Blood and Wine has everything I liked about Wild Hunt, but in a more focused area and with better pacing.
Pro:
- the antagonist is more interesting than the Wild Hunt, and also gets more screen time
- the main sidekick, Regis, is my favorite character in the game, very entertaining to have around
- there is only one patient buildup, not many localized peaks like in Wild Hunt. The pacing is better as a result
- there is some minor additional build options with mutation research
- Corvo Bianco is the only stronghold I liked in CRPG history
- the enemies are more varied, and some have intresting attack patterns
- the devs increased the common mobs, so it's not just drowner-ghoul-wolf anymore
- some scenes are really breathtaking
- looting is a bit simplified, you don't have to click on every individual container, only "a bunch of containers", which cuts a bit of tedium
- there are quest awards which are actually great, and better than witcher gear! Yay!
- for once, it's not raining, and the wind's not howling
Cons:
- I don't really like the colors they used for the environment, but it's a minor problem
- mutations were not really tested, there is a clear winner, which is better than everything. (nothing forces the player to use it tho)
- the game is still too easy I think, especially with an imported character
In the case of Witcher "more of the same" should be a compliment I think. However in this case the devs actually improved the base game in many ways, and this DLC is like a shorter but more focused separate adventure.
Some problematic things (story pacing, loot, itemization, enemy variety and patterns) were addressed, a few were left as is (difficulty, some OP combos), and there were no new problems introduced.
This DLC is a win. While being a DLC, it has better quality content than most open world games.