Fall DLC 2023 Speculation

[NachoB]

Honestly i dont think frontier really considers this to much if at all. Because lets be really, the amount of "i dont wanna use X because its not kept in my country" people is miniscule when compared to the playerbase as a whole.

Yes. I honestly don't understand that pov but i respect it. I personally don't even care if an animal is found in captivity at all or not. Heck i'll be SO happy with a kakapo for instance. If i like an animal i want them in game. Only exception to this are cetaceans, just because of a personal moral stand.

 

[Mazoku]

Honestly i dont think frontier really considers this to much if at all. Because lets be really, the amount of "i dont wanna use X because its not kept in my country" people is miniscule when compared to the playerbase as a whole.

You know, there are realistic zoo builders out there (including myself), build realistic zoos based on their country or other countries zoos. This is why they don't use specific animals because none of zoos in countries that keep them. On other hand, in this game, players can build zoos and put animals wherever they like, players can pick animals they like to keep, they also can pick animals they don't want to keep.

 

[Marvinb]

Yes. I honestly don't understand that pov but i respect it. I personally don't even care if an animal is found in captivity at all or not. Heck i'll be SO happy with a kakapo for instance. If i like an animal i want them in game. Only exception to this are cetaceans, just because of a personal moral stand.

Yeah. If you wanna restrict yourself in what you can do with the game by all means be my guest. But i think its weird to assume everybody thinks that way and therefore only really common stuff must be added

 

[Marvinb]

You know, there are realistic zoo builders out there (including myself), build realistic zoos based on their country or other countries zoos. This is why they don't use specific animals because none of zoos in countries that keep them. On other hand, in this game, players can build zoos and put animals wherever they like, players can pick animals they like to keep, they also can pick animals they don't want to keep.

Of course i know. And understand that point of view. But as i said the vast majority doesnt really care about that.
So i think its weird to expect that Frontier would tailor their DLC to a very small amount of players

 

[Mazoku]

Of course i know. And understand that point of view. But as i said the vast majority doesnt really care about that.
So i think its weird to expect that Frontier would tailor their DLC to a very small amount of players

It's because people have their wishes and wants and expect too much that Frontier will focus on giving them all they want for and get disappointed. We all have our own wanted animals, we have to wait patiently until we finally get our wanted animals. If you are talking about me, I'm not against to oddball choices. Oddballs and surprises can be great such as Nile Lechwe and Dama Gazelle. There are oddballs I wish it could've better choices instead.

 

[YesIndeed]

Honestly after this newest pack I’m feeling pretty content with the future of Planet Zoo myself. A lot of my remaining most wanted animals, like echidnas and tree kangaroos, don’t have as high of a chance of making it into the game now as some other species, but as important and essential as they are for me personally I’m just really happy with what I did get. I finally got the animal that kept me up at night with how badly I wanted it (Tasmanian devil), I got my most wanted bird (little penguin) and a couple additions I never imaged we’d ever see (quokka and an Australian bat). My wishlist remains pretty long, but I think I’ll be at peace with whatever comes next for a while.

Another year with no Oceania representation and then I’ll start nagging Frontier again lol

Agreed, I'm pretty content now that we have the tassie and I could live with the game I its current state post Oceania pack. My list of essential that I really want has entered the single digits now so that makes me happy.

 

[ElectricMonk]

n.

Yeah yeah you always know better. That’s just how it is. NZ is not a region it’s an island

An island can be a region, it can also consist of of regions and can be part of a larger region.

 

[yoav_r]

Where are you even getting these ideas? We all are happy that all the continents, minus South America, have big rosters and great representation. The whole community is in agreement that South America should be focused on next, now. You're acting like Americans, Australians, and Europeans are entitled, when the truth is that we're already happy and have been hoping for more rep for African forests, Asia, and South America since day one.

No, @nutrit has a point. People tend to put a lot more emphasis on their home regions, and dismiss other regions. I campaigned pretty hard for the middle east and north africa for years before the arid pack, when it was a region with essentially 0 animals until the grassland pack less than a year ago.

I feel like the tones have changed over time, but I remember for a long time people really dismissed the necessaty of species from MENA, while campaiging for stuff like the wisent and ABB as absolute essentials. Most egregious was after we got the SEA pack, there was a lot of discussion sbout how "asia is complete now", ignoring the fact that most of the continent is still pretty empty.

People are biased towards their home region, which leads to large bias in the forums, and it's ok to acknowledge that.

 

[yoav_r]

How do you end up with only 3?

Let's follow MENA development:

• Base game: puff adder - 0 habitat (1 exhibit) (technically also flamingo)
• Africa 2021: fennec, scarab - NA: 1 (2), ME: 0 (2)
• Conservation 2022: scimitar oryx - NA: 2 (2), ME: 0 (2)
• Twilight 2022: egyptian fruit bat - NA: 2 (3), ME: 0 (3)
• Grassland 2022: caracal, striped hyena - NA: 4(3), ME: 2(3)
• Arid 2023: 10 (4), ME: 4 (4)

So in the 3 years between 2019 and 2022, the region was elpty in the game. And it took another year for it to pass the 3 habitat animal mark. When people say 3 animals they tend to refer to the SHO, fennec, and beetle.

 

[DarthQuell]

No, @nutrit has a point. People tend to put a lot more emphasis on their home regions, and dismiss other regions. I campaigned pretty hard for the middle east and north africa for years before the arid pack, when it was a region with essentially 0 animals until the grassland pack less than a year ago.

I feel like the tones have changed over time, but I remember for a long time people really dismissed the necessaty of species from MENA, while campaiging for stuff like the wisent and ABB as absolute essentials. Most egregious was after we got the SEA pack, there was a lot of discussion sbout how "asia is complete now", ignoring the fact that most of the continent is still pretty empty.

People are biased towards their home region, which leads to large bias in the forums, and it's ok to acknowledge that.

Yes, but it wasn't just that. It was also that they said that those from NA, Oceania and Europe feel entitled and don't want animals from other regions.
My point was that we also want animals from Africa, South America, and Asia, but that some people are getting tired of getting the same types of animals instead of new stuff and/or more common species

 

[NachoB]

Yes, but it wasn't just that. It was also that they said that those from NA, Oceania and Europe feel entitled and don't want animals from other regions.
My point was that we also want animals from Africa, South America, and Asia, but that some people are getting tired of getting the same types of animals instead of new stuff and/or more common species

Ehh i would argue that getting the wild boar, EBB, ABB, wisent and white tailed deer or any river otter is more of the same. More so than more Oceanian or SA animals.

 

[DarthQuell]

Ehh i would argue that getting the wild boar, EBB, ABB, wisent and white tailed deer or any river otter is more of the same. More so than more Oceanian or SA animals.

No no, I do see your point. I just was saying that it isn't necessarily fair to say that a certain group is hypocritical or entitled before of the dislike of a single pack, especially after there were various reasons why the Arid pack was generally disliked (not even for the animals themselves, just for how it was advertised)

 

[yoav_r]

Yes, but it wasn't just that. It was also that they said that those from NA, Oceania and Europe feel entitled and don't want animals from other regions.

To be fair, it definitely felt like that at the time the arid pack was announced. People were heavily dumping on it, with ire I have yet to see in such amounts on this forum.

And most interesting, I remember I did check the posts of the most vocal haters of the arid pack. There was a lot of intersection between vocal haters of the arid pack and staunch defenders of the Twilight pack, despite both packs having the same complaint of over focusing on a single group and region, and not living to the potential of their title. In addition, many of the arid pack haters were vocal supporters of stuff like the ABB, EBB, wisent, eurasian wolf, while actively dumping on the first pack to touch a largely empty region in the game because it is of no interest to them*.

So yes, it definitely felt like regional bias and entitlement, at least from some specific users.

*not saying anyone who wants more european or american animals is entitled, just pointing out the double standard that was prevalent when the arid pack came out.

 

[Pentoleaf]

...

New pack animals look fantastic as always and I'm super happy for all the players from Australia and New Zealand who wanted to build local zoos.

I hope support continues and we get more animals for SA and Central Europe.

I also hope a few of my personal wishlist animals get in, but we'll see what we get...

 

[DarthQuell]

To be fair, it definitely felt like that at the time the arid pack was announced. People were heavily dumping on it, with ire I have yet to see in such amounts on thus forum.

And most interesting, I remember I did check the posts of the most vocal haters of the arid pack. There was a lot of intersection between vocal haters of the arid pack and staunch defenders of the Twilight pack, despite both packs having the same complaint of over focusing on a songle group and region. In addition, many of the arid pack haters were vocal supporters of stuff like the ABB, EBB, wisent, eurasian wolf, while actively dumping on the first pack to touch a largely empty region in the game because it is of no interest to them*.

So yes, it definitely felt like regional bias and entitlement, at least from some specific users.

*not saying anyone who wants more european or american animals is entitled, just pointing out the double standard that was prevalent when the arid pack came out.

I do remember complaints for the Twilight pack too, though. How they were mostly NA animals and not worldwide...
I dunno, I think it's hard for me to see both sides of the argument because I like all the packs anyways

... Do we have to rehash this? Some people like some animals. Some people like other animals. People like animals from their home regions. No one's feelings are irrelevant, but we all have our own likes and biases and that's okay.
...

New pack animals look fantastic as always and I'm super happy for all the players from Australia and New Zealand who wanted to build local zoos.

I hope support continues and we get more animals for SA and Central Europe.

I also hope a few of my personal wishlist animals get in, but we'll see what we get...

I feel the same. When the Oceania pack was announced, I honestly thought: that's way better than what I would've done. I'm actually glad we got this instead of, say, the ABB

 

[YesIndeed]

Let's follow MENA development:

• Base game: puff adder - 0 habitat (1 exhibit) (technically also flamingo)
• Africa 2021: fennec, scarab - NA: 1 (2), ME: 0 (2)
• Conservation 2022: scimitar oryx - NA: 2 (2), ME: 0 (2)
• Twilight 2022: egyptian fruit bat - NA: 2 (3), ME: 0 (3)
• Grassland 2022: caracal, striped hyena - NA: 4(3), ME: 2(3)
• Arid 2023: 10 (4), ME: 4 (4)

So in the 3 years between 2019 and 2022, the region was elpty in the game. And it took another year for it to pass the 3 habitat animal mark. When people say 3 animals they tend to refer to the SHO, fennec, and beetle.

I don't get why you say technically flamingo. It's an animal from that region just like any other. I wouldn't say that the Wolverine is not North ameican because it's also found in Asia. It's actually more common there then something like the addax because their not an overly endangered animal.

Also I could be wrong about this but I though bactrian camels lived in the middle east.

 

[yoav_r]

I do remember complaints for the Twilight pack too, though. How they were mostly NA animals and not worldwide...

The complaints on paper were very similar:

• Not living up to the name - people expected full on nocturnal features and animals from Twilight, and a more global coverage of arid regions from Arid
• Too much focus on one group and region - north american carnivorans for Twilight, african ungulates for Arid
• From said group, too similar species - large flat habitats for arid ungulates, small forest habitats for twilight carnivorans
• One standout animal that took a lot of effort to model and animate - bat, porcupine
• One cute oddball - wombat, sand cat

So a very symmetrical situation.

 

[CharlieXGaming]

One standout animal that took a lot of effort to model and animate - bat, porcupine

The twilight pack wasn’t like this though. Sure the bat got the WTE but the raccoon and wombat also got a lot of effort and animations into them.

 

[DarthQuell]

The complaints on paper were very similar:

• Not living up to the name - people expected full on nocturnal features and animals from Twilight, and a more global coverage of arid regions from Arid
• Too much focus on one group and region - north american carnivorans for Twilight, african ungulates for Arid
• From said group, too similar species - large flat habitats for arid ungulates, small forest habitats for twilight carnivorans
• One standout animal that took a lot of effort to model and animate - bat, porcupine
• One cute oddball - wombat, sand cat

So a very symmetrical situation.

But that's the whole point. If people were solely biased towards NA, then there wouldn't have been complaints for the Twilight pack. But, a lot of players didn't like the inclusion of the red fox, skunk, or raccoon.

But there's really no point to keep going on this anyways

 

[yoav_r]

I don't get why you say technically flamingo. It's an animal from that region just like any other. I wouldn't say that the Wolverine is not North ameican because it's also found in Asia. It's actually more common there then something like the addax because their not an overly endangered animal.

Also I could be wrong about this but I though bactrian camels lived in the middle east.

Bactrian camels live in central asia, dromedaries live in MENA.

Regarding the flamingo, that is something we haven't discussed a lot in the forum because we don't have flying birds (rip ), but flamingos are migratory.

As the map shows, they only cross MENA in very specific locations in very specific times of the year, and are not permanent or even breeding residents of the area (except for apparently 3 recent breeding sites in very specific locations in the UAE according to wikipedia).

There are permanent flamingo populations elsewhere in their range, but not in MENA.

So the question is how do we consider the ranges of migratory birds, from which we currently only have 2 (flamingo amd crane).

Either way, they are not permanent residents of MENA or animals adapted to living in the region in any meaningful way. So you can count them if you wajt but they don't really represent the region should you make a middle east section.