The expansion is titled Die Nacht des Raben, which translates to The Night of the Raven. It is integrated into the original game, even more than you might expect. Looking forward to facing the new challenges with your trained paladin, dragon hunter or firemage? Well, that's not going to happen. You have to start from scratch. Right where Gothic II begins. Right in Xardas' tower. What the add-on basically does is enhance the original game by adding a side story. I personally didn't mind that at all as I had planned to play the game again anyway, this time joining the mage guild. Already beaten Gothic II with all guilds and now afraid and tired of having to go through the basic parts of the game again? Don't worry, Piranha Bytes tried to address that aspect.
The expansion not only adds new content to world of Gothic II, it also changes that world. New quests are featured at places you thought you knew, integrating some of the common characters. There are also new solutions for some of the old quests. Additional creatures were placed all over the island, as well as bandit camps.