Hmm, was there a recent hotfix or something? Because the game’s been decently well behaved up to now–including a multi-hour session just last night (minor bugs, sure, but nothing game-breaking), and today I had one unceremonious CTD (it complained about my video driver crashing, possibly due to an overheating card–a GTX 970 btw), then after I updated the drivers and fired up the game again, less than ten minutes in the screen just turned black and I heard a buzzing from the speakers, the fans started blowing at max speed and I couldn’t even get Ctrl-Alt-Delete to work. Just had to hit the reset button. Maybe I should have done a clean install of the drivers? I noticed they installed something called Vulkan32. At first it scared the bejeezus out of me and I thought I’d picked up a malware program or something, but then I googled it and apparently it’s something meant for DirectX 12 support (but since I have Windows 7, that’s not a factor for me).
They supposedly did a bit of fixing when they released the dlc, I find it runs a bit better as well, in my view it still needs some further optimization, while it’s no longer locking up on me and I’ve played most of the today w/o any incident, it still runs slower in a number of places than it should on a 970GTX which I’m also running the game on.
Tony_M
1824
They announced what each DLC would contain back before XCOM 2’s release, back when they first started selling the “Reinforcement Pack”. The first DLC was always going to be cosmetic only. The second DLC is new alien types, new gear and a new special mission. Third DLC is a new class, with new gear, a new special mission.
I think this DLC plan is a direct response to gamers complaints about XCOM 1’s DLC. XCOM 1 DLC had alot of Story missions. Static story is not the interesting part of XCOM. In my opinion all the proposed XCOM 2 DLC (including the purely cosmetic DLC) is better suited to XCOM than Story missions and Story Characters.
That said, before my second XCOM campaign, I’m going to search for a mod that lets me hide advanced armor. Because the unarmored troops look much more interesting and varied than the armoured troops. I guess it makes sense that as XCOM becomes bigger and more professional, they would graduate from civvy clothes to a more standard uniform. But I want to play dress up with my toy soldiers. So the advanced armor has to go.
I restarted at the champion level. While the strategy level is more challenging at this level, there isn’t much difference in the tactical level (an extra hp for advent soldiers). I’ve pretty much got the tactical level down, and I don’t really want to play ironman. So eventhough I’m near winning, I think I’ll put the game away until some DLC/mods come out that change game play.
No, the problem was never static mission dlc, it was poor quality, very short static mission dlc. This is the same problem this dlc has in that it is both poor quality and low quantity.
I agree with low quantity, but what do you mean about poor quality? It’s very Mad Max inspired, but seems well done in that vein. If you mean it doesn’t really fit the setting, then, yeah, I completely agree.
meeper
1828
I linked to one a few pages back:
I’m glad someone else prefers the more basic armors!
I don’t like the theme and don’t feel it fits the lore, but specifically what I was talking about was that most of the “new” cosmetic items are just minor reskins of existing content.
It would be like if they released a “new” enemy dlc where the “new” enemy was just a sectopod with a bit of blue paint on the side.
So not only is the overall quantity low, but most are just very minor variations of existing content.
You’ve got the same solution everyone has who doesn’t think it’s worth purchasing, don’t buy it. Pretty simple really.
Yes, great. Of course some of us already bought it with the “season pass.” Discussing the merits of the DLC helps inform us for future similar opportunities. It also helps generate a bit of noise that can eventually lead to feedback - positive or negative - that may eventually reach the ears of people over at Firaxis or 2K so that they may better calibrate their offerings in the future.
There are typically three kinds of season passes from what I’ve observed.
The first kind has 3-4 packs of DLC that are essentially equal map packs. This is the Call of Duty or Battlefield model. You get 3-4 multiplayer maps per pack, some extra doodads, perhaps another game mode, and a balance adjustment. It’s probably the most fair and worthy season pass. If anyone has any complaints about the value, it’s likely they’re taking issue with the concept of paying for map packs at all, or just haggling over price. There’s no surprises here, but that’s actually a positive to a lot of people.
The second kind of season pass has 2-3 bits of filler DLC (like a cosmetic pack of accessories) and one really good chunk of DLC that everyone wants. Most season passes fall into this category. The filler DLC isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just that the last bit of DLC is obviously where the lion’s share of development resources go. The issue with this type of season pass is that the value of the release schedule is concentrated in that final DLC. This is probably the hardest season pass to justify because many buyers of the full package will tell you to “not bother” with this or that installment and just buy the one chunk. It’s easy for the customers to feel “cheated” with this pass.
The third kind of season pass is the unicorn. It’s where all the content is different and worthwhile - enough so that the buyer feels they’ve actually gotten a break on the purchase price. This is pretty rare because the whole point of the season pass is to make money for the publisher/developer.
Yes, it is partially my fault for trusting firaxis and buying the season pass. This is generally a bad idea unless the developer has a proven track record, but even then it can be chancy.
In any event, this is forum so of course i’m going to post about my disappointment with it and try to warn people not to waste their money on it.
I’m also hoping that if enough people complain, they won’t do the same thing in the next two DLC which i also already paid for. So it is an investment.
And frankly it was just insulting when i went to look at the new cosmetic options and many of them were just the existing stuff but less glossy and/or with a little decal on them.
I’m a huge fan of this game and would not recommend the first DLC. I never pre-buy season passes, so it’s not an issue for me, however. If this were a smaller developer, I might feel more inclined to buy in to support them whether that makes any practical sense or not.
RichVR
1835
There is nothing quite as satisfying as a badass sharpshooter taking out a flanker with a pistol shot. “You can’t handle me!” And I really like that special ammo like Dragon rounds are fired from the pistol as well as the main weapon.
So do you just keep researching “Experimental Ammo” in the Proving Grounds to eventually get Dragon rounds? Because so far I have Bluescreen ones, Talon ones and Tracer ones, I think. Are certain ones unlocked only by research by Tygan and the scientists?
RichVR
1837
I think it’s random. Last time my first one was Talon, and then another. This time my first one was Dragon. As for grenades, last time was gas and this time was acid. If you keep researching, though, you will eventually get what you want… I guess. :)
Edit: I found gas to be too dangerous to my own troops. Acid is nice. It has a DOT. Same as Dragon rounds, which I now love. I’d almost like a mod that guaranteed me Dragon rounds first time every time. But that would feel too cheaty.
Well this is awesome. Why didn’t you jerks tell me??
This is the trouble i have with it, you just have to hope you get it. Makes it tough to decide to use resources for this when they can be applied elsewhere. That said in this campaign I’m in I’ve decided I’ve got to test this out, and I’m working to get all the different armor choices in the field too so I can see how beneficial they are as well. First time through I just used warden armor all the way through to the end and only ever used bluescreen ammo.
Miramon
1841
AP rounds are pretty nice too at times.
