DLC Saturation Point..have you hit it yet?

[Razer151]

I know, I know, it’s blasphemous to say I think I had enough DLC but the cost is starting to add up and the newness of the game is wearing out. I still pick up a song here or there but I am finding that my excitment for new songs is slowing down. Maybe it’s that the DLC is not always my taste or maybe it is because other games are stealing my attention (GTA I’m looking at you) or maybe I’m happy with what I have so far. What ever the case may be, I'm buying less.
Which got me thinking, when have I downloaded enough songs. I mean do I really want to have a 300-400+ song track list. Not only would it be cumbersome to sift through but at some point I would have more songs then I can honestly get through.

Obviously, if there was a new song I loved I would download it instantly, but the songs that I just like or kinda like, I am finding less of an urge to download as my playlist is great as is. So here is my question

What is the magic number for you, in that, how many songs would be the ideal amount after which you would only download the MUST haves and leave the filler?

Thus, it is a given you/I will always get a song or band we love, but how many of you are finding yourself less willing to buy the stuff you only kinda like or know.

Post comments as to what you think could make DLC more exciting? I mean are new songs all we need or does more have to happen to keep DLC exciting?

[jeccaneko]

I can't tell you what number of songs I'll stop at before I feel like I have too much DLC. Actually, I'm not even sure it CAN be a specific number. I might get to the point where I don't feel like buying so much, but if Harmonix puts out a song or pack I really like, you can bet I'll buy it. I think it pretty much comes down to how long I stay really interested in the game and want to have more songs to play.

I think Harmonix could try releasing more bigger bands to get people more excited about DLC again. They can also try releasing some other genres, ie ska, some more bluesy rock, etc. I know they used to play the Brian Setzer Orchestra on rock radio stations. So I don't know why it couldn't be in Rock Band. Just other kinds of things.

[Kit_Kat]

As i've seen mentioned before, I think in the eventual there's going to have to be some slightly different sort methods, and there definitly has to be an option to make custom setlists, if i'm gonna have a couple hundred songs, it'd be nice to be able to add all the judas priest songs, or 15 or 20 songs that i want to play right in a row.

That being said I like the idea of having a long long list of playable songs, i'd prefer just having more dlc than a second disc.

[Jaacar]

I'm with the above poster - I can't give you a 'number'. My excitement too has slowed considerably in the past few weeks. I have all of the DLC, not because I like all of it, but because in one way or another it's all fun to play.

I too would like to see some more mainstream DLC come down the pipe to revive the excitement. I honestly think they should release a monthly schedule to show what is coming in that month. But then again with the latest rounds of DLC, that might just encourage people to 'take a month' off, who knows.

[jeccaneko]

As i've seen mentioned before, I think in the eventual there's going to have to be some slightly different sort methods, and there definitly has to be an option to make custom setlists, if i'm gonna have a couple hundred songs, it'd be nice to be able to add all the judas priest songs, or 15 or 20 songs that i want to play right in a row.

That being said I like the idea of having a long long list of playable songs, i'd prefer just having more dlc than a second disc.

I guess the problem with custom setlists is, I don't know about you, but I think I would personally not do very well at making charts. I love the band Third Eye Blind but I highly doubt we're ever going to get any, and in a way I'd almost be sad if we did. The DLC whiners would call it overplayed and bad and all sorts of stuff. :( But even if I could put them in the game I could definitely type in the lyrics, but how do I know where Stephen Jenkins' pitches lie? I have no idea. And I wouldn't know how to map out the guitar, bass, or drums.

I do agree with you that I prefer DLC either way. Disc swapping is a pain in the arse. I do it with other games, such as DDR, and I don't like it. It drives me crazy.

[tom526]

150, because I already only download the must haves.

[Razer151]

I said this in another post but I am starting to think maybe HMX is going the wrong route with DLC release. Without a doubt, every week some poeple will be left out in the cold because their favorite genre or band wasn't represented. I think instead of making a pack of songs that are all in the same genre with a pack name pun, they should up the number to 5-6 and make each song a different style. That way you have a better chance of getting at least one song you like.

i.e. a pack with one song from
foo fighters
pantera
paramore
Third eye blind
Led Zeplin
Chuck Berry

[o1skinneej]

I guess the problem with custom setlists is, I don't know about you, but I think I would personally not do very well at making charts. I love the band Third Eye Blind but I highly doubt we're ever going to get any, and in a way I'd almost be sad if we did. The DLC whiners would call it overplayed and bad and all sorts of stuff. :( But even if I could put them in the game I could definitely type in the lyrics, but how do I know where Stephen Jenkins' pitches lie? I have no idea. And I wouldn't know how to map out the guitar, bass, or drums.

I do agree with you that I prefer DLC either way. Disc swapping is a pain in the arse. I do it with other games, such as DDR, and I don't like it. It drives me crazy.

I think he/she was referring to Create a setlist feature. Where one can select venue, number of songs, etc.

I completely agree with you about the song editor though. I want professionally made charts, not a DIY game.

[jcb231]

I'll put it this way....I'm glad I got the big 120GB hard drive, because I know I'll be needing the room. I'm already over 2.5GB, pushing 3GB.

[Razer151]

"I'll put it this way....I'm glad I got the big 120GB hard drive, because I know I'll be needing the room. I'm already over 2.5GB, pushing 3GB. "

That's for damn sure! Between Map packs for Rock Band, Halo, COD, XBLA games, music videos (which seem to suck lately and are not in HD!?) and the forthcoming GTA DLC, I would be screwed with the smaller hard drive.

[frizzy_bj]

I have not even come close to hitting my DLC saturation point. I am anxiously awaiting the Cars album, and whatever else they want to throw my way.
I have only just begun!:)

[xerichx07]

Let me put it this way, i'm running out of GB space. that answers your question. I need a bigger hard drive, really soon!

[Apples]

The only conceivable saturation point I can come up with is "MORE!"

[chillzatl]

new songs prevents the newness of the game from wearing out.. for me at least.

I thought this week would be a no buy for me but the YYY's song was a winner so I just went ahead and got the whole pack.

[JJrooster]

A custom setlist or playlist would be great. Scrolling is going to be a real pain soon, and the option to arrange a playlist in advance would be useful in keeping the flow going when doing quick band play with friends.

I'd also like to hide some tracks from quick play, for parties where people most likely will not know a DLC band or a bonus track I bought for myself, but they stop to sample it and then pass it by. I'd like to hide those songs just to speed up the "hmm, what's next?" browsing.

As for HMX releasing a DLC schedule, I think they purposefully leak it out each week so that people are tempted to try a new song weekly, instead of holding out for songs you know are coming.

That said, they're doing a much better job than Guitar Hero and I am happy with my purchase. More DLC and a setlist editor would complete it for me.

[Dismissile]

MOAR!

I will not be satisfied until I have full catalogues of all my favorite bands.

[SirAhenobarbus]

Haven't voted (who knows the number?), but a quick comment:

I bought around 40 DLC tracks since release, but I have started cutting back in the last few weeks. I'm now only buying what I consider to be A+ tracks. "Pretty good" or "good enough" doesn't cut it anymore. Here's why:

- it adds up. A few bucks here and there, yes, but when I count the total amount of money spent on DLC tracks, it's quite a bit of money spent on a game. There's also the lingering question of backward compatibilty of RB2 with RB DLC.

- the interface is slowly breaking down under the number of DLC tracks. Thay can't be sorted in solo career, they can't be quickly checked out in XB live band quickplay, it's getting slow to scroll up and down the list in local quickplay, it's impossible to play an album back to back in the correct order or to create a setlist.

- the integration of DLC in BWT is very poor. They can only pop up only in random/mystery/make your own setlists, which are not too numerous overall and few and far between at higher level venues. By and large, you're still stuck playing the disk songs in BWT, over and over again, while the songs you're presumably most interested in playing (you chose to buy them after all) make very rare and mostly random apparitions.

- getting tired of Tokyo, however wonderful it is.

[jeccaneko]

I'd also like to hide some tracks from quick play, for parties where people most likely will not know a DLC band or a bonus track I bought for myself, but they stop to sample it and then pass it by. I'd like to hide those songs just to speed up the "hmm, what's next?" browsing.

I'd actually recommend making up a list of songs you have on paper and having that available for people to look at during in-person parties. It's not going to help when you play online (with people who have DLC) of course, but I didn't think you meant that.

You could also potentially load up an iPod or a laptop with the DLC songs so people can have a preview of the songs, in case they don't recognize the song by the name. They can do all of this while they are waiting for their turn to play.

[Razer151]

SirAhenobarbus I could not agree with you more.
My cost for DLC is rising and without a promise of backwards compatability with Rock Band 2, I am seriously reassessing when and what I buy. At the risk of people jumping all over us for "whinning" but there are starting to be serious issues managing the content.
Between managment problems, cost, fear of being S.O.L. when Rock Band 2 comes out and frustration and the songs I bought still not showing up enough in band world tour; non A+ tracks are not cutting it for me and a lot of my friends. Where as before I was more inclined to download tracks just to expand the playlist/try something new (shockwave), that habit is quickly dying.

Obviously we will always get the bands and songs we love, thats not the question, but at what point do you stop getting any track and simply stick with your favorites? For me, a playlist of 150-200 is when I start to be choosey as to what I buy from that point on, only purchasing what I truely love or know would work great in a party atmosphere.

[bullyboy35]

I don't have a "magic" number where I will stop at....I'm sitting at #58 right now....

I have slowed down alot with my DLC purchases...

The only recent downloads for me are "Boston", and "classic" pack along with the new M.Crue single.....I haven't touched anything since....Heck, I haven't even played one song from the "classic" pack yet or the Crue single....

I've been handing my money over to Kanomi w/ AIdol....Lots of download content and most people know the songs by heart....Not that RB isn't a great game but the newness has worn off for sure.....I'm ashamed to admit but RB hasn't been turned on in over a month....

We are adults here and it's spring/summer time....Time to be outside enjoying the weather and stuff....

[Drama 313]

Bullyboy pretty much summed up my thoughts as well.Great post.

[jeccaneko]

We are adults here and it's spring/summer time....Time to be outside enjoying the weather and stuff....

Spring time has pollen and that makes me sneeze and feel awful. Summer is too hot and humid here in the Baltimore/DC metro area. :p

Seriously though, nice weather has never really cut down on my gaming time. That won't make me cut down on buying DLC. I don't do a whole ton of stuff outside (I'm a little bit of a stereotypical gamer and nerd so hide inside a lot) but I need to spend time outside soon. Before the weeds in the garden get too big and eat my house.

[Onslaught_fei]

Classic, Prog, and Metal. I can never have enough. Plenty of weeks I dont have the urge to get the songs but thats natural. As for the magic number... Infinity metal!

[LordFlatus]

I'm happy with the DLC and have most of it. I don't buy it to buy it, and I'm not going to stop buying just because I already have a lot.

But the sorting and stuff is a pain. I would like to see Custom Playlists that are save-able, as well as maybe some kind of custom tagging where I could make up a tag name and apply it to however many or however few songs that I want.

Maybe custom playlists would serve both purposes. I create a named custom playlist with the ability to re-roder the songs. As long as there were options for Random/Shuffle mode (where all the songs get played once but in a random order) AND ALSO the ability to just play one song, I think all the bases would be covered. You could then play the whole "My Favorite Drum Songs" playlist in order or randomized, as well as just bring up that smaller list of songs and pick one to play.

I'm liking that idea even more after writing it down. You could create a "Party Songs" play list that conisisted of the better known songs in the game, and then just bring that up to select songs out of when you have an RB party going.

[snwns26]

I'll buy 9.5GB more worth and then save up for a 120GB HD. I won't stop getting it until I get some of my favorite songs.

[Cranioclash]

People seem to have a lot of love for nice, round numbers.

[undertow]

The only time I will have had enough of the DLC, is when we cannot use it for Rock Band 2 or whatever the sequel would be named (If any). I truly hope Harmonix understands this. Otherwise, if DLC carries over, I will continue to purchase songs each week, indefinitely.

[SenRaq]

New Music will never die, but eventually Rock Band and GH will be a thing of the past. There is always something bigger and better around the corner, just give it some time. I will be done with the game but not done with the music.

[LinkStrifeLeonhart]

The only conceivable saturation point I can come up with is "MORE!"

I got a fever! And the only prescription... is more DLC!

[KEWB]

As long as they keep on putting out songs that I at least somewhat like, I'll keep downloading. I still have about 6 gigs left on my HD, plus a lot of crap that I can get rid of (game demos, trailers, etc.) so I've got a while before I need to upgrade to a bigger HD. It's sure gonna be annoying when I have to get another one though.

[chico76]

There are lots of songs I'd love to see in the game, like anyone else, and overall, I'd say that I don't have a set number of songs that would make me feel saturated...

However...

In terms of the playability of the game, I'm already past my saturation point. The menu navigation is absolutely horrendous. It's almost as if they "forgot" that they were going to have hundreds of DLC songs available when they were designing the menus and song selection areas.

The fact that there aren't any custom set-list options for any number of songs is also a major detractor to continuing to fill up my DLC list. I'm at 46 DLC songs thus far, having purchased everything I want to this point. There are a couple songs on the Cars album I'll likely get, but anything else is going to really have to WOW me to get purchased. But without some kind of basic ability to play as many songs as I want at any time, I'm just not running & gunning to be on RB all the time anymore.

I am also concerned about compatibility with any future installments of RB, so until & unless HMX makes some kind of iron-clad statement in that area, I'm likely to avoid most DLC anyway... and if we can't port over our songs to an updated version or sequel of the game, then I'm sure that I'll just go elsewhere for my entertainment...

[Sonofmogh]

Not a number... it's whenever they decide to stop releasing DLC. Right now I'm not interested in DLC because 1. GTA 4 is still new and I'm working on it at my own pace and 2. (and most importantly) There hasn't been anything remotely interesting released recently (probably because of number 1). As soon as the cars or something else good gets announced I'll be back on the game faster than you can say "We're all looking for that special someone" in a heavy Russian accent!

[Bullseye]

People seem to have a lot of love for nice, round numbers.

Yeah, I was thinking 237 DLC songs would be my limit. Didn't see it on the list though. I suspect, however, if I reached that limit, I could never rule out buying more.

I like the talk of custom setlists. I'm not sure how it would work, but if they could at least implement a way to make a sorting category for your favorites, that would go a long way.

[DStone39]

Unless my HDD fills to the brim, I'm not stoppping.

and even then, I'll buy a new 20GB specifically for Rock Band.

I'll buy the songs I want (or popular songs amongst the crowd), and I won't stop until I am broke...lol...

[stonicus]

Well, I don't really think I'll stop buying DLC. I've got almost everything, and the list goes on. However, I have the usual problems: There aren't enough oppourtunities to play my DLC: BWT; not enough create setlists or mystery setlists (though I hate it when I get Blackened and Ride the Lightning in a row); whenever I play online Band quckplay, people don't seem to have DLC, and my DLC friends are currently playing GTA IV. And Tokio....

[DiabloNeonX]

I will continue to buy everything, solely because I host a lot of Rock Band parties, and I never know what someone might be into playing, so I get everything to cater to everyone.

[tucsonovernite]

considering i picked up GH 1 back in december of 2005 and have been playing fake plastic guitar (and now fake plastic drums) ever since...

....no, no i dont believe i've reached a saturation point...:D

[jeccaneko]

There hasn't been anything remotely interesting released recently (probably because of number 1).

I think it's because of your desire to play GTA4. I think there's been good stuff. Specifically, the underrated Mother Hips song Red Tandy from last week. :)

And, actually, I'd buy the Fall Out Boy song from this week if it wasn't censored. Normally censoring for songs in video games doesn't bother me, but it does when a word that's in the chorus or a often said part is censored. Guitar Hero 3 made me hate playing Suck My Kiss for that reason, and Arms Race is even worse. It sounds so goofy to me to have a word from the chorus cut. :(

[Hindesite]

I don't feel there's such a thing as too much. Songs get boring to me if I keep playing them. I've been doing this since Guitar Hero 1 and if I don't keep getting new content I grow bored fast.

Back when HMX first started with GH and even GH2, I could play the same main setlist over and over. Now I play all songs on expert though and unless it's a really, really good song, I'm not interested in putting the effort towards gold starring the song, unless of course I do it on sight-read. I've just been redoing songs over and over in the past GHs so much in effort of "being the best" that it no longer holds my interest.

I love music and I love this game. I don't think I'll ever not download new DLC unless it's music I really don't like (which has happened a couple times so far).

[kanrei]

The solo tour organizing of DLC and the fact that it is all in Tokyo has very much stopped me from buying DLC. The list is a nightmare to go through.

Allow changing of how songs are organized (like in quickplay mode)
Allow collapsible song lists (so I can close the emo song list if I know I am not in an emo mood)
Fix online play for PS3 (allow players met and voice chat)
Patch either online or solo World Tour mode

Without these things, I feel Rock Band is going to slowly lose its appeal for more and more of us.

I love the game and still put in time every day on it, but I find that time becoming less and less every day.

[Zeleii]

I'm perfectly fine with a lot of DLC, and to me... DLC keeps the game "new" giving me a new challenge and goal EVERY week...

[sonargtr]

Whats starting to turn me off about DLC isn't the DLC. Its the fact that every time i try to play on-line no nobody has any. So like many of you that do i end up playing the same tired old songs over and over again. I have also noticed an really big jump in the amount of people that are quiting in the middle of songs. The last few weeks I have had at least one person quit almost every game at some point and it wasn't because the band was playing bad.
Its to the point where i would rather play with my self and my DLC than spend the time looking for band mats that are not worth playing with because of the lack there of.
there needs to be an option that would allow us to select whether or not to play DLC to avoid the problem.

I found this in another post

"It's great to find some other good players on expert and chase gold stars, but I'll tell you one thing...most of the time I'd rather play some DLC with people who play medium/hard than to play the same few songs off the disc over and over again with people on expert."