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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 08, 2015
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Matruchus: I was talking about Galaxy not internet.
No your were talking about DRM on relation to Galaxy, and since only part of Galaxy that can be linked to "DRM" is really is online MP, Galaxy or no Galaxy... one can argue online MP is never really going to be DRM free simply because of the online requirement .
Posted April 08, 2015
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BadDecissions: 52% of users were in favor of having them if it meant getting newer games, 48% opposed.
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Fenixp: Oh yeah, that survey. I wonder what would happen if they left out the words "if it meant getting newer games". Good wording is quite essential to getting results you want.
Indeed.

You look at ALL the results, and it is generally a case of people wanting options and choices. If people want to buy Season Passes and DLC, they can.

But TW3 was not being sold as an episodic game. As such, there's no need for a season pass for extra content, until there is extra content to sell. Especially not before the main game is actually released.

Plus, they are offering the Expansion Pass for TWO EPs. Does this mean that there won't be more EPs afterwards? What if they are - will they be added to the pass, or will another pass be issued?

This also means that going by a price of $25 for the EP Pass, that each EP will be sold for AT LEAST $12.50, if not more. You can buy full priced games for less than that. So it comes down to the question of what would you consider is worthwhile for $12.50?
Posted April 08, 2015
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Fenixp: GOG is just another store I can purchase games from, not a goto place for ... Anything.
I don't know... I still like the place. They still do a lot of things right. They have massively helped the pushback against DRM, the rediscovery of old titles...
Perhaps I'm simply cynical enough. If I'm in need of knives and the discount happens to truly make it a good deal for me, I might just get them. PR aside, everything else aside. If it's good, it's good. One can spin the tale however one wants, but at the end of the day the proof is in the pudding.
Have a nice evening, Fenix. I'm glad you're still around, so I don't have to feel lonely among all those new people we got over the years ;P.

***

Sweet Logos, now people are posting conspiracy theories on DRM x_x.
Posted April 08, 2015
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LynetteC: So how does this work? The increase on the main game with the expansions is higher for Australia but the Expansion pack on it's own is more expensive in the UK.
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HypersomniacLive: No idea, Lynette. At the moment, it's cheaper to get the game + the expansion separately, than get the bundled release, as the latter does not come with any discount for owning the first two games.

Oh, and allow me a small, but apparently significant correction - it's Expansion Pass, not Expansion Pack. ;-P
Yes, that was intentional - l prefer to think of it as a "pack" and if GOG had announced it as such there might not have been as much of a shit storm as we're experiencing now. :-)
Posted April 08, 2015
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Matruchus: Cd-Key is not the problem. Galaxy is. I edited the above text since most people misinterpret what I ment.
Galaxy isn't DRM. Galaxy is a delivery client that delivers DRM-Free games, and a multiplayer framework that requires a login. Not different from a game requiring a unique CD-Key to access multiplayer.
If you have a specific reason you claim Galaxy to be DRM, do post it.

P.S. And if you have a GOG game installed that Galaxy doesn't see in your account (whether correctly or not), you can still launch the game, even though it does have a "Connect Now" button to allow you to add it to your account.
Posted April 08, 2015
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JMich: Fun fact! Sacrifice requires a CD-Key to play multiplayer, and it was one of the games available when GOG first opened its doors (August 2008).
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Matruchus: Cd-Key is not the problem. Galaxy is. I edited the above text since most people misinterpret what I ment.
So really your fine accepting some things that are technically DRM, you just have a bias against Galaxy. That makes this clear then. It does't matter if it is DRM or not, it's simply not acceptable to you.
Posted April 08, 2015
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Davane: Technically, GOG Galaxy is "GOG DRM"...
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LynetteC: Unless they make it mandatory (like the Steam client), Galaxy is not DRM. It's not required to play your games; it's not even required to download them. It may be required for some multi-player games but only as a means to connect to the game servers (including Steam ones I believe) which is not DRM but a necessity for online gaming!

l sincerely hope this always remains the case.
They don't have to make it mandatory for it to be DRM. There are many more ways to control people than to just point a gun at them and say "You must do this."

The easiest way to do this is to make having the client more desirable than not having the client. One way to achieve this is to start limiting updates, bug fixes, bonus content, and newer games to the client.

This isn't so much as "You must do this" as "You want to do this."
Posted April 08, 2015
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For me the curious thing is the fact, that GOG accepts preorders at the same time as they announce this season pass.

In my opinion this points to CDPR having financial problems - why else would they risk alienating a lot of their devoted GOG-customers?

Keep in mind that the release of the Witcher 3 has been postponed a couple of times and that developing such an ambitious game costs a lot of money. Having the whole team (the coders/scripters/QA still bug-fixing/polishing until release) assigned to the project for far longer than originally planned messes with their plans (and money) big time.

Add to this the rather peculiar pricing scheme of Witcher 3 - where you would get a "sweet preorder deal" if you already owned Witcher 1 and 2 (which were thrown at GOG members for free or next to nothing several times already), and the fact that the two add-ons, which can be played independantely and are released with several months in between, can only be bought as a "package".

So I guess they are in trouble and need the preorders to stay afloat, can't really blame them for that.
Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I will wait until a complete version is released - if the game turns out to be great, that is.
Posted April 08, 2015
I'm not sure announcing this before the game is even released was a good idea when there's such a stigma around DLC announcements before launches, but it seems like a fair price for a fair amount of content. It definitely seems to be more like the expansions of old rather than overcharging for tiny bits of content that should have just launched with the game. I like what I see so I'll be a buyer sooner or later. I'm not sure I get the intense negativity some people seem to have towards this (regional pricing aside, as I know that's a contentious issue around here). It seems that the package is fair. To each their own I suppose.
Posted April 08, 2015
Not funny at all...
Posted April 08, 2015
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USERNAME:Matruchus#Q&_^Q&Q#GROUP:4#Q&_^Q&Q#LINK:365#Q&_^Q&Q#I was talking about Galaxy not internet.#Q&_^Q&Q#LINK:365#Q&_^Q&Q#
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There's your problem.

You are talking about ONLINE MP. That is DRM, albeit an often desirable one.

Meanwhile, MP that go through other means beyond official servers is waning, and being phased out.
Posted April 08, 2015
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mrkgnao: Not sure what you mean about MaGog. Are you referring to the 48-hour delay due to GOG blocking my IP?
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JMich: Didn't you post at some point that you parse the log and only post the relevant parts, after stripping some information down? Or is my memory really that bad?

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mrkgnao: What I gathered from the post I linked to, is that the separation is intentional due to separate update schemes.
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JMich: From what I understand of how this works, is that the installers are compiled by the QA department, while Galaxy gets the files (and scripts) from a directory. Normally, said directory would have the exact same files the QA used, but someone has to update them. Thus there may be a slight discrepancy between the two sources.
As far as I can see, They downlod the installer, as usual, and start the DRM free installer with Galaxy in the background, managing the install directories.
Posted April 08, 2015
high rated
I know that what I (or anyone else in this thread) say can't change the fact that The Witcher 3 now has a DLC bundle (you can call it a "Season Pass" or "Expansion Pass" - doesn't change what it actually is), mainly because these kinds of decisions are not something that can turn on a dime.

But fact is that the original Witcher did a lot to earn player confidence with the Enhanced Edition/Director's Cut updates. That prompted me to buy The Witcher 2 pretty early on, despite it having some pre-order bonuses (a practice that I dislike).

This time, the game is priced at 60$ on PC, and now there is a 20$ DLC markup. The high price had me on the fence, but this convinced me not to buy the game at full price. When I don't buy games on day one, I usually wait until the game + all DLC are on sale for under 12.50$, sometimes, for games I heard good stuff about, I drop 20$.

So in essence, what this accomplished is that I will have spent at most a third of the price I was originally willing to pay for the product (I can wait for a year or two, I still have thousands of games I've not finished).

On the other hand, if the game was released at full price now, and the expansion was announced as a single product 6 to 12 months form now - and if it is indeed of significant quality and scope - I would have probably bought the base game in the launch window (even for the 60$ price tag).


Developers and publishers need to think about these facts. Try to remember the days of EA Sports VS 2K Sports, or even SimCity 2013 VS Cities: Skylines. A pricing model that doesn't stink, and expansion plans that are tailored to player response (as opposed to being developed before the game is even out), are going to yield higher consumer confidence and profits in the long term.
Posted April 08, 2015
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Davane: The easiest way to do this is to make having the client more desirable than not having the client. One way to achieve this is to start limiting updates, bug fixes, bonus content, and newer games to the client.

This isn't so much as "You must do this" as "You want to do this."
Indeed, this is exactly the thought process for most folks that are skeptical about GOG Galaxy not having any kind of affect on how the website works currently. I am sure the idea is to make GOG Galaxy so desirable that it becomes a real hassle to download games without it. Since it has been already confirmed that the GOG downloader will be retired after Galaxy comes out and the only way to download games directly from the website will be through the browser.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by stg83
Posted April 08, 2015
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Davane: There's your problem.

You are talking about ONLINE MP. That is DRM, albeit an often desirable one.

Meanwhile, MP that go through other means beyond official servers is waning, and being phased out.
Which is a pure development choice, doesn't make a game suddenly DRM... hate the choice sure, but call it what it is.
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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)