Class 390 Sold Separately, Bit Cheeky Isn't It?

The Class 390 Pendolino is apparently not included on the WCML Route in the base game and requires you to upgrade to deluxe to have it. Isn't it quite silly to have to pay extra to be able to use the main train that runs on a route? I don't recall SEHS having the Class 395 or GWE having the Class 43 being sold separately...

 

preorder price for Deluxe Edition should honestly not be too bad, and there are other convincing arguments (early access, duh) to preorder that edition instead of standard. Yes it might be cheeky, as you said, but I personally don't think it's too bad. 'Bout the same thing with the Flixtrain Vectron, innit?

 

It a clever marketing plan.

"Everybody is going mental for the Class 390, so let's profit by shoving it in the deluxe bundle."

 

Cheeky? You must offer incentives for a purchase to run a commercial business, that's completely rational.

 

That was the one thing I didn’t like to see in the reveal… A bit harsh. I knew straight away when they revealed it as part of the Deluxe edition people weren’t going to take to kindly to it…. Ah well since it’s a highly requested train they will get there extra money from everyone.

 

Not nice for us but from their perspective it makes sense. The 390 is arguably the more iconic and popular train currently. They’ll wanna make as much from it as possible

 

Apparently the pendo was the most requested British loco. I beg to differ as it surely would the the class 91

 

Personally I think it ought to be added to WCML if purchased in the Standard Bundle, but realistically that's not going to happen. Currently weighing up how much I want that and the other extra items in the Deluxe for the extra £20.

 

Hopefully a regional pack that features the Pendo will be available. Haven’t much interest in any of the other content in the deluxe edition, nor the standard routes. Fingers crossed!

 

Yeah I'm hoping the regional pack will fix this slightly greedy tactic!

 

Of course, like Matt once said, if we don't make money, there's no DTG, and if there's no DTG there's no trains.

 

The way people describe Dovetail Games on here sometimes they try to make you think they're like this :

 

In all fairness I have seen significantly more requests for the pendolino than the 91

 

I’m sure a 91 will come at some point, both the 390 & 91 are top tier British trains

 

Not really cheeky. They did the same for Scotsman and the Vectron with TSW4 launch.

 

The Scotsman and Vectron aren't exactly flagship locos, though. It is kind of like if DTG made ECML South King's Cross to Peterborough and delivered it with the Class 717 and Class 387 as standard, with the Azuma in the Deluxe Edition.

Half the reason the West Coast Mainline is so highly requested is because of the Pendolino.

 

Exactly, these were released on their own at the end of October (month after release) still £53.99 (with discount) gets you four routes (normally £29.99 each) and two locos (£12.99 each). So for a route and a loco dlc, you'll get 3 routes (if you don't own cajon, 2 routes if you do) and a loco free? I think it's a good purchase

 

A business wanting to make money, whatever next?

 

I don’t think people are debating about the price of things, I think it’s simply more that the pendolino is such a core train on the WCML and should have been included in the base pack.

Personally whilst the 377 is a nice addition to have, including that over the pendolino is exactly like Aeronautic said, if the ECML south was developed but the Azuma was a paid extra despite being the core train

 

Good business I guess.

 

Not for me personally, JT are the ones delivering the WCML experience that I wanted

Pendolino's nice and all, but the Class 87 is where the real hype is

 

The bundles are good value, and I am stoked for TSW5. The Pendolino being separate is a little cheeky, but not much more than that.

I had completely forgotten that the WCML existed before 2021.
Would you agree to 40% of the reason instead of half?

 

1 handled plastic thing that's pretty much the same as all other EMUs or a good old BR tap changer loco?
I'd rather have the challenge of the tap changer and old school brakes. I took weeks to master how to drive the 86 and 87 in TSC driving over Shap.

 

30% then?

 

Its £54 for the PC version of Deluxe.

 

I'm not suprised the 390 is an added extra, pretty much every new route only has one completely new loco, the rest are reskins or slightly modified from previous releases.

While the 390 is the iconic loco for the WCML, they couldn't give us a route with 28 stations without the train that actually stops at 23 of them.

They could, of course, have done a repeat of the ECML and just given us the 390 on a part of the route with very few stations, but everyone would have moaned about that too.

I do, though, find it a cheek that the deluxe pack costs more than last year when it has less value in it than the all new Flying Scotsman and Vectron had last year.

 

I did smile to myself when they announced the 390 would be part of the deluxe pack, however it’s a smart business move by DTG, and it only reinforces further the premise that this cut-down version of the WCML is principally a London commuter route.

 

Agree to disagree. The pendo has been requested along with the wcml. The 91 has been requested alot more as just the loco, as part of its home route was released last year with the ECML

 

I suppose DTG might make a Peterborough - Kings Cross route extension at some point, and maybe include the class 91?

You know, like they gave away the Class 465 DLC free with the SEHS route extension in TSW3. Just a thought.

 

This did have me miffed for a short while, but quite frankly once JT's WCML arrives this one will be boxed up with all the other commuter routes and I'll likely not play it very often at all.

 

annnnnnnd executed this with the worse possible way that is only making 50 miles from London to Milton............. just saying, you might as well go get the WCML on TSC instead when you cant even stretch the 390's leg. This is a Paddington to Reading situation. Just saying when this route shouldve gone to BIRMINGHAM for god sakes.

yea i wonder why they couldn't do the bloody same to the Class 91 and mk4s........... stares furiously at LNER.

 

Yeah it's annoying, but from a business perspective you can't really criticise DTG too much for it. The 350 wouldn't have the same appeal if it was the deluxe addition. It's also worth remembering that because the line only goes as far as Milton Keynes, the 350 is far more vital to the route because a significant percentage of Pendolinos don't stop there.

 

Should be able to purchase the loco-pack seperatley according to the FAQ. It is safe to assume that it will be the standard £12.99. So the regional pack + the loco DLC is about £7 cheaper than the deluxe edition. They won't bother bundling these together as that is incentive enough to get the deluxe.

 

£14.99 for 390 separately. In FAQs further down

 

Asking for the route to go to Birmingham is a big ask. Besides, there's plenty to do between Euston and MK.

 

I just pre-ordered the special edition so problem solved.

 

A clown making burgers.....wait thats been done.

As you were.

 

I think it's just so they can justify the complaints about route length. "390 need longer to stretch it's legs!!" DTG- "The route was originally made for the 350 that's why. 390 is a loco add-on."

Bit cheeky that. Still think it should've been over shap they did modern day with the 390 tbh. Would've been a much more enjoyable run.

 

That’s exactly what it is. The 350 is the main stock of the WCML-S route, they’ve taken the commuter angle. The Pendolino is a bonus train because it would be weird to do a WCML modern route without it. They also know people will go out of their way to pay extra for it too, it’s a smart move on DTG’s side really.

Quite frankly, the Shap route we’re getting is going to be miles better than a modern version could ever be too. The Class 87 is going to be much more engaging drive with the tap changing controls, and it’s about time we got a long BR era route.

It also brings potential to have the original British tilting train into TSW as a future loco DLC too…

 

It also brings potential to have the original British tilting train into TSW as a future loco DLC too… [/QUOTE]

maybes future ‘Expert Loco’ DLC albeit maybe a slightly higher default level of fault occurrence given the issues at the time with the APT. Personally though would love to see it as DLC. For that matter would love to get up to Crewe heritage centre at some time and see the real thing.

 

I don't think many would have wanted two versions of the same route.

I would rather Preston to Carlisle be set in the period it is.

 

Whilst it would obviously have been great to see the Pendolino come with the standard route it is hardly surprising it didn't. It is clever marketing. I imagine making a train isn't a five minute job and DTG have put a value on it.

The 350 is the main train on this part of the route I would argue not the Pendolino.

 

Given that we got only the 700/0 last time, it is nice to have both versions of the Pendolino.

Does anyone actually know how many Pendolinos stop along the route, and how many will pass straight through?

 

Not sure on Pendolinos specifically, but I just checked RTT and there are 116 Avanti services scheduled to stop at MKC today (both directions).

 

Please tell me you didn't count them yourself...

I didn't think about RTT, so I checked myself and found a new column for number of cars. Safe to say that 5 and 10 car trains are not Pendolinos.

I think 116 is ok. Certainly more than I was expecting!

 

Yea I counted them manually hahaha. Good point on the cars column as I'd missed that - only 4 services were 5/10 cars, with the rest being 9/11, so maybe we can expect around 100 services in timetable mode on the TSW5 version? Hopefully we'll see this revealed in tomorrow's stream, or if Joethefish worked his magic on the timetables he'll be able to let us know in due course.

 

Just checking todays RTT FOR Milton Keynes.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...24-08-21/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

103 services are shown as stopping at Mk. More pass through but YES 103 stop at MK on average Wednesday timetable.

P.S. to aeronautic237 post. In my case yes I did count them all. Good use of time whilst waiting for family to wake up.

 

With the route hopping feature adding extra sections of routes will be even easier. I expect we'll have MK to Brum at some point, likewise the Southern leg of ECML.

 

Such helpful people! Thank you!

 

Same thing done last year with the Vectron and Flying Scotsman. It's a sales tactic and a good one too.