expansion=restarting the original campaign?

[DGDobrev]

It seems that everyone wants to cut their time short and simply explore the new things with a pre-made character and be done with it.

NO, this cannot be done. You will need to play the campaign again, see the new stuff, explore the new areas and use the new skills. KBAP chars cannot be imported due to the additional content and due to the skill changes. They are simply incompatible.

Think of it as Heroes 3 and Heroes 3 armageddon's blade and the other expansions. You couldn't start a Heroes 3 extra large map, play it for 5 days, get the expansion and simply transfer the map to the expansion and the new content, could you? Still, heroes 3 was branded as the best title in the heroes series - and this title still stands.