I just read the article on this and I have to say I’m not impressed. I was all behind the original dlc, but this, no! This has to be the biggest cash grab if I’ve ever seen one. They’re selling a reskin of Thomas & 3 scenarios, which they could’ve added to the game as a free update. They have the cheek to call this shambles of a product “expansion”. You know what would’ve made a better expansion, adding other characters from the hit show. Where is James, Henry, Gordon or Percy? Maybe add them with an island of Sodor route, that’s what you call an expansion. Thomas continuing his journey onto his home turf. It should’ve been included as a free update!
Yep, it’s really bad and hell holiday express is better for value, having double the content and a actual route
Agree. The holiday express was better value. I’m surprised they even bothered to make an actual themed route for that.
Rip off is maybe a phrase I wouldn’t choose to employ, but certainly a bit of a cash grab. There are many far more deserving cases for a rework and reskin, such as a green diesel pack and timetable for Peak Forest which I would buy Day One. Or a legacy CIG/VEP pack for BML. And as regards TTTE, the next logical step surely would have been a proper route based on the Isle Of Sodor with one or two new trains from the franchise to go along with it. Just reusing the WSR again is a bit… unimaginative. What we don’t know of course is how much obligation DTG are under with the agreement they signed with Mattel and it could be churning out frequent “top up” DLC’s is one of the requirements. Safe to say I won’t be parting with £8 for this having resisted the original TTTE release, I was always more of an Ivor The Engine fan or that little book about a branch railway I can never remember the name of but the driver was called Olly (or Ollie) Took. Or the other book series about a group of live miniature people who inhabited a model railway (author Ray Pope).
Rip off to me is charging for something that has no value or failing to supply the goods. Cash grab is where the goods have value but is slightly opportunistic.
But you only speak for yourself. The whole Thomas thing isn’t for me, so I just ignore it and move on. I’ve seen lots playing it and having fun on YouTube so it clearly had some value to them. I even enjoyed watching some of them. If it wasn’t selling then DTG would ditch it. Look at BR Blue era and Steam. Both dropped because DTG said it wasn’t popular (wrongly in my opinion, Steam isn’t popular because it’s broken and JT have shown how to do BR Blue era). Anyway, this DLC isn’t aimed at many of us here on the forum. It’s aimed at bringing a new players in and a certain nostalgia element. I personally don’t even see it as a cash grab. For that to work you have to give them the money. Some people just have to accept that there are things in the game that are not for them. It’s worse for me, I can ignore Thomas and not buy it, but I can’t turn off collectibles which just sit there all the time looking out of place (and don’t get me started on Pringles machines and ads). Oh and just for the record, I’m with oldvern. Should have done Ivor the Engine.
look i'm a big ttte fan but this pack is over priced and i'm sure as hell most of the money was from the main company that owns ttte themselves, i'm calling it now DTG lied about BR blue and steam not doing well because if you go back steam was the highest selling in tws 2 and 3, i think br blue was the same.
If anything looks like a cash grab to you just make sure it isn’t your cash they grab. I think you have to deliberately and openly opt in for this to affect you. It’s not mandatory. Even fans of Thomas, who know him for his famous blue livery, need not get this if they don’t want to. It’s fine to opt out. Be brave.
Devs need to paid for their time and DTG need to make a profit, that’s the reality. I actually think the pricing for DLC overall across TSW is very good value. I’d personally be willing to pay £20-£30 maybe more for single steam loco packs if they were to ever consider doing that again. That’s a fraction of the price of a model loco, I know you’re not getting a physical product as such but I probably get in many more hours and value on TSW than I do my model railway. I know this is probably a controversial opinion!
I would pay £100 for say a 3/4 loco pack with new rolling stock to go with each loco. Imagine something like a GWR pack which included a Castle, Hall, Dean Goods and a Pannier. Absolute heaven for me.
It's a question of who else would pay that sort of money, though. Most I would realistically put out is £40 but that would have to be a top Notch long route with an iconic loco, something like Inverness to Perth with a Class 26 and 27. TSW DLC are already quite expensive compared to other games such as Simrail, Snowrunner and the SCS truck games. As discussed elsewhere.
£7.99 for a livery that would be free on creators club, if dtg hadn't purposely excluded Thomas from creators club so they could sell us the liveries instead!
So my take on it. I was all for the original DLC, I thought the reaction to it from a vocal minority was hilarious and very overreacting. I purchased it and I enjoy it. I thought it odd that the stock wasn't added to livery editor and someone at DTG saying that is down to Mattel and the licensing was fair enough. However this...this takes the pee. I gather that's probably down to the Mattel licensing as well but it doesn't make it right. No new stock and just a reskin into green livery and an activity is laughable. Like I said to my wife last night, This isn't aimed at us and that's something I stand by, this is aimed at kids and families who watch Thomas the Tank Engine.....but Thomas is blue, everyone knows Thomas is blue even if they have never watched it or read the books. So even the kids will probably think it's not Thomas and not want it. Will it sell? Yeah quite probably, does my opinion matter? Nope not even remotely but even so, this is poor. Even more so considering that Just Trains released five new liveries for the class 87 yesterday for free.
What I would be interested to know is what the production costs of say Hornby/Bachmann are to create new tooling in 3D (not the manufacturing)for their models vs dev time for a 3D loco (and re-skinning existing) in TSW. I have no real knowledge of the process of either but it does interest me.
This livery is from the special The Adventure Begins made for the 70th anniversary, and is supposed to be Thomas' LBSC livery from when he arrived on Sodor (ignore none of the E2s wore it, nor did any bear the number 70). My two pence, yeah it seems very expensive for what it is. I can't see many parents willing to part with another 8 quid for this (are them monthly/weekly magazines still a thing where you get a little bit of plastic and over the course of several editions you build a model boat or something?)
If comments from the Thomas fandom are anything to go by, they're the exact same models that are used in the CGI series. If true, there's the hardest bit done for them.
Yeah you’d think so. I still stand by what I said, it does feel like a rip off or cash grab, whatever you want to call it. You’re getting very little for your money. I feel this expansion ha, extra content could’ve been included with the original TTTE release and they purposely cut the content just to make some extra money. We can both agree that DTG next step should be bringing the island of sodor, now that’s what I call an expansion.
Clearly a new loco 9 (in TSW new liveried engines are still marketed as new locos and count as such in game) and 3 scenarios is "something." Someone had to program them. It's just a matter of what is fair... compared to other DLC which are similar. $10 may be a bit high, but it's hardly out of the ballpark given other TSW/TSC content that has been released. If you don't want it... then wait for a sale and it'll be $5. And if you can't part with the cost of a cup of coffee then you just don't want it. Which... is fine. Don't buy it. TTTE is a "premium" brand with licensing fees on top of everything else, so it's not the cup of coffee at your local shop. It's a "Starbucks" name brand. That's what you're paying extra for. It does amuse me that people saying "I didn't buy the original TTTE DLC" are now threatening to not buy the additional DLC. Is that supposed to mean something? If you don't already go to Starbucks, threatening to keep not going to Starbucks isn't a real boycott. It's just you doing the same thing you did. The only thing that DTG might care about is specifically people who bought Thomas, loved it but are waiting on a sale for this because it's too pricey. However, given that Thomas itself was TRIPLE this cost for not quite triple the content (2 locos, few cars and 8 scenarios) for $30.... I'd say this pack is actually a tiny bit "better" deal than original TTTE. If you don't want it... don't buy it. I think DTG has to release it all now for something because they've already invested a lot of time and money into it. The people that shelled out $30 for the original DLC are probably the ones willing to shell out $10 for the add-on since it's a slightly better value compared to the original and they already bought the original. If you're not in that group... well, they're not expecting you to buy it. Just like some people shell out any amount of money for German content but wouldn't touch US content with a 3 meter stick. Everyone is different.
It counts in TSW terms, just like using the 66 on a Cargo pack with a different paintjob counts as a "loco" not a reskin. I've argued the opposite for awhile, but that's how DTG counts it with other DLC, so it's only fair to apply the same practice to this one.
its unfortunate really. Honestly being the 80th anniversary of the railway series (or... thomas because he is more famous lol), feel like they should've asked Mattel for them to allow to do at least Gordon (because he along with thomas is in the pilot) and or also Edward and Henry considering they are the original 3 that first debut in the railway series. And hey that also pleases the thomas fans of wanting more thomas characters in TSW (cuz jesus the amount of reskins in creators club related to thomas lol.) and actaully fits the Thomas and Friends section when diesel is the only other one that came along with thomas...
Agreed, but the other stock non-locos also count as "friends" (even the Troublesome Trucks) so Claribelle for example counts. More content would be great, but I don't know what they agreed to or if they have other plans for that content. I honestly admit I don't know the franchise well enough to tell which are "popular" characters. It also would have to fit on West Somerset unless they expand to other routes. (For example a crane, boat or an airplane character wouldn't work on WSR) The franchise could be a goldmine if done correctly, but it's been mediocre at best thus far. So many bugs (like the "disappearing engine") and touchy controls with overactive signals make it less than ideal for kids especially. The existing WSR scenarios are almost more "forgiving" for new learners of TSW, even though they admittedly don't have the narration and characters. Structurally though they are "easier" than the controls/scenarios given. I wonder if devs do much customer testing with target markets before release. I know that's doomed other games where the devs have the top of the line computers, in house servers, low latency, are usually only 1 or 2 on at a time in controlled conditions and "everything works fine" but without expanding that to actual customers with different systems (and in this case actual children to play it) then it isn't really a good "test."
Oh right theres also just Annie and Clarabel. To be fair i wouldn't consider the trucks are friends because they are always a nuisance to the engines (in the show). and to be fair it is Doesn't Test Games after all.
The whole Thomas dlc has been a cash grab. I have a young son who loves trains, because I take him spotting with me or on rides on the heritage lines. So this while argument of "kids get into trains via thomas" isn't strictly true. But that seems to be the response on here and FB. Maybe it's because I don't park my kid infront of the TV. I dunno.
