None of them were underwhelming for me. Oceania and Eurasia were outstanding for me.
Spring 2024 DLC Speculation
- Thread starter The Carcharodontogenius
- Start date
Oceania was great overall. Tree kangaroo would have make it perfect.
Tropical gave US some of the best scenery pieces in a long time but even though the RRH and gibbon are some of my favorite animals in game the roster was very dissapointing. I think we expected to much from a tropical rainforest pack, for starters we expected an animal pack.
Arid had great animal quality and a couple of highly demanded species but as a whole was rather boring.
For me Eurasia was a mixed bag. Wisent, saiga and boar are not species i was excited about at all. Considering the overall theme they were fine additions but they were not DLC material imo. Wolverine was highly requested around here but is a mid options for me. Not bad but nothing i care much about. Swans, sloth bear and takin on the other hand i love.
Tropical gave US some of the best scenery pieces in a long time but even though the RRH and gibbon are some of my favorite animals in game the roster was very dissapointing. I think we expected to much from a tropical rainforest pack, for starters we expected an animal pack.
Arid had great animal quality and a couple of highly demanded species but as a whole was rather boring.
For me Eurasia was a mixed bag. Wisent, saiga and boar are not species i was excited about at all. Considering the overall theme they were fine additions but they were not DLC material imo. Wolverine was highly requested around here but is a mid options for me. Not bad but nothing i care much about. Swans, sloth bear and takin on the other hand i love.
I think the final packs were ok, of the year I found Oceania to be the most exciting. For the final batch of dlc I can’t help but imagine things to be different, but at the same time we got some of the most requested animals in one year.
(Of course they are the most requested animals after the meta wishlist already cycled through some of its other most wanted animals. Still they were the most popular at the time, and getting them was exciting)
I will say this final dlc has got me thinking the most, I really hope it delivers. It’s kind of hard to temper my expectations on the final dlc, I don’t want to diminish the hard work.
Still to add on to the conversation from yesterday, I still can’t help but think the baboon will be the only monkey and secretary bird the only bird. I WOULD LOVE TO BE WRONG THOUGH
(Of course they are the most requested animals after the meta wishlist already cycled through some of its other most wanted animals. Still they were the most popular at the time, and getting them was exciting)
I will say this final dlc has got me thinking the most, I really hope it delivers. It’s kind of hard to temper my expectations on the final dlc, I don’t want to diminish the hard work.
Still to add on to the conversation from yesterday, I still can’t help but think the baboon will be the only monkey and secretary bird the only bird. I WOULD LOVE TO BE WRONG THOUGH
I will never understand why people consider some of the 2023 packs underwhelming when frontier literally gave us exactly what we asked for from the meta wishlist. Like I get it, some of the wildcards were different, but they are no more different than when we got the caiman in wetlands and aquatic, when we got a Halloween pack, when we got wombat instead of devil in twilight, etc. Tropical for example, considering it had 4/5 wanted animals and 1 wildcard, was no better than the highly praised aquatic Pack.
The only difference is that we got a build up of those incidents over and over again, which doesn’t really bother me. Most of those surprises were really good, for example the swan which no one saw coming.
We can’t blame frontier 100% when considering that some of the surprises they give us are good, so they think that we’ll appreciate more surprises.
The only difference is that we got a build up of those incidents over and over again, which doesn’t really bother me. Most of those surprises were really good, for example the swan which no one saw coming.
We can’t blame frontier 100% when considering that some of the surprises they give us are good, so they think that we’ll appreciate more surprises.
Generally we can view it as "right animal, wrong place" overall for 2023, which I definitely picked up quickly with my reliable meme making skills. The SpongeBob pistachio ice cream meme "But I don't like [animal]!" "Then why did you ask for it?!" is the perfect representation of the community as they backtrack on their very own meta wishlist suggestions because they wanted the pack theme to contain a totally different set of animals despite deep down knowing they voted and probably still wanted that animal. The oddballs are (in my opinion) what frontier excels at choosing lesser known animals to complement the highly requested animals giving each dlc it's own flavour without being a carbon copy of the meta wishlist.
Also it doesn't help many of us keep changing our personal wishlist based on changing preferences or a new zoo project requiring a specific set of animals. Recording one months animal preference on a wishlist that can't and won't be changed may mislead frontiers thoughts on what the community wants.
I feel like there's two types of people: Folks who judge the DLC based on what you got and people who judge the DLC based on what it could have been. And the latter are really in full force. 2023 killed a lot of theme ideas (e.g., islands, mountains) that people were really leaning on. So it makes sense. But still...
2023 had mostly above-average to excellent habitat animal picks, two versatile scenery sets, great animal signs, plus all of the free update content. There's a scenario where the Arid DLC could have been infinitely better had they swapped out those two "bonus" ungulates. And, yeah, the Eurasian animal pack could have used a different theme to tap into the heavy-hitters but get a bit more versatility in the roster picks... But honestly, the pack would have remained mostly the same roster-wise.
Even at their worst, Frontier's hit to miss ratio with species selection is spot-on. So yeah, I don't really get it either. But it's more about expectations than anything, I think.
It's fine if you found the packs good but it is clear given how they sell less that they aren't as appealing, and it's not really that difficult to see why. While wetlands, grasslands, etc. had odd arguably "odd" picks they compensated with pretty outstanding newcomers. Meanwhile 2023 all consistently have a pick that everyone agrees should have been something else.
Besides that not only that but Eurasia and Arid are probably worst animal packs out there. And worst of all, it wasn't even hard to make them good, they just decided to be lame.
Yeah I’ll admit of guilty of this, granted a lot of meta wishlist animals aren’t on my personal wishlist.
Personally I’ve never 100% fallen in line with the meta wishlist, my animal interests are obvious, and I’m not gonna get most of them by the time development is done. It is what it is, so that’s where most of my frustration lies. A lot of the backtracking is absolutely silly, and like @Captain Callum said poor Frontier has to deal with the fact we would pick our favorite animals and get upset when it is handed to us differently. I’ll take blame and say I probably took part in this. Still, I can’t help but find I would get so excited over some of our speculation packs. As a community we would make such diverse packs that would offer a bit of everything for everyone. Obviously us wishing for something isn’t the same as it being added in game, Frontier actually has to make the animals which takes time and effort I can’t even comprehend.
Still I remember when we were speculating for the Tropical pack, and people mentioned birds, and monkeys. Or we thought it could be an island pack which also had cool animals. Or during the Arid pack, I remember these awesome pack ideas with animals from dry regions all over the world. Is it good Frontier surprised us? Yes. Is it great we got the animals we specifically asked for? Yeah! Were all the animals added great for the game and made someone happy? Absolutely! The quality isn’t in question, and I would never want to tell someone the animal they want is stupid. Is it animals I specifically asked for? Only every once in awhile. The kiwi and mute swan being two of them.
Which is good, obviously Frontier can’t make a pack for me Right Whale. That pack I can imagine a lot of people don’t care for. While I will take blame for walking back, or maybe adding some unnecessary cynicism and negativity for a great Company and a game I love. I’m not gonna act like I wasn’t so excited for each speculation, and thinking of diverse packs was some of the most fun for me. Which is why I love the wetlands and grasslands pack, it has a little bit for everyone.
I even remember speculating a pack and someone telling me three birds isn’t realistic. I know that, but why does it have to be that way? It’s not like I’m asking for an animal group that has no zoo basis. I literally have one hope for the final pack: give me more than one bird and monkey. But going off the current track record I’m sure the final dlc will have amazing quality animals and be awesome! Also knowing my current track record the final pack won’t be much of what I want. Which is ok, it doesn’t have to be. I have bought every pack, so sometimes I just want to be selfish and make a dlc that 100% represents my needs.
Still I’ll take responsibility for the cynicism and negativity, I just can’t help but feel slightly burnt out. I think the fact support is ending is making me more sad than I thought. I think I’m more sad about the fact I might not hear from you guys as much. It has been such a routine for me to check the forums, and see what people around the world are saying about a special interest I share. I’ve never joined a forum before so this has been an enjoyable experience!
I’ve also found with everything I wish for, it actually makes me excited for a sequel game.
Agreed! Except for the sequel. I think PZ is great aside from how fast time goes in-game... I wish support could go longer. Update I want to see for example: Unique animal personalities.
SEA is worse than both of them imo because of all the problems with the animals and the quality of them in general when compared to newer species like Sun vs Sloth bear, proboscis to gibbons , etc. plus I think the animals in Eurasia and Arid are more useful than SEAs, but that’s bias.
If we guide to avoid the console release in march and before the end of physical year, probably the dlc will be released after easter. Which would be weird
Yeah the packs we cooked up here are a big factor too for me! While we never really predicted the exact pack, we always had the vague idea right.
And as you said we always came up with nice diverse packs that had something for everyone, mostly even with "realism" in terms of new rigs and clones in mind. And having these great pack in front of my eyes for multiple months made the actual packs we got seem rather weak in comparission.
Obviously thats our own doing but still
Most likely thing to happen it looks like since frontier is tied up with the console release currently. Since the steamdb still hasn't seen an update, march is out of the question.
Makes me wonder how big the final dlc will be? I’m sure they are focused on console, but I doubt no one is NOT working on the dlc. Makes me curious what we are gonna get if they are spending more time on it.
Hot take: small
Maybe I'm delusional then, but I really do think we'll get at least one New World monkey.
Honestly, I feel like SEA is a different bad than Arid. SEA provided us with tons of animals that are essential (except the proboscis monkey
). They were no filler animals (some may count the dhole, but they are pretty unique canids IMO, especially compared to the Arctic wolf and dingo), the quality was just really bad, but it's been fixed for the most part. The animals in Arid look incredible, but most were not highly desired. Obviously, it's a matter of opinion, but I really don't think SEA deserves the hate it receives, it just had a rough start. Also, don't do my sun and sloth bear dirty. You just can't compare them, it's like apples and oranges to this bear lover!Yeah the wait for the DLC is either because they needed time in January to make the trailers and finish off the console edition resulting in the DLCs focus being shifted. Or the DLC is larger than normal, or it could be both.
Both, both is good!