Well, as I was watching the live episode of Critical Role tonight, I was only able to play the new Elden Ring expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, for about an hour (I have roommates and can't hog the TV at all times).
So far, I've collected enough Scadutree Fragments to buff myself three times. I've faced one minor "dungeon" boss (not really a dungeon boss, more akin to those "ruin bosses" you often find in basements of ruins in the main game. I've gotten a single buff for my Summons and Torrent, and I've met two NPCs (not counting the one you find at Mohgwyn Palace who tells you how to enter the DLC).
I decided to take my Blasphemous Blade dual-wielding jump Strength/Faith build, on a character named Brunus of Ord, who was my first character to beat the game. I think at this stage every weapon I've found is actually wieldable by him, but most have been somewhat mundane physical damage weapons. The downside to this choice, of course, is that the Blasphemous Blade is so good, both dealing lots of damage and really helping with survival, that it will be hard to wean myself off of it and take a new weapon on.
I did get one of the Messmer Knight Greathammers, or whatever they're called, which is shockingly lighter than the Blasphemous Blade, and deals a mix of physical and holy damage - pretty good for my Str/Faith character. That said, it doesn't have a particularly interesting move set or innate ash of war.
I have gotten the Backhand Blades (the namesake of their own weapon category,) which are cool but feel like they're probably built more for a Dex build - they just have pretty low stat requirements.
The very first enemy I faced was a sort of masked omen assassin, and that was genuinely a close fight. However, it also seems to be something of a showcase enemy, and most of the foes I have faced have been pretty reasonable.
I did struggle a bit on the spirit knight found in a mausoleum, who has a rapid-fire crossbow and a heavy sword, taking three or four attempts before I could get him down (I swapped out my Claw Talisman for the one Iji sells that makes ash of war abilities cheaper and more or less spammed Taker's Flame). The knight dropped his sword and his cool armor, which is something of a sidegrade for me.
There's a ruined sort of gate town in the middle of a field that you'll find early on where I was able to climb to the top and get a talisman that increases damage done after dealing a critical hit.
Naturally, I haven't hit any major bosses yet or anything, and I'm very much in the opening stages of just trying to explore and get a sense of the lay of the land. There are a lot of places you can go, but I don't want to go too far lest I trigger some story event that makes me miss a quest.
Really, the biggest thing is that, after two years and... like 300 to 400 hours playing the base game, I've become so familiar with the layout of the Lands Between that I can map out the most efficient route between all of the mini dungeons, knowing where to find just about everything I need for a new character.
Here, though, it's all new. I thought I did a pretty thorough job searching the starting area (I think called the Gravesite Plains) but I'm sure I'll discover that there were actually several Sites of Grace, items, and mini-dungeons that I ran right past.
I'm eager to get father into it - while there's no way I can expect this to be a full Elden Ring II, I've also gotten the sense from reviews that this DLC is genuinely massive - like 40-50% the size of the base game. That suggests to me that this is going to be some real meaty stuff.
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