It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)
Pages:
1
10
20
30
40
50
60
63
64
65
66
67
74
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
avatar
iWi: ...Rest assured, there is no hidden agenda or cutting out any content from the game....
Thank you for the feedback. The problem is though that CDP can say a thousand times that no content is cut out, some people will not believe it, especially since "not put in" is kind of indistinguishable from "cut out". It may be that people are just not used anymore to expansions.

Also CDP could have announced that they are working on expansion even a bit earlier. After all with 250 people and carefully planning this is not known just since last week, is it. So one could have announced the very real possibility of paid expansions already much earlier.

(Also I have the impression that Marcin himself somehow finds the right words always a bit better than the usually PR messages. :) How does he do it??)
Post edited April 09, 2015 by Trilarion
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Trilarion: (Also I have the impression that Marcin himself somehow finds the right words always a bit better than the usually PR messages. :) How does he do it??)
Because he isn't a real person, he's an homo gestalt created by the power of all GOG employees combined. Kind of like Captain Planet.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Kristian: This is 100% consistent with the stance that CDPR has had for years, the DLC vs expansion distinction is NOT new information: http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-witcher-2-dlc-wont-cost-you-a-dime-but-expansi/1100-3203/
Read the first paragraph again, the "new information" for some people is that there IS now additional expansion content for the first time ever with a game developed by CDPR, I am not debating the length or actual value of it i.e. small DLC vs huge Expansion.

Did CDPR promise they will never release and charge for expansions before, definitely not. But based on the example of the previous Witcher games people assumed that it would be the same for Witcher 3 and there will be some small enhancements like the free DLCs. Since this didn't turn out to be the case, some folks are rightly disappointed and that is all I am saying.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by stg83
Posted April 09, 2015
@iWi
Thanks for the clarifications.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Kristian: What CDPR is offering here is VASTLY different from the industry norm. The industry norm is things like(hypothetical examples) paying $20 for 2 maps and 2 guns or something like that. You are getting many times the bang for the buck than the industry norm. Many, many, many times.
Oh common lets not exagerate. Just because some evil dev. made a horse armor dlc and slapped a 10bucks price on it, or whatever it was, that doesn't mean that those 10+20hours of the witcher 3 expansion are or will be "vastly" different than the "industry norm" or you're getting "many many many times" the bang for your buck.
I swear, sometimes it seems that this "industry norm" really worked its brainwash wonders on some.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by mobutu
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
JMich: The first piece of free content available is an additional quest called "Troll Trouble," said to include as much as "90 minutes" of additional gameplay. Bigger pieces of content would move into "expansion pack" territory, harkening to when "expansion pack" meant hours of content and often a retail product.
To be fair, troll trouble was definitely just cut out content and an "incentive" to register an account for the game launcher.
avatar
Davane: Can you link it again... I miss it...
avatar
JMich: and [url=http://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2014/11/eb934e64dd71734558cf52ab139c1fdadaa2686a.gif]here. I usually link the first picture, but there is the second one as well, for a different view at them.
Now it makes sense. The game was released 1989. Your review is from 1991 and this review (maybe) for the new(?) ST version both additional packs were available from the beginning. So this is a complete different thing.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by Rincewind81
Posted April 09, 2015
As long as it is an expansion or expansions worthy of their name, I don't care.
Although I preordered TW3 out of trust for TW3 I will still wait until I played the game.
Announcing, starting preorders near the release of the main game is nothing bad per se, many people
just had bad experiences in the past with different games/companies but I do not think it is fair to judge prematurely.
Posted April 09, 2015
Thanks for the clarification Marcin,

I'll wait to get these expansions but it was a foregone conclusion that I would be getting these regardless due to enjoyment of the series and not wanting it to end at each installment. Lessons learned from this marketing experience can be forwarded to other projects to prevent future misunderstandings, confusion and customer dissatisfaction.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Rincewind81: Now it makes sense. The game was released 1989. Your review is from 1991 and this review (maybe) for the new(?) ST version both additional packs were available from the beginning. So this is a complete different thing.
Most games nowdays when ported over do so with the expansions included, especially if they do take that long (couple of years). Back in the days, expansions were still not included, and they were released on day 1 alongside the base game.
Still, thank you for jogging my memory, but do take a look here. To quote said review (from July 1989)
Already on the Amiga people are trying to find ways around memory restrictions and Accolade are more than a little proud of their system, - 'expansion packs'. Each pack contains a disk and a manual, the first two packs are available now, one containing the scenery for a trans-California race, the other with five super cars. Each pack will retail at £11.99, and according to the head honcho at Accolade the next series of disks will contain some really hot stuff.
So both Day 1 (or month 1) DLC and announcement for more.
Posted April 09, 2015
How do the expansions relate to the primary story arc of Wild Hunt? Much is unknown, but I kind of got the impression that these would be nothing that makes Wild Hunt feel incomplete, just self contained side quests. Will they add background and character development for the Wild Hunt protagonists or antagonists?
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
iWi: 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.
avatar
twistedpony: I, too, thank Marcin for his update. That makes some sense but I would have thought that there'd be even more excitement just after release when players are being wowed by the game. On the other hand, I plead ignorance about marketing and PR. Also, is actually selling it as a preorder necessary rather than just a coming soon placeholder? That really seems to be a stand out point for many.
This is also my opinion. You announce the planned expansions now, but you don't price them or ask for money upfront until the week after the base game has been released. Why? Because it makes you look arrogant. It's just bad optics. You give the gamers a week or so to get immersed, hopefully have the buzz about your awesome stuff at its peak, and then lay on the "And now here's the details about all the extra awesomeness we'll be bringing you in a few months to freshen up the experience about the time you get through the main story! We're positive you'll think it's worth X amount of money."

I agree with Marcin about not waiting for months to do all the announcing, but it is something that you do right after launch to keep the PR train rolling. Doing it now (beyond the general announcement) is just pouring on excess coal and asking for the boiler explosion they received.
Posted April 09, 2015
The only way I could have agreed with this going on pre-order now is if there was a discount on the game+expansion pre-order like there is on the game pre-order.

It would actually cost me more to pre-order both together than it would to pre-order them individually. As I mentioned before, offer the same % discount to game+expansion pre-order, and it would make more sense.
Posted April 09, 2015
high rated
1st - I pre-ordered TW3 to support CDP and still don't have the game and you want that i pre-order Expansion...... LOL!

2nd - In Ukraine everything now cost 3 times higher then 1 year ago and even 15.99 USD is unreal price for expansion...... when common salary is around 80 USD!

3rd - You can say whatever you want.... I still have a feeling that you cut some part of a game or you don't have a time to make full game in time and divided it in parts.
Posted April 09, 2015
avatar
Elenarie: I am happy this happened. I got to cancel the preorder and spend a 4th of the money on Stick of Truth. Best decision ever.
As long as you don't change avatar we know where your heart lie ;-)
Posted April 09, 2015
Only one thing, price was 17,5 euro and now it's 25 euro, why you have changed the price?
Pages:
1
10
20
30
40
50
60
63
64
65
66
67
74
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)