Profile of Werw0lf

And Sega won't rethink it's DLC policies. Sega is probably one of the worst publishers out there

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The current DLC state of play is a lot like McDonalds' menu evolution. If current kids were still supporting it, they wouldn't alter a thing. But the gen which grew up munching McMeals is deserting those grease filled sweet buns in droves, so McDonald has had to adapt or sink.

SEGA's 'menu' aka content delivery model will change when the game playing demographic, that's you guys, matures and won't pay for this ripoff BS any more. They don't give a toss about gamers any further than how it affects their share price and profit. You only have to look to its one armed bandit origins to see that. You're just going to have to trust me as someone who has been there and so knows what it's like to be 20, then 30, then 40 etc and how perspective alters the gaming experience of a keen gamer. That will happen as you get older and your POV and circumstance change out of proportion to anything you might be capable of perceiving right now. However as long as you continue to munch happily on overpriced McMeals with the inducement of a toy in the box and bland Big Macs, SEGA will happily keep serving them up to you.

So by now, I'm a LOT older than most of you, and was PC multiplayer gaming when many of you here weren't able to do much more than dribble. OK the time is too fast approaching when thats probably all I'll be able to do at some time in the future too, but until I'm afflicted by Alzheimers or can't find my mouth with a spoon, you might take note of the following.

Westwood made money with C&C, a lot of it. And it was a great game. Cavedog the same with TA, and blew it with a beautiful but dud sequel. Then there was Starcraft and Warcraft. But while they raked it in, they followed a classic but simple model. Make game, patch it, make two or three add ons, evolve into next version. Trust me when I say C&C2 even though it has some monumental advances such as inherent TCPIP support, was not as good as C&C as a multiplayer game, but gamers who had never played C&C never knew that.

As years passsed, despite attempt by publishers to prevent it with Macrovision and Securerom et al, piracy flourished later facilitated by the advent of torrenting. In conjunction with consumers demanding game eye candy consuming ever bigger budgets in a much more competitive but narrower genre market -every publisher wanted to be the one with the next "QUAKE". It was sickening at the itime. This reach the moon or crash and burn on launch approach requiring NASA like production budgets inevitibly killed small PC game publishing by gamers for gamers by and large. Very big money wanting big returns quickly on investment got involved.

OK so move on some years and now we have a DLC delivery and online login verification model to avert piracy, at least by those who want to play on a game auto matching or MMO server. That's cool by me. I don't mind paying FULL PRICE for a game that's good which I will play a lot. I also don't resent paying FULL PRICE for regular add ons as marketed for COH and a zillion like predecessors, although I saw the exploiting PTW rot start in ToV although it was delivered within the module rather than as a singular DLC unit. How it's delivered whether by DL or hardcopy is immaterial. And to be fair, I actually like the STEAM delivery model, so I'm not just some old fogey stick in the mud as youth not knowing what they don't know naturally perceives experience until they visit it themselves. Don't worry, most of you will eventually get that privilege, and its coming faster than any of you can even imagine right now.

Relative to the number of people buying and playing games, the overwhelming majority of gamers couldn't give a toss about "e-sports" competition even if it might be used as a hype medium to heighten awareness.

By and large by the far larger proportion of gamers are AI campaign or vs AI gamers, sad though that may seem and limit development to those of us who live for multi-play against human opponents. You need only look at relative regular 1v1 auto participation audience who continue with that in COH2 to realise that. As such we who do play 1v1 and 2v2 AT auto as the game's niche buyer audience don't pay sufficient fare to keep the bus or train service running. It needs a model or something that sells to everyone, not just our niche. If just comp stomping, who really needs a premium commander? SEGA know damned well exactly what they're doing with PTW or PFA for those of you in denial, Premium commanders. One only has to understand human nature, the juvenile audience ego and play auto for a day to realise regardless of what they might espouse otherwise, players generally will exploit any unit which is broken for advantage, and many of those have no qualms paying the exploitive price for a Premium commander which offers significant advantage if they can avail themselves of it.

With all the other balance issues plaguing the game, the many obviously deliberately the release of any new module -only to be patched a short while later, to induce the widest possible potential audience penetration and catchment at release tier pricing. SEGA well know exactly what they are doing to the sheeple, and Relic are doing their bidding as instructed. You'd need the IQ of an ant not to be able to see this.

Personally, I don't see SEGA changing anything any time soon, and no employee of the developer is going to voice that if they want to keep their position or find a future one. The game as it is right now isn't about us, what we want, nor how loudly we complain or valid the complaint as long as we continue to pay for it as is. Now that's contempt.

Given they've only promised to support it for five years, and half of that has elapsed already with yet another balance patch where it's already apparent with a October patch promise of reinstitution of the Bren flamer from 6 to 10 to appease a whine from a vociferous audience with utter disregard of play balance so we'll see it abused in every game again <sigh>, and I think the answer to why this game is a crock is only all too readily apparent. How many alleged balance patches have been released in its relatively short lifespan, and it's still broken while they continue to pump out novelty overpriced PTW Premium Commander DLC?

Seriously, although belatedly committing to the game to give it a decent fair shake, if there was anything else out there contemporaryily supported of a similar theme which wasn't as broken as this is, I'd abandon this game in a heartbeat as would my 20 year old auto 2v2 AT team mate, and we are RTS afficionados who have played COH auto for all its warts for years.

We BOTH have a love hate relationsship with this game, and I can asssure Relic and SEGA the HATE aspect of ever growing resentment extends to refusing to ever pay for their BS DLC Premium Commander extortion in the particular any time it isn't sale discounted -75% off. Even then it's grudge buy, but we do it just out of necessity to level the playing field in auto. I suppose SEGA work on the policy you can fool all of the people some of the time, and there's sufficient "all" within the community to maintain the status quo and continue it?

To fix the current broken state of DLC, either price it at insignificant pricing about a quarter of what it currently is to achieve a level playing field, and don't tell me they still won't make a motza from selling recycled pixels designed by kids for kids even then, or preferably drop the model altogether for all inclusive add-on modules per predecessors. But the game really does need to be properly fixed first, and I don't see them having a sincere interest in that anytime before it becomes abandonware to its sequel.

My greatest hope is another publisher and developer will come along with something the equal of COH2's predecessor to eclipse it as Cavedog did with Total Annihilation way back in '98, which would see COH2 plummet to the depths of obscurity faster than RMS "Titanic" did.

Other then the -20% intro pricing on the DLC Premium Commander UKF 3 bundle, have the other factions' Premium Commanders ever been price reduced on an individual commander basis during the regular STEAM COH2 sales like the game's other DLC modules and bundles are?

Just wondering if I can hold out any hope or should just sigh in resignation and hope for an occasional non-duplicate drop?

Whilst I already have most of the Soviet and Ostheer Premium Commanders from the initial CE bonus and Stalingrad/Case Blue module + 2 commander bonus bundles where they represented fair value, I'd like to buy the USF PTW ones plus a few Ostheer, Soviet and OKW ones. But at USD$4ea (AUD$6.25ea), it's too ripoff rich for me.

At AUD$18.75 just for the three currently available USF commanders, they're not ever even gonna' be a grudge buy!

Yer, but you guys are Über awesome l33t.

These are awesome! Where can one get these

You're aware these dioramas presented here are by some of the best modellers on the planet e.g. Brett Green, Mig Jimenez, and that they are made from a kits that you have to assemble, paint and weather aren't you?

The diorama bases, scenery and other than basic crew figures usually don't come with the kits unless a special edition release. e.g. Cyber-Hobby Orange Box or Dragon Wittmann Tiger. Most of those you see here also feature after market expensive photo etch by the bucketload, and feature expensive replacement links.

Most better Dragon kits come with PE and Magic-tracks, although some are coming with DS links now. These are the later Smart Kits featuring lesser part count and slide moulded bits. Dragon are reknown for mega part count and complex builds.

Most of those extra figures like those in that superb Elefant diorama are aftermarket.

If you haven't done this kind of thing before, I suggest you keep it simple. Pick a subject you like is all important to maintain enthusiasm during the build when it wanes, especially if a long and difficult build.

Tamiya kits go together well, are easy builds and their early kits are cheap if inaccurate. But they do look like what they are supposed to represent to the less discerning eye. Good to start with and build skills on. However they come with continuous soft rubber tracks.

The Cyber-Hobby Orange Boxes are great value and a great starting point. They are reboxed early Dragon releases which are older toolings and so less accurate and detailed in comparison with their current kits, are still detailed and reasonably accurate generally. They also have a bonus of coming with bonus figure set making them especially good value and usually include Magic-tracks too with basic PE. I'd either go there, something Academy or Tamiya to kick off with. The Academy Stuart and Honey are particularly fine and very good value for money out of the box as is their Hetzer. Tamiya's Marder IIIM and Stug III Ausf B ae particularly fine and excellent value for money. Their new Panther is very very nice, but is expensive as a Dragon kit and doesn't come with all the PE or fancy aftermarket bits in the box. Zvezda have some good originals and Dragon reboxes at the right price.

I would encourage you to watch some replays of top players

Sure watch replays and analyse, but be discriminative as well as adaptive. Nothing beats game time and practice. Whilst undeniably is always good to listen and to learn from both success and failure, it's equally important to analyse what's happening and why it works for an individual player in the circumstances.

e.g. I seldom use snipers (nor did I in COH1) because they are so micro intensive and expensive, the former not my forte. Sure I've played opponents who exhibit almost genuis with them, but they are in the 1.09% minority IME. And I played a LOT of COH1. With the exception of those players, I smile with delight when I see snipers deployed by an opponent. My point? Watching exceptional committed players replays and copying them is of little value unless you too are exceptional and equally committed, the former being the most important.

Then there's temperament. OK, we can learn and adopt strategies, but how we implement them tactically can and should differ, basic principles notwithstanding. It's very important to know thyself and play to one's own individual inherent temperamental strengths. Self synergy will be optimal that way. A naturally defensive minded player will seldom play a good offensive forced game that flows comfortably within, and vice versa.

We can't all be exceptional, regardless how hard we try or might like to be. And that's OK. It's no measure of self worth except to the immature. Some gamers like some athletes are just motor skill freaks of nature. Just be happy to have fun playing the game and to achieve a standard of competency and reasonable success rate against other equally competent players. Most of us will have to settle for that, and I am not one who advocates mediocrity per se. But doing one's best is all one can do, and punishing oneself as if there is something wrong because one is not in the top ten or even top one hundred is folly.

OTOH if you are exceptional and either snipers or emulating l33t skiLLz play works for you, more power to you! Well done.