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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
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
Since this strange situation with people complaining is still going on and I still cannot understand it, maybe somebody could explain me what are the issues exactly? I'm copying below my earlier post from this thread, which got no replies. I would appreciate if someone (out of the people who are still angry at CDPR) could explain to me what's wrong with my reasoning (preferably giving at least some foundation for arguments).
-------
In my opinion claims that they "cut content from the game" are really unfounded and frankly ridiculous.
Here is why:
The game was feature- and content-locked in December. After that it was in polishing phase. That is, mostly just the programmers and qa testers were involved. They needed this much time to eradicate the bugs, in such a huge game. You can't do this and add new content in parallel.
But the whole rest of the team (i.e. artists and so on) had to do something. So they were (and are) working on expansions. And the expansions are not going to be released till October and Q1 2016 respectively, which means that they would be in development for almost a year and a year and a half respectively, which is totally reasonable.
When the artists and other team members of this kind will stop working on the expansions (quite a bit in advance to the release, since, again, you need time for qa), they will move on to new projects, most likely Cyberpunk 2077.

People saying that it's bad timing to announce it now, do you really think that keeping your customers in the dark is better than being transparent? They were going to release these expansions anyway, why make a secret out of it? Knowing this helps you make an informed decision.

People saying that they want "the full game" and feel cheated, do you really want the game to be delayed into 2016? Or do you want no more Witcher content whatsoever? If it's the latter, nobody forces you to buy these expansions, and they were not cut from the base game (see above).

Regarding the price: $25 is totally reasonable for 30 hours of gameplay content by any standard.

To stress it once again, nobody forces you to buy these expansions before they are released. There is even no incentivization to do this, like discount or somesuch, as all the other publishers do. And CD Projekt tells you in the very press release: “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." How often do you hear this from publishers or developers?

And I don't even want to address the people who claim that CD Projekt "lied about free DLC". They didn't.

To conclude, I don't see any issue here whatsoever. Actually, I'm very happy that I'll be able to visit Toussaint, even if I'll have to wait till 2016, and I fail to see how somebody (who read and understood the whole press release and not just the headline) could be unhappy about this. If anyone could explain to me what's wrong with my reasoning, it would be appreciated.

PS. To anyone who'd want to reply to my post: keep in mind the post size limit (which my post is apparently exceeding). If you quote the whole thing, you'll probably get an infinite "Processing, please wait...". I had to submit it in two parts to avoid that.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by jerff
avatar
jerff: Since this strange situation with people complaining is still going on and I still cannot understand it, maybe somebody could explain me what are the issues exactly? I'm copying below my earlier post from this thread, which got no replies. I would appreciate if someone (out of the people who are still angry at CDPR) could explain to me what's wrong with my reasoning (preferably giving at least some foundation for arguments).
-------
In my opinion claims that they "cut content from the game" are really unfounded and frankly ridiculous.
Here is why:
The game was feature- and content-locked in December. After that it was in polishing phase. That is, mostly just the programmers and qa testers were involved. They needed this much time to eradicate the bugs, in such a huge game. You can't do this and add new content in parallel.
But the whole rest of the team (i.e. artists and so on) had to do something. So they were (and are) working on expansions. And the expansions are not going to be released till October and Q1 2016 respectively, which means that they would be in development for almost a year and a year and a half respectively, which is totally reasonable.
When the artists and other team members of this kind will stop working on the expansions (quite a bit in advance to the release, since, again, you need time for qa), they will move on to new projects, most likely Cyberpunk 2077.

People saying that it's bad timing to announce it now, do you really think that keeping your customers in the dark is better than being transparent? They were going to release these expansions anyway, why make a secret out of it? Knowing this helps you make an informed decision.

People saying that they want "the full game" and feel cheated, do you really want the game to be delayed into 2016? Or do you want no more Witcher content whatsoever? If it's the latter, nobody forces you to buy these expansions, and they were not cut from the base game (see above).

Regarding the price: $25 is totally reasonable for 30 hours of gameplay content by any standard.

To stress it once again, nobody forces you to buy these expansions before they are released. There is even no incentivization to do this, like discount or somesuch, as all the other publishers do. And CD Projekt tells you in the very press release: “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." How often do you hear this from publishers or developers?

And I don't even want to address the people who claim that CD Projekt "lied about free DLC". They didn't.

To conclude, I don't see any issue here whatsoever. Actually, I'm very happy that I'll be able to visit Toussaint, even if I'll have to wait till 2016, and I fail to see how somebody (who read and understood the whole press release and not just the headline) could be unhappy about this. If anyone could explain to me what's wrong with my reasoning, it would be appreciated.

PS. To anyone who'd want to reply to my post: keep in mind the post size limit. If you quote the whole thing, you'll probably get an infinite "Processing, please wait...". I had to submit it in two parts to avoid that.
Don't expect much from those who feel they should get the content for free.
Very disappointing news.
I have always bought the witcher series well ahead of release but this is quite sad.
The game was held back for good reasons now they are announcing extra revenue without the release of the game sad day.
I have like most on here bought well before release as I believed in the company but witcher 3 is being offered free now right left and centre on every Nvidia card / motherboard purchase.
I could end up owning about five of the games now.
CD PROJEKT RED have cashed in and really are just looking like any other company now sad but they now just look like the best of the worst.
It will not be long till we see the EA way of treating customers.
Majorly bummed by this news end of an ethos. RIP the last of the decent game publishers.
May be it will create a niche for a new publisher with CD PROJEKT RED old ideals I hope so.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by lliam
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lliam: Very disappointing news.
I have always bought the witcher series well ahead of release but this is quite sad.
The game was held back for good reasons now they are announcing extra revenue without the release of the game sad day.
I have like most on here bought well before release as I believed in the company but witcher 3 is being offered free now right left and centre on every Nvidia card / motherboard purchase.
I could end up owning about five of the games now.
CD PROJEKT RED have cashed in and really are just looking like any other company now sad but they now just look like the best of the worst.
It will not be long till we see the EA way of treating customers.
Majorly bummed by this news end of an ethos.
Coild you explain what precisely makes you unhappy? See my above post. Could you tell me, what's wrong with my reasoning explained there?
avatar
lliam: Very disappointing news.
I have always bought the witcher series well ahead of release but this is quite sad.
The game was held back for good reasons now they are announcing extra revenue without the release of the game sad day.
I have like most on here bought well before release as I believed in the company but witcher 3 is being offered free now right left and centre on every Nvidia card / motherboard purchase.
I could end up owning about five of the games now.
CD PROJEKT RED have cashed in and really are just looking like any other company now sad but they now just look like the best of the worst.
It will not be long till we see the EA way of treating customers.
Majorly bummed by this news end of an ethos.
avatar
jerff: Coild you explain what precisely makes you unhappy? See my above post. Could you tell me, what's wrong with my reasoning explained there?
Simple game not released yet and already touting for more revenue no different from any other company.
This is a complete turn-around.
Its not about the release of paid DLC its that they have abandoned their credibility and they had a lot of that..
Post edited April 09, 2015 by lliam
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jerff: Coild you explain what precisely makes you unhappy? See my above post. Could you tell me, what's wrong with my reasoning explained there?
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lliam: Simple game not released yet and already touting for more revenue no different from any other company.
This is a complete turn-around
As I said, could you read my above post and tell me what's wrong with the reasoning there, point by point? I don't want to write the same arguments again, since they are already written just a bit above.

The point is that I complete fail to see how they lost their credibility here. But, again, it's explained in my above post, I don't want to repeat myself.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by jerff
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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.
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jerff: 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.
I got a lot more then 30 hrs out of every example I gave. Go re-read what I put.

Its being gated by a paid pass.
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lliam: Simple game not released yet and already touting for more revenue no different from any other company.
This is a complete turn-around
avatar
jerff: As I said, could you read my above post and tell me what's wrong with the reasoning there, point by point? I don't want to write the same arguments again, since they are already written just a bit above.

The point is that I complete fail to see how they lost their credibility here. But, again, it's explained in my above post, I don't want to repeat myself.
I read your post its about things. People are angry not because of things but ethos. They supported Reds uniqueness and class which they have abandoned that and joined the masses. They are now just the best of the worst.
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jerff: 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.
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Neonshuffler: I got a lot more then 30 hrs out of every example I gave. Go re-read what I put.

Its being gated by a paid pass.
Then it's your choice not to buy it. For your information, most of modern $60 singleplayer games offer you less than 20 hours of gameplay. And here you get 30 hours for $25. If its unacceptable for you, that's your choice.

Well then, every new game is "gated by a paid pass". This is a quite strange thing to say. Yes, it's not news that new games and expansion packs cost money. In this particular case, a large team will work on these expansions for a almost a year and a year and a half respectively by the time of the release, after they finished their work on the base game (see my above large post). Don't you think that their work costs something?
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.
avatar
Lodium: 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.
I think its less to do with the cost of making things and more to do with what is normal these days and I am not okay with it. As I've said I will continue to support the old games and buy them and will wait till the entire game with everything is at a suitable price. They just lost me giving them money for a game out the gate because of gated content. Might as well wait and get the entire game cheaper then buy it full price waiting for the entire game.
I truly don't get the whiners, you are just looking for an excuse to cry about anything.

They announced the development of new content for the game which will be created over the course of the coming months, meaning they aren't cutting anything from the game. You still get the full base experience. (Gosh you are mad because you will get more witcher 3 content in the future and not right NOW)

30 hours for 25 bucks is more than reasonable. That's how it was in the past in the age of expansion packs before dlc ruined everything and Steam lowered the perceived value of games thanks to constant steam sales.

This is not day 1 cut DLC, its an expansion pack that you can pre purchase to help the devs or wait for it to come out and read reviews.

There is nothing wrong with this.

If anything I'm just wondering if the Collectors edition will include the extra content as other collector editions do or not.
No biggie, I work in the industry and gladly support devs that produce quality work.
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jerff: As I said, could you read my above post and tell me what's wrong with the reasoning there, point by point? I don't want to write the same arguments again, since they are already written just a bit above.

The point is that I complete fail to see how they lost their credibility here. But, again, it's explained in my above post, I don't want to repeat myself.
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lliam: I read your post its about things. People are angry not because of things but ethos. They supported Reds uniqueness and class which they have abandoned that and joined the masses. They are now just the best of the worst.
But where did they fail their ethos? In making expansions? In announcing them now? In charging $25 for 30 hours worth of gameplay? In offering an option to buy them now (while discouraging it for people who are in any way unsure, in the press release)?
What part of it makes you think that they lost their ethos? Because I can't see what's wrong with any of the above.
Post edited April 09, 2015 by jerff
More proof that you guys here simply don't know what you want or your glasses have become so rose tinted that you've lost all perception of reality both past and present.

Expansion packs used to be commonplace. They may not have been announced before launch but you knew they were coming. Even if you didn't, do you honestly believe companies didn't start on additional content before launch just because you didn't hear about it? Surely you can't all be that naive.

The price seems more than reasonable to me and the main game is huge. The outrage is so baffling.
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Neonshuffler: I got a lot more then 30 hrs out of every example I gave. Go re-read what I put.

Its being gated by a paid pass.
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jerff: Then it's your choice not to buy it. For your information, most of modern $60 singleplayer games offer you less than 20 hours of gameplay. And here you get 30 hours for $25. If its unacceptable for you, that's your choice.

Well then, every new game is "gated by a paid pass". This is a quite strange thing to say. Yes, it's not news that new games and expansion packs cost money. In this particular case, a large team will work on these expansions for a almost a year and a year and a half respectively by the time of the release, after they finished their work on the base game (see my above large post). Don't you think that their work costs something?
Most single player games I buy are sports games and I play them year around. Also according to steam I put in far more then 40 hours into most single player games. Also it is not 25 $ for me but over 36$.

Not every new has "gated paid pass". GTA V does not. Carmagedon does not. Both examples of opposite sides of the spectrum not doing this.

Also there price gouging is joke and had me pissed to start with this was just the straw that broke the camels back for me. Don't you think I deserve to get a full product as a paying customer and not get priced gouged?
avatar
jerff: Then it's your choice not to buy it. For your information, most of modern $60 singleplayer games offer you less than 20 hours of gameplay. And here you get 30 hours for $25. If its unacceptable for you, that's your choice.

Well then, every new game is "gated by a paid pass". This is a quite strange thing to say. Yes, it's not news that new games and expansion packs cost money. In this particular case, a large team will work on these expansions for a almost a year and a year and a half respectively by the time of the release, after they finished their work on the base game (see my above large post). Don't you think that their work costs something?
avatar
Neonshuffler: Most single player games I buy are sports games and I play them year around. Also according to steam I put in far more then 40 hours into most single player games. Also it is not 25 $ for me but over 36$.

Not every new has "gated paid pass". GTA V does not. Carmagedon does not. Both examples of opposite sides of the spectrum not doing this.

Also there price gouging is joke and had me pissed to start with this was just the straw that broke the camels back for me. Don't you think I deserve to get a full product as a paying customer and not get priced gouged?
What are you even talking about?

You are getting a full product already. The other content is EXPANSION, NEW content, has NOT been made yet. They are merely announcing that they will produce new content for the game. I dont even.