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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 07, 2015
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JMich: Well, you know that a steak and fries isn't a complete meal, it's missing the vegetables. And the wine. And the dessert. (...)
There's joke on fat people in there somewhere ;P...
Anyway - as long as there's money rolling, there will probably be more content made. If everyone refused to pay for content, there would be no content in the first place. People refusing to pay for the base game before expansions are out are ultimately affecting the money devs have to make said expansions... More pragmatically - this just encourages dishonesty. If people scream at you for TELLING THEM what your plans are but would gladly GO ALONG with them if not informed... what sort of behavior are we exactly trying to foster?

It's kinda like 4chan's lesson in behaviorism; to quote from memory: "When you tell them 'TITS OR GTFO' and they show you tits, YOU DON'T PUNISH THEM FOR IT! It's basic fucking logic - you reward good behavior, punish bad one. What is wrong with you people?!".

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Nirth: I'm a very cynical person then. :p Luckily life is all about choice.
I'm torn... I adore positive beliefs and exuberant enthusiasm, but I do feel the need to cut them down to size before they reach the "feelz over realz" territory.
Speaking of which, judging from a few posts above (27, to be precise), I've apparently made ENEMIES over here. Passive aggressive enemies at that, good grief ;P.

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Vestin: I usually appreciate your posts but I agree that paragraphs are better than merely a line break or return but you are still in the same paragraph.
Ah, indentation, the missing ingredient... There. Is this better ^^?
EDIT: no, because it didn't work x_x. Any suggestions?

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Fenixp: I don't think people are angry about announcement of the expansions - at least I hope they aren't, aynway - I think people are angry for CD Project marketing taking them for idiots. (...) I just have to repeatedly remind myself that the PR department is not content creators' fault.
Meh, "PR"... I prefer to focus on facts. In my eyes all of this is more of a case of CDP being honest than PR being incompetent, though you could argue that one implies the other ;P.
Other than that - some posts have been outright unreasonable. I'm not saying no concerns can be had, since the world isn't quite perfect, but so things just make me shake my head in disbelief...
Post edited April 07, 2015 by Vestin
Posted April 07, 2015
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mkess: for this incomßlete game.
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JMich: Is Steak and Fries an incomplete meal because you can get Steak and Fries + Salad? Or is Steak and Fries a complete meal, with Steak and Fries + Salad being a complete meal with an extra dish?
In this case I think people see it as an incomplete game because they are announcing story content before the game is even released, to many people this can look like content is being cut to sell later on. Though in truth we have no idea if this is correct or not, but if this announcement was made about a month after the game was released this type of backlash would probably not happen.
Posted April 07, 2015
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Elmofongo: Have you ever canceled a pre order in GOG and got your money back? Or is this your first time doing so in GOG?
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mkess: It's my first time, too. But I do not think there will be complications
I would not risk it. You probably should never have cancelled your pre-order. Who knows what bullshit situation could occur that you might not get your money back.
Posted April 07, 2015
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mkess: Only if they promised, "You get a free salad for this meal". And they did exactly that. :)
They didn't. They said you get free condiments, but if you want extra food, you'll have to pay. Tell me if you want the quote from Marcin that has been posted multiple times in this thread already, that content of ~15 hours length will be paid for, not free.
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wolfsite: In this case I think people see it as an incomplete game because they are announcing story content before the game is even released, to many people this can look like content is being cut to sell later on.
What I got from the announcement was that it would be extra modules, like those in The Witcher 1. Not part of the main story, but stand alone ones. So I don't see it as cut content at all.
Post edited April 07, 2015 by JMich
Posted April 07, 2015
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TCMU2009: My God, the entitlement I see here sometimes never ceases to disgust me. Are you people actually shitting on a great, customer friendly company, with a proven, customer friendly track record, for DARING to ask for money to buy a significant expansion to their hard work?
I'm "shitting on them" for boasting with their oh-so-awesome free DLC which happens to seem like horse shit compared to the paid content now. Especially since they were really smug about it, ridiculing their competition in the process and don't differ much from the competition in retrospect. Of course there's a chance that their paid expansions will put any competitors' DLC to shame but in principle they are the same now.
Posted April 07, 2015
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mkess: It's my first time, too. But I do not think there will be complications
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Elmofongo: I would not risk it. You probably should never have cancelled your pre-order. Who knows what bullshit situation could occur that you might not get your money back.
Nothing my lawyer cannot solve. Remember. It's a preorder. I do not have any product yet. And I have no longer any interest in it.
Post edited April 07, 2015 by mkess
Posted April 07, 2015
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Elmofongo: I would not risk it. You probably should never have cancelled your pre-order. Who knows what bullshit situation could occur that you might not get your money back.
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mkess: Nothing my lawyer cannot solve.
haha, good one.

No, seriously, you are supposed to be able to cancel your preorder anytime BEFORE the release date, so there should not be any problem.
Posted April 07, 2015
high rated
I never post on forums, but I have to respond to this.

2316 days of GOG membership ruined by a single second of looking at the front page.

Well played, well played indeed.
Posted April 07, 2015
high rated
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F4LL0UT: So now it's paid extra content and *some* free stuff. Other companies do that. Sometimes even the nasty ones when they feel like they need an image boost.
Indeed, even the much maligned Ubisoft gave away the Assassin's Creed Unity [url=http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-gb/news/news_detail.aspx?c=tcm:154-186654-16&ct=tcm:148-76770-32]DLC for free[/url] to all owners of the game. Its all just PR to make CDPR look superior while following in the footsteps of standard marketing practices of all those other typical companies.
Posted April 07, 2015
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mkess: Only if they promised, "You get a free salad for this meal". And they did exactly that. :)
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JMich: They didn't. They said you get free condiments, but if you want extra food, you'll have to pay. Tell me if you want the quote from Marcin that has been posted multiple times in this thread already, that content of ~15 hours length will be paid for, not free.
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wolfsite: In this case I think people see it as an incomplete game because they are announcing story content before the game is even released, to many people this can look like content is being cut to sell later on.
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JMich: What I got from the announcement was that it would be extra modules, like those in The Witcher 1. Not part of the main story, but stand alone ones. So I don't see it as cut content at all.
As I said no evidence that it is, but it's all in the eyes of the Beholder, but when you announce story content before the game is released that can lead people to believe that the content was cut from the main game. So this is more bad timing on CDProject for this announcement.
Posted April 07, 2015
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JMich: Is Steak and Fries an incomplete meal because you can get Steak and Fries + Salad? Or is Steak and Fries a complete meal, with Steak and Fries + Salad being a complete meal with an extra dish?
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wolfsite: In this case I think people see it as an incomplete game because they are announcing story content before the game is even released, to many people this can look like content is being cut to sell later on. Though in truth we have no idea if this is correct or not, but if this announcement was made about a month after the game was released this type of backlash would probably not happen.
Ohh it would happen for sure, but for the reason of lying to the costumers, working on expansions in secret before the launch of the main game or something like that.
If there's one thing certain in life is people always find something to complain about, and to confirm that rule, i complain that if i were to purchase the full preorder pack W3+ pass, i´d pay 5+ dolars if i purchased separetly (probably a bug, but still).

I'm still thinking of preordering W3, but the system specs seem abit hefty for my system.
Posted April 07, 2015
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mobutu: It's regionally priced as follows (all credits to maGOG http://www.an-ovel.com/pages/magog.php):

$27.69 Australasia (AU)
$20.99 Central and South America (BR)
$19.99 Canada (CA)
$27.29 Non-EU Western Europe (CH)
$28.89 EU Central Europe (CZ)
$27.29 Eurozone (DE)
$29.39 United Kingdom (GB)
$27.29 Norway (NO)
$27.29 Poland (PL)
$16.69 Russia (RU)
$27.29 Sweden (SE)
$15.59 Ukraine (UA)
$16.69 Nine Former Soviet Republics (UZ)
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PaterAlf: Wait, it's more expensive in the Czech Republic than in Switzerland? How exactly does that make sense???
The CZ region also includes Hungary and Slovakia.
Posted April 07, 2015
Well the easiest thing for people to do is wait until W3 is part of an 80% off sale Like the previous games are in currently.
Posted April 07, 2015
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Calib4n: I never post on forums, but I have to respond to this.

2316 days of GOG membership ruined by a single second of looking at the front page.

Well played, well played indeed.
Yes, they did it ...again.

First regional pricing.

Next regional censorship.

And now waiting for the GotY version.

And in future we are waitting for GOG DRM....
Posted April 07, 2015
Can a blue clarify if these are going to be stand alone adventures you pick in the main menu or added content in the main story mode?
Pages:
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74
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)