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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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popperik: I'm really curious if they'll even bother issuing an official response or if they'll just sit this out.
I would bet on not bothering. It seems like the only thread that gets regular visits and responses of the blues is the one about gog galaxy. Heck not even the one about the unbundling is not getting any response about the status...
Posted April 08, 2015
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altshift_kill: Yes, coolness goes green then. But, what if they need the money to develop games like the witcher series ?! Or ... what if they don't have the money /// because they give every extra bit of content for free /// and ... i don't know, get rape by EA or Activision and then you will get those 16 DLC for 4.99 each ?!

In the end, you paid for the base game. It has like 200+ h ... but you cancel your preorder because CDR is evil like fuck for not giving you those expansions for free. GG man!
Chill out, random internet person.

I preordered based on the assumption I was getting the whole package for the price I was paying up front. If that no longer is the case, then I will no longer preorder. I think it's pretty simple.

CDPR had a business model that seemed to work so far, they released 3 witcher games following it. I think they could have kept that same business model. Maybe they couldn't, what do I know? I have no inside info. All I know is that I'm not willing to pay 80€ for a game, so I won't buy it. I'm sure CDPR weighted the loss of my preorder cancel vs the win of the expansion preorders and judged they would make more money with the expansions. Then go for it, CDPR! Just, don't ask me to still support you, you traded my support for other's support. You can't win with everyone.
Posted April 08, 2015
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mchartman: What would you have the artists and writers do in the meantime? Is there a writing/pre-production embargo that must be in effect until the base game is released? I'm not sure you understand how game development works.
Wow, I don't understand how game development works, that's a new. Funny how said artists survived the long years between Witcher 1 and 2 with no DLC-making.
Posted April 08, 2015
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Davane: Do you have any other examples, JMich?
I love that pick because it's the oldest example of a map pack released at the same time as the base game I can find. I also love the speech packs I keep posting whenever someone complains about having to buy a new version.
What kind of examples are you looking for? I could try to find some if you'd like.
Posted April 08, 2015
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mkess: And guess what? I buy these games never ever at realease, I wait until the GotY edition is on sale for 5 bucks.

I will do the same now with The Witcher 3. Good by preorder money for CD-Project.

Update:

Preorder canceled. I have solved my problem now..
how did you do that i'm having trouble finding out how?
Posted April 08, 2015
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mkess: And guess what? I buy these games never ever at realease, I wait until the GotY edition is on sale for 5 bucks.

I will do the same now with The Witcher 3. Good by preorder money for CD-Project.

Update:

Preorder canceled. I have solved my problem now..
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TheSteveScott: how did you do that i'm having trouble finding out how?
Here: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/witcher_expansion_0f2a2/post534
Posted April 08, 2015
Judging by what small amount of information is available on the planned expansions I would say that they are quite full-fledged and not like the typical DLC. 30 hours of gameplay is actually like a second game right?

And the pre-order is of course kind of support for CDPR. However I rarely (never) pre-order because usually it doesn't make much sense to buy something you can get cheaper later with more information about, so I guess one should only do it if one wants to really support CDPR. And you need a really good computer too. Lately I'm a bit mad about them (regional pricing with extreme discounts for some regions on GOG), so I don't want to support them. So I won't pre-order.

In general I fear that Witcher 3 might not be a very big financial success. As an AAA game the production cost is surely in the $10-50 million range and they need to sell millions of copies to make profit. On the other hand the requirements are so high that I wonder if enough gamers have such computers available.

I would have downscaled the requirements and the productions costs and would have tried to convince people with an interesting story and game world. In the worst case Witcher 3 will be an expensive, repetitive, graphically demanding, boring monster slaying experience.

I hope though that they knew all this and made it better.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Trilarion
Posted April 08, 2015
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altshift_kill: For the rest of the kids that are crying out there about this expansions. You need to grow up for the fuck sake!

They did not lie, just reed the fucking quotation.

http://i.imgur.com/W6MAzDd.png
Thanks for that. I was just about to write that I am indeed a bit disappointed because CDPR indicated before that all DLCs(?) for The Witcher 3 will be free (a bit like earlier Witcher 1-2 games offered all new content also free of charge, didn't they?).

I found such a promise quite brave and unexpected nowadays, and now I felt they partly ate their words. Well, according to that quote, apparently I just wasn't paying enough attention, and read more to the "DLCs will be free" than there actually was. Naturally I expected DLC to mean any new content to the game, semantics schemantics.

I'm still thinking of cancelling the pre-order and wait for a proper GOTY version, something I like to do with all my other games too (ie. get the final, all bits and pieces included, version). Of course it is still nice that the smaller DLCs will be free, so at least something good there.

And, as long as it is all DRM-free...
Post edited April 08, 2015 by timppu
Posted April 08, 2015
People need to understand the difference between expansions packs and DLC bundles. Expansion packs are nothing new and have always been around. You pay for it because back in the old days it offered you a totally new 30+h SP/MP experience. You didn't know much about it months after the release of the base game.

Then again you guys are offering this expansion before your base game. Which means one thing, your game isn't ready yet. You have delayed the game multiple times but I'm wondering if it was for optimization purposes or just to cut some content here and there to please your publisher and your biggest partner Microsoft.

Just when I was about to pre order my first title in years you guys come with this stuff :s Looks like no modern video game will ever top the old school ones

I guess I have to wait another 6-9 months for the complete/goty/ultimate/witchtastic version -____-

Why not mention about the expansion months later? Or when the actual campaign will release in 2016? It feels like you are pre ordering a pre ordered game lol.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Zurvan7
Posted April 08, 2015
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JMich: There isn't. My beef is with those claiming that because (base game + extra content) option is available, base game is not complete. Do you recall the often posted image about paintings being games and DLCs? My point would be that base game is the painting, expansion 1 is a better frame for the painting, expansion 2 is better lightning for the painting. Yes, you do get a better experience if you have everything, but you still have a complete experience if you only have the base game.
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P1na: For me, it depends. I'm cool with expansion like the old Starcraft Brood wars, Commandos beyond the call of duty or the recent Shadowrun: Dragonfall itself. I played the game, enjoyed the game, then got more content in the form of extra missions/campaigns. The base game is complete, there's nothing added to the base game by those expansions, I just get to play the extra.

Then there's expansions like XCom: enemy within or the dragonfall director's cut. In those cases, the base game is very much impacted by the expansion, and as such I'd rather play it once it's been completed. In these cases, I do feel that I didn't get the "complete" experience by playing the base game on its own, and even if I enjoyed the game a lot, there's always a feeling of... wasted time, in lack of a better expression? since I have to play it all over again to experience the extra content. I would rather directly play the expanded version.

I'm not saying all old games were of the first kind, or that the second kind shouldn't exist. Hell, if there was a 2nd type expansion pack for the original Deus Ex I'd be overjoyed. But for me, there's a big difference between "my game is succesful, let's put some effort into improving it" and "Okay, that's good enough for the game. Let's release this, and keep working on an expansion". For the first, when the unexpected expansion comes out improving the game, it's cool. For the second, I'll wait until all planned work is released before starting to play it.

I believe it's clear under what category witcher 3 falls, and why I want to cancel my preorder.
So you want witcher 3 to be postponed till 2016?
Posted April 08, 2015
Why announce it even before the base game is released?.
Im curious as to how the expansion packs will be priced separately?Is there a discount for buying the pass???
Posted April 08, 2015
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Trilarion: In general I fear that Witcher 3 might not be a very big financial success. As an AAA game the production cost is surely in the $10-50 million range and they need to sell millions of copies to make profit. On the other hand the requirements are so high that I wonder if enough gamers have such computers available.
Or PS4/XBoxOne. This is not a PC-only release. I agree the PC version has so high requirements that only the most ardent PC gamers will probably be playing it on release. I won't, especially because the first two games are still on my backlog.

The Wticher 3 seems to gotten so much coverage on different publications that apparently CDPR is now one of the "big boys", when it comes to AAA games. Having said that, naturally it could also fail financially, happens time to time to different high-profile (costly) games. Time will tell.
Posted April 08, 2015
Oh come on, you could at least wait till after the release of The Witcher 3 to announce payed DLC....
The game is not yet released and still you offer me to buy more of it. Not that I don't think the extra stuff might be worth the price, but I don't like this trend.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Hecke
Posted April 08, 2015
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Niggles: Why announce it even before the base game is released?.
Im curious as to how the expansion packs will be priced separately?Is there a discount for buying the pass???
Expansion packs for the game are sold only in a pack. And no they are not discounted whatsoever. They are expensive though in comparison to what the base game costs and offers for the price.

Edit: Price comparison: Base game 60$ - 200 hours of gameplay. Expansion 30 hours of gameplay 25$.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Matruchus
Posted April 08, 2015
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rmatec: I am afraid I also cancelled my preorder. This is simply not acceptable.
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Elmofongo: Did you get your money back?
Just for your information, I just received my full refund.
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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)