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
70
71
72
73
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 12, 2015
avatar
sirerik82: I thought that like previous games, all expansions would be free? I feel like I shouldn't have pre ordered the game and wait for the final game with all DLC and bonuses at a cheap price... Like I did for TES games...
i can't even remember that addons for skyrim were announced before main game release
Posted April 12, 2015
avatar
sirerik82: I thought that like previous games, all expansions would be free? I feel like I shouldn't have pre ordered the game and wait for the final game with all DLC and bonuses at a cheap price... Like I did for TES games...
avatar
apehater: i can't even remember that addons for skyrim were announced before main game release
They were not... but since Oblivion had some expansions I guessed that Skyrim would also so I waited to get the Legendary Edition.

Anyways I love The Witcher universe... I just reread all the books and redone the 2 games before the 3 comes out... I'll probably buy the expansions since I MUST see how they rendered Toussaint!
Post edited April 12, 2015 by sirerik82
Posted April 12, 2015
I am not seeing any issues with the Expansion plan. I have pre-ordered the Witcher 3. Will I pre-order the expansion? Don't know. No reason not to wait at this point.

Previous games have offered extra quests and some game play (4 hours, I think) with an enhanced edition. Who is to say we won't get some DLC and what not with the Witcher 3 if and enhanced edition comes out? And I believe the past enhanced edition was the introduction of the Witcher 2 onto the XBox, so I am sure the developers were counting on extra sales and having extra content helped with marketing. The fact that PC players got the content for free shows the developers' client centered culture at play. Most developers would have charged $9.99 for it. Before the Xbox money came in, we got the feather guy quest....for free. Loved it, and it was pretty much what I expected for free.

Now, we are looking at a very large sandbox game. A huge project. The developers have already said they will give us some free DLC here and there and will not split the market with different pre-order offers. Good. That stuff drives me wild. But to expect them to provide 30 more hours of content and a new region for free, along with the small DLC drops is a bit much. To me, it is a perfectly acceptable way for them to use their current assets to make more money and I am glad to know that if I love the Witcher 3 I can continue playing in the universe when the main game ends.
Post edited April 12, 2015 by Cymbeline
Posted April 12, 2015
avatar
CharlesGrey: DLC can mean a wide range of things, so they deemed it necessary to specify what exactly they intend to offer here, as well as distance themselves from what the term DLC usually refers to. Sure, it is technically "downloadable content", but then, so is the main game if you're buying the digital version. If we forget about the digital delivery method of these add-ons for a second, then everything else about them is going to be more like classic game expansions.
I see no problem with distancing themselves from crappy DLC, but the way they did it seems kinda disingenuous to me. Because claim that "DLC is small content," is just wrong. The way they said it clearly suggests they mean all DLC. Developers should know what it actually means. And did they miss all the DLC that utterly contradict what they said?

I absolutely am a huge CD Projekt fan. That for me is even more of a reason to share my opinion about it here. I gave them my feedback, what they do with it is up to them.

And no, the games themselves can't be DLC, because DLC is additional content for a game. Not the game it self. Downloadable just stands for the way it's distributed.
Posted April 13, 2015
avatar
CharlesGrey: DLC can mean a wide range of things, so they deemed it necessary to specify what exactly they intend to offer here, as well as distance themselves from what the term DLC usually refers to. Sure, it is technically "downloadable content", but then, so is the main game if you're buying the digital version. If we forget about the digital delivery method of these add-ons for a second, then everything else about them is going to be more like classic game expansions.
avatar
BlueSharkCZ: I see no problem with distancing themselves from crappy DLC, but the way they did it seems kinda disingenuous to me. Because claim that "DLC is small content," is just wrong. The way they said it clearly suggests they mean all DLC. Developers should know what it actually means. And did they miss all the DLC that utterly contradict what they said?

I absolutely am a huge CD Projekt fan. That for me is even more of a reason to share my opinion about it here. I gave them my feedback, what they do with it is up to them.

And no, the games themselves can't be DLC, because DLC is additional content for a game. Not the game it self. Downloadable just stands for the way it's distributed.
From their previous announcement

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We could sell extra content to gamers ‘down the road,’ but we don’t believe in that. We believe patches, fixes and additional content should be provided to gamers free of charge. Only something REALLY big, and something that will not make you feel ripped off, justifies a price tag… If we ever decide to charge you for something, we think you will appreciate what you get in return.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They will give small DLC for free, but for very big DLC, they have to get back their investment.

Since it take about 1 year to do these 2 DLC with 30 hours content, they think the price tag is justified.
Posted April 13, 2015
avatar
iWi: 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.
avatar
ZaineH: I have a question about the expansions. Why is the complete edition $7 more than buying the game and expansions seperately?
That's actually a very good point. And it makes me wonder: what incentive have I to pre-order the expansions when it seems that there's no special discount to pre-order them. If there was something exclusive (a discount for example), okay, but if I have to pay the same price now and when the expansions will be released, what's the point?

One last thing: I noticed that if I go to the TW3 page or the TWE expansion pack page, on the right, there's a "buy series - complete it". Since I already own TW and TW2 here on GOG, it's finally just TW3 + TW3 expansions pack, which amounts to...72,98$, less than the complete edition itself.

Sometimes, GOG, your pricing leaves me baffled...
Posted April 13, 2015
Way to make people who will play the game on release day feel like they're getting an incomplete experience.
Posted April 13, 2015
avatar
xa_chan: That's actually a very good point. And it makes me wonder: what incentive have I to pre-order the expansions when it seems that there's no special discount to pre-order them. If there was something exclusive (a discount for example), okay, but if I have to pay the same price now and when the expansions will be released, what's the point?
I think that was intentional, to avoid even more backlash from the community. There's no exclusive pre-order content or anything like that, so you're not being bribed into buying the expansions blindly. Basically the only reason to pre-order them now, is to support CDPR in the ongoing development of the game ( and future projects, such as Cyberpunk ). But there's no rewards or anything, so they leave that choice entirely to their fans/customers. Personally I want to try out the main game first. But as long as it runs smoothly and provides a quality experience, I'd certainly consider pre-ordering the expansions.

avatar
Gofur: Way to make people who will play the game on release day feel like they're getting an incomplete experience.
What else is new? People who pick up and play a game on Day 1 always get an "inferior" experience. Name one big AAA game which didn't receive about a dozen content updates, balancing tweaks, and bug fixes, during the months after release. Besides, we already knew TW3 would receive content updates ( free or not ), and eventually an "Enhanced Edition" re-release, just like the other games in the series.

That's just the price you gotta pay for being impatient and personally I can live with that. If you can't, wait until the Enhanced/Uber/Ultimate/GOTY/Complete/Whatever Edition.
Post edited April 13, 2015 by CharlesGrey
Posted April 14, 2015
avatar
Gofur: Way to make people who will play the game on release day feel like they're getting an incomplete experience.
I'll play it on release day, and if I like it I'll be happy to know that there will be released more content. It's not like Bioware, where you're often cut off from content,

For Skyrim my only dissappointment was that they didn't release two-three more DLCs.

Just give us a quality product, and everyone will be happy
Posted April 14, 2015
avatar
ithilien827: Just give us a quality product, and everyone will be happy
I can't be happy with 10 hours game quality. Expansion have a full game price. I want full game nor less.
Posted April 14, 2015
All this guessing less then a month release....
Posted April 15, 2015
avatar
ithilien827: Just give us a quality product, and everyone will be happy
avatar
dal: I can't be happy with 10 hours game quality. Expansion have a full game price. I want full game nor less.
For me it depends on what the expansion adds to the game as a whole, not just the storyline.

As an example; I enjoyed the Hearthfire-addon for Skyrim, even though it didn't really add anything to the story (not including som generic quests). It made the whole game more immersive.

10 hours of a story line doesn't do that much for me. 10 hourst + extra content (inlcuding a bigger area) can make a big difference.
Posted April 16, 2015
avatar
CharlesGrey: What else is new? People who pick up and play a game on Day 1 always get an "inferior" experience. Name one big AAA game which didn't receive about a dozen content updates, balancing tweaks, and bug fixes, during the months after release. Besides, we already knew TW3 would receive content updates ( free or not ), and eventually an "Enhanced Edition" re-release, just like the other games in the series.
That's easy: American McGee's Alice. Only had one fix issued several months after release for a very specific video card. Other than that, zero updates.
Gotcha ;^)
Posted April 17, 2015
I just got my FREE The Witcher 3:Wild hunt for purchasing a Zotac GTX 960 :)

As I promised through Twitter, Im gonna pre-purchase the expansion packs.
Posted April 25, 2015

HOW? Which company ever charged $60 for expansions? GOG fans are starting to hallucinate to rationalize GOG's choices, that's new!
Activision-Blizzard basically split Starcraft 2 into 3 parts and sells each of them full price. I think Starcraft 2 Part 1 did cost 60 in Day 1, Starcraft 2 Part 2 did cost 45 I think and the conclusion will also cost 45 I presume.

Talking about publishing incomplete games. :D
Post edited April 25, 2015 by ElarionAbendglan
Pages:
1
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
71
72
73
74
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass(1100 posts)(1100 posts)
(1100 posts)