war of the chosen for a first playthrough?

[Skadi]

hi! i played this game at launch but never beat the game. now year later i kinda want to play Xcom again. but wondering if should start teh game over with the dlc or just stick to base?

[Razorblade]

WotC. It's just the base game with added content; base game XCOM 2 is an objectively worse experience.

[Amanoob105]

Personally, I'd say to start (over) with WotC.
There's a great deal of things it adds to the game, some trying to help you, some trying to kill you and even some that are a bit of both.
If it proves to be too much you can always drop back down to the basic Xcom2, but at least you would do so knowing what is waiting for you when you can climb back up and not have it all be a shock had you started with the base Xcom2.

Added bonus to starting with WotC, the game just runs better.

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For the other DLCs.
When setting up a new game I recommend turning off integrated downloadable content and selecting the two options below it directly.

For the Alien rulers this means the first thing to do with it will be a green scan site which I recommend scanning within a month or two of it turning up. It contains some free toys to have fun with. The white mission that turns up after that is when you will have to fight a giant snake monster and then kicks off the other two rulers.
Don't fight that until you feel you're ready, or you run out of bigger weapons to research, whichever comes first.

For Shen's Last Gift the white mission for it will turn up after a cutscene. Recommend not doing that one until you at least have bluescreen rounds for anyone with a pistol or rifle, mag weapons for at least pistol and rilfe and have a squad of six.
Otherwise just remember it will be a long mission, the robots don't stop coming until you complete the objective, try to save you explosives until the last bit, equip Shen with a medikit and that all her combat abilities are on cooldowns instead of limited use.
Easily one of the best missions in the game.

[ElPrezCBF]

I think the integrated content in WOTC is more friendly to new players. Although it doesn't announce when the alien rulers will turn up (you can always save scum), it skips all alien ruler specific missions. For Shen's last gift, you automatically get SPARKS after researching the right tech and building it in proving grounds instead of having to fight a huge boss battle at the end of that DLC's mission because it skips that mission entirely. Furthermore, the covert missions in WOTC give more opportunities to set back the Avatar doomsday counter beyond black site missions. You'll have to fight the Chosen but once you get familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, they aren't much of a threat. In fact, they are ironically more passive when you fight them in their lairs perhaps because of balancing reasons given unlimited enemy reinforcements until you destroy their sarcophagus.

[ZumZoom]

Originally posted by ElPrezCBF:

I think the integrated content in WOTC is more friendly to new players. Although it doesn't announce when the alien rulers will turn up

For me they always showed up (their first appearance at least) on Alien Facility missions, and they are indicated when clicking the facility on the globe screen as "This facility has an extremely powerful enemy" - something like that.

[Zack]

The DLC is very good, it's not overwhelming with the new stuff. It meshes all the dlcs together well.

[ElPrezCBF]

Originally posted by ZumZoom:

Originally posted by ElPrezCBF:

I think the integrated content in WOTC is more friendly to new players. Although it doesn't announce when the alien rulers will turn up

For me they always showed up (their first appearance at least) on Alien Facility missions, and they are indicated when clicking the facility on the globe screen as "This facility has an extremely powerful enemy" - something like that.

Yeah but I can't quite remember if it was the 4th or 5th month when they first showed up. Besides the enemy warning, if the game says the black site mission is "very difficult" when it's normally just "difficult", chances are there's an alien ruler there.

[megansweden]

Originally posted by ElPrezCBF:

Originally posted by ZumZoom:

For me they always showed up (their first appearance at least) on Alien Facility missions, and they are indicated when clicking the facility on the globe screen as "This facility has an extremely powerful enemy" - something like that.

Yeah but I can't quite remember if it was the 4th or 5th month when they first showed up. Besides the enemy warning, if the game says the black site mission is "very difficult" when it's normally just "difficult", chances are there's an alien ruler there.

Rulers appear according to force level - each one will spawn at a facility when their corresponding alien type starts appearing, if you have integrated content on (and stay there until you do that facility). If you turn off integration and don't turn on the individual missions, they will spawn on random missions but it's still according to force level. I've heard the first one always turns up on a supply raid but that has not been my experience. That being said, I've only done that particular option when playing with Covert Infiltration which changes up a lot regarding missions and when they occur so possibly just less predictable in that case.

[TruXurT]

WotC makes for a longer playthrough. There is more to do and from that aspect it is interesting. I do like 3 hunter bosses that were introduced in that expansion.

I have 2 issues with it:

First: I am not really into zombie vibe, so those zombie clearing missions, and there is plenty of those, are not fun for me.

Second: Change in texture transparency is a game breaker for me. I simply can't play it knowing how transparent textures look in the basic game. There are few mods trying to address that, but nothing really fixes it, so I stick to base game when I feel XCOM 2 itch.

[Skadi]

might be worth mentioning that im not the kind of guy who instantly replays game. if i replay Xcom its going to be a minimum 3 years until i return to it

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by Skadi:

might be worth mentioning that im not the kind of guy who instantly replays game. if i replay Xcom its going to be a minimum 3 years until i return to it

Then I would double down on my recommendation of not just WotC, but also with what I said about integrated and the options below it. This way you can see the full content of the game and the missions of other two DLCs.

I'd likely also add enabling Lost and Abandoned to that list. Sure it makes the assassin extra annoying, but if it's going to be three years until you play it again you may as well see that extra content on top of everything else.

*Edit* Don't, however, enable the tutorial. With how badly it gimps the early game that's the sort of extra content that's only worth it for people that do plan to play the game more than once.

[Lotor13]

Originally posted by Skadi:

war of the chosen for a first playthrough?

no, complete the base game first to get familiar with it, than WoC

WoC adds many things, it would be too many for new players + adds The Chosens appearing in random missions, which is not for new players

[TOG | Fulgrim]

If you were going to come back and play through the game within a month of completion, then I'd say go with basic vanilla run-through, then go full DLC... however... since it's going to be a few years as you suggest, I strongly recommend going with WotC, but disable alien hunters/ shen's last gift unless you really want a trial by fire; additional difficulties beyond the regular XCom experience are not for fledglings or casual players, and WotC raises the bar by itself.

[ElPrezCBF]

@OP, don't let the Chosen scare you from getting the full Xcom 2 experience. You don't actually fight all 3 Chosen at the same time, only when you expand into their "territory". Even then, they will need time to recover between missions when you defeat them in the field, giving you breathers as well across multiple missions.

The base game alone is already challenging for new players but lacks the covert ops in WOTC that give you many more opportunities to set back the Avatar doomsday counter and get free promotions/bonds for soldiers/weapon upgrades/loot/intel etc. just by sending them out on covert missions. You can even have opportunities to select powerful month-end faction orders like having mission timers on hold indefinitely until your squad loses stealth, auto removing one block from the doomsday counter every month and even chances for free Advent soldiers joining you in battle on missions. For new players, the advantages of playing WOTC far outweigh the challenges of fighting the Chosen imho.