It is not impossible to implement a save import that is at least noticeably better than what is in the current games, it is a matter of the amount of resources devoted to this aspect of the game. In The Witcher 2 and 3, only about 2% or less of the content is related in some way to the save import, so you cannot expect much from that. It could be more if the developers really wanted to improve it, but I guess since the bad import does not cost them a significant amount of sales, it is just not made a high priority. At best the next Witcher game (if there will be any) will start a new story and will not need to rely on the save import much, if at all, as I doubt the policy of not making it more than an afterthought would change.
I don't know. I have yet to see any case of a save import implemented in a way that was more than just okay. Usually it comes down to a bunch of lackluster cameos of old characters that serve for little else than making the world smaller and the story more awkward, when not outright ruining those characters. Think Roche and Thaler in TW3. I've heard Letho and Sile are not much better. Large decisions are even harder to carry over from one game to the other. When I saw the epilogue of TW2, describing the political fallout of the story, I knew immediately that none of that was going to matter in the next game. There was just no feasible way to make it matter, and the Nilfgaardian invasion was bound to make it irrelevant anyway.
Actually, it would not have been as easy as it may seem at first. Keeping Shani as a lover in TW2 would not only have required giving her a major role in the story and changing the existing scenes with Triss, but it would also have made implementing relationships in TW3 more difficult. When TW2 was written, it was already known that a trilogy is planned and that Yennefer would return in the final game. Three LI choices in Wild Hunt and taking into account all the possible paths from the first two games would have been a lot of extra work (considering all the content in TW3 that now assumes unconditionally that Geralt was in a relationship with Triss recently and they broke up after the second game with no explanation), so with that in mind CDPR's decisions are understandable, even if disappointing.
That is my point. I realize it would have been nearly impossible to carry over that decision without altering the story as is, and it would have been likely to be done in such a way that it would negatively affect the plot and the characters involved. So I can see why there's no Shani in the second game, even if I find it disappointing. I was presenting it as a case of the save import being lackluster, but having a reason for it. If you had given me the choice between a series that tried to respect the Triss/Shani decision from the first game and the Iorveth/Roche one from the second and what we got, I would probably still go with the latter. At the end of the day, The Witcher is made up of self-contained stories, so choice and consequence ought to matter more within a given entry in the series than throughout them.
Although, I cannot deny I would have liked them to do just a little better regarding the Triss/Shani debacle in the second game. At the very least, I would have preferred it if Geralt was not forced to be with Triss. For a developer that boasts on respecting the concept of player choice (and I would say they do, more often than not) that was somewhat... disappointing. It is like in TW2 you sided with Iorveth, only for TW3 to come around and tell you that actually you turned him in to Roche in the time between games.
First, if you don't care about save import, don't import any decision. It's unfair to see Roche or Ves and not Saskia and Iorveth. With that, IMO, they are saying that the decisions of some players were more important than the others. And more important, what's the point of simulating save games at the beginning of the game?. It was completely USELESS (except for Letho). By doing that,you are telling the player that you're decisions mattered which was a LIE. If you are going to remove a important character from the story which has been previously announced, the righ thing to do is to tell to your clients and they didn't. The problem it's not just the bad save import. It is that they gave the impression that, at least. some of the big choices of TW2 would be implement in this game and that didn't happened. It would have been fair if, at least, none character from TW2 would had made it into TW3.
I did not say I didn't care about the save import, just that I never expected much from it. The transition between TW1 and TW2 was poor enough; there was no reason to think the one between TW2 and TW3 would be in any way superior. I should say that I actually went with Iorveth in my so far only playthrough and would have liked to see him in the third game. However, I don't think a forced cameo would have added significantly to my experience. Roche and Ves' did not, even if I also liked the two of them.
I understand Iorveth was supposed to be in the game originally, but they scrapped him? Stuff changes during game development all the time. I understand the disappointment, and I agree that it is not fair that Roche, Ves, Letho, Shile and even Thaler get crappy cameos but Iorveth and Saskia don't. But I would hardly call it underhanded deception that made it turn out that way. I believe they didn't add Iorveth because, ultimately, he was not important to the story of TW3 and the cost was deemed to high to make it practical. Such is the way of things.
As for the Gwent card game, there hasn't been any confirmation by CDPR refering to the incluison of Iorveth or Saskia. In my experience, when CDPR's doesn't say a word about something in especific, that means "no". I'm tire of assumptions. I would believe only when I hear it from CDPR. And believe me, no one who chose Iorveth's path or really like the character would be satisfied with that. The only way to "make justice" to the character would be his inclusion in the game
It would depend on how the solo mode turns out, but I would argue a single player campaign dedicated to him and/or Saskia is far preferable to the treatment he would have gotten in TW3 e.g. a pretty bad cameo. That is just my opinion, though, so I understand if you just don't feel the same.