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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
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timppu: Does it repel also mud and dust? Nothing will stick to it, even if someone eggs it?
There are already such hydrophobic coats, like Ultra-Ever Dry, but they are not transparent, so not really a good option for windscreens. The challenge is currently making them transparent, and more permanent, since UV light does deteriorate the coating.
But depending on how often your car will get egged, it may be a good investment.
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Kristian: So you are saying that The Witcher 3 is overpriced? If so that was the case before the announcement of the expansion pass if not what then are you saying?
I'm not saying it's overpriced, that would mean they charge more than it is worth. It may very well be worth every penny. I'm saying it's beyond my budget.

A Bugatti Veyron may not be overpriced, as it's engine's technology and/or materials are very expensive or whatever. But that doesn't mean I can afford it, or even if I could, that I would want to spend that kind of money in a car.
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P1na: I'll buy a car that is what the manufacturer intended, or as close as it got within its budget.
Each and every manufacturer wants to make as safe and efficient a car as they can, as cheaply as they can. If hydrophobic glass does reach the promised stages, then there won't be any other kind of glass, so even a '69 charger will be able to get a hydrophobic windscreen, even if Dodge never intended to give it one back when they created it.
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JMich: Each and every manufacturer wants to make as safe and efficient a car as they can, as cheaply as they can. If hydrophobic glass does reach the promised stages, then there won't be any other kind of glass, so even a '69 charger will be able to get a hydrophobic windscreen, even if Dodge never intended to give it one back when they created it.
Er, JMich, I'm using the cars and tanks as analogies for games. I don't know much about them, I don't have one and I don't even like driving. Still, I'd say that comment goes beyond the comparison, doesn't it? I don't think those upgrades apply to games at all. If they do, you'll have to explain to me how, as I fail to see it.
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Kristian: So you are saying that The Witcher 3 is overpriced? If so that was the case before the announcement of the expansion pass if not what then are you saying?
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P1na: I'm not saying it's overpriced, that would mean they charge more than it is worth. It may very well be worth every penny. I'm saying it's beyond my budget.

A Bugatti Veyron may not be overpriced, as it's engine's technology and/or materials are very expensive or whatever. But that doesn't mean I can afford it, or even if I could, that I would want to spend that kind of money in a car.
So you can't afford The Witcher 3 in the first place and so you presumably haven't preordered it? Well... the announcement of the two expansions doesn't change that either.
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Kristian: So you can't afford The Witcher 3 in the first place and so you presumably haven't preordered it? Well... the announcement of the two expansions doesn't change that either.
I can affor the witcher 3, base game (the car). I can't afford the witcher 3 + expansion pass (tank).

Am I that hard to understand?
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OldOldGamer: Game companies ... are so skilled they are able to sell to us products that still doesn't exist.
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mobutu: Are they skilled or are we, the consumers, getting dumber and dumber as time goes by? ;)
Games become dumber.
Players become dumber.
Companies become dumber.
Everything become dumber.

;)
Post edited April 09, 2015 by OldOldGamer
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Kristian: So you can't afford The Witcher 3 in the first place and so you presumably haven't preordered it? Well... the announcement of the two expansions doesn't change that either.
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P1na: I can affor the witcher 3, base game (the car). I can't afford the witcher 3 + expansion pass (tank).

Am I that hard to understand?
Then you can decide if preordering The Witcher 3 is worth it or not. The existence of the expansion pass doesn't change that at all. Either you are against preordering in general or not. If you are then you don't preorder anything and that obviously means you won't be preordering The Witcher 3, the existence of the expansion pass changes nothing. A consistent and resasonable stance.

If you aren't against preordering in general then presumably you have some criteria you use to evalueate preorder offers, if the The Witcher 3 preorder offer passed the test a week ago, nothing has changed to make it fail that test now.
Paid expansion pack? I preordered the Witcher 3 because I heard that in the past Witcher games, when there were expansions, they were given to the players for free. I guess I'll just wait for the GOTY edition.
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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.
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Gersen: 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.
Firstly, virtually all the examples you have given are of old games, around the early 1990's. I believe this is a trend that can be seen as emerging in the later half the the 1990's, and is more common for certain genres than others.

For example, if you take Command and Conquer - the first game didn't have a massively game changing expansion pack - Covert Ops was just a scenario pack. In Red Alert, it wasn't until Aftermath that we got a game changing expansion, in the form of additional units. In virtually every after RTS in the C&C Franchise, every expansions got game changing additions, typically in the form of new units.

Games like Baldur's Gate had game changing expansion packs, because they included new spells and character options, as well as new content.

In the Sims, expansions added and expanded the range of gameplay. The Sims became about more than just a life simulator about going to to work and maintaining a household.

Sure, certain genres don't tend to have game changing expansion packs - FPS, Racing Games, Fighters, and so on don't really actually change that much over time. You might get new maps, but the game itself doesn't normally change any more than just basic patching - which is already considered part of DLC updates these days.

Ultimately, what is considered worthwhile DLC often differs depending upon the genre of game itself. Car packs are worthwhile in a driving game. Not so much in an FPS. RTS games focus on units, so more units and buildings are good. For an RPG, it tends to be more areas, more stories, and more character options.

Significantly changing will ALWAYS be subjective, based on a multitude of factors. For example, TW3 is about Geralt, so new character options are good, but nobody expects anything that will actually replace or fundamentally change Geralt. But in an RPG where you don't play a pre-established character, such new character options are much more likely.

As technology has grown, what is standard in an expansion pack has also grown. They have gotten more ambitious, and the bar has been raised as a result. However, the current trend is that rather than bundling everything together in an expansion pack, they are released separately over time as DLC, drip-feeding additional content.

At it's base, an expansion was just a bundling of additional content in a pack - at a time when this was pretty much your only means for getting new content. As that became less and less of an issue, the definition of an expansion pack changed. It never really stopped being just additional content, but it became so much more in many cases.

Failing to acknowledge this trend over time, just because some games 20 years ago didn't do it, is just folly. Okay, some people (myself included) might say that things "have always been" such and such a way, but let's face it - that is not the case. Home computers for video games have only been around for 40 years or so - that's hardly forever. There has been a lot of change in that time. You can look back and see those changes, and what has driven them.

$25 for a new area and 20+ hours of extra gameplay is okay for an "expansion" pack, but it does really depend a lot on what is IN those packs. We just don't know. We won't know until later on. Sure, we got less for Tales of the Sword Coast, but back then, what we did get was good value for $25. But Tales of the Sword Coast wasn't exactly Heart of Winter or Throne of Bhall, any more than Aftermath was like Firestorm or Zero Hour. It's like comparing Wolfenstein 3D and Half Life.

Right now, TW3 is having to compete with more modern RPGs. Sure, this isn't Horse Armour, but as far as we know, this isn't Bloodmoon or Hordes of the Underdark either. It's Unfinished Business and one of the Heroes Chronicles.

Official expansions NEED to go above and beyond what other modders can do.

Otherwise, what is the point?
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OldOldGamer: In the good old days the companies were so involved in the main game that expansion where planned only and only if sales was good enough and the game had captured a large following.
Nowdays expension are just factored in the initial production cost and selled for more cash.
This is the point of it all. Many though GOG was different and have now realised they are the same
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mobutu: Are they skilled or are we, the consumers, getting dumber and dumber as time goes by? ;)
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OldOldGamer: Games become dumber.
Players become dumber.
Companies become dumber.
Everything become dumber.

;)
Everyone wins :)
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P1na: I don't think those upgrades apply to games at all. If they do, you'll have to explain to me how, as I fail to see it.
Mostly because I enjoy abusing other people's analogies ;)
So, for a gaming equivalent, are you aware of GeDoSaTo? It's the Generic Down Sampling Tool, which allows to increase the graphical quality of many games, by having them render the scenes at a much higher resolution (4K? 16K?) then downscale it to your monitor's resolution, along with other resolution shenanigans. It does mean that it needs a beast of a GPU though.
So, while Final Fantasy XIII may not have been developed with 4K resolutions in mind, you can play it in 4K, and that is an enhancement the developers didn't anticipate, but the game can make use of.
Similar to this, the 1.13 mod for JA2, which does have SirTech's blessing, even though I doubt they anticipated all that the community made. And since 1.13 is still in development, does that mean JA2 is a game one shouldn't play yet?

Or, to make a personal jab, should I play Deus Ex with high textures or without high textures, assuming nothing else is changed from the game? Or should I play it both vanilla and modded, and then play it again, and again, and again?
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Kristian: Then you can decide if preordering The Witcher 3 is worth it or not. The existence of the expansion pass doesn't change that at all. Either you are against preordering in general or not. If you are then you don't preorder anything and that obviously means you won't be preordering The Witcher 3, the existence of the expansion pass changes nothing. A consistent and resasonable stance.

If you aren't against preordering in general then presumably you have some criteria you use to evalueate preorder offers, if the The Witcher 3 preorder offer passed the test a week ago, nothing has changed to make it fail that test now.
Yes, the existence of the expansion pass does change the situation, and I'll try to explain why. Let's assume the game is great.

Without the expansion pass, for the base game's price I'll get to experience the witcher 3, enjoy it, finish it, and move on.

With the expansion pass, for the base game's price I'll get to experience the witcher 3, enjoy it, but miss out on the additional content from the expansions. After finishing it, a couple years down the line I'll eventually get my hands on the expansions, if nothing else because GOG will give them away for free in some event. And then, in order to experience that additional content, I'll have to play through the witcher 3 again.

You see the difference now? In a way, that first playthrough is wasted time I could have used to play a different game. Even if I enjoyed the base game on its own, I want to play many games and I don't have time for them all, so I don't want to put time on the base game alone. Maybe you don't mind this, but it doesn't mean nobody can mind it or even that the difference between both situations is non-existent.

I only want to play the most complete edition, but I don't want to pay extra and I don't want to be forced to play it twice. So I'll wait until I can get the whole thing for a price I'm willing to pay. It's not rocket science.
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peanutbutter700: Paid expansion pack? I preordered the Witcher 3 because I heard that in the past Witcher games, when there were expansions, they were given to the players for free. I guess I'll just wait for the GOTY edition.
Quoting an AMA from 2011
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.

"The implication is that if we’re going to go ahead and charge for something, it’ll be significant content akin to the expansion packs of yesteryear," the spokesperson continued.
So no, they were thinking about paid content since The Witcher 2.