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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 08, 2015
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Allow me to say, GOG, that you need to cut down with the industry-standard BS PR talk.

Today I received your "Expansion Pass for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!" newsletter. Putting aside that:
- it arrived 24hrs after the official announcement, and
- the fact that I'm not even subscribed to receive your "Release updates and announcements (Sent on occasion when we have something really big to announce.)" emails,
there's something that stood out to me when I took the trouble to read it because of an exchange I had a few moments ago in another thread.

This is the last sentence of the newsletter:
Secure your access to the new adventures now.
Seriously GOG?

That sounds as if the expansions were not only out already, but also only available in limited quantities and I should really hurry up and get them or miss out.

I''s clearly aimed to induce hype and cause an impulse purchase, so I wonder - how does that fit in with Marcin Iwinski's words that you can't stress enough in the OP?

Talk about lame and off putting PR talk.

*rolls eyes*
Posted April 08, 2015
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HypersomniacLive: Allow me to say, GOG, that you need to cut down with the industry-standard BS PR talk.

Today I received your "Expansion Pass for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!" newsletter. Putting aside that:
- it arrived 24hrs after the official announcement, and
- the fact that I'm not even subscribed to receive your "Release updates and announcements (Sent on occasion when we have something really big to announce.)" emails,
there's something that stood out to me when I took the trouble to read it because of an exchange I had a few moments ago in another thread.

This is the last sentence of the newsletter:

Secure your access to the new adventures now.
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HypersomniacLive: Seriously GOG?

That sounds as if the expansions were not only out already, but also only available in limited quantities and I should really hurry up and get them or miss out.

I''s clearly aimed to induce hype and cause an impulse purchase, so I wonder - how does that fit in with Marcin Iwinski's words that you can't stress enough in the OP?

Talk about lame and off putting PR talk.

*rolls eyes*
i was wondering too, why i sometimes recieve e-mails without being subscribed, that sucks
Posted April 08, 2015
It's really a case of bad timing, problematic communication and mixed signals. It's no "Good News" calibre scenario, but it must've been clear from the start that this announcement would get mixed reactions at best, especially here on GOG itself. I refuse to believe they didn't see that coming.

Which would bring up the question - why do it, now? And by "do it" I don't mean announce the coming expansions, but put them up for sale already. Do they need the extra money? Did they decide that the chance for this additional money was worth upsetting a portion of their customer base? I don't think we'll ever get the full picture of what happened behind the scenes. So everybody just needs to decide wether or not this influences their stance towards the game, and if it does, how.

I haven't preordered the game yet, I'm not sure I will. I would have had they kept the original release date, since it was my birthday - would have meant Witcher 3 + a new PC. Now I'll wait a while longer before making my decision. :-)
Post edited April 08, 2015 by TheRealJayDee
Posted April 08, 2015
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Ultra_DTA: WTF happened CDPR? An expansion pass? Really? Going the way of EA are we? Geez, there really is NOWHERE to turn to is there?
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Gravislord: Why the heck are people bitching about this? This is not DLC, this is EXPANSIONS. Have we all forgotten what those are? And, geez, 20 bucks for 2 REAL Expansion Packs (Less than what Bungie charged for Destiny Expansion Packs). And these expansion packs are being developed AFTER the actual game is done. Add on, for free, all the DLC that is going to be offered and this is a great option / value. That of course is assuming you find value in the core game, etc..

Again, bitching about REAL expansion packs being SOLD, due to the cost associated with making them, is stupid. That is a fact. You can judge the actual value of those expansion as information comes out, naturally, but charging for them does not make the company evil, etc.. It is just logical and just.
Its not an expansion, Its a season pass. Season pass are fucking bullshit. Its gated content in a game which is terrible. Also gog sells said pass more expensive on here then it is on steam due to their regional pricing.

I'm sorry you like to get charged more for content that should be in said game to begin with or patched in later. I'm not sorry that I refuse to be sold an incomplete product and forced to buy something to get the rest of the game when they are charging me over 70 $ for the fucking base game.

Lets see what witcher 3 brought to the table:
Price gouging
Selling the game for 70 then asking for almost 36 bucks for the rest of the content.
Game does not look as it was advertised before

So I dare say people have the right to be disgruntled and take there business else where.
Posted April 08, 2015
"Its not an expansion, Its a season pass." It is a pass for two expansions...
Posted April 08, 2015
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Mr.Caine: Steam is another storefront famous for overreacting forums,not a gaming news site.
People on sites like IGN are also up in arms over this announcement.
Posted April 08, 2015
OK.

I've read the announcement and I can see why people are pissed. I was at first and I think that announcing a pre-order for expansions before the game is out is in bad form. However, since the expansions have a significant amount of time between the release of the game and their release, I'm ok with it now that the news had settled.

I admit, I have been considering cancelling my pre-order. I'm a little worried about my system handling the game and the fact that it's going to be out on the PS4 is a huge plus. Ideally I could order the game on here, get all the GoG goodies and get the PS4 version, but that's not how it is. The only thing keeping me from cancelling now is all the goodies that GoG is offering with the PC version and the now $12 savings on the game.
Posted April 08, 2015
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darthspudius: Not quite, isn't Game of The Year editions a XBOX thing?
No. Deus Ex and UT3 both had GOTY editions, back when the original XBox was still getting curbstomped by Sony.
Posted April 08, 2015
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Kristian: The 16 DLCs are NOT already incorporated into TW3:
"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available up to 20% off, packed with bonus content on GOG.com, and will receive 16 free DLCs after release."
Did they ever say what those 16 'free' DLCs are, and what they would actually be worth if sold separately?

This is exactly like the Civ V Day 1 DLC scandal, where you got additional cultures if you pre-ordered from certain places.

What actually happened was that you ended up with people who missed out on the additional content because they didn't take a specific pre-order deal, and had to pay for it. As such, while certain people got additional content free, it was very much at the expense of other people who were forced to pay for said content.

If everyone got the content to start with, there would be no perceived worth for it. It wouldn't be a bonus UNLESS it is something that is normally paid for.

Ultimately, value is often defined not as the total numerical cost of a group of things, but as a comparison to the cost of other groups of things.

Think about it - Horse Armour DLC is considered valueless curiosities by many. As such, giving away 16 such DLCs for free is worth nothing. They won't sell, so they might as well be given away. Unless this DLC has value elsewhere, however arbitrary, it will remain largely valueless.

Now, there's bigger DLC, which CDPR always said that they would charge for. These have value, yet these are NOT being given away. It doesn't stop it from being DLC however. It just makes you wonder why they bothered with 16 negligible DLC except as something to "give away" and to somehow inflate the perceived worth of the paid DLC.

The problem is that most people think about things in relation to others. If these paid for DLC are 10 to 20 hours of extra gameplay, then it means that the FREE DLCs are NOT 10 to 20 hours of extra gameplay. Thus, whatever perceived worth supporters of CDPR were thinking that these free DLC had has been diminished by this announcement.

This relational thinking also permeates completionists who are thinking about GotY editions. it's the same as having a product unsealed, in mint condition. It's perceived value is much higher than it's actual value, by virtue of being "unsealed", "mint", or "complete" - but now, TW3 won't be "complete" and as such, it's perceived worth has been diminished.
Posted April 08, 2015
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darthspudius: Not quite, isn't Game of The Year editions a XBOX thing?
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geminidomino: No. Deus Ex and UT3 both had GOTY editions, back when the original XBox was still getting curbstomped by Sony.
However Deus Ex never had an expansion or any paid addons/DLC of any kind. It was GOTY Edition because it was literally the Game of the Year.

edit: Excellent, excellent post Davane. I'm not going to quote you but that's an excellent, fantastic summary of why so many people are pissed off. Not everyone, but definitely a lot of people are angry for that exact reason. And they've got good reason to be angry.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by bigsilverhotdog
Posted April 08, 2015
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HypersomniacLive: Talk about lame and off putting PR talk.

*rolls eyes*
Also right under Marcin's suggestion for a "wait and see" approach for the Expansion Pass in the announcement post, there is another marketing push for The Witcher 3 pre-order deal, essentially for a game that is just over a month away from release.
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GOG.com: 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...
Posted April 08, 2015
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stg83: Also right under Marcin's suggestion for a "wait and see" approach for the Expansion Pass in the announcement post, there is another marketing push for The Witcher 3 pre-order deal, essentially for a game that is just over a month away from release.
And what is your problem with this? That they dared to remind people about preorder discount for game they spent years of their lives and millions of dollars to create? I guess in your opinion they should crawl on the floor and cry, begging the world for forgiveness that they dare to sell this surely horrible game which you don't even have to buy...
Posted April 08, 2015
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Lonewolf1044: It is not 30 hours per expansion and it cost $12 for each EP, while it is still good it would have been even better if each EP added 30 hours a piece.I am holding off until I get the main game and see how it plays first.
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Cyraxpt: I didn't say it was, i was talking about the season pass (2 expansions) as i guess it was the person that i quoted, it was said that it's 10h for the first one and 20h for the second, 12$ for 10h is still a good deal. Now, if the quality of them will be good or not, i don't know, i wouldn't even want those 10h~30h of expansion for free if it's only fetch quests...
My bad and I agree with you on the fetch quests, I am guessing there is only going to be two EPs because it is a expansion pass and it appears to work like season pass. Hope the game lives up to it name after all the delays.


I sure hope we get that 16 free DLC :)
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Lonewolf1044
Posted April 08, 2015
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bigsilverhotdog: ...The fact that we're seeing a fucking season pass pre-order for expansionDLC before the game even comes out is merely one more indicator to me that The Witcher 3 has a more and more realistic chance of severely disappointing....
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Trilarion: I don't see how one thing follows from the other here, I mean, how the existence of the pre-order for expansions has any predictive power over the game quality of the main game which will be released soon.
The logic is quite simple really: CDPR are jumping the gun, implying that they are eager for people to make a decision BEFORE TW3 hits the shelves.

We don't KNOW the quality of TW3 - it could be Good or Bad. However, there were two options for the paid DLC announcement - Before or After release.

Putting the two together, we get:

Good + Before = DLC Sales
Bad + Before = DLC Sales
Good + After = DLC Sales
Bad + After = No DLC Sales

Since CDPR are wanting to avoid the possibility of No DLC Sales, it makes sense for them to announce this Before, since they will get DLC Sales either way. This is because they don't know whether TW3 will be Good or Bad.

If CDPR firmly believed that TW3 would be good, then they will get DLC Sales regardless of when they announced it. Chances are that they would have got MORE sales if they waited until the game was out.

CDPR might be thinking that they are doing good with an early announcement, but what they are actually doing is shaking the customers faith in TW3. This might seem strange, but it's the same sort of thinking behind investor relations that affect share prices, and can result in actually making TW3 the kind of flop that CDPR were actually trying to avoid...
Posted April 08, 2015
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geminidomino: No. Deus Ex and UT3 both had GOTY editions, back when the original XBox was still getting curbstomped by Sony.
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bigsilverhotdog: However Deus Ex never had an expansion or any paid addons/DLC of any kind. It was GOTY Edition because it was literally the Game of the Year.
It did have the multiplayer patch, which was free but separate until the GOTY edition.
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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)