I don’t know, there’s nothing really hinting towards that besides the vague shape of a tent in the background. I’d also think an exploration pack would show a more diverse set of animals in its keyart to give the impression it involves exploring different locations (Hamadryas is from elsewhere ofc, but both the Pallas cat and markhor are central Asian so don’t really give the vibes of a globe-trotting expedition). Who knows at this stage though, the theming is definitely getting more confusing haha.
DLC18 discussion and predictions
- Thread starter Leaf Productions
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It's been interesting watching the community's thoughts on the reveal evolve. I'll be really curious to see what we wind up with as a pack theme and name because, TBH, this all feels real confusing! Haha.
Because, yeah, mountain/highlands makes sense based on the species. But the art has elements that also make it unique to anything else we've seen before (blatant scenery items; the keeper; enrichment items; the tent-like thing that might actually just be a hill but that'd be weird because they've drawn hills in every DLC before and we've never thought they were something else LOL) and the drawing itself feels more like a foggy forest than a mountainside or something...
We have Asian lanterns in-game but, as far as I can tell, we don't have anything that matches what they shared as far as that piece goes... Maybe there is something to this being more of just "concept art" rather than being an indicator as to there being scenery or not.
They didn't say we'd need to wait a few more weeks to learn more, though... They said that something was coming in a "couple of weeks." To me, coupled with the hint that the anniversary update would be coming ahead of 11/5 means we'd be waiting a max of like, ~2 weeks before they reveal more with the DLC being released very shortly thereafter. Next week is fully plausible but the following week is just as (if not more) likely IMHO.
To me, that tent looks more like an event marquee than a Tibetan nomad tent, as some have been suggesting (marquees tend to have twin 'peaks' at the top, while the nomad tents shown on Google seem to tend not to). They seem to be a thing particularly associated with celebrations in England, so I'm not sure how much it helps with the idea of theming, unless of course it is just a celebratory pack, which would seem to be an obvious finale to me.
With World Animal Day coming up (and it being used in marketing before with the NA pack) and the lanterns, the flags and the tent in the back; I'm starting to lean to a kind of animal celebration/anniversary pack.
I fully believe that the fact that they're celebrating the anniversary early is because the anniversary is on the 5th of November and PlanCo2 is coming out on the 6th; but the phrasing here in the video does kinda feel like they're hinting at the fact that the anniversary celebration coming early also has something to do with the pack.
If this is celebratory maybe we will slowly get different animals and key art shown? Now I am so confused, Mountains seemed like such an obvious theme but then I actually looked closer at the art and got confused 
Mongolian dlc with yurts incoming! (I know they're not yurts but shut up)
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Maybe it is a zookeeper pack after all. I mean, why else is there a zookeeper in the picture?
With 2 animals from each continent?
I mean, they have "hidden" the pack's real banger from us in the past too. Remember Eurasia, they spoiled the sloth bear, wolverine, takin/wisent and saiga for us, but the real banger is actually the swan.
So why not throw obvious animals at our feet again and keep SA for example in the background.
I still think that the people from Frontier are reading along here and are having a lot of fun watching us speculate like we are. I always wondered why they always give us such a long leash instead of just letting us know what's going on.
With 2 animals from each continent?
I mean, they have "hidden" the pack's real banger from us in the past too. Remember Eurasia, they spoiled the sloth bear, wolverine, takin/wisent and saiga for us, but the real banger is actually the swan.
So why not throw obvious animals at our feet again and keep SA for example in the background.
I still think that the people from Frontier are reading along here and are having a lot of fun watching us speculate like we are. I always wondered why they always give us such a long leash instead of just letting us know what's going on.
I'm hoping for Cloud Forests theme! With one of the free update plants being:
Coffea sp.
Coffea sp.
Guys, let's have some fun with the guessing. Since we can't agree on what the new DLC is, let's guess what it's not. I'll go first, and I'm pretty sure it's not an ocean DLC, hahahahahaha.
I'm still very much expecting it to be "Highlands". The Pallas's Cat is on a rock platform and the baboons are up on a rock. Plus litterally all these animals are known for living in mountainous/montane environments. I'm sure those flags are in references to the Himalayas. I think y'all are reading to much into it.
Idk. I personally don't mess with that kind of stuff...How do u all manifest btw? Teach me. Is clearly not working for me
Desert
The Pallas cat is sitting on a single rock and the baboons are basically on a hill. For a highlands/mountains pack this key art very much does not feature many mountains or hills. Heck, the Eurasia Animal Pack features more mountains and cliffs in its keyart than this one
It's certainly not a Latin America Pack
It would be super funny if they have a bunch of hidden animals and the rest of the pack is SA and LA. Like for the key art and everything they use the Asian animal species, then the animals they don’t advertise are the South American ones.It's certainly not a Latin America Pack
I mean true, but those mountains are very much in the background. And known of the animals expect arguably the wolverine are on them. I just think that between the animal choices and the scenery in the key art that it just screams highlands.The Pallas cat is sitting on a single rock and the baboons are basically on a hill. For a highlands/mountains pack this key art very much does not feature many mountains or hills. Heck, the Eurasia Animal Pack features more mountains and cliffs in its keyart than this one
But in JWE you also can do a way more varied roster with all feathered species. Like dinosaurs obviously, but also pterosaurs and if youre really funky you could even have added a pseudosuchian (crocodilian group) in there
I agree! And speaking of the reward statues, I hope for them to be flexicolor... I hope for scaling too... Scaling is probably not going to happen till the sequel.