I'm not necessarily disappointed with the way they've handled DLC, but in the future I would prefer more add-ons like Shivering Isles, over something as useless as horse armor.

That is a very good point.

I guess they just don't like having to make their good employees have to split time between two tasks.

EDIT: On a side-note, I am not against them releasing expansions at all. I would love for one. Just making that clear.

Expansions are just superior to DLC's. DLC's are fairly short and add little content, expansions are long and add a lot of content.
I like getting my mony's worth, and to me thats an expansion. Besides, they overprice DLC's anyway. Probably why they prefer them, more profit.

It's not surprising. They stated after Shivering Isles that an expansion like that wasn't on the table. It took too much time to release after the initial product(Oblivion) and resources for the payoff while the devs couldn't immediately be moved to Fallout 3/Skyrim pre-production. See Oblivion was their test phase on DLC especially concerning the new xbox 360 live. They mostly reached their conclusions on pricing and content there. Basically the same as other studios. First release some cheap but abysmal content just to keep a dlc flow then later, at the same price-point, release a more content packed dlc pack. i.e. Operation Anchorage to Point Lookout. This is most likely also a scheme Obsidian will follow. This doesn't leave true expansion packs out of the equation though. Can we stop taking comments from the podcast out of context? The info spoken has been told for years. It's no surprise. Your not all really more worried about DLC than the main game are you?

Are we talking interviews like http://spong.com/feature/10109908/Q-A-Bethesdas-Pete-Hines

Again, there's no explicit statement that they're never going to do expansions ever again, just that it wasn't in the cards for FO3. It can be implied that they're going to be heavily invested in DLC at the expense of expansions, but still, nowhere do they say, "no more expansions."

Regarding the interview, he never says anything explicit either. He talks about value, balancing cost and size and development time, but never does he say, "We're not doing expansions." In fact he says, "... what that formula will be down the road, I can't say today."
Can we again infer that DLC will be predominant, even all-encompassing? Sure. But there's still the possibility.

Eh, I've always found enough cool stuff in the main game to not really need the expansions. Luckily, I'm on a computer, so it's mods that add the content.

But the scale of DLC to game should be such that it adds, oh say, 20+ hours game play?

I always relate this to good ol' DnD. You had the core rules, with the modules. That's the scale I'm thinking of.

Whatever it is that they do, I probably won't be disappointed. I'll just be happy to have DLC. And the more the better.

I'm guessing we won't be seeing a DLC for werewolves then...

why does it say yes i disagree with bethesda i want more shivering isles DLC.. because that is agreeing with them..stop looking at fallout it is not in the TES series..they always do at least one big expansions for TES games so we are fine bethesda knows whtat they are doing

Operation Anchorage=Garbage
The Pitt=Brought Garbage to a new level
Broken Steel=Awesome
Point Lookout=Awesome
Mothership Zeta=Garbage


If they aren't total trash like The Pitt or Anchorage I'll be okay with it, as long as I still get a larger expansion pack like Bloodmoon or SI.

See, lets look at Beth's perspective:

OUT COMPETE EA! OUT COMPETE DICE! OUT COMPETE ROCKSTAR!

See, they add those crappy DLCs so it adds up to a grand total of "mehh" which is "AWESOMENESS" in Bethesda talk. Fallout had crappy DLCs (Broken Steel FTW!). See, Point Lookout (added Virginia Swamp) was too linear, too closed world. The Pitt was a crappy remake of a zombie movie. Op. Anchorage did nothing but hog up my Harddrive. See Op. Anchorage didn't really do anything but put you in a game...in a game. I'd like to see a full expansion that adds more areas, more weapons, more quests, more cities/villages/towns, more armor.

Point Lookout was an incredible DLC. Although I did not enjoy the Pitt's setting, (I hate being imprisoned) it was also rich in content..

Imagine if they return to small portions of Tamriel using this ideology? I'd enjoy that a lot.

Didn't vote. Your poll lacks an option I can vote for because I was perfectly fine with the size of the FO3 DLCs. Not too big, not too small. No horse armor or Orrery sized junk. All of them were decent size and fairly well done.

It would be nice to have something the size of Shivering Isles again, but apparently you haven't noticed that the trend toward smaller DLC sized add-ons isn't exclusive to Bethesda. If you want to get upset, get upset with all the publishers who think stuff that was as short and meaningless as Ostagar or Warden's Keep is worthy of even being paid for.

At least Bethesda listened when everyone and their dog complained that all the Oblivion DLC was next to worthless. At least if you're objective and not lumping KOTN with all the other stuff.

I agree with this because I would much rather have a really good main game then who cares about dlc and all this other stuff. Look at Bioware and Dragon Age 2... I bet they will have tons of DLC and expansions , but the game is not that good because they rushed it to make money and it shows big time.

I will withhold my disappointment until I see exactly what we get

I'm fine with "smaller" DLC that offers a few hours of gameplay. I mean, yeah, I'd prefer a big Shivering Isles expansion, but whatever. It's a bunch of smaller DLCs or one big expansion, so I don't mind.

This is a very bad decision and I would bet money that Zenimax may have had a word with the Softworks group and told them to tell the devs "No Expansions, pump out more average DLC so that we can get more money, we don't have the time to waste on an Expansion pack, Look at what Activision did with Black Ops we should be getting as much money as they did".

Let me just say this, BGS has 100 people working on this game don't tell me that we can't get some of those people to work on an Expansion pack for Skyrim after it's released. Even if it takes a year how long as it been since they started working on Skyrim. It's been 5 years, don't tell me that this group can't do an Expansion pack. Why should Beth try to lower themselves to Bioware's level, Rockstar's level, Activisons Level, EA's Level etc. The last two games that BGS has made were GOTY in there respective years, Skyrim might do it again. The expansion pack helps the games legacy in the long run. Shivering Isles made an already great game in Oblivion even more awesome. This is 2011 not 1995, BGS can make an expansion pack and they should make the Pack not as an entitlement to the fans but for something greater to add to the games legacy. Zenimax and Softworks get your egos in check Skyrim will be the best game this year and an expansion pack similar to The Shivering Isles helps it out big time.

The Elder Scrolls games themselves are already different from it's competition. What other game allows you to level up by raising your skills and also gives you the freedom to do what you want in the game. I hope someone realizes their common sense and also realizes the mistake that Softworks and possibly Zenimax are doing by having average DLC and not something amazing that seperates it from the competition like an Expansion pack similar to the Shivering Isles.

I actually hoped (vainly) that they might extend the map boundaries in some places into neighboring provinces like Morrowind and High Rock, then add some quest lines that involve going between the different areas.

Its not about the money. Its about where they want to focus their good talent. They want to make great games, so they use their great employees where they are needed. Having them juggle working on the next big game and DLC for the games they've released is unfair and overburdening to those employees. They learned this from them working on FO, all of FO's DLC, all of OB DLC, SI, and Skyrim all at the same time. They are a studio of only about 100, which is very small amount.



They can, but really don't want to. As I've already said, that is a very small amount of people to be working on a game. They don't want to overload their employees.

You gave unfair options in your poll, making us vote for #1. I want expansions yes but Bethesda did an awesome job with their dlc! especially with Fallout 3 and new vegas(rumor is another dlc march 22)

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed when I heard that. The expansions offer so much more than a simple dlc, and I think it would go great with the radiant story. The FO3 dlc wasn't bad(well, I think Mothershi Zeta was pretty bad), but it was simply a short main-quest and a few side-quests. I think most people(judging from the poll) want a more involved expansion, since the dlc for FO3 got old really fast(in my opinion at least).

At least its not going to be like Horse Armour. And honestly The Pitt, Broken Steel, and Point Look were all great and had quite a bit of content if you werent rushing.

Not every DLC is going to be spectacular, but I wouldnt mind seeing some lengthier expansions either. DLC quality seems to depend entirely on how much effort they put into it rather than length or price(so far as Ive seen in DLC in games).

This stuff is going to cost a bundle, I just know it. They always charge loads for tiny things and not that much for huge things.

I didn't like Broken Steel.

Since its an RPG, I would like larger DLC that adds either new abilities/equipment, or a new campaign ~not just minor side quest.

I'd prefer big expansions full of new content and resources, but I'm completely unsurprised by the focus on smaller DLC. So I wouldn't really say disappointed.