG were to be celebrating their 5th birthday they have plunged players into a crisis so bad their own advice is to not open the game. I wonder if Creators Club will reappear before the PS5 DLC limit is resolved or whether it will remain closed for as long as that particular debacle has been going on, or abandoned completely like the editor (I never thought I’d be bringing that up to bash DTG with). I’m not so sure it’s just the DLC that stops players buying but the calamities around them having more of an effect. Would the DLC be so limited or broken if the core of the game was in better shape? Maybe the route builders are building castles on custard foundations.

 

They're not gonna allow the DLC limit to stay in place for one simple reason, money. If there's a hard limit on what PS players can buy eventually many hardcore players are gonna hit that limit, and most of them probably are not gonna buy as much content, if not just stop buying for the game altogether. There's no benefit to having a content cap for DTG, so I'd be shocked if they ended up dropping the issue.

 

Well, let's be clear. The game itself is not broken at the core. We can still play it and new dlc will not be a problem to download.

It's simply that the Creators Club has not survived a core update. It will likely return in some shape or form and I hope that those who are invested in it will regain their content. That may take a while, anything from a few days to a few weeks. It joins other issues like crashes and the dlc limit that have plagued especially console players for some months now and may last a while longer.

I give DTG much credit for attempting to give players at least the semblance of a shareable " editor ". A true editor is likely not coming to TSW.

Meanwhile, on its 5th anniversary, the game continues as Oliver Cromwell would have it and we'll play and enjoy it and wait patiently for the many issues to be resolved.

 

I don't own a Playstation, so I may be wrong, but by my understanding, the DLC limit isn't a DTG choice, it's due to the Playstation's own self-imposed limitations. In which case, "allowing" has nothing do to with it. If you want more DLC active at once, the answer is simple: buy a PC. Or an Xbox -- I don't think it's an issue there, either.

Or prevail upon Sony to increase the storage limit for a single game's content.

 

Well I'm gonna say this (more or less), after Spirit of Steam and Horseshoe, I'm not sure if I do really want to continue getting the routes that would only interest me at this point. But after today, the anniversary of all days (or the lack there of now), I'm slightly feeling of not getting anymore routes after the two I listed, let alone after the new yearly deluxe when Summer hits. And I thought there would be a balance of variety from routes and locos after all these years, but in the end, it's always the one side that favors only one side, no matter what route it is.