Are you overwhelmed by 2.0/HHP DLC content? (discussion)

[Junalt]

Yeah, it makes a lot more sense than "you know what's a good idea? Let's drop a paid dlc the same day we're dropping a huge free update!". Like, marketing-wise, you would want to make people feel the desire/need to buy new content asap. Right now, it's not the case. With so much content added for free, it would be reasonable for most people to just wait a few months before feeling the need to spend 25USD on more content, as they haven't even experienced the free content.

ACNH reached a bigger audience than it's predecessors, so we can assume that most people aren't "hardcore" AC players (which are the people who usually get DLCs on day one and buy most/all additional content). By dropping both updates at the same time, you're not encouraging people to buy the paid dlc as soon as possible. It's really not the smartest business decision I've seen, but Nintendo has a very laughable track record when it comes to decisions like this so I can't say I'm exactly surprised here.

IMO they picked the best possible time to release the DLC. They softened the blow of a paid DLC by first introducing a whole bunch of free content that people have been asking for. The reignited hype of AC will be at its peak on that week of Nov 5th but you can be sure in the following weeks lots of people will be bored and say there’s no content again, it’s the nature of the game. Its more likely people will buy into the hype and the trends and purchase the DLC asap rather than when the fire has cooled a month or two later and people have moved on to the next hot thing. The lure of getting those new furnitures more easily using the new HHP currency as compared to the few items you can get from Nook everyday will be huge as lots of people have been flattening and restarting their islands in preparation for the update. Although just a small sample size, all the polls I’ve seen asking whether they will be buying the DLC, majority is always in the yes. I think the DLC will do very well.

 

[Fey]

You didn’t offend me at all. I may have been overthinking a bit when you mentioned how the type of thinking of trying to do everything at once isn’t conducive to the ac experience. I was just thinking about how anxiety can be and the mind works not to mention everyone’s approach to playing the game and experiencing the update is different. I actually think you made a good point and you’re right. I still am really sorry. I wasn’t sure if you were aware that some reasons are anxiety related for being overwhelmed. I’d like to apologize to everyone as well. I’m kinda embarrassed. I haven’t met a lot of people that understand anxiety so I sometimes feel the need to explain how my brain works at least to explain a point i made; and i repeat myself a lot. so sorry for overthinking.

I have narrowed my to do list to first looking at the dlc, but always a chance for me to want to look at everything seeing how excited everyone is and I get distracted from my focus easily even when I manage to narrow it down.

Please, don’t feel bad! I actually think it’s good that you pointed out actual anxiety being a possible factor—I just didn’t consider it in the moment, and that’s on me for not being more clear.

Me saying it’s not conducive to the AC experience could easily sound very gatekeepery too, so I’m glad I could clarify. To be honest though, overthinking and trying to do everything at once—both things I myself tend to do a lot—aren’t very conducive in most situations. I think lots of people (with and without anxiety) have that problem, so it isn’t bad to remind ourselves to take a step back and reassess when our mind starts going that direction.

 

[Dream traveler]

To be honest, I felt very overwhelmed at first, when I first watched the Direct. I've played every day since launch, which, this is the first game I've ever done that with. I kind of have a routine going where I check the daily visitor, check the turnip prices, check the shops, etc. There are still DIYs, clothing items, furniture items, pieces of art for donating to the museum, etc. I have gotten yet even though I've played every single day. This update just adds so much all at once, not even including the Happy Home Paradise content which I'm definitely going to get.

One reason why I felt so overwhelmed was that I worried that the daily visitors who will get shops at Harv's & Harriet's plaza won't show up regularly on our islands anymore. Also, the daily newspaper in the Nook Link app for NSO will show turnip prices so I might not feel the need to sign in and check them anymore. Those two things have been a huge part of my daily routine, so I was sad thinking they might be ending, that I might actually lose the two main reasons I sign in every day and the update might even make me want to stop playing. But now I think the daily visitors will still show up. I think their daily inventories at Harv's & Harriet's will be limited, so they'll probably still come to our islands. And I will still probably want to sign in and check turnip prices at Nook's myself (I always take a screenshot of the prices). And I'll have even more to do once I get everything unlocked at Harv's & Harriet's, checking the daily inventories and tasks (Katrina) for each vendor! Not to mention all the furniture I want Cyrus to customize for me. Another one of my main goals is completing the catalog with all the different color variants, and I still have a lot left to do there, too.

This seems like a pretty meaty update, and there are things they probably didn't even show or hint at. It's a lot hitting us all at once. I do think Covid-19 really messed up their plans and that they meant to release much of this sooner, in smaller parcels. Also, I don't think they banked on people playing so much at first because of quarantine and having extra time. I know I put a lot of hours in during those first several months, much more time than I would have otherwise. Hope this update brings more surprises and adds in most of the things people were wanting! Including more multiplayer content somehow...

 

[Raz]

IMO they picked the best possible time to release the DLC. They softened the blow of a paid DLC by first introducing a whole bunch of free content that people have been asking for. The reignited hype of AC will be at its peak on that week of Nov 5th but you can be sure in the following weeks lots of people will be bored and say there’s no content again, it’s the nature of the game. Its more likely people will buy into the hype and the trends and purchase the DLC asap rather than when the fire has cooled a month or two later and people have moved on to the next hot thing. The lure of getting those new furnitures more easily using the new HHP currency as compared to the few items you can get from Nook everyday will be huge as lots of people have been flattening and restarting their islands in preparation for the update. Although just a small sample size, all the polls I’ve seen asking whether they will be buying the DLC, majority is always in the yes. I think the DLC will do very well.

I'm getting it too, but what I was talking about was how it can be perceived by the general public. The enfranchised portion of the playerbase will get the dlc, but I can imagine that, for many people who bought the game as their first AC or just because the game was being hyped during the pandemic, buying the dlc before even toying with the free content (which is huge) may be something that they might want to wait a bit.

 

[Bulbadragon]

No. I like knowing I won't get to everything right away. I'm excited to see all the discoveries the community will make as we play through the update, and as we see what's in the data mine as well. It kind of feels like when the game was first released and nobody had all the info yet.

 

[Etown20]

There have been times in the past where I have felt overwhelmed by the idea of needing to play or finish a game, especially when there are other games I want to play or if I have a few games already sitting in my backlog. I try to limit the amount of time I game each day and sometimes it feels like there is not enough time for everything. I don't personally feel that way about this particular update, but it's definitely an understandable feeling.

 

[Feraligator]

I agree with you on NH needing this large update. I welcome this large update and wish we could get just one more, but either way I really think NH needed this because the previous updates have been too small for a lot of people who stopped playing to come back.

Getting many features this late is better than nothing but admittedly I will always think it should've been added in the base game (particularly Brewster). I hope a future entry in the series doesn't drip feed such little content and then suddenly whack on a hefty update 2 years after. Hopefully there won't be any more pandemics, too, that screwed pretty much everything over.

 

[Bugs]

I don't feel overwhelmed, in fact I feel relieved that the game is getting this boost. Now I know there's enough content there to entertain me for at least another 6 months. It's not like I have to do all the stuff in the update/DLC in a week, I've got however long I want to take, and that sounds pretty fun and relaxing to me, coming home from work and trying to find some new furniture or visit a new mystery island, or decorate a bit on the archipelago, that sounds like a lot of fun

 

[~Kilza~]

I'll keep it simple and say I'm not overwhelmed since we don't truly know the extent of what's been added yet, lol. I didn't feel too overwhelmed over the trailer, even if there was a lot of info thrown our way, but I very well could be overwhelmed once we know all the furniture and whatnot that has been added, since I'm determined to catalog all of it and definitely could be overwhelmed by having to catalog hundreds of items yet again, lol.

 

[Envy]

Overwhelmed in the context of the game had really died down in updates and how quickly the Direct went through the new content? Yes. But not at all in a bad way. lol The New Horizons Direct is a dream Direct, because they didn't linger too long on anything (Nintendo Directs always linger too long on certain games/things) and thus we got A LOT of content.

 

[Moritz]

Not overwhelmed at all!
Just very very excited.

Also since you brought up people dropping this game early on.
I'm just going to throw out there that I've played this game since the start, missing days here and there but never missing a whole week.
Over 1500 hours played.

The longest I've played any other title was new leaf where I lasted around 4 or 5 months but did not reach the 500 hour mark.

 

[maria110]

I think it's an appropriate amount of content. Many of us have done a lot in the game and are ready for new content. Plus, the holiday shopping season is coming and Nintendo might want to lure new buyers to purchase the game and then the DLC. People who were reluctant to buy the original game (which was criticized by some for not having enough content to justify $60 price tag) might be willing to take the plunge now and buy the game.

I'm hoping the new content will keep me busy for awhile since I love ACNH and even though I have purchased some other games, this is literally the only one I play. I just don't like many video games (or can't figure out how to play them, such as BOTW) so I need more stuff to do in ACNH.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Well it depends how you feel about it. Me personally I am really blown away by so many things that was revealed from the AC direct and its gotten me more interested in the game and checking it out. I am going to take my time exploring all of the new stuff that was added and not rush through the game just to burn myself out. Of course I will still time travel when ordering the new nook mile items when they come out, but still I wanna explore what other changes and features they've added that they didn't show in the AC Direct, considering this is a full 2.0 update that everyone has been wanting.

 

[JKDOS]

Nope. I think it will actually be underwhelming compared to experiencing the game on day 1. There's a lot of new content coming, but this will be pure enjoyment, and the biggest time sink in the new content will most definitely be in HHP.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Nope. I think it will actually be underwhelming compared to experiencing the game on day 1. There's a lot of new content coming, but this will be pure enjoyment, and the biggest time sink in the new content will most definitely be in HHP.

Don't forget that if you want to change your villager's homes on your main island you have to experience a lot in HHP in order to unlock it. We don't know what the requirements are but it is more fun to learn about it and experience it first hand when the update comes out.

 

[Yoshisaur]

Sort of? I'm not sure overwhelmed but I already have my island a certain way... I'm mostly annoyed bc most of this should have been playable on release. I'm burnt out on so much of the game but would have loved to do a lot of this at the start.

 

[Soigne]

i'm not sure how this update could be overwhelming when these things have been in the base games of so many other animal crossing entries? of course, not the farming things and maybe some others but still.

 

[kayleee]

I'm actually not overwhelmed at all by the new content; I'm mostly overwhelmed with the thought of freshening up my island in anticipation for the update. My island wasn't necessarily "done" per se (pretty much every area was filled) but there were a lot of areas I didn't like. I've been slowly trying to change things around but I find moving buildings/terraforming/redecorating to actually be kind of stressful, so I usually avoid doing it. I've redone a few things and I think I've made some improvements... but I'm still not LOVING anything, so I'm actually hoping the update alleviates some of that overwhelmed feeling and will make it easier to feel inspired and make changes to my island.

 

[kemdi]

I mostly agree. I think, most of what they showed for the 2.0 update are the sorts of things that should have been in the game early on if not day one, especially since so much of it is series staples.

However, it’s very hard to separate the pandemic from this game. I remember reading a Nikkei article reporting that all Nintendo’s internal plans were pushed back by 6-10 months. If everything in this 2.0 update was rolled out by last January, I might have had a very different feeling about this game, as it’s kind of meant to be slow and played over a long time anyways. On top of all that, with quarantines many of us had way more time to play this game than normal. By summer, many of us were already hundreds of hours into the game, when ordinarily we might have only had a fraction of the time put in by then.

I think Nintendo is smart enough to know that the games-as-service element did not account for the game’s success though. It sold way to quickly for that to really be the case. In fact, I think this huge 2.0 update, after so long of so little, indicates an awareness that the ‘trickle’ of smaller features over time wasn’t working. We don’t have the numbers they do, but they probably saw that their periodic updates weren’t drawing people back to the game the way they were hoping, else they would have kept that strategy going. Instead, they stepped back and finished a large package of things to release all at once. In terms of online traffic at least, this strategy seems to have payed off.

I also think, prior to the pandemic, Nintendo’s thinking was that periodic updates were a way of getting the game out sooner, and since players unlock features slowly anyway, they could work on those things as people plod through the game. It’s pretty clear the main reason it took so long to get this Animal Crossing was the sheer work that had to be done on all-new HD assets. It’s the first entry in the series that could not recycle assets from prior games. The huge number of high-resolution fully 3D items in the game most certainly took a lot of time. Hopefully this also means the next entry will be a shorter wait, as they can reuse assets again for next entry, now that they’ve made so many high-res models.

I guess, I just wonder if Nintendo would themselves have done things differently if they could somehow have planned around the pandemic.

Imo its impossible at this point to separate this game from the pandemic. For a lot of people, this game is a definition of the pandemic, but mostly in a positive way. I'm sure Nintendo is smart enough to know they hit a once in a lifetime case with New Horizons but they also know they've got a whole new audience to cater to. For a lot of people Animal Crossing, Nook, etc. are household names. Hopefully this means we'll get a lot more out of the next entry in the series than what we started with in New Horizons.

As far as NH 2.0 I agree with other people that I'm just whelmed about it. I was one of the people complaining before that while I liked NH, it felt so empty. I remember that by the time summer 2020 rolled around I had already finished the furniture section of my catalog and almost all of my diys except Celeste, and I hadn't even time travelled. I just felt so disappointed in the game at that point. I never finished my catalog in less than a year in any of the past games. Doing it in NH so soon just made the game feel so empty and dull.
I really think that 2.0 is gonna bring back (almost) everything from past games, but especially HHD. I'm not phased by it, and while I think this most of this content should have been there in the start or close to the beginning, I'm still glad its coming back. We may not be getting much in the way of multiplayer it seems, but it looks like what's gonna be there will at least set NH's content on par or above New Leaf's.

 

[kappnfangirl]

Nah, this is a long time coming