You're doing spooning wrong:

spoiler

I'm actually pretty lukewarm on the Witcher franchise. I've read all but the most recent book, tried the show for 2 seasons, and played all the games. As much as people hype this franchise as some sort of rival to A Song of Ice and Fire or Lord of the Rings, it absolutely falls short.

That said, the Witcher 3 specifically deserves all the love it gets. I actually boycotted it for a few years after release because the graphic downgrade it had after the early gameplay trailers came at a time of extreme manipulation of this sort from other studios, but eventually picked it up with both DLC in a sale, approaching it with a lot of cynicism.

Not only does Hearts of Stone tell what I'd consider the best witcher story, Blood and Wine is a fantastic post-game to the franchise in its vibrant pageantry romp through a riviera; it's just a happy environment to end Geralt's story in.

Given the depth of writing in the Witcher 3, I think skipping Hearts of Stone would be a huge mistake.

I would argue the other way around. Blood and Wine is fun and nice as a capstone to Geralt and has a lot of content if you just want to ride around and play Gwent and do the Wine Wars and play house with your vineyard or whatever. It's a fun expansion with a lot of value for your money if that's what you're after.

Hearts of Stone though is the most focused, well written, cinematic and concise story and content they ever made for Witcher. Has great characters, mystery, tension, levels, cutscenes, atmosphere... For me it was by far the more impactful of the two DLCs. If anything B&W is too long, I was already burned out by the end of it.

Idk man, Hearts of Stone's story is the best in the entire game IMO.

I wouldn't just call it not bad, it's great.

Heart of Stone hits harder than blood which is breezy in comparison. First time I enjoyed blood better but that was mostly down to the new location. Going over the same territory from the main game was a bit underwhelming. But on replay - no contest. (Well apart from the Auction house.)