Should I run the DLC in my first playthrough / immediately?

[Master Grief]

Hi, I've just bought The Witcher 3 and installed all available DLC, just wondering if I should play part of the game before using said DLC or if I should just go for it as it is integrated as the game progresses.

I ask this as during my first playthrough of Fallout NV I had all the DLC installed which equipped me with a grenade launcher which made the opening missions incredibly easy, but also gave quests which were waaaay too difficult, neither of which I would recommend giving to first time players or that early.

So, do I run the game with DLC initially or not?

[zorlag]

DLC is high level content (30+). You can play it first as a standalone story with a premade character if you want, however.

[JordanU]

What I did was play the story while doing as many side quests as I could, and when I hit 30 I went to do the DLC. I try to leave main story missions for last.

[Duncan]

Consider disabling alternate outfit DLC as most of them are pretty vulgar (even more vulgar than the game itself).
Everything else is just additional animation, armor, minor side quests, nothing overpowering or cheating, mostly stuff that should have been in the game since launch.

[Kv]

Play it with the free dlcs, they only add few quests and items, not much content compared to the size of the main game, and they blend in quite nicely. You won't gain anything by disabling them, but I recommend that you disable the outfit ones as Duncan mentioned. The main Hearts of Stone dlc is lvl 35+ so you won't be doing it before finishing (or nearly finishing) the main game.

[Capt'n Fantastic]

Nothing it adds breaks normal progression really. I'm 68 hours in and I'm still 5 levels from even being able to do the DLC content.

[Mark]

The 16 DLCs are fine to have since the beginning, quests all have a recommended level, other things are cosmetic/to be bought
The expansion is a different beast, high level content, to be played after the end game

[Master Grief]

Thanks for the input everyone, I know what I shall do now :)

[Grit949]

Originally posted by Capt'n Fantastic:

Nothing it adds breaks normal progression really. I'm 68 hours in and I'm still 5 levels from even being able to do the DLC content.

I have not found this to be true on my play-through.

I got to level 20 in this game and found I triggered high level content by just showing up somewhere whilst exploring. I was forced to watch a whole long cut scene then encountered level ?? opponents and died (one shot-ed).

Also whilst I am not sure if this is DLC related I frequently run in to mobs that are way higher level than me in questing areas, I can get attacked by level 1 wild dogs than encounter a 32 Griffin a few minutes later.

I found this post after looking for answers about disabling content and getting my saves to work. So far I have found that my existing ones do not work if I disable the expansions (despite my low level) :(

So if anyone knows, can I enable the DLC content at the right levels and have it work with my saves on a new play-through?