Does War of the Chosen Make XCOM 2 Harder?
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The short answer is: yes, and no. War of the Chosen (WotC), the expansion for XCOM 2, significantly alters the game’s difficulty curve. It’s not a straightforward increase in challenge across the board. Instead, WotC introduces a more nuanced difficulty experience, generally making the early to mid-game more demanding while potentially making the late game easier. Let’s break down why.
The Early Game: A Steep Learning Curve
The initial hours of WotC can feel like a baptism by fire. The introduction of the Chosen, powerful, persistent enemy units with unique abilities, adds a significant layer of challenge. These aren’t your typical aliens; they hunt you, adapt to your tactics, and can even kidnap your soldiers. Encountering a Chosen early on, especially the Assassin with her stealth and melee attacks, can quickly lead to mission failure if you’re not prepared.
Furthermore, WotC adds new strategic elements that can feel overwhelming for new players. The Resistance Ring, Covert Actions, and managing faction allegiance introduce layers of complexity to the strategy layer, which can be initially daunting. It’s a balancing act between researching tech, managing resources, and sending your soldiers on these new types of missions. New players, especially, may find themselves feeling bombarded by systems on top of the already challenging combat. In short, the early game in War of the Chosen is often harder than the base game.
The Mid-Game: A Turning Point
As you progress through the mid-game, you’ll begin to unlock some crucial advantages. You’ll start to level up your hero classes (Reaper, Templar, and Skirmisher), each with unique skill trees that can significantly impact the battlefield. The Resistance Ring begins to pay dividends with access to covert ops that can provide vital rewards and reduce the Chosen’s influence. You’ll also find you’re better equipped to deal with the Chosen due to improved gear and the knowledge of how each Chosen operates. At this stage, the difficulty begins to even out, and even turn in your favor if you play your cards right.
The Late Game: Power Surge and Domination
The late game of WotC can be surprisingly easier than the base game once you reach a critical mass of power and strategic knowledge. Successfully defeating the Chosen not only removes a threat but also unlocks their powerful weapons and equipment for your use. This can give you a significant edge, allowing you to equip your soldiers with gear that far surpasses anything in the vanilla XCOM 2 campaign. The combination of these powerful items, along with the highly skilled hero classes and expanded strategic options, often makes the late game feel like a power fantasy. While you still need to be careful, you’ll find yourself easily dismantling enemy forces that seemed insurmountable at the start of the game. Therefore, the late game is often significantly easier than the base game due to the player’s power growth.
Key Factors Affecting Difficulty
Several factors contribute to WotC’s altered difficulty:
- The Chosen: They are the most obvious change, adding powerful boss-like enemies that directly interact with your campaign. They have distinct strengths, weaknesses, and behaviors. Defeating them is a key objective and crucial to obtaining powerful new gear.
- Hero Classes: The introduction of Reapers, Templars, and Skirmishers offers new tactical options and can be incredibly powerful once leveled.
- Faction Mechanics: The Resistance Ring and the Faction bonds add new layers to the strategic layer.
- New Enemy Types: Beyond the Chosen, the “Lost” introduce another layer of danger with their swarming attacks.
- Strategic Layer Changes: The expanded strategic map offers new possibilities, including the option to get special rewards from missions and covert ops.
Conclusion
In conclusion, War of the Chosen is not a universally harder experience than the base game of XCOM 2. Instead, it shifts the difficulty curve, making the early to mid-game more challenging due to the introduction of the Chosen and new strategic mechanics. However, once you’ve mastered the new systems, built a strong team, and obtained the Chosen’s equipment, the late game can become surprisingly easier than the vanilla campaign. The overall result is a more dynamic and varied experience for players, rather than just a linear increase in difficulty.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Should I play War of the Chosen or the base game first?
It’s generally recommended to play the base game of XCOM 2 first, especially if you’re new to the series. This gives you a fundamental understanding of the mechanics before diving into the more complex additions of WotC. It allows you to grasp the base game’s mechanics and then appreciate the additions in WotC.
2. Is War of the Chosen worth it?
Absolutely. If you enjoyed XCOM 2, WotC is a must-have expansion. It adds a significant amount of new content, including new enemies, classes, mechanics, and a compelling narrative. It greatly enhances the replayability of the game.
3. Can I disable War of the Chosen?
Yes, you can disable WotC content when starting a new game. This will essentially allow you to play the base game with only a single faction soldier starting on your squad, and access to that faction HQ immediately.
4. Does War of the Chosen change the story?
Yes, WotC significantly alters the XCOM 2 campaign. It introduces a new storyline centered around the Chosen, and their attempts to undermine your efforts. This makes the story different from the base game.
5. How long does it take to beat War of the Chosen?
On average, focusing on the main objectives will take around 35 hours. For completionists, expect to spend 75 hours or more getting everything out of the game.
6. What are the best tips for War of the Chosen?
Some core tips include: prioritizing early contact with resistance factions, focusing on developing bonds between your soldiers, and learning the strengths and weaknesses of each Chosen. Additionally, understanding the new classes is key to combat success.
7. Is War of the Chosen harder than Long War 2?
Long War 2 (a mod) and WotC provide different kinds of challenge. Long War 2 is often considered to be harder, with its expanded campaign structure and massive battles. WotC is generally more balanced, but introduces unique challenges with the Chosen.
8. Can I play XCOM 2 without War of the Chosen?
Yes, you can play XCOM 2 without WotC. However, if you own the DLC, you will experience new content by enabling the add-on features during your campaign start.
9. What are the new hero classes in War of the Chosen?
War of the Chosen introduces three new hero classes: Reapers (stealth specialists), Templars (psionic melee fighters), and Skirmishers (former ADVENT soldiers). Each has unique skills that can be critical in battle.
10. What is the best weapon in War of the Chosen?
The Darkclaw, a unique pistol for the Sharpshooter class, is often considered to be one of the best weapons. It features high damage and armor piercing ability.
11. Does War of the Chosen make the strategic layer harder?
Yes, the strategic layer in WotC is more complex with the addition of the Resistance Ring, covert operations, and faction management. This increases the amount of strategy that players have to manage.
12. What are the Chosen and how do they affect the gameplay?
The Chosen are powerful, unique enemies who each have their own strengths, weaknesses, and combat styles. They hunt you throughout the campaign and have the ability to kidnap your soldiers and sabotage your operations.
13. How does War of the Chosen affect the difficulty for new XCOM players?
For new players, War of the Chosen can be extremely difficult, especially early in the game. The added complexity of the Chosen, new strategic elements, and overall difficulty can lead to many failures early on. New players should strongly consider starting with the base game.
14. What does “Lost and Abandoned” mean in WotC?
“Lost and Abandoned” is an optional mission that introduces the new factions in WotC. Disabling this mission will start a campaign with a single faction soldier in your team, allowing you to bypass the initial introductory mission.
15. Is XCOM War of the Chosen canon?
Yes, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, and XCOM: Chimera Squad are considered part of the canonical XCOM video game universe.