The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:41 pm

So, what metric do people recommend for deciding when it is time to stop chasing down question marks and start chasing down the actual plot? I'm well into the second area (Velen?) and have discovered probably half of the question marks there, plus I've done a ton of side quests. I'm already four levels above all of my current main-quest objectives, and don't want to completely outlevel things.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 2:41 pm

Blackhawk wrote:So, what metric do people recommend for deciding when it is time to stop chasing down question marks and start chasing down the actual plot? I'm well into the second area (Velen?) and have discovered probably half of the question marks there, plus I've done a ton of side quests. I'm already four levels above all of my current main-quest objectives, and don't want to completely outlevel things.

When I was playing, I tried to complete quests (side or main) within that 4 or 5 level max. So if I'm level 12, I'm looking at finishing out any level 8/9 level quests. In practice it had me bouncing around a lot between side and main quests. While technically a series of side quests, I would recommend completing the Witcher gear for the combat style you prefer. I started out chasing them all down (and buying the upgrades) but I likely wasted my money as really only one suit of armor fits my fighting style.

Regardless, I was playing for the story and not the challenge, so trying to perform the story quests slightly above their recommended level worked for me.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 2:43 pm

I'm never one for side quests in role playing games, and never for random exploring - I almost always want to get on with the main plot. I did more than usual here since the side quests are so solid, but mostly I was 1-2 levels below the recommended level for the main quests.

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Thu Oct 20, 2016 2:47 pm

Really enjoying this so far. Leveling seems a bit slow...am at lvl 5, but i am not grindint he main story but cruising around doin little things here and there. I kind of wish it was more apparent areas you should explore for your level. I've run into an area w/ lvl 15 mobs. Then lvl 9 in an area where i thought it was better for me. I'll be fine. I picked up "gourmet" as a talent and the health regen is simply crazy. I almost never die....which is fine by me.

Combat is a SOOOO much better than witcher 1 & 2 which i tried and promptly stopped playing. This one just seems more fluid and not as button mashing.

Anyway enjoying it.

OH - when you play Gwent, and you win, do you always win a card? Or is it jsut the first win against a new person.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Oct 20, 2016 3:02 pm

First.

Cortilian · Post by **Cortilian** » Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:34 am

I just bought this since I got my new computer. Trying to avoid spoilers as best I can. I've played just an hour or two.

Anything I really need to know before I get too far? I can tell I need to look for a weight mod. My pockets are so full of herbs and pelt and brains already.

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Fri Oct 21, 2016 9:13 am

some things dont count against your weight like herbs and such. However armor & weapons do.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Oct 21, 2016 9:35 am

Newcastle wrote:some things dont count against your weight like herbs and such. However armor & weapons do.

Almost nothing weighs anything in this game anymore. It was very different when it was first released, but they've completely rebalanced the inventory since then. It used to be that almost everything had weight, which meant you were constantly fighting against the threat of being overburdened. The way the game is now, this isn't really a problem unless you completely neglect to upgrade your inventory space.

IIRC, the only things that count against weight in the current state of the game are:

- Weapons
- Armor
- Repair kits
- Bolts and arrows
- Runes
- Junk
- Roach items (trophies, saddles, saddlebags, blinders)

Anything else you can pick up as much as you like of. This includes alchemy and crafting materials.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:55 am

I haven't had an issue with weight in this game once I realized that most of the crap could be sold to merchants. I keep ten of each herb. I break down master-level items for materials. All of the rest of the weapons and armor I find, and most of the white-title 'junk' items I just sell.

The only time I get anywhere near my encumbrance is if I find a battlefield somewhere and load up on weapons and armor from robbin' the dead.

Do note that putting saddlebags on Roach increases your limit, too.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:40 am

Just started "plowing" through this game over the weekend. Lots of fun. I'm really glad they ditched the stupid dice game from the first two Witchers, as Gwent is actually based on skill.

Putzing around in the second area of the game ("Velen"? I'm playing the russian translation so the names might not match up exactly), and run into a couple of camp sites full of shirtless guys labeled "cannibals". Massacre them, start the looting process. The majority of them have "ham sandwiches". Suuuure. You keep telling yourself that, Geralt.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:18 pm

NickAragua wrote:Just started "plowing" through this game over the weekend. Lots of fun. I'm really glad they ditched the stupid dice game from the first two Witchers, as Gwent is actually based on skill.

Putzing around in the second area of the game ("Velen"? I'm playing the russian translation so the names might not match up exactly), and run into a couple of camp sites full of shirtless guys labeled "cannibals". Massacre them, start the looting process. The majority of them have "ham sandwiches". Suuuure. You keep telling yourself that, Geralt.

When you're fighting a big bad and mashing the food button you'll be damn glad for those "ham" sandwiches washed down with a swallow potion! He also has a hankering for raw meat too.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:21 pm

Lots of fun. I'm really glad they ditched the stupid dice game from the first two Witchers, as Gwent is actually based on skill.

Cant stand Gwent and never play it but really loved the dice poker. had a lot of fun with it and made a lot of money too. Each their own.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:36 pm

I just crossed over into Novigrad yesterday. I agree with Smoove - best RPG evah. This is how side quests are meant to be done! And Bethesda could learn a few things from their use of open world mechanics.

As a funny aside, everyone compares The Witcher 3's world to The Elder Scrolls. They're wrong. It isn't anything like The Elder Scrolls open worlds, save maybe for some hints of Morrowind. I'm thinking of another game. A game where you enter the world, find a location (W3's boards), and activate it, which fulls the surrounding countryside with question mark icons, each of which is an encounter. You fight creatures for materials to craft or upgrade your items, and can find plants (identified by leaf icons on the minimap) to craft or upgrade your healing and buff items. When you enter a location for the first time, you unlock a fast travel point back there (W3's sign posts.)

No, The Witcher 3's world is pure Far Cry. All of the mechanics are there, just done much more entertainingly with less repetition. Even the iconography is the same.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:46 pm

I like how a single Witcher 3 area has about as much content as a whole GTA or Assassin's Creed game, but instead of stupid collectibles, you're exploring monster lairs and kicking bandits out of villages. The horse and underwater swimming controls are a little fidgety, and it took me getting killed underwater by the drowner guys a couple of times to figure out that I should use my crossbow, but no major complaints so far otherwise. I've got the "slow motion on critical hit" and "auto-use oils" mods installed, and I think I'm considering plugging in the auto-loot mod so I don't have to spend as much time after a fight running around and picking up loose wolf testicles. Although, there's a certain satisfaction to looting the big treasure chests and big boss corpses that I don't really want to go away. The weapon/armor crafting system also appears to be pretty useless (because it's a crafting system), especially because the good items have a level cap. By the time I reach that level cap, the weapons I pick off random bandits are just as effective. Maybe the specialized witcher school sets are better?

$iljanus wrote:
NickAragua wrote:Just started "plowing" through this game over the weekend. Lots of fun. I'm really glad they ditched the stupid dice game from the first two Witchers, as Gwent is actually based on skill.

Putzing around in the second area of the game ("Velen"? I'm playing the russian translation so the names might not match up exactly), and run into a couple of camp sites full of shirtless guys labeled "cannibals". Massacre them, start the looting process. The majority of them have "ham sandwiches". Suuuure. You keep telling yourself that, Geralt.
When you're fighting a big bad and mashing the food button you'll be damn glad for those "ham" sandwiches washed down with a swallow potion! He also has a hankering for raw meat too.

Yeah, the only health-restorative I'm reluctant to consume is the booze, 'cause the blurry vision throws me off a little during fights.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:47 pm

NickAragua wrote: Maybe the specialized witcher school sets are better?

If you're not running around with the specialized Witcher armor, you're really missing out. I thought I was going to craft all of them, but it's just way too much money. Figure out what suit matches your style and just keep finding the schematics and crafting up. Above and beyond actually being beneficial (and the best gear in the game) all of the suits look absolutely amazing.

Blackhawk wrote:I just crossed over into Novigrad yesterday. I agree with Smoove - best RPG evah.

I'm happy to see you came around.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:20 pm

NickAragua wrote:
$iljanus wrote:
NickAragua wrote:Just started "plowing" through this game over the weekend. Lots of fun. I'm really glad they ditched the stupid dice game from the first two Witchers, as Gwent is actually based on skill.

Putzing around in the second area of the game ("Velen"? I'm playing the russian translation so the names might not match up exactly), and run into a couple of camp sites full of shirtless guys labeled "cannibals". Massacre them, start the looting process. The majority of them have "ham sandwiches". Suuuure. You keep telling yourself that, Geralt.
When you're fighting a big bad and mashing the food button you'll be damn glad for those "ham" sandwiches washed down with a swallow potion! He also has a hankering for raw meat too.
Yeah, the only health-restorative I'm reluctant to consume is the booze, 'cause the blurry vision throws me off a little during fights.

During one tough fight I was tapping away on the health button and suddenly my vision went blurry. Believing it was due to some damage I was taking I kept on tapping. Only at the end did I realize that all I had left for food was alcohol.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:32 pm

I still have W3 installed but haven't touched it in about 9 months. Someday Ill finish it up.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:44 pm

$iljanus wrote: Only at the end did I realize that all I had left for food was alcohol.

I tried that on a judge once.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:48 pm

I keep trying to play this damn game and I keep hitting roadblocks. I'm level 3, on the Ciri quest and way under leveled. I have no idea how to grind levels as I go to the ? marks and I'm still under leveled. What am I supposed to do? Die and hope for an XP to be thrown my way? This is why I like Skyrim way better, everything levels with you.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:12 pm

Lorini wrote:I keep trying to play this damn game and I keep hitting roadblocks. I'm level 3, on the Ciri quest and way under leveled. I have no idea how to grind levels as I go to the ? marks and I'm still under leveled. What am I supposed to do? Die and hope for an XP to be thrown my way? This is why I like Skyrim way better, everything levels with you.

I would recommend taking care of your side quests, as they have a pretty good XP yield. Unless the quest has a red skull above it, you should be able to handle it even if it's a few levels above you. Also, early on, you want the goodies from the question mark locations. Not only do those contain upgraded equipment, but some of them are "power shrines" or whatever, which give you an extra skill point.

Also, it helps to "git gud" at fighting - use your Quen sign, dodge, block, learn enemy "tells" that let you know they're about to give you a solid whack, etc. You should be able to handle any non-skull enemies unless your equipment is way behind the curve.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:46 pm

Check your quest list for on-level content, check the boards in nearby towns. Focus on the area your current quests send you to first.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:54 pm

NickAragua wrote:
$iljanus wrote:
When you're fighting a big bad and mashing the food button you'll be damn glad for those "ham" sandwiches washed down with a swallow potion! He also has a hankering for raw meat too.
Yeah, the only health-restorative I'm reluctant to consume is the booze, 'cause the blurry vision throws me off a little during fights.

I was always amused by the four course meals that I was consuming in the middle of boss fights.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:08 pm

El Guapo wrote:
NickAragua wrote:
$iljanus wrote:
When you're fighting a big bad and mashing the food button you'll be damn glad for those "ham" sandwiches washed down with a swallow potion! He also has a hankering for raw meat too.
Yeah, the only health-restorative I'm reluctant to consume is the booze, 'cause the blurry vision throws me off a little during fights.
I was always amused by the four course meals that I was consuming in the middle of boss fights.

The food in the Blood and Wine expansion is really high quality. Top notch wines, delicious cheeses, good French dishes. Unlike the pedestrian fare in Novograd or bare staples that you were lucky to have in Valen.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Jan 24, 2017 1:54 pm

Still plowing through this game. By all rights, I should have gotten bored of hunting down random question mark sites and helping stupid peasants kill the monsters that (half the time) were created or attracted by their disgusting behavior in the first place, but it's just so damn good. Right now, I'm strutting around Novigrad in Improved Gryphon armor. I had the Cat school armor for a level, but it looks pretty stupid for Geralt to be wearing a t-shirt, so I quickly ran through a few main-line quests (mostly tracking down Flutie), which give you gobs of XP, to level up to 18.

I still have loads of outstanding Witcher contracts that show skulls, so I'm probably going to finish chasing down the main-line quests in Novigrad before I hit up Skellige and then come back to clean up.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:30 pm

Been a year..I will get back to it someday....someday.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 3:37 am

NickAragua wrote:I still have loads of outstanding Witcher contracts that show skulls, so I'm probably going to finish chasing down the main-line quests in Novigrad before I hit up Skellige and then come back to clean up.

The Witcher contracts are designed to be spread out over the entire game length. You'll be finishing up the last ones as you near the end of the story itself. Expect to be somewhere between levels 30-35 by the end, or higher if you start doing Hearts of Stone content.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:25 am

Just got to Skellige, and man it's pretty. Almost got my boat sunk though - decided to go hunt down a question mark out north, and the thing was surrounded by a bout twenty sirens. By the time I decided to dive overboard, the boat wasn't so much a boat as a wooden plank with a sail attached. I'm going to be level 24 soon, which means I'm going to have to go back to the "Geralt Wears a T-Shirt" cat school armor for my next armor upgrade. Ugh.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:07 pm

I'm kinda stressing over the crafting aspect .. I don't think I can, or should, chase every crafting upgrade, and I've never been swimming in money. Most equipment that shows an improvement on armor or damage value is lacking in extra perks (like crit-chance or slashing damage)

I'm probably about level 11-13 ... my inclination would normally be light-armor but I don't think I'll have the actual (real life) agility regardless of what my screen tells me so I should shift to heavy armor as a goal in order to survive

in other news:

these titles are currently on sale at GOG ... 2 days left

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:10 pm

Identical prices at Steam for the next 47 hours.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:32 pm

KDH wrote:I'm kinda stressing over the crafting aspect .. I don't think I can, or should, chase every crafting upgrade, and I've never been swimming in money. Most equipment that shows an improvement on armor or damage value is lacking in extra perks (like crit-chance or slashing damage)

I'm probably about level 11-13 ... my inclination would normally be light-armor but I don't think I'll have the actual (real life) agility regardless of what my screen tells me so I should shift to heavy armor as a goal in order to survive

Well, the good part about the crafting stuff is that it doesn't cost much money. I wouldn't bother spending money on tiny incremental upgrades, although if you find some random loot on a bandit that's better than what you've got, go for it. The side effects don't matter too much in my experience, but my Geralt rolls and dodges about the battlefield like a hyperactive rodent so armor is not too much of an issue. Supplemented with upgraded Quen sign and going for maximum damage at the expense of pretty much everything else, I haven't really had trouble with fighting (even if it's a massively over-leveled monster, that just means it takes longer while Geralt chips away a pixel each hit).

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Jan 31, 2017 3:57 pm

Finished up Yennifer's side-quest yesterday, and had an amusing moment near the end.

Spoiler:

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Feb 03, 2017 5:47 pm

Two points of amusement:

1. I've stopped trying to get the contraband question marks. The loot sucks and they're all the same. The first couple of times it was pretty cool to find random loot floating in the sea while having to fight off sirens. Then, after #5 or #10 I started getting bored. Meanwhile, I still have like 20 or 30 of those things poking out over in Skellige and a few in Velen/Novigrad. I still get the land-based ones because they vary quite a bit and some are pretty fun.

2. I made the mistake of equipping an axe, because it had better stats than my steel sword. Where are all the decapitations and other cinematic kills? BORING!

I'm back in Velen/Novigrad now, wrapping up the stuff that was too high level for me before. Well, first, I'm going to get all those master blacksmiths to make me some "Improved" witcher set armor, and then I'm going to hunt down all those damn monsters that eluded me ten levels ago. At this point, I've got so many skill points that I don't even have the slots to fit in all the skills. I still like the Gryphon armor set the best, graphically speaking. The improved cat set looks like Geralt is wearing a turtleneck sweater with his medallion sticking out like some stupid medieval hipster. Meanwhile, the bear set is just way too damn bulky looking. Haven't been to Caer Morhen, so don't know about the Wolf set yet.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Feb 03, 2017 6:47 pm

NickAragua wrote:I'm going to be level 24 soon, which means I'm going to have to go back to the "Geralt Wears a T-Shirt" cat school armor for my next armor upgrade. Ugh.

I would recommend against swapping between the different schools of witcher armor. You're just not going to be able to afford to do so, both in terms of money and other resources. It might seem doable at first, but the costs quickly escalate dramatically. By the time you get to the final upgrades in Blood & Wine, you'll be spending plenty of time and effort just to be able to afford upgrading a single armor piece.

Pick one witcher school and stick with it. The only thing that sucks with this approach is that you only get access to the area where the Wolf armor is pretty late in the game, even though the armor itself is of a low level. If you want to go Wolf school you might want to stick to another school until you can access it, but you should drop that temporary school as soon as you get access to the Wolf armor.

An added benefit to sticking with a single school is that you'll have only a single armor type to relate to, which means you can pick skills that enhance the bonuses from the armor you'll probably be wearing for the rest of the game.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:23 pm

Yeah, it seems like the next tier of witcher set armor upgrades will require specialized alchemical ingredients that I currently have no means of making. So I probably will wind up toning down the "get all the witcher armor" stuff a bit. I've got about 21k gold right now so that's probably not an issue but I hate ingredient gathering (and yet have no problem spending an extra minute on a battlefield picking up random weapons off dead enemies, go figure) so that will definitely be a problem.

I read that it's possible to change an armor piece's weight class with one of the expansions, which will be great because then I can turn the Gryphon armor into light armor and get the light armor damage bonus skill.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 12:50 am

I've been slowly chipping my way through this thing for the past few months. There's so damn much game in here that it's really slow going when I only get a few hours in per week, but it's a good few hours.

I've mostly been doing sidequests. I'm probably over 60 hours in, level 23, and I haven't even finished Act 1 of the main quest. That just took me back to Velen, which obviously was my cue to start cleaning up some of the ones I backburnered when I went to Skellige.

Nick, I had a similar reaction to you when I saw the Cat armor had cutoff sleeves, especially since I went to Skellige right after, and it seemed stupid to be running around like that in the snow. I was super happy to find out that the next level of that armor has long sleeves, so I'm back to wearing that. I'll probably be sticking with the cat school, since I mostly dodge and specced out light attack anyway.

Just to make sure I never finish in this lifetime, I picked up the two DLC packs on sale for $15 last week. This game is so good.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:50 am

Im 23 in Skellige. I dont think I kept up on Witcher armor...yet. Im wearing eternal fire executioners armor...89 ac and 20% and 30% resists to everything. the rest is all mish mash of crap.

I haven't played in almost a year though...Im just standing in a burnt out house in snow...poor Geralt.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Feb 10, 2017 2:06 am

"Plowed" my way through the main game and "Hearts of Stone" expansion. In true "first time around" Witcher run through, I got just about the most depressing ending I could have imagined (unless there's one where

Spoiler:

. Feels like eating one of those poisonous American cakes, and it's made out of dough that's been sitting out a little too long. But it does have some sweet cherries on top!

Spoiler:

Seriously, way to take the wind out of my sails. Fucking dark fantasy bullshit.

Awesome game, though. I don't know how much time I spent playing it because I got a GoG copy, but apparently, my first post about it was almost a month ago, so holy shit. If I had to play Assassins Creed or GTA or some other "open world" thing for a month in a row, I'd probably... well, there's no way it'd hold my attention for a month anyway. I still want to play through "Blood and Wine", but I'm going to need to regroup for a little bit.

Wound up finishing the game wearing master Griffin armor and two non-griffin swords - the master Griffin swords just weren't cutting it against the "Hearts of Stone" level bad guys, so I had to upgrade to the sword you get at the end of Hearts of Stone and a "Harpy" brand silver sword. Another level and I would have been able to put on the snake armor, but because I blew through Hearts of Stone before going to the final missions of the main campaign, I outleveled it by about eight levels. The final boss still killed me once with his purple line attack though.

Interestingly, I think I had about four or five unspent skill points by the end. Had a lot of fast attack boosting skills, the one that reduces damage you take while dodging and the one that slows down time when you aim with the crossbow. Invaluable underwater when you're fighting a school of drowners or sirens or what have you. Also boosted Quen and Axii (for the dialog options, obviously!). Had the medium armor skill, and a couple of potion skills. Normally I wouldn't have bothered, but because I had the "auto apply oils" mod, I put points into the skill that improves effectiveness against a monster if you're using the right type of oil. Also had about two hundred ghost mutagens. No idea what to do with the damn things.

Some storyline moments that I thought were awesome / very well done:

Spoiler:

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Feb 10, 2017 4:45 am

You really should play Blood & Wine. It shows in a great way how much the developers learned over the course of creating The Witcher 3.

What did you think of Hearts of Stone? Most of the time when I see people talking about it, they herald it as one of the greatest RPG stories ever told, and I'm inclined to agree. It's like an even longer Bloody Baron quest with no clear distinction between right and wrong, a bunch of deeply flawed characters, and one of the most memorable bad guys ever.

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:26 am

Daehawk wrote:I still have W3 installed but haven't touched it in about 9 months. Someday Ill finish it up.

Bought over the Holidays, installed but not played yet. Got to finish up Pillars of Eternity Fallout NV first. That is if I can hold out that long.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:03 pm

TiLT wrote:You really should play Blood & Wine. It shows in a great way how much the developers learned over the course of creating The Witcher 3.

What did you think of Hearts of Stone? Most of the time when I see people talking about it, they herald it as one of the greatest RPG stories ever told, and I'm inclined to agree. It's like an even longer Bloody Baron quest with no clear distinction between right and wrong, a bunch of deeply flawed characters, and one of the most memorable bad guys ever.

I definitely will play Blood and Wine. Just need to take a breather. Ah, who am I kidding, I'm probably going to fire it up when I get home tonight.

Hearts of Stone was pretty solid, in my opinion. I don't know about "greatest stories", but it did a very good job of mixing up existing mechanics. There were a whole bunch of fights where I really had to think it through and use different tools than normal (for example: the frog, the various boss ghost fights, the spiders). Also, yes, moral ambiguity throughout. And the wedding was hilarious. I used to think Geralt's lines were cringe-worthy, but compared to the other guy, he's smooth as butter with the ladies. On top of it all, the sex scene had a hilarious ending. All in all, every section of the expansion was highly worthwhile to play.

At the end, I found out I missed out on the poisoned snake steel sword, which is a shame. In the end, I chose to

Spoiler: