Ok I keep hearing this but no one can actually explain why an expanion that adds a couple of hours somehow suddenly changes the entire game for the better.
Does it get rid of lore dumps, retarded backer prose, fix the combat system, etc? Does Strength still add to magic spell damage?
I can understand, but it is hard to account for all of the differences. In my mind, the White March brought three (3) things: a better story; better encounter design; and gameplay improvements.
1. Narrative-wise, you have a decent hook relative to the main story (although I did come to like Thaos). There is an abandoned dwarven fortress with prized steel and secrets that you have to crack open (either to save the town, or for your own reasons). Unlike the base game, being a Watcher is critical, because you have to use your Watcher abilities to find someone who lived in the fortress in a past life. Moreover, the ability to see ghosts helps to piece together what happened to the dwarves. You get to see their frantic last stand against an unknown enemy. Later in the story, you have choices and faction interactions that actually effect something (abilities, weapons).
It is just better, and I do not know how to articulate it much more than that.
2. Encounter design is simply better. In the base game, you repetitively grind through the same set of mobs over and over again. In the White March, the enemies have more key abilities and unique fights. Take the Spore Mind fight as an example. The main enemy is a giant, mind-controlling spore with 4-6 tendrils that each throw a boulder at your group. In addition, there is a line of Sporemen with confuse and Vithrak with teleportation, AoE paralyze, and dominate. If you fail to prepare against confusion, mind domination, paralyze, and teleporting melee fighters, your party can get eaten alive quite easily. Meanwhile, the tendrils will continue to throw boulders that can KO squishy party members and whittle down your party. Another example is the twin dragon fight (at least, what I call it since I cannot remember the mage). You have to fight an archmage, two (2) dragons, and a host of lizardmen (Xaurips?). The mage casts a spell where you cannot tell how damaged your party is, alongside whatever high level abilities she has. Each dragon fights differently if I remember correctly, and the Xaurips will flank your party from nearly all sides.
These fights were far more exciting than anything in the base game, especially on PotD.
3. The White March brought more talents, abilities, soul bound weapons (a special class of weapon that gets stronger when you fulfill certain objectives), and some class improvements. In contrast, the base game itemization was dull, and the White March brought a much needed boost to the items. I had a Priest of Eothas wielding the Hammer of Abydon (two handed soulbound hammer that provides magic abilities, +4 might, chance to instant kill vessels), a skull as a helmet, the Ogre horn (summons 2 Ogres), plus more ( max might and intellect priest can melt most encounters).
PrimeJunta probably has a better grasp on this point than I.
In sum, I enjoyed the White March, and if the White March is the base from which Obsidian creates PoE 2, then I can see myself enjoying PoE 2.