Is war of the chosen additional content or standalone?

[rolypoly]

I'm so confused, is it just like other DLC that just adds stuff to the base game, or is it standalone game by itself with its own campaign and stuff? And which should I play first? Should I just go for war of the chosen right away or better to play the base game first by itself?

[BoogieMan]

It adds to the original game. When you start a campaign you can enable or disable WOTC content.

WOTC
-Makes the game more difficult
-Throws more stuff at you that overlaps and probably a lot to deal with if you're new
-More optimized and loads missions much more quickly than the base game

Base Game
-Loads slower, possibly less performance, but again maybe a newer PC than when the game was new nullifies that, not sure
-Is overall easier, perhaps cleaner experience with steadier progression and difficulty curve
-Lacks that cool stuff added by WOTC.

The difficulty levels can make a good bit of difference and you can change them any time, so I'd go with WOTC first unless you want to be eased into the game systems a bit more slowly.

[Yellowdragon]

It's a big DLC that reworks the base game. The game will split into 2 versions after you buy it, Xcom 2 and Xcom 2 WOTC.

WOTC version is a rework of Xcom2 and has more contents. They are the same campaign with the same story but WOTC has 3 more mini bosses, 3 more classes and weapons.

[mosspit]

Allow me to share my interpretation.

WotC is sold like a dlc on steam, but it functions more like an expansion if you are familiar with gaming a decade or two previously. WotC content changes base game significantly so much so the tactical and strategy layer of both can be quite different.

If you are new to the genre, playing with vanilla first is not a bad choice so as to not get overwhelmed by the game mechanics. But WotC is actually easier than Vanilla due to the better variety of options to tackle situations.

If you have experience with XCOM:EU/EW, I think you can start with WotC directly like what I did. But the general consensus is that once you are used to WotC, you probably won't go back to Vanilla.