Pre-order DLC announced

[Abdülmecid I]

Announcing the pre-order DLC approximately half a year before the game's release must set a new record. Chaos was sometime in winter, if I remember correctly, and the Greek City States pack was published in May, less than 4 months before the 3rd of September (Total War's black Tuesday).

It concerns the Yellow Turban rebellion, which makes absolutely sense, to be honest, from a marketing perspective. It's a very famous event (even I know about that and I'm generally clueless, when it comes to Chinese history), so it's guaranteed to generate more pre-orders than the typical faction DLC. I initially anticipated Dong Zhuo as the pre-order incentive, but the chubby plotter is not as attractive as that massive peasant revolt and could provoke a lot of frustration, if such a crucial character for the romantic saga of Dynasty Warriors had been locked behind a paywall.

I still hope that the number of pre-orders will be tiny, but I doubt that my wishes will be fulfilled, which is a pity for our interests as consumers. Pre-orders encourage a company to limit the original content of its products and invest a large portion of its budget in advertisement and hype, to the detriment of actually enriching, improving and fixing the main game. The situation has ameliorated thanks to Steam's refunding policy, but the requirements are so harsh that the impact has hardly been noticeable. In my opinion, resisting the temptation of purchasing an over-priced DLC or a full game without waiting for objective reviews may seem difficult, at first, for a passionate player, but, in the long term, the reward will be more than satisfying.

I stand corrected, apparently the DLC includes only one faction (the Yellow Turban rebels, presumably, where you can play as three different warlords, according to the Warhammer model, I presume) and no mini-campaign. That renders CA's move slightly more controversial, I suspect, and the pre-order incentive considerably less appealing.

Frequently asked questions

Pre-Order Questions Do I have to pre-order to get the Yellow Turban Rebellion Warlord Pack DLC for free? No, it’s an early adopter bonus. You can buy Total War: THREE KINGDOMS in the first week after release and still get it for free as well. Do I have to pre-order or buy in week one to get the Yellow Turban Rebellion Warlord Pack DLC ? No, you can also decide to buy it when it releases, or at any time in the future. But it’s only free when purchasing THREE KINGDOMS as a pre-order or in the first week of release. Will reviews be available before release? Yes. We will make sure that both journalists and YouTubers will have the game early enough that they can publish their reviews before launch day. Why do you offer a bonus for pre-ordering? We obviously want our games to be played by as many people as possible at launch, so it’s useful and very effective for us to reward early adopters. We could promote the game’s launch through advertising in other ways (like buying adverts on websites) but we think that spending marketing on creating content for the game that can then be offered for free is also a good way of promoting it. Yellow Turban Rebellion Warlord Pack Questions What game is the Early Adopter Warlord Pack DLC for?** The Yellow Turban Rebellion DLC is for Total War: THREE KINGDOMS. What’s in the Warlord Pack DLC? A brand-new sub-culture to play as: rekindle the Yellow Turban Rebellion, lead their struggle against the corrupt Han and bring about the Era of Great Peace Three new playable Warlords; He Yi, Gong Du, and Huang Shao Three new hero classes: Healer, Scholar, and Veteran A unique and versatile unit roster composed of a cross-section of society: Militias formed from the forgotten and downtrodden masses fight side by side with disgruntled soldiers, religious zealots and former officials, united in a common cause Brand new approach to technology focusing on interpreting the ‘Three Books of Great Peace’ New character skills focused on the three virtues of Taoism: Frugality, Compassion, and Humility New weapons and armour suitable for the new heroes. When does it come out? On March 7th, alongside the release Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, it will be available free. A week after that, it will go on sale at full price. Do I need to pre-order to get it? No, you will be able to purchase the DLC on its own if you do not wish to pre-order Total War: THREE KINGDOMS. You can also still get the DLC for free by purchasing Total War: THREE KINGDOMS in the first week after launch. Edition Questions What Editions of the game are being released? There are three different editions. A digital version, a Limited Edition, and a Collector’s Edition. Where is the Collector’s Edition Available? Exclusively from our webstore here: http://bit.ly/3KCOLLECTORS What’s the difference between the Limited and Collector’s editions? The Collector’s Edition comes with a range of items in a sleek presentation box; including a weighty resin statue of the legendary hero Guan Yu, a faux-leather book containing a trove of beautiful and exclusive artwork, a double-sided campaign map & Warlord poster, the Premium game case, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion Warlord Pack DLC. The Limited Edition includes a double-sided campaign map & Warlord poster and Premium game case. The Yellow Turban Rebellion Warlord Pack DLC is also included for anyone purchasing the Limited Edition through a SEGA approved retailer before release or in the first week on sale. You can find a full list of retailers selling this edition here: http://bit.ly/3KPURCHASE Does the Collector’s edition only come with a CD copy of the game? No, it will come with a CD copy and a Steam key. Do all Early Adopters get the Warlord Pack DLC for free? Yes, anyone who purchases Total War: THREE KINGDOMS in the early adopter period from a SEGA approved retailer will receive the Yellow Turban Rebellion DLC for free. Collector’s Edition When is the payment taken? For pre-orders, you will be contacted a few days before shipping and will be reminded that your account will be debited. What if I want to cancel/refund my order? For any inquiries pertaining to a return, please contact our customer support. How/where to order? You can order your Collector’s Edition: http://bit.ly/3KCOLLECTORS Will I definitely get my order on day one? We do our very best to deliver your order on the day of the release. However, shipment delivery may vary according to your location or shipment method. As soon as your package is dispatched, you will receive a tracking number by email, giving you an estimated delivery date. Are there a limited number of Collector’s Editions available? Yes, these editions have been produced as a limited run and as such there a fixed number of copies. Once those have sold out, there won’t be any additional units being created. How will I get my Warlord pack DLC for the first game if I order the CE? Email addresses will be taken at checkout and people will be emailed their codes when the product goes live. Are there delivery charges on top of the cost listed? Nope, these are including in the cost of the Collector’s Edition. Where do you ship to? Only the residents of the following countries, are eligible for physical delivery: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, UK, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and mainland USA. You can also check the list of authorized countries when submitting your shipping information at checkout. Who should I contact if I have any questions about the CE or the delivery of the Collector’s Edition? Please contact our distributing partner Scalefast with any questions using their customer support tool here. MacOS/Linux Release Will the game be released on Mac and Linux? Yes, Feral Interactive is working on macOS & Linux versions that will release shortly after the Windows release. You can expect those to land later on in Spring 2019.

[Daruwind]

Preorder FAQ blogpost:
https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-...-pre-order-faq

Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/7...HREE_KINGDOMS/

Province/region map:
we cannot see if Taiwan is in or out

No Korea, No Japan, No Vietnam

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I still hope that the number of pre-orders will be tiny, but I doubt that my wishes will be fulfilled, which is a pity for our interests as consumers. Pre-orders encourage a company to limit the original content of its products and invest a large portion of its budget in advertisement and hype, to the detriment of actually enriching, improving and fixing the main game. The situation has ameliorated thanks to Steam's refunding policy, but the requirements are so harsh that the impact has hardly been noticeable. In my opinion, resisting the temptation of purchasing an over-priced DLC or a full game without waiting for objective reviews may seem difficult, at first, for a passionate player, but, in the long term, the reward will be more than satisfying.

I stand corrected, apparently the DLC includes only one faction (the Yellow Turban rebels, presumably, where you can play as three different warlords, according to the Warhammer model, I presume) and no mini-campaign. That renders CA's move slightly more controversial, I suspect, and the pre-order incentive considerably less appealing.

I as player and customer am asking myself. Do i prefer to pay 50 bucks instead of 60 as preorder or do I prefer paying 60 and getting game + DLC? I don´t mind extra 10 bucks to get extra content. Anyway this time you will get DLC not only for preordering but even if you buy game in week one. So anybody can wait for early reviews and decide on spot.

Minicampaigns were found to be less attractive in WH instead players prefered more Generals/Lords/factions... And three generals are corresponding with maximum number in a army.

[Seether]

Gong Du, Huang Shao and He Yi... Interesting choices by CA. Gong Du I can understand, but I would think Bo Cai (the only Yellow Turban commander to score a significant victory against Imperial forces, by defeating Zhu Jun) should have got some love. *shrug*

[zoner16]

I stand corrected, apparently the DLC includes

only one faction

(the Yellow Turban rebels, presumably, where you can play as three different warlords, according to the Warhammer model, I presume) and no mini-campaign. That renders CA's move slightly more controversial, I suspect, and the pre-order incentive considerably less appealing.

Well it is three factions. Each Warlord is their own faction in game. It's more like three factions of the same culture group.

What I find interesting is that while the Yellow Turbans are a popular group from the Romance, all of their well known figures are dead or fictional by this point. He Yi, Gong Du, and Huang Shao aren't total nobodies (I believe they were named characters in the Romance), even someone who has studied the time period a lot could be forgiven for forgetting their names. Most of the scattered Yellow Turban commanders aren't exactly memorable.

I was honestly half expecting Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao (bleh) to show up as their leaders just because they're popular characters from the Romance. I will give CA credit for resisting the urge to put made up hype machines for Guan Yu in important roles for the sake of marketing.

Province/region map:
we cannot see if Taiwan is in or out

No Korea, No Japan, No Vietnam

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So we can actually see that the Red River seems to make up the southern border of the map. That means that Longbian and the vast majority of Jiaozhi Province are in the game. I'd say that's enough to consider Vietnam, in the form it was considered at the time, are in the game. The central and western highlands aren't in, but they were barely populated and even less controlled.

Disappointed but not surprised by the lack of Korea. It was always a tossup if they would be included, seeing as their part in all this comes so late. What is surprising is that Liaodong doesn't seem to be included as a province. That's actually very odd, given its wildcard nature in the grand scheme of the empire.

Thank God that Japan didn't make it in.

Couple of other interesting things. All of Bing province all the way to the Ordos Loop made it in, despite how utterly disorganized Bing was at the time. Wonder who they're going to put up there. Probably some Xiongnu remnants. The frontier commanderies (and like a third of Jincheng) in the Gansu corridor mostly didn't make the cut, except for what appears to be Wuwei. I imagine that demarcation was made to keep the map mostly rectangular. A lot of what would become Ning province in the southwest is also missing, but that's mostly Nanman territory and I'm pretty against making them more important than necessary.

Gong Du, Huang Shao and He Yi... Interesting choices by CA. Gong Du I can understand, but I would think Bo Cai (the only Yellow Turban commander to score a significant victory against Imperial forces, by defeating Zhu Jun) should have got some love. *shrug*

Bo Cai died years prior, like the Zhang brothers.

[Daruwind]

Well it is three factions. Each Warlord is their own faction in game. It's more like three factions of the same culture group.

I´m expecting WH2 approach. Race having multiple starting locations, starting commanders.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So we can actually see that the Red River seems to make up the southern border of the map. That means that Longbian and the vast majority of Jiaozhi Province are in the game. I'd say that's enough to consider Vietnam, in the form it was considered at the time, are in the game. The central and western highlands aren't in, but they were barely populated and even less controlled.

My mistake! Was not considering historical "borders".

[Abdülmecid I]

I as player and customer am asking myself. Do i prefer to pay 50 bucks instead of 60 as preorder or do I prefer paying 60 and getting game + DLC? I don´t mind extra 10 bucks to get extra content. Anyway this time you will get DLC not only for preordering but even if you buy game in week one. So anybody can wait for early reviews and decide on spot.

I think that the point of the pre-order's extension is to convince the potential customer to buy the game, despite the mixed reviews. Generally speaking, I doubt it will undermine the overall number of pre-orders before the 8th of March at a significant scale. Secondly, I don't agree with your dilemma. Patience is a virtue, if you wait for a sale, then you can buy both the DLC and the main game rather cheaply and be able to enjoy the service as anyone else that pre-ordered it from September and has probably already grown bored of it. Even if we take the case of an extremely passionate fan of Total War as an example, then the stress of waiting to download Three Kingdoms could be balanced with the prospect of having determined a change of business policy from CA to his benefit. Many people have ridiculed "whiners" and Eastern European "patriots", but without their online campaigning, neither would the Scythian DLC be free for the first week nor would a Slavic DLC be released at all. An organised consumer community can become quite powerful, as long as it possesses the maturity to correctly estimate its responsibilities and strengths.

Well it is three factions. Each Warlord is their own faction in game. It's more like three factions of the same culture group.

Well, it depends on your terminology. I know that since the days of Warhammer, CA is tempted to use the label "faction" quite loosely and ambiguously, as a method of compensating against the negative feedback for the small number of playable "races". However, even according to these standards, it's quite a stretch to treat these three rebels as separate factions. It's interesting to notice that even Creative Assembly refers to them as warlords, implying, as it has been mentioned, a similarity to the Warhammer model.

So we can actually see that the Red River seems to make up the southern border of the map. That means that Longbian and the vast majority of Jiaozhi Province are in the game. I'd say that's enough to consider Vietnam, in the form it was considered at the time, are in the game. The central and western highlands aren't in, but they were barely populated and even less controlled.

Vietnam enthusiasts would still be disappointed, because they expected the more "unique" regions of the south rather than the Chinese controlled province of the north. I am certain there will be no "ethnic flavour" to the roster of Shi Xie. On the other hand, his army looks like a great candidate for a future "Vietnam" DLC, which will make his faction playable and his roster more diverse. Anyway, not surprised about the map, as there was no realistic chance that Japan, Korea (or even Manchuria) and Indochina would be included. It would require too much work from the thinly spread studio and would also be against the game's philosophy, which clearly concentrates on the epic of Dynasty Warriors, instead of exoticism and cosmopolitanism, like Rome II and Warhammer. My bet is that Formosa will also be omitted, as it barely fits in the map, while the absence of naval warfare hints towards amphibious operations being neglected and sidelined.

[Seether]

Bo Cai died years prior, like the Zhang brothers.

Considering how much of a non-factor the Yellow Turbans were in 190 (aside from small pockets in southern Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Jingnan, etc. - not counting Heishan or Wudoumi), I guess I wrongly assumed it would be a 184 scenario. Seems like a huge reach on CA's part to have a DLC featuring the Yellow Turbans (regardless of the YT's recognition and name-power), when their moment of glory had passed nearly 7 years prior. That's like having a "Saxon" DLC for a new Medieval Total War that starts in 1080.

[Daruwind]

I think that the point of the pre-order's extension is to convince the potential customer to buy the game, despite the mixed reviews. Generally speaking, I doubt it will undermine the overall number of pre-orders before the 8th of March at a significant scale. Secondly, I don't agree with your dilemma. Patience is a virtue, if you wait for a sale, then you can buy both the DLC and the main game rather cheaply and be able to enjoy the service as anyone else that pre-ordered it from September and has probably already grown bored of it. Even if we take the case of an extremely passionate fan of Total War as an example, then the stress of waiting to download Three Kingdoms could be balanced with the prospect of having determined a change of business policy from CA to his benefit. Many people have ridiculed "whiners" and Eastern European "patriots", but without their online campaigning, neither would the Scythian DLC be free for the first week nor would a Slavic DLC be released at all. An organised consumer community can become quite powerful, as long as it possesses the maturity to correctly estimate its responsibilities and strengths.

I agree with our point. Especially if anybody is not convinced or when money are issue, Steam sales are quite predictable phenomenon However I´m making enough money, that I can afford it and honestly I don´t buy much other game stuff. And I got refund from Star Citizen so I can still buy a few more games for that..and still be in positive game money

But this is more discussion if pre-orders are good or bad. I get why you dont like it but it is current custom in games. Offer something more for preorder. I agree that exclusive or limited stuff is bad idea. But faction that could you can later on just buy is very good idea in my eyes.

EDIT: And just to make sure, I´m usually preordering just week before release or so..I´m not doing exception for 3K. :-)

[Sandraker]

We don't really know anything concrete about this game and they're already announcing DLC.
That's a no-buy for me. This is just all too fishy.

[Anna_Gein]

I fully agree with Sabdraker here.

A DLC announcement 6 months before release is a big red alert. The devs have not show any campaign lets play and are still talking about their spy system as if the game had yet to complete alpha.

[Gronndar]

Arch Warhammer made some comments regarding this stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c99Z...ature=youtu.be

[zoner16]

Considering how much of a non-factor the Yellow Turbans were in 190 (aside from small pockets in southern Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Jingnan, etc. - not counting Heishan or Wudoumi), I guess I wrongly assumed it would be a 184 scenario. Seems like a huge reach on CA's part to have a DLC featuring the Yellow Turbans (regardless of the YT's recognition and name-power), when their moment of glory had passed nearly 7 years prior. That's like having a "Saxon" DLC for a new Medieval Total War that starts in 1080.

They weren't a non-factor. The existence of the Qingzhou army is testament enough to that. Hell, it was their actions that accelerated Cao Cao's rise to power. While I think calling people like He Yi, Gong Du, and Huang Shao "warlords" is a stretch, it's not unreasonable as a faction in 191AD. Their heyday may have passed, but they weren't completely out of the running to make a mark on the land.

It's likely the reason they were picked for DLC. Unique and flavorful, but not ultimately going to ruffle too many people's feathers if they found out that He Yi was pre-order DLC. Obviously I wish that they were in the main game, but given what pre-order bonuses have been previously, I was honestly expecting them to hold someone I actually cared about behind a paywall instead.

Also, apparently the game just jumped to the top of the Chinese pre-order sales list. If we want this kind of thing to stop, it needs to stop working so well.

[Seether]

They weren't a non-factor. The existence of the Qingzhou army is testament enough to that. Hell, it was their actions that accelerated Cao Cao's rise to power.

I didn't simply say they were a non-factor. What I said:

Considering how much of a non-factor the Yellow Turbans were in 190 (aside from small pockets in southern Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Jingnan, etc....

Outside of those pockets, that I specifically mentioned, they were a non-factor. In those isolated pockets, they were a factor. Kong Rong could attest to that.

As for the rest:

While I think calling people like He Yi, Gong Du, and Huang Shao "warlords" is a stretch, it's not unreasonable as a faction in 191AD. Their heyday may have passed, but they weren't completely out of the running to make a mark on the land.

I don't really agree with this sentiment. Not counting the Heishan, Bobo or Wudoumi, after 190 (or even 191) what did the Yellow Turbans do to make any sort of mark on the land? They were not unified, had no central authority, were only locally organized, were trounced by militias in nearly every raid/attack they conducted, and, aside from being absorbed by Cao Cao into his army, they made no significant mark on the land after 190.

It's likely the reason they were picked for DLC. Unique and flavorful, but not ultimately going to ruffle too many people's feathers if they found out that He Yi was pre-order DLC. Obviously I wish that they were in the main game, but given what pre-order bonuses have been previously, I was honestly expecting them to hold someone I actually cared about behind a paywall instead.

Agreed.

Also, apparently the game just jumped to the top of the Chinese pre-order sales list. If we want this kind of thing to stop, it needs to stop working so well.

More than likely CA's plan all along, methinks.

[Huberto]

Yeah this isn't a good look for 3K. Pre-order bribe before any campaign reveal. Just some canned battles so far. This reminds me of marketing pitch leading to TWR2. Show the actual game before asking for money!

[Daruwind]

Yeah this isn't a good look for 3K. Pre-order bribe before any campaign reveal. Just some canned battles so far. This reminds me of marketing pitch leading to TWR2. Show the actual game before asking for money!

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/co..._china/e6rains

I'm chinese player so I can tell you, every game forum and chinese version of reddit, instantly start pre-order game like crazy. We even make a meme about kick every member out of the wechat group if he or she didn't buy this game. Three Kingdom is like lord of the ring in china, only like 10 time more famous.... We wait for this game for so long, like a thirsty lol.

Sure, we can say it is maybe exception, maybe exaggeration..and maybe our little elite discussion club here at TWC is isolated far from actual realite and CA knows better. Time will tell...

I think this reveal and the mysterious 4.10.18 for WH2 reveal are PR tries to cover the negative R2 steam review campaign. Honestly I´m pretty calm about 3K, 6 more month to go, enough time to show every detail and provide early reviews. On the opposite side, nobody will be able to blame CA that they keep secret info about this preorder DLC.

[Abdülmecid I]

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/co..._china/e6rains


Sure, we can say it is maybe exception, maybe exaggeration..and maybe our little elite discussion club here at TWC is isolated far from actual realite and CA knows better. Time will tell...

How is this relevant to Huberto's point? He only said that the reveal of the pre-order DLC half a year before the release was ethically controversial, not that CA's profits are certainly going to suffer from this decision. Nobody can predict the future, but the fact remains that the negative reaction has not been an isolated phenomenon. The YOUTUBE video has more dislikes than likes and even in the extremely fanboyish forum of reddit, where criticism is quickly silenced, Grace's thread has been unprecedently downvoted. The most acclaimed comments clearly disapprove of that business practice.

[Daruwind]

That despite Romance mode, despite preorder bonus being revealed 6 month prior to the launch, despite day 1 DLC and with no actual footage of campaign system it could still be very well big hit in China? My impression is, china people are mostly active on china webpages and forums and not on reddit.Like before WH a lot people here were sceptical about it..

Please don´t take it as I´m opposing you or trying to prove 3K will be the best TW. I don´t know that. I´m also not preordering right now. But I´m also not judging the game now as it is 6 month away from release. Lot stuff gonna change so i´m just gonna wait and see later when we will have some hard info to actually judge it. That´s all.

[PikeStance]

Personally, I would have rather have a discount for pre-order. It is strange, but not really unprecedented to offer additional content upon release of a game. Paradox does it all the time.
Too soon to purchase anything now, no very little about the historical aspects and less about the campaign. I am sure they turn it up as they did for ToB. Until I'll wait and watch. Side note: My Chinese students are excited about. LOL

[Huberto]

Please don´t take it as I´m opposing you or trying to prove 3K will be the best TW. I don´t know that. I´m also not preordering right now. But I´m also not judging the game now as it is 6 month away from release. Lot stuff gonna change so i´m just gonna wait and see later when we will have some hard info to actually judge it. That´s all.

My post was to point out that it's imo bad business practice to ask for money without showing much of the game. In terms of whether the game will be popular... who knows? It may sell billions in China or millions even in the West.

In terms of whether the game will be any good, it is early. However, what I've seen so far is cause for great concern. This is subjective of course, I wouldn't expect Koei fans to share my tastes. I dislike the big UI and the further restrictions on army composition. The wushu martial arts fighting between generals is a huge turnoff for me. The confirmed lack of naval battles is very disappointing, and now we cling to is the hope that by naval battles CA isn't including naval battles on rivers. Folks have also pointed pointed out leaders with weapons (and siege weapons) that aren't historically accurate for the period. The campaign map strikes me as overdone. I know that South China is famous for its karst rock formations but their representation on the campaign map is so exaggreated and its everywhere. I suppose my tastes run squarely in "immersion through aesthetically pleasing authenticity." This all seems overstated and shrill for a historical game. Instead, it appears modeled after Dynasty Warriors and RotK games, with a Total War touch. Finally, there's the question of the campaign. We're hoping for a new fully featured, less streamlined campaign, but the trend in recent games is the opposite. If the "character" system is the main new thing, then TW:3K may be the first historical title I skip alltogether.

[LestaT]

Lots of preorders already from China and many Asian countries based on Steam top sellers of every country.