Two DLCs later, how would you rank all the packs?

[AlexSea]

@yoav_r did this ranking a couple of months ago, but now that we have two more packs, I feel like a new pack ranking discussion is due. Here's my updated ranking;

10: Arctic Pack - With a mediocre animal selection (where's the Musk Ox and Walrus?), a niche building theme, and no exhibit animal, this was an easy pick for last place.
9: Africa Pack - Had this been an animal pack, I would have placed this much higher, as there's so many African animals this game needs. The building theme is fine, but the fact that we needed to wait for a DLC to get the White Rhinoceros and Meerkat speaks for itself.
8: Europe Pack - Not a bad DLC by any stretch of the imagination, but European animals don't interest me all that much. The building pieces are still good though.
7: Australia Pack - A good animal selection, a good building theme, and good foliage. This is a perfectly middle of the pack DLC.
6: Conservation Pack - A bit too Asia-focused for my liking, but it still has a strong animal roster, with every species being highly requested, even the exhibit species. And who can forget those backstage pieces? A very crowd pleasing pack overall.
5: Southeast Asia Animal Pack - Despite the inaccuracies of the Malayan Tapir, this pack still boasts a strong animal selection with a good mixture of well-known animals like the Sun Bear and Clouded Leopard and obscure ones like the Binturong.
4: South America Pack - This one surprised me. The animal selection is surprisingly good, though not perfect, and the building pieces are excellent. Love me some bamboo walls.
3: Aquatic Pack - The addition of deep diving animals opens up so many possibilities for habitat builds, and the building pieces are surprisingly versatile.
2: Wetlands Animal Pack - It's basically the Aquatic Animal Pack. This pack has a very diverse selection of animals, with every continent except Antarctica having at least one new addition, and all of them are beautifully made.
1: North America Animal Pack - A near-flawless selection of animals from a continent that desperately needed some more additions, and this pack contains some of the highest quality animals this game has ever seen.

 

[yoav_r]

Great Idea! I will use my old ranking and update it:

Spoiler: Color Legend

• Outstanding pack - a must have
• Great pack - Adds a lot to the game, really good to have
• Good pack - Nice to get if you like the animals/region
• Meh pack - Wait to get on a sale
• Bad pack - Not worth it

1. Aquatic pack - Really great animals and scenery pieces, and new diving features. Made a bit lesser with the wetlands pack, as now every aquatic pack animal has a more popular alternative in another pack, but it still has great scenery, and it is still the most "game changing" pack.
2. Conservation pack - This pack helped cover some very needed niches, and it's the second game changing pack with the brachiation feature of the Siamangs. Also, this pack has the best scenery so far in my opinion, even if the piece count is low.
3. Wetlands pack -If I had to pick one pack as the pack to build a realistic zoo with, I'd go with this one. It boosts all continents, and most animals in the pack are extremely common and essential zoo animals, which really helps the realism aspect. Plus a lot of the animals are diving, which is a lso a great enhancement. The platypus is an animal that is a tad uncommon in zoos, but the model is amazing and I'm gladt to have it. The only thing bringing the pack down is the spectacled caiman which adds pretty much nothing to the game despite its great model. Any african crocodile would've been a much better choice. Also we still lack in aquatic plants, somewhat limiting habitat building for these animals.
4. South America pack - Again, great animals and must have scenery pieces. Also fills up the missing SA niche.
5. Europe pack - I like the animals personally, and the scenery is amazing, even if to me it is not as exciting as other packs. The Scenery certainly boosts this pack up for me.
6. North America pack - Added many great animals, including diving animals, the first rodents in the game, and animals from diverse biomes. The pack also helped cover Europe and northern Asia along the way. Had the pack included a tropical animal (coati/peccary...) it would've been a contender for top tier, but as is the temperate focus of the pack somewhat brings it down for me.
7. Australia pack - A bit less versatile pack, but amazing animals, marsupials and the cassowary, and fills up the Oceania niche a bit. The Dingo is still a dissapointing pick, so it takes the pack down a bit.
8. Africa pack - Great animals, great scenery, but I don't use it a lot, and I still can't get over the disconnect between the theme (North Africa), and lack of actual North African animals in the game, rendering the scenery somewhat unuseable.
9. Arctic pack - I really like the scenery, and after the Polar Bear was updated and more polar animals were added in the aquatic pack, this pack became a lot more useable to me, but still somewhat lacking IMO
10. South East Asia pack - I am really dissapointed with this pack, which is a shame because I was really hyped for it. It's missing a clear headliner, with the two obvious headliners Orangutan and Komodo Dragon already being in the game, and misses two very expectd animals from the region: Gibbon and ASC otter. Also the tapir model is a reskin, and the Clouded leopard is still buggy to this day (both still not fixed as of the conservation pack). There is no scenery, and there's a lack of SEA plants in the game which makes it hard to build diverse habitats for these animals. I'd still recommend getting it on a sale, but it really doesn't get anywhere close to the potential such a pack had. The pack is brought down even lower by the wetlands and conservation packs, which helped the region with very popular choices that honestly should've been in this pack.
11. Deluxe pack - This one is complicated. A lot of its appeal was the early beta access, which is obsolete now, but its price has not gone down after the beta. I absolutely love the animals, and I think the Komodo Dragon is a must have, but it's really not worth its price for the content you get. HOWEVER, if you buy it bundled with the base game in a sale, I think it's worth it.

 

[jcp011c]

I should say I do feel like all the packs are good packs at least, but as they have to be ranked:

10 - Southeast Asia Pack - would have been better as a Greater Asia pack, IMO. I do like most of the animals but it was definitely the most disappointing line up of all the DLCs.
9 - Conservation Pack - I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but the building theme is just okay - the backstage props are great though. Animal pick definitely fit the theme, but I was never crazy about the Przewalski's Horse (ironically, the first one of the 5 I've fully researched) and when we finally did get a true Leopard, I felt less excited than I though I would.
8 - South American Pack - Some good selections (the Anteater is actually my favorite here) but also some "meh" ones too - building theme is just alright.
7 - Aquatic Pack - Again I know an unpopular opinion but the animal selection outside of the Penguin did not really excite me. The building them is interesting but not one of my favorites.

6 - Arctic Pack - 5 and 6 are practically tied. The animal selection here would have put it towards the bottom, but I absolutely love the building theme. A lot.
5 - Wetlands Pack - Capybara and Asian Small Claw Otter alone bring this up here, and the Platypus only bumps it further up. Some good other choices but it's all about these 3.
4 - Europe Pack - Predictable but enjoyable animal selection, which was a good thing in this case. Would be a mid-range pack for me just on that, but the building set is another one of my favorites. But it doesn't quite make it into the top tier where most of it is really all about the animals.

3 - North America Pack - Fantastic choices of animals, very much a complete opposite of the SEA pack. This is the point where I start calling these packs essential.
2 - Africa Pack - Meerkat. Meerkat. Meerkat. And the other three animals are all spectacular choices as well. Still, the building theme is what keeps it out of the top spot, no matter how strong the animal choices were, though it's really close. It's just not one of the better themes IMO.
1 - Australia Pack - Was so much needed at that point. Wish it had been an animal pack. I actually like the dingo too. What's more though this is also one of my favorite building themes. Strong animal choices IMO and strong building theme end up giving this the top spot.

 

[yoav_r]

I should say I do feel like all the packs are good packs at least, but as they have to be ranked:

10 - Southeast Asia Pack - would have been better as a Greater Asia pack, IMO. I do like most of the animals but it was definitely the most disappointing line up of all the DLCs.
9 - Conservation Pack - I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but the building theme is just okay - the backstage props are great though. Animal pick definitely fit the theme, but I was never crazy about the Przewalski's Horse (ironically, the first one of the 5 I've fully researched) and when we finally did get a true Leopard, I felt less excited than I though I would.
8 - South American Pack - Some good selections (the Anteater is actually my favorite here) but also some "meh" ones too - building theme is just alright.
7 - Aquatic Pack - Again I know an unpopular opinion but the animal selection outside of the Penguin did not really excite me. The building them is interesting but not one of my favorites.

6 - Arctic Pack - 5 and 6 are practically tied. The animal selection here would have put it towards the bottom, but I absolutely love the building theme. A lot.
5 - Wetlands Pack - Capybara and Asian Small Claw Otter alone bring this up here, and the Platypus only bumps it further up. Some good other choices but it's all about these 3.
4 - Europe Pack - Predictable but enjoyable animal selection, which was a good thing in this case. Would be a mid-range pack for me just on that, but the building set is another one of my favorites. But it doesn't quite make it into the top tier where most of it is really all about the animals.

3 - North America Pack - Fantastic choices of animals, very much a complete opposite of the SEA pack. This is the point where I start calling these packs essential.
2 - Africa Pack - Meerkat. Meerkat. Meerkat. And the other three animals are all spectacular choices as well. Still, the building theme is what keeps it out of the top spot, no matter how strong the animal choices were, though it's really close. It's just not one of the better themes IMO.
1 - Australia Pack - Was so much needed at that point. Wish it had been an animal pack. I actually like the dingo too. What's more though this is also one of my favorite building themes. Strong animal choices IMO and strong building theme end up giving this the top spot.

I find your lower picks interesting as to me conservation + aquatic + south america is the theme combo that allows for the most realistic zoo building pieces.


Regatding Australia, I do think I might have had put australia on a higher spot if the base game had some more australian animals. One of the things that stop me from using it more is that australia sections feel very unrealistic with the options we have in the game as of now.

 

[NZFanatic]

1. Aquatic.
2. Conservation.
3. Africa.
4. Australia.
5. Wetlands.
6. Europe.
7. South America.
8. Southeast Asia.
9. Arctic.
10. North America.

Based purely on what I get the most use out of in terms of both animals and scenery combined.

I don't know why North America was an animal pack, really. Africa should have been an animal pack, North America didn't need eight animal slots.

 

[Aramar]

10. Arctic pack
I love the polar bear, the reindeer and the Arctic wood set. However, this pack has the less animals of all DLCs since it doesn't even have an exhibit. It also has many pieces which I don't use. So, despite having my favourite animal, this pack falls to the last position.

9. South America pack
The 4 animals are food. The exhibit is ok. The bamboo and temple pieces are ok, but I don't think those pieces are really essential. As many people, I feel that this pack feels incomplete for such a rich area of the world in terms of nature.

8. South East Asia animal pack
It's great for being the first pack that brought more animals. However, for me, those animals were not a priority. If this pack would have been released later, it would rank better. Also, the clouded leopard, which is for me the star of the pack, is still broken with the slow motion jumps.

7. Wetlands animal pack
Like the South East Asia animal pack, this one brings many animals that were not a priority for me. However, I rank it better because the animals come from all different continents, so it is easier to use at least on of them in any zoo you are building.

6. Conservation pack
The animal selection and the new plants are amazing, but the pieces are not for my style of playing the game. However, the new bench, bin and table are my favourite from now on.

5. Australia pack
This pack is great, I use the 5 animals a lot. The plants were top too. And the building pieces are definitely useful and beautiful. This pack was the first that took the right direction. The kangaroo is one of the best animals in the game.

4. Africa pack
The 4 animals are a must, so their inclusion makes the pack jump high on the list. The building pieces are superversatile. Plants in the pack are very good too. The only bad things were the choice for the exhibit, the camel issue and simplifying Africa to 4 animals.

3. Aquatic pack
The pack that proved that Frontier can do almost anything. Even if the animal choices were not the most popular species of aquatic animals, they were amazing. The waterfall pieces saved my life because I never was able to build a waterfall with the other special effects. The building pieces (rocks and painted wood) work in every single zoo you want to build. And don't forget the cute exhibit!

2. Europe pack
I had to wait until the eighth DLC to finally be able to build a small zoo in my home country (a country with a huge biodiversity though). All the animals are perfect. The new path is gorgeous and the new stone set is what I always wanted it to be. Having finally some Mediterranean trees changed the game forever.

1. North America animal pack
It is not just an animal pack, it's an animal pack where every single animal is a perfect option. It is the pack that has brought the most of my most wanted animals. I couldn't change anything. If this was Eurovision, it would get my 12 points, but since it is just a list, it gets the leading position.

 

[jcp011c]

I find your lower picks interesting as to me conservation + aquatic + south america is the theme combo that allows for the most realistic zoo building pieces.


Regatding Australia, I do think I might have had put australia on a higher spot if the base game had some more australian animals. One of the things that stop me from using it more is that australia sections feel very unrealistic with the options we have in the game as of now.

Yeah I thought it kind of funny too that my top 3 were in middle ranking ones, and your top 2 were more lower ranking ones for me. I am somewhat against the general consensus on some of these packs and that's okay by me. Just goes to show that opinions can vary wildly. Somewhere, someone's favorite pack is going to be someone's least favorite pack and the reverse is also true.

I think Frontier's done a great job overall of picking themes and animals, especially the further along we go. T The only overall weaknesses of the packs are balanced out with the good they bring, especially in combination with other packs.T he biggest misstep to me was omission of Capybara in the SA pack. I really felt it was a bad decision and we went without them for two years, but now since we've got them it doesn't really matter. Some of us (mainly two of us lol) were very disappointed with the choice of the Giant Otter, but now that we have the preferred alternate it doesn't matter. The omission of a Gibbon and ASCO from the SEA pack don't matter now that we have them - though I'll still content that was one of the weaker animal rosters. Overall, the Proboscis Monkey, a second very similar caiman, and the disconnect with the North Africa theme to non-North African animals remain the biggest noted issues. Well, that and of course, the Malayan Tapir. Which would be fine if it looked like a Malayan Tapir. But it doesn't, and ultimately doesn't help the SEA pack any.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

10. South East Asia Pack
So we got:

• No Scenery
• A buggy big cat
• A waggo bear man being
• THE Malaysan Tapir also known as the one and only clone animal
• A cool, but super uncommon in captivity Monkey
• THE BEST GOOD BOY EVER 100% no confirmation biase at all
• A cool small climbing animal from a new taxa
• A cool tropical Pig

Its eh. If you got some money to spare or its in sale, get it, half the pack is pretty good but the only animal thats really new is the binturong.


9. Arctic Pack
I love the Arctic Wood Set and i actually think that the Polarbear, Reindeer and Dall Sheep are really good. I actually think that the Arctic Wolf is quite decent, but i got to agree that this pack, while still good, is the worst of the good packs.

8. Conservation Pack
Tricky one but i just find it as important as the others. I have no opinion about the leopard, i just do not care that its in the game, the scymitar horned oryx is cool, but nothing to be excited about. Basicly, im happy for any ungulate we get, because they are great and important and needed, they are the back bone of every zoo, but the animals in isolation are cool, but nothing more. We need a bulk of them, they are important to still be added and help the game by alot, but idc for the species just for that we got some. Same for the Prze Horse, but its animations are just really beautiful and i fell right in love with them. Idk if the same can be said about the oryx, but i would love if that would be the case.
And lastly the standout is the Siamang BUT in its current state while still really cool it isnt outstanding. If they actually will make brachiating work for normal pieces aswell, now that would catapult this pack higher. For the scenery, its allright, but highly specific. Good for backstage areas, meh for everything else. But the flowers are just amazing.
Awesome pack, but just my least favorite.

7. Australia Pack
Good Scenery, but just okay compared to the others. The pack has one amazing Animal with the Kangaroo, a good one with the Cassoary and 2 decent ones.
Only Reason this is that high is that its NEEDED if you want to have anything australian at all in your zoos. But its also just good in general.

6. South America Pack
Good Scenery, especally the Bamboo and a great animal Selection, but the pack really falls flat on its own. Without the aquatic and/or wetlands pack its still not possible to build a satisfying South America area and even with them its still very limited. Definite must have, especally because the only not top notch animal in this pack is the jaguar, which is still the coolest big cat, go fight me on that.

5. Aquatic Pack
This pack was the best on release of any pack, but it hasnt aged that well. Besides the Faux pieces its theme isnt that great, imo its actually the weakest dlc theme, and the animals were all very smart additions from a buissness side, bringing in the less appreciated ones first when they are fresh and new, but it shows. 3 of the animals got a much cooler cousin added later in the games life cycle, with only the seal not suffering at all from this. I still like all of the animals, but i prefer the newer versions for all 3 of them.

4. Wetlands Animal Pack
Good Pack, good Mix, every animal is a great addition, even the Caiman. Nice mix from around the World, with the Water Buffalo, Small Clawed Otter, Red Crowned Crane and the Capybara are Standouts. The fact that i called 4 out of 7 standouts without mentioning the for many other people standout platypus. Great animal selection, really great international selection, usefull for literally every zoo.

3. North America Pack
Imagine you buy one Pack and all your dreams about one continent are there. Its literally all you need combined with the Arctic pack and the Basegame, with only the racoon and the south being notable omissions, aswell as no bird. Its literally the best band aid pack to just beef up one region in particular, great pack if you have any interest in north america at all.


2. Africa Pack
Amazing Scenery, Amazing Animals, it has both one of the strongest theme and imo THE strongest animal roster. Its pretty great, what shall i say?

1. Europe Pack
I might be biased, but this was what i allways wanted. My top number 1 animal i wanted in the game with the fallow deer, my lynx of choice, 2 more very strong and unique additions and a great theme, imo the best dlc theme and the second best in the game. I truly love this pack and i kick myself for stopping to play just before it came out.

 

[yoav_r]

10. South East Asia Pack
So we got:

• No Scenery
• A buggy big cat
• A waggo bear man being
• THE Malaysan Tapir also known as the one and only clone animal
• A cool, but super uncommon in captivity Monkey
• THE BEST GOOD BOY EVER 100% no confirmation biase at all
• A cool small climbing animal from a new taxa
• A cool tropical Pig

Its eh. If you got some money to spare or its in sale, get it, half the pack is pretty good but the only animal thats really new is the binturong.


9. Arctic Pack
I love the Arctic Wood Set and i actually think that the Polarbear, Reindeer and Dall Sheep are really good. I actually think that the Arctic Wolf is quite decent, but i got to agree that this pack, while still good, is the worst of the good packs.

8. Conservation Pack
Tricky one but i just find it as important as the others. I have no opinion about the leopard, i just do not care that its in the game, the scymitar horned oryx is cool, but nothing to be excited about. Basicly, im happy for any ungulate we get, because they are great and important and needed, they are the back bone of every zoo, but the animals in isolation are cool, but nothing more. We need a bulk of them, they are important to still be added and help the game by alot, but idc for the species just for that we got some. Same for the Prze Horse, but its animations are just really beautiful and i fell right in love with them. Idk if the same can be said about the oryx, but i would love if that would be the case.
And lastly the standout is the Siamang BUT in its current state while still really cool it isnt outstanding. If they actually will make brachiating work for normal pieces aswell, now that would catapult this pack higher. For the scenery, its allright, but highly specific. Good for backstage areas, meh for everything else. But the flowers are just amazing.
Awesome pack, but just my least favorite.

7. Australia Pack
Good Scenery, but just okay compared to the others. The pack has one amazing Animal with the Kangaroo, a good one with the Cassoary and 2 decent ones.
Only Reason this is that high is that its NEEDED if you want to have anything australian at all in your zoos. But its also just good in general.

6. South America Pack
Good Scenery, especally the Bamboo and a great animal Selection, but the pack really falls flat on its own. Without the aquatic and/or wetlands pack its still not possible to build a satisfying South America area and even with them its still very limited. Definite must have, especally because the only not top notch animal in this pack is the jaguar, which is still the coolest big cat, go fight me on that.

5. Aquatic Pack
This pack was the best on release of any pack, but it hasnt aged that well. Besides the Faux pieces its theme isnt that great, imo its actually the weakest dlc theme, and the animals were all very smart additions from a buissness side, bringing in the less appreciated ones first when they are fresh and new, but it shows. 3 of the animals got a much cooler cousin added later in the games life cycle, with only the seal not suffering at all from this. I still like all of the animals, but i prefer the newer versions for all 3 of them.

4. Wetlands Animal Pack
Good Pack, good Mix, every animal is a great addition, even the Caiman. Nice mix from around the World, with the Water Buffalo, Small Clawed Otter, Red Crowned Crane and the Capybara are Standouts. The fact that i called 4 out of 7 standouts without mentioning the for many other people standout platypus. Great animal selection, really great international selection, usefull for literally every zoo.

3. North America Pack
Imagine you buy one Pack and all your dreams about one continent are there. Its literally all you need combined with the Arctic pack and the Basegame, with only the racoon and the south being notable omissions, aswell as no bird. Its literally the best band aid pack to just beef up one region in particular, great pack if you have any interest in north america at all.


2. Africa Pack
Amazing Scenery, Amazing Animals, it has both one of the strongest theme and imo THE strongest animal roster. Its pretty great, what shall i say?

1. Europe Pack
I might be biased, but this was what i allways wanted. My top number 1 animal i wanted in the game with the fallow deer, my lynx of choice, 2 more very strong and unique additions and a great theme, imo the best dlc theme and the second best in the game. I truly love this pack and i kick myself for stopping to play just before it came out.

It's amazing how the aquatic pack doesn't age that well. I wonder if they picked the animals knowing they'd have smaller versions later down the line, or if they were limited by size back then.

The first small animals came only half a year later with the africa pack.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

It's amazing how the aquatic pack doesn't age that well. I wonder if they picked the animals knowing they'd have smaller versions later down the line, or if they were limited by size back then.

The first small animals came only half a year later with the africa pack.

I bet so hard and it was a great decision that they did. Said it from the starty everytime someone mentioned tje otter

 

[abigenius]

For me personally i love every pack in the game, all add some unique things and animals special for different kind of zoos, so this list will be from my least favorite to my most favorite

10.- Australia
I know much people love it but for me it isn't has special thing, the animals like the kangaroo and the cassowary are so good, the dingo was another god addition that I was hoping for, the koala are ok, but the set of pieces are not useful for me. I love the red desert as well

9. - Acuatic pack
Yes a very controversial opinion, I started to play in December 2021 so when I started to play there was a better options of the animal roster personally and more when the wetlands pack was launched, the only things for i brought was the faux rocks, oh boy!! Are so good and a must have but the rest

8.- South America
It's a okey pack, the animals are so good for me except the jaguar, it's my favorite animal of the real life but in the game Idk but it could be better, the bamboo set and the temple pieces are uniques and I love theme, I think the pack it's good but there a recently better packs

7.- Southeast Asia animal pack
I'm an Asian animal lover, so this pack was a big W for me, but i think was a good animal roster but the update didn't include any type of tree and that's was a bad decision and the animals sings are too rare

6.- Artic pack
Another controversial opinion but i love the tundra/desert animals both are my favorite biomes of the game and this dlc has 4 tundra animals so that's make me love it, the wood pieces are uniques for cold zoos, was the first dlc that I brought and the polar could deep dive, so that was cool for me, also I love more the artic wolves than the timber wolfs, build a habitat for the dall sheep it's unique and funny and the reminder it's beautiful

5.- North America animal pack
Wow that's was a difficult choice, Frontier
from June 2021 to the actually had done a very good job, so was hard for me choose a place, man, I really love all the animals from the pack was a very good choice, also the idea of how present the dlc was amazing, a road trip, the presentation stream where they drew the head of the pack was s good idea and now do that it's a standard for the presentation of the dlcs

4.- Africa pack
The reason of why I prefer this over the North America pack it's because I'm a building player, I love build a lot, and how I mentioned before the desert it's one of my favorite biomes of the game, and this pack help for a better desert zoo, also the animal roster it's good, it includes my favorite animal of the game the White Rhino and it added a penguin more versatile than the king penguin, this pack for me was the start of the good ways for the dlcs

3.- Wetlands animal pack
This pack it's amazing in terms of variation, because has a lot of animals who can be useful in a big variety of zoo, the quality of the animals it's amazing, the ASCO it's beautiful and so cute, I never liked the giant otter and this was a salvation for me, also the Spectacled caiman a great animal and more common in zoos than the dwarf caiman, the Water buffalo it's so different to the cape buffalo and even that's make me love more and of course the presentation of the dlc was so confused and funny because we didn't know the theme of the dlc, this pack start another change for the DLCs because makes the theme for the next DLCs unpredictable

2.- Conservation
This pack includes my 3 most wanted animals for the game, the Amur leopard ( I know it's a controversial animal but i really love it) the Prewalski's horse and of course the Scimitar horned oryx, also the axolotl was the first exhibit animals that makes the most of the community would had hype for it, it's beautiful and it has a special exhibit also has 5 color morphs it's a lot for a exhibit animal, all the choices were amazing for part of frontier, the pieces help a lot for trying to create a realistic zoo, the plants, the wooden pieces, all was perfect for me, the Siamang it's my least favorite animals because I don't like the apes/monkeys but still it's different to the rest of the game

1.- Europe
wow, absolutely wow, at the start I thought that a Europe pack will be bored but oh boy, I was so wrong, the animals are amazing, all of them, the ibex it's more versatile than the dall sheep and building habitat for they it's too much versatile, the fallow deer it's still the truth deer of the game, the linx it's seriously a good cat and the European badger it's beautiful and unique, all the animal roster it's good and the pieces are so good, that rustic walls are amazing and the decals it's a game changer for me, I really love all the pack, also the Lummi history was a plus for the pack, 10/10 pack for me

 

[biggest_dreamer]

1. North America. Every animal was phenomenally implemented, and so many of them were inarguably essential for any North American zoo. I could've taken or left the fox and moose (black bear and white-tailed deer would've made it perfect), but aside from that it's hard to imagine being happier with this pack.
2. Wetlands. Both lower highs and lower lows than North America, but it's still incredibly solid. The otter, crane, and capybara plus our best looking crocodilian to date are all phenomenal gets.
3. Southeast Asia. Definitely the least impressive animal pack, what with its buggy clouded leopard and recolored Baird's tapir and hard to place proboscis monkey, not to mention our binturong close call. Still, the binturong is a top 10, maybe even top 5 animal for me even outside of a PZ context, and the babirusa was another huge surprise. Really, the only iffy inclusion was the monkey, it's just a shame about the clouded leopard and tapir's inclusion. Anyway the bottom line for me is that 7 animals are pretty much always going to trump 4, no questions asked. Animals are the stars, scenery pieces are secondary. Frontier would pretty much have to be actively trying to make a bad animal pack for it to not hit the top of my rankings.
4. Africa. Absolutely perfect animal roster. No other pack offers a lineup that so succinctly knocked it out of the park like this. And I don't know if it was technically part of the DLC or the free update, but the drinn grass was an absolute game changer.
5. Conservation. I'm still a bit iffy about how it was implemented, but the fact that this pack brought us our first brachiating animal is huge. Not a bad animal in the lineup, even going so far as including one of the few exhibit species I was actively hoping for. And the scenery, both the foliage and the generic zoo props have already been huge additions for the short time I've gotten to use them. Great pack overall.
6. Aquatic. Now that the dust has settled, I'm a bit unsure where to place this. We've gotten a better pinniped and otter, and a comparably good caiman and penguin. The faux rocks and underwater plants are great, but I'm just honestly not sure if they make up for how poorly the animal lineup aged. I want to regard the pack highly, but I'm not entirely sure how much of that is because of how much it felt like a game-changer upon release.
7. South America. The capuchin is somehow still the only traditional small monkey in the game (I don't really count the macaque because of how distinct its builds typically look). Absolutely mindblowing that such a huge zoo niche gets relegated to a single species. The jaguar and anteater were also strong inclusions, and a lot of the scenery pieces were useful... but a lot of them also veer hard into theme park territory. Can't say I'll ever be interested in this bench or trash can, for example. Still a strong pack.
8. Europe. A fine animal lineup, but nothing I'd typically use aside from the fallow deer as a stand-in for white-tailed deer. Unpopular opinion, but none of the scenery pieces really stuck with me either. Overall it's whatever.
9. Australia. Honestly the theming has never really grabbed me, and there's a lot of those theme park pieces that I derided SA for. The kangaroo is the only animal that I like without caveats. The dingo feels unnecessary, the koala doesn't behave like a koala, and the cassowary feels like too niche of an inclusion for most zoos to boast over an emu. And while it's not a fault of the pack itself, the fact that these are still the only DLC Oceanian species we've gotten aside from the platypus means everyone's zoo's Oceania sections are going to have the exact same roster, leading to increased fatigue towards these species.
10. Arctic. Weakest animal roster by far, even before you consider that it didn't even have an exhibit animal. The arctic wolf was probably overall the worst species, and even though it's the Arctic Pack I would've strongly preferred a more woody coat for the reindeer. And while the polar bear is probably fine now (I wouldn't know, I haven't used them in a very long time) it's hard to forget the long road they had to take to get to that point. The Dall sheep are delightful though, and I couldn't possibly complain about them. And while the arctic wood pieces are really useful, there's a really large amount of holiday and ice sculpture related pieces here which I will probably never use that just drags the pack down further. It's still fine, but it really doesn't have any competition for last place.

 

[NZFanatic]

I'm amazed that North America ranks so highly. The animal choices were fairly uninspired, the animal signs extremely stylised. I guess it can be chalked up to a large portion of American players.

 

[yoav_r]

I'm amazed that North America ranks so highly. The animal choices were fairly uninspired, the animal signs extremely stylised. I guess it can be chalked up to a large portion of American players.

I think it did an amazing job at felshing out the continent, and has many popular choices. If I remember correctly 5 of the animals in the pack were at the top of the wishlist.

The signs are stylized, but I don't think anyone cares much for them.

 

[becks474]

I'm amazed that North America ranks so highly. The animal choices were fairly uninspired, the animal signs extremely stylised. I guess it can be chalked up to a large portion of American players.

I am an European player and I must say that the NA animal pack also belongs to my most favourite packs especially because of the animal choices. But opinions can differ surely.

My ranking:
I mostly rank because of animal choices. Scenery is a nice-to-have. But for me the animals are the heart of all packs.

10. Arctic pack
Just because we got the smallest amount of animals and the Polar Wolf was really a bit uninspired in my opinion.

9. South America Pack
In fact I like all packs but this pack was also a mixed animal choice in my opinion.

8. South East Asia animal pack
The Malaysian Tapir belongs to my most favourite animals and it was just made bad in this pack which makes the pack in my personal worse than it actually is.

7. Wetlands animal pack
The Caiman seems somehow to be a thrown away slot but I can live with it now. Place 7-4 are really close together in my opinion.

6. Conservation Pack
Nice pack and nice scenery. For me it is kind of a middle place

5. Australia Pack
We got great animals except the Dingo (Personal view) in my opinion and nice scenery. In my opinion this pack had had the best announcement trailer

4. Europe pack
As an European this pack brought finally some local fauna to the game. Hopefully we will get a few more European animals

3. Africa pack
One of the strongest packs looking at the animals. All highly requested or just needful like the African penguin

2. Aquatic pack
Brought new mechanics and at that time very different animals compared to the earlier animals to the game

1. North America Animal pack
For me it is still the best pack. We got highly requested animals and with the prairie dog a nice surprise. One can say this pack is uninspired but sometimes a pack must not invent new things to be great in my opinion.

 

[FoxyDee]

1. North America Animal Pack - I feel like the roster of animals is great in this pack, Sea Lion, Moose, Cougar, Beaver and Alligator were all highly requested, while the Arctic Fox and Prairie Dog were a really nice surprise animals for me.
2. Aquatic Pack - It is true that this pack animal roster did not age well, as we got more popular alternatives (African Penguin, California Sea Lion and ASCO), but the animals are still beautiful and I just have to rank this high becuase it was truly a unique pack in its time. Also has the best theme in my opinion, bless the faux rocks and trees.
3. SEA Animal Pack - I really like the animal packs alright, and I do like lesser known species inclusion. This also gets points for being the first animal pack.
4. Wetlands Animal Pack - Also a good roster, the caiman was unneccesary pick in my opinion, but it does fill a medium sized crocodillian niche. I was really surpsied by the inclusion of the Red Crown Crane, so points for that.
5. Conservation Pack - Good animal picks - loved the Siamang, Przewalski Horse and Oryx. Did not need a leopard personally, but it was highly requested, so not complaining here. I like the amount of plants and the theme is great.
6. Africa Pack - Cant say I like use the building pieces much as I am not too fond of themed stuff, but the animal picks were also flawless imo.
7. South America Pack - It brought Jaguar and Giant Anteater, two of my must haves. Also glad for the Capuchin, although I am still missing alot of SA monkeys. Llama was a funny pick, did not have problem with it personally. And while the pieces are themed, the bamboo and some of the temple pieces can be very well integrated into non themed zoos.
8. Australia Pack - Love the theme on this one, but did not have many chances to use it yet, therefore ranking this lower at this point. Animals are great, although the obvious miss was a Tasmanian Devil.
9. Europe Pack - European animals were never too high on my list. Even as an European, I havent seen too many European species represented in the medium and bigger zoos that I tend to build, therefore I did not have the need for these animals, for this reason I rank it lower, but the animals were all great and the theme was nice.
10. Arctic Pack - I do like the animal picks, particulary Reindeer and Polar Bear, but it initially had alot of problems with the bear, which still is not perfect, but it get points for adding deep dive to Polar Bear, which made it 100% better. The theme was ok, but not really too usable in any map outside of the tundra one imo.

 

[Fabian]

So, I tried this and discovered that I was unable to properly rank them in their entirety. So I'll divide things up, first ranking them according to the animals and then ranking them (the scenery packs only, of course) according to their scenery.

Ranking by Animal

1. North America Animal Pack: This was the big crowd-pleaser, with highly anticipated animals only, covering the big ones still missing from NA and throwing in some surprise additions like the Prairie Dog, which I think most people fell in love with, and the Arctic Fox, which was quite obviously an after-thought inclusion after it was so vocally missed from the Arctic Pack by players.
2. Europe Pack: Yes, I actually love the animals here. Maybe I'm prejudiced because the Fallow Deer immediately shot onto the top of my most-used animals, but I love the rest too; the Badger, the Lynx and the Ibex are all fantastic and I'm so happy to have gotten them all.
3. Wetlands Animal Pack: It's so far up this list mostly because it's a pack that managed to flesh out many different areas from all around the globe, most prominently Asia. I really want more packs to take this approach in future. Animal-wise, the caiman was a disappointment at the time, but it's so gorgeous that even I can't help but forgive Frontier for this decision. I love the Lechwe and the Water Buffalo, and the rest of the animal roster is undeniably great too.
4. Africa Pack: Amazing animal selection. The only reason it isn't ranked higher is because... it just felt like something is missing here. I probably would have liked this more as an animal pack, with Red River Hog, Dromedary Camel and a primate/or an antelope as further additions.
5. Conversation Pack: The second big crowd-pleaser, and I can't fault any of the inclusions here. I'm not that big on the Amur Leopard (yet), so that's my only reason for not ranking this higher. Otherwise, extremely solid animal selection, plus one that finally gave us a Gibbon.
6. Southeast Asia Animal Pack: I still love this pack more than the average player, most of whom would place this last. The Babirusa, Binturong, Dhole and Sun Bear are amazing additions and each among my most-used species. The Proboscis Monkey feels like an odd choice, but I like it regardless. The Tapir and Clouded Leopard are polarizing mostly because their models/climbing animations aren't perfect; I would probably place this pack on the first spot if it wasn't for those two issues. With these problems, however, it feels insincere to rank it below the first five, all of which are pretty much perfect.
7. Australia Pack: People severely dislike how many Australian animals were missing (Emu, Wallaby, Tasmanian Devil, Wombat as the most prominent omissions), but I actually really liked this when it was released, and like it very much still. The kangaroo and cassowary are essential zoo animals for me at this point, and I'm not that bothered by the dingo. The Koala would be much more interesting if they had programmed them to spend more time in the trees.
8. Aquatic Pack: Now, I recognize how revolutionary this was at the time of its release, but animal-wise, I just couldn't rank it higher. The Giant Otter is the one I really love, and I have recently used the King Penguin for the first time. The seal and caiman have outstayed their welcome for me due to better alternatives, and I would have much preferred the Harbor Seal to begin with. (Scenery-wise, this ranks much better.)
9. South America Pack: The only reason this ranks so low is because there are so many fantastic and essential SA animals still missing. Within the scope of a 4+1 scenery pack they did a fine job choosing some essential species, but I could still easily fill two animal packs with the amount of South American animals I still want to have in PZ. Plus the Llama should have been a Guanaco in the first place, in my opinion. But I love the anteater and the jaguar, and the capuchin as long as it is the only New World Primate we have available.
10. Arctic Pack: Like for most others, this is my least favorite in that I just don't use any of the animals. The Dall Sheep is the only one I really loved at the time of the pack's release, but even that has found a better alternative with the Ibex now. I haven't used the Polar Bear and the Arctic Wolf in 2+ years, and the Reindeer isn't really my favorite either.

And now, my scenery rankings, a little less detailed:

1. European Scenery: Easily my favorite, by a wide margin. Even the themed stuff includes pieces I have found use for.
2. Aquatic Scenery: Very useful; I find myself using the scenery from this pack quite frequently.
3. Australia Scenery: I use the corrugated roofs and the wall set so often. Not too fond of the themed pieces, but I will soon build an Australia section, so I'll find out then how much I like/need them.
4. Conservation Scenery: Backstage props. Need I say more?
5. South American Scenery: Quite essential for any SA-themed zoo. The temple pieces are great, but not quite as versatile as I wish they were.
6. African Scenery: Too themed and no wall set, but some pretty useful pieces nevertheless.
7. Arctic Scenery: I don't use the themed stuff, and the Arctic Wood set is only useful to me because it helps to use this with climbing animals, as they can escape through almost all the other sets.

So, all in all, I'll probably say:
Europe > North America > Wetlands > Conservation > Australia > Aquatic > Southeast Asia > Africa > South America > Arctic
But it's very close with some of these choices.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

I'm amazed that North America ranks so highly. The animal choices were fairly uninspired, the animal signs extremely stylised. I guess it can be chalked up to a large portion of American players.

I mean, I agree that the signs were too goofy for my taste. But I can't wrap my head around calling the choices uninspired. 5 of the 7 ranked in the top 10 of the meta wishlist at the time, our first two rodents, and all of them besides the moose range from "fairly common" to "near omnipresent" in American zoos. Zootierliste suggests similar representation for all of them besides the beaver (no surprise, they have their own). Maybe that frequency doesn't extend outside of the US and Europe (and I really wish there existed easily digestible Zootierliste-type data for non-Europe regions), but it paints a pretty telling picture all the same. I'm finding it hard to come up with a more "inspired" roster than what we got, honestly. Uninspired would've been bobcat, coyote, white-tailed deer (note: in an unrealistic but personally ideal world I'd still like to see these someday).

 

[NZFanatic]

I mean, I agree that the signs were too goofy for my taste. But I can't wrap my head around calling the choices uninspired. 5 of the 7 ranked in the top 10 of the meta wishlist at the time, our first two rodents, and all of them besides the moose range from "fairly common" to "near omnipresent" in American zoos. Zootierliste suggests similar representation for all of them besides the beaver (no surprise, they have their own). Maybe that frequency doesn't extend outside of the US and Europe (and I really wish there existed easily digestible Zootierliste-type data for non-Europe regions), but it paints a pretty telling picture all the same. I'm finding it hard to come up with a more "inspired" roster than what we got, honestly. Uninspired would've been bobcat, coyote, white-tailed deer (note: in an unrealistic but personally ideal world I'd still like to see these someday).

North American animals don't really feature heavily outside of North America. I guess that's why I consider it 'uninspired'. The only two animals I get any real mileage out of are the sea lion (marred by the tiny male) and the alligator (which, to be honest, fell by the wayside as soon as I got the much more manageable spectacled caiman). I'll probably try and use the cougar more as I do like them a lot. The moose and beaver don't really interest me that much.

The bullfrog felt weird to me. As someone who loves the exhibit animals I feel like there were infinitely better choices - I'm still missing a scarlet kingsnake for example.

 

[yoav_r]

North American animals don't really feature heavily outside of North America. I guess that's why I consider it 'uninspired'. The only two animals I get any real mileage out of are the sea lion (marred by the tiny male) and the alligator (which, to be honest, fell by the wayside as soon as I got the much more manageable spectacled caiman). I'll probably try and use the cougar more as I do like them a lot. The moose and beaver don't really interest me that much.

The bullfrog felt weird to me. As someone who loves the exhibit animals I feel like there were infinitely better choices - I'm still missing a scarlet kingsnake for example.

The stars for me is the prairie dog and alligator. I use them both a lot. The rest are less useful to me because they are rare in EAZA zoos which I'm used to.