Should I play with War of the Chosen enabled or Vanilla?

[kill]

I'm new to XCOM and turn based strategy games in general but I was wondering which I should do. Which do you think and why? Thanks

[fewerjungle]

War of the chosen is more complex on the strategic layer (not necessarily harder) and vanilla is harder on the tactical layer.
War of the chosen might overwhelm you a bit more and because you don't know the enemy types, it might even feel harder on the tactical layer at times.

By strategic layer I mean the planning, building, research etc.
Tactical is the combat itself.

[Stardustfire]

WotC is the same like the base game, just enhanced alot in several aspects. so no need to start with the basic game, just hop into the full experiance.
it can even be contra productive to start with the base game, because you than think you have the basics, only to get rolled over by changes in that basics made in WotC.

[Amanoob105]

WotC is the better overall version, if far more in the deep end.
Personally I'd say start with it if only because even if you feel it's too much and drop down to the vanilla version you do so knowing what's waiting for you when you climb back up.
Instead of it all coming as a bit of a shock to the system after getting used to a version game without any of those extras.

When it comes to playing for the first time it's worth bringing up the subject of mods.
Most of the mods in this game are made assuming you have at least WotC, and a lot of others assuming you just have all the DLC.
So on that subject I'd not only recommend (with one very key exception*) putting off modding until you feel up to playing WotC, but also until you have managed to play though the game with WotC at least once.
This is partly because it makes it so much easier to figure out what areas you want to add mods to.
But mostly because if this game is going to go wrong, chances are extremely high it will happen due to an issue caused by a mod. So knowing how the game generally runs when mod free makes it far easier to tell if an issues was mod related.

----

*That once key exception to not modding on Vanilla. The base version of the game locks your access to most of the cosmetic options based on your characters rank for some asinine reason. Even the WotC DLC removed this "feature".
As such if you do feel that WotC was too much to start with and drop down, I highly recommend this mod, yes even despite with how it conflicts with what I said before.
This is the exception to that rule.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620530611

[Stan]

yes you need war of the chosen
aint nosense in wasting time with vanilla
when in the back of your mind you know all the time you spend on vanilla
you could be playing the real deal
learn as you play

[|H|H| Fr3ddi3]

The meme's about this games difficulty are notorious and exist because most people do actually believe them, we here don't, but we are biased and blind to the issues new players may face. So bear that in mind when you ask what the die hard fan base of a game thinks. Obviously I / we don't know you so it's possible you might face no issues, I don't think that's the typical experience though.

So while I think WOTC is the better / complete game ... I don't think it's where you or indeed anyone should start.

If you don't have WOTC yet, don't buy it, play Xcom2 see if you like it first, then consider WOTC later.

If you do have WOTC? play WOTC, you can drop down to vanilla if you find it too much.

[Stan]

War of the chosen got The chosen bosses.
Xcom have the resistance.

when a mission spawns you can decrease the amount of enemies on it, you WILL have to learn this mechanic. its easy to learn trust me.

the enemies have a few more tricks and so do you

build order depends on your research you have and what way you want to go

research is your technology and how you want your xcom built. It's branching out in multiple directions. I would study this before hand and already know exactly what each 1 does before you choose. You really not going to have time to not know where your research is heading and the pre-emtive vision, you should have in mind for your soldiers and tech

Prioritize missions that have scientist, engineers and supplies. Unless a mission that will end you game or give you a penalty. This means your doing good and aliens are stuck like chuck or you are.

The area your doing missions on will get more difficult with time, you should stop and do missions somewhere else because at this point they will have way more troops and sometimes crack troops

It's a little more stuff too but its Xcom, you do missions all the time, because this levels you crew, long as your winning missions and doing some whenever you can your winning. Sometimes you will have more than a couple missions queued at a time. This is the Long War part. Don't relent. This is the final showdown to take back planet Earth. This no time to wimp out. Send them aliens home packing or take no prisoners

[megansweden]

@Stan - OP wasn't asking about Long War, just whether they should start with base game or WOTC. A lot of your advice is only applicable to Long War - you can't decrease enemy numbers on a mission in the vanilla game or run multiple missions at a time, or choose what region to run missions in. Those are all features of Long War.

@OP - if you're only planning to play one campaign I would go straight for WOTC to get the full experience. If you think you'll play multiple and want to get the sense of what the DLC adds, play the base game first. It's simpler in that there is less that you need to do, fewer choices you need to make, fewer prompts popping up. WOTC adds a lot of complexity, but it also can make certain things easier as you progress.

[Stan]

Your right megansweden
I did misunderstand the branch
But I still stand by, why settle for less when you can have the best.

[aes0p]

You might get more replayability starting w/ vanilla, but wotc is the more fun overall package. Bit harder though.

[Lotor13]

Originally posted by godspeed:

Should I play with War of the Chosen enabled or Vanilla?

I'm new to XCOM and turn based strategy games in general but I was wondering which I should do. Which do you think and why? Thanks

Definitely You should play Vanilla first, War of the Chosen is more complex, You will be lost.
Get familiar with XCOM first and than expansion.

Originally posted by |H|H| Fr3ddi3:

The meme's about this games difficulty are notorious and exist because most people do actually believe them, we here don't, but we are biased and blind to the issues new players may face.

This.

These advices about playing directly War of the Choses is from "hardcore players"

Yes, XCOM2 with War of the Chosen is better, but definitely not for a new players.