Originally Posted by
edgecrusherO0
DLC can add a lot of value to the game, it just depends on what the DLC is. Looking at it objectively, DLC is freaking spectacular as it gives consumers more options. Rather than bundling everything up as an expansion that comes out a year or more after the release of the game, you're deliver it piecemeal over roughly the same period, keeping people interested and allowing them to choose what extra content they want. There's just a lot of shitty DLC out there since it's a pretty easy system to exploit :P
RMAH (which I'm against but don't necessarily hate) does add value to the game. It allows people to make actual money off it and it helps facilitate additional trading. I don't like it, but I will say it's a very popular feature. People want it, people use it, then it's added some sort of value. It's brilliant because it's a longterm monetization strategy that requires almost ZERO additional development time. Beyond bug fixing and making sure it's up and running (I know there are still tons of people who encounter bugs in it and lose money because of it), they don't need to devote very much time to it. There's no art team or systems designers or combat developers working on it, there's no heavy QA push to check to see if it's going to be bug free in 2 months, it's just going to continue to exist and be a huge source of revenue for them.