It's not an integral part. I've got several games that are GFW, but not GFWL. It's not listed as a part of Microsoft's GFW standard. The client isn't that bad... until it comes to updates. Then you can just forget it. It's hopeless. It doesn't have a clue. Given that updates are of key importance, that makes it pretty lousy on the whole.

Both Ork and Eldar singleplayer expansions were promised by Relic (Johnny B himself) and it was implied it would be free DLC. However as we all know DOW2 has not gone as smoothly as expected and the free DLC that was mentioned has still failed to materialise.

Some interesting info from the Relic forums:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=235486

Mmmm corruption... It does sound like going bad will really help turn the tactical squad into a damage sponge, they already seem insanely durable even by space marine standards.
Wonder if it'll affect the ending when all your squads go bad

I bet that Gabriel Angelos won't praise corrupted Blood Ravens team after the final mission.
Heck, your last fight with fully corrupted team could be against Angelos, maybe with some nice, touching monologue.

I dunno. I had fun with Dawn of War 2's Campaign mode. The multiplayer just seemed too hardcore and lackluster. You never quite reach the epic scale of DoW1. I wish they would bring something like that back for DoW3 (we all know there will be one).

DoW3 should be turn based and you have to build your army before hand with a certain number of generic resource points (At least for multi-player and skirmishes). :D

GFW:L is garbage, Steam is great. I wish they had not forced it to be tied to either but if I had to pick one it would be just Steam for sure.
Anyway I probably won't be getting chaos rising... single player was either pathetically easy and brainless (on the first 3 difficulties) or brainless but slow and frustrating (on the final one). I also don't care about spess mahrines and ANOTHER campaign revolving around them makes me want to punch a kitten.
Multiplayer is.... not as good as DoW1. They tried to dumb it down to get more mass appeal and as a result the game is much much shallower.... and still lacks mass appeal.
1 new race for multiplayer, 1 new (20 mission, so short, unless they are MUCH longer then the original missions) campaign, and maybe 1 new commander per race for the other races (was that ever confirmed or not?) for $30? no thanks. If steam has a half off sale I might consider it, but I hardly ever play the original anymore so maybe not even then.

Yay, new Chaos Rising and [url=http://uk.media.pc.ign.com/media/033/033018/imgs_1.html]screenshots.
Librarian, Plague Marines.....I'm waitin' for ya.

and DEMONS! Finally

Shut it with Steam and GFWL and DRM you Ill-hijack-every-thread-by-this freaks! At least go all off-topic with something interesting for a change...
Also, awesome! It would be GREAT to have SP campaign with those - and, of course, have demons in it. That would mean a LOTS of bloody killing.

IGN preview here.
In the end they mention that Chaos Marine and a Tyrranid will be available as new heroes in the Last Stand mode.

New video.
Space Hulks? More IG in the game?
Can't wait for March 2010.

Nice to see Eliphas the Inheritor returning. The one Chaos Lord from the previous games that was not a complete gibbering loon. Everything else looks like baby steps. More Wargear, More Vehicle Options, More Levels yet no Eldar, Ork, Tyrannid or Chaos campaign.

The space hulks got my attention. I loved the board game when I was younger. I'd like to see how it translates into DoW2's tactical gameplay. The rest looked like more of the same. Only with the corruption element coming into play. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But given the price of this expansion it's going to need a lot to justify it.