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What is your favourite DLC pack of 2024?
- Thread starter Fallax
- Start date
Well, I honestly don't think that this was Planet Zoo's best year, actually, for me it probably was the worst, not in terms of quality, which may was the best yet, but none of the DLCs could bring me back to the game. Anyway, my ranking is the following:
4. Arid Animal Pack: I really like animal packs, but after Grasslands and Wetlands my hopes were that they would be much more diverse. I'm a big fan of ungulates, but I easily could have changed one to something different. This pack had no species that really screamed interessting for me, other than the porcupine, which of course is very subjective. The strange moving rhino (which happily got updated) the not really good sand cat and the complete lack of a sign for the snake didn't really helped this pack, IMO, this is my least favorite pack we've gotten so far and I really hope that it gets better.
3. Eurasia Animal Pack: this pack has a similar issue to the Arid Animal Pack, so which I'm actually a bit surprised to seeing it that high on many lists (not that I'm not happy for you). So far the models all look good, I'm excited to see the new animations and still hope that the bear will be able to carry their babies on the back. I'm still a bit worried we haven't seen any new signs, but I really hope that there won't be any negative surprises.
2. Tropical Pack: that's a very difficult one. I really disliked it at first, as I hoped for more in a tropical pack... The animals we've gotten are good and I really like all the species (even the AWM was nice), but the biggest issue was and still is South America, which wasn't affected at all with this pack. The sloth is a species I've seen in a few SA zoos, but AFAIK they aren't bred at all in these zoos and the climbing frame also gives it a really bad taste. On the other hand, the updates for the gibbon rig (I'm still hoping that the siamang will be put on the new rig) and the scenery pieces were really useful.
1. Oceania Pack: this just fleshed out what I considered bare necessites for this region (with the exception of more birds and the tree kangaroo). The pieces were ok, even tough not really fitting for all the species we've got, but there are still some useful things.
Whatever, I'm excited for the next year and really hope that South America, birds and primates will have their time to shine.
4. Arid Animal Pack: I really like animal packs, but after Grasslands and Wetlands my hopes were that they would be much more diverse. I'm a big fan of ungulates, but I easily could have changed one to something different. This pack had no species that really screamed interessting for me, other than the porcupine, which of course is very subjective. The strange moving rhino (which happily got updated) the not really good sand cat and the complete lack of a sign for the snake didn't really helped this pack, IMO, this is my least favorite pack we've gotten so far and I really hope that it gets better.
3. Eurasia Animal Pack: this pack has a similar issue to the Arid Animal Pack, so which I'm actually a bit surprised to seeing it that high on many lists (not that I'm not happy for you). So far the models all look good, I'm excited to see the new animations and still hope that the bear will be able to carry their babies on the back. I'm still a bit worried we haven't seen any new signs, but I really hope that there won't be any negative surprises.
2. Tropical Pack: that's a very difficult one. I really disliked it at first, as I hoped for more in a tropical pack... The animals we've gotten are good and I really like all the species (even the AWM was nice), but the biggest issue was and still is South America, which wasn't affected at all with this pack. The sloth is a species I've seen in a few SA zoos, but AFAIK they aren't bred at all in these zoos and the climbing frame also gives it a really bad taste. On the other hand, the updates for the gibbon rig (I'm still hoping that the siamang will be put on the new rig) and the scenery pieces were really useful.
1. Oceania Pack: this just fleshed out what I considered bare necessites for this region (with the exception of more birds and the tree kangaroo). The pieces were ok, even tough not really fitting for all the species we've got, but there are still some useful things.
Whatever, I'm excited for the next year and really hope that South America, birds and primates will have their time to shine.
:/
Kunekune <3
Visayan Warty
Guinea
(Please, IF you give us a domestic pig, I hope for Kunekune the most.)
I forgot about those fluffy guys! I love them actually!
Kunekune <3
Visayan Warty
Guinea
(Please, IF you give us a domestic pig, I hope for Kunekune the most.)
I forgot about those fluffy guys! I love them actually!
For me it's perhaps been the weakest year for packs but still decent.
1) Arid
- Perhaps surprising and it gets a lot of flack for having many ungulates but for me, it has the most rounded roster. If you can get passed the name - it is a Saharan/Arabian pack and it does exactly what an animal pack should do for me - North Africa feels virtually complete. You could argue the Aoudad and Hamadryas baboon are missing but I forsee the Gelada as a more likely entry down the line (so unsurprised) and to me. The aoudad is of lower priority to the animals we got. This pack may add rather unexciting species, but for the long-term outlook of the game, it is very necessary - these animals are zoo staples and add alternatives to species in game. The black rhino, dromedary and crested
porcupine are essential for a zoo game imo. The addax is a ZT2 legacy animal and a conservation story, while the sand cat and dama gazelle were surprises, they're both deserving imo. Dama for needing conservation awareness and sand cat is a tint feline. One of the few PZ packs where I will use every species regularly (off the top of my head the only others that manage that are South America and Conservation, so it is the first animal pack to achieve that).
May I just add perhaps the highest quality animals in game.
I can see some downsides - namely the exhibit species is a bit boring and lack of varied enclosure building potential which may have made this unexciting on launch, but I think once DLCs finish it will be looked at as a solid pack of great species.
2) Eurasia - the animal packs are winning this year. A solid concept for an animal pack and brings some much needed bulk to Europe and Central Asia. I did not expect we'd ever get the wisent and it looks fantastic. The swan brings exciting building potential too and came out of nowhere. I'm quite happy with a Sichuan takin and a wild boar too. The wolverine was an obvious pick and looks fab, rhe sloth bear was probably my least wanted Bear but it looks gorgeous. I was also rather anti-saiga before the announcement, but I can respect it for it's uniqueness and conservation needs. Exhibit is cool.
3) Tropical - on papar this should be an all-time favourite for me. At it's announcement I believe RRH was 1 on my wishlist, Fossa and Lar Gibbon were maybe top 20. But while people say Arid missed the mark of it's namesake, I think tropical is the guiltily culprit. Tropical is a hugely broad term that would encompass several packs we already have and given how lacking South America, African Rainforests and parts of Asia are, it seems a bit nuts that this is a four animal pack. It really should've been an animal pack to do 'tropical' justice - maybe adding Black-Capped Squirrel Monkey, Ocelot, Goodfellow' Tree Kangaroo or something.
Buils pieces are okay, sloth is obviously wrong species buy hey ho. To me this packs is easiest summed up as forgettable, and it makes me sad to say that.
4) Oceania - I was disappointed when Oceania was announced. Again, in hindsight I think it is fantastic for the game in terms of it' post DLC life but for now, my selfish self has little interest. The scenery is good but bar occasionally using the Tasmanian Devil or the Kiwi, I'm rarely gonna use it.
1) Arid
- Perhaps surprising and it gets a lot of flack for having many ungulates but for me, it has the most rounded roster. If you can get passed the name - it is a Saharan/Arabian pack and it does exactly what an animal pack should do for me - North Africa feels virtually complete. You could argue the Aoudad and Hamadryas baboon are missing but I forsee the Gelada as a more likely entry down the line (so unsurprised) and to me. The aoudad is of lower priority to the animals we got. This pack may add rather unexciting species, but for the long-term outlook of the game, it is very necessary - these animals are zoo staples and add alternatives to species in game. The black rhino, dromedary and crested
porcupine are essential for a zoo game imo. The addax is a ZT2 legacy animal and a conservation story, while the sand cat and dama gazelle were surprises, they're both deserving imo. Dama for needing conservation awareness and sand cat is a tint feline. One of the few PZ packs where I will use every species regularly (off the top of my head the only others that manage that are South America and Conservation, so it is the first animal pack to achieve that).
May I just add perhaps the highest quality animals in game.
I can see some downsides - namely the exhibit species is a bit boring and lack of varied enclosure building potential which may have made this unexciting on launch, but I think once DLCs finish it will be looked at as a solid pack of great species.
2) Eurasia - the animal packs are winning this year. A solid concept for an animal pack and brings some much needed bulk to Europe and Central Asia. I did not expect we'd ever get the wisent and it looks fantastic. The swan brings exciting building potential too and came out of nowhere. I'm quite happy with a Sichuan takin and a wild boar too. The wolverine was an obvious pick and looks fab, rhe sloth bear was probably my least wanted Bear but it looks gorgeous. I was also rather anti-saiga before the announcement, but I can respect it for it's uniqueness and conservation needs. Exhibit is cool.
3) Tropical - on papar this should be an all-time favourite for me. At it's announcement I believe RRH was 1 on my wishlist, Fossa and Lar Gibbon were maybe top 20. But while people say Arid missed the mark of it's namesake, I think tropical is the guiltily culprit. Tropical is a hugely broad term that would encompass several packs we already have and given how lacking South America, African Rainforests and parts of Asia are, it seems a bit nuts that this is a four animal pack. It really should've been an animal pack to do 'tropical' justice - maybe adding Black-Capped Squirrel Monkey, Ocelot, Goodfellow' Tree Kangaroo or something.
Buils pieces are okay, sloth is obviously wrong species buy hey ho. To me this packs is easiest summed up as forgettable, and it makes me sad to say that.
4) Oceania - I was disappointed when Oceania was announced. Again, in hindsight I think it is fantastic for the game in terms of it' post DLC life but for now, my selfish self has little interest. The scenery is good but bar occasionally using the Tasmanian Devil or the Kiwi, I'm rarely gonna use it.
I’m gonna agree with what @KönigDerKaffeebohnen said earlier in the thread, this was a great year for polish and options. For North Africa and parts of Asia you got the Arid pack, Oceania got a dedicated region in a pack, Africa and South Asia got a boost in the Tropical pack, and Europe and Asia is getting more representation in the Eurasia pack. So if you wanted a bunch of options you have it, I am especially happy for the European and Oceania players who can make better local zoos. The free updates have been great this year, I loved the peccary and modular gift shops are amazing.
Despite all that in hindsight I think the packs have been, the word I would use wouldn’t be underwhelming, but something close to it. I loved all the animals, the only reason I haven’t used all of them yet is because Vet School sucks the life out of me. Frontiers bias really showed this year though, and I recognize with layoffs they probably wanted to play it safe. Making “””””””clones”””””””” of animals already in game is much easier. Still the staff at planet zoo really loves their ungulates and carnivores. While these are easily some of the most amazing and beautiful animals they have ever made, I can’t help but feel less excited now that the dust has settled. I mean we got 3 “pigs” in one year, and in one year we got more ungulates than in four years of getting birds.
Speaking of: I’m gonna be annoying and talk about feathered friends. We will not be getting flying birds, but I don’t understand why we can’t get “clones” of birds already in game. Cranes, flamingos, pheasants, shoot even a fourth penguin or fifth ratite. I wish we could talk about how “we got another crane” in the same way as “why would a pack have three antelopes”. I wish one pack could have two pheasants/ ground birds, and I can watch as everyone claims that takes up a slot. I wish I didn’t have to feel like a duck is a nearly impossible animal to get in a zoo game. While it might be easy to say that Frontier simply won’t do birds, it still makes no sense that birds are frequently some of the best looking animals. Someone cares, even the base game birds have aged well compared to the lion, bears, and crocodiles. Now that we got a swan I hope we can have funny discussions about “do we really need another duck?”. I’m hopeful for next year, considering South America and North America didn’t get much love I’m hoping we can get a bird for both of these continents. That not even to mention the around 20 birds that are now in the top 100 of the meta wishlist.
Besides birds I was hoping we could start getting other animals too. We got one habitat reptile this year, one primate, one rodent, and one very unique mammal in the Fossa. If you have been hoping for a monkey or a baboon this year must have sucked the life out of you. If you like reptiles you got another monitor, and three habitat animals. If you like rodents you got one animal. I understand why these other animal groups aren’t particularly common in this game, of course a video game and its team has limitations. Man, after the thread by @Cooper_yang even I was thinking we should have got another deer. Also for the people who love invertebrates they didn’t get a single animal, this is probably the smallest group of animal lovers but I know they are out there.
So overall I have been slowly becoming less excited about the upcoming DLCs, I still love every animal, so I get every pack. I’m all about supporting Frontier, so I understand I am not voting with my wallet well lol. Still if you love ungulates this is another great year for hoofstock. So I’m happy for you guys! It just feels so tiring saying this is the best year for birds, and we only got three. But it is what it is, and with the community and the 5th anniversary I’m hopeful for next year.
So overall I would rate my interests for the packs as following:
1. Oceania, two birds and I’ve always wanted to make an Oceania Zoo.
2. Eurasia, it has the swan. Otherwise it and Arid are the exact same for me.
3. Literally just doesn’t have a bird, if it did Arid would tie Eurasia due to being a bit ungulate heavy for my tastes.
4. Tropical, I love the red river hog, I love the fossa, I love the monitor, I love the gibbon! I love sloths but don’t care for the PZ one too much. I personally don’t find use for the scenery, but maybe if I make an indoor jungle world I may change my tune.
So here’s hoping for another good year, this is still my favorite game and I love being part of its community and getting to speak with all of you.
Despite all that in hindsight I think the packs have been, the word I would use wouldn’t be underwhelming, but something close to it. I loved all the animals, the only reason I haven’t used all of them yet is because Vet School sucks the life out of me. Frontiers bias really showed this year though, and I recognize with layoffs they probably wanted to play it safe. Making “””””””clones”””””””” of animals already in game is much easier. Still the staff at planet zoo really loves their ungulates and carnivores. While these are easily some of the most amazing and beautiful animals they have ever made, I can’t help but feel less excited now that the dust has settled. I mean we got 3 “pigs” in one year, and in one year we got more ungulates than in four years of getting birds.
Speaking of: I’m gonna be annoying and talk about feathered friends. We will not be getting flying birds, but I don’t understand why we can’t get “clones” of birds already in game. Cranes, flamingos, pheasants, shoot even a fourth penguin or fifth ratite. I wish we could talk about how “we got another crane” in the same way as “why would a pack have three antelopes”. I wish one pack could have two pheasants/ ground birds, and I can watch as everyone claims that takes up a slot. I wish I didn’t have to feel like a duck is a nearly impossible animal to get in a zoo game. While it might be easy to say that Frontier simply won’t do birds, it still makes no sense that birds are frequently some of the best looking animals. Someone cares, even the base game birds have aged well compared to the lion, bears, and crocodiles. Now that we got a swan I hope we can have funny discussions about “do we really need another duck?”. I’m hopeful for next year, considering South America and North America didn’t get much love I’m hoping we can get a bird for both of these continents. That not even to mention the around 20 birds that are now in the top 100 of the meta wishlist.
Besides birds I was hoping we could start getting other animals too. We got one habitat reptile this year, one primate, one rodent, and one very unique mammal in the Fossa. If you have been hoping for a monkey or a baboon this year must have sucked the life out of you. If you like reptiles you got another monitor, and three habitat animals. If you like rodents you got one animal. I understand why these other animal groups aren’t particularly common in this game, of course a video game and its team has limitations. Man, after the thread by @Cooper_yang even I was thinking we should have got another deer. Also for the people who love invertebrates they didn’t get a single animal, this is probably the smallest group of animal lovers but I know they are out there.
So overall I have been slowly becoming less excited about the upcoming DLCs, I still love every animal, so I get every pack. I’m all about supporting Frontier, so I understand I am not voting with my wallet well lol. Still if you love ungulates this is another great year for hoofstock. So I’m happy for you guys! It just feels so tiring saying this is the best year for birds, and we only got three. But it is what it is, and with the community and the 5th anniversary I’m hopeful for next year.
So overall I would rate my interests for the packs as following:
1. Oceania, two birds and I’ve always wanted to make an Oceania Zoo.
2. Eurasia, it has the swan. Otherwise it and Arid are the exact same for me.
3. Literally just doesn’t have a bird, if it did Arid would tie Eurasia due to being a bit ungulate heavy for my tastes.
4. Tropical, I love the red river hog, I love the fossa, I love the monitor, I love the gibbon! I love sloths but don’t care for the PZ one too much. I personally don’t find use for the scenery, but maybe if I make an indoor jungle world I may change my tune.
So here’s hoping for another good year, this is still my favorite game and I love being part of its community and getting to speak with all of you.
My Planet Zoo 2023 Pack Rankings:
1. Arid Animal Pack
2. Tropical Pack
3. Oceania Pack
4. Eurasia Animal Pack
1. Arid Animal Pack
2. Tropical Pack
3. Oceania Pack
4. Eurasia Animal Pack
I have to say that birds have been the focus of our discussions and I agree with a lot of your points, the point is not so much the "flying birds" but why can't we have some of the birds that are already involved in the game. Examples include the secretary bird, the shoebill, and other wading birds. Of course, the golden pheasant,the Himalayan monal and pheasants such as green peacocks will always have a place on my list.
The Eurasian pack is my favorite from this year (2023 ; ) ). My list would look like this:
-Eurasia Pack 10/10, I'm so excited we're getting the takin, the wisent, the sloth bear, and the swan! Additionally, a super cute tortoise and Wolverine! The Wild boar is not a must for me, but it is a nice animal. Saiga is fascinating, maybe I will build for it too. This is one of my favorite packs from the game.
-Arid - 8/10 - Somali Wild Ass is incredible, Porcupine is perfection, and I even like the snake. Dromedary and Addax are fantastic. I wouldn't be mad if the gazelle were replaced with something more wanted by the community, but it is still a lovely gazelle.
-Oceania - 7/10 - I love all the animals, but only one of my zoos is based in Oceania. My big favorites are Kiwi and Devil! The building pieces are very pretty and quite useful.
-Tropical - 5/10 - I rather like the RRH and Fossa. It's too bad the sloth is only in the WE; otherwise, I would have loved it. The rest of the animals are so-so. Building pieces are also okay but not fantastic.
-Eurasia Pack 10/10, I'm so excited we're getting the takin, the wisent, the sloth bear, and the swan! Additionally, a super cute tortoise and Wolverine! The Wild boar is not a must for me, but it is a nice animal. Saiga is fascinating, maybe I will build for it too. This is one of my favorite packs from the game.
-Arid - 8/10 - Somali Wild Ass is incredible, Porcupine is perfection, and I even like the snake. Dromedary and Addax are fantastic. I wouldn't be mad if the gazelle were replaced with something more wanted by the community, but it is still a lovely gazelle.
-Oceania - 7/10 - I love all the animals, but only one of my zoos is based in Oceania. My big favorites are Kiwi and Devil! The building pieces are very pretty and quite useful.
-Tropical - 5/10 - I rather like the RRH and Fossa. It's too bad the sloth is only in the WE; otherwise, I would have loved it. The rest of the animals are so-so. Building pieces are also okay but not fantastic.
I want to give reasons for mine since I didn't earlier:
1. Tropical Pack 8/10- First- I would have preferred it as an animal pack and the two-toed sloth the over three-toed sloth blah blah blah. BUT it provided some of my most highly requested animals the RRH and the fossa and some new favorites like the gibbon and AWM. The brick set is one of my favorites in-game, and the foliage is pretty great, though I would have liked a large tree/palm.
2. Arid Animal Pack 7.5/10- I honestly love all of the species in this pack. I think they are all excellent picks for the game, but not all in one pack. However, since I use a good portion of the species in this pack in basically every zoo. And if I'm being honest, this pack has left me wanting more African hoofstock. If this pack had a tortoise and a baboon, it would have easily been a 10/10.
3. Oceania 7/10- First and foremost, I am obsessed with the little penguin! The kiwi and devil are also awesome for making my high-budget parks. I definitely would have preferred the tree kangaroo over the quokka, and a species of lizard ( a New Caledonia gecko) over the spectacled flying fox. The scenery and foliage are awesome though, some of my favorite in game.
4. Eurasia 5/10- My ranking will probably go up a bit after I get my hands on the DLC, but I already know I probably won't use the wisent, wild boar, saiga, and mute swan all that much for basically all my projects. The takin and sloth bear honestly make this pack for me, while the wolverine and tortoise are much-needed additions. Objectively, this is one of the best packs diversity wise I see why so many people love it!