I find that I am laughing at myself as I play Skyrim with my newly installed PC Hearthfire DLC.
Lemme 'splain:
I didn't think I would bother with this DLC. The premise didn't exactly draw me in - you're not exactly crawling thru new castles, caves or regions fighting off hordes of unpleasant wierdos in order to find the sacred relic or rescue the damsel in distress or etc etc etc.....
Nevertheless, on a lark, I decided to give it a try. Now I'm having a great time planning my new home, gathering the materials (some quarried/mined, others bought) and being a real nest-builder.

But the DLC did cost $5. So the question of "value" popped into my head - how much entertainment is this DLC going to really provide?

As points of comparison I used vanilla Skyrim and the Dawnguard DLC.
anolysis follows:

The vanilla Skyrim cost me $60. In my first complete playthrough where I finished every possible quest, I needed 300 hours (with lots and lots of fast travel.) This equates to $0.20/hour, which is an INCREDIBLE value, especially since it was pure joy to play.
For DG, I spent 40 hours, again with lots of fast travel. That was $20, which equates to $0.50/hour. Not as good as vanilla Skyrim, but it seems to me it's still a fantastic deal. Also, DG blew my socks off with its fantastic landscapes and awesome quests.

This brings me back to Hearthfire.
I've spent 3 1/2 hours on it so far. I'm building the house and decorating it in stages. Building out the house looks like it will involve some very difficult choices - for instance, deciding between an armoury and a kitchen. Nevertheless, I'm finding this to be plenty of fun.
I anticipate it will take me at least 10 hours to finish building and decorating, and then moving everything I want from my other properties into this new house (btw, it's the Lakeside Manor - by far the most interesting scenery for me, as well as a very convenient location with it's proximity to Whiterun, Falkreath and Riverwood.) This would put it on a par with DG.

Does anyone think I'm overestimating or underestimating the "value" of Hearthfire?

Does anyone have a different perspective on Hearthfire than the one above?

Also - does anyone know if one can build houses in the other locations as well, or is the character stuck with having only one homestead?

:-)

Wait, side comment:
I'm also finding new random events popping up in vanilla skyrim after loading Hearthfire. And not just the stuff about nosey giants paying a visit to the homestead - I'm talking about random encounters in Vanilla Skyrim. I'm also finding that Revenant dragons are almost following me around, spoiling for a fight (you'd think they'd learn not to mess with my level 67 nord after killing the first 5, but they're being pretty knuckleheaded about it....)

N E 1 else seeing this?

I haven't played Hearthfire yet, but I don't think that determining a game's "value" based simply on the amount paid/hours played ratio is ever a good idea. If you're enjoying Hearthfire enough to justify the $5 entrance fee, then the DLC should be considered good enough. Breaking it down into figures just over-complicates things and detracts from the game itself, IMO.

For me, it's not just a matter of how much time is consumed, but what will be added? If it makes the experience better, richer, more immersive, then it's worth far more than the fiver.

I think its easily worth 5 bucks for the added immersion. Iron is now useful, you can even craft a vampire coffin. All the little attention to detail they put in blows me away. Compare it to Oblivion 5 dollar DLC's and you feel appreciation and like they care, instead of meh, what a waste.

Even if you hurry through it and only get 5-10 hours of new game play (I'd say it will be way more than that) it enhances each Skyrim play through with new characters. Every time you go home you have an enhanced experience. Same with Dawnguard it adds a lot of great content which changes Skyrim forever.

So you can't look at the DLC by itself and try to compare it to Skyrim in terms of value. Least I don't look at it that way. I know I will have fun on my next character building a home somewhere else than I did the first time. And every play through from here forward will have a better "getting started" experience because I can build a little humble abode early on in the game. Hearthfire takes immersion to a whole new level.

Then to think of Hearthfire mods that maybe add options for certain characters or makeovers of the houses to certain themes, or new craftable homes in new places using Hearthfire technology... its going to be great.

I think it does make sense to count the "value" the way you do most of the time, but I do not think that would apply to heartfire. Even once you are done building and moving your stuff, you will still be "using" it, your house is going to become your homebase. As long as you are playing Skyrim, Heartfire will be an integral part of the experience. So I think it's unfair to determine it's value where it "ends".

And to answer your question, you can build the 3 houses with the same character, altough in the end I fully furnished only one of them.

I wouldnt mind spending 5 bucks on a weapons and armor dlc

5 dollars spent on food only keeps me satisfied for 2-3 hours.

5 dollars for Hearthfire and I could be entertained for days, possibly months...

Months? After your 325872389 game of hide and seek with your kids we will discuss that again LOL

You're not seeing the bigger picture. Hearthfire provides the base framework for expanded house building mods in future.

As previous poster said, i think that Hearthfire is a great base for upcoming mods. And it is very good dlc, it works excellent with Tundra Defence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fynwUC59fqI&feature=plcp

This is EXACTLY the kind of discussion I was hoping to provoke.

Some of you look at it the way I do - "Bang for the buck."

Others look beyond that, finding the DLC so helpful to their total enjoyment of the game that the price is not an essential factor.

What's most revealing is that so far none of you feel it was a waste of a DLC.

Looking forward to what Bethesda has in store for future dlc/expansions. I suspect it's going to be very interesting.

Exactly! No matter how you slice it, worth every penny of $4.99!

I like Hearthfire. I played about 10 hours with one character and I plan to build different houses and adopt different children with my three other characters.
And more importantly even: Dawnguad began to get boring. I paused to play Skyrim for about two weeks and did not finish the Dawnguard questline with the last character I started it... now exactly this character was the first one with which I started Hearthfire,
Skyrim dragged me in once more and now I am busy doing Dawnguard AND Hearthfire... for me it's not just the Hearthfire content in itself, it's more of a new motivation to start the game and enjoy old content, too.
Skyrim has many flaws, of course, and Hearthfire is not the holy grail of video gaming... but it is more than worth five bucks.
Hell, with that money I can not even get a decent meal at McDonalds and THAT does not provide fun for weeks... it'll probaly kill you though.

It probably has about what I think it does, but I may be underestimating it. Even if my pessimistic forecast is the case, I would gladly pay far more than 5 clams for it. Indeed, I consider it a necessity. To use a prior apt anology, once you know how good blueberry pie a la mode is, you're never satisfied eating plain pie again.

It has no value at all , just candycoated themepark elements that don't even have a place in skyrim , except for the xboxcrowd and even then i seiously doubt the xbox player were really waiting for this
looking on the forums the whole thing come with even more bugs and glitches
Mods will almost certainly do a better job with this than beth did in the original version

Pretty sure also this DLC will be mandatory for the next DLC if that ever comes out

And i really feel sorry for the PS3 players , how long do they have to wait

It's nice to have on new characters. It's a DLC that blends well with the main experience.

Heck, maybe more! The video's at >15K views. How much does that youtuber get per view?

Definitely worth any penny.

It keeps me playing Skyrim. That to me is $5 well spent. With Dawnguard and Hearthfire, I take a very different approach when leveling a new character. I'm currently playing a Dawnguard character that welcomes the vampire attacks (and loves to bake!). I stalled MQ and DG quest lines, fast traveled everywhere in search of butter and milk for my oven. You'd be surprised how often I got jumped after stepping out of an inn with a jug of milk under my arm.

It's not just about the amount of hours spent but also (and perhaps more importantly so) how much you enjoyed those spent hours.

Hearthtfire felt generic, the houses were not truly customizable and personalized but one of a set of generic presets. Gathering of supplies and materials was an absolute chore. I'm someone who normally loves grinding and leveling up but generating 13 trillion nails, hinges, and locks started to drive me mad with boredom. Hunting down bears for and sabre cats for sets of claws and eyes was ludicrous. I could've skipped that by having my steward furnish the place instead, of course, but I couldn't - that functionality was bugged. That leads me to another point - there is an absurd amount of bugs and glitches for such a tiny piece of DLC. I know a certain amount of snafus are implied upon playing a newly-released Bethesda offering but this went far beyond what I anticipated in terms of glitchiness.

So, yeah, I spent a good few hours in Hearthfire, the problem was much of that time I felt was less spent per se and more "wasted." My first Skyrim playthrough clocked in at 250 hours, and I felt those hours gave more of a return, pound for pound, than Hearthfire's did.

Hearthfire just felt so.... insubstantial and pointless. The 5 bucks I'm not too worried about, but I would've hugely preferred to have paid 15 for a truly worthwhile DLC. The fact that I usually hear "Well, yeah, but it's only 5 bucks!" in regards to Hearthfire is hardly a ringing endorsemant of the quality of its content... more like an excuse for its lack thereof.

For five dollars, it was a pretty good buy. Nice place for me to optimize my house the way I want my player. Adoption and such were nice ways to sink some cash and such.

OK, I'm already past 13 hours and not nearly done with Hearthfire.

I continue to laugh at myself. This simple expansion is tons of fun for me and the value is enormous. Unbelievable!

Thanks, Bethesda. You guys are sumthin' else.


Oh: one nit - fix some of the bugs. For instance - I can't seem to complete the Morthal thane requirements. That's annoying. Also, my Lakeview residence with the greenhouse is infested with bees and other insects. Can I get a can of Raid or one of those bug lamps?

Blast a fire spell.