These are my first impressions based upon roughly eight hours of play time, and having completed one of the two main quests. What I must say up front though is very important. Do not interpret the time it took me to be in any way indicative of how long one of the quest lines may take you. I used a character that is basically balance breaking. My character is so over the top that the game cannot afford my anything close to a challenge, and I can kill without even breaking stride. My character is nigh indestructible, and near instant death to everything. So curve up on your estimates if you aren't totally maxed out.
That said I want to break it up into pros and cons to give some of you a more factual feel.
Pro the Dragon bone weapons are as advertised. They are better then Daedric weapons, and you can craft them for yourself. Con they are much better then Daedric weapons especially when constructed by anyone who has put any serious time into crafting. The sword I made was three times more powerful then my named Daedric weapon. Factor in innate bonuses slash enchanting, and you get a truly obscene weapon. Which makes looting weapons obsolete.
Pro the dungeons are plentiful, original, and beautiful. With many branching paths, and off the beaten track areas to discover. The puzzle elements or tasks that take place in the main quest line are also fairly novel. There is a lot here that hasn't been done before. Which will give you a bit of a surprise here and there. Con some of the side content can be frustrating, or fundamentally unrewarding. It isn't clear what to do, or even what the objective is.
Pro they did a pass over on enemies, and there are entirely new types, and upgrades of existing types. Hell they even did a pass over on flora and fauna. Sometimes with novel or interesting effects. Con new names or not. You really don't need to change your fundamental approach to deal with any of them. It would have been much more interesting if you were forced to fight some of them in ways outside of your comfort zone.
Pro the monster form at least in the Vampire Lord is entertaining, and the leveling system does create some real motivation to play as a monster. You know outside of getting away with crimes, or gaining small advantages and disadvantages. Con they still aren't properly balanced, and they are still clumsy. Making them a hardship to play in anything outside of a safe setting. The Camera is still a issue, the limited functionality of the creatures is still fairly mindless, and for a high level player the monsters are far too weak in comparison. Sorry it really is more of just a gimmick then a solid well thought out experience.
Pro new weapons though few are really rewarding. No spoilers here, but a certain bow having two different, but really cool effects is just a hell of a lot of fun. Con there isn't one outside of wanting more. Really the weapons that are already in the game do so many different things anyway.
Pro new shouts. Con at least of the ones I saw which was all of two. Both were knockoffs of either shouts that already exist in the main game, or magical abilities that could be acquired. More would have been nice, so would something new, but what would have been really good was a shout that resolved some problem in the expansion.
Pro the storyline avoids being as stale as the main game in many respects. You get a few scripted events, and it is nice to see the dialogue being notched up a bit. Con it is still Skyrim, and transitional material is still lacking. You get choices, but it still isn't necessarily clear what your motivations are, or what the consequences for doing them might be. Which isn't so bad I suppose, because I get the distinct feeling that outside of factions I didn't have any real choice about where I was going to end up in the end.
On the whole I think the expansion is worth the money, and I easily see twenty plus hours of entertainment here. However I would strongly recommend against holding it in reserve. This would be best played mid stride rather then at the end of the journey. That is when the combat should be at its best, and the rewards would best match your skill level. Not only that, but this is the time when the monster perks would probably be at their most useful.
