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General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)
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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
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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
I really feel if they waited on this announcement till after the game released as so many have said they would have preferred, it would be viewed as much more of a bait and switch(Which I think is just silly anyway). Instead people who are not OK with this can easily cancel their pre-order and wait. This isn't day one DLC folks. This wasn't stuff stripped out to squeeze more money out of us. This is simply an announcement for CDPR's next projects, which they decided would they would expand on TW3. Some have complained of the hubris to sell this before the base game comes out, but I don't see a negative side to that. It actually gets me excited about how good the game really is. They even encouraged people to wait on the expansions if they have any doubts. I applaud CDPR for their continued honesty to their customers. I will gladly buy the expansion when I can afford it to support them. Cheers
Posted April 11, 2015
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jamiehavok: 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!
That's the funny thing tho:
This decision has angered people who dislike DLC which is guaranteed to be made, because it's still DLC, regardless of its size.
This decision has angered people who dislike preorders and blind purchases, because it opens up CD-Project to get even more money for unreleased products designed for an unreleased product
This decision has angered people who believed CD-Project to be different than the rest of the industry, because it's not
And lastly, it angered people by pretending it is something it's not

... CD Project sometimes has real PR issues :-P
Posted April 11, 2015
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Fenixp: ... CD Project sometimes has real PR issues :-P
I wonder if CDPR actually means Can't Do Public Relations. :P
Posted April 11, 2015
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Fenixp: ... CD Project sometimes has real PR issues :-P
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Grargar: I wonder if CDPR actually means Can't Do Public Relations. :P
It all went down with the exit of Trevor / The EnigmaticT.
Posted April 11, 2015
Dear CD Projekt Red,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank you for the eight years of entertainment I have received from your games and the high quality service as well as gamer-friendly policy you are continuing to deliver well into the future. You are unlike any other game developer in the industry. You give us gamers what we truly want. A mature, impactful, challenging, choice-driven, and memorable experience that pushes the limits of what's possible in gaming and taking our imaginations places we never expected.

You also provide more free content updates than anyone else and with additions that make your games better. You truly allow gamers to play on their own terms and how they want, and for that, I am very thankful you are able to do what you do. I very much look forward not only to The Wild Hunt, but the two expansions that will continue to expand upon the story of Geralt of Rivia. In a day and age where add-on content adds little to an experience and is costly, it's nice to see someone out there go back to the roots of the kinds of content that really gets people excited.

In closing, you truly are a beacon of light in the dark. While other publishers and studios nickel and dime their customers, you continue to put your fans first and treat us as if we are family rather than just a potential stream of money. Thanks again, and I look forward to The Witcher 3, its expansions, Cyberpunk 2077, and whatever else you happen to develop in the foreseeable future.

Sincerely,

Your fan.
Posted April 11, 2015
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Grargar: I wonder if CDPR actually means Can't Do Public Relations. :P
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Klumpen0815: It all went down with the exit of Trevor / The EnigmaticT.
Oooh, you mean that famous guy behind the good news™ that took them 3 press releases to explain? Yeah, these were the brilliant times for PR, could not agree more!
Posted April 11, 2015
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Klumpen0815: It all went down with the exit of Trevor / The EnigmaticT.
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d2t: Oooh, you mean that famous guy behind the good news™ that took them 3 press releases to explain? Yeah, these were the brilliant times for PR, could not agree more!
Of course he did some bullshit, I had constant conflict with him because of his stance regarding Linux support, but nonetheless it has gone straight downhill after this point, maybe there's no connection, I just noticed.
Posted April 11, 2015
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d2t: Oooh, you mean that famous guy behind the good news™ that took them 3 press releases to explain? Yeah, these were the brilliant times for PR, could not agree more!
I remember him hanging around on the forums and joking around, always seeming to be around to explain things and put a human face on the business side of things. And, you know, he had actual common sense, like when he said that the fake site shutdown stunt would have never happened on his watch. All in all, his time here was hardly diminished by those one or two ugly moments, and things do seem to have gone sharply downhill communication-wise since he left.

I miss that guy. We should kidnap him.
Posted April 11, 2015
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d2t: Oooh, you mean that famous guy behind the good news™ that took them 3 press releases to explain? Yeah, these were the brilliant times for PR, could not agree more!
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Klumpen0815: Of course he did some bullshit, I had constant conflict with him because of his stance regarding Linux support, but nonetheless it has gone straight downhill after this point, maybe there's no connection, I just noticed.
Well PR did become worse after he left and there were definetly more Good News TM going on after that. Not to forget that G-Doc also left. More or less I see just new employees dropping in when something is up.
Post edited April 11, 2015 by Matruchus
Posted April 11, 2015
It is genuinely nice to see a company doing expansions properly as stand alone content that enhances the original game experience instead of gouging out chunks of the game to hold to ransom later.

My question is this for the GOG team: Will you in the fullness of time release a boxed version of the complete edition of Witcher 3? I am one of the luddites who still like to look at my games on the shelf and leaf through the associated paraphernalia whilst playing. Not to mention I have the big boxed copies of the first two games with all the bonus stuff and want the trilogy to be complete. Maps, stories, letters, papercraft, coins these are all physical things that add huge value in my mind that can't be replicated with a digital version that you print yourself.

Does anyone else care about this sort of stuff anymore or am I alone in my olde fashioned ways now.
Posted April 11, 2015
I think a season pass is stupid.

Announcing you're doing expansions now is cool, but asking people to pay for a season pass for content sight unseen is just a dumb move and anyone could have told you that.

That said I understand the difference between expansions and DLC and think a lot of people are making a big deal over nothing.

"I'm gonna wait for a GOTY edition!!!"

That's your right guys and I respect it, but lets not act like they're pulling a Mortal Kombat Kombat Pack or preorder exclusive characters or anything.
Posted April 11, 2015
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Klumpen0815: Of course he did some bullshit, I had constant conflict with him because of his stance regarding Linux support, but nonetheless it has gone straight downhill after this point, maybe there's no connection, I just noticed.
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Matruchus: Well PR did become worse after he left and there were definetly more Good News TM going on after that. Not to forget that G-Doc also left. More or less I see just new employees dropping in when something is up.
well il take gogs bad PR any day instead of steams and others PR and communication.
At least it shows that there are humans behind instead of frigging robots or lawyers.
Posted April 11, 2015
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iWi: snip
Thanks Marcin for clearing it up and offering a real and true expansion that's bigger than a single mission, 2 or 3 NPCs and a small map that takes an hour to discover. I will buy this when I feel like the time is right, which will be after I experience the Witcher 3 in itself. Thank you for making quality products that we can all enjoy.
Posted April 11, 2015
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Ominousrobot: Does anyone else care about this sort of stuff anymore or am I alone in my olde fashioned ways now.
Your definitely not alone here. I am still collecting boxed copies of PC games. I still spend a lot of money on that, buying old and new, and I am really looking forward to seeing The Witcher 3 on my shelf. I hope the box is going to be as cool as the previous ones which contained a lot of bonus items.
Posted April 11, 2015
Arriving fashionably late; let me remind everyone that the Expansion Pass truely does seem to me to be an expansion. There is nothing wrong with the inherent concept of DLC. You pay more for stuff that was not in the original release and is not cut content. Seems the expansions were not made for the base game and cut out to sell AND that they aren't necessary parts as far as the story is concerned.

We need to remember there is nothing wrong in paying for additional content, nor in selling it. It just needs to be
ADDITIONAL. As far as CDPR keeps this DLC content an optional part of the base game without any base game adversely influencing features in it; I'm OK with it.

Keeping that in mind, the DLC activation thing is just horrible. There are countries that depend on Steam Wallet codes sold in local currency for digital downloads; like India. And most perople buy the physical version if they live outside the EU and the US. When someone can't get it even when they have money; I see it as a lost opportunity for CDPR to teach them about positive business practices.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)