D&D 5E Larian confirms they want to work on BG3 DLCs!!!

[TheSword]

They definitely had this many items. What they didn't have was the sheer variety of neat effects and riders when you cast this or that, because the game system couldn't handle anything that complex. So you got piles of +1 and +2 items dropping off every enemy, instead of unique stuff. The only games that were somewhat exempt were the starter games like Pools of Radiance and Champions of Krynn, since item escalation didn't really kick in until later games (Pools of Radiance had a bucketload of art items though).

BG1 goes pretty gonzo with Tales of the Sword Coast. NWN had quite a few in Undrentide, and goes totally crazy with items in Hordes, etc.

Okay, so I think this may be the issue. Huge quantities of ‘unique’ items but every item looks almost identical from a token point of view and most of them seem to have largely irrelevant minor effects that make it harder to decide whether to junk or not. Many of the effects are highly circumstantial so you save them just in case but end up carrying round loads of crap. Like 10 different varieties of arrow clogging up your inventory. The implementation in the original game was actually better I think.

When it comes to buying items they are largely worse than what you find and the traders don’t seem to have enough gold. So I sell a ton of stuff, end up with nothing to spend the money on and it just becomes a load of bureaucracy.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They were also exhausted at that point. I suspect the first profit-sharing check has changed everyone's minds.

That and Chris Cocks and Steam begging Swen to do more Baldur's Gate, I mean WotC made more money from BG3 alone then 10 years of live action movies including 4 Transformer movies, two or three GI Joe MOVIES, 2 Ouji Board movies, a Gem and the Holograms movie, a Power Rangers movie, and DADHAT.

So I can see Chris Cock getting on the phone and doing whatever he can to make DLC expansions happen.

Plus fans are begging for levels 13 to 20 and more races and for the Artificer. I think Larian thought that doing BG3 was like doing a Divinity game, you make what you make and your done, but the setting makes its own demands. Divinity only gets its lore from the Divinity Games and a tie in comic, Forgotten Realms and the D&D Multiverse Drowns on lore compared to Divinity before Larian even started, decades and decades of lore and mechanics.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Okay, so I think this may be the issue. Huge quantities of ‘unique’ items but every item looks almost identical from a token point of view and most of them seem to have largely irrelevant minor effects that make it harder to decide whether to junk or not. Many of the effects are highly circumstantial so you save them just in case but end up carrying round loads of crap. Like 10 different varieties of arrow clogging up your inventory. The implementation in the original game was actually better I think.

When it comes to buying items they are largely worse than what you find and the traders don’t seem to have enough gold. So I sell a ton of stuff, end up with nothing to spend the money on and it just becomes a load of bureaucracy.

BG1 and 2 also had about 10 types of arrows clogging up your inventory. Basic, +1, +2, +3, fire, ice, acid, lightning, piercing, and several more I'm not recalling immediately (I'm pretty sure there were +4 and +5 by the time you get to SoA). And they didn't have the ability to easily switch in and out - I know there were plenty of times I accidentally left a special arrow type equipped and was using them when I didn't want to. And BG3 at least doesn't make you buy and keep track of regular arrows as well...

 

[MarkB]

Okay, so I think this may be the issue. Huge quantities of ‘unique’ items but every item looks almost identical from a token point of view and most of them seem to have largely irrelevant minor effects that make it harder to decide whether to junk or not. Many of the effects are highly circumstantial so you save them just in case but end up carrying round loads of crap. Like 10 different varieties of arrow clogging up your inventory. The implementation in the original game was actually better I think.

I hold onto consumables like potions and arrows, but of the various equipable items, I've only found a handful that were worth holding onto that weren't immediately equipped, those being to give my main character some versatility (gloves of thievery for trap and lock picking, headband of intellect for passing skill checks in conversation). The rest either gets equipped if it's useful, marked for selling if it isn't, or sent to the camp chest if it would work with a build I don't have but might consider trying (there's a bunch of Bard gear in there right now).

When it comes to buying items they are largely worse than what you find and the traders don’t seem to have enough gold. So I sell a ton of stuff, end up with nothing to spend the money on and it just becomes a load of bureaucracy.

Traders will vary, but some of my best gear is items I bought. On average they're on par with what you'll find out and about.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That and Chris Cocks and Steam begging Swen to do more Baldur's Gate, I mean WotC made more money from BG3 alone then 10 years of live action movies including 4 Transformer movies, two or three GI Joe MOVIES, 2 Ouji Board movies, a Gem and the Holograms movie, a Power Rangers movie, and DADHAT.

I don't think Steam begs anyone to make more of specific games. They just take their 30% and smile broadly.

Chris Cocks on the other hand, is going to have been in a pretty tricky position, because he did indeed claim that, making it very interesting re: what percentage of gross WotC must be getting. The issue with the other movies you describe is that WotC didn't fund any of them (AFAIK) and Hollywood plays EXTREME hardball re: stuff like percentage of the gross for licensing. It's very likely WotC was only able to get a fixed-fee or a profit-sharing agreement with the Hollywood funders of those films.

And the vast majority of Hollywood films do not, on paper, turn a profit. So I'd be unsurprised if several of those films didn't even make WotC $1m. Possibly not anything at all in a couple of cases if they didn't get a fixed fee.

Also note he says "expects to". And I think it's reasonable to expect BG3 to do 1bn to 2bn in sales over the next year and the PS5 and Xbox releases.

He's probably got a far better deal from Larian than he ever could from Hollywood. If Larian, say, gave WotC 5% of gross on BG3 (so revenue not profit), and BG3 does 2bn, then Chris Cocks is looking at $100m in PURE PROFIT, which is absolutely bananas. I doubt the percentage is much higher, because videogames are expensive and risky to make, and WotC has never claimed to have funded Larian/BG3 in any way, but that by itself is kind of crazy money. If they have 10% gross (or more!), then jesus...

However, whatever the percentage is, Larian kind of now have the power. History relates that gamers follow the studio, not the system. You can see that with Bioware back in the day. People didn't stop buying Bioware games as they moved away from and then abandoned D&D. So I do think he'll be encouraging Larian to keep making BG stuff/D&D games, but probably not pushing for a higher percentage or the like, and Larian are likely to also want to keep having an "exit plan" form D&D in case WotC gets greedy.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

A crossover with Ravenloft, Witchlight or Planescape couldn't be impossible in a future DLC. Even these could be a fabulous opportunity to promote other settings. For example the PCs travel toward a demiplane to fight against the temple of the elemental evil.

Of course we could see new companions, PC species and subclasses. I wonder about potential troubles with small-size humanoids, gnomes and halflings, with child-faces. Somebody could dare to try a romance between a gnome and a goliath (both adult age and facial traits), only to publish it in youtube.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I wonder about potential troubles with small-size humanoids, gnomes and halflings, with child-faces.

They don't have child faces. Haven't you played the game?

 

[TheSword]

I hold onto consumables like potions and arrows, but of the various equipable items, I've only found a handful that were worth holding onto that weren't immediately equipped, those being to give my main character some versatility (gloves of thievery for trap and lock picking, headband of intellect for passing skill checks in conversation). The rest either gets equipped if it's useful, marked for selling if it isn't, or sent to the camp chest if it would work with a build I don't have but might consider trying (there's a bunch of Bard gear in there right now).

Traders will vary, but some of my best gear is items I bought. On average they're on par with what you'll find out and about.

What kinds of things? I’m finding very little. At least in Act 1 & 2

 

[Demetrios1453]

They don't have child faces. Haven't you played the game?

Male halflings have impressive chest hair and five o'clock shadow. I even put a beard and purple mohawk on the one I'm playing, all of which makes him completely un-childlike...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A crossover with Ravenloft,

Given that it leans so heavily into horror anyway, it's hard to see what difference "Ravenloft" would make.