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General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 07, 2015
Two full-blown expansions for the epic RPG.




The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is almost here. That means the game is pretty much finished, and the devs are about to take a deep breath while CD-presses and hype machines slowly wind up to take things through the home stretch. It's not gold yet, but now that development is coming to an end, the CD PROJEKT RED team is ready to start their work on two new, ambitious monster-hunting expansions.

The expansions will be called <span class="bold">Hearts of Stone</span>, and <span class="bold">Blood and Wine</span>. Combined, they'll offer over 30 hours of new adventures for Geralt, and the latter introduces a whole new major area to roam. More items, gear, and characters (including a few familiar faces) will all be crafted with the same attention to detail as the game itself.
<span class="bold">Hearts of Stone</span> is a 10-hour adventure across the wilds of No Man's Land and the nooks of Oxenfurt. The secretive Man of Glass has a contract for you - you'll need all your smarts and cunning to untangle a thick web of deceit, investigate the mystery, and emerge in one piece.
<span class="bold"><span class="bold">Blood and Wine</span></span> is the big one, introducing an all-new, playable in-game region to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It will take you about 20 hours to discover all of Toussaint, a land of wine, untainted by war. And to uncover the dark, bloody secret behind an atmosphere of carefree indulgence.







There used to be a time when buying an add-on disk or expansion for your game really meant something. That's what CD PROJEKT RED are going for, it's about bringing that old feeling back. You can take it from our very own iWi, (that's Marcin Iwinski, co-founder of CD PROJEKT RED):

"We’ve said in the past that if we ever decide to release paid content, it will be vast in size and represent real value for the money. Both of our expansions offer more hours of gameplay than quite a few standalone games out there.”

Hearts of Stone is expected to premiere this October, while Blood and Wine is slated for release in the first quarter of 2016, so there's still plenty of time ahead. We're offering you the <span class="bold">Expansion Pass</span> now - it's a chance to pre-order the two expansions and even show your support for the devs. But we can't stress Marcin Iwinski's words enough:

“Don’t buy it if you have any doubts. Wait for reviews or play The Witcher and see if you like it first. As always, it’s your call."







The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is just over a month away, and you can pre-order the game right now - it's a particularly great deal if you own the previous Witcher games and take advantage of the additional fan discount (both The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings are 80% off right now!). You can also take a rather unique refresher course on the universe with The Witcher Adventure Game at a 40% discount, all until Thursday, 4:59 PM GMT.
Post edited April 07, 2015 by Chamb
Posted April 09, 2015
high rated
Hello Everyone,

First of all let me thank you for your feedback. Although a bit harsh at times, it is always very passionate, emotional and we really do appreciate it.

I wanted to add a few words to the original press release, which will hopefully shed some more light on the Expansions and the timing of the announcement.

Let me start with the Expansions themselves. The work on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is almost done and we are waiting for the final certifications. Thanks to it we were able to allocate part of the team onto the expansions. Yes, we have been thinking about it for some time, as with over 250 people on the Witcher team good planning is essential.

Rest assured, there is no hidden agenda or cutting out any content from the game. Both Expansions are being built at this very moment, from the ground up – hence the release dates long after the launch of Wild Hunt. We develop them in-house by the same team, which was working on Wild Hunt. This is the best guarantee we can give you that our goal is to deliver both the story and production values on par with the main game.

Now, on the timing of the announcement - in other words “why now” and not - let’s say – “a few months after the release of Wild Hunt”. The reason is very simple: we want to get the word out about the Expansions to as many gamers as possible out there. There is no better time for it than during the apex of the Marketing & PR campaign of the game. Doing it sometime after the release would mean that our reach would be much smaller.

Yes, we are a business, and yes, we would love to see both the game and the Expansions selling well. Having said that, we always put gamers first and are actually quite paranoid about the fact that whatever we offer is honest, of highest quality, and represents good value for your hard earn buck.

Yes, these are just my words. So let me repeat myself from the original release: if you still have any doubts -- don’t buy the Expansions. Wait for reviews or play The Witcher and see if you like it first. As always, it’s your call.

Cheers,

Marcin
Post edited April 09, 2015 by Destro
Posted April 10, 2015
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YrdenNerf: Remember the expansion won't be out until couple of months after the game initial release.

People that bought the expansion won't be even able to play it when the game goes out !

So for those whose saying they'll buy the GOTY edition or whatever, then you'll miss a lot of time playing The Witcher 3 game itself, isn't THAT the reason you preordered ? :-)
Many gamers have a huge backlog of games. If I decide to wait for a complete edition, I won't be missing any time since I have so many games to play. I would rather focus on a game for a while until I finish it. I don't really want to finish a 50-200 hour game, put it down for a while, come back to play just 10 hours, put it down, then come back another time for 20 hours. Odds are I would be so wrapped up in the next big game, and then next, that I would probably not get back to the expansions. I haven't decided yet, but I'm now leaning towards waiting for a complete edition.
Posted April 10, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Check your "Posts Per Topic" setting in "My Settings" in the forum :)
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tinyE: Okay now people are upset about post per page.

I give up. XD
Ahhh! Thanks JudasIscariot. I did not realise that the gog website is itself an RPG, with lots of little nooks and crannies and treasures to be found and customisations to be made. And here I thought myself to be an experienced RPG player.

tinyE: I made a mistake with my post. It should have been Aside->Side Quest. I was getting bored of the main quest. Too many posts! What a grind!

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fronzelneekburm: As for the validity of the list: The "Main game + DLC"-pack is currently #14 on the list, despite a complete lack of announcements and people being up in arms left and right. I really, REALLY have a hard time believing that list, at least as far as CDPR releases are concerned.
According to vgchartz, TW2 sold 1.71 million worldwide, 880,000 on PC. About a 1000 posts in this forum, a number from the same authors, doesn't really seem like much in comparison.

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Trilarion: Maybe CDP could make something like a TW3 Essentials/Compact version with less play time, less grinding, less fights, and only the highlights of the story of main game and expansions for people with not enough time. Just compress the game and throw out all the not so much fun elements for people with less time.
In theory, TW3 shouldn't be grindy at all. I didn't find TW2 to be. So if you skip most of the side quests, you end up with the essentials version. Of course, making yourself skip the tempting side quests is another matter ...

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Trilarion: You have two opposing desires: Wanting to play as soon as possible and wanting to play all parts in one go. To satisfy the first desire one must buy the main game immediately (or pre-order), to satisfy the second desire one can wait with buying until all parts are released, pre-ordering however does not hurt.

So yes, one could pre-order now and wait until all expansions are released and then play. Surely a nice way to support GOG but who actually does that?

Since you cannot really have both, one of the desires must win and if playing all parts at once is more important then there is not much reason to buy anything now except as a token of support.
This tough decision reminds me of TW2's moral choices ;) I have waited for everything in the past for some games but not for others. In the case of TW3, I have actually pre-ordered now and possibly won't play until next year anyway because I'd need to upgrade my PC. It's a tough one. On the one hand, it seems really silly to do so as a consumer but on the other hand I want to support CDPR. I can totally understand people wanting to only get the complete editions, especially if you have limited time. That's one thing I liked about TW2. It wasn't a massively long game. I'm a bit apprehensive of TW3's length. It'll be tough to get through but I also understand the appeal of such a massive, lively world.
Posted April 10, 2015
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AndyBear: [snip...]

Pre-planning expansion content presumes that you know that (1) players will want an expansion, and (2) that players will want the type of content that your expansion provides. It also pretty much locks the developer out of making more expansions then planned - because the backlash to charging money for expansions outside the scope of the "Expansion Pass" will be much harsher then the response to it's announcement in the first place.
That's a very valid point I hadn't thought about. Once again it boils down to the business model that is implied when using the dreaded "Pass" word. You're perfectly right in pointing out that people will expect a certain amount of content included in that pass, so everytime you will deviate from that by (for example) announcing a new expansion that is NOT included in the pass you will get angry responses.

Just as an example they could've called it a first expansion pack for 25$ which would include these two expansions, then if they later come up with a new expansion let's call it expansion pack 2 and voila.
Posted April 10, 2015
NP XD
Post edited April 10, 2015 by tinyE
Posted April 10, 2015
high rated
Like many others here, I go out of my way to support GOG because of the ideals that it claims it fights for. No DRM and until this announcement, no DLC nickle-and-diming.

I have thousands of games between GOG, Steam and my various platforms; my backlog of games is so big I will probably not finish it in my life. But that said, I still pre-ordered Witcher 3 in August 2014 because again, to support your company, I was ok paying full price. This is the first time in a very long time I had paid full price for a game as I am fine waiting for a sale a year or two in - in fact I prefer not playing a "new" game because of the bugs and balance issues it inevitably has (PC games in particular).

With this announcement my faith in CDP has been lost and I will not pre-order a game from your company again.

In the future, if you want to do more DLC cash grabs, I suggest selling an "ultimate edition" (or whatever you want to call it) out of the gate, and price it higher than the normal version. Nobody expects you to work for free, but on the same note, nobody wants to be pitched DLCs before the main game is released nobody wants to be potentially on the hook for hundreds of dollars of DLCs if they want to pick up everything.
Posted April 10, 2015
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Aerius: until this announcement, no DLC nickle-and-diming.
_One_ Expansion Pass that gives you two big prodducts constitutes "DLC nickle-and-diming" for you?

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Aerius: I suggest selling an "ultimate edition" (or whatever you want to call it) out of the gate, and price it higher than the normal version.
If you preorder the expansions right now, you will get the ultimate edition (priced a $20 higher). Plus you have the option of not buying the expansion, or buying it later, once you decide if you like the base game or not.
Post edited April 10, 2015 by GroovyDude
Posted April 10, 2015
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twistedpony: I, too, thank Marcin for his update. That makes some sense but I would have thought that there'd be even more excitement just after release when players are being wowed by the game. On the other hand, I plead ignorance about marketing and PR. Also, is actually selling it as a preorder necessary rather than just a coming soon placeholder? That really seems to be a stand out point for many.
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Luned: This is also my opinion. You announce the planned expansions now, but you don't price them or ask for money upfront until the week after the base game has been released. Why? Because it makes you look arrogant. It's just bad optics. You give the gamers a week or so to get immersed, hopefully have the buzz about your awesome stuff at its peak, and then lay on the "And now here's the details about all the extra awesomeness we'll be bringing you in a few months to freshen up the experience about the time you get through the main story! We're positive you'll think it's worth X amount of money."
This sums up my thoughts on the matter as well. CDPR would have ample opportunity to benefit from the hopefully positive buzz of The Witcher 3 just after release as well and at the time people would be more receptive to the idea of preordering the expansions. As mentioned above and by some other folks I have no objection against the announcement of the expansions but I think this was a nice opportunity for CDPR to buck the trend and do something that shows good will towards customers by actually opening preorders just after the release of Witcher 3.

I still hope Marcin and co. consider this method in the future as I think it would have been the best way to market the expansions without a few people doubting CDPR's intentions of potentially exploiting their customers like other companies with their Season Passes.
Post edited April 10, 2015 by stg83
Posted April 10, 2015
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GroovyDude: _One_ Expansion Pass that gives you two big prodducts constitutes "DLC nickle-and-diming" for you? ...
The expansions are a bit expensive compared to what they offer compared to the base game. Playing time is much shorter and the game engine is there and does not need to be modified as well as all the tools. So the effort is comparatively low but the price is comparatively high. (In this regard the TW3 expansions are similar to traditional nickle-and-dime DLC.)

On the other hand I would never complain about this. By waiting for a GOTY version and prices will fall and fall steadily. So everything can basically get evey price desired just by waiting. You can adjust the desired level of support for CDP very fine grained. Everyone can estimate how much he wants to support CDP and then after the corresponding waiting time, buy the main game and the expansions. If $80 (or $20 in Russia) now is too much, just wait until GOTY is $50, $30, $20 or $10 and buy then.

So I don't think that CDP is particularly greedy. It's the opposite. If one can wait just a few months they will give very good value for the money.
Post edited April 10, 2015 by Trilarion
Posted April 10, 2015
There's too much theory in this thread.
All this isn't even made yet and nobody knows how big the expansions/DLCs will be and if they are good or bad.
Seeing the way the project is heading, maybe it's more like a movie with quick-time-events, just like so much other AAA stuff that is all about graphics, maybe it is not, who knows?
Post edited April 10, 2015 by Klumpen0815
Posted April 10, 2015
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Klumpen0815: ... maybe it's more like a movie with quick-time-events, just like so much other AAA stuff that is all about graphics...
call of duty: medieval warfare
Posted April 10, 2015
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iWi: Now, on the timing of the announcement - in other words “why now” and not - let’s say – “a few months after the release of Wild Hunt”. The reason is very simple: we want to get the word out about the Expansions to as many gamers as possible out there. There is no better time for it than during the apex of the Marketing & PR campaign of the game. Doing it sometime after the release would mean that our reach would be much smaller.

Cheers,

Marcin
Board the Hype Train
Post edited April 10, 2015 by khas
Posted April 10, 2015
EA-Project Red
Posted April 10, 2015
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Aerius: [...] I still pre-ordered Witcher 3 in August 2014 because again, to support your company, I was ok paying full price. This is the first time in a very long time I had paid full price for a game as I am fine waiting for a sale a year or two in - in fact I prefer not playing a "new" game because of the bugs and balance issues it inevitably has (PC games in particular).

With this announcement my faith in CDP has been lost and I will not pre-order a game from your company again.
Very well said. I do the same. W3 was the first game I bought for full price in the last few years. Having seen this "season pass" I was so disapointed. Never again will I buy a preorder here.
Post edited April 10, 2015 by FokaPL
Posted April 10, 2015
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mirkwood22: I don't understand why people is so upset.
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P1na: If you want to understand, you can read this thread. I could point you to my own post, for instance, and the discussion that followed it.
Since you show no respect, neither would I:

I understand the words you are saying, but i think you just have no reason at all and your arguments make no sense. I'll try to keep the comparison with cars and tanks (which I don't think is accurate at all, it would be more accurate comparing a car from a brand with another of the same brand with a few more extras, even this way it's not accurate cause cars break down and games don't).

You said it: "So I will wait until I can afford the tank and I'm ready to play with it. Until then, I'll just use other cars that are in the market, even if those cars end up being inferior to the armorless, weaponless car that CDPR originally offered me."

And: " I want to get the best of what each vehicle can offer me". Exactly and, as you have said, you just need a car, and you can't afford a tank, and, probably, the CDP car is the best in the market (also said by you).

You preffer to use another inferior car (to the CDP car) just because you can't have the full car (the tank) at the moment. That also means you would probably end spending more money cause you will end with 1 old car and a tank (smart customer).

if you want to do that, you can, it's your choice, and again, you knew the car you were buying, stop asking for free stuff.

To prove you are wrong (in my point of view) a real example: A years ago my sister bought a car (with almost all the extras, lucky b**** ^^), and a few weeks later we saw on TV a commercial about the car and a great new extra the car now has (paying it appart of course, and it was that cam-system that helps you park and beeps when you are close). And what do you think happened? My sister paid that extra appart, and of course, when my sister bought the car they all knew that in a few weeks this new extra would come out.

All or nothing (as you want to act)...Another extremist point of view, and extremes are never good.

Finally, sry for my bad English.
Post edited April 10, 2015 by mirkwood22
Posted April 10, 2015
i never get the hatred some people have for dlcs. if you like the game enough to buy dlcs and the dlc looks good, get it, if it doesn't then don't its that simple. Are people really gonna boycott a good game because they disagree with dlcs? just seems immensely dumb to me!
This doesn't even look like dlc, with the 2 extra quests it constitutes and expansion pack to me, but because it probably wont have a physical copy of it released everyone jumps on the "whaa dlc" bandwagon. No one was mad when bioware released say tales of the lost coast expansion for Baldur's Gate. The witcher 3 announced expansion is the same. Treat it like that and get over it!
Post edited April 10, 2015 by jamiehavok
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Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)