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General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(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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mobutu: There's already one, as far as I'm concerned:
http://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_game_expansion_pass
There's always the risk of a version above and beyond the base game + DLC combo, like strike suit zero or Deus Ex 3 did.
Posted April 08, 2015
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Scorpionscythe: This is such bad PR. What were they thinking? I personally dislike this a lot. I purchased the past Witcher games with confidence knowing I was getting a full game from day one. That made me a huge supporter. I had the same expectation going into Witcher 3.

Announcing this now makes it seem like content was withheld to sell separately later. If they just waited, sold a full expansion sometime next year, and offered a 'loyalty' discount, I think this would have gone over much better with the public. As it stands, this can only hurt their reputation because there are many customers like myself thinking this is really shady.
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Trilarion: To be a bit sympathizing with them I do not recall that they excluded any paid expansions later on. Also the definition of full game is kind of tricky. Whatever content was withheld I'm sure the remaining part is still a good game and worth to be played.

Maybe I'm coming from the old times where (real) expansions were happening more often and so I do not object against them. Also announcing them before the release is nothing really that affects me because I do not pre-order anyway - I stopped doing that many years ago.

Whatever they do, I do not interpret what a full game is or what withhold content is too narrowly. I give them some benefit of doubt. But I feel encouraged that pre-ordering in general is an unwise thing and one is better off waiting and buying later. That way one gets optimal value from every company for every game. For the waiting thing it's actually better if they announce expansions earlier.
I tend to side with you on all points. They just went about it all wrong. I love the expansion days before there was DLC. I am in my 30's and remember going to the stores and picking up things like Lords of Destruction and/or Tales from the Sword Coast. I think what hurts it most is two things.

1. The timing is way too soon.
2. Calling it a Pass instead of just an Expansion Pack.

They still have a lot of my trust considering the great quality and experiences I have had in the past. I just feel like this is a push in the wrong direction.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Scorpionscythe
Posted April 08, 2015
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Luned: 1) "Pass" has negative connotations for a lot of gamers. Don't use that word to describe two expansion packs; they're not an episodic season pass.

2) Don't price the expansions and start taking preorders before the main game is released. You can do that a week or two after launch. It just looks arrogant to do it beforehand.

So, if CDPR had presented it like this:

"Great news! Not only is our wonderful new game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt about to be released in as polished a state as we could make it, we've now begun working on two major expansions. We plan for the combined expansions to have 30+ hours of new side-story content, which will take place in both existing game areas and entirely new ones. We anticipate releasing the first expansion in Fall 2015. We'll be updating you with more details after the launch of the main game."

then I think there would have been more "Oh, that sounds like it could be cool," and less rage.
I agree about the part 2, it would have been a proper way to handle it, however i do not agree with part 1. It is just a PR rebranding of Season pass, the size of it is another question but it is still a pass.
Posted April 08, 2015
I don't know why, but this makes me sad... :-( CDP, you have spoiled me with all of your free updates for W1 and W2... I probably would have waited for a GOTY edition if I knew this was coming.
Posted April 08, 2015
So much nonsense on this thread I thought I'd just add a little truth into the blend:

1) This is not day one DLC or anything like that. Day one DLC is paid content released at the same time as the main game. The meat of this expansion is not projected to be released for close to a year! Is work on this project taking place right now? Sure it is, but here's the rub; its not going to be ready yet and many of the teams working on The Witcher 3 main game finished up a long time ago. All those art assets and sound design people have to do something right? This is what they're doing.

2) £20 (or you're regional equivalent) is a perfectly reasonable price for a 30 hour expansion. Even if we assume the time figures are somewhat inflated, I remember buying my boxed copy of Tales of the Sword Coast for £15.00 fifteen years ago and I doubt that gave me more than 20-25 hours of content, but that's always seemed like great value.

3) Expansion packs that offer more of the same are a good thing if the game they're expanding is good in the first place! Now we don't know for sure the The Witcher 3 will be good and if your point of view is a "well I'll wait for the reviews" one then that's a perfectly reasonable stance to take, but people are talking as if an expansion needs to be some kind of game changing mechanical or graphical upgrade. There's a term for that kind of thing, they're called "sequels". (Plus The Witcher 3 is already a graphically advanced and fairly system demanding game. Upgrade beyond that and not many gamers will be able to play it.) I recently enjoyed playing Pillars of Eternity. I know that game has an expansion pack on the way and...I'm glad. I'm looking forward to some more of the same and I'm not going to get butt-hurt if it doesn't completely radicalise my Pillars of Eternity experience. More of a good game is more good game. Its laughable that people see that as bad news.
Posted April 08, 2015
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P1na: There's always the risk of a version above and beyond the base game + DLC combo, like strike suit zero or Deus Ex 3 did.
I'm gonna wait anyway until Q1 2016 when Blood and Wine is slated for release so I wont touch Witcher 3 until then.
If a superior goty version appears until then, then I'll buy that ;)
Posted April 08, 2015
Wait!!
The game wasn't released yet, AND THEY ALREADY OFFER A SEASON PASS!!!????

If I remember well, they promesed the DLC's for free http://www.gog.com/news/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_free_dlc_announcement

And now THIS!?

What is the point of pre-purchase, if the next year (I'm sure) will be a "goty" version with the game and the expansions?.
Posted April 08, 2015
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mobutu: I'm gonna wait anyway until Q1 2016 when Blood and Wine is slated for release so I wont touch Witcher 3 until then.
If a superior goty version appears until then, then I'll buy that ;)
It probably won't, those things show up a while later. You wouldn't want your customers to get that instead of the base game, the DLC and then the super version as well.
Posted April 08, 2015
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Luned: 1) "Pass" has negative connotations for a lot of gamers. Don't use that word to describe two expansion packs; they're not an episodic season pass.

2) Don't price the expansions and start taking preorders before the main game is released. You can do that a week or two after launch. It just looks arrogant to do it beforehand.

So, if CDPR had presented it like this:

"Great news! Not only is our wonderful new game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt about to be released in as polished a state as we could make it, we've now begun working on two major expansions. We plan for the combined expansions to have 30+ hours of new side-story content, which will take place in both existing game areas and entirely new ones. We anticipate releasing the first expansion in Fall 2015. We'll be updating you with more details after the launch of the main game."

then I think there would have been more "Oh, that sounds like it could be cool," and less rage.
Are you reading this PR? It's a bit in the captain Obvious section but this past few years has learned us how much you suck at PR...
Posted April 08, 2015
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Digital_CHE: If I remember well, they promesed the DLC's for free http://www.gog.com/news/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_free_dlc_announcement.
Nope, they just announced there that they will give you for free already existing ingame content that CD RED pr skillfully packaged in to 16 fixtional DLCs which effectively don't exist since they are already part of the game since its inception but they decided to trickle feed the content to users after release to make them feel special about getting free content.

True is they did not talk at that point about doing any other dlc stuff for Witcher 3 and everybody accepted that was it for the game.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by Matruchus
Posted April 08, 2015
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."
Posted April 08, 2015
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Digital_CHE: Wait!!
The game wasn't released yet, AND THEY ALREADY OFFER A SEASON PASS!!!????

If I remember well, they promesed the DLC's for free http://www.gog.com/news/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_free_dlc_announcement

And now THIS!?

What is the point of pre-purchase, if the next year (I'm sure) will be a "goty" version with the game and the expansions?.
To quote from the link you provided...
"16 extra content packs coming free for everyone!"

Unless that has changed, we'll be getting the free DLC we were promised.
Posted April 08, 2015
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PhilipG: I was intending to buy W3 on release; my PC will actually be able to run it now. The only issue would have been justifying spending so much money on a single computer game. Like most of us here, I suspect, I own a huge number of games I haven't played through properly yet, and a number more I'd replay if I could find the time. So I've learnt to be patient and await the sales for titles I want. W3 was going to be an exception, since just a month or so back I played W2 for the first time and really enjoyed it.

But this? An expansion pack that they've clearly already starting work on before the main game is even polished and released? DLC by another name? The feeling that I wouldn't be buying a full game, but maybe 75% of one? Thanks, CDPR, you've helped me make my decision. I'll wait for the deluxe version next year or the year after, on sale. Ta. :-/
That is the way I feel, too. And I also learned to be patient.

W3 was an absolute exception for me, spending so much money on only one game, and buying it at release. As a sign of respect for a company, who made their DLC on the past games free of charge.

No more. I canceled my preorder. I am used to buy only complete games. That is a thing, I learned with age and experience. At the time of the GotY version the games are mostly playable, too.

Call it wisdom.

You, all defenders of the faith, do not know how good or bad the game actually is.Or if your PC is able to run it smoothly.

I am not willing to take the risk of the preorder any longer. Because the anouncement of DLC before release is in my eyes a clear warning sign. A raised red flag. It maybe, that this is here not the case. It's CD Project, after all. But I will not abandoning my own set of rules when to buy, or not to buy a game.
Post edited April 08, 2015 by mkess
Posted April 08, 2015
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Foxhack: If this was the big surprise they were teasing... could you take it back? Because I don't want it, and I'm pretty sure nobody else does.
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Cyraxpt: I think that was the free gog versions for those who had cdkeys for the Stalker games (and some others).

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mintee: I was excited to see this but then saw the price. Seems a bit pricey for an extra 30hrs (supposedly) of gameplay. I'll probably get it but will wait upon some reviews.
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Cyraxpt: Sarcasm, right? Because 25$ for 30 hours is an amazing deal considering that most games nowadays have 8~12 hours and and cost the double.
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.
Posted April 08, 2015
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mobutu: Actually, the base game costs 50 bucks and offers 200 hours of gameplay (according to devs) -> $0.25/hour
and the expansion pass costs 25 bucks and offers 30 hours of gameplay (according to devs). -> $0.83/hour
that's a price hike of 333% :)
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Trilarion: For current prices it might be more expensive, but still within reason. Some games can be more expensive than others and $0.83/hour is still not really expensive, especially since this is probably the highest price they can ever ask for. It will only get cheaper in the future.
Also I'm not sure where to find the 200 hours gameplay of the main game. I hope it won't all be repetitive monster slaying.
Source for the 200hours (50 main storyline + 150 sidequests and travel), can't get more official than that:
https://twitter.com/Bacon_is_life/status/582276508556869632

So I still say that 25 bucks for the expansion is helluva expensive when compared to the price of the base game ...
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Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)