by alluvian
I love this expansion. My wife won't play the game without it anymore because she likes it so much. To both of us it feels so much more about actually curing diseases now instead of just collecting cards.I can't talk much about game length as we have yet to win with this expansion. This does not mean much, we kinda suck at pandemic, heh. The fun definitely makes up for any small increase in duration.
This said, it is a much bigger job TEACHING this expansion than the base game. Not horrible by any means. If I was playing this with people brand new to board games in general I probably would just play the base game.
You mention insert though, the insert is the same insert from the on the brink expansion and is kinda crappy. This expansion also does NOT come with pitri dishes anymore, not sure if it ever did. Someone told me the dishes came from on the brink. I was dissapointed to not have the dishes, but from a gameplay perspective I think the dishes would be more fiddly. Easier to just slide the cubes around maybe. I will still buy some dishes for mine eventually.