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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 09, 2015
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Davane: Expansion packs are normally used to update the engine and adjust the gameplay with new mechanics, without requiring a total overhaul of the entire game. Thus, the existing software could be used to give new life into the game itself.
Not really, they do it some time, but it's not "normally". Wing Commander expansions didn't change either engine nor to the gameplay, they added extra missions and some extra ships but nothing more, same with the Dungeon Keeper's ones, same for Quake, for Populous, for C&C, etc... Expansions that actually significantly modify the base game are more the exceptions rather than the rule.
Posted April 09, 2015
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Klumpen0815: GoG has a reputation for insulting PR-speech with all the Good news!™ by now and it's getting worse nearly every month.
And what are you doing here on the website of this company which is insulting you so much more every month? If it's so bad, you surely haven't bought any games here in recent months, right?

Just leave if you don't like it here and put your money where your mouth is.
Posted April 09, 2015
Just wanna say i'm pleased to hear we'll be getting more of the Witcher, and more than happy to pay for it. Sorry! You can carry on moaning now!
Posted April 09, 2015
Well I guess I can feel less guilty using Steam now... thanks anyway CDPR.
Posted April 09, 2015
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Reaper9988: Two things....

First:
Assuming the playtimes are correct
10 hours is not an Expansion it's a DLC, 20 hours is well a small expansion.
Let's say both together actually make one expansion.
25€ for one good expansion is acceptable though.

Two:
I'm pretty confident CDPR can pull off awesome stuff DLC/Expansion but
renaming a Season pass Expansion pass doesn't make it any different or better.

And yes yet again I am disappoint, not by the expansions that should be awesome, but by the same shenanigans as everyone else.
10 hours is an expansion.
How many dlc do you see with more than 1-2 hours of content?
Just to mention a famous example.
Call of duty only had map packs and some new guns even though the company behind it made millions.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by Lodium
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Reaper9988: Two things....

First:
Assuming the playtimes are correct
10 hours is not an Expansion it's a DLC, 20 hours is well a small expansion.
Let's say both together actually make one expansion.
25€ for one good expansion is acceptable though.

Two:
I'm pretty confident CDPR can pull off awesome stuff DLC/Expansion but
renaming a Season pass Expansion pass doesn't make it any different or better.

And yes yet again I am disappoint, not by the expansions that should be awesome, but by the same shenanigans as everyone else.
avatar
Lodium: 10 hours is an expansion.
Ho many dlc do you see with more than 1-2 hours of content?
Just to mention a famous example.
Call of duty only had map packs and some new guns even though the company behind it made millions.
10 hours is a GAME! XD
Posted April 09, 2015
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Davane: 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
I agree with your logic! However.... If the game turns out to be bad and one pre-purchases the expansions, they theoretically have between May and October to cancel their pre-purchase of the expansions. In this case, "Bad + Before" will eventually become "No DLC Sales", which levels the playing field. The only money that was lost would be the interest on the money put up front for the expansions before they were able to determine for themselves that the game was "good or bad".

One thing I haven't seen the people who are claiming to refund their pre-purchase for the Witcher 3 is the amount of money that has already been made on their investment. Chances are, all those pre-payments by everyone (including myself who pre-payed last year) went into a bank account and investments which have been making money off of that collective amount of money.

Sure, people who have invested in a pre-payment for several months now (because they've played the games, they like the series, enjoy DRM free games and like what they see for the upcoming Witcher 3 release) can choose to cancel their pre-payments; however, the company has probably already made money on their investment and they will only have to pay that money again later and perhaps not get all of the "perks". Thinking that their request for a refund will inflict punitive damages may find out the punishment is less than expected.

I've been following the threads in the forum so far and the take-away I've seen is that those who have currently pre-paid for the Witcher 3 will get 16 pieces of downloadable content (over a period of 7 to 8 weeks). Downloadable content, at least to CDPR is different from "expansion" packs (which in my opinion is basically adding a new 'game' within a game). There are people who have concerns about content being removed to put towards future expansions, but from what I've seen of GOG's business practices (or CDPR) , I personally don't think it is within their code of ethics to do that to a customer base they tried so hard to build. In fact, I think they probably show a level of transparency most companies do not do today.

I pre-ordered the expansion pass (in spite of the positive or negative posts from the forums). I look at it from this perspective: last time I went to the movies (which can be a bad experience based on the audience), it cost me about $8.50 for a Sunday matinee to see a 1 1/2 hour film. It may take several months to see a movie for which you may see a "teaser trailer" ahead of time. Being teased to pay $25.00 for 30 hours of game play (in which I have some influence over the 'movie' being played), is one *heck* of a bargain.

Cheers!
Post edited April 09, 2015 by JDelekto
Posted April 09, 2015
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Dawnreader: Don't buy it then. What is problem ? Or CDPR oblige you to buy packs with base game?
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Lifthrasil: Exactly. I don't buy. Which is what I was saying. Pre-order cancelled and I wait until these 'expansion packs' are added back to the 'base game' in form of some GOTY edition. No real problem there. I just find it sad, that GOG went this way. I used to like to support GOG and CDPR by pre-ordering, because they seemed less intent on milking every cent they could get from their customers. They were different from other producers/distributors. That changed. They are becoming indistinguishable from others and therefore will not get my support in the form of pre-orders any more. 'Problem' solved.
I find it interesting and somewhat mildly amusing that many people in this thread think CDPR (and GoG for that matter) are different from other producers and distributors once money is involved. These people are not making (and selling) games for charity, they are doing it for profit. And like any business you do what the market will bear or guess what? You won't be in business anymore.

People on this forum can whine and complain but yet you go to GoG's front page and look here, what is on top of the top seller list? Money talks, even on this site and the front page is all the evidence CDPR needs.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by synfresh
Posted April 09, 2015
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Dawnreader: Don't buy it then. What is problem ? Or CDPR oblige you to buy packs with base game?
avatar
Lifthrasil: Exactly. I don't buy. Which is what I was saying. Pre-order cancelled and I wait until these 'expansion packs' are added back to the 'base game' in form of some GOTY edition. No real problem there. I just find it sad, that GOG went this way. I used to like to support GOG and CDPR by pre-ordering, because they seemed less intent on milking every cent they could get from their customers. They were different from other producers/distributors. That changed. They are becoming indistinguishable from others and therefore will not get my support in the form of pre-orders any more. 'Problem' solved.
What do you mean by "added back"?
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Reaper9988: Two things....

First:
Assuming the playtimes are correct
10 hours is not an Expansion it's a DLC, 20 hours is well a small expansion.
Let's say both together actually make one expansion.
25€ for one good expansion is acceptable though.

Two:
I'm pretty confident CDPR can pull off awesome stuff DLC/Expansion but
renaming a Season pass Expansion pass doesn't make it any different or better.

And yes yet again I am disappoint, not by the expansions that should be awesome, but by the same shenanigans as everyone else.
avatar
Lodium: 10 hours is an expansion.
Ho many dlc do you see with more than 1-2 hours of content?
Just to mention a famous example.
Call of duty only had map packs and some new guns even though the company behind it made millions.
10 hours is no where near an expansion. Take avp 2 expansion, it added 3 full length campaigns and bunch of multiplayer maps and new classes. Well over 50 hours of stuff there.

Rts expansions like dawn of war added long lengthy campaigns and could justify being sold as a stand alone game.

What about those 90's expansions for quake and duke nukem 3d that added 150 odd levels for multiplayer and single player?

This is money gouging to acquire gated content.
Posted April 09, 2015
Like they said....wait and see if you like the game and if its running at all.
Heck there are so many games in my shelfs, even with playing 2 - 3 a day i am good for the next years.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Lodium: 10 hours is an expansion.
Ho many dlc do you see with more than 1-2 hours of content?
Just to mention a famous example.
Call of duty only had map packs and some new guns even though the company behind it made millions.
avatar
Neonshuffler: 10 hours is no where near an expansion. Take avp 2 expansion, it added 3 full length campaigns and bunch of multiplayer maps and new classes. Well over 50 hours of stuff there.

Rts expansions like dawn of war added long lengthy campaigns and could justify being sold as a stand alone game.

What about those 90's expansions for quake and duke nukem 3d that added 150 odd levels for multiplayer and single player?

This is money gouging to acquire gated content.
First of all, you get 30 hours for $25. This is completely in line with what people understood by "expansions" in the 90s.

Second, what "gated content"? It's not yet made! They started working on it after the base game was content-frozen in December, and they are releasing it in October and in Q1 2016, after almost a year and a year and a half of work on it, respectively.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Lodium: 10 hours is an expansion.
How many dlc do you see with more than 1-2 hours of content?
Just to mention a famous example.
Call of duty only had map packs and some new guns even though the company behind it made millions.
Most of the Borderlands 2 DLC I think (the story ones)? Certainly Tiny Tina's, and those were sold as DLC as well as sold in a 'Season Pass'.

I'm also highly skeptical of developers own claims of how long a game or DLC should take for a playthrough, it almost never turns out to be true, even for an 'average' playthrough.

According to Howlongtobeat.com Tiny Tina's DLC was 6 hours for the main story, 8 for Main + extra's and 11,5 for completionists.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Lodium: 10 hours is an expansion.
Ho many dlc do you see with more than 1-2 hours of content?
Just to mention a famous example.
Call of duty only had map packs and some new guns even though the company behind it made millions.
avatar
Neonshuffler: 10 hours is no where near an expansion. Take avp 2 expansion, it added 3 full length campaigns and bunch of multiplayer maps and new classes. Well over 50 hours of stuff there.

Rts expansions like dawn of war added long lengthy campaigns and could justify being sold as a stand alone game.

What about those 90's expansions for quake and duke nukem 3d that added 150 odd levels for multiplayer and single player?

This is money gouging to acquire gated content.
well, some expansions in the old days were quite larger than normal expansions
in some cases it was so much stuff that the expansion coud be seen as a standalone game as you say.
Granted stuff costed much less to make back then.
Posted April 09, 2015
Hmmm
Yea...well first a big stand against paying for DLCs and now preorder possibilities, and all this even before the game is released :)
I'm sure as hell not gonna buy any expasion before I get my hands on the game itself.
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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)