The Witcher 3 - any opinions or insight?

I'm about 35 hours in and level 12. My only gripe with this game is the fact that you have to repair your armor and weapons. It's kind of tedious with armor, but swords aren't too bad since you can loot back ups in various parts of the world.

A few visual hiccups here and there (PS4) but nothing too serious.

"BlameItOnTheHenne wrote:

I'm about 35 hours in and level 12. My only gripe with this game is the fact that you have to repair your armor and weapons. It's kind of tedious with armor, but swords aren't too bad since you can loot back ups in various parts of the world.

A few visual hiccups here and there (PS4) but nothing too serious.

Yeah, I actually had a sword break in the middle of battle without a backup. Sucked. I've been getting mine fixed almost every time I see a blacksmith now.

"BlameItOnTheHenne wrote:

A few visual hiccups here and there (PS4) but nothing too serious.

I actually had a MAJOR visual hiccup last night,so bad it crashed the game. I was riding my horse and suddenly I was half underground, and then warping. Fixed on reboot though.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/psa-witcher-3-has-an-xp-bug-but-that-might-not-be-/1100-6427663/

Article about XP and questing. Essentially, if you take on a quest more than six levels below your own, you won't get any XP. They refer to it as a bug, but I think its just how the game is set up. I noticed the other day while exploring and "cleaning up" in White Orchard, that when I discovered a bandit camp with a level 3 quest (I'm currently 13) that the loot that I was supposed to discover simply wasn't there.

On the flip side, when I first went to Novigrad, I was getting HUGE amounts of XP (sometimes as much as 700) for completing even quests that had no battles, because they were several levels above my own at the time. Right now, I've gotten my slate cleaned up of any quests below my own finally. I've tried and failed on a few that are a few above my own, getting my butt kicked by some enemies. I'll try again later. The main story seems to generally be just about right if you stick within a few levels.

Yeah, still loving this. So much to do, so very very much to do. It's an absolute blast. Still on hardest level, loving the challenge. I can now tear through most similarly leveled opponents granted there aren't too many of them. Rolling and dodging is incredibly important though. Happened upon a quest for Witcher gear which was slightly above my level. Had to grind the cave a bit (there seemed to be a respawning glitch that brought all of the dead enemies back after I saved and reloaded, took awhile to dig out of that hole), but now I'm well armed and armored.

I still haven't played House of Wolves :)

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"daphins wrote:

Yeah, still loving this. So much to do, so very very much to do. It's an absolute blast. Still on hardest level, loving the challenge. I can now tear through most similarly leveled opponents granted there aren't too many of them. Rolling and dodging is incredibly important though. Happened upon a quest for Witcher gear which was slightly above my level. Had to grind the cave a bit (there seemed to be a respawning glitch that brought all of the dead enemies back after I saved and reloaded, took awhile to dig out of that hole), but now I'm well armed and armored.

I still haven't played House of Wolves :)

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LOL, and here I am struggling with enemies around my own level on the default difficulty level. I came thisclose to taking it down to easy on one mission after I died four or five times.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

LOL, and here I am struggling with enemies around my own level on the default difficulty level. I came thisclose to taking it down to easy on one mission after I died four or five times.

It's a commitment that's for sure :) you really have to pre-plan, and swarming enemies are a nuisance. I max my Quen and rely heavily on it, along with Igni to torch and lower their defense.

I'm a bit irritated by the alchemy system though. It seems bigger than previous game, but unless I'm mistaken I don't remember having to meditate to refill your potions in TW1 & 2? I'd much prefer to gather ingredients and mix a ton of potions as necessary rather than having to meditate. It feels like cheating (though meditating doesn't regenerate your life at the 2 higher difficulties). It saves from grinding to pick up ingredients, but meditating in the middle of a dungeon is weird to me. That's how I got in trouble when I was looking for the Griffin armor. I killed the baddies, had little life left so I meditated and they all came back via a glitch. Actually had to clear them twice until they stayed dead. That took a lot of deaths to get through. Wish I wasn't limited to 3 sparrows.

Does anyone know if the abilities progression stacks? For instance Learning early Igni causes the fire to ruin the opponents armor, the 2nd level of Igni sprays a steady stream of fire. If I equip the steady stream of Igni Fire does it hurt the opponents defense? And if not, can I cast the original Igni without having to unequip my fire? Curious on Quen too. Apparently there's a potion you can take that lets you re-configure your ability points. I'm considering taking it to rebuild my characters abilities to streamline them a bit.

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"daphins wrote:

It's a commitment that's for sure :) you really have to pre-plan, and swarming enemies are a nuisance. I max my Quen and rely heavily on it, along with Igni to torch and lower their defense.

OH, i rely very heavily on Quen, and have used about 1/3 of my ability points on it (through 15) so far. I also use swallow and thunderbolt in almost every battle, and try to have the best oil ready on my sword too (though for anything other than humans, I'm still trying to figure out which one to use a lot of the time). Swarming enemies have been wrecking me lately. Groups of 4 or more humans and drowners around my level have been enough to kill me. I really wish that I could pause in battle and eat food/drink potions to regain health like in Skyrim. I know that's not realistic, but it worked as a good plan for me in that game, lol.

I meditate ANY chance I can get if I'm not at 100% health and/or have used a potion and I've got potential battles coming up.

Getting my copy today boys and girls... so much for waiting. I've actually been progressing Shadow of Mordor... which no doubt once I start playing this I'll forget all about. And then when I go back and finish, having to re-learn the controls will be inevitable. :wink2:

"Paul 13 wrote:

Getting my copy today boys and girls... so much for waiting. I've actually been progressing Shadow of Mordor... which no doubt once I start playing this I'll forget all about. And then when I go back and finish, having to re-learn the controls will be inevitable. :wink2:

Mordor has much better combat controls and is a big game in it's own right; Witcher 3 is ridiculous. I fully plan on playing it until Fallout 4 comes out.

"daphins wrote:

It's a commitment that's for sure :) you really have to pre-plan, and swarming enemies are a nuisance. I max my Quen and rely heavily on it, along with Igni to torch and lower their defense.

I'm a bit irritated by the alchemy system though. It seems bigger than previous game, but unless I'm mistaken I don't remember having to meditate to refill your potions in TW1 & 2? I'd much prefer to gather ingredients and mix a ton of potions as necessary rather than having to meditate. It feels like cheating (though meditating doesn't regenerate your life at the 2 higher difficulties). It saves from grinding to pick up ingredients, but meditating in the middle of a dungeon is weird to me. That's how I got in trouble when I was looking for the Griffin armor. I killed the baddies, had little life left so I meditated and they all came back via a glitch. Actually had to clear them twice until they stayed dead. That took a lot of deaths to get through. Wish I wasn't limited to 3 sparrows.

Does anyone know if the abilities progression stacks? For instance Learning early Igni causes the fire to ruin the opponents armor, the 2nd level of Igni sprays a steady stream of fire. If I equip the steady stream of Igni Fire does it hurt the opponents defense? And if not, can I cast the original Igni without having to unequip my fire? Curious on Quen too. Apparently there's a potion you can take that lets you re-configure your ability points. I'm considering taking it to rebuild my characters abilities to streamline them a bit.

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There is a merchant in Norigrad that will sell you a potion to redo your abilities. 1000 gold though. I did it once already as I wanted to focus on specific abilities - I wasted several points unlocking abilities I didn't really need or use.

I'm planning on focusing primarily on spells and fast attacks - this far since I rebalanced things are progressing a little bit easier, but I'm still getting killed every now and then, especially if I stumble into the wrong area.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/psa-witcher-3-has-an-xp-bug-but-that-might-not-be-/1100-6427663/

Article about XP and questing. Essentially, if you take on a quest more than six levels below your own, you won't get any XP. They refer to it as a bug, but I think its just how the game is set up. I noticed the other day while exploring and "cleaning up" in White Orchard, that when I discovered a bandit camp with a level 3 quest (I'm currently 13) that the loot that I was supposed to discover simply wasn't there.

On the flip side, when I first went to Novigrad, I was getting HUGE amounts of XP (sometimes as much as 700) for completing even quests that had no battles, because they were several levels above my own at the time. Right now, I've gotten my slate cleaned up of any quests below my own finally. I've tried and failed on a few that are a few above my own, getting my butt kicked by some enemies. I'll try again later. The main story seems to generally be just about right if you stick within a few levels.

That doesn't make a ton of sense though ... what if you accidentally skip a board and don't take the quest until later on? The game shouldn't punish you for exploring.

"Vengeful Odin wrote:

That doesn't make a ton of sense though ... what if you accidentally skip a board and don't take the quest until later on? The game shouldn't punish you for exploring.

Well, thus far, I'd say that 75% of the Witcher contracts I've taken on via either boards or talking to NPCs have been well above my own level, and I'm leaving them in the quest que until later. Some as high as levels in the mid 30s. Almost none of the board quests I've seen in Velen have been below level 10.

Interestingly, and others who have played at least as much as I have will have likely noticed this as well, some quests end up being more/different than you think they are at the start too. I've met three different characters/friends of Geralt via quests given by boards or others that seemed mundane at first, and were entirely optional.

hehehe

Per yahoo (the authority on video gaming) you're doing it wrong if you're not playing the Witcher 3 on the hardest mode...

https://games.yahoo.com/news/witcher-3-played-hardest-difficulty-150002294.html

Quit cheating yourself, ljust Do It!"
Shia Leboufe

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Yahoo can go stuff it, lol. I'm having plenty of trouble staying alive on default on quests even below my own level, thank you very much. I know that there are people out there who want a brutal challenge, and frankly that's what scared me about The Witcher in the first place - that it would be too tough for me to handle. I'm thankful that the regular level is right for my skills. I just don't have what it takes to beat any game on the highest setting, even ones like Mass Effect 2&3 that I played through 3 or 4 times and knew what was coming.

I'd still be in White Orchard getting killed by wolves had I maxed it out! :pity:

I need to get better GWENT cards :lol:

"Paul 13 wrote:

I need to get better GWENT cards :lol:

It's really fun once you get into it. My advice:

1) Play anyone who you can. All you lose is the coin you wager, and that is a max of 10.
2) Anyone you defeat will give you a card the first time. Though that card might be crap if they suck. If you play them again later and win, they give you something else from their inventory too.
3) When you see someone who you can play where the option is yellow, play them right away. If you lose, try again. These people will give you a "unique" card when you win (though its not really unique, its just your only chance to get that particular card). If you don't play them when you have the chance, you may not again later. You can often win a second other card from these people too.
4) Buy cards when you can. They're dirt cheap in the long term context of the game.
5) Don't use many more cards than you have to. The more crap cards in your deck, the lower the chance you have of drawing a good one.
6) The "element" cards quickly become less useful. I don't keep them in my deck at all now.
7) Don't be afraid to lose a round if it makes your opponent burn through their deck. My strategy is usually one of attrition, and winning the third game by holding back a few good cards.
8) Spy cards and "straw men" are both very useful, especially in hands where you are going to win or lose big.

Building a good deck takes time. I play a lot and only just recently got enough cards to use a monster or Scoia'Tael deck, and they both are so bad I almost never use them.

^Thanks! Have you ever played Hearthstone? It's pretty much the same concept. I've only played it a few times though. Not my thing... but in the context of Witcher3, for some reason, I enjoy it more.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

It's really fun once you get into it. My advice:

1) Play anyone who you can. All you lose is the coin you wager, and that is a max of 10.
2) Anyone you defeat will give you a card the first time. Though that card might be crap if they suck. If you play them again later and win, they give you something else from their inventory too.
3) When you see someone who you can play where the option is yellow, play them right away. If you lose, try again. These people will give you a "unique" card when you win (though its not really unique, its just your only chance to get that particular card). If you don't play them when you have the chance, you may not again later. You can often win a second other card from these people too.
4) Buy cards when you can. They're dirt cheap in the long term context of the game.
5) Don't use many more cards than you have to. The more crap cards in your deck, the lower the chance you have of drawing a good one.
6) The "element" cards quickly become less useful. I don't keep them in my deck at all now.
7) Don't be afraid to lose a round if it makes your opponent burn through their deck. My strategy is usually one of attrition, and winning the third game by holding back a few good cards.
8) Spy cards and "straw men" are both very useful, especially in hands where you are going to win or lose big.

Building a good deck takes time. I play a lot and only just recently got enough cards to use a monster or Scoia'Tael deck, and they both are so bad I almost never use them.

To add on to this ...

• Make sure you get the cards in White Orchard. You can get a second Commander for your Northern Realm deck (default starting deck - most likely your strongest) and he comes with a Clear Weather function, which can be very useful.

• I do try to keep the Frostbite / Bitter Cold (Close Combat) Weather cards in my deck, as playing aginst someone with a Monster or Scoia'Tael deck can be problematic without it.

• Load your deck with Spies and Medics. Save your Spies for later in the rounds when you need them. You can use Medics to bring back strong cards. Always fun to bring back another Medic, or a Spy. These can really turn the tables on an oppoent.

• Hero cards aren't affected by either the Rallying Horn (doubles value) or Weather Effects. They also cannot be used more than once - when they are gone, they're gone for good. You can't use a Medic to bring back your Hero card, sorry.

• A good strategy early on is to invest in the Seige Weapons using the Northern Realms Deck - if you get hit with weather you can use Clear Weather to get rid of it.

• A.B.P. Always be Playing. Seriously. Check anywhere and everywhere for cards. When you find cards - buy them. If you want a good deck, make sure you're completing the Gwent quests as they come up. If you missed the cards in White Orchard or the Baron (as I did) you can go back now and get them, thanks to the latest patch.

• I almost always throw the first round in an effort to get the computer to burn through cards. Nothing more satisfying then watching them waste Spy and Scorch cards for no good reason.

• Keep your deck limited to your 22 best cards and a minimum of Support Cards based on opponent.

It will take awhile, just like the main game itself. I was running horribly until I started buying cards and swapping out my Pitiful ****ing Infantry with cards that were a bit more useful. My Northern Realms deck is now up over 100 as is my Nilfgaardian deck. Still working on the others.

"Vengeful Odin wrote:

To add on to this ...

• Make sure you get the cards in White Orchard. You can get a second Commander for your Northern Realm deck (default starting deck - most likely your strongest) and he comes with a Clear Weather function, which can be very useful.

• I do try to keep the Frostbite / Bitter Cold (Close Combat) Weather cards in my deck, as playing aginst someone with a Monster or Scoia'Tael deck can be problematic without it.

• Load your deck with Spies and Medics. Save your Spies for later in the rounds when you need them. You can use Medics to bring back strong cards. Always fun to bring back another Medic, or a Spy. These can really turn the tables on an oppoent.

• Hero cards aren't affected by either the Rallying Horn (doubles value) or Weather Effects. They also cannot be used more than once - when they are gone, they're gone for good. You can't use a Medic to bring back your Hero card, sorry.

• A good strategy early on is to invest in the Seige Weapons using the Northern Realms Deck - if you get hit with weather you can use Clear Weather to get rid of it.

• A.B.P. Always be Playing. Seriously. Check anywhere and everywhere for cards. When you find cards - buy them. If you want a good deck, make sure you're completing the Gwent quests as they come up. If you missed the cards in White Orchard or the Baron (as I did) you can go back now and get them, thanks to the latest patch.

• I almost always throw the first round in an effort to get the computer to burn through cards. Nothing more satisfying then watching them waste Spy and Scorch cards for no good reason.

• Keep your deck limited to your 22 best cards and a minimum of Support Cards based on opponent.

It will take awhile, just like the main game itself. I was running horribly until I started buying cards and swapping out my Pitiful ****ing Infantry with cards that were a bit more useful. My Northern Realms deck is now up over 100 as is my Nilfgaardian deck. Still working on the others.

What he said :up:

Great rundown. Keeping your deck as small as possible is as important as anything. My total number is usually around 26.

And yes, using a medic in round one is foolish unless you have to. I do use spies in round one if it gets out of hand though.

"Paul 13 wrote:

^Thanks! Have you ever played Hearthstone? It's pretty much the same concept. I've only played it a few times though. Not my thing... but in the context of Witcher3, for some reason, I enjoy it more.

I haven't played Hearthstone because I can't game online, but I did play Magic pretty heavily from around 1993-1996, and a lot of the strategies are similar :lol:

my only deck, the northern realms, has a rating above 120. I've completed the Gwent quests inside and around Novigrad, finding the high profile.. got a real nice Hero card at the end of that. :yes: My character just went level 14 though, so I'm sure I'm behind a lot of you with respect to the the main storyline :lol:

"Paul 13 wrote:

my only deck, the northern realms, has a rating above 120. I've completed the Gwent quests inside and around Novigrad, finding the high profile.. got a real nice Hero card at the end of that. :yes: My character just went level 14 though, so I'm sure I'm behind a lot of you with respect to the the main storyline :lol:

You should be able to win most matches using a deck with that rating. I started playing it later on into the game and I'm bummed that I missed out on a specific card.

"Vengeful Odin wrote:

You should be able to win most matches using a deck with that rating. I started playing it later on into the game and I'm bummed that I missed out on a specific card.

yeah, I've been trying to go back to the guys I couldn't beat... and get my revenge! there's one armorer/blacksmith I've been hunting.. must have lost to him 10 times. can't locate him though