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113-511: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard is a downloadable content add-on for the action role-playing open world video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . It was developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks . The Xbox 360 version of Dawnguard was launched in English-speaking territories on June 26, 2012, and in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain in mid-July 2012. It

226-594: A cable line. While the GameLine and Sega Channel services allowed for the distribution of entire titles, they did not provide downloadable content for existing titles. Expansion packs were sold at retail for some PC games, which featured content such as additional levels, characters, or maps for a base game. They often required an installation of the original game in order to function, but some games (such as Half-Life ) had "standalone" expansions, which were essentially spin-off games that reused engine code and assets from

339-449: A " season pass ", which allows users to pre-order a selection of upcoming content over a specific time period, and ensuring the customer's ability to immediately obtain the content upon release. As users do not have the ability to fully preview the content before their purchase, there is a chance that the content of a season pass may not be of a sufficient quality to justify the purchase. In multiplayer games, season passes may also segregate

452-478: A French weapon during the siege of Senlis and again in 984 at the siege of Verdun . Crossbows were used at the battle of Hastings in 1066, and by the 12th century they had become common battlefield weapons. The earliest extant European crossbow remains were found at Lake Paladru , dated to the 11th century. The crossbow superseded hand bows in many European armies during the 12th century, except in England, where

565-716: A Moth Priest named Dexion Evicus who had been enthralled by an Orcish vampire named Malkus before he was slain by the Dawnguard led by their commander Vanik. The player turns the Priest into a thrall, and upon reading the Scroll, Evicus reveals to the Volkihar that they need to locate a weapon named Auriel's Bow, as well as two more Elder Scrolls. One of the Scrolls lies within the Dwemer ruin of Blackreach, and

678-489: A continuation of the base game. In some games, multiple DLC (including future DLC not yet released) may be bundled as part of a " season pass "—typically at a discount in comparison to purchasing each DLC individually. While the Dreamcast was the first home console to support DLC (albeit in a limited form due to hardware and internet connection limitations), Microsoft's Xbox console and Xbox Live platform helped to popularize

791-549: A game to this date." Rock Band features the largest number of downloadable items of any console video game, with a steady number of new songs that were added weekly between 2007 and 2013. Acquiring all the downloadable content for Rock Band would, as of July 12, 2012, cost $ 5,880.10. As the popularity and speed of internet connections rose, so did the popularity of using the internet for digital distribution of media. User-created game mods and maps were distributed exclusively online, as they were mainly created by people without

904-590: A hole in the bottom of the notch, forcing the string out. This rod is usually attached perpendicular to a rear-facing lever called a tickler . A later design implemented a rolling cylindrical pawl called a nut to retain the string. This nut has a perpendicular centre slot for the bolt, and an intersecting axial slot for the string, along with a lower face or slot against which the internal trigger sits. They often also have some form of strengthening internal sear or trigger face, usually of metal. These roller nuts were either free-floating in their close-fitting hole across

1017-428: A hollow bronze enclosure . The entire mechanism is then dropped into a carved slot within the tiller and secured together by two bronze rods . The string catch (nut) is shaped like a "J" because it usually has a tall erect rear spine that protrudes above the housing, which serves the function of both a cocking lever (by pushing the drawn string onto it) and a primitive rear sight. It is held stationary against tension by

1130-428: A lot of practice. Crossbows avoid these potential problems by having trigger-released cocking mechanisms to maintain the tension on the string once it has been spanned – drawn – into its ready-to-shoot position, allowing these weapons to be carried cocked and ready and affording their users time to aim them. This also allows them to be readied by someone assisting their users, so multiple crossbows can be used one after

1243-477: A man named Cao Lỗ (or Cao Thông) to construct a crossbow and christened it "Saintly Crossbow of the Supernaturally Luminous Golden Claw" (nỏ thần) , which could kill 300 men in one shot. According to historian Keith Taylor, the crossbow, along with the word for it, seems to have been introduced into China from Austroasiatic peoples in the south around the fourth century BC. However, this

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1356-427: A massive base frame and powerful windlass devices. The arrow-like projectiles of a crossbow are called bolts or quarrels . These are usually much shorter than arrows but can be several times heavier. There is an optimum weight for bolts to achieve maximum kinetic energy, which varies depending on the strength and characteristics of the crossbow, but most could pass through common mail. Crossbow bolts can be fitted with

1469-424: A metal (i.e. bronze or steel) grid serving as iron sights . Modern crossbow sights often use similar technology to modern firearm sights, such as red dot sights and telescopic sights . Many crossbow scopes feature multiple crosshairs to compensate for the significant effects of gravity over different ranges. In most cases, a newly bought crossbow will need to be sighted for accurate shooting. A major cause of

1582-591: A mixed reception upon its release for that reason. However, by 2009, the Horse Armor DLC was one of the top ten content packs that Bethesda had sold, which justified the DLC model for future games. Where a normal software disc may allow its license sold or traded, DLC is generally locked to a specific user's account and does not come with the ability to transfer that license to another user. In addition to individual content downloads, video game publishers sometimes offer

1695-650: A skilled archer, often necessitating the use of a pavise (shield) to protect the operator from enemy fire. Along with polearm weapons made from farming equipment, the crossbow was also a weapon of choice for insurgent peasants such as the Taborites . Genoese crossbowmen were famous mercenaries hired throughout medieval Europe, whilst the crossbow also played an important role in anti-personnel defense of ships. Crossbows were eventually replaced in warfare by gunpowder weapons. Early hand cannons had slower rates of fire and much worse accuracy than contemporary crossbows, but

1808-408: A small cost ($ 1 to $ 5), rather than full expansion packs (~$ 20), as this would allow players to pick and chose what content they desired, providing revenue to the publishers. Microsoft also utilized a digital currency known as " Microsoft Points " for transactions, which could also be purchased through physical gift cards to avoid the banking fees associated with the small price points. Sony adopted

1921-627: A teaser image on the Bethesda Blog. The first trailer for the add-on was released on May 31, 2012. This showed the first gameplay footage of the add-on, which was later shown in a demo at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 . Bethesda announced a Dawnguard beta for Xbox 360 on June 1, 2012. On February 1, 2013, Bethesda announced on Facebook that Dawnguard will be available for the PlayStation 3 on February 26, 2013. Dawnguard

2034-743: A tool for hunting, and later an effective weapon against the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Montagnard fighters armed with crossbows proved a highly valuable asset to the US Special Forces operating in Vietnam, and it was not uncommon for the Green Berets to integrate Montagnard crossbowmen into their strike teams. The earliest crossbow-like weapons in Europe probably emerged around the late 5th century BC when

2147-543: A tree at 140 paces. Crossbows were used in numbers as large as 50,000 starting from the Qin dynasty and upwards of several hundred thousand during the Han. According to one authority, the crossbow had become "nothing less than the standard weapon of the Han armies", by the second century BC. Han soldiers were required to arm a crossbow with a draw weight equivalent of 76 kg (168 lb) to qualify as an entry-level crossbowman, while it

2260-432: A vampire named Serana (voiced by Laura Bailey ) trapped inside a statue. She is in possession of an Elder Scroll , and informs the player that her family live in a dwelling off the coast of Skyrim, near Solitude, called Castle Volkihar. She asks the player character to escort her safely back to her home. When she has been returned home, her father, the vampire Lord Harkon, leader of the powerful Clan Volkihar vampires, offers

2373-510: A variety of heads, some with sickle-shaped heads to cut rope or rigging; but the most common today is a four-sided point called a quarrel . A highly specialized type of bolt is employed to collect blubber biopsy samples used in biology research. Even relatively small differences in arrow weight can have a considerable impact on its flight trajectory and drop. Bullet-shooting crossbows are modified crossbows that use bullets or stones as projectiles. The ancient Chinese crossbow often included

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2486-410: Is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow -like assembly called a prod , mounted horizontally on a main frame called a tiller , which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long gun . Crossbows shoot arrow -like projectiles called bolts or quarrels . A person who shoots crossbow is called a crossbowman , an arbalister or an arbalist (after

2599-453: Is accounted for by digital distribution of emulated Nintendo titles from previous generations . Music video games , such as titles from the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, took significant advantage of downloadable content as a means of offering new songs to be played in-game. Harmonix claimed that Guitar Hero II would feature "more online content than anyone has ever seen in

2712-464: Is almost nothing but passing references in the military historian Vegetius (fl. + 386) to 'manuballistae' and 'arcuballistae' which he said he must decline to describe as they were so well known. His decision was highly regrettable, as no other author of the time makes any mention of them at all. Perhaps the best supposition is that the crossbow was primarily known in late European antiquity as a hunting weapon, and received only local use in certain units of

2825-446: Is also used. The lock refers to the release mechanism, including the string, sears, trigger lever, and housing. A crossbow is essentially a bow mounted on an elongated frame (called a tiller or stock) with a built-in mechanism that holds the drawn bow string , as well as a trigger mechanism, which is used to release the string. The Chinese trigger was a mechanism typically composed of three cast bronze pieces housed inside

2938-535: Is clear from surviving inventory lists in Gansu and Xinjiang that the crossbow was greatly favored by the Han dynasty. For example, in one batch of slips there are only two mentions of bows, but thirty mentions of crossbows. Crossbows were mass-produced in state armories with designs improving as time went on, such as the use of a mulberry wood stock and brass. Such crossbows during the Song Dynasty in 1068 AD could pierce

3051-403: Is considered the "father of [his] kind". Thousands of years ago, Harkon was a king and a mortal. He pledged his soul to Molag Bal, and sacrificed "a thousand innocents" in his name. The Daedra granted Harkon and his family immortality by afflicting them with vampirism. Harkon shows the player character how to utilize their new vampire lord form and powers. The player is then tasked with retrieving

3164-517: Is contradicted by crossbow locks found in ancient Chinese Zhou dynasty tombs dating to the 600s BC. In 315 AD, Nu Wen taught the Chams how to build fortifications and use crossbows. The Chams would later give the Chinese crossbows as presents on at least one occasion. Crossbow technology for crossbows with more than one prod was transferred from the Chinese to Champa , which Champa used in its invasion of

3277-469: Is not a problem we're positive we can solve, but we are working together with Sony to try to bring you this content." Dawnguard was released on the PlayStation Network on February 26, 2013. Downloadable content DLC can range from cosmetic content, such as skins , to new in-game content such as characters, levels , modes , and larger expansions that may contain a mix of such content as

3390-465: Is only one known depiction of it. The 11th century Chinese military text Wujing Zongyao mentions types of crossbows using winch mechanisms, but it is not known if these were actually handheld crossbows or mounted crossbows. Another drawing method involved the shooters sitting on the ground, and using the combined strength of leg, waist, back and arm muscles to help span much heavier crossbows, which were aptly called "waist-spun crossbows" (腰張弩). During

3503-582: Is retrieved as part of the original main quest line alongside doing the Daedric quest for Molag Bal's fellow Daedric Prince, Hermaeus Mora. The other was taken by Serana's estranged mother, Valerica, when she fled the castle. The player character and Serana journey to a plane of Oblivion known as the Soul Cairn. They locate Valerica and retrieve the final Elder Scroll. Before they return to Tamriel, Valerica warns them to stop Harkon, as he intends to kill Serana to fulfill

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3616-439: Is so called because it spreads abroad an aura of rage [ nù ] ( 怒 ). Its stock is like the arm of a man, therefore it is called bi ( 臂 ). That which hooks the bowstring is called ya ( 牙 ), for indeed it is like teeth. The part round about the teeth [i.e. the housing box] is called the guo ( 郭 ) ["city wall"], since it surrounds the gui ( 規 ) [lug] of the teeth [i.e. the locking nut]. Within [and below] there

3729-410: Is the xuan dao ( 懸刀 ) ["hanging knife", i.e. the trigger blade] so called because it looks like one. The whole assembly is called ji ( 機 )["machine" or "mechanism"], for it is just as ingenious as the loom . The earliest European designs featured a transverse slot in the top surface of the frame, down into which the string was placed. To shoot this design, a vertical rod is thrust up through

3842-470: The Call of Duty franchise to PlayStation consoles. Some time after a game's original release, a publisher may reissue the game at retail with all of its existing DLC included at no additional charge and, in some cases, exclusive content which may be released as DLC for existing owners in the future. The resulting SKU is often branded with a subtitle to distinguish it from the original release, such as "Game of

3955-614: The gastraphetes , an ancient Greek crossbow, appeared. The name means "belly-bow"; the concave withdrawal rest at one end of the stock was placed against the belly of the operator, and he could press it to withdraw the slider before attaching a string to the trigger and loading the bolt; this could store more energy than Greek bows . The device was described by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his Belopoeica ("On Catapult-making"), which draws on an earlier account of his compatriot engineer Ctesibius ( fl. 285–222 BC). According to Heron,

4068-687: The Battle of Maling in 342 BC. The Book of Han , finished 111 AD, lists two military treatises on crossbows. Handheld crossbows with complex bronze trigger mechanisms have also been found with the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BC) that are similar to specimens from the subsequent Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), while crossbowmen described in the Qin and Han dynasty learned drill formations, some were even mounted as charioteers and cavalry units , and Han dynasty writers attributed

4181-638: The Khmer Empire 's Angkor in 1177. When the Chams sacked Angkor they used the Chinese siege crossbow. The Chinese taught the Chams how to use crossbows and mounted archery Crossbows and archery in 1171. The Khmer also had double-bow crossbows mounted on elephants, which Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h suggests were elements of Cham mercenaries in Jayavarman VII 's army. The native Montagnards of Vietnam's Central Highlands were also known to have used crossbows, as both

4294-422: The arbalest , a European crossbow variant used during the 12th century). Crossbows and bows use the same elastic launch principles, but differ in that an archer using a bow must draw-and-shoot in a quick and smooth motion with limited or no time for aiming, while a crossbow's design allows it to be spanned and cocked ready for use at a later time and thus affording them unlimited time to aim. When shooting bows,

4407-487: The arquebus (which proliferated in the mid to late 15th century) matched crossbows' rate of fire while being far more powerful. The Battle of Cerignola in 1503 was won by Spain largely through the use of matchlock arquebuses, marking the first time a major battle had been won through the use of hand-held firearms. Later, similar competing tactics would feature harquebusiers or musketeers in formation with pikemen, pitted against cavalry firing pistols or carbines . While

4520-540: The gastraphetes was the forerunner of the later catapult , which places its invention some unknown time prior to 399 BC. The gastraphetes was a crossbow mounted on a stock divided into a lower and upper section. The lower was a case fixed to the bow, and the upper was a slider which had the same dimensions as the case. It was used in the Siege of Motya in 397 BC. This was a key Carthaginian stronghold in Sicily , as described in

4633-447: The longbow was more popular. Later crossbows (sometimes referred to as arbalests ), utilizing all-steel prods, were able to achieve power close (and sometime superior) to longbows but were more expensive to produce and slower to reload because they required the aid of mechanical devices such as the cranequin or windlass to draw back their extremely heavy bows. Usually these could shoot only two bolts per minute versus twelve or more with

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4746-469: The medieval era , both Chinese and European crossbows used stirrups as well as belt hooks . In the 13th century, European crossbows started using winches, and from the 14th century an assortment of spanning mechanisms such as winch pulleys, cord pulleys, gaffles (such as gaffe levers, goat's foot levers, and rarer internal lever-action mechanisms), cranequins, and even screws. The smallest crossbows are pistol crossbows. Others are simple long stocks with

4859-473: The 14th century, steel prods came into use. Traditionally, the prod was often lashed to the stock with rope, whipcord , or other strong cording. This is called the bridle . The Chinese used winches for large crossbows mounted on fortifications or wagons , known as "bedded crossbows" (床弩). Winches may have been used for handheld crossbows during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), but there

4972-772: The 1st century AD by Heron of Alexandria in his book Belopoeica . A crossbow machine, the oxybeles was in use from 375 BC to around 340 BC, when the torsion principle replaced the tension crossbow mechanism. Other arrow-shooting machines such as the larger ballista and smaller scorpio from around 338 BC are torsion catapults and are not considered crossbows. Arrow-shooting machines ( katapeltai ) are briefly mentioned by Aeneas Tacticus in his treatise on siegecraft written around 350 BC. An Athenian inventory from 330 to 329 BC includes catapults bolts with heads and flights. Arrow-shooting machines in action are reported from Philip II's siege of Perinthos in Thrace in 340 BC. At

5085-473: The 7th century BC in ancient China and as early as the 1st century AD in Greece (as the gastraphetes ). Crossbows brought about a major shift in the role of projectile weaponry in wars, such as during Qin's unification wars and later Han campaigns against northern nomads and western states . The medieval European crossbow was called by many names, including "crossbow" itself; most of these names derived from

5198-534: The Bloodstone Chalice, a powerful artifact intended to aid Harkon's cause, to fill it with water from Redwater Den, and then to add the blood of a powerful vampire. While retrieving the Chalice, the player character is attacked by two of the Volkihar, Stalf and Salonia, who are plotting to overthrow Harkon under orders from Vingalmo and Orthjolf, Harkon's top advisers. After killing them, the player adds their blood to

5311-467: The Chalice and returns to Castle Volkihar. After receiving the Chalice, Harkon spreads false rumors around Skyrim regarding the alleged discovery of an Elder Scroll, to try and lure a Moth Priest to the land. The Moth Priests are an ancient order, capable of looking upon the Elder Scrolls and deciphering prophecy from them. The player travels to Forebear's Hideout just south of Dragon Bridge, and captures

5424-488: The DLC requiring the downloadable expansion pack in order to work. PCGamesN described it as "a stuff pack for an expansion pack." While video games are the origins of downloadable content, with movies, books and music also becoming more popular in the digital sphere, experimental DLC has also been attempted. Amazon's Kindle service for example allows updating ebooks, which allows authors to not only update and correct work, but also add content. Crossbow A crossbow

5537-543: The Greek and Chinese crossbow but it is not clear what kind of release mechanism they used. Archaeological evidence suggests they were similar to the rolling nut mechanism of medieval Europe. There are essentially no references to the crossbow in Europe from the 5th until the 10th century. There is however a depiction of a crossbow as a hunting weapon on four Pictish stones from early medieval Scotland (6th to 9th centuries): St. Vigeans no. 1 , Glenferness , Shandwick , and Meigle . The crossbow reappeared again in 947 as

5650-551: The Hall of the Vigilants, and killing of Keeper Carcette, as reason to reform the Dawnguard and eradicate the vampires. The player character is given a crossbow and asked to travel to a ruin the vampires are known to be investigating in the Pale known as Dimhollow Crypt. Upon arrival, after dealing with the vampires already investigating the ruin, including their leader Lokil, the player discovers

5763-605: The Nintendo DS's use of cartridges and lack of dedicated storage, most "DLC" for DS games was limited in scope, or in some cases (such as Professor Layton and the Curious Village and Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 ), was already part of the game's data on the cartridge, and merely unlocked. The Nintendo 3DS supported the purchase of DLC for supported titles for Nintendo eShop . Starting with iPhone OS 3 , downloadable content became available for

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5876-561: The Song dynasty, stirrups were added for ease of drawing and to mitigate damage to the bow. Alternatively, the bow could also be drawn by a belt claw attached to the waist, but this was done lying down, as was the case for all large crossbows. Winch-drawing was used for the large mounted crossbows as seen below, but evidence for its use in Chinese hand-crossbows is scant. Around the third century BC, King An Dương of Âu Lạc (modern-day northern Vietnam ) and (modern-day southern China ) commissioned

5989-587: The Year Edition", "Definitive Edition" or "Complete Edition". Destiny was reissued twice to coincide with its "Year 2" and "Year 3" milestones and associated DLC expansions The Taken King and Rise of Iron ; a compilation of the game's existing DLC and The Taken King was released in 2015 under the title Destiny: The Taken King - Legendary Edition , while the game was re-issued again in 2016 as Destiny: The Collection to add Rise of Iron . There have also been cases where DLCs were intended to be part of

6102-462: The archer must fully perform the draw , holding the string and arrow using various techniques while pulling it back with arm and back muscles, and then either immediately shooting instinctively without a period of aiming, or holding that form while aiming. Both demand some physical strength to do so using bows suitable for warfare, though this is easier using lighter draw-weight hunting bows. As such, their accurate and sustained use in warfare takes

6215-414: The arcuballista was a crossbow is due to Vegetius referring separately to it and the manuballista , which was torsion powered. Therefore, if the arcuballista was not like the manuballista, it may have been a crossbow. According to Vegetius these were well-known devices and hence he did not describe them in depth. Joseph Needham argues against the existence of Roman crossbowmen: On the textual side, there

6328-544: The armies of Theodosius I, with which Vegetius happened to be acquainted. On the other hand Arrian 's earlier Ars Tactica , from about 136 AD, also mentions 'missiles shot not from a bow but from a machine' and that this machine was used on horseback while in full gallop. It is presumed that this was a crossbow. The only pictorial evidence of Roman arcuballistas comes from sculptural reliefs in Roman Gaul depicting them in hunting scenes. These are aesthetically similar to both

6441-424: The ban on certain types of crossbows, the weapon experienced an upsurge in civilian usage as both a hunting weapon and pastime. The "romantic young people from rich families, and others who had nothing particular to do" formed crossbow-shooting clubs as a way to pass time. Military crossbows were armed by treading, or basically placing the feet on the bow stave and drawing it using one's arms and back muscles. During

6554-429: The battlefield. Medieval crossbows were also very inefficient, with short shot stroke lengths from the string lock to the release point of their bolts, along with the slower speeds of their steel prods and heavy strings, despite their massive draw weights compared to bows, though modern materials and crossbow designs overcome these shortcomings. The earliest known crossbows were made in the first millennium BC, as early as

6667-596: The capital of Lu , and date to the 6th century BC. Bronze crossbow bolts dating from the mid-5th century BC have been found at a Chu burial site in Yutaishan, Jiangling County , Hubei Province. Other early finds of crossbows were discovered in Tomb 138 at Saobatang, Hunan Province, and date to the mid-4th century BC. It is possible that these early crossbows used spherical pellets for ammunition. A Western Han mathematician and music theorist, Jing Fang (78–37 BC), compared

6780-418: The castle. If the player character refuses Harkon's offer and returns to the Dawnguard, the plot plays out nearly identically, albeit viewed from the perspective of the Dawnguard, with the player being assigned by Isran to recruit his old teammates Sorine Jurard and Gunmar to restore the Dawnguard's numbers. Once the Dawnguard are able to replenish their numbers and reform, including adding Florentius Baenius to

6893-483: The characteristics and use of crossbows in chapters 5 and 12 respectively, and compares a drawn crossbow to "might". The Huainanzi advises its readers not to use crossbows in marshland where the surface is soft and it is hard to arm the crossbow with the foot. The Records of the Grand Historian , completed in 94 BC, mentions that Sun Bin defeated Pang Juan by ambushing him with a battalion of crossbowmen at

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7006-413: The choice to join forces with the vampiric Volkihar Clan or to fight them alongside an order of vampire hunters known as the Dawnguard. Players will be granted access to one of two home bases: Castle Volkihar or Fort Dawnguard. New armors, perks , and weapons are introduced, including a crossbow used by the Dawnguard. Crossbows remain loaded while moving in the world, allowing a quicker reaction than bows at

7119-439: The concept. Since the seventh generation of video game consoles , DLC has been a prevalent feature of most major video game platforms with internet connectivity. Since the popularization of microtransactions in online distribution platforms such as Steam , the term DLC has become a synonymous for any form of paid content in video games , regardless of whether they constitute the download of new content. Furthermore, this led to

7232-455: The content of the expansion, but felt that there were a few bugs in it; the newspaper stated, "If you already own a copy of Skyrim , buying Dawnguard isn't so much a good decision to make as it is a no-brainer." Wired UK was generally positive about the expansion, writing about its plot: " Dawnguard puts its own spin on the vampire theme by weaving in Elder Scrolls lore and history into

7345-433: The cost of being slower to reload and reducing the player's movement speed during reloading. Crossbows fall under the archery perk tree and all points assigned to archery will also apply to them. Crossbow bolts can be crafted with enchantments to create bolts with additional magical damage. A temporary transformation into a "vampire lord" is available for vampires. It functions like the existing werewolf transformation, with

7458-412: The course of a game's lifetime helped increase sales throughout, and had succeeded well with that business-model in the past, but was required to implement fees for downloads when releasing content for their Microsoft-published game, Gears of War . As of 2010 the sale of DLC makes up around 20% of video games sales, a substantial portion of a developer's profit margin . Developers are beginning to use

7571-518: The creation of the oxymoronic term "on-disc DLC" for content included on the game's original files but locked behind a paywall . The earliest form of downloadable content were offerings of full games, such as on the Atari 2600's GameLine service, which allowed users to download games using a telephone line. A similar service, Sega Channel , allowed for the downloading of games to the Sega Genesis over

7684-452: The crossbow mounted on them. These could be shot from under the arm. The next step in development was stocks of the shape that would later be used for firearms , which allowed better aiming. The arbalest was a heavy crossbow that required special systems for pulling the sinew via windlasses. For siege warfare , the size of crossbows was further increased to hurl large projectiles, such as rocks, at fortifications. The required crossbows needed

7797-526: The environment, and can be slain by the player character and absorbed like any other dragon (awarding an achievement). Three new dragon shouts have also been added: Drain Vitality, Soul Tear, and Summon Durnehviir. The player character may begin the expansion quest lines in a number of ways. Town guards can be overheard discussing the return of the Dawnguard, or the player character may be approached directly by an Orcish Dawnguard member named Durak and asked to join

7910-461: The exception that it may be used repeatedly rather than being limited to once per day. The vampire lord has a new skill tree to level up. Werewolves have also been given a skill tree, which they did not have previously. The vampire lord skill tree contains eleven perks, and the werewolf skill tree contains eight perks. The vampire lord levels up through kills with its Drain Life spell or its bite attack, while

8023-438: The fort while Serana and the player hunt down the other two Elder Scrolls. In order to enter the Soul Cairn, the player must be blooded as a vampire by Serana or be partially soul-trapped to gain access. Aside from these details, the quest lines follow a similar path to the Volkihar, but it diverges during the last story mission, when the player leads the Dawnguard's final assault on Harkon and his court to slaughter them and prevent

8136-483: The fulfillment of the prophecy. The player and Serana succeed in killing Harkon in a climactic showdown, effectively eliminating the great vampire threat in Skyrim. Isran thanks Serana for her support, showing newfound respect for her, and offers the player a chance to continue helping the Dawnguard in weeding out vampires that still pose a problem in Skyrim. Dawnguard was announced by Bethesda Softworks on May 1, 2012, via

8249-609: The game's data. DLC of this nature revealed via data mining is typically referred to as " on-disc DLC " or PULC ( premium unlockable content ). This practice has sometimes been considered controversial, with publishers being accused of using what is effectively a microtransaction to lock access to content that was already contained within the game as sold at retail. Data relating to future DLC may be included on-disc or downloaded during updates for technical reasons as well, either to ensure online multiplayer compatibility for existing content between players who have not yet purchased

8362-437: The group, Serana makes herself known to the Dawnguard, relaying information about Harkon's plan, and pledging assistance to the Dawnguard, though Isran still has his suspicions of Serana's true intentions. After killing Malkus and freeing Dexion from the enthrallment he was placed under, he returns to Fort Dawnguard to read Serana's Elder Scroll to Isran, before becoming fatigued and Isran allowing him time to rest and recuperate in

8475-450: The infantry to be armed with crossbows. During the Song dynasty , the crossbow received a huge upsurge in military usage, and often overshadowed the bow 2 to 1 in numbers. During this time period, a stirrup was added for ease of loading. The Song government attempted to restrict the public use of crossbows and sought ways to keep both body armor and crossbows out of civilian ownership. Despite

8588-403: The infrastructure capable of distributing the content through physical media. In 1997, Cavedog offered a new unit every month as free downloadable content for their real-time strategy computer game Total Annihilation . Later PC digital distribution platforms, such as Games for Windows Marketplace and Steam would add support for DLC in a similar manner to consoles. Nokia phones of

8701-537: The last remaining Snow Elves , and a Knight-Paladin of the Chantry of Auri-El. He instructs the player how to retrieve Auriel's Bow, by completing a series of tasks and defeating Arch-Curate Vyrthur, Gelebor's brother, who has been corrupted by the Falmer. The player character and Serana confront Vyrthur in the Chantry's Inner Sanctum and discover that he is both a vampire and the creator of the prophecy, and desires to block out of

8814-609: The late 1990s and early 2000s shipped with side-scrolling shooter Space Impact, available on various models. With the introduction of WAP in 2000, additional downloadable content for the game, with extra levels, became available. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service on the Nintendo DS could be used to obtain a form of DLC for certain games, such as Picross DS —where players could download puzzle "packs" of classic puzzles from previous Picross games (such as Mario's Picross ). as well as downloadable user generated content . Due to

8927-494: The main game, but they were later stripped out of it in order to be sold as a separate feature. Tomb Raider: Underworld has been criticized for providing two DLCs, exclusive to the Xbox 360 , that were supposedly removed from the original game. The Sims 4 : My First Pet was likewise criticised for containing items that had seemingly been removed from the Cats & Dogs expansion, with

9040-499: The military crossbow had largely been supplanted by firearms on the battlefield by 1525, the sporting crossbow in various forms remained a popular hunting weapon in Europe until the eighteenth century. The accuracy of late 15th century crossbows compares well with modern handguns, based on records of shooting competitions in German cities. Crossbows saw irregular use throughout the rest of the 16th century; for example, Maria Pita 's husband

9153-476: The moon to the shape of a round crossbow bullet . The Zhuangzi also mentions crossbow bullets. The earliest Chinese documents mentioning a crossbow were texts from the 4th to 3rd centuries BC attributed to the followers of Mozi . This source refers to the use of a giant crossbow between the 6th and 5th centuries BC, corresponding to the late Spring and Autumn period . Sun Tzu 's The Art of War (first appearance dated between 500 BC to 300 BC ) refers to

9266-462: The new DLC, or as dormant support code for planned content that is still in development at the time of the release. Downloadable content is often offered for a price . Since Facebook games popularized the business model of microtransactions , some have criticized downloadable content as being overpriced and an incentive for developers to leave items out of the initial release, with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's horse armor DLC having faced

9379-432: The number of bugs. Dawnguard was released on Xbox 360 and PC on June 26, 2012. However, its PlayStation 3 release was delayed. Bethesda released a statement on their official forum stating, "The PlayStation 3 is a powerful system, and we're working hard to deliver the content you guys want. Dawnguard is obviously not the only DLC we've been working on either, so the issues of adding content get even more complicated. This

9492-406: The order to combat the growing threat of vampires within Skyrim. Regardless of how it is initiated, the player character travels to Fort Dawnguard, accessible through Dayspring Canyon, located near Riften. They meet with the Dawnguard commander, Isran, who reiterates the renewed strength and threat of the vampires, citing their destruction of the headquarters of the Vigilants of Stendarr in the Pale,

9605-416: The original game. The Dreamcast was the first console to feature online support as a standard; DLC was available, though limited in size due to the narrowband connection and the size limitations of a memory card. These online features were still considered a breakthrough in video games, but the competing PlayStation 2 did not ship with a built-in network adapter. With the advent of the Xbox , Microsoft

9718-427: The other while others reload and ready them. Crossbows are spanned into their cocked positions using a number of techniques and devices, some of which are mechanical and employ gear and pulley arrangements – levers, belt hooks, pulleys, windlasses and cranequins – to overcome very high draw weight. These potentially achieve better precision and enable their effective use by less familiarised and trained personnel, whereas

9831-525: The platform via applications bought from the App Store . While this ability was initially only available to developers for paid applications, Apple eventually allowed for developers to offer this in free applications as well in October 2009. In some cases, a purchased DLC may not actually download new content to the device, but merely consists of data used to enable associated content that is already present within

9944-494: The player base if it is the primary means of receiving gameplay content such as maps. Microsoft has been known to require developers to charge for their content, when the developers would rather release their content for free. Some content has even been withheld from release because the developer refused to charge the amount Microsoft required. Epic Games, known for continual support of their older titles with downloadable updates, believed that releasing downloadable content over

10057-519: The player the chance to become a vampire lord out of apparent gratitude for his daughter's safety and join the clan, or the chance to leave Castle Volkihar safely and return to the Dawnguard. This choice begins the main storyline of Dawnguard . If the player accepts Lord Harkon's offer, the vampire lord bites the player character. The player awakens in a room, in front of a shrine to the Daedric Prince of Domination, Molag Bal. Harkon explains Molag Bal

10170-504: The power to turn into monstrous "vampire lords". The Volkihar's leader Lord Harkon intends to use an Elder Scroll to permanently blot out the sun. The player can choose to either aid the Dawnguard or join the Volkihar, becoming a vampire lord themselves in the process. The DLC includes new armors, items, weapons, characters, etc. Two unique skill trees are introduced in Dawnguard , one for vampirism and one for lycanthropy . Players are given

10283-459: The prophecy. The player also earns the respect of the dragon Durnehviir, who had acted as Valerica's guardian in the Soul Cairn before being bested in combat by the player, and provides the player with the shout to summon him outside of the Soul Cairn for a while. The player character learns from the Elder Scrolls that Auriel's Bow is located in Darkfall Cave. The player meets with Gelebor, one of

10396-436: The sale of DLC for an already successful game series to fund the development of new IPs or sequels to existing games. DLC is usually distributed through a console platform's online storefront, such as Microsoft Store , Nintendo eShop , PlayStation Store , or similar storefronts for PC games such as Steam . Platform exclusivity can also apply to DLC, with Activision having reserved a timed exclusivity period for DLC in

10509-468: The same approach with their downloadable hub, the PlayStation Store . With Gran Turismo HD Concept , Sony planned on having the bulk of its content be purchased separately via many separate online microtransactions . The project was later canceled in favor of the full Gran Turismo 5 . Nintendo has featured a sparser amount of downloadable content on their Wii Shop Channel , the bulk of which

10622-482: The same time, Greek fortifications began to feature high towers with shuttered windows in the top, presumably to house anti-personnel arrow shooters, as in Aigosthena . The late 4th century author Vegetius , in his De Re Militari , describes arcubalistarii (crossbowmen) working together with archers and artillerymen. However it is disputed whether arcuballistas were crossbows or torsion-powered weapons. The idea that

10735-442: The second piece, which is shaped like a flattened "C" and acts as the sear . The sear cannot move as it is trapped by the third piece, i.e. the actual trigger blade, which hangs vertically below the enclosure and catches the sear via a notch. The two bearing surfaces between the three trigger pieces each offers a mechanical advantage , which allow for handling significant draw weights with a much smaller pull weight. During shooting,

10848-494: The simple and composite warbows of, for example, the English and the steppe nomads require years of training, practice and familiarisation. These advantages for the crossbow are somewhat offset by the longer time needed to reload a crossbow for further shots, with the crossbows with high draw weights requiring sophisticated systems of gears and pulleys to overcome their huge draw weights that are very slow and rather awkward to employ on

10961-542: The sound of shooting a crossbow is vibration of various components. Crossbow silencers are multiple components placed on high vibration parts, such as the string and limbs, to dampen vibration and suppress the sound of loosing the bolt. In terms of archaeological evidence, crossbow locks dated c.  650 BC made of cast bronze have been found in China . They have also been found in Tombs 3 and 12 at Qufu , Shandong, previously

11074-536: The start. European crossbows from the 10th to 12th centuries used wood for the bow, also called the prod or lath , which tended to be ash or yew . Composite bows started appearing in Europe during the 13th century and could be made from layers of different material, often wood, horn, and sinew glued together and bound with animal tendon. These composite bows made of several layers are much stronger and more efficient in releasing energy than simple wooden bows. As steel became more widely available in Europe around

11187-462: The stock, tied in with a binding of sinew or other strong cording; or mounted on a metal axle or pins. Removable or integral plates of wood, ivory, or metal on the sides of the stock kept the nut in place laterally. Nuts were made of antler, bone, or metal. Bows could be kept taut and ready to shoot for some time with little physical straining, allowing crossbowmen to aim better without fatiguing. Chinese crossbow bows were made of composite material from

11300-406: The story, and offers Skyrim fans a mostly enjoyable ten to 15 hours of entertainment as a result." GameSpot enjoyed what Dawnguard had to offer, commenting on its "excellent new areas to explore" and "number of great individual moments", and stating that, "being a vampire lord can feel gleefully evil". However, they found that, "being a vampire lord can also be a headache", and complained about

11413-609: The story, such as Castle Volkihar, located on a coastal island off the Haafingar coastline, and Fort Dawnguard, located in a small canyon outside the Rift. A "face sculptor" character is introduced in The Ragged Flagon in Riften, allowing players to change the facial appearance of their character at will. Stronger "legendary" dragons are also present in Dawnguard , appearing randomly throughout

11526-594: The success of numerous battles against the Xiongnu and Western Regions city-states to massed crossbow volleys. The bronze triggers were designed in such a way that they were able to store a large amount of energy within the bow when drawn but was easily shot with little resistance and recoil when the trigger was pulled. The trigger nut also had a long vertical spine that could be used like a primitive rear sight for elevation adjustment, which allowed precision shooting over longer distances. The Qin and Han dynasty-era crossbow

11639-563: The sun in order to disrupt Auri-El's influence in Tamriel, in retaliation for the god allowing him to be afflicted with vampirism. After retrieving the Bow, the player character and Serana confront Lord Harkon in Castle Volkihar. They battle Harkon and slay him, ending the threat to Tamriel and to Serana, and the members of Harkon's court acknowledge the player character as their new master and ruler of

11752-413: The user will hold the crossbow at eye level by a vertical handle and aim along the arrow using the sighting spine for elevation , similar to how a modern rifleman shoots with iron sights . When the trigger blade is pulled, its notch disengages from the sear and allows the latter to drop downwards, which in turn frees up the nuts to pivot forward and release the bowstring. The nu ( 弩 ) [crossbow]

11865-547: The werewolf gains experience towards its skill tree by consuming corpses while transformed to extend the duration of the transformation. New locations are featured in Dawnguard , including two explorable new world spaces: a realm of Oblivion called the Soul Cairn, and the Forgotten Vale, a secluded arctic valley located somewhere outside the holds of Haafingar and the Reach. Additionally, large areas serve as central quest hubs during

11978-505: The word ballista , an ancient Greek torsion siege engine similar in appearance but different in design principle. In modern times, firearms have largely supplanted bows and crossbows as weapons of war, but crossbows remain widely used for competitive shooting sports and hunting, and for relatively silent shooting. A crossbowman is sometimes called an arbalist , or historically an arbalister . Arrow , bolt and quarrel are all suitable terms for crossbow projectiles, as

12091-404: Was vire historically. The lath , also called the prod , is the bow of the crossbow. According to W. F. Peterson, prod came into usage in the 19th century as a result of mistranslating rodd in a 16th-century list of crossbow effects. The stock (a modern term derived from the equivalent concept in firearms ) is the wooden body on which the bow is mounted, although the medieval tiller

12204-474: Was also an early example of a modular design , as the bronze trigger components were also mass-produced with relative precise tolerances so that the parts were interchangeable between different crossbows. The trigger mechanism from one crossbow can be installed into another simply by dropping into a tiller slot of the same specifications and secured with dowel pins . Some crossbow designs were also found to be fitted with bronze buttplates and trigger guard . It

12317-547: Was claimed that a few elite troops were capable of arming crossbows with a draw-weight in excess of 340 kg (750 lb) by the hands-and-feet method. After the Han dynasty, the crossbow lost favor during the Six Dynasties , until it experienced a mild resurgence during the Tang dynasty , under which the ideal expeditionary army of 20,000 included 2,200 archers and 2,000 crossbowmen. Li Jing and Li Quan prescribed 20 percent of

12430-513: Was killed by a crossbowman of the English Armada in 1589. There are no references to crossbows in Islamic texts earlier than the 14th century. Arabs in general were averse to the crossbow and considered it a foreign weapon. They called it qaus al-rijl (foot-drawn bow), qaus al-zanbūrak (bolt bow) and qaus al-faranjīyah (Frankish bow). Although Muslims did have crossbows, there seems to be

12543-464: Was released on Microsoft Windows via Steam on August 2, 2012. Due to performance issues, the PlayStation 3 release of Dawnguard was delayed until February 26, 2013. Dawnguard revolves around an ancient prophecy predicted by an Elder Scroll. The Dawnguard is an organization dedicated to hunting vampires who attempt to stop the return of a powerful clan of Vampires named the Volkihar who possess

12656-416: Was released to a generally positive critical reception. IGN stated that, " Dawnguard is neither as meaty nor as cohesive as Shivering Isles , its Oblivion expansion pack counterpart, but then again it is not as expensive either. The other issue, as with any Elder Scrolls add-on content, is usefulness... but Dawnguard is certainly worth the investment." UK newspaper The Guardian was impressed with

12769-669: Was the second company to implement downloadable content. Many original Xbox Live titles, including Splinter Cell , Halo 2 , and Ninja Gaiden , offered varying amounts of extra content, available for download through the Xbox Live service. Most of this content, with the notable exception of content for Microsoft-published titles, was available for free. The Xbox 360 (2005) included more robust support for digital distribution , including DLC downloads and purchases, via its Xbox Live Marketplace service. Microsoft believed that publishers would benefit by offering small pieces of content at

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