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SwSh Sword & Shield: Expansion Pass

Then frankly, their job is done as far as advertisement goes. They already showed enough to get your money, and that's going to be the case for a lot of other people as well. I preordered it too. Which gets at another potential factor in their approach to marketing here, which is that they can see numbers that we're not privy to. They can see how many people have already preordered and can make forecasts about the DLC's performance, and can determine based on that how much more they feel like they need to show. Not that I think there's going to be a whole lot more in TIOA than what we've already seen, and I'd even agree with you that League Card content is not even remotely trailer material, but still. They may feel confident enough in the consumer interest thus far that they don't feel they have to show off everything. Certainly that seems to have been the case for the base games and worked out well.
A well-written reply to my original post obviously deserves an answer/explanation.

I pre-ordered because I don't really fall within the 'hobby'-category anymore, but more in the 'hobby-made-habit'-one. There are certain franchises I'm quite dedicated to. This obviously doesn't mean I buy everything from them, nor does it mean they have my eternal devotion (I look at you, Paradox, for screwing over my EU4-hobby). The most important part is that feedback should always be given if something is good, bad, or 'meh'. Always. Pokémon still has fun games, but I don't play them as extensively as before because some of its flaws are really apparent and just not necessary.

Regarding Pokémon Sword/Shield's expansion pass; I bought it because I have a lot of 'mons in older games and I support expansions above third versions. I'm not in any way or form disgruntled enough to not buy it and 30 bucks is also not much of an issue to me. Enormous numbers of sales don't always mean a perfect product, or even close to that, though. Many fans have been very vocal about Sword/Shield, in the constructive sense. So, I'm certain some of that feedback reached Gamefreak. It's sadly a Japanese franchise, though, which makes transparent community-management a distant dream. A risk some other big companies are willing to make. I don't think it's a necessity, but it can make your core-audience bigger.

I also believe marketing-plans are made way in advance, before any pre-order has been made. I know they can't be compared 1:1, but take a look at the newly-revealed Warhammer 2 Total War: The Grim and the Paunch, for example. You might be familiar with the franchise, but for the unitiated:
- It's basically an unit- and campaign-supplement for 2 existing factions of a grand strategy game, pitting them against each other in a rivalry.
- It's 10 bucks, 8 if you take the pre-order discount into account (almost laughable for what you get sometimes).
So, what do you get?
- Well, 2 new campaign-mechanics, 1 for every new Lord.
- Both Lords/Generals (cool heroes from the tabletop game and lore) either get an unique new model and rig, or in the case of some older packs, an unique model reusing an existing rig, but with some custom-made animations. Also unique voice-lines and such. The whole 360 degrees of art-development, so to say.
- New units for both factions. There are usually one or two (big) 'centrepiece' units with unique animations and modelling. Then there are some remodeled units (using existing rigs, sometimes with new custom animations) and maybe some 'kitbashes' (new units using old assets).
- A free update (to the map, mechanics and sometimes with a new hero) and a patch.

But that's the content, not the marketing, of course.

Much can be said about Creative Assembly's marketing, but this is the way they are doing it:
- Two teasers before the trailer dropped.
- A trailer.
- A preview-page and a FAQ-blog after the trailer.
- Release is two weeks away after the reveal.
- Most importantly: influencers playing the game under some NDA-restrictions. So, they will gradually cover the expansion within the two weeks before launch, slowly but surely covering most of the DLC.
- Not all of those Youtubers are brownlipped derrière-lickers, so 'objective' early reviews will eventually be out there if you are left wondering if you'd want to pre-order the DLC or not.
- This also creates a flood of feedback-threads on Reddit and the official forums. As well as other discussions. The hype is real if you like the setting.

I understand Total War is somewhat of a niche compared to Pokémon, but they're financially doing very good, as well. Those DLC's sell like hot cakes. They have quite a pro-active (but short) marketing-period. Different than Pokémon's stretched-out and uneventful one this generation.

So, no, I don't think the huge amount of faith in the consumer-base buying the DLC is the reason why the marketing is so shallow. There are lots of folks who aren't on the internet as much as we are and still need to be reached/hyped up about it. Then there's also the fact that you want to keep engaging your existing community, especially if you want to turn the hobby into a habit. You want to keep the people talking about your products.

Such as? Let's get some ideas flowing.

Although I would say that from my view, the DLC expanding on things like the Wild Area and Max Raids is them making more out of ideas that are already pretty new. For instance, one of the things I did like about USUM was how they reworked so many of the Totem battles. In the original games, they were already pretty good as a new way for the series to experiment with boss battles. By issuing another pair of games set in Alola, they were able to build on the concept of Totem battles to try out even more robust, competitive orientations than before. Totem Wishiwashi was a brute, but Totem Araquanid was much more strategically built. Similarly, Ultra Beasts were a fresh new concept that, yeah, would've got okay mileage if all we'd ever seen was what we got in SM, but USUM allowed them to introduce a couple more and let us actually see the sorts of worlds that produced them.

In much the same way, the Wild Area is a cool new idea for the series, but the version of it in the SS base game isn't terribly diverse. It's basically a large field with a couple of lakes and one desert spot. Decent enough for a first go, but it's something I expect the DLC to play around with a little more. TIOA map suggests a lot of island-hopping and aquatic areas. Similarly, Max Raids are a major fixture of the base games and a very new territory for the series, but starting one is as simple as walking up to a beam and clicking "start." The Crown Tundra seems set to deepen the emphasis on cooperation that is already encouraged by Max Raids by making players go through a dungeon together first. And yeah, maybe the execution of these mechanics will leave something to be desired, but I think it indicates that they're working more from the perspective of already having taken their risks and done their new things, and now wanting to build on those since they've been pretty well-received.

Okay, so on to your second well thought out point.

So, yeah, they're expanding upon the Wild Area and the Raid battles. Probably the most engaging (new) features of this generation apart from the ol' battle- and catching-system itself (the cornerstone of the Pokémon-experience, obviously, and pretty much the standard). You mention an example about the Totem Battles and the Ultra Beasts transitioning from the Sun/Moon games to their Ultra versions. They were indeed improved-upon, although I'd argue that the Totem-'mechanic' is not prevalent enough to be a real cornerstone/gametime consumer as let's say the Ultra Wilds and their Ultra Beasts and Legendary Pokémon. All in all I do agree that the Ultra Wilds were a good improvement and can be counted as a true mechanic complete with its own (quite fun) minigame. Player-choice has some minimum effect here (which way you'll go), which is good and something I'll mention later.

You say the map might suggest a lot of island-hopping and some new (aquatic) areas. Which would be cool, of course, but are they sufficient (new) gameplay elements? I think not. The Wild Area is not at all diverse, as you say so yourself. This new island basically seems to do the same thing as the original Wild Area, but with different environmental aesthetics and a new returning bunch of Pokémon. So, yeah, we've not been shown any new way to play with these two new generation 8 mechanics on the Isle of Armour. Player choice is very important, but there is almost no choice given. The way you play the Isle of Armour is not that different than the way you did during a small part of the Sword/Shield basegame. So, while this might seem fine in the beginning, I mean we'll all get a shining new piece of land with some new faces and monsters to catch, it will still quickly wear us out if it's not engaging.

You want to get some ideas flowing:
- Environmental puzzles (very important, seeing how the game isn't about exploration anymore).
- (Hidden) collectables.
- New ways to battle (more like the Battle Frontier).
- New ways to encounter some Pokémon (preferably by way of choices, like the Johto safari in HG/SS).
- New ways to interact/play with your Pokémon.
- New minigames, maybe. Secret bases or the Underground were fun. Even Pokéathlon was nice.
- Prestige play.
- New Raid Battle mechanics (maybe even 2 vs. 1).
- Maybe some kind of crafting-system; gaining stuff from Pokémon battles and other activities and whatnot. Usable for something like Player Housing.

This is a lot, of course, but still something a 30-bucks DLC could achieve. Gamefreak has the playerbase and the community to play a bit more risky, but they won't really do that. The Raid-battle mechanic for the Crown Tundra DLC has me intrigued and I think it will be a good thing, but it's still you and some players battling and walking in (presumably) the same Dark Caves as the Max Raid Battles. With a release date much later this year, as well. Hooking on new players and keeping the older ones engaged should be top priority for the longevity of the franchise. Proper 'risks' should be taken because of this. I call them risks, but a lot of franchises have good mechanics you could almost copy over.

Blizzard kind of made the same mistake with their Battle for Azeroth expansion. The art-development went crazy: the aesthetics, music, models, setting, etc. were amazing. But, the main questing system was the same as the expansion before and the new character-progression was badly implemented and didn't engage players enough. Later patches brought more ways to play (different kind of quests, crafting system for looted junk (Mechagon) and a world which had puzzles, rare spawns and more ways to challenge yourself with PvE (Player versus Environment) content. Whether this 'redeemed' the expansion is another discussion, of course, and obviously not one meant for this forum. But the point stands; variety (not just in aesthetics!) based on player-choice is key.

(That all being said, I noticed will doing research for another post that the original Direct announcement mentioned there being "new battles for you to challenge once you complete your entire game including TIOA and TCT," while showing that picture of the uniforms covered in sponsorship logos. Along with Restricted Sparring, we still don't know what that's about. And for what it's worth, even after listing "New areas, Kubfu and Urshifu, Calyrex, G-Max forms for the Galar Starters, new regional forms, Pokémon that didn't appear in SS, new Pokédexes, new clothing items, new Pokémon in Max Raids, new items, new tutor moves, Restricted Sparring, and a new co-op play mode," the official site still says "We’re planning to add even more new and appealing features to the expansions than the content listed above." Which yeah could just be loose PR speak, but that's a pretty exhaustive list of what we already do know about, so what else could there be that they're working on?)
So, having taken all of the examples I mentioned above into account, I will now look at your last point:

I don't think it's an exhaustive list. While it sounds like a lot, most of it has a minimal impact on the way you play the game, or even in the time spent.

- New customization options are always nice. You unlock it, you wear it. It's always good to have, heck, everyone loves personalizing his or her character. The impact on gameplay is negligible, though. It's the end, not the means.
- Restricted sparring could be great, but I honestly feel like it will be a bit like Sky Battles or Inverse Battles: Nice to have in the game and to do sometimes, but not overly impactful, or 'fun'. Anyway, it's a new way to play, so that's good. It might be good, even.
- New area: An aesthetic thing, not a mechanic. No new ways to interact with the environment have been shown, either.
- The Kubfu/Urshifu questline seemed quite unimpactful if the latest trailer is anything to go by. Let's hope it's more than that. I fear it won't be longer than an hour or two, if the size of the island is anything to go by.
- New legendaries, new forms and returning Pokémon, as well as new G-max forms do not make the gameplay. A lot of them will be freely available through Home and trade and thus not a part of the DLC, anyway. While they're not bad things (heck, no), they don't make new mechanics. Just more options to use in battles and the like.
- A new Pokédex is not really a 'feature' in my eyes; they're standard things to get in the Pokémon-games. No new mechanic.
- New items, tutor moves and all that are just giving more options to the already-existing mechanic: battling.

So, my final verdict is that it's basically more of the same with no new ways to interact with the world. The marketing doesn't show much, either and there might be no way to know some things in advance before you're willing to pay for it. They've had many good and awesome features in older games; it's a shame they don't try to bring some of them over for the upcoming DLC. As I said multiple times: keeping your fanbase engaged with your products for a longer time is key and Pokémon has a very strong brand-name, but you have to stay strong. Lots of games are ahead of them in terms of mechanics and aesthetics, even some other Nintento IP's, as well. They have the money, the resources, the fanbase, everything, but that can and shouldn't be enough for them. There's way more this game could achieve.

Big post is big.
 
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Someone else I'm really hoping makes a reappearance in the Isle of Armor is Bea.

The main draw of the island is a fighting dojo after all, and since she's only fought as a Gym Leader in Sword, she could have different roles in the story depending on your version, as well as shed some more light about the major/minor league stuff.

Maybe in Shield she didn't qualify this year and thus she came to the Isle of Armor to train more, while in Sword she takes a more active role in helping Klara to understand what it takes to become a Gym Leader.
 
On a somewhat unrelated note, any ideas who the "certain someone" who leads the Crown Tundra expedition might be? From that wording, it sounds like it could be someone we already know from a past game.

Some people have speculated that it could be Cynthia, because she's always had that interest in mythology & that researcher job on the side.

But watch them make the worst possible choice...like pulling Professor Kukui out of nowhere.
I’m thinking it might be the player character’s dad.
 
Is anyone else beginning to think that the Expansion Pass has been delayed due to Covid-19? While you could argue that GameFreak is trying to keep the DLC under wraps for the same reasons as before, my gut instinct is telling me that if the plan was still for it to launch “sometime in June” they probably would’ve announced the exact release date by now.
 
Is anyone else beginning to think that the Expansion Pass has been delayed due to Covid-19? While you could argue that GameFreak is trying to keep the DLC under wraps for the same reasons as before, my gut instinct is telling me that if the plan was still for it to launch “sometime in June” they probably would’ve announced the exact release date by now.
Considering the lesser workload and fact that most of it has already been done I think that a delay is unlikely. There's also no physical copies to ship, which helps.
 
oh.

It could technically be a placeholder date that stays? idk i'm kinda hoping not so i can get it earlier.


I personally think is going to be anytime between the 15th and the 20th of June.

Hopefully we will have a definitive answer at the end of this month during there yearly press conference. ( if said conference actually happens this year given the state of things)
 
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Is anyone else beginning to think that the Expansion Pass has been delayed due to Covid-19? While you could argue that GameFreak is trying to keep the DLC under wraps for the same reasons as before, my gut instinct is telling me that if the plan was still for it to launch “sometime in June” they probably would’ve announced the exact release date by now.
Considering the lesser workload and fact that most of it has already been done I think that a delay is unlikely. There's also no physical copies to ship, which helps.
While Isle of Armor is likely to release as plan Though I can expect that Crowned Tundra could be delayed into around December or into very early 2021 due to the pandemic.
 
I doubt the Crown Tundra would be delayed. Game Freak never announces something before they leave the planning stages unless it's just a tease like what they did with Sun and Moon.
 
I doubt the Crown Tundra would be delayed. Game Freak never announces something before they leave the planning stages unless it's just a tease like what they did with Sun and Moon.
And, there's also less things to work on than a full priced game and they don't even need to ship physical copies to stores.
 
I'm actually a lot more excited for Tundra at this point that Armor. Armor is obviously focused on Kubfu and battling while we know Tundra is more about exploration. It would be nice to have a DLC rich in lore and storyline while incorporating battling to carry the plot. Getting to discover the reason behind the Bird trio's origins with the tree and Calyrex's involvement. Exciting!
 
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