The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[zinfamous]

I really love this game.

But does anyone else find equipment durability to be nothing more than a stupid annoyance?

It is annoying. Swords degrade very quickly and there is an overabundance in just found kits so it never is a real cost, except for having to go into menu and click a few buttons. And you can do it during fights, and need to quite often in HoS and BaW, I find. I'm still rocking the regular master level swords (upgraded to a few relics) for several levels, so even without replacing weapons frequently, there is no cost to constantly needing repairs.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I've always found durability to be a pointless pain in games. So yes, they should remove it since it offers nothing.

 

[Merad]

I've always found durability to be a pointless pain in games. So yes, they should remove it since it offers nothing.

I've wondered why devs keep using it. It might be interesting if there were some semi-realistic limits imposed on the game, but when you can easily carry 20 spare swords, 5 full spare armor outfits, and several dozen repair kits... what's the point?

 

[norseamd]

I've always found durability to be a pointless pain in games. So yes, they should remove it since it offers nothing.

And Ive always liked durability as long as its done right, but The Witcher 3 has already been cheapened with "accessibility" and MMO mechanics by the obvious wants of a lot of gamers, so the existence of durability might as well be a leftover from better days, and the path that seems likely is it getting torn out for those who want cheaper, easier games.

 

[mikeymikec]

I think the durability element is good, and I'd like to think that it's realistic. I don't know about you guys, but for me Geralt got stabbed enough times and his sword hit enough trees, axes, swords, various body parts, rocks and bricks that I would think that they'd require some maintenance every so often.

---

One really odd thing I've observed the second time around is that normally if I do a few quests, deal with a few question marks, then head back to say Crow's Perch to sell off the stuff I've picked up (the weapons in particular), normally the armourer's purse will have gone back up to a fairly normal value, allowing me to sell him the weapons. However, I've reached the point where I've rescued Dandelion (Geralt level 20 I think), and the crow's perch armourer hardly ever seems to have any money. Luckily I've done the dumplings quest so I have a viable alternative, but it's still a bit odd.

 

[zinfamous]

I think the durability element is good, and I'd like to think that it's realistic. I don't know about you guys, but for me Geralt got stabbed enough times and his sword hit enough trees, axes, swords, various body parts, rocks and bricks that I would think that they'd require some maintenance every so often.

Right, and I don't think anyone disagrees with that. It's about the implementation in the overall game mechanics.

Pretty much like what norseamd and others said--the game is just too easy with endless junk loot and streamlining MMOish mechanics that there is no real cost to maintaining your gear. There either needs to be a greater cost to weight limit to reduce carrying extra gear and repair kits (Recall that on release, everything had weight to it--all the crafting materials, books, monster junk...everything. ...at which point it was another slog just emptying gear every couple of quests/PoIs--another discussion) and/or a significant cost to damaged gear-maybe failure to repair past a certain threshold will leave a permanent reduction in effectiveness? Maybe no free repair kits in all the containers?

I don't know the answer, but I feel that I have a good sense about when the mechanic isn't really adding anything beyond some extra menu juggling and clicks. ....being able to repair in the middle of a fight is something that shouldn't be allowed.

 

[zinfamous]

^ I also feel like they reduced regular merchant income overall after some patch at some point. Or at least lengthened their restock time.

Hattori even seems to run out faster than he used to, but still has his generally large pile of cash to exchange with. The Crows Perch armorer seems to have seen her cash reduced, though.

I was going to say that the grandmaster crafter in B&W seems to refresh much quicker, but I think that is a false perception because completing abandoned sights and other POIs forces Geralt into a 24 hour+ meditation for the node to reset...so far more time passes in Toussaint just playing normally compared to the other parts of the primary world.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I am just glad they didn't make you go all the way back to the armorer or blacksmith to do repairs.

 

[zinfamous]

I am just glad they didn't make you go all the way back to the armorer or blacksmith to do repairs.

Yeah I was about to suggest that and then my head told me how terrible that would be before my fingers finished typing.

Realism and playability seem permanently opposed in some cases. It's a balancing act that is never going to make everyone happy.

 

[cmdrdredd]

What they should have done if you ask me is allow you to repair weapons and armor up to a certain point, say 70-80% based on a stat you can increase. If you want to do a full repair you need to go to the armorer.

 

[Merad]

What the heck did they do to underwater combat? It seems like the drowners take normal damage now, so it takes about 50 shots to kill them??? Who the heck wants to waste time on that?

 

[zinfamous]

What the heck did they do to underwater combat? It seems like the drowners take normal damage now, so it takes about 50 shots to kill them??? Who the heck wants to waste time on that?

I discovered an issue with the bolts auto or not auto-equipping in your inventory.

It used to be that jumping into water, the standard infinite default bolts would autoequip and those are the ones that would give massive damage on the drowners.

Like you, I noticed at one point that it was taking something like 15 hits to down one at 5 levels below me. Checked my inventory and noticed that I still had exploding bolts equipped. Went to infinite garbage bolts, and back to ones-hotting drowners.

Now, don't ask me why garbage bolts would always one-shot drowners compared to the special bolts and why the devs thought this autoeuipping of bolts is a way to get around that and something people wanted because they really don't mind going back into inventory and messing with their equipment everything they dry off--different complaint--but there it is.

 

[mikeymikec]

What the heck did they do to underwater combat? It seems like the drowners take normal damage now, so it takes about 50 shots to kill them??? Who the heck wants to waste time on that?

Is that on higher difficulty? I play on the second-to-easiest setting and shooting drowners underwater is always a one-shot job.

I was going to play on a higher difficulty the second time around until I found that meditation doesn't replenish health

 

[zinfamous]

Is that on higher difficulty? I play on the second-to-easiest setting and shooting drowners underwater is always a one-shot job.

I was going to play on a higher difficulty the second time around until I found that meditation doesn't replenish health :)

well what else is that 300 kilos of ale, booze and ham sandwiches for?

Honestly, you are getting ~2 shot w/o shields (so when health matters) on those difficulties anyway so it doesn't really matter as much. IF you go for high stamina and adren builds, you can maintain enough shields and crowd control, added to proper dodging and blocking, that health isn't a big deal. It still helps, but it's a nice way to weave in the damage avoidance and damage dealing above tanking type of play.

Another one of those mechanics that is kinda made pointless by loot and other balancing issues.

 

[Merad]

Honestly, you are getting ~2 shot w/o shields (so when health matters) on those difficulties anyway so it doesn't really matter as much.

Gotta disagree with that. When I first came out of White Orchard on DM I was relying pretty heavily on the decoction (wraith? IIRC) that gives a free shield if a single hit takes more than 1/3 of your health. By now (level 6) I've already reached the point where most non-boss enemies don't hit hard enough to trigger it. Of course the problem is that so many enemies come in packs, and getting staggered when you're hit once all but guarantees taking 2-3 additional hits. So yeah, one hit effectively takes half your health.

Switching the crossbow bolts fixed my underwater combat issues. I'm guessing the original auto-swap of bolt types was meant as a convenience (crap bolts are so powerful underwater why waste your good bolts?) but people probably complained enough that they removed the auto-swap but forgot to apply the underwater buff to all crossbow ammo...

I do wish the crossbow didn't feel totally useless. Feels like it's only there for underwater and to knock griffins out of the sky. Maybe it gets decent if you drop some points into it?

Actually that reminds me of another question for you guys on NG+. Do you get more ability slots with NG+? How do you keep up with enemy scaling if you are limited to 12 abilities?

 

[Stg-Flame]

Unfortunately, the crossbow completely blows if you're not underwater or trying to down a flying enemy. The only other uses it may serve is to sell the different bolt types for extra money, but since money is so laughably easy to come by in this game, it really only serves those two original purposes.

 

[NoSoup4You]

So I'm 40 hours in and level 10. I was just doing mostly random stuff until level 7 when I realized the current story quests were only rated at level 5 and I started having flashbacks to Dragon Age Inquistion where I 100% completed the Hinterlands before leaving... which left me over-leveled for a ton of the main story quests that followed... not to mention seriously testing my patience with pointless side quests.

The side quests here have been better but Velen is an absolutely massive map, is this the same situation where you're not expected to 100% it but rather to dip in and dip out of the side missions while generally keeping your eye on the main story quests... a la DA:I?

 

[Merad]

So I'm 40 hours in and level 10. I was just doing mostly random stuff until level 7 when I realized the current story quests were only rated at level 5 and I started having flashbacks to Dragon Age Inquistion where I 100% completed the Hinterlands before leaving... which left me over-leveled for a ton of the main story quests that followed... not to mention seriously testing my patience with pointless side quests.

The side quests here have been better but Velen is an absolutely massive map, is this the same situation where you're not expected to 100% it but rather to dip in and dip out of the side missions while generally keeping your eye on the main story quests... a la DA:I?

The main difference between the two IMO is that most of the secondary quests in TW3 are well written and interesting, and the world is fun to explore, although some things are a little too repetitive (Skellige smuggler's caches...). I don't think you're really going to get severely over leveled for the MQ unless you actively ignore it, and even then you can turn on the option to buff low level enemies. As long as you're having fun I wouldn't worry about it. If you start getting tired of Velen move on and revisit it later.

 

[sze5003]

So I'm 40 hours in and level 10. I was just doing mostly random stuff until level 7 when I realized the current story quests were only rated at level 5 and I started having flashbacks to Dragon Age Inquistion where I 100% completed the Hinterlands before leaving... which left me over-leveled for a ton of the main story quests that followed... not to mention seriously testing my patience with pointless side quests.

The side quests here have been better but Velen is an absolutely massive map, is this the same situation where you're not expected to 100% it but rather to dip in and dip out of the side missions while generally keeping your eye on the main story quests... a la DA:I?

I never finished DA because I got stuck on one of the early missions which may have something to do with who I chose to have on my team. Kind of just left it at that and every time I picked up and tried to complete the mission I got overrun.

In Witcher you can do as much as you want in any way or order. The side quests are actually interesting and will lead you to discover a lot of loot and gold caches. There are plenty in Velen alone and I tried getting pretty much all of them. I think I'm level 11 or so and should be on my way to Skellige. But I'm holding off until I get a new GPU to play again.

I gave my 7970 to my little brother so I'm using Intel graphics now haha.

 

[zinfamous]

Gotta disagree with that. When I first came out of White Orchard on DM I was relying pretty heavily on the decoction (wraith? IIRC) that gives a free shield if a single hit takes more than 1/3 of your health. By now (level 6) I've already reached the point where most non-boss enemies don't hit hard enough to trigger it. Of course the problem is that so many enemies come in packs, and getting staggered when you're hit once all but guarantees taking 2-3 additional hits. So yeah, one hit effectively takes half your health.

Switching the crossbow bolts fixed my underwater combat issues. I'm guessing the original auto-swap of bolt types was meant as a convenience (crap bolts are so powerful underwater why waste your good bolts?) but people probably complained enough that they removed the auto-swap but forgot to apply the underwater buff to all crossbow ammo...

I do wish the crossbow didn't feel totally useless. Feels like it's only there for underwater and to knock griffins out of the sky. Maybe it gets decent if you drop some points into it?

Actually that reminds me of another question for you guys on NG+. Do you get more ability slots with NG+? How do you keep up with enemy scaling if you are limited to 12 abilities?

You don't get more ability slots, but you have more opportunity to try different builds by spending points on stuff you really don't need.

Enemy scaling is the same as it was before: game is still rather easy once you hit your stride a 2nd time :\
I honestly haven't changed my build much, and things still die pretty quickly and neckers and wolves still piss me off. Oh and with B&W--those Kikimores are &*(^$%^*ing annoying! What an evil mechanic, that toxicity stacking!

 

[zinfamous]

So I'm 40 hours in and level 10. I was just doing mostly random stuff until level 7 when I realized the current story quests were only rated at level 5 and I started having flashbacks to Dragon Age Inquistion where I 100% completed the Hinterlands before leaving... which left me over-leveled for a ton of the main story quests that followed... not to mention seriously testing my patience with pointless side quests.

The side quests here have been better but Velen is an absolutely massive map, is this the same situation where you're not expected to 100% it but rather to dip in and dip out of the side missions while generally keeping your eye on the main story quests... a la DA:I?

completing POIs will probably overlevel you faster, because I think they give you flat XP regardless of level--especially the abandoned sites?

If you stick to the sidequests and especially contracts, it isn't too bad. Just sprinkle in POIs here and there.

You probably don't want to avoid the "!" random sidequests that pop up because some of them give you unique loot that you can miss. And nearly all of them are just more interesting than what you get in DA:I.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I completed everything there was to do in Velen/Novigrad before going to Skellige (excluding a few level 35+ Monster Dens in the northern part of the map) and I was level 26 before hitting Skellige and doing level 10 missions. They were still fun, but the experience was negligible. That being said, experience isn't the main focus of this game. Every side-quest is extremely well-written and feel completely unique so they don't get boring. If you want a challenge, just play on Deathmarch difficulty like most people do because even if you intentionally stick to the main quests so you don't overlevel yourself, the game is still laughably easy.

Bottom line: play the game how you want to play. Complete every single side-quest and PoI if you want and don't worry about experience or levels - they will come along regardless of how you play the game. My first time through the game, I ended it at level 35 and still had fun fighting the bosses I encountered.

 

[Merad]

Holy crap, enemy scaling combined with death march turns rats into a swarm of terrifying, Geralt destroying killing machines lol. They're so OP it has to be a bug.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've just completed the game a second time around (ie. main plot and both expansions), but I'm having a problem with a quest in the blood and wine expansion, titled "Mutual of Beauclair's Wild Kingdom". I completed the question the previous time I completed the game without any problems, but this time I can't get past the quest step of "find out more about the second victim". The mini-map specifies the area to search, and every walkthrough says that I have to examine the body in the camp, some scales , maybe a mark on a wooden pole, and some burnt/melted barrels, however none of these objects are 'examinable', so I can't get the plot to move forward. Any ideas? I guess it doesn't really matter as I've done the quest before, but it is just bugging me

 

[zinfamous]

I've just completed the game a second time around (ie. main plot and both expansions), but I'm having a problem with a quest in the blood and wine expansion, titled "Mutual of Beauclair's Wild Kingdom". I completed the question the previous time I completed the game without any problems, but this time I can't get past the quest step of "find out more about the second victim". The mini-map specifies the area to search, and every walkthrough says that I have to examine the body in the camp, some scales , maybe a mark on a wooden pole, and some burnt/melted barrels, however none of these objects are 'examinable', so I can't get the plot to move forward. Any ideas? I guess it doesn't really matter as I've done the quest before, but it is just bugging me

I had that part of that quest running for a very long time because I stumbled on the starting area for it by mistake. When I came back to it many levels and quests later, I didn't have a problem starting it--I just walked around until I found the proper thing to search using Witcher sense, but as you said--it seems you have scanned everything possible? I dunno--I did find that many of the search objects using Witcher senses in Blood and Wine are rather difficult to find. Some tend to be hidden under shrubs or bags buried by barrels that make it very difficult to see. I think for that one, I was probably lucky to be standing where I needed to be and saw it quickly, but maybe not.

Also, I think I actually stumbled upon that quest again, at that stage, some time later and it activated the 3rd part of it (there are some NPCs standing in a field nearby that will start it up again). IIRC, I managed to progress it from there, skipping that 2nd part where you are--but I didn't save and went back to the previous save because I didn't want to miss anything by skipping progression--especially if doing so would break the quest.