AP Anounce Wherry Lines

[gptech]

after acquiring £52 in route content, in Steam Sales, mind you, not full cost price which would have been £100, I now have to fork out another £30, so, in essence, this route has cost me a minimum £82, and could have been a possible £130

Don't forget to factor in the grand or so you've had to spend on the PC, monitor, keyboard, mouse....

[chrisonline]

With due respect, it clearly stated on their website, the additional routes that would be required to run the 'wherry lines'.

errrr . . somewhere I think you missed the point of what I was saying, LOL!

[holzroller]

I fail to see why DTG's prices would climb, they are aimed at the wider market, this route is aimed at a much smaller niche market, just like VR with their German Models, the sums are vastly different because they have to be. We already have payware routes that rely on other DLC, as far as I recall every JT UK route rquires the ELAP pack, so if you were a late comer you would need to buy it, although in practice most will have it in one form or another, just as those interested in this route will likely have GEML, and Isle of Wight has been a requirement of many freeware routes for years. Indeed some of the other routes are requirements for freeware as well, and many like me will already have them. Slippery slope, not yet. Wait until you see the price of a route for UE with all the work that lovely detail will require. Ultimately you either buy or not as with any other release, for me the price was steep in my financial situation, but it will give me hours of fun.

[DescendingSadly]

This is the best route I have ever purchased, drove a 153 combined with the AP sounds and felt like I was there.

[pjt1974]

It's ok saying if you want detail you must pay for it. But the point some people are trying to make is if you charge top dollar for your route then it should work out of the box on it's own without needing routes from a rival. If this did not need other DLC routes to run then I'll say it's price is fair. But I can't say that about a route that needs other routes to run for this price. I wonder if the people that are happy about what AP have done here would be happy if DTG did the same. I can understand needing other stock as DLC to run scenarios as that is pretty much always the case.

Totally agree.

I must to say I was quite taken a back when I saw the price this morning especially considering what else is needed by those who don't have the DLC but that is just my own opinion. I have them all, collected over 6 years, so it wouldn't cost me any more than the price listed but in this day and age where many complain if you use more than 2 DLC's to build a route or create a scenario that is available free, it is brave, or fool hardy, to sell a route needing three and hope it will be a commercial success.

That being said, value, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder and who am I to tell another person they are wrong if they think it's value for money or not. As it is, if it had been £20, I would've snapped it up straight away, £29.99 is a bit steep for me.


Breaking it down as a route builder I can understand the packs used and reasoning behind it.

Most have the Isle of Wight, from when it was released, way back when, it has been the backbone of route building. The GEML, why not? it's the right part of the country and has some decent newer assets.

One of either WCML North, Portsmouth Direct or Western Lines of Scotland presumably makes sure you have the Kuju Assets and the AP Builders Pack (although I don't remember that coming with WCML North. It came with Shap but not North) Using one of those three others stops the end user needing to buy an extra 3 or 4 DLC's. WLOS or WCML over Shap are favourites of mine for building because they come supplied with so many asset packs when bought.

Overall, the route looks good going by the pictures and no doubt the Growler is a cracker since Richard and his friends have had their hands on it. Just a little too expensive for me though although, a few tinnies on a Friday night might break down my resistance. (Run for the hills, that would mean the route would cost me more!!!!!! £29.99 + all the DLC's + a tenner for the beer to make it seem value for money!!!!! )

[Kernow2]

Oh please,
Nobody is forcing anyone to part with any money here. It is and alway has been about choices hasn't it? So if anyone produces a commercial product, regardless of asking price, we can buy and play, or put it on a wish list or decided not to buy. Perhaps we're all getting a bit spoilt for choice and have to be selective. This can be a healthy thing. Makers have to create quality products and price to sell knowing that they have to compete with the large amount of other DLC being produced and that most customers don't have limitless funds!
Personally, AP have made huge difference to my enjoyment of the game and I can't think of any purchase I've regretted from them.
I hope the route raises the bar and is considered good value by purchasers. I haven't considered purchase

In flightsim PMDG produce a Boeing 777 base package for around $90 USD. It's an incredible product. It's rarely discounted. If you want it - you bite the bullet. If you want addon expansions you dig deeper.

I'd rather have a few products that give me real pleasure than an unlimited catalogue of rarely used product. Isn't it good to have to wait sometimes to be able to purchase something?
or have those days (sadly) been lost forever..
Want now/must have now makes me despair - ask my kids!

[jackbuzz]

Well, this is certainly a nice-looking route but, despite my love of Norfolk, I won't be buying at the stated price. As many have stated above it is not a stand-alone route and requires a certain outlay on other DLC. In addition, what scope is there for long-term use? I've just been on the Teesdale route for which I paid a lot less than £29.99 and which has almost endless opportunities for scenarios.

Any route author or company can ask what they want for their products and we all have the choice of deciding if it is worth it for us. (Free market and all that.) I get the impression from some of the posts that if the price had been £34.99 or £39.99 some would still have tipped-up the cash. One wonders how high the figure would have to be before there were no takers.

[michaelhendle]

I will be getting it some time in the future as I will have to save up,being on a state pension,but luckily for once I have already got the extra routes and the extra DLC stock required,

The price does seem a bit high I was expecting to around the average standard price £24/25 mark

Mike

[bookie454]

Has the AP website stopped working for anyone at the moment?

[pjt1974]

Has the AP website stopped working for anyone at the moment?

Just checked, working for me

[bookie454]

Hmm, thanks for the feedback. Perhaps I'll try again in a different internet browser.

[deltic009]

Hmm, this topic became the hotbed I expected it to. I have seen scenarios on here - and ones that are pretty terrible at that - that require more DLC than this route does. You also get a heavily reworked Class 37, which would have been much harder adding everything as after market bolt ons and scripting it. There's also brand new and amazingly detailed Mk2 carriages which really do look the part and will be most welcome for reskins.

It all comes down to personal opinions at the end of the day, and I don't think we could have had two different routes in this and Western Main Lines, released so closely together. They represent the total opposite ethos to route building assets, and mileage of route over absolute detail with truly bespoke assets. That's not to say that either party are wrong, but they're going at it the way they feel is sensible.

[TransportSteve]

Sorry Steve but I just can't figure how you calculate that the Wherry Route has cost you a minimum of £82. If you spent £52 on four other routes, as you say, then the £82 is surely split five ways between Wherry and whatever other four items you bought, = an average of £16.64 each...
Ash

Correct in your Maths, Ash, although to me it doesn't really matter how the money is split, I've still had to pay it out beforehand. We were informed that these other 4 DLC routes were a necessity to obtain first, not an option, so, we've all had to fork out £52 to start with, some of us already had them ages ago, others haven't they've had to start from scratch and get them, and without these others layouts The Wherry Line is possibly unplayable, so, we've been caught by the short and curlies, if I don't buy Richard's route now I'm out of pocket by the £52 I've had to pay up prior to today, with no redress. If I decide to go ahead and pay then that's an extra £30, I was hoping it would be approx. £15/19, to lessen the financial blow a bit, £82 is a lot of money in this day and age, but, I don't know now, I'm totally undecided, he's taken the wind right out of my sails.

Cheerz. Steve.

[Rockdoc2174]

I watched the Twitch feed last night and was particularly impressed by the way the fields along the lineside had been done and I wanted to know how. I bought it this morning - not without thinking hard about it even though I have all the dependencies - and have driven the first two scenarios. There is much to be pleased about. The 37s and coaches sound very nice, which isn't a surprise given the source, but the signals and their associated sounds really are special. There is point rodding at Yarmouth and, I'm guessing, a loft that puts down short concrete posts carrying signal wires, which are lovely to see. In terms of appearance, the rolling stock is superb, the track looks pretty good but I was disappointed by many of the buildings close to the line, which I think are not of a similar quality to the rolling stock.

To help with the keeping the Friargate Line clean and tidy I have installed Darren Porter's replacement for the RSC milk bottle - a bright orange power-station cooling-tower! You can't miss the things and I've been surprised how many commercial routes have missing assets, though after I've deleted the object there's usually no effect on the visuals. With this route, though, there are many cooling towers. OK, the vast majority of people wouldn't see anything but Darren's tool is free and ought to be in every developer's toolbox. Before I get jumped on, I have contacted AP via their website and given them a link to screen grabs of the offending points.

To summarise, overall the route is a very good one, though I'm still unsure about the price point. As a rule I don't like single line routes but this does have higher line speeds than most so that helps. On balance I think it is worth the cash but only just. There is much to praise and a few things to grumble about but this certainly raises the bar in some areas.

Keith

[pjt1974]

Just a wee amend to my earlier post. AP's website now says WCML over Shap not North in the 1 of 3 requirement. I don't know if it's been changed in the past hour or so or I just completely misread it.

Either way, apologies for false info.