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[Ruthless_Barbarian]

I'm going to be that guy, but just read them all. They really are that good.

Can concur, the novels are fantastic and even people who don't like the game (shocking) and those that haven't yet played the game should not shy away from reading the books. The writing is just that good.

 

[FaceTurn]

I realize it's been a couple days since you asked this, so maybe you figured it out, but the two quests run in conjunction with each other.

Thanks for that. I ended up running 2 saves and realised I'm fighting in both anyway so decided on enlisting Cleaver's help.

 

[pots555]

Stopped the main game some time ago. Just bought the complete edition. I don't know why, but I had to restart from the start (and I was pretty far in). Now, I find it hard to redo everything again. Kind of depressed because I hear the dlc's are worth it. Trying to get trough the Red Baron as fast as I can but I have trouble skipping side content...

 

[Lender]

Shit like this is why I love CDPR

 

[illusionary]

Stopped the main game some time ago. Just bought the complete edition. I don't know why, but I had to restart from the start (and I was pretty far in). Now, I find it hard to redo everything again. Kind of depressed because I hear the dlc's are worth it. Trying to get trough the Red Baron as fast as I can but I have trouble skipping side content...

If you're playing on console, original version saves aren't compatible with the GOTY Edition.

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

Shit like this is why I love CDPR

Yeah I was lol'ing so hard when I saw that for the first time...

 

[Tenacious-D]

Shit like this is why I love CDPR

Love seeing 21:9 shots.

Respect,

Spoiler

Ultrawide

Witcher

 

[Lender]

Love seeing 21:9 shots.

Respect,

Spoiler

Ultrawide

Witcher

Got more where that came from

https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289877@N04/albums/72157664047178192

 

[Tenacious-D]

Got more where that came from

https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289877@N04/albums/72157664047178192

Using STLM + Reshade?

 

[Dick Justice]

I forgot how utterly stupid it is that you can't get the Wolven Armour until doing a significant part of the main quest, at which point you'll likely far exceed the quest level.

 

[ParityBit]

So I am at

Spoiler

the part where you play as Ciri and fight the 3 Crones. How far into the main game am I? I am level 30 but it has been a whirlwind in this part and I still have more quests to do, etc.

 

[Kaffeemann]

I forgot how utterly stupid it is that you can't get the Wolven Armour until doing a significant part of the main quest, at which point you'll likely far exceed the quest level.

The game has tons of balance issues and bugs. Earlier I recommended a mod that fixes almost all of those:

So I started a new game with Ghost Mode.

Honestly, at this point I consider it an essential mod, so no PC gamer should play without it. It just fixes so much broken, underpowered and overpowered stuff, it's not even funny.
It balances all skills and descriptions, weapons, armors, enemy stats, economy, experience etc. etc.

Seriously, check it out, you will not regret it. Given it's quality it should have 100 times the downloads.

With this mod installed the basic Wolven Armor is a level 21 item.

 

[Tenacious-D]

So I am at

Spoiler

the part where you play as Ciri and fight the 3 Crones. How far into the main game am I? I am level 30 but it has been a whirlwind in this part and I still have more quests to do, etc.

80% through the main story.

The game has tons of balance issues and bugs. Earlier I recommended a mod that fixes almost all of those:

With this mod installed the basic Wolven Armor is a level 21 item.

Can I start a newgame+ with the mod installed, using a vanilla save file?

 

[Kaffeemann]

Not sure, you should check the mod page or ask the author.

 

[WeTeHa]

I'm currently playing through blood & wine... what's the best way to fight those yellow-ish plant thingies? I'm playing on death march and as soon as there's 2 or more of those plants the fight drags on forever with me dodging all over the place for long periods of time until I can get 1-3 hits in.
I tried running past the buds on the floor to blow them up and then kill 1 as soon as possible as the fight is significantly easier with only 1 plant alive. But since I can only take 1 hit I always have to dodge out of the way immediately.

Any tips? They're not exactly giving me trouble, it's just pretty tedious to fight them.

 

[Tenacious-D]

I'm currently playing through blood & wine... what's the best way to fight those yellow-ish plant thingies? I'm playing on death march and as soon as there's 2 or more of those plants the fight drags on forever with me dodging all over the place for long periods of time until I can get 1-3 hits in.
I tried running past the buds on the floor to blow them up and then kill 1 as soon as possible as the fight is significantly easier with only 1 plant alive. But since I can only take 1 hit I always have to dodge out of the way immediately.

Any tips? They're not exactly giving me trouble, it's just pretty tedious to fight them.

In Witcher 1, the best way to fight the Archespores was to use a torch. No shit, the torch did more damage against them the sword. Was hoping for a nod or reference in TW3, but never got it.

1. Use the appropriate oils if you aren't. Chug some potions and decoctions too if you can. Superior Golden Oriole heals you when you get poisoned, and a bunch of the decoctions are really powerful.

2. Kill the bulbs before they sprout out the ground. This will cause it to put it's "head" into the ground, opening it for strong attack, which are better than fast attacks for them.

3. Whirl n Rend baby. Whirl n Rend.

 

[WeTeHa]

In Witcher 1, the best way to fight the Archespores was to use a torch. No shit, the torch did more damage against them the sword. Was hoping for a nod or reference in TW3, but never got it.

1. Use the appropriate oils if you aren't. Chug some potions and decoctions too if you can. Superior Golden Oriole heals you when you get poisoned, and a bunch of the decoctions are really powerful.

2. Kill the bulbs before they sprout out the ground. This will cause it to put it's "head" into the ground, opening it for strong attack, which are better than fast attacks for them.

3. Whirl n Rend baby. Whirl n Rend.

I'm playing a sign build :/ And as soon as I use igni they disappear into the ground if there are any buds around. Which sucks, since you can't kill all the buds if there are 2 or more plants. Igni only works if there are no buds around - which i can only manage with a single plant, unfortunately.

A bud explosion (or spit attack) takes ~70% of my health. Considering they sprout like 5 buds each rapidly and shoot 3 spit attacks in quick succession i'm constantly dodging like a madman. Literally no other enemy is giving me any trouble (even though I sometimes was severly lower level), these guys annoy the shit out of me.

Maybe I'll first do a couple main quests to level up, though that makes every other fight even easier :/
Cleared out a Hanse base of guys 6 levels higher than me without any trouble, so I'm sure I'm doing something wrong against the plants.

 

[Lender]

Using STLM + Reshade?

Yep.

 

[ParityBit]

So I just got to

Spoiler

Novagrad after killing the crones and general. Should I do some more side quests or keep going? I am level 30 and I have level 27+ missions left.

 

[EatChildren]

So I just got to

Spoiler

Novagrad after killing the crones and general. Should I do some more side quests or keep going? I am level 30 and I have level 27+ missions left.

A character will make it very clear once you've reach the point of no return, stating that there is no going back and if you have anything you need to do, now is the time. Don't stress. You're not far away from this point mind you, but yeah.

 

[Tenacious-D]

I'm playing a sign build :/ And as soon as I use igni they disappear into the ground if there are any buds around. Which sucks, since you can't kill all the buds if there are 2 or more plants. Igni only works if there are no buds around - which i can only manage with a single plant, unfortunately.

A bud explosion (or spit attack) takes ~70% of my health. Considering they sprout like 5 buds each rapidly and shoot 3 spit attacks in quick succession i'm constantly dodging like a madman. Literally no other enemy is giving me any trouble (even though I sometimes was severly lower level), these guys annoy the shit out of me.

Maybe I'll first do a couple main quests to level up, though that makes every other fight even easier :/
Cleared out a Hanse base of guys 6 levels higher than me without any trouble, so I'm sure I'm doing something wrong against the plants.

Don't you have Superior Golden Oriole? Like I said, it heals you when they poison you. You can buy the formula from the alchemist in Beauclair. You don't need an alchemy build to drink potions.

Off topic a bit, but Ignoring the other tools that the game provides makes it more difficult, and I'm pretty sure that's why a lot of people complain that the combat sucks. Use the tools the game provides, like potions, bombs and signs together.

 

[ParityBit]

At what level you guys when you completed the main game? I am almost 31 am at the point still I mentioned a couple posts above. I almost feel like my level will fly by the two exp packs if I finish all my side quests and the rest of the game first!

 

[Luxorek]

At what level you guys when you completed the main game? I am almost 31 am at the point still I mentioned a couple posts above. I almost feel like my level will fly by the two exp packs if I finish all my side quests and the rest of the game first!

When you're done with main storyline you should be 34-35, if I recall correctly. That's when you should begin Hearts of Stone and once that's done, Blood and Wine.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

At what level you guys when you completed the main game? I am almost 31 am at the point still I mentioned a couple posts above. I almost feel like my level will fly by the two exp packs if I finish all my side quests and the rest of the game first!

You honestly can't get too far beyond Level 34 doing just the main quest / sidequests / contracts / treasure hunts from the base game. After a certain level, they give out so little XP that you aren't in any danger of leveling up from them. The recommended level for starting Hearts of Stone is 32; Blood and Wine is 34. You won't be overleveled for either if you complete the main game (and it's recommended to do so). The bigger issue can be that you might get overleveled for the beginning of B&W if you complete HoS, but honestly that doesn't really happen either. You shouldn't worry too much about it; the game is set up for you to play the base game to completion, then Hearts of Stone to completion, then Blood and Wine to completion. If you do that, things will be just fine. If you run off and do HoS and B&W and then come back to the final chapters of the main game, yeah, you'll be grossly over-leveled.

 

[MadYarpen]

At what level you guys when you completed the main game? I am almost 31 am at the point still I mentioned a couple posts above. I almost feel like my level will fly by the two exp packs if I finish all my side quests and the rest of the game first!

I think I was at lvl 38/39 during my last playthrough.
IIRC HoS quests are around this level or a little lower.

E: I am not sure after reading the above post. Still I think I was almost lvl 39 when starting HoS...

 

[Coreda]

I think I was at lvl 38/39 during my last playthrough.
IIRC HoS quests are around this level or a little lower.

E: I am not sure after reading the above post. Still I think I was almost lvl 39 when starting HoS...

I was level 35 after the main game and 38 when beginning HoS, though I know some here were even higher. Leveled up due to wanting to use some nice higher level swords, and bit by bit managed to get there.

 

[ParityBit]

So what do you do with the

Spoiler

Missing Miners quest? That Troll is hard, do you kill him or let him live? Does it really matter either way?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

So what do you do with the

Spoiler

Missing Miners quest? That Troll is hard, do you kill him or let him live? Does it really matter either way?

If you

Spoiler

let him live, you get no money

. Not sure if that matters to you.

 

[Tenacious-D]

So what do you do with the

Spoiler

Missing Miners quest? That Troll is hard, do you kill him or let him live? Does it really matter either way?

If you

Spoiler

let him live, you get no money

. Not sure if that matters to you.

Don't be like Lambert. Trolls are friends. The cave was his home, he was there first. Screw the miners.

 

[ParityBit]

I was looking at the parts I need for potions. I think he may have a part that I need?

 

[Tenacious-D]

I was looking at the parts I need for potions. I think he may have a part that I need?

There are more than enough hostile trolls in the wild, especially in Skellige, that respawn for your alchemy needs.

 

[OG Kush]

Started the game, done a few quests but still in White Orchard. I found some better gear so sold some of my Witcher gear. Have I made a mistake? As i just went to a smith and found out I could upgrade one of my Witcher gears! Any guides on stuff to keep in my mind as a newbie?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Started the game, done a few quests but still in White Orchard. I found some better gear so sold some of my Witcher gear. Have I made a mistake? As i just went to a smith and found out I could upgrade one of my Witcher gears! Any guides on stuff to keep in my mind as a newbie?

Don't worry too much about the starting Witcher gear; it can only be upgraded once and it's not all that useful after you level up a bit. When you get past White Orchard, you can unlock some treasure hunt quests for diagrams to build better Witcher gear that can be upgraded multiple times, and will ultimately probably be what you end up using through the majority of the game. As the game progresses, armor that you get from quests is 100% useless and swords you get from quests are 95% useless, but until you get to the point where you're crafting any gear you need, use whatever you find that has the best stats. There's also no harm in selling unique items, because the vendor you sold it to will keep it forever so you can always buy it back for an inflated price (and you'll end up finding diagrams to craft almost every unique item yourself anyway).

One thing to be mindful of as a newbie. Some items have zero weight; crafting supplies, alchemy ingredients and food. Take every single one of these you find anywhere. Other items have weight, although maybe not much. But it's probably not worth it to run around with an inventory full of fishing nets and broken rakes, especially since you can only sell junk items to specific vendors. At the beginning, clearing bandit camps, taking all the swords and armor and selling it to blacksmiths/armorers is going to be your most efficient way to earn money, but you'll want to upgrade Roach's saddlebags early or you'll be encumbered 90% of the time.

 

[ParityBit]

There are more than enough hostile trolls in the wild, especially in Skellige, that respawn for your alchemy needs.

So where could I get the

Spoiler

doppler mutigen? I am missing that one also but I think the only place was a quest?

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

So where could I get the

Spoiler

doppler mutigen? I am missing that one also but I think the only place was a quest?

You'll have to

Spoiler

kill the doppler in the Novigrad quest

for that one.

 

[ParityBit]

You'll have to

Spoiler

kill the doppler in the Novigrad quest

for that one.

Ugh. So there is no way I can get them all now? I guess that ends the debate on the

Spoiler

troll, between killing it or farming for the mutigen someplace else.

I hate not being able to complete stuff.

 

[OG Kush]

SNIP

Great! Exactly the answer I was looking for. Thank you very much.

 

[Luxorek]

Ugh. So there is no way I can get them all now? I guess that ends the debate on the

Spoiler

troll, between killing it or farming for the mutigen someplace else.

I hate not being able to complete stuff.

Same with Succubus, buddy. If you don't kill any in their respective monster hunts then no decoction for you.

 

[ParityBit]

Same with Succubus, buddy. If you don't kill any in their respective monster hunts then no decoction for you.

I took down the Succubus, but I figured I would meet some more of these creatures in the wild. I guess I was mistaken.

 

[sdijoseph]

Fuck me, I was enjoying Witcher 3 immensely because it was finally a fantasy game that had no spiders in it. I finish the main quest and start hearts of stone.

God damn
Motherfucking
Spiders

Are these arachnomorph things also in blood and wine? God I hate having arachnophobia.

 

[Coreda]

Are these arachnomorph things also in blood and wine? God I hate having arachnophobia.

There are groups in certain areas, yes. If you're on PC you can install this mod to replace the models.

Those I can remember encountering are marked orange on these locations on the map, after re-checking positions in-game (greater surrounding markers obfuscated for those new to the expansion):

And they remain/respawn in the same locations. Patch 1.20 introduced three types of custom player markers so you could always mark other spots if you encounter them.

 

[Sec0nd]

Have been playing for a week or so since I picked up the GOTY edition from the PSN sale.

I've probably played some insane hours already. But I just cannot get over the fact that this game is so insanely good. Like, no game deserves to be this good. My jaw still drops every time the lighting is bloody beautiful, or when I stumble upon yet another amazing side quest, or discover another crazy secret/hidden location. The amount of content is just frigging ridiculous. And it's not quantity over quality either. But you all know that by now I guess lol. Just had to express my excitement over this game once again. It's absolutely crazy. I'm just kind of worried that Skellige won't be as good as Velen and Novigrad, since how can it live up to that beautiful and varied location?

PS: When should I start with the DLC? When I get up to that level? Or should I finish the main story first?

 

[Lender]

Finish main story, then HoS, then B&W.

 

[Coreda]

Finish main story, then HoS, then B&W.

I think I've read one here who played HoS during the main story. I could see it kinda being able to fit so long as one was leveled high enough and weren't too far into in the final missions of the main game. There are apparently a couple small dialog references to HoS' mission if you do. Felt nice to have something to return to though following the main ending, and B&W is pretty much designed to be completed last in order.

 

[MadYarpen]

Have been playing for a week or so since I picked up the GOTY edition from the PSN sale.

I've probably played some insane hours already. But I just cannot get over the fact that this game is so insanely good. Like, no game deserves to be this good. My jaw still drops every time the lighting is bloody beautiful, or when I stumble upon yet another amazing side quest, or discover another crazy secret/hidden location. The amount of content is just frigging ridiculous. And it's not quantity over quality either. But you all know that by now I guess lol. Just had to express my excitement over this game once again. It's absolutely crazy. I'm just kind of worried that Skellige won't be as good as Velen and Novigrad, since how can it live up to that beautiful and varied location?

Just wait till you see it. And make sure you don't shit yourself

 

[kraspkibble]

Have been playing for a week or so since I picked up the GOTY edition from the PSN sale.

I've probably played some insane hours already. But I just cannot get over the fact that this game is so insanely good. Like, no game deserves to be this good. My jaw still drops every time the lighting is bloody beautiful, or when I stumble upon yet another amazing side quest, or discover another crazy secret/hidden location. The amount of content is just frigging ridiculous. And it's not quantity over quality either. But you all know that by now I guess lol. Just had to express my excitement over this game once again. It's absolutely crazy. I'm just kind of worried that Skellige won't be as good as Velen and Novigrad, since how can it live up to that beautiful and varied location?

PS: When should I start with the DLC? When I get up to that level? Or should I finish the main story first?

If you focus on the main story you might feel like you didn't spend much time in Skellige. The main story doesn't spend as much time there as it does in Velen.

Velen - possible 32 main quests
Skellige - possible 13 main quests
Kaer Morhen - 7 main quests

However you can easily spend a lot of time in Skellige doing secondary quests/contracts. The map is the second largest in the base game so there is still a lot to do

As for expansions. I'd do base game > hos > b&w. you can do HoS before the end of the base game. there is even new dialogue in the base game if you get so far in HoS before finishing the base game. that said though i felt that HoS had a difficulty spike. at the end of the base game i felt incredibly powerful but struggled against bandits in HoS lol. b&w should definitely be left until you've completed the base game/HoS. it offers a whole new map! i spend about 50 hours there.

as for beauty of locations?

1. beauclair
2. skellige
3. Kaer Morhen
4. velen / white orchard

beauclair map looks much better than the rest of the game because CDPR created a lot of new assets and it has new lighting. i think they said 80-90% of it is brand new. so only 10-20% of assets used from the base game.

 

[Tenacious-D]

E3 dodge mod is out. Yeeees!

Some other mod suggestions.

Ghost mode. One of the best rebalancing mods out there. Busy using it now. Requires a new game to work properly though in my tests. Made by the same person who did Friendly HUD. Only thing I don't like is that all alchemy stuff has weight again, which is more annoying than useful.
Nitpicker's Patch. Fixes nagging visual issues.
Toxicity - Clean Face and Screen. Does what it says. No more zombie Geralt and green VFX effect when you overdose.
Witcher Book Collection. Restores a bunch of text that was hidden for seemingly no reason. Additional books / notes for quests, misc text ect. It's good stuff. Is included in Ghost Mode. Also fixes Thaler's monocle in the Frying pan quest. Looks dope.
Both hands on Sword. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) It just looks cool.
Triss DLC Hair & TW2 Triss Is nice.

 

[Kaffeemann]

Btw, you can adjust encumbrance in the mod menu with Ghost Mode.
I got a bit tired of it as well and set item weight to 50% of the original value.

E3 dodge mod looks pretty cool, will try it out.

 

[MartyStu]

E3 dodge mod is out. Yeeees!

Some other mod suggestions.

Ghost mode. One of the best rebalancing mods out there. Busy using it now. Requires a new game to work properly though in my tests. Made by the same person who did Friendly HUD. Only thing I don't like is that all alchemy stuff has weight again, which is more annoying than useful.
Nitpicker's Patch. Fixes nagging visual issues.
Toxicity - Clean Face and Screen. Does what it says. No more zombie Geralt and green VFX effect when you overdose.
Witcher Book Collection. Restores a bunch of text that was hidden for seemingly no reason. Additional books / notes for quests, misc text ect. It's good stuff. Is included in Ghost Mode. Also fixes Thaler's monocle in the Frying pan quest. Looks dope.
Both hands on Sword. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) It just looks cool.
Triss DLC Hair & TW2 Triss Is nice.

You seem to be in the know:

Any mods that make Mutations and Runewords an earlier and/or more integrated part of character speccing?

 

[Tenacious-D]

You seem to be in the know:

Any mods that make Mutations and Runewords an earlier and/or more integrated part of character speccing?

I don't think so. Personally never looked for anything like that. Seeing how powerful both are, it would probably break the difficulty even more. Even on NG+, the game is considerably easier than the normal NG because you have access to so much from the start.

The main obstacle to doing the runewords early on is the gold. Once you get gold, you can start messing with them.

Btw, you can adjust encumbrance in the mod menu with Ghost Mode.
I got a bit tired of it as well and set item weight to 50% of the original value.

E3 dodge mod looks pretty cool, will try it out.

Didn't even notice that Ghost mode has a mod menu. I don't like that it's a global setting, I'd rather just have the alchemy ingredients be weightless like they became after one of the patches in the vanilla game, but it's better than nothing.

----------

In terms of mods, I'm also using

Auto apply oils. Yeah, call me a cheat, but opening the menu every single time gets old. I did it once for my original playthrough, not doing it again.
Friendly HUD. Obvious reasons.
Jump in Shallow Water. You could do this originally, then they removed it in a patch.
No Dirty Lens Effect. Looks ugly IMO.
Scabbards on NPCs. W2 had this, for some reason they chose not to do it for W3.
Unification patch mod as some mods need it

Also want to use STLM and Reshade when I upgrade, but using STLM when you plan on medium-high makes the game look terrible. It's designed for use with Ultra-High, from my experience.