New Vegas DLC was definitely better than FO3, but come on the originals wasn't THAT bad.
The FO3 DLC wasn't necessarily bad, but it felt like it was lacking. Although Operation Anchorage and The Pitt expanded on the established lore, they were short to the point of being completed in one sitting and didn't add anything to the story. Broken Steel was good for obvious reasons and wrapped up the main story rather nicely, and Point Lookout gives you a whole new area to explore (still haven't finished that one though).
The New Vegas DLC on the other hand does everything right. Even before the DLC was released, you can find out about the other courier
that turned down the delivery job from that guy in Primm. Not only that but there are subtle references throughout the vanilla game that mention the Sierra Madre, Big MT, and the Divide; Obsidian knew exactly where they wanted to go with the DLC. All four of them were just one big interconnected narrative that expanded the story of the main game, both through explicitly presenting it to the player or through more subtle means like journal entires and whatnot. One of the best things about the New Vegas DLC though was that each 'episode' was not stand alone, they would constantly reference and call back (or even forward!) to one another through the characters. It showed that Obsidian really cared about the opportunity that they were given and wanted to tell a story that was worthy enough to be a part of the Fallout canon; it went above and beyond just showing new places to explore, giving the player new weapons, and facing new enemies; it created a story that, within the Fallout universe, changed the fate of the Mojave.
Anyway sorry for the long overdue reply, I just really loved the New Vegas DLC.
