This is one of the most ridiculous posts I've ever read on the board. More disturbingly so because it appears to be written by someone of some sort of educational level and intelligence. The major gripe has never been just DLC. I can wholeheartedly say that I would have no problem shelling out money for DLC if it was A. balanced and B. released into an existing framework that justified its content. Case and point, I bought both ToV and OF because I actually wanted to support the company (Relic) and the series. At this time, I will now NEVER buy another Relic product. That could change. Nothing lasts forever after all.
You babble on about Relic not being a charity. So? Consumers are entitled to their opinion. This business model sucks. Look at the number of players online comparable to CoH's. The proof is right there. At the end of the day, I want to actually find an opponent. 2v2s in Primetime EST (it's not Summer any more so there's no excuse) are taking over 10 minutes to find a match. I'd say half of those opponents are now laggy Koreans. It's fine that they're Korean, but if I'm forced to play P2P games, I'd rather feel like my mouse clicks aren't actually traveling across the world. The input lag is bad enough already.
Further, I will repeat for the 100th time for you since apparently people out there STILL don't get it. It isn't about the DLC. It's that you're asking me to purchase DLC at 5 dollars a commander when:
1. I actually have to purchase the DLC to compete. Soviet Industry guarantees a certain amount of wins. You may not win every time, but it guarantees that you will win more than you used to, simply by purchasing it. The same goes for the Tiger Ace doctrine/Instant Vet3. If you are an opponent and playing against these two, your chances to win significantly decrease. Saying "we're looking into it," is not a response that anyone wants to hear...over...and over...and over again. All the while, we wait with baited breath and low hope. It's cyclical. It's become so commonplace that people actually get frustrated now - "guys, this is scheduled to be looked at. It's on the agenda." Thanks? If I wanted to get fucked, I'd look at something prettier. It feels like that quote is some sort of macro button on someone's keyboard. What is misguided here is that Relic has received money for this transaction. People have won and lost games simply because of the coin in their pocket and NOT skill (skill, by definition makes a "game" valid in the first place), and subsequently the player base has diminished. Those who are left have a bad taste in their mouth for future DLCs and community morale is at an all time low for the series. Not what you want for an RTS game looking to expand in its now 4th month or so in existence - compared to the 6+ year life of the first game.
2. You're asking (some might say "forcing") me to purchase DLC when there are features STILL missing from the original game that actually increase player longevity. There is no "in game" community and by that I mean that there is no way for anyone who plays the game to converse with anyone about the game save for the community sites and some awful (JUST AWFUL) piss poor in game chat "box" that looks like something the original mIRC people rejected back in the 1990s. The leaderboards? Oh that's a cute link that goes to a Steam page where the top player in the game atm is some guy named "Vinnie Jones" or something. Why's he number 1? Doesn't say. It simply says he's lvl 100. Why play this game over others that have leaderboards that show player progression? There are NO public lobbies. If you want to play High Resources, annihilation on the campiest map in the game there is nothing for you. Would I prefer that? No. I'd rather slam my dong in a sliding glass door, but some people would. Some people did it OVER, and OVER, and OVER again. Those people are potential DLC buyers as well - a way for Relic to expand their business by creating a broader player-base. These things may seem trivial to some, but they are key to the game's longevity. Scheldt annihilate players are probably STILL playing COH.
If you want to implement a DLC model into an existing game that has all the kinks pretty much worked out, fine. I bet you'd have success. This game has more kinks than an S&M convention, and Relic is constantly asking the playerbase to give them money to add more kinks and make more of a mess. This model will simply not work, and to be perfectly honest it shouldn't work. If it does, then shame on the consumer because you have been fooled terribly.
The complaints are necessary to vent frustration but also express hope that Relic will wake up and make significant changes to the franchise. Is there some misguided venting? You bet, but to further pacify the actions of this company is to deny any hope for a better COH future. Video games are one of the only cultural enterprises that are organic. They can be molded into something better. If you can't see that and the inherent need for that in this game then you shouldn't be visiting a community site for it in the first place, and that goes for you Bloodnok, other people reading this, and the Relic officials that frequent this space.
Well said.