Nicely Done
Jamie Eckman sent me a link to a post on the Oblivion forums from Pete Hines/Todd Howard(http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=348450). Besides the heads-up that they're working on a patch, here's an excerpt about the downloadable content:
We have been working on downloadable content since we finished the game in February, and we continue to feel this is a great avenue for us to continue to add to the Oblivion experience.
We have already announced two of them:
The Orrery
The Orrery allows you to help the Mages Guild of Cyrodiil repair the Imperial Orrery, an ancient dwarven machine with mystical properties. Bandits have stolen a shipment of parts destined for the Arcane University; if you can return them, the Orrery will function once more.
Features:
* A new, full-featured quest, including dialogue, journals, and rewards
* Access to the Imperial Orrery in the Arcane University, an incredible mechanical marvel
* New powers available for your character based on the phases of the moons
The Wizards Tower
Located high in the Jeral Mountains of Cyrodiil away from prying eyes, this Wizard's Tower, Frostcrag Spire, will become available. Packed with numerous useful enhancements, this structure will prove invaluable to magic-oriented characters.
Features:
* A fully detailed tower for you to explore
* A breathtaking view of Cyrodiil from the highest point in the land
* Simple furnishings including a bed for leveling up
* An indoor botanical garden with over 130 specimens... including Oblivion-native herbs!
* Summon Atronach Familiars that obey your commands
* Instant teleports to every Mages Guild in Cyrodiil
* New Spell and Recharge vendor in the Imperial City
* Fully upgrade the furnishings in your lair to suit your needs
* Upgrade to a fully functional Enchanting and Spellmaking station with no need to join Mages Guild
* Upgrade to a laboratory that buffs your Alchemy skill
We hope to have The Orrery available for purchase next week. This plugin will cost 150pts on Xbox, and $1.89 on the PC. The Horse Armor Pack has been very popular, and exceeded what we thought it would sell. Despite that, we’re still trying to find the right spot, so we’re putting a much larger plugin out for less than the last one and we'll see what happens. Your feedback as we move forward in this is invaluable. Tell us what you want to see, how much of it, and what it might be worth to you. No, don’t say you want it free, because these plugins take a surprising amount of time to create, polish, and test (much more then Morrowind's).
Finally, thank you to everyone who has supported not just Oblivion, but Bethesda Softworks over the years. Oblivion has been a tremendous success for us, and we thank you all for making that happen. We hope we continue to earn your gaming time.
That is about as well-spoken as I could have ever expected. They acknowledges (diplomatically) that the horse armor was too much for too little, and they counter by lowering the price for two add-ons that are much, much deeper. That is a masterful defusing of what could have easily become a grease fire.
That's also why I personally root for Bethesda to succeed. Morrowind was, to me, certainly one of the top ten RPG's ever made. Oblivion will be considered in the top ten as well. If Daggerfall hadn't come out with one million bugs (and I think they've paid their penance for that many times), it would have been the same. So I think it's not unfair to say that Bethesda is on that top tier with Bioware when it comes to RPG's. And clear, timely communications like they put out today are one of the reasons I expect them to stay there.
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