So I'm writing this right after the shock of the announcement of TSW 4 and the quick end of TSW 3's lifespan being last than a year. The reason being is I would like to know what everyone thinks on the current lifespan of each TSW installment and if they like it or not? Plus how long do you all think a train sim world installment should last for? Also should there be something major per each year of a tsw installment like tsw2 rush hour for example? Feel free to express your opinion on this discussion however don't harass, bully, force, undermine etc other's opinions. By the way no whinnying about TSW4 (by whinnying I mean going on a whole rant on it) as it has been annoying reading threads discussion that have completely been overshadowed by bickering rather than simple discussion about a unrelated topic. With all being said feel free to express your opinions.
To be fair I couldn't care less about its lifespan, as if I want the next version I will buy it, be it in 6 months or 6 years, rinse and repeat until I don't want it anymore and I stop buying it........
You are looking at it from the wrong perspective to be honest. You should be looking at it as buying new routes and the necessary core update comes free with the route. If you don’t want to buy all the routes and locos you can wait a month and buy the routes individually and they will come with the necessary core update. If you are not interested in any of the routes then you don’t need the core update to play the routes you own…. Then when a new route does come out that you fancy, then history has shown that they tend to come in “starter pack” form that comes bundled with the necessary core update. It really is worth remembering that barely any of the “new features” that have been announced will actually even work on old routes, things such as scenario planner 2.0 or the volumetric fog, or the improve overhead lines will only work on the new routes that have been built from the ground up with those features… so without buying the routes that take advantage of them, there’s not a lot of need for people with only older routes to need the core upgrade. And if you want to talk about lifespan…. What Dovetail is doing is absolutely in line with the entire gaming industry. Want this years rosters on your FIFA game… that’ll be £90 please Want to shoot your friends in Call of Duty for another 12 months… that’ll just be £100 thank you Want to loot the same weapons in Destiny again this year… we’ve dropped the price to £84 (but we’re only giving you 3 seasons instead of 4) Dovetail really are giving us all an insanely good deal to be honest - 4 routes and 2 loco packs for £42 (the price of 1 route + 1 loco pack) is amazing value… nobody can deny that.
3 games (that are also HEAVILY criticized for the very same reason) isn't "the entire gaming industry", nor would it justify it even if that was the case. All your arguments here are nonsensical.
They are literally the biggest selling games in the world… The only people complaining are those that live to complain and who are vastly outnumbered by the people happy to hand over their money to continue playing the games they love. Only one person here talking nonsense.
The games industry at large doesn't send out yearly versions. Picking out sports games is easy. Games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed have (had) yearly releases, but each are their own game with storylines. TSW may have gained a bigger audience if they followed something like a Snowrunner season or yearly pass model. Seems to be working well for that game. But if you want the king of simulators you'll need to look elsewhere and play MSFS (ok not train related). Their new version is coming after a 4 year cycle. Yes many are up in arms about even that, yet many also don't remember 20 years ago when the franchise was updating every 2 years. Where Asobo has clearly laid out the reasons for the new version (i.e. the current code had reached its limits and a significant rebuild is necessary), DTG has given no such reasons for a full version change of TSW since TSW2. Since the core engine of TSW2/3/4 is the same, they could have just gone on and sold DLCs under the TSW2 name and just enabled new features such as nuclear lighting on the new routes. But what they have done is paywalled fixes and lied to customers for nearly a year telling them fixes for TSW2 were coming. And now the latest lie that TSW3 will still get some support shortly after TSW4 launches. The same line was sold to TSW2 users. Why would anybody believe a word this company says? I could see them shutting off every single announced feature as soon as TSW4 launches giving more lame excuses and then going quiet about it. Same old song and dance.
If we were “just buying routes” then TSW would be a completely free app offering zero routes until you buy one as a DLC. As it stands now, if you want to play all your routes together you need to re-download your entire back catalogue, or keep installed different versions of TSW separately. This is a bad user experience and a waste of storage space and bandwidth. Is this not a subscription service by any other measure? This now yearly paid upgrade cycle means there is zero guarantee that DLC’s will be patched past the first year. The base game is now a 12 month license for DLC support.
Yeah TSW may have benefitted from a free to play model. Probably would have seen a few more eyes trying it out in the training center or some other basic route. But I guess they'll just rely on the whales that buy up everything sight unseen for continued support.
If they continue the trend of doing a 3 route release alongside a core game update, then I'm more than happy for them to do it yearly. With each release we generally get 3 routes for not much more than 1 route normally sells for, so provided they don't massively hike the price of the core game with the 3 routes bundled, it represents better value than if they just released more individual routes. If they suddenly dropped support for previous DLCs (in the new core game) then I'd be much less likely to continue purchasing the game. I also understand that it's a niche sim, and it's in constant active development, which doesn't just happen for free, so I have no issue paying for new versions provided they meet the points above!
But dose FIFA and cod have glitches when you play FIFA at half time do the game brake (no). Do cod when you kill someone get a animation glitch (no) I totally understand why people see defending dovetail but we have been promised fix's for routes but them routes what are still broken still haven't had a update for it BLM it's been 2 years no fix MML it's been 3 months no fix West Cornwall Local no fix and many more routes. If they keep doing this new game no fixes then idk what the next step is. Edit: plus I've had no bugs with COD or FIFA but TSW there's been a lot and I mean a lot idk why people can't accept the truth that buy releasing a new game dose not and I repeat (DOSE) not fix bugs plus COD has a story line and TSW dose not, and by not releasing a story is like GTA but you get half of the story and have to pay more money for the rest lol.
EA and The COD Studios have massive teams of developers to iron out bugs - and btw FIFA is buggy as hell - and that's something DTG don't. You can't say "oh but CoD doesn't have bugs so it's fine but TSW does so it's not fine" with that factor in play.
This is not ETS2, where having all the DLC installed makes your map bigger. For people who own all the titles, I think it's best to have DLCs installed under the title they look and work best. Under TSW4, I will install only the TSW4 routes. No point installing older routes, I've already played them under TSW2 or TSW3. For a new player, who never had 2 or 3, they can install everything under TSW4. But in both cases, each DLC would be installed under one game, no need for duplicates. The only exceptions would be routes that have been upgraded, like Boston (TSW2 and TSW3) and now DRA (TSW2 and TSW4).
I have noticed it's hard to explain but I like it. It's a very simple roadmap. You know every year a new version is coming. You have a year to prioritise your Wishlist and see if enough checkboxes were ticked. I was rather skeptical to what new features would make it to TSW4 but to my surprise a lot of stuff that annoyed me was addressed. Sure there is still a lot of stuff that bothers me and I have again a year to explain to DTG what they should do about it. Next year I can read the forums again and read "what genius asked for this?" and I will not note the sarcasm and say "it was me, you don't have to thank me for it" I love this deal so far
Pretty much this. Some might find it irksome and in an ideal world the TSW paradigm would follow TSC with the core free and subsidised by DLC sales. However it is what it is and I suspect while the TSC model works on PC only, upgrading/replacing the core programme in that way might not work on consoles. Anyone playing these games (and moaning about it on the forums) is not likely to be that hard up they can’t afford £30 for a starter pack version, less if they wait for 40% off in a sale. In fact I am applying that rationale to my PS5 TSW experience- I preordered the Deluxe version on PC about a minute after it went on sale. PS5 I will wait for the ECML Standard edition to release or maybe even watch out for a PS sale later in the year.
TSW 2020: this is on our list to fix TSW 2020: here’s TSW 2! TSW 2: Fixes for TSW 2020 coming soon TSW 2: this fix is on our list TSW 2: here’s TSW 3! TSW 3: TSW 2 fixes coming soon TSW 3: this fix is on our list TSW 3: here’s TSW 4! TSW 4: Who is TSW 3? Never heard of him. Yeah, I wonder what might be causing people to be unhappy with this cycle.
Optimal 2 years, at least one and a half year. satisfied with TSW4, but each title's lifespan is not that great i think.
I would actually buy a new version every year if it contains improvements, new features or a new route that I like. My only requirement is that I can keep using my old DLC with the new version.
Fifa is buggy as f*ck (apologies for the language), there’s so many bugs on the game lmao. The keepers bug out, the ball bugs out a lot, not to mention career mode glitches. Arguably FIFA is more buggy than TSW.
This is a bad variable to use as an argument because there has never been a game without bugs, but for some reason people expect a game to be perfect and bugles, which if you have spent time developing would know, no game doesn’t have bugs
Bugs per se aren't usually a problem. Bugs that are promised to get fixed yet migrate through "different" games years later is however a problem. For example, there's STILL a pole in the middle of a track on RSN, one of the oldest routes around. And don't get me started on RT, that one shouldn't even be up for sale. And when they do fix bugs, they introduce a gamebraking one. Speaking of gamebreaking bugs, Br110 STILL subs on every route while picking services with the Dosto, which obviously is incompatible with the Br110.
Me personally I believe each title should last for 2-3 years. First year being a few new routes but not too many that it's overwhelming. Second year maybe less routes but also multiple fixes for any dlcs that are below a acceptable standard. Third year new routes, dlc etc that can help bring back interest in older routes that were once broken. Before next installation comes out to repeat this same cycle maybe introducing one new feature or a few improvements.
