I'm going to play daemons advocate here for a bit. This is a big name publisher with two big money franchises. Hopefully the money is to cover the cost of getting this right. But they are still going to try to get as much money as they can. AAA games tend to cost a bit, and our hobby isn't cheap either. Pay $60 American to preorder a game where you can play 5 armies of whatever size (albiet limited special characters) in a single player campaign or multiplayer. Lets compare that to starting out in 8th edition, getting the rules, Army book, a decent armies worth of models, paints, glue, dice. This would often add up to over a $100 at least to play 1 army. Now granted, this is not an accurate comparison, a lot of us love the lore in the books, the creative control and expression we get in modeling and painting and the social aspect of a afternoon/weekend of gaming. You can't really put a dollar value on any of that. At the moment on Steam's Top Sellers list, Total War Warhammer is there 6 months from launch. This is after the messups with Rome 2. So this must be appealing to some people Not to dismiss your advice in any way, shape or form. It will probably be wise to wait and see how it turns out and get it for cheaper if possible. We might be waiting a while because its planned as a trilogy. It is annoying that you have to pay extra for your favorite army. They should all be available, or split up equally among the three installments. I would love for them to give us a damned road map, so we all know if our favorite armies will be DLC or in another game of the trilogy and put those up for pre-order as well. I would much rather pre-order the game and pre-order the Lizardmen DLC now rather then wait and wait for the army to be released, or but the 1st game and wait and find out, nope it will be a main part of the second game! If they say they plan to include every army they shouldn't keep people in the dark about when they are expected to be released.
People are free to do what do they want with their money. Doesn't mean they always do the right or most intelligent things with it. Computer games have been reasonably stable for a while £30-40 for AAA titles. Total Warhammer £50 with an army dlc that is already completed more if you don't pre order. That means you are paying for an incomplete game and extra to get the finished version. If you think a big publisher with years of experience can't include all content you're delusional. The engine already existed so it's not that big a task for them. I wouldn't be surprised if ALL armies are complete with a schedule of releases already drawn up. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett: The sooner consumers realise they are being milked and start giving more moo the quicker these despicable companies will stop milking
I think you right, I was just playing daemons advocate for a bit. They have the resources to have it all in one game, or at least 6 factions in one game. And they especially have the resources to just give players a roadmap to know when things will come out so they know if its something's worth purchasing
It's unfortunate any discussion about this game ends up in talking about the greed of two greedy companies working together. The game so far looks absolutely sick. I'm getting this day 1 become I'm s huge total war fan and for me this is a match made in heaven. I will not restrain myself and there is no guarantee there'll be a complete edition. There is, however, a very high likelihood that you'll see steam sales. Also always remember to check greenmangaming because they quite often release new games at 15-20% discount. I'm not happy about pre-order DLC, but I'm very happy about the extra faction compared to previously expectations. One thing to note though is that these armies likely have separate subfactions. It's IMO highly likely that WoC is split into 4 subfactions with separate starting positions, unique traits and a few unique units (skullcrushers being krone only, blightkings being nurgle only etc). At least it they go the route of Rome, which they IMO should because it's quite fitting. It would be easy to have a goblin only subfaction and Empire split into different cities. I don't imagine VC to be split since I believe it's mostly Manfred.
I am just getting into PC gaming after a 10 year absence and I grabbed a copy of Shogun 2 for $12. Loving it, even if the controls can be a bit dicky. Was amazed to see a warhammer game was in the works... I will likely need to update my graphics card too so really unsure if I will get it. Given that additional cost... it would have to have lizardmen and be a reasonable price. Plus a great game to play.
You should try out Rome 2. I believe they actually made some sort of all-included edition (Emperor Edition?). It had a rocky start, but it's a really good game now.