Difference between a DLC and an Expansion.

Floyd_Stash · February 2017

Let's get funky here..

A DLC = Downloadable Content = Content for your game that you can download after paying for it.
but Morrowind will be an expansion so:
Expansion = Expansion = Content for your game that you can download after paying for it.
But it's not a DLC! It's an Expansion. but after paying for it you can download it. But it's not a DLC! we call it an expansion. makes it worth more.
Because it's worth more it's called an expansion even thou you have to download it after paying for it like the dlc but it's not the same.
So you can't pay with crowns for it even thou you saved crowns for future downloadable content = DLC
Since the expansion is content which can be downloaded after paying for it, you would believe that one can pay for it using crowns. but you can't because it's not a dlc.
....
man i could go like this for dayz, Zenimax hire me today! because my logic is an expansion not dlc.

Chilly-McFreeze · February 2017

This makes me numb. There are a dozend threads here that covers this topic. But I will repeat myself:

"Maybe ZOS should learn about the word picking and entitlement of the forum users and release next years chapter only in physical form. So no one can use the convenience of a downloadable alternative against them."

Everyone with a bit of mmo experience knows there is a difference between a DLC and the bigger counterpart. But go ahead. And don't forget to write that ESO+ subscribers should get that for free.

zaria · February 2017

DLC is download only, expansions comes with an disc.
That is the industry definition of it pretty much.

DigitalShibby · February 2017

I remember back in the day when games first started making it so players could download over the internet and not have to go out and buy a physical copy. When they would release expansions they would say "this expansion will be dlc". I agree it's kind of ridiculous to try to separate the two. If ZOS had made it so there was no way to download it and it had to be purchased physically at a store I'd understand it more but the morrowind expansion is still dlc, and the dlc they are releasing is still an expansion lol. I don't mind that ZOS isn't including it in the ESO+ package, I get it. They spent some serious time and money making this and want to generate as much profit as possible, it makes sense from a business stand point. Especially after dropping the money on a super bowl commercial that will probably play the trailer we saw for morrowind, but changing the terminology over night of what the ESO+ benefits actually provide to suit their current strategy was kind of dirty.

Floyd_Stash · February 2017

Technically.. if your reading it from a disc. doesn't it download it's content from the disk to your computer?
and by definition if content is added to a game isn't it always called an expansion?

Rex-Umbra · February 2017

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

Floyd_Stash · February 2017

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

Alright, where does one see the legit maximum sizes for the moment when a DLC stops being a DLC and gets the name "Expansion" ?

Unsent.Soul · February 2017

Why was this thread made?

Floyd_Stash · February 2017

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Why was this thread made?

To get funky.

Why was your post made?

Unsent.Soul · February 2017

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Why was this thread made?

To get funky.

Why was your post made?

I was just curious, obviously you had no real reason given your response.

This will be closed, I assume. After all, it's just like the plethora of threads on the 1st few pages.

Agobi · February 2017

Get with the program...it's not an expansion...it's a "Chapter"

Which of course is downloadable content for the game

Ackwalan · February 2017

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

It's 30 hours of content. People will download the content on Monday, and by Friday, will be searching the forums for the next DLC.

Sinthrax · February 2017

Unsent.Soul wrote: »

Why was this thread made?

People like to snowflake. When in reality this thread is so common until they are boring.

Sinthrax · February 2017

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

Alright, where does one see the legit maximum sizes for the moment when a DLC stops being a DLC and gets the name "Expansion" ?

When the game developer calls it such. You don't see them arguing over it...just you. Car...truck...they both vehicles so what difference does it make. Obviously, there is a difference. Also, in the end..does it really matter. You have a chose here. And it is yours alone to make.

Sinthrax · February 2017

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

Let's get funky here..

A DLC = Downloadable Content = Content for your game that you can download after paying for it.
but Morrowind will be an expansion so:
Expansion = Expansion = Content for your game that you can download after paying for it.
But it's not a DLC! It's an Expansion. but after paying for it you can download it. But it's not a DLC! we call it an expansion. makes it worth more.
Because it's worth more it's called an expansion even thou you have to download it after paying for it like the dlc but it's not the same.
So you can't pay with crowns for it even thou you saved crowns for future downloadable content = DLC
Since the expansion is content which can be downloaded after paying for it, you would believe that one can pay for it using crowns. but you can't because it's not a dlc.
....
man i could go like this for dayz, Zenimax hire me today! because my logic is an expansion not dlc.

You know your post is about as clever as them calling it an expansion. You can disguise it in any format you want..its still whining.

Cryptical · February 2017

Simple... If I'm not misinformed on other things...

Dlc - content you play, uses existing play options. Like downloading new maps that you play with only existing characters.

Expansion - takes existing play options and expands them. Like being able to take a new character type and go through existing content.

Looks to me like zos has stabbed themselves in the face by lumping things together. They have a history of doing this, lumping things together. They lump dlc in with bug stuff and with balance tweaks on the forums, inviting people to connect it all together. These should always have been presented separately.

I think the warden is the expansion, and the new area is the dlc. Warden is an expanding of how you play at the base level - your class.

Although, with 1tam they stabbed themselves in the face ALOT by severely blurring the order of progression of the story. They put that Orc ambassador in the starting city, and made scaling work so someone could easily go off and do the orsinium story before any of the starting zones even though the wrothgar plot is supposed to come after you defeat molag bal.

How much you wanna bet they will screw up by putting the vvardenfell story hook somewhere that people will wander there before doing anything else? Sure, play in any order you want, but these story plots are supposed to be in an order. When was the last time anyone made sense of a book by reading chapter 7 before chapter 4 before chapter 1.

Danikat · February 2017

I agree that there isn't a clear difference between the two. Sure an expansion is typically bigger than a DLC, but I don't think there's a clear cut-off point and I don't think it's consistent between games.

Were the Morrowind (TES III) expansions (Tribunal and Bloodmoon) significantly bigger than the Skyrim DLCs (Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn)? Or were they called expansions simply because the term DLC didn't exist at the time, and the Skyrim ones called DLCs simply because that had become the standard terminology at the time?

For me it doesn't matter what they call it - since I buy the DLC anyway the only question is whether each individual release is worth the cost.

Rosveen · February 2017

zaria wrote: »

DLC is download only, expansions comes with an disc.
That is the industry definition of it pretty much.

This difference is becoming more and more meaningless in an age when even full games sometimes don't come with a physical disk.

Korah_Eaglecry · February 2017

Honestly this discussion is a waste of time. Most of the responses will be from either trolls or people that will vehemently defend ZOS lest they have to confront the idea that theyre actually being cheated out of something.

ArchMikem · February 2017

zaria wrote: »

DLC is download only, expansions comes with an disc.
That is the industry definition of it pretty much.

DLC are also Expansions, just in Digital form. DLC is what Expansions turned into when companies moved away from selling physical copies. The two are one and the same, only difference is their method of distribution.

Floyd_Stash · February 2017

Cryptical wrote: »

Dlc - content you play, uses existing play options. Like downloading new maps that you play with only existing characters.
Expansion - takes existing play options and expands them. Like being able to take a new character type and go through existing content.

i guess then all fallout dlc's and skyrim dlc's were called expansions then instead of dlc? but why would they be called dlc's then in steam etc..? so weird. it's almost like your facts don't make any sense at all..

(incase you no understand what i mean, the dlc's released for fallout and elder scrolls games often did expand play options. think about vampirism, housebuilding, settlement management..)

SanTii.92 · February 2017

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

Alright, where does one see the legit maximum sizes for the moment when a DLC stops being a DLC and gets the name "Expansion" ?

Wherever Zenimax says so.

Katahdin · February 2017

Does not matter what anyone calls it at this point.

DLC or expansion or both...who cares

If you want to play Morrowind, you have to pay for it. That will not change no matter how many threads are made or how many pages they become.

Pay or dont play, your choice

Floyd_Stash · February 2017

SanTii.92 wrote: »

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

Alright, where does one see the legit maximum sizes for the moment when a DLC stops being a DLC and gets the name "Expansion" ?

Wherever Zenimax says so.

And you like being treated like this in life? Or as a customer do you expect some proper based on hard evidence information?

SanTii.92 · February 2017

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

SanTii.92 wrote: »

eleussinkb16_ESO wrote: »

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

It's substantially larger than a DLC. It's covering all Vardenfell which should be much larger than all skyrim

Alright, where does one see the legit maximum sizes for the moment when a DLC stops being a DLC and gets the name "Expansion" ?

Wherever Zenimax says so.

And you like being treated like this in life? Or as a customer do you expect some proper based on hard evidence information?

Evidence of what? Zenimax can call their product and charge for it whoever they want as you are free to pay for it if you find it valuable enough.

What's your grip again?

coplannb16_ESO · February 2017

I dont mind paying 30-40 bucks for "an expansion", but they should allow to pay in Crowns. However for an expansion I find the content lacking.
/yawn @ battlegrounds
/yawn @ new class that was supposed to be in the main game
/yawn @ 1 new raid / dungeon

meh. Sooo, I will take the zone and quests and stuff. The quality of the story will be great as always, Iam sure, however they could and should also add something new to the rest of the world especially Cyrodil.

What about:
- new skill line for every class (so each class has 4 class-specific skill lines)
- and/or 1-2 new active and passive skills for every existing skill line (weapons, class skills, guild skills...)
- a new weapon type? (Wands / 1handed magicka weapon, Flails or Polearms, Unarmed combat?)
- Jewelcrafting
- Spellcrafting
- Graphic/Engine Updates: more beauty, better optimization, less lag, dx12 or/and mantle support (in DAoC they upgraded the graphic engine about 3 times with expansions)
- a real auction house
- personal merchant in housing (selling your items)
- more and better inventory space and management
- maybe 1 more active ability available per quickbar?^^
- ...

gard · February 2017

zaria wrote: »

DLC is download only, expansions comes with an disc.
That is the industry definition of it pretty much.

Well that makes perfect sense! Thanks for clarifying.
So the DLC I already bought from Amazon are really expansions?

http://a.co/25A6vSY

doggie · February 2017

Traditionally Expansions have been multiple zones and a new culture, like Outland in TBC, Shadowlands in AO, or ROTGS in Age of Conan.

When they make just a single zone, and the size might not be that much bigger than other DLC's then people get confused, I completly understand that, 40 bucks is quite a bit. You can buy a relative new single player rpg on steam for that, and get much more content.

But what are your alternatives if you want to play a western made mmo that's relative new and made for adults? You don't really have many options, most companies are bankrupt or beeing waterboarded as we speak.

Llaren_Uvayn · February 2017

It's not strange or new for an MMO to get an expansion that costs money apart from your regular subscription fee. I have always, from the very start, expected ESO to at some point get an expansion that required a purchase apart from a regular subscription fee.

SanTii.92 · February 2017

Llaren_Uvayn wrote: »

It's not strange or new for an MMO to get an expansion that costs money apart from your regular subscription fee. I have always, from the very start, expected ESO to at some point get an expansion that required a purchase apart from a regular subscription fee.

Of course, me too. Even more so when what we got is an optinal sub. People surprised at expansions being charged are quite delusional if you ask me.

Frawr · February 2017

Guys. Everything that is 'dlc' is an expansion because it is literally 'expanding' the game world.

I don't have a problem being charged for it. I understand why they're doing it; because they can.

What irritates me is the bare-faced cheek to pretend that it is due to it being something different.

ZOS needs to grow a pair and be up front. "We are preventing you from using Crowns because we can!"

I'll likely buy it because it will be exciting. As usual, they manage to take the shine off it with their underhand approach.