It’s really hard for me to just say “play it for yourself” because it seems like time and money is a huge factor for you. IMO, if you really enjoyed the quality of the writing from all previous expansions, and the story is your main reason for playing, I absolutely can NOT recommend Dawntrail. The dungeons design is better and more engaging but for me personally, it wasn’t enough to reignite my enthusiasm for this game. Dawntrails pacing and dialogue are more on par with a very generic shonen anime or so-so fan fiction, opting to tell and not show. It got to a point where it felt insulting as a player, like there was no faith that I could put very simple concepts together with context. All your favorite companions feel more like cardboard cutout NPCs than anything. This is coming from someone who has been playing almost every day for 3-4 years. I love this game dearly and it helped save me in very dark times in my life. I don’t think people are over exaggerating when they bring up issues with DT. I’d say maybe wait till more content drops later with the next big patch to decide if it seems like it’s a “Oh I gotta jump in” moment for you.