That was nice 
I'm absolutely NOT going to do this before Isle. I think... I'm in NG+ now and lvl 54. Ugly Baby is my next main quest and there are not many contracts or side quest left. In my first playthrough I was lvl 33 or 34 when completing the game. So I don't think I get enough levels to do this before the Isle. I'm not going to farm monsters for this...
I messed up some of those little events before the auction (and the whole HoS), 'cause I was playing with default Geralt and without proper Gwent cards etc. Now in NG+ I'm going to spent much more time with that expansion and enjoy it even more.
I'm absolutely NOT going to do this before Isle. I think... I'm in NG+ now and lvl 54. Ugly Baby is my next main quest and there are not many contracts or side quest left. In my first playthrough I was lvl 33 or 34 when completing the game. So I don't think I get enough levels to do this before the Isle. I'm not going to farm monsters for this...
I messed up some of those little events before the auction (and the whole HoS), 'cause I was playing with default Geralt and without proper Gwent cards etc. Now in NG+ I'm going to spent much more time with that expansion and enjoy it even more.
I find the conversations pre-Isle of Mists much sadder than post-Isle of Mists, since you know what happens next. But this is interesting in the sense that the devs did record a few conversations with main NPCs from Wild Hunt that link to HoS. Playing HoS post epilogue, neither Dandelion or Zoltan gave a rats ass that Geralt had some new ugly scar. I wonder which other main NPC has a conversation that links to HoS. I recall a while back, there were supposedly leaked dialogues between Geralt and Triss/Yen/Ciri regarding his scar, presumably triggered if you start HoS and then continue on with the main quest, Has anyone encountered that scenario?
Yes indeed, all three of them have something to say about the new mark. It's the same no matter when we complete HoS, as long as it is before the end of the game.
If you are playing on PC, and installed the debug console mod, then those dialogues can be enabled - even without having HoS - with the command addfact(q601_geralt_has_demon_mark). It is best to try this on the boat in Battle Preparations.
There you go
There is, also, an option to ask Gaunter about Ciri if you play HoS before Isle of Mists and decide not to help Olgierd at the end, skip to 3:20
I DID get to play HoS before the Isle Of Mists (in NG+)! Jippi jippi jippi! I managed to get those missing "extra" levels by finding those ? marks. This seems much easier now than it did in my HoS alone with default Geralt. Although I still get my ass kicked time to time with too strong opponents.
Just killed Toad and I hardly took any damage. That Ofieri mage was a peace of cake even without my armor on. I'm playing easy, but so I did last time (or was it normal? :O ) and then I had some serious trouble with those two. I made my Bear Gear light with rune words and also took that vitality rune word. But back to the point... I'm hunting those special dialogues about that scar now and this came to my mind... If you want to talk about that scar, you have to have that scar on your face? So I can't complete HoS before those conversations, 'cause that mark disappears after that?
You can also talk to Vesemir about the lady, if you go talk to him before doing Isle of Mist.