DLC18 discussion and predictions

[AndyZoos]

They said it’s coming in a couple of weeks:

“There is something coming in the next couple of weeks and it’s super duper exciting”

People are interpreting that in two different ways:

1. The trailer/reveal will be coming within the next "couple of weeks"
2. The DLC itself will be coming in the next "couple of weeks"

And I really don't understand how people are thinking it's going to be #1. There's always a chance but... I felt like they were referring to the DLC itself because it's going to be released ahead of the anniversary. So they'd need to reveal it by mid-October for that release. Plus the socials after the stream said more info was "coming soon."

I like the idea of us getting a full reveal/trailer on Friday, October 4th (World Animal Day). And I expect they'll maybe drip out some more info about the update, show us pictures of the new enrichment item and the hats, etc. this week leading up to that.

Planet Zoo being about animals, the obvious thing to celebrate would be well... animals! And then, any animal can honestly fit the theme, but you'd probably go for some animals that have unique traits or have other "weird and wonderful" things about them. A baboon with a very special looking male, a cat that looks grumpy all the time, a goat species with a big beard and very curly horns. And if we venture further and take a look at the dictionary animals that were removed, a lemur species that runs unlike any other we have in the game, a dik-dik that has a unique way of walking.

Plenty of things you can use to unify the theme, and a pack celebrating the weird and wonderful animals of the world is just as marketable as something like the World Fair Pack or a concept like conservation in the Conservation Pack. Names for the pack are in abundance. Wild and Wonderful Animal Pack, Animal Celebration Pack; heck even Anniversary Pack could just work as well. Plenty to choose from, and plenty less marketable names have been used for packs in the past for both Planet games.

Reading all of this just reignited my thought that we might be looking at an "adaptations" or "evolution" themed pack. Which could quite literally have the same roster as the Celebrations/Anniversary pack. Which speaks to your thinking!

For me, the two labels I put above could actually work nicely. "Amazing Adaptations Animal Pack" has a nice ring to it. And they could tie celebration into that...

"Let's celebrate the wild and weird ways animals all over the world have evolved to their environments with the Amazing Adaptations Animal pack!"

 

[NachoB]

I mean, a Cobra, Chameleon, a Two Toed Sloth and something else -Orchid Mantis for exhibit, or Spurred Tortoise or Tamarin for the WTE.

Can we stop placing the spurred tortoise in the walkthrough exhibit please? Other than that yes that would be a satisfying exhibit roster but i still prefer more habitat animals.

 

[Villanelle]

People be typing whole new pages faster than I can read a single one. Lol.

 

[RightWhale]

People are interpreting that in two different ways:

1. The trailer/reveal will be coming within the next "couple of weeks"
2. The DLC itself will be coming in the next "couple of weeks"

And I really don't understand how people are thinking it's going to be #1. There's always a chance but... I felt like they were referring to the DLC itself because it's going to be released ahead of the anniversary. So they'd need to reveal it by mid-October for that release. Plus the socials after the stream said more info was "coming soon."

I like the idea of us getting a full reveal/trailer on Friday, October 4th (World Animal Day). And I expect they'll maybe drip out some more info about the update, show us pictures of the new enrichment item and the hats, etc. this week leading up to that.


Reading all of this just reignited my thought that we might be looking at an "adaptations" or "evolution" themed pack. Which could quite literally have the same roster as the Celebrations/Anniversary pack. Which speaks to your thinking!

For me, the two labels I put above could actually work nicely. "Amazing Adaptations Animal Pack" has a nice ring to it. And they could tie celebration into that...

"Let's celebrate the wild and weird ways animals all over the world have evolved to their environments with the Amazing Adaptations Animal pack!"

The triple A Pack. Unironically I think that would be cool, I still think the idea of us getting multiple different animals with other key arts is cool. There is no basis for this other than I think it is cool.
Here are some adaptations if we are gonna role with this idea:

1. Hamadryads baboon with sociality and living in arid environments.
2. Markhor adapting to super high altitudes.
3. Pallas cat adapting to the cold.

 

[AndyZoos]

But why is only the "unique traits" of a Pallas Cat featured prominently while both the markhor and baboon are in the shadows? And the Pallas Cat doesn't even look grumpy in the cover art. It looks like an oversized house cat, its unique features are NOT emphasized.

So a pack "celebrating the weird and wonderful animals of the world"-

-choses to highlight the Pallas Cat with the baboon and markhor blacked out in the background so no one except zoo nerds can see it. No other animal shown. This is supposed to be the animal diversity pack, highlighting a grumpy cat. Okay, great marketing over at Frontier, pure genius to throw off the fanbase like that.

What single animal would you choose to highlight how diverse the animals of the world are? By definition any single animal won't fit the bill. And given the way they handle the key art for the animal packs... They are only ever going to feature one. Regardless of the theme.

I don't see the logic in what you're saying given how they structure the cover art for the packs. The other animals are "blacked out" because that's the format they've always used. And, because marketing is marketing... They're going to shoot for consistency across packs.

 

[oca2074]

Out of the 3 species, it is only really the Markhor that is strictly a mountain species. The cat and baboon are also found in other types of habitats. Highland is such a broad theme that a lot could fit under it. Even if this isn't a highland pack (which I no longer think it is), there is still a good chance most of the animals would fit under this theme as well, making it hard to pick animals for the key-art that couldn't fit this theme.

Well, whatever this DLC theme is, they choose to put the Pallas Cat apparently as their headliner animal ahead of literally every other animal. Can you think of any other DLC theme where your best bet for headliner (out of all available animals) is the Pallas Cat, apart from highlands? Certainly not a zookeeper collection pack that aims to display a wide range of animal diversity...

 

[The Aardvark]

It's plenty big enough for being a habitat animal, but so are anacondas and iguanas. Plus, being smaller means they have a shorter stride than the island giants. Therefore, they're covering even less ground for an already super slow family of animals. This would only exasperate issues seen with tortoises trying to reach their food/water before dying. Monitor lizards and mammals much much more quickly, so this problem applies to less of a degree

Actually, from what I've seen personally IRL, Sulcatas are faster than Aldabras (I've only ever seen Galapagos once and it was sleeping so I'm not counting it)

Plus, here's an insane tortoise hack (it worked for me):
I once decided to have some dumb fun and built a 15 story shelter for my 4 tortoises, and placed the only water thingy on top. Of course the tortoises started climbing up the 15 ramps to reach the top, but about halfway through their "thirsty" status just kinda disappeared LMAO... And no, they never died despite basically never actually drinking

 

[DarthQuell]

Well, whatever this DLC theme is, they choose to put the Pallas Cat apparently as their headliner animal ahead of literally every other animal. Can you think of any other DLC theme where your best bet for headliner (out of all available animals) is the Pallas Cat, apart from highlands? Certainly not a zookeeper collection pack that aims to display a wide range of animal diversity...

Cold climate pack. Or taiga pack. Or heck, even a Meme Animals pack

 

[SalamAnders]

Well, whatever this DLC theme is, they choose to put the Pallas Cat apparently as their headliner animal ahead of literally every other animal. Can you think of any other DLC theme where your best bet for headliner (out of all available animals) is the Pallas Cat, apart from highlands? Certainly not a zookeeper collection pack that aims to display a wide range of animal diversity...

They put the wisent as the headliner of the Eurasia pack. It could have been the swan, the wolverine, or the takin. All more popular. But they went with the wisent.

 

[oca2074]

What single animal would you choose to highlight how diverse the animals of the world are? By definition any single animal won't fit the bill. And given the way they handle the key art for the animal packs... They are only ever going to feature one. Regardless of the theme.

Nope, previous packs had multiple animals, some clearly in the background for example. In this DLC, the baboon and markhor are in the shadows, not even coloured properly.

I don't see the logic in what you're saying given how they structure the cover art for the packs. The other animals are "blacked out" because that's the format they've always used. And, because marketing is marketing... They're going to shoot for consistency across packs.

If this is the first pack to be a zookeeper collection pack showcasing a diverse range of animals without regard to biome or geography, then I'd think the cover art would have to be different as well. It would make the pack stand out as the finale, right now it looks like any generic biome or geographical pack.

 

[NachoB]

Baboons, markhor, and Pallas cats can all climb and use in game structures. Clearly we are all wrong, this is actually gonna be a Climbing pack!

And what pairs well with climbing? Flying!

Clearly birds are coming. I am very intelligent
View attachment 403141

I mean... Not the worst idea... Coati, tree roo, new world monkey fit right in. The only downside to such pack would be no birds. At least the type of birds we would expect for PZ.

 

[TheNamesJonas]

Unrelated to the constant dlc and anniversary speculation squabble, but I just saw some early Halloween decorations from a zoo's social media post, and I'm kinda bummed they didn't put any good bone/skeleton pieces in the Twilight pack. You could use them for educational builds, dry looking desert habitats (like the image below), or for general Halloween decorations.

 

[oca2074]

Cold climate pack. Or taiga pack. Or heck, even a Meme Animals pack

Problem is Hamadryas is NOT a cold/taiga animal.

I'm not an expert but I don't think hamadryas or markhor is a meme animal, maybe the markhor is at a stretch... But it would be a silly way to name a DLC, most of the meme animals are already in the game.

 

[Villanelle]

It's a regular sized Highland animal pack, coming out alongside an Anniversary celebration-themed free update, or with a bit of party themed scenery a la Barnyard composition style of 7 animals + a sprinkling of scenery. Mark my words.

What it definitely is NOT is an 'Old World' pack. That's the worst suggestion by far. It's an outdated, colonial-flavoured term and it gives absolutely no description of what it would contain apart from a whole half of the planet's worth of options. It would be both problematic and poor marketing.

 

[PlanetSoyJak]

I'm still with the Celebration Pack, the dictionary animals, palla's cat, 1 exhibit and 2 habitat animal's which I'm thinking is pacific walrus and coati.

 

[SalamAnders]

Well, whatever this DLC theme is, they choose to put the Pallas Cat apparently as their headliner animal ahead of literally every other animal. Can you think of any other DLC theme where your best bet for headliner (out of all available animals) is the Pallas Cat, apart from highlands? Certainly not a zookeeper collection pack that aims to display a wide range of animal diversity...

Also, this is only going to be promoted on the internet. Cats rule this place

 

[PlanetSoyJak]

Problem is Hamadryas is NOT a cold/taiga animal.

I'm not an expert but I don't think hamadryas or markhor is a meme animal, maybe the markhor is at a stretch... But it would be a silly way to name a DLC, most of the meme animals are already in the game.

Oh... This guy hasn't seen true happiness yet...

HAMADRYA'S IS LOADED WITH MEMES...

 

[PlanetSoyJak]

Also, this is only going to be promoted on the internet. Cats rule this place

Its a really good choice to make the Palla's cat headline, its an internet star meme with it being that grumpy monday cat that instagram adults find funny

 

[oca2074]

They put the wisent as the headliner of the Eurasia pack. It could have been the swan, the wolverine, or the takin. All more popular. But they went with the wisent.

Okay, but wisent makes sense as a representative animal from Eurasia. What does Pallas Cat represent that can be used to represent a pack's theme? APART from highlands. And don't say taiga, because we have baboon.

 

[Iben]

But why is only the "unique traits" of a Pallas Cat featured prominently while both the markhor and baboon are in the shadows? And the Pallas Cat doesn't even look grumpy in the cover art. It looks like an oversized house cat, its unique features are NOT emphasized.

So a pack "celebrating the weird and wonderful animals of the world"-

-choses to highlight the Pallas Cat with the baboon and markhor blacked out in the background so no one except zoo nerds can see it. No other animal shown. This is supposed to be the animal diversity pack, highlighting a grumpy cat. Okay, great marketing over at Frontier, pure genius to throw off the fanbase like that.

I mean... have you seen the other animal pack key-art pieces? I don't get the point you're trying to make here, that's literally the case for all the animal pack key-art pieces. The only animal that is prominent is the feature animal, all the other ones are always silhouettes in the background.