I'm confused about the Season 08 Pass

[Imperon]

I pre-ordered the Machine Age DLC. I typically pre-order new Stellaris releases. When I did so, I didn't see anything about a Season 08 Pass. Now I see the pass for 40 dollars, which is supposed to save me money if I buy it. But I already dumped 25 dollars into content from the pass. Since there's no discount associated with already owning part of the content from the pass I'd be effectively paying 65 dollars for the content instead of the 40 dollars I'd have paid if I hadn't pre-ordered the Machine Age DLC.

I don't mind the 40 dollar price. I do mind not receiving some sort of a discount when I already have part of the content offered by the expansion pass. I've heard the pass will save me about 20% of the cost of purchasing the different items separately. Assuming that percentage is accurate then I'm not sure I'd really save any money buying the pass now. Being asked to effectively pay 65 dollars for the pass has made me hesitant. No, the unique race portrait isn't enough for me to automatically purchase the pass.

I've never hesitated to pre-order Paradox content before. I play a number of their games (Stellars, HoI4, CK2 and 3, Europa Universalis titles and maybe others) and so far I've never regretted pre-ordering new content for one of their games.

Now I do. In fact I'm rather aggravated about it. And I'd like to hear from other players. Particularly anyone else who pre-ordered the DLC as I did. Should I be purchasing the pass? Did you? Is there some explanation out there I'm not seeing about why there's no discount, at all, for people who already own part of the pass?

[arronax06]

If you already bought the DLC, don't buy the pass, it's too late, you'll lose money. There's not much more to it, the pass is only worth it if you buy it first and don't buy the other part separately, sorry :/ . You can still get the other parts when they'll come out, and there has been talks to make the currently pass-exclusive portrait available later for other people, but no one knows yet when or at what conditions (but like you said, that portrait alone is not worth buying the same dlc twice).

[Razorblade]

The Season 8 DLC and the a la carte version of The Machine Age were made available for pre-order the same day. If you missed the fact that Season 8 existed, that's a you issue; they were both up for pre-order simultaneously, and Season 8 was announced before either was available for pre-order. Moreover, you could have refunded your pre-order at any time before playing 2 hours after release, in order to buy Season 8 instead.

As for why there is not a discount for already owning part of the set, that requires a bit of general Steam knowledge. On Steam, games have a limited number of Bundles/Packages (3 total, to my knowledge).

A Bundle is what you're looking for: a scaling discount based on the number of items you already own. A Package, meanwhile, requires everything to be bought together at once. Packages generally bundle the base game and some DLC together to incentive players to spend a little extra before ever deciding if they like the game or not.

Stellaris' allottment of 3 Bundles/Packages is already spent on the Starter Pack Bundle, Ultimate Bundle, and New Player Edition Package. As you can see, there is no room for a theoretical Season 8 Bundle.

Now, you may be thinking "Season 8 sure does sound like a Package, why can't it be a Bundle instead?" This goes back to background Steam things, once again. Season 8 is not a Package; it is just a DLC that grants ownership of other, separate DLC. It functions a lot like a Package, although it inherently cannot include the base game, as buying DLC requires you to own the base game already, or buy it alongside a Bundle/Package. Unfortunately, you can't DIY a Bundle like you can a (base gameless) Package. If your "bundle" is not one of your 3 official Bundles/Packages, there is no method for a publisher to grant the scaling discount Bundles give; it's out of their hands.

Now could Paradox take down one of the other Packages/Bundle to make room for a bona fide Season 8 Bundle, to please you at the expense of other buyers/potential buyers? Sure. Could Valve just allow more Bundles/Packages than 3 for every game? You betcha. Of course, the simplest solution is just for you to pay more attention in the future; Season 8's existence and function weren't exactly a secret.

[HappySack]

Just curious but do you know what the bottom of boots taste like?

[Imperon]

Arronax06 and Razorblade, thank you for your replies. I hadn't realized I could refund a specific DLC for a game. After laying out my case, Steam has refunded my Machine Age purchase (I hadn't played Stellaris since it released) and as soon as the funds are back in my Steam Wallet I'll be able to purchase the Season 08 Pass.