am playing through the ashes dlc. we typical play on hard and this content represents a serious difficulty boost, due in large part to low levels but not entire. unless you are a serious glutton for punishment, we would not recommend any difficulty beyond core... and make an animal companion heavy party regardless. is our advice to go with leopards and horses as these is the best low level choices for animal companions. leopards in particular are amazing tanks and a couple o' leopards goes a long way towards mitigating difficulty spikes.
observations w/o any real organization:
is bugs remaining, but so far has been playable w/o having us rage quit.
am liking the alternatives to combat but there is no avoiding much o' the combat.
writing is owlcat standard and meh at best but chances are if you are bothering to read this and have any intention o' playing the dlc, you already are aware of owlcat writing limits and are ok with their standard fare.
there are transitions 'tween areas which is... annoying. recall willodus' mansion in alushinyrra? click on the door and then you gotta choose options and make text-based skill checks to get through the mansion? not nearly as straightforward or rational as were the skill checks to reach the dragon's lair in act 3, yes? the through the ashes dlc takes what were bad 'bout the willodus mansion interaction and multiplies, then repeats the experience many times.
am suspecting am halfway through 'cause am a bit beyond level three and am understanding level five is max.
quest based xp is kinda nice as 'posed to per kill. in fact, for most o' the cemetery map we used one o' our leopards to draw undead into encounters with bandits and monsters at which point the baddies would kill each other. no lost xp for fail to personal kill baddies avoids the degenerative xp farming gameplay. in fact, based on our run thus far, you ordinarily gain more xp for using alternatives to combat, although a few such alternatives will rely on rope or tools and those items is also having a premium value and may be needed for those annoying text-based map transitions we already mentioned. do you topple a statue to kill a powerful spellcaster or do you keep the tools you need to knock down the statue 'cause you most definite will need at some point in the future?
...
overall am enjoying though is only our preternatural obstinance which has us playing on hard difficulty. repeating for emphasis: this dlc is extreme unforgiving. nevertheless, while am only halfway done, we would recommend... save to note the enhanced edition o' wotr is only a few months remote and it might be better to wait... though no doubt the enhanced edition will create new bugs which will bork a few builds and quests and then you will possible need wait a couple more months.
well, here is looking forward to the second half o' the dlc wherein we presumably need fight demons sans cold iron weapons.
HA! Good Fun!