Warhammer 3 Might Go Off The Rails.... Again.

Well guys, I never thought I'd live to see the day, but the Total Warhammer DLC system has finally been fixed! I've been quite vocal about how absolutely insane the DLC system was, especially since the release of Warhammer 2. And now, finally, it has been addressed. I can hardly believe it! It's not just me who has been saying these things, obviously. I doubt that anyone even remotely related to someone who works at Sega or Creative Assembly even remembers that I exist. But despite that, I want to make this video to give credit where credit is due. Plus, I made an entire video on how broken and anti-consumer this system was, so I feel like I owe it to both of them and to you guys to set the record straight with these changes.

The Old DLC System

Let's do a quick recap of how the Total Warhammer DLC system used to work. If you wanted to play the big campaign maps, Mortal or Immortal Empires, you needed to own either Warhammer 1 and 2, or Warhammer 1, 2, and 3 respectively. On top of that, you needed to buy DLC to play them within the campaigns. The cost of entry was significant, as the base price for the games and potential DLC added up very quickly. This meant that if your friends owned multiple games and you only had one, you couldn't play together. It was demoralizing for latecomers to the series who were told they needed to buy an entire other game and a DLC pack just to play their favorite race from an earlier release, even if it was already in the game they had just bought.

The Game-Changing Updates

But today, my friends, everything changes! With these updates, the entire landscape of Total Warhammer is significantly easier to understand, cheaper to participate in, and much more consumer-friendly than it was just a few months ago. Let me break it down for you.

First of all, anyone who owns Warhammer 3 can now play Immortal Empires, the mega combined campaign map that includes content from all three Warhammer games. You don't need to own the earlier games, and you don't need to buy anything extra. The Mortal Empires is now free for everyone who has Warhammer 3. This is a fantastic change and was right at the top of my list of suggestions. Now, the price of entry is just one game, and playing with friends is as easy as asking, "Do you have Warhammer 3?"

And the fact that Warhammer 3 is available on Game Pass, Steam, and the Epic store with full cross-platform multiplayer makes it even easier to connect and play with friends.

The DLC Requirement

The next big change has to do with the requirement to own the base game of any DLC you wanted to play. Previously, if you wanted to play certain DLC packs in Warhammer 2's Mortal Empires map, you also had to own Warhammer 1, even if you had no intention of playing it. But now, that requirement is gone. Any piece of DLC can be bought directly for and accessed within Warhammer 3. If you want to play the Tomb Kings but don't care about the Lizardmen or the Elves, you can simply buy the DLC and skip Warhammer 1 and 2. It's as simple as that!

And to make things even better, most base game factions are available through cheaper Lord packs. For example, if you want to play as the Empire but don't want to shell out for the base game, you can get involved through the Grim and the Grave DLC or the Hunter and the Beast DLC at a much lower price. You'll be limited to the Lords that come with these packs, but it's a fair compromise. Access to two new races for just $15 is a pretty great deal, don't you think?

The Pricing and Future Improvements

Now, let's talk about the pricing. Buying all the DLC can still be expensive, and for most people, it's prohibitively expensive. I would have loved to see some sort of bulk discount applied, especially since the base prices of Warhammer 1 and 2 have remained unchanged. Maybe a system where if you bought a certain amount, you could get 10% off all future purchases, or if you bought three or more pieces at once, you could get 25% off. Perhaps there could be bundles available, where you can get all of Warhammer's DLC content for a lower price than buying it individually.

Admittedly, you can wait for the next sale event, but it always felt silly to me as a response to the high prices. But at least it's something, and right now, almost everything is half off, which is a nice opportunity to grab some DLC packs at a more affordable price.

However, just today, there was an announcement about the pricing of a single faction pack, and it's nearly $50! This is almost double the price of the counterparts in Warhammer 2 and over double for the Ogre Kingdoms faction pack in Warhammer 3. This pricing is outrageous and puts a damper on the otherwise great changes in the DLC system. I hope this isn't the price we'll have to pay for overall improvements, and I urge Sega and Creative Assembly to reconsider.

Conclusion and Future Plans

Despite these pricing concerns, the changes in the Total Warhammer DLC system are a massive win. I commend Sega and Creative Assembly for implementing them. It makes me feel so much better about recommending Total Warhammer to people, especially those new to the series. It's now a much simpler answer compared to before, where I would have to say, "Yeah, the game's good, but the DLC is..." But now, I can confidently say that it's a fantastic game with a much-improved DLC system.

As for my plans, I must admit that I was soft boycotting the series until the DLC got a rework. But with this update, I am glad to say that they've done what I didn't think would ever happen. And as such, I will be making a very, very in-depth review video on Warhammer