Left 4 Dead 2: Why the Boycott Is a Good Thing

The Left 4 Dead 2 boycott won't work, but it's still a great idea.

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Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I just wish Valve would direct it's attention to the series that brought it so much fame in the first place. Give me either Half-life 2 episode 3 or Half-Life 3 before Left 4 Dead 2.

I just don't get the argument. Don't they feel Valve has done enough for the game? They've bothered to deliver Versus play on the two campaigns it was previously unavailable for, added a whole new mode, and continue to support it through updates. Why the hell shouldn't ehy put out a new game if they so choose?
Good article regardless. One of the latter points you made does ring true; we as gamers now have a louder voice what with this here internet. However, as intelligent a bunch as we are here at the Escapist forums (intelligence claim made in view of comparing to likes of Gametrailers and IGN) could this not simply drown out the voices of those who think about things for longer than three seconds before jumping up and down on our chairs and shouting "I want this thing for free or not at all. BOO YOU!". Maybe the best way to speak to developers suchas Valve really is simply to boycott, and to not buy future products. That'll show them.

However, I'll bet my bottom dollar that not even a tenth of them will stick to the boycott.

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bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

Um yeah, let me know how that boycott works out for you.

Of course it's a good thing. It raises valid points that will be dealt with by Valve, resulting in more customer satisfaction and more fun overall.
That's it.

That's exactly what I was thinking, I'll bet most of the boycotters won't be able to resist and will buy it anyway.

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

Ya I can agree I will miss Francis, Bill, Zoey...and um the black guy....BARACK...no that's not right

TBH, I agree that their campaign is a fools errand, but they have a point. Compare L4D with Team Fortess 2. Both games were delayed for frigging ages (L4D was meant to be in the Orange box at one point as I remember it). But since TF2 came out Valve seem to have lavished it with attention & updates. By contrast. L4D came out in the Winter, & barely 6months later we're told there will be a sequel by the end of the year. Perhaps even more importantly, we're told by Microsoft that there will be a sequel. The contrast is pretty striking, even if its a question of perception rather than reality that L4D is being shafted.

The only thing I would change about this is the name. Left 4 Dead 2? I mean, how about Left 2 Die or something? It would be kinda clever actually.

What's interesting about this is that this is sort of specific to companies of high caliber and who have a history of treating each game as a going concern. Compared to other developers (anything with EA on front of it, for instance) who maybe create a handful a patches, there is very short list of developers who regularly work on and worry about their popular old games. Off the top of my head, I can only think of four: Valve, Stardock, Paradox, and Blizzard. It's kind of demonstrates the negatives of Valve being a good company with a dedicated fan base, which is that when you disappoint that fan base, they become really really pissed off.

So, it's sort of to Valve's credit that 31,000 people get hopping mad when they do a next year follow-up.

Also, I would just like to say that you might've made a mistake on the whole Mechwarrior thing. What was the problem with Mercenaries? Or Mechwarrior 3?

if you want to boycott, then just do it. but obviousley it has had no effect except the potential loss of sales.

Freakout456:

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

Ya I can agree I will miss Francis, Bill, Zoey...and um the black guy....BARACK...no that's not right

What the fuck....

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

How could they make it into an expansion?!? Its BIGGER than the original!

magnuslion:
if you want to boycott, then just do it. but obviousley it has had no effect except the potential loss of sales.

Is that not....the idea.

You didn't like Ghost Bear's Legacy? For shame! You'll have to elaborate on that.

WrongSprite:

Freakout456:

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

Ya I can agree I will miss Francis, Bill, Zoey...and um the black guy....BARACK...no that's not right

What the fuck....

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

How could they make it into an expansion?!? Its BIGGER than the original!

It may have more stuff, but alot of the stuff isn't new. I mean cmon only one new mode? For the content they provide it doesn't seem worth 50 bucks for mostly the same game.

All of you who mock the boycott group, are actually mocking their birth rights to be idiots. I agree with the article. While the whole getting angry at valve business may seem silly, at least people are trying to unite against a company in order to achieve something. Something they consider to be the right thing. You don't go around mocking someone for having the freedom of speech, pour example, and if you are, you should stop.

Anyways, just so you know it, I own Left 4 Dead, unfortunately I did not get many fun hours out of it (because I ALWAYS end up playing with Leeroys Jenkinses, or however you pronounce that) and I still am not complaining about Left 4 Dead 2. Although it does sting me in my wallet...

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. I won't say I won't buy L4D2 but I won't be buying it new or at launch. I will wait til I see it gets the support promised (and more than a survival mode). I never once asked for anything free. I would be willing to pay 800,1200 or even 1600 for more campaign maps in the original. Though once I heard about #2 I traded my copy in that day. I figure if they aren't gonna support it then there isn't any point in holding onto it collecting dust waiting.

I will boycott it, but only because i see that left 4 dead really isn't a game you can build to much on, apart from new maps and the like.

If the changes are anything more than data driven in nature (ie. core engine code changes) then an expansion pack likely isn't a feasible option. It all comes down to their base architecture and the kind of extensibility that it allows for.

Not that the angry masses will care about the rationale behind it. They're fueled by the Righteousness of Intarwebz Justice!

bue519:

WrongSprite:

Freakout456:

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

Ya I can agree I will miss Francis, Bill, Zoey...and um the black guy....BARACK...no that's not right

What the fuck....

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

How could they make it into an expansion?!? Its BIGGER than the original!

It may have more stuff, but alot of the stuff isn't new. I mean cmon only one new mode? For the content they provide it doesn't seem worth 50 bucks for mostly the same game.

Look,

Left 4 Dead 1: 4 Campaigns
Left 4 Dead 2: 5 Campaigns.

That would be a ridiculous expansion.

WrongSprite:

Look,

Left 4 Dead 1: 4 Campaigns
Left 4 Dead 2: 5 Campaigns.

That would be a ridiculous expansion.

Think of how famous Valve would become for creating an expansion bigger than the original game! Genius!

Ok, not really

Valve has released an official announcement saying that they are going to continue to work on updates and such for L4D

WrongSprite:

bue519:

WrongSprite:

Freakout456:

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

Ya I can agree I will miss Francis, Bill, Zoey...and um the black guy....BARACK...no that's not right

What the fuck....

bue519:

WrongSprite:

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Eh? It has more maps than the original, 3 new infected, and a freaking chainsaw. A chainsaw is a reskin?

I was merely pointing out that what their adding doesn't isn't really need an entirely new game, they could just make a 30 dollar expansion and everyone would be happy. I just miss the good old days of expansions. Makes me cry a little.

How could they make it into an expansion?!? Its BIGGER than the original!

It may have more stuff, but alot of the stuff isn't new. I mean cmon only one new mode? For the content they provide it doesn't seem worth 50 bucks for mostly the same game.

Look,

Left 4 Dead 1: 4 Campaigns
Left 4 Dead 2: 5 Campaigns.

That would be a ridiculous expansion.

Yeah, its just too bad that people don't play the game for the campaigns. They play it for the gameplay. Also considering that they havn't released an SDK yet for the game, and their making sequel also makes very little sense. Besides, havn't you thought of how this might split the community. Besides I really don't feel like installing two versions of pretty much the same game.
EDIT: Just look at TF2. They released new weapons, new maps and new modes. ALL FOR FREE!! They even added hats, HATS!

jebussaves88:
I just don't get the argument. Don't they feel Valve has done enough for the game? They've bothered to deliver Versus play on the two campaigns it was previously unavailable for, added a whole new mode, and continue to support it through updates. Why the hell shouldn't ehy put out a new game if they so choose?

Too bad that 3rd party servers had Dead Air and Death Toll playable like a month after release, and it took valve how long to make it playable for everyone?
Survivor mode isn't a great deal of work either, its nice that they threw it in but it isn't anything like a new campaign, I will give them props for last stand but the rest are just the old maps with areas blocked off.

Yes, we should definitely band together and fight Valve. After all, this company is just a bunch of money grabbers who don't care about gamers. Let's see, all they've done is start Steam, putting together incredible deals every weekend for PC gamers, released the Orange Box, putting more than one awesome game (Half-Life series, TF2, Portal) into one package at a one game price, done nothing but put out more and more content for free, always balancing and patching as quickly as possible, running free play weekends, on and on and on....

Every frickin' game - awesome. Steam - awesome. Gamer support - awesome.

Yeah, of all the game companies out there, let's choose Valve to boycott, the company that doesn't care about gamers. Good God, I cannot believe how stupid people can be. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to mark my calendar to buy LFD2 at launch.

it honestly makes me laugh that steam is getting all worked up over a game.the game is way to big for DLC.so i really think everybody at steam should just get over it.by the way you can't for a second think the game dosn't look amazing.

bue519:
Yeah, its just too bad that people don't play the game for the campaigns. They play it for the gameplay. Also considering that they havn't released an SDK yet for the game, and their making sequel also makes very little sense. Besides, havn't you thought of how this might split the community. Besides I really don't feel like installing two versions of pretty much the same game.
EDIT: Just look at TF2. They released new weapons, new maps and new modes. ALL FOR FREE!! They even added hats, HATS!

You don't get it. Core engine changes. TF2's new weapons are fairly minor, with the most complex so far being the huntsman because it involves sticking corpses to the wall and being able to light the arrows on fire. Combining weapons like that is new, and interesting, but also pretty simple as it tends to revolve around a single "if-then" line.

So let's go through some of the changes they've announced:
New maps. Meh. Whether 2 or 20, could have been done through DLC.
New models. Same. DLC fodder.
New weapons. Okay, some minor amount of coding here, but still DLC worthy.
Melee weapons. Well, this is a little bit more significant, but mostly adjusting the range and ammo of current weapons could handle it as a cheap hack. Still DLC.
New infected. Depending on abilities, probably DLC fodder. From what we've seen, there's nothing hugely new in the new infected we've seen so far. However, a particularly "intelligent" type of infected may be beyond the realm of DLC, if they have any, but nothing announced so far sounds like it.

Director choosing which infected to spawn based on team tactics/performance. Okay. This is new. L4D had the director choosing based on a timer and general location. Play through a few times and you come to realize that. Having the director being able to look at your team and determine from the tactics your using what type of infected might be best? That's a fairly signifcant upgrade. That implies the director is able to recognize certain tactics and figure out how to respond. Possible DLC but probably beyond what you'd get there as it's changing core architecture. (position/time placement to analysis-react placement)

Dynamic weather. Big. Current maps are not designed for weather of any sort. Go through the developers commentary and you'll hear the effort they went to to get the lighting just right. Dynamic weather means that first of all the game has to be able to differentiate between inside and outside.. right now I'm pretty sure it doesn't, because there's no need to do so.. outside is just a bigger inside with a prettier roof. Now, make that weather changeable? That's a significant change not only to the architecture, but to the balance, and to every current map. Probably outside the realm of DLC.

Director adjusting weather based on performance. Back to the Director choosing which infected to spawn. Analysis of team performance. Probably less difficult than choosing the infected to be honest, but still a significant add on to the AI of the game.

Director adjusting maps. Say what? That is.. huge. Take a look at some of the custom map jobs available for TF2.. it's not easy for humans to create decently balanced maps. For the director to be able to do so on the fly, and balanced toward your performance? That's massive. That means adjusting some core code of the game. And it takes maps designed with areas that can be modded by the AI director. Well past the realm of DLC.

In comparison, the biggest change to TF2 was payload mode, with a moving control point. It rather pales in comparison to the scope of the changes they're making to the Director for L4D2

I love this whole thing that all of these spoiled brats have.

"We got free stuff in TF2, so we want free stuff again!", shut the fuck up, is all I have to say to those people. As post 29) already said, alot of this shit is beyond DLC.

I believe the man you so badly misquoted is Voltaire...

The people who are boycotting L4D2 are idiots.. Don't they realize that this couldn't simply be done in an update? They are completely changing the AI director, adding new maps with a GD Story line [I know, it's scary], giving new weapons, adding infected, and, to top it all off, allowing you to create your own path through the maps! I also think they are using a different graphics engine, but I'm not too sure of that.

bue519:
Great article. I just don't understand why they couldn't put the stuff in Left4dead2 into an expansion pack.
The only thing it adds is new ugly survivors skins, a few new maps, and one new playable infected. The new weapons are at best just reskins.

Only is a relative term.

By my calculations, the only additional amount of new content is somewhere along 100 %

I only payed $25 for L4D1's 4 "main" maps and the game was worth the $25 for sure but in L4D2 there are 25 new "main" maps, thats a lot of maps so it will be worth the full $50. However, I will miss the old L4D gang for sure. :(

Oh my god no- Half Life SUCKS in comparison to Left 4 dead.