I haven't played in a while now- I played through POE 2 once right at release, then played through it again a few months later.  So, haven't played Beast of Winter or with the newest patch.  My plan is to wait until all the announced DLC is released before doing my 3rd playthrough, so that it is a markedly different and fuller experience.

 

That being said, what do you think of this DLC?  How much gameplay does it add?  Has there been any really massive changes which I am unaware of? I appreciate all feedback.  Thanks.

It was all right.

 

About 5 hours. New gear, especially soulbounds. The new sidekick was pretty cool. The story was all right. The new locales were good. The encounters were tougher than most things in the base game. Basically 8-9/10 all around. 

 

Winter theme + Ydwin reactivity earned a few brownie points.

 

Could have been a few dollars cheaper, but that's the case with all piecemeal DLCs.

Just this -> it's kinda short. Much shorter than The White March 1, and therefore it doesn't give much opportunity to integrate it into playthroughs in the same way one could do it with The White March - such as traveling back and forth freely. More likely, one will visit the expansion area with a party that's powerful enough and then complete the quest in one go.

 

With regard to the added content, well, it's a nice setting with at least one surprise location/event.

 

Vatnir, the new sidekick, should have been a full companion in my opinion. Depending on chosen difficulty mode, there is not much reason anymore to keep him in the party when leaving the Harbinger's Watch island. That's wasted potential.

It's good content, feels a little like Tikawara and Poko Kohara, though the Poko Kahara segment is longer- imagine the bit where you go into the afterlife and meet the guy controlling the storms was an entire dungeon. Good atmosphere and humour, and some neat scripted scenes.

 

Given that you said you did a second playthrough "a few months" after release, you were playing around the time BOW came out, and I think the last major changes to the game were some time before that

It was longer than I expected, but I play slowly. For me it was about 15h, but that includes the time I left to do some shopping and scripted interactions in Neketaka.

 

It is a cool setting (pun intended) with interesting encounters and characters. But what I really liked was that it was more difficult than what I've encountered so far in the main game (I haven't finished yet, but I'm at level 20 already).

It's good content, feels a little like Tikawara and Poko Kohara, though the Poko Kahara segment is longer- imagine the bit where you go into the afterlife and meet the guy controlling the storms was an entire dungeon. Good atmosphere and humour, and some neat scripted scenes.

 

Given that you said you did a second playthrough "a few months" after release, you were playing around the time BOW came out, and I think the last major changes to the game were some time before that

 

I forget exactly when I did the second playthrough.  I think I finished 3-4 weeks before the new DLC. 

 

Sounds like my plan is a good one, then.  Wait until all 3 DLCs get released, then replay.  If the other DLCs are pretty similar, that will add at least 15 hours to the original game, which is worth the reinvestment of time.  I'm a completionist as well, so it could be well over that.  Plus, since they seem to be in the habit of converting some of the sidekicks to full companions, that means that I should have more companion options the next time around, which would be welcomed, since I basically used the 2 groups that I actually wanted to use in my 2 playthroughs and don't believe in bringing along sidekicks.  If they don't talk, they aren't down for my party

It was short but sweet. The puzzles tested me when subclassing as Nalpazca IRL and PoTD was a good challenge overall. As a Pale Elf main, I appreciated the extra Glamfellen lore, especially the race's connection to Rmyrgand. The three-piece domain quest had good pacing and an unsettling atmosphere: like the Fade sequence from DA:O but not tiresome.

My only big complaint would be the implementation of trinkets since I hoped they would bestow unique effects based on class. Per rest items with long cast times just feel dull. We didn't get any new class abilities or progression either (Blackbow Geomancer, please), which lessens my hype for future DLC.

Edited August 31, 20187 yr by Ophiuchus

It wasnt as short as everyone is making out

 

Would love to no the total number of maps in WM part 1 and the total number or maps for BOW

 

I think they will be very similar

WM1:

Stalwart (exterior and at least three interiors)-4 total

Russetwood (exterior and three or so interior maps)-8 total

Longwatch Falls (I think just the one interior for this map?)-10 total

Durgan's Battery(two interiors for Galvino's workshop, three I think for the Battery itself?)-16 total

Cragholdt(interior and exterior)-18 total

 

BOW:

Harbinger's Watch (exterior and two interiors iirc)-3 total

The clifftop map-4 total

Vidmath dungeon(exterior and 2 interiors?)-7 total

Rymrgand's Realm(hub area and 3 sub-areas, with 2 alternate versions of Bridge Ablaze, the interiors for Drowned Kingdom and the Inquisitor map)-15 total

Two boss arenas- 17 total

 

Wow, that's closer than I thought!

Edited August 31, 20187 yr by house2fly

Yes, the number is close, but I miss those giant Russetwood and Durgan's Battery Exterior maps.

Edited August 31, 20187 yr by InsaneCommander

And Longwatch Falls. Those were all quite large.

And Longwatch Falls. Those were all quite large.

 

Yes, that one too. In fact the WM2 had some big ones as well. Maybe we'll get another one in SSS or FS.

Number of maps is a poor metric for measuring content size of an RPG expansion/DLC. Number of quests, lines of dialogue, etc. would all be much more accurate.

Edited September 3, 20187 yr by illathid