Quest markers are added when you activate the DLC. They’re all along the lines of “investigate the signal coming from <location>”.
Oh, okay.
Anyone want to weigh in on whether I should wait 'til I finish the original version before adding the DLC?
Depends on how you play. Operation Anchorage provides some powerful loot, including
The Chinese Stealth Armor, which makes you invisible when crouching, and you get Power Armor training and a set of T-51b armor that doesn’t degrade (probably an unintended effect due to a bug)
The other packs can be rough on lower-level characters, especially Point Lookout
The Swampfolk and Tribals have an unblockable 35 damage bonus per attack and high stats.
There’s nothing to lose from activating them, though. You don’t get sucked in unless you complete the first couple of objectives in each quest line. The game also provides a warning that you are about to commit to the DLC pack’s quest line and have to finish it before returning to the main game. That gives you a chance to make a manual save to return to in case it proves too much at the time.
You may want to avoid Broken Steel until you get near the end of the main storyline because doing so will add a couple new enemies to the Wasteland including the toughest of all:
Albino Radscorpions
I hate hate hate them.
Must… not… open… spoilers. nnngh
Thanks, guys!
I’m in the same place. I downloaded Broken Steel when I was about 3/4 of the way done… 3 Dog totally spoils it for you!
I didn’t realize how many of the side quests and location I just never found and I thought I had wandered A LOT. (Agatha’s violin, the Brotherhood Outcasts, Nuka-Cola Challenge)
Now after I finish the Broken Steel quest… is the world open for free play or does it end-end?
It’s free play.
But kind of pointless. Most of the quests you haven’t found by then are unmarked and of the “follow the trail of breadcrumbs” variety, and when you complete them you find an ammo cache and maybe a mini nuke.