Buy Blood & Wine now or afterward?

I was thinking of finally doing a W3 playthrough and was wondering whether B&W introduced anything new to the base game (mechanics, side quests, etc) or whether it was fairly self contained that I can put off purchasing until later?

I don't see why you should hold back now really unless you're keen to save a few dollars and wait for a sale.

For me, I played until the last main quest before starting Hearts of Stone, completed that, and then started Blood & Wine, finishing that before then going on to end the main quest. The approaches of other players will vary depending on a number of factors and tastes.

There's a significant tonal shift in the setting of Toussaint in the visual atmosphere as well as the writing. The tournament side-quest was especially memorable for me and completely different from anything in the base game. It is by and large self-contained though and you'd likely be better prepared for the more challenging encounters if you elected to finish the main quest first and play B&W later.

Ok, I'll just wait on a sale then. Thanks!

Hum. I'm about one quest away from finishing the main quest. Should i do heart of stone now or after the main quest. Hum. Kind of getting old but heart of stone is short. b&w will have to wait a month or so till after i recover from witcher 3 burn out.

Originally Posted by Drithius
I was thinking of finally doing a W3 playthrough and was wondering whether B&W introduced anything new to the base game (mechanics, side quests, etc) or whether it was fairly self contained that I can put off purchasing until later?

It is pretty much an epilogue to the whole series. It adds some mechanics, but they are for DLC. Plus the difficulty is a big jump from the main game.