I just wanted to add some comments about certain questions on the most recent TSW2 survey. For the question about a route season ticket (like what is happening for rush hour) I would be interested in something like this if all the routes were surrounded by a similar theme. In terms of what I think about the pricing, it would depend on the size of each route and the locos/trains included. Regarding the question about a monthly subscription to access all roues, personally I'm not interested in it as I'd also be paying to access a lot of the content I already own however, it may be useful for new players. For example, they could pay for one month subscription to try out all the routes/locos and see what they like and then purchase that route/loco.
I found it difficult to decide a fair price (in US Dollars as well) for a subscription model I am dead set against. TSW is not a service and therefore should not have a subscription model at all. This probably deserves a thread in its own right but subscriptions are not right for things that should be owned outright. Can’t afford your subscription any more? You now have nothing. I don’t like it. Season tickets are fine because you get to keep what you buy and are not forced to continue pumping money in to enjoy content you have spent money on already (ie from previous subscription payments). I also don’t see how a subscription model can work alongside a purchasing model unless the subscription is something that only offers discounts on purchases and is not for access to the content which is what is seemingly being considered.
It's at the bottom of the latest article in the news section on dovetail live https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-sim-world/articles/article/train-sim-world-player-survey
In games that do offer such a subscription which unlocks access to all the DLC, the paid sub also tend to offer a monthly stipend of whatever premium currency that game has which can be used to buy the DLC, like Elder Scrolls Online for example, where the ESO Plus sub gets you access to all of the dungeon and expansion DLCs, but ALSO gives you around 20,000 crowns per year. The smaller DLCs cost 1500 crowns, the expansions 3000. So with a year's subscription you're *also* able to buy 6-12 of the game's DLCs to keep when the sub lapses. (Which actually works out cheaper than buying the DLCs directly through buying crowns, in case any ESO players are reading, plus you get all the subscriber benefits for a year - don't forget, you can wait through the year that you're subscribed until each expansion has its anniversary and is 30% off to buy them, too) Now, I'm not an advocate of obfuscation layers in-between just straight-up cash prices for things, obviously. It's a despicable industry practice. *But*, as with my example here, the value proposition with some kind of subscription would need to match what other similar game subs offer. Like if you got to try all the routes for the duration of say, a 6 month sub, and then that also gave you some kind of voucher to redeem for any one line and loco pack, maybe.
In terms of a subscription style service for me personally I don’t think the season ticket idea for 3 routes is bad at all but I prefer to buy routes I want individually to keep with out needing some form of subscription to access them
I’m not sold on subscription services. If there was only one subscription service, no problem, but when you have Netflix, Amazon Prime, FF14 and so on, it all starts to add up pretty quickly. I don’t mind paying more for routes if the level of quality is increased too. For that increase though, I’d expect far fewer bugs and glitches, much better sound that is properly balanced, more detail in routes and some longer/more complex routes etc.
I have no idea if they read this topic, but in my humble opinion, a Season Pass of routes would be very welcome, but as long as we can choose the routes, because among the packages, there will always be routes that are not our taste (Forza for example). As I know that would be very difficult, maybe one Season Pass per year with access to everything, or themed: Season Pass American, Season Pass British... With the routes already launched, it could be Bundle 2017, Bundle 2018, etc. A Locomotive Season Pass with this line of thought would also be welcome.
I'm absolutely against any form of subscription model (and answered as such in the survey). I get that it's the trendy new business model for games but I'm a firm believer in properly owning what I play. What I can't quite grasp is how it should even make sense for TSW. There's a broad range of content and few people are interested in accessing all of it. So, a subscription would either need to be so cheap that I can't see DTG making a profit or it wouldn't be worthwhile for your average player with a certain range of interests. As for season passes: I'm not really against them (at least if they're a really good deal), but I'm not too interested in them either. It may become rather confusing some time from now if there's say a dozen routes available separately or in different bundles - I don't know. Honestly, I'd like DTG to do whatever gets us the best route quality here.
Personally I’m against subscription services for games. It’s ok for things like films where you probably only watch them once and so when you end your subscription, losing them isn’t a problem. With a game, there is replay value so ending your subscription and loosing all the DLC would not be nice. If it were the only option, that would be the end for me. Season Passes are ok for me. So long as you can still buy the individual components. A lot go on about how RH is such good value for 3 routes and it is if you want more than one of them. But there is (was) only one that I wanted in RH. So better for me to wait for a sale on the individual DLC. The season ticket doesn’t add any value for me at all being mainly a single country player. (Mostly German with a bit UK)
My comments were mainly on scenario planner. To be able to change consists with different locos rather than have the same formations that are locked in on their original game.
Here's a thought which Dovetail surprisingly didn't raise - Themed bundles for existing content. Never mind season passes for upcoming content, which always needs to have more variety to keep catering to the varied playerbase, how about bundling multiple existing routes for individual countries, as a way to get a good starter set for newer players who maybe only want UK, US, or DE routes, and didn't buy them all as they came out. As it stands, the core game purchase comes with a bit of variety in order to have broader appeal, but the DLC is a bit more of a dip, and maybe too much for some people. If they could grab a bundle of tracks together, like, say, LIRR/Clinchfield/Peninsula Corridor, for £40? it might make them more willing to drop money on the stuff they're more interested in.
Here's my comments. Season Pass: Not against season passes as long as they offer value for money but I am against them offering special content only for pass holders (which a lot of games do). Subscriptons: Personally I don't think this is a good idea tbh. I already have to pay for PSPlus or XBLive just to play online on consoles and these subscription costs soon mount up. I know another simulator has subscriptions and season passes (Trainz) and it actually pushed me away from wanting any of their games. I also prefer to own my content so that I can go back and play my games when I want to. Games come and go from subscription services like PSNow or XBox Gamepass. Bundles: Now I think bundles are a good idea as long as they are thought out well. I've purchased quite a few TS20xx add-ons as part of bundles, especially where you get a discount to complete a collection. As others have suggested, there could be bundles by country or even type (ie commuter/passenger or freight/shunting/switching). Another idea would be a bundle of operators such as BR or Southern (especially with ECW, BML and the class 313). Even having a bundle with a route and an add-on loco or 2 a bit cheaper than buying the items separately. Multiplayer: Now this is where it is interesting. As long as users could create their own lobbies and play with friends only to prevent trolls, it would be good to have different roles such as driver, guard or dispatcher. I know train sims are a niche market but there can still be trolls in the community on each system. Career mode: I do think this would be a good idea so you can work your way up the ranks to become a really good driver. The further you progress, the harder it gets and elements of the HUD are removed to encourage route learning. Improvements: Lighting has to be the biggest thing to improve in the game such as loco lights, station lights and city lighting. Sounds are another area that could be improved upon. There are some great sounding locos in the game (class 465 being a good example) but some locos have bad sounds or little sounds (LIRR M7 and M3 have issues). The livery designer could do with some tweaks such as allowing more shapes per vehicle (currently 300) as well as more variety with shapes. Another improvement would be to add an option where you can manually input colour codes. Scenario planner could also do with improvements. Adding things like AI portals so that you can have multiple trains going into the same platform at a station/terminus rather than it currently being 1 train per platform because if you set a station as the end point, it stays there. Another improvement would be the option to toggle custom liveries on and off in timetable mode. Currently this can only be done in scenario planner.
You shouldn't have to pay more for something that, given the prices that we currently have to pay, should already be of an acceptable quality. Besides, DTG have already openly stated that in order to ensure that the THREE Rush hour routes are released to the highest achievable standard we have to pay £11.66 for each of them, so it kind of defies logic to even think about having to pay more than the current £25 asking price in order to ensure that similar standards of quality of those three routes are met. As I have already stated elsewhere the "too expensive, wait for a sale" culture is already rife within TSW so any suggestion that has the potential to force even more people down that path just isn't the way to go.
THIS. Right now, the routes we have are, for the most part, £16 quality, they're not £25 quality. That's why people are willing to wait extremely long times for sales. When you have something like Cane Creek launching with the floating objects, the booming highway sound, CSX assets on locos, the state of the distance rendering on XBox for now, etc. at £25, and then going on sale less than a month later and some people *still* reluctant to pick it up?
They definitely need to fix xbox sound looping and popping , crackling it's horrendous on some routes. Fix bugs . Then I will recommend more people to play it on xbox.
