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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
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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ThePunishedSnake: What happened to "NO DLC" policy?
This is really crappy, guys. I like CDPR because they don't provide additional contents, all the game is available from D1. Now you are offering a DLC pass...really?
I posted about this in the other thread on the expansion:

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_witcher_3_expansions_announced/post41

When they announced the free DLCs they did an interview with Polygon and backed away from saying that they wouldn't release paid DLC. They said that if they did, it would be worthwhile. Which, in my mind, is essentially saying, it's coming.
Posted April 07, 2015
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moonshineshadow: If the content is big enough to be a real expension I don't mind paying extra for it like I did years ago with boxed expensions for games.

But I find it strange to already sell expensions for a game that is not even released yet.
Marketing I guess? There will be a lot of hype around the game release compared to months after. Not taking advantage of it would be stupid - it's not like you have to buy the expansion today...
Posted April 07, 2015
Oh, there's no way this is going to go smooth :)))
Posted April 07, 2015
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bmgermani: I find it hilarious when people are falling for the "free 16 DLC" promo thing.

You can't possibly not realize that it's just fluff they're adding to the game, and calling it a gorillion DLC to make them seem like "such good guys", right?
You do realize most of us know that these 16 DLC's won't be significant and will largely probably be crap... but you do realize that most companies would charge for these 16 DLC's and not care whatsoever? You realize before this stupid DLC craze that we had expansion packs with large significant content that we had no problem paying for it because it was worth it.

I'd gladly take the later over the former before were being charged for horse armor... aka Bethesda.
Posted April 07, 2015
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DreamedArtist: They are calling this ---- An expansion pass of expansion packs ---- I know I was lost at first but hey if you factor in the price drop and free 16 dlc and this 20 dollar expansion of 30 hours of extra gameplay with expanded land is pretty damn good compared to the shit we get with other companies
That may very well be the case but at this point in time we can't even say for certain whether The Witcher 3 has 200 hours worth of gameplay let alone the supposed 30 hours in the expansion pack. I think the announcement is ill timed and would have been received more positively had they waited until after the release of The Witcher 3 with it getting stellar reviews (hopefully).

But they didn't and the reason being that they expect a lot of preorders despite the line they have added in the announcement to emphasize how different their approach is from the usual Season Pass content marketed by other developers and publishers.
Post edited April 07, 2015 by stg83
Posted April 07, 2015
high rated
;_;


Not you too CD Project.
Post edited April 07, 2015 by WBGhiro
Posted April 07, 2015
high rated
INB4 "GOOD NEWS!™"
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GOG.com: “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."
You just know that shit's going to hit the fan when you have to resort to preemptive damage control in a release thread. :P

Also, mark me up as one of those users that hoped for a kewl, iconic classic as game #1000. Something like the original System Shock. This is... underwhelming.
Posted April 07, 2015
well i read that they say that its a way to support the devs(it's a chance to pre-order the two expansions and even show your support for the devs). so when i get the check from my work i will pay for it in advance. i really like the devs and have high expectations for the game.
Posted April 07, 2015

the content will be available on October so we have 7 months to wait and see. but it will be a good idea to give some discount for the preeorder and for the loyalty of have brought the tree games on GOG
Okay, I didn't realize it wasn't day one. I apologize, but still not a good idea in my opinion.
Posted April 07, 2015
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So you add useless crap to your game. Like other companies do. But those companies charge for the useless crap. Meanwhile you decide not to, and proudly shout MY USELESS CRAP IS FREE, AM I NOT A GOOD COMPANY?

Come on man.
Post edited April 07, 2015 by bmgermani
Posted April 07, 2015
high rated
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d2t: And what is your problem with them releasing a HUGE expansion after game release, like in good old days many companies did, years before some dude "invented" word DLC? Just because many developers take advantage of DLCs, should CDPR be forever forbidden from charging a penny for an expansion that is times bigger than many AAA games released these days?

Where is your entitlement coming from?
Back in those days, expansions weren't usually developed at the same time as the main game or announced for release before the game was even out.

This is a pure moneygrab. Nothing more.

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d2t:
"16 free DLCs." When I first saw that, I figured they were poking fun at downloadable cosmetic and game-altering content. Many of us believed they wouldn't stoop to selling extra stuff for their game, given their history of supporting Witcher with extra stuff down the road.

And now this happens.

So tell me, how's that kool-aid taste?
Posted April 07, 2015
high rated
Was about to preorder the game...but the extra money for the DLC is making me think twice. I don't know if the fact of announcing this before release would be better welcomed 6 month after the game is on the shekves... It is just a matter of perspective I guess...
But like everytime I hear aboiut upcoming DLC's or season pass and so on...all I want is to wait for a "GOTY" to come out and then buy the game at it's "right price".
Wait and see then...
Posted April 07, 2015
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Foxhack: So tell me, how's that kool-aid taste?
If they don't answer, it's probably because they drowned in it.
Posted April 07, 2015
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PaterAlf: A regional priced pre-order expansion pass from the people who once told us they are the cool guys, because they won't do all the crap that other developer's and publisher's normally do in the industry nowadays.

I hope it's a belated April Fool's joke.
My thoughts EXACTLY!

Skeptic again it seems...
Posted April 07, 2015
Let's get The Witcher 3 first, I've been waiting nearly Nine months....

[edit] I Think the first expansion should be a gift to those who preordered many many moons ago! :P
Post edited April 07, 2015 by Cavenagh
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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)