The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[JeffMD]

weird.. I thought the bug was always there. I didn't read into any of the testing that was done, just that CD red made an apology for it. Since the apology didn't mention the patch number I thought it had always been there.

 

[JeffMD]

I like the background during cutscenes, particularly with the Baron--you are inside, have his windows in the background, and the only thing you see through the windows are constant sideways trees.

It's hilarious.

The effects are nice, but I think it's something that really needs to be toned down. I get that this is probably just part of the world--being Polish, I think the weather tends to be very grey, very rainy over there anyway--but maybe add a slider to the settings? Sometimes less is more. It's like 4 straight days of constant rain and wind, then a sunny day. Seeing the ~10am-5pm hours dark and stormy 90% of the time is getting a bit old...but again, I suppose that is the world....

Slider!

I think there are times where there is like several days of rain. I encountered a lot of rain during the baron quest, but other areas, especially now that I am north in the city (same region), there is plenty of sun again. What annoys me is rain comes before rain clouds. Now occasionally you will see light rain in partly cloudy weather, but almost never does thundercloud weather get pre empted by rain (Thunderclouds are pretty much the clashing of 2 fronts, so the bad weather isn't until the intersection of the 2 fronts, not ahead of it).

 

[escrow4]

How was it tolerated by testers and reviewers when it was introduced last week with patch 1.04?

I'm on high difficulty and the game hasn't ever been that hard to me, and in that way it really hasn't bothered me all that much, either...but I ignored a lot of lower level stuff to do higher level missions...so now going back to do that stuff is just way too easy for me and, of course, leveling has stagnated considerably. I think both issues are problematic, because it does point to a real balance issue. Early on in the game, I found that taking on missions 3-4 levels above you, at least, were kinda "normal difficulty" anything at or below your level was trivial.

Before the bug hit, it seemed that the story missions were set at levels that were way too low--I think to satiate those that just want to blast through the story only, ignoring everything else. This means that if you sidetrack a bit, you will outlevel way too easily, and content becomes trivial. Otherwise, the sidequests are actually rather high-leveled, so that is where the primary difficulty lays.

I'd say that's part of their design--players that want easy roses mode just stick to the story; those that want a challenge will bother with the contracts and additional content. ...I can get that, for the most part, but I wish they would have tuned the story a bit to at least encourage some leveling away from the main thread. Maybe not too much, like those horrible JRPGs that force level grinding, but a nice taste here and there to keep both aspects challenging enough to be interesting.

Say, instead of story going 5 > 5 > 6 > 8 > 10 11 > 12 >11 >11 >12; something like: 5 > 7 >11 >14.

A LOT of the contracts go from level 5, to 10, then a shit ton start at 18 and up. It's very strange.

I dunno, that's my rant. At least we have console commands to fix these things.

If you've played RPGs before that is exactly what you shouldn't do. The meat in RPGs is in side quests and loot/better equipment combined with the main quest. The way the game is balanced though is different. Middle map, Level 12 fine. Bottom map Level 12 YOU WILL DIE. You need closer to Level 20 around Byways.

 

[Fire&Blood]

:biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

[Carfax83]

353.06 drivers are out for NVidia users, and they are really great. Just installed them, and the Witcher 3 is smooth as butter at 1440p max settings

They also contain the Kepler optimizations, so escrow4 can finally stop complaining :whiste:

 

[Demo24]

And 15.5 beta drivers do seem to have helped my 7970 out a tad. Frame rate may not be a lot better, but it does seem more consistent and smoother. Biggest difference I've noticed is character pop in is lessened, or the distance till that happens has been extended out. Either way its much rarer to walk right up to someone and then see them appear.

Did a little bit of the main baron quest, enough to visit oxenfurt. Mostly other little quests though. And witcher contracts are no joke! The shrieker one took me far too many reloads to get.

Level 10 now and I do like how mutagens better enhance certain traits. I haven't put any into 'green' yet though, just don't see anything there right now I'd need. I never tend to use a lot of potions in witcher games, just forget I guess. Not sure why I can't apply oils in 'combat' though. Still trying to get the hang of combat in groups, I've a tendency to roll too much (I blame bloodborne), versus sidestep.

Also my jogging around velen paid off when in ran into a place of power not marked on the map at all. Had to do some mountain climbing to get to it, but worth it!

 

[MeldarthX]

Someone say Skrieker - my video on killing it...yes; took me 2 tries as I didn't take it seriously first time lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_7k3w6Ccps

 

[Mem]

Someone say Skrieker - my video on killing it...yes; took me 2 tries as I didn't take it seriously first time lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_7k3w6Ccps

You know what is harder then that?....Playing bloody Gwent,I must of only won like three rounds out of 50+ ,so never won an actual game yet,so hard think I'll ignore all the gwent quests from now on,AI always has better or more cards then me,moot point I guess since I really miss the old dice game.

 

[zinfamous]

And 15.5 beta drivers do seem to have helped my 7970 out a tad. Frame rate may not be a lot better, but it does seem more consistent and smoother. Biggest difference I've noticed is character pop in is lessened, or the distance till that happens has been extended out. Either way its much rarer to walk right up to someone and then see them appear.

Did a little bit of the main baron quest, enough to visit oxenfurt. Mostly other little quests though. And witcher contracts are no joke! The shrieker one took me far too many reloads to get.

Level 10 now and I do like how mutagens better enhance certain traits. I haven't put any into 'green' yet though, just don't see anything there right now I'd need. I never tend to use a lot of potions in witcher games, just forget I guess. Not sure why I can't apply oils in 'combat' though. Still trying to get the hang of combat in groups, I've a tendency to roll too much (I blame bloodborne), versus sidestep.

Also my jogging around velen paid off when in ran into a place of power not marked on the map at all. Had to do some mountain climbing to get to it, but worth it!

I find that I use potions a lot in this one. The meditation mechanic in the earlier games was just too distracting, so I ignored it. The only points that I have put into alchemy so far are for sword oils and toxicity threshold--but that is mostly to increase potion duration time as the background attribute. Green mutagens are nice, because you can get up to 600 vitality with a greater green slotted with 3 alchemy traits in one tree.

 

[zinfamous]

You know what is harder then that?....Playing bloody Gwent,I must of only won like three rounds out of 50+ ,so never won an actual game yet,so hard think I'll ignore all the gwent quests from now on,AI always has better or more cards then me,moot point I guess since I really miss the old dice game.

I've almost completely ignored Gwent--it is quite hard, but I mostly don't like how it drags down the pace of everything. It's one of those secondary things that I will eventually go back to when I run out of things to do.

I do like that it is far meatier than the dice game...which I thought was just a simple distraction.

 

[Demo24]

Point of Gwent is to collect bigger and better cards. Do that by either buying them or winning them off people. It's certainly challenging, but in a good way. Does take a bit to get a handle on it though. Still, sometimes it's nice to have a change of pace. I not very good at it, but working on it.

 

[Mem]

Point of Gwent is to collect bigger and better cards. Do that by either buying them or winning them off people. It's certainly challenging, but in a good way. Does take a bit to get a handle on it though. Still, sometimes it's nice to have a change of pace. I not very good at it, but working on it.

I know the point of Gwent,however I'm not going to play over hour plus for each card game hoping to win one card from each Gwent player.

Dice game was not as long so did not distract from the Witcher game play in general.


I rather explore then waste all those horrible hours hoping to win ONE game for a gwent card which is far from easy and not guaranteed,fine if you want to waste your playing time hoping to win,personally rather be doing something less irritating.


If I want a change of pace I load a different game,btw horse racing and fist fighting in W3 I don't mind.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I hate Gwent. It's just frustrating. I gave up trying to get the hero cards. No patience for that. Especially when the opponent uses scorch and removes your hero card from the table and you lose automatically at that point.

 

[Mem]

I hate Gwent. It's just frustrating. I gave up trying to get the hero cards. No patience for that. Especially when the opponent uses scorch and removes your hero card from the table and you lose automatically at that point.

I think a lot of people are frustrated with Gwent,I have about about 70 hours of TW3 playing time and have yet to win one game from any Gwent player,it would take too much time to win and far longer then actually completing TW3 storyline and all the other TW3 game quests in general.


One thing to lose which I've no problem with but no way I'm going to spend hundreds of hours trying to win Gwent,dice was ok since did not take too long even if you did lose a few games.

Also some Gwent cards you can only get from certain Gwent players so if that quest or storyline is done you are out of luck,the prologue is one example,you can't go back and try again.

I do wish there was an option to remove all Gwent quests from the list in secondary quest menu.

 

[local]

I hate Gwent. It's just frustrating. I gave up trying to get the hero cards. No patience for that. Especially when the opponent uses scorch and removes your hero card from the table and you lose automatically at that point.

Except that scorch does not affect hero cards. The key is to find people to play with low level decks then farm them for more/better cards.

 

[sze5003]

I have no idea how to play Gwent. Get the first round but the second round none of my cards will go on the table.

 

[etrigan420]

I kinda like Gwent.

I'd say I've won somewhere around 50% of the games I've played, but I've only played with the default deck (Northern...something).

My strategery is basically run the opponent out of cards in the first round, while holding on to one or two for the second, win the second, get the bonus card for winning a hand, then play that to win the third.

It's a nice distraction from "questing".

 

[Mem]

Any news on the fix for the XP bug,thought it was today the patch is out?

 

[JeffMD]

They have the patch notes up... patch will be out when it is out. Only MMOs have scheduled patches. ^^

 

[cmdrdredd]

I think a lot of people are frustrated with Gwent,I have about about 70 hours of TW3 playing time and have yet to win one game from any Gwent player,it would take too much time to win and far longer then actually completing TW3 storyline and all the other TW3 game quests in general.


One thing to lose which I've no problem with but no way I'm going to spend hundreds of hours trying to win Gwent,dice was ok since did not take too long even if you did lose a few games.

Also some Gwent cards you can only get from certain Gwent players so if that quest or storyline is done you are out of luck,the prologue is one example,you can't go back and try again.

I do wish there was an option to remove all Gwent quests from the list in secondary quest menu.

Not true, if a character isn't there you go to their room or office and check the table. Their card is there.

That's how I did a couple of them after the story was complete. Even still I couldn't win.

 

[Demo24]

I have no idea how to play Gwent. Get the first round but the second round none of my cards will go on the table.

That's the trick, you only get 10 cards and you have to make them stretch 2-3 rounds. Player with the highest points in 'x' round wins, so if you blow them all in round 1 then you've no more cards for 2 and 3, so by default the other play wins. Best 2 out of 3.

 

[Mem]

Not true, if a character isn't there you go to their room or office and check the table. Their card is there.

That's how I did a couple of them after the story was complete. Even still I couldn't win.

Problem doing it that way is you get a "X" in the Gwent journal,so if you want to try and win are out of luck,baron for example,anybody that has done his quest knows what I mean since you can't play him later.

 

[zinfamous]

Problem doing it that way is you get a "X" in the Gwent journal,so if you want to try and win are out of luck,baron for example,anybody that has done his quest knows what I mean since you can't play him later.

Yes, but you can still obtain the card anyway, and it redirects you along a different path. For me, anyway

Spoiler

that collection quest was not failed after the Baron killed himself--it just told me to find the card in his office and talk to someone else about playing cards

 

[Mem]

Yes, but you can still obtain the card anyway, and it redirects you along a different path. For me, anyway

Spoiler

that collection quest was not failed after the Baron killed himself--it just told me to find the card in his office and talk to someone else about playing cards

I guess it depends really on if you want to just collect them or actually try and win them,some quests as you know can stop you from winning them.

 

[RockinZ28]

Hmm, I'm loving gwent. Last night I played one dude for like an hour lol. Way too easy though, once you buy a few cards from Vendors, then win some unique ones in the quests, you're almost unbeatable.

Hope it gets more challenging though. Already completed that High Stakes level 26 quest when I was 14.