Why is there no mention of Saskia's free state of Upper Aedirn in The Witcher 3? It feels like the Shani debacle all over again where ppl invested time into a part of the game that would only get neglected, erased from the game. Obviously [[spoiler]]Shani has returned in the first expansion of TW3[[spoiler]]. But I can't help but feel cheated in all honesty, I just feel really put off by the fact that my main playthrough was just a load of wasted time, and the developers haven't even commented a single bit on the status of Iorveth's path in TW3, not as far as I've seen in any case. But what's so hard about just saying something about it though?

From a game and story perspective, they could've handled Upper Aedirn like the valley of the flowers, Dol Blathanna, and simply have it become free again after the main story of the game if you chose to beat back the Nilfgaardians.
My main question is just, why? I really don't understand why they've done this.

I'm kinda hoping that as Shani got her "game" with Hearts of Stone, Iorveth'll make a return in Blood and Wine. That said, you're entirely correct - I don't even remember running across a mention about Iorveth's storyline, and even in spite of completely crewing over Roche, he's acting like Geralt is his best pal in W3. Generally speaking, W3 ignores your decisions from W2 even more than W2 did those from W1, going as far as to resurrect Thaler even when he died in your imported W1 save. Say what you will about Mass Effect, it did these persistent decisions so much better.

The outcome of your decisions in TW2 becomes irelevant with the invasion of the North by Nilfgaard. Everything south of the Pontar was annexed by Nilfgaard. That includes the entire kingdom of Aedirn and the Free State, if you went down Iorveth's path.

I'm also hoping CD project RED is in the works of incorporating past important characters into TW3. They like to do quality content and they wont cast certain characters or landscapes if they can't do them justice, while I really like that idea it would be nice if that was said before the game was launched so you're not like me just buying the game and later on just getting disappointed, but of course they probably wouldn't be able to say anything for marketing reasons. I think I have learned my lessons though, I wont pre ordering games like this anymore and absolutely always take interviews and trailers with a grain of salt, because they're likely never honest and accurate.

@k4ZEE106,
I know what transpired in the game, what you describe is one of the first things you will see in the game, it's hard to miss.
But if the sole reason for ignoring Upper Aedirn is because Nilfgaard came up from the south then that's just really silly.
I don't know what their reasons were for ignoring it but my guess is what I mentioned earlier that they simply want to create quality content, and wont feature something if it doesn't meet the criteria. I think it is a mistake though to completely ignore it like that, a mention or a hint at what could be done with it and make sure that people know that it isn't forgotten, or if it is being erased then they should explicitly say so.

Because "reds", "communists" and "anarchists" are outer space aliens, dinosaur era relics and forever utopians-neverneverlanders, even in videogames and their (carrying over) decisions (see Bloodlines for example). Among the many things Witcher 2 got right, is Patriotism, the Roche path and the country's good, Temeria. Witcher's business is far away from those things and concerns, but you as the player can make those your first rate business and concern. "Plow the elves"!

You mean to say that it was intentionally erased because the idea of a free state with policies of interspecies tolerance wouldn't work at all, or at least not in this era of time where prejudices might be more rampant within the witcher world?
I am personally not averse to however they want to play it really, if CD projekt RED wants to depict it as impossible then by all means, but with lack of explanations or quality to the story about it, it will just always fall flat and be boring and bad, don't you think so?

A quick look on the "Witcher.wikia" and "Witcher.gamepedia" on Saskia's free state indicates that, and here I quote the wiki;[spoiler] depending on choices Geralt W3, Free State Saskia may remain under occupation Empire, be conquered by Radovid V the Stern or unite with Redania under the leadership of Chancellor Sigismund.[spolier] End quote.
However, I don't see any sources to these statements leading me to believe it is just speculation at this point, it might very well be correct of course, the witcher 3 not showing anything of Saskia's free state doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't there, the game developers made it clear that it's more of a standalone game that focuses more on the core of the witcher story. Although in a game genre such as this, and where most of the focus already lies on respecting player freedom, the meaning gets kind of unclear.

Something I found a while ago on the net regarding Iorveth and Saskia, Marcin Momot who's the Community Lead and Website Coordinator at CD Projekt Red, "he reassured a fan who was asking for their whereabouts and health that they're both very much alive and safe." Even if they weren't actually in the game.

His Tweet; h t t p s : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / m a r c i n 3 6 0 / s t a t u s / 6 1 7 9 5 7 1 5 7 9 3 4 3 7 9 0 0 9

Something also interesting that I came across was the deleted content for the witcher 3, Iorveth was apperently planned and even implemented in multiple parts of the game.

Can be found here; h t t p : / / w w w . g a m e p r e s s u r e . c o m / e . a s p ? I D = 5 3 9

As for Upper Aedirn itself, I'm not entirely sure what was initially planned for it. There are at least two scoia'tael groups around Novigrad though in The Witcher 3, one of the groups seems to just be observing the city of Novigrad, and a few of their warriors do mention Iorveth being possibly dead. But from what Marcin Momot Tweeted, we know that's not true of course, but it does paint a picture of what the deleted content probably was. Iorveth was probably meant to be in and around Novigrad and the scoia'tael groups were possibly going to be part of some kind of power play with the city's vast riches and armies. Seeing as both Redania and Nilfgaard are both vying for it in the game, the one who takes it wins the war. If scoia'tael got their hands on those I could easily imagine a full scoia'tael ending, with them coming up on top in the war, similarly to what we had with Yaevin in W1 and Upper Aedirn in W2.
But that's just my theory anyways.

You can see the scoia'tael mention Iorveth here; h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = g L f H D 2 E U L n s

- I made a space between every letter in the links.