Yes, I've heard that the G2-Addon was mainly made for hardcore-players - which seem to exist to a certain extend, because the devs said that they've made it mainly for the fan-base.
I remember a game solution that consisted of killing *everyone* in G1 - only for loot and experience points. Except story-relevant NPCs, of course.
One strange impression I've always got is this that it seems to me a "game for real men" or so, players who would like to play differently than becoming a strong, awfful fighter are too weak for the game. My very personal impression is, that it's "a male game", which can be seen by the way how women are treated in this game. Well, this might be dictated by the environment the player gets thrown in ( I only played G1) , but there is not even an option to play as a female character.
I'm not sure, but I think 've read somewhere a commercial ad saying that was well known at the time of the release of the Addon tht was changed to fit to the addon and that went like this (taken from my memory) : "If it's too hard, then you're too weak."
The game as it is is *very* immersive, but with a lot of combat.
