More fun without WotC?

[Nate of Scooba]

Hi all.

Playing XCOM2 for the first time after a bunch of xcom1. I got all the DLC in some deal a bit ago, but I'm finding the game is so start-stoppy that its gotten really distracting [1]. Apparently a lot of it comes from the DLC?

Is the game more fun without the DLC and expansions? Also, are there any mods that would improve things?

[Commander Gorda]

I think Wotc is more inrestiing with more options, but vanilla is harder IMO. Alen ruler dlc and shens last gift is so so but Wotc with covert ops,chosen and tired mechanic are steps in the right direction for an awesome game.

[Sabaithal]

Honestly the thing that I dislike the most about WOTC is...well the chosen. They're a bunch of gimmicky alien-ruler type bosses (which I hated). I'd take pretty much the rest of the features, in LW2 anyway. Can't got back to vanilla.

Though having 11 classes might get cluttered pretty quick. And if you factor in psi-ops and SPARKS, that's 13 classes.

[Mr. Jizzard The Tentacle Wizard]

I agree there is too much random stuff going on, the game certainly could be streamlined for a smoother experience. I don't play with the alien rulers DLC, and even then I feel there is too much spam.

[Charlemagne]

I wish I could play the expansion without the chosen. There are some things that are good with WotC and I would miss; game is more stable and better performance, the factions, some new aliens, the Lost. But I would not miss the chosen a bit if there was a checkbox choice to phase them out during setup. Annoying, overpowered, immortal, "magical" (their superpowers are not plausible except for the Warlock who is a psychic). Sure as you advance in the game you can engage them more easily, but that doesn't stop them from being annoying to hell.

[AlienMasters]

Just introduced a friend to XCom 2, and they had a similar experience to you Scooba Nate. They switched to playing it without WOTC (since the launcher still gives you the option) and with DLC turned off. And they are finding it a much better experience. Our conclusion: The core game is so much different than Enemy Unknown, it makes sense to start there and use the DLC/WOTC for replay value and to add system depth when you are ready for it. Hope that helps!

[Qavemann]

Hello Scooba Nate. I do think personally that you should play vanilla XCOM 2 first before playing WOTC. There are a lot of things happening in wotc that it's a bit difficult trying to take it all in, even if you play XCOM:EU/EW before. Vanilla xcom2 still has a lot of new mechanics that may surprise xcom1 players, but you'll understand it fairly quickly. Imho wotc ultimately improves a lot from the base game and made it an overall better experience. But i think you will appreciate it a lot more if you play through vanilla first. It's up to you though, but i do recommend finishing one play through at least, because i think you will enjoy it in the end. Have fun!

[Abrakadabra]

I wish a lot more was going on. More stuff popping up, warnings, reports, suggestions, calls for help, videos of resistance being chased into the godless woods which are then bombarded, pics and very brief and grainy clips of new gear or weapons advent fields, uploaded by resistance fighters (just before they get killed) that desperately wanted to help with that intel, news, in the background, propaganda videos.....id love to literally completly drown in that stuff. And everything is useful or could be exploited and used in one way or another on the geoscape and ingame.

And im the one at the end of that convoluted, massive mess of intel. Im the one that decides what to do with it and plans a misson.

Hope xcom 3 is at least a bit like that. Totally stressing me out on an epic scale.

[Abrakadabra]

I found vanilla l/i to be easier than wotc l/i. Fielding a squad that does not get tired....has its advantages. I can get a high ranking squad very quickly in vanilla and just steam roll everything. No chosen to harass me.

But its mostly soldiers that cant get tired. You can easily just farm xp without dying in early stages. Can evac a number of early missions. Dont even have to rotate soldiers. You get very powerful even faster than in wotc. Specially if both are more or less unmodded. Ive finished vanilla xcom 2 l/i without losing a single soldier multiple times. Wotc was a bit harder. Was harder to pull that off.

[ur4i_k]

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