Witcher III : PT III : Blood and Winos

[HanSolo]

For maximum xp do all the side stuff at the lowest possible level that doesn't show up as grey, then when there are no side quests below the main ones in terms of levels then do those. Rinse and repeat.

I hope that wasn't too confusing.

Oh okay. That was sort of my strategy with fallout 4 until I realized the game is pretty good about level scaling the story missions and I blazed through the story. Then I realized if I don't delay the story with side quests the storyline is actually pretty short. Just feels lame to do all those side quests now that I destroyed the Institute. It feels like I'm just running errands for a land that has no true big baddies threatening it. And far harbor is almost entirely unplayable for me. 25 dollars in the toilet.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I'm confused. Should I do main stuff before the optional stuff or the the other way around? This is my first Witcher game.

A healthy mix of both is best.

I did all the sides quests I could before advancing the story and , by the time I got to Skellige (the islands), I was way over leveled and the rest of the game was very easy.

I would recommend you tackle the three main quests as soon as possible: I don't remember their names but basically each of the three regions (Velen, Novigrad and Skellige) have their "search for Ciri"quest once you get out of the tutorial areach: talk to the Bloody Baron in Velen, talk to Triss in Novigrad and go meet Yenefer in Skellige.

Each of those quests are very long and have you take on many other side quests to complete them; if you do all you can before heading to Skellige (I believe the game recommends you head over once you are level 16) you will be quite powerful and most of the stuff you will find will be useless. Which is a shame because Skellige is a really fun place to explore.

 

[HanSolo]

A healthy mix of both is best.

I did all the sides quests I could before advancing the story and , by the time I got to Skellige (the islands), I was way over leveled and the rest of the game was very easy.

I would recommend you tackle the three main quests as soon as possible: I don't remember their names but basically each of the three regions (Velen, Novigrad and Skellige) have their "search for Ciri"quest once you get out of the tutorial areach: talk to the Bloody Baron in Velen, talk to Triss in Novigrad and go meet Yenefer in Skellige.

Each of those quests are very long and have you take on many other side quests to complete them; if you do all you can before heading to Skellige (I believe the game recommends you head over once you are level 16) you will be quite powerful and most of the stuff you will find will be useless.

Thanks for the heads up. I just got to Velen. Like literally 10 minutes ago.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Thanks for the heads up. I just got to Velen. Like literally 10 minutes ago.

So you should have three primary quests in your quest log. I recommend you start them as soon as you are at the right level, no point in delaying.

 

[HanSolo]

Haha, even when Geralt is in an indoor basement his hair flows like the wind is blowing it.

 

[The Gongshow]

So I gotta beat Witcher 3 before I even think about getting the DLC

 

[Corto]

So I gotta beat Witcher 3 before I even think about getting the DLC

You don't, not really. There's the option to play DLC only with a pre-made character.

But to get the full experience, the best experience, I'd advice B&W to be played just after completing the main story line, yes.

...

I've been going about B&W slowly, as it's somewhat bittersweet... It's absolutely fantastic, yet it's also the last "new" Witcher content that we'll see for a long time (5-6 years it seems).

But yes... OH EM GEE... This expansion and the changes to the existing game just made this game (for me) go from 10.5/10 to 11/10.
For me, best game ever made.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Yeah there's definitely a very strong case to be made for this being an all-time great.

The only blemmish I can think of is that the dialogue trees are basically non-existent due to how pedestrian they are. I haven't gotten to the Blood & Wine section though, I hope they got it closer to Assassin of Kings there in terms of dialogue.

 

[Bocephus86]

I went back to an older save (pre mist) when I got HoS a few weeks ago. I brought myself close to the main story ending quests then switched over to the HoS quests (did every other "standard" side quest) because I read somewhere it made sense to do it before end (main) game. I'm in the meat of HoS main story now (I'm trying to be vague to not spoil anything for others).

My question, as it seems others have already started it, is: Blood and Wine should be played after the main quest, right? That seems to be what I've found as the consensus, and is referenced by Corto below, but I just wanted to make sure it made sense. I think by the time I finish HoS i'll be at or close to Lvl 40 making the main quest a sideshow... but I'm a quick sword and Quen build so all combat is easy now anyway...

Side note: How do you do a spoilers section? I have a question about something I did in HoS.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I went back to an older save (pre mist) when I got HoS a few weeks ago. I brought myself close to the main story ending quests then switched over to the HoS quests (did every other "standard" side quest) because I read somewhere it made sense to do it before end (main) game. I'm in the meat of HoS main story now (I'm trying to be vague to not spoil anything for others).

My question, as it seems others have already started it, is: Blood and Wine should be played after the main quest, right? That seems to be what I've found as the consensus, and is referenced by Corto below, but I just wanted to make sure it made sense. I think by the time I finish HoS i'll be at or close to Lvl 40 making the main quest a sideshow... but I'm a quick sword and Quen build so all combat is easy now anyway...

Side note: How do you do a spoilers section? I have a question about something I did in HoS.

Hearts of Stone doesn't make more sense if you do it before completing the main quest; there's a little something if you decide to do things a certain way at the end that cannot happen (or maybe it can but makes no sense) if you complete HoS after the main quest but that's it.

Blood & Wine, from what I gather, is billed as Geralt's last quest so, for flavour reasons, it makes sense to complete it after the main story.

As far as spoilers go the tags are [ sp][/sp] (without the space)

 

[Bocephus86]

Hearts of Stone doesn't make more sense if you do it before completing the main quest; there's a little something if you decide to do things a certain way at the end that cannot happen (or maybe it can but makes no sense) if you complete HoS after the main quest but that's it.

Blood & Wine, from what I gather, is billed as Geralt's last quest so, for flavour reasons, it makes sense to complete it after the main story.

As far as spoilers go the tags are [ sp][/sp] (without the space)

Thanks - I will start it after. I'm not too far into HoS, I may load my post-main quest save instead and restart (in maybe a few hours). As for my HoS question:

[spoil]I had about 40k crowns when I started HoS so I pushed through that runewright quest super quick and gave over the total 30k crowns but it doesn't seem to be worth it. Am I just not understanding what those enchantments do? It seems to indicate it will consume my 3 runestones when I enchant the weapon/armor so loosing those bonuses is more than I gain. The only one that looks good is the "treat everything like light armor" but I focused on light anyway so my best armor is the cat school mastercrafted. Did I just waste my 30k or did you guys find it worth it?[/spoil]

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Thanks - I will start it after. I'm not too far into HoS, I may load my post-main quest save instead and restart (in maybe a few hours). As for my HoS question:

[spoil]I had about 40k crowns when I started HoS so I pushed through that runewright quest super quick and gave over the total 30k crowns but it doesn't seem to be worth it. Am I just not understanding what those enchantments do? It seems to indicate it will consume my 3 runestones when I enchant the weapon/armor so loosing those bonuses is more than I gain. The only one that looks good is the "treat everything like light armor" but I focused on light anyway so my best armor is the cat school mastercrafted. Did I just waste my 30k or did you guys find it worth it?[/spoil]

[spoil]Yeah the armor bonuses from the rune fellow are very, very meh except the one you mention. It's definitely a bit of a waste considering that, from what I read, stuff like the vineyard or the ultimate crafted equipment (above masterwork) in Blood & Wine are very expensive.[/spoil]

 

[Bocephus86]

[spoil]Yeah the armor bonuses from the rune fellow are very, very meh except the one you mention. It's definitely a bit of a waste considering that, from what I read, stuff like the vineyard or the ultimate crafted equipment (above masterwork) in Blood & Wine are very expensive.[/spoil]

just in case spoiler tags:

[spoil]Very much appreciated. I might just restart with my completed game then. I just finished the wedding so i'm like 3 or 4 hours in HoS really. Would rather go to blood and wine with 50/60k then the 25 I'll probably end at. Do not want to have to sail around skellege going for ? marks...[/spoil]

 

[Do Make Say Think]

just in case spoiler tags:

[spoil]Very much appreciated. I might just restart with my completed game then. I just finished the wedding so i'm like 3 or 4 hours in HoS really. Would rather go to blood and wine with 50/60k then the 25 I'll probably end at. Do not want to have to sail around skellege going for ? marks...[/spoil]

[spoil]Sounds like a good idea, although, maybe there are more upgrades through the runewright in Blood & Wine? I haven't looked into that[/spoil]

 

[HanSolo]

I got to the part where you do three missions for this blonde witch in Velez that Geralt has a romance with and at the end of it

[spoil] I take the moral high road and the game forces me to kill her. So in a nutshell, thanks for the sex, RIP bye. Also for what it's worth, she didn't even drop good loot.[/spoil]

I love this game man.

Yeah there's definitely a very strong case to be made for this being an all-time great.

The only blemmish I can think of is that the dialogue trees are basically non-existent due to how pedestrian they are. I haven't gotten to the Blood & Wine section though, I hope they got it closer to Assassin of Kings there in terms of dialogue.

The trees are basic, yeah. But I can't recall a game that has had such deep and human feeling conversations even in the most casual and seemingly unimportant chats. To be fair though there are some games praised for this that I have never played.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

The trees are basic, yeah. But I can't recall a game that has had such deep and human feeling conversations even in the most casual and seemingly unimportant chats. To be fair though there are some games praised for this that I have never played.

The second game had much better dialogue trees

All the dialogue trees in this game operate the same way

- Yellow text to advance the discussion
- Exposition

It's a bit of a let down but it's nothing major

 

[HanSolo]

Well I never even heard of the Witcher series until I heard TW3 could be the next gen's Skyrim. So I guess I don't feel the disappointment. At least your dialogic choices matter on some level unlike Fallout 4.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

I got to the part where you do three missions for this blonde witch in Velez that Geralt has a romance with and at the end of it

[spoil] I take the moral high road and the game forces me to kill her. So in a nutshell, thanks for the sex, RIP bye. Also for what it's worth, she didn't even drop good loot.[/spoil]

I love this game man.

Speaking of that decision:

[spoil]First try, I was able to get her to willingly give up the scroll and not get herself killed. Second try, I thought I did the same thing and ended up having to fight her to the death.[/spoil]

How disappointed I was.

 

[HanSolo]

Wasn't even a tough fight tbh.

 

[KingTux]

I don't fast travel, a lot a Gwent (I play every vendor), I kill most enemies I see, don't skip any of the dialogue etc. Probably have left the game open for 10 or 15 hours as well.

My friend's first playthrough clocked in at about 200 hours completing HoS. But he skipped dialogue, didn't complete every side quest and fast traveled. Doing it in about 100 seems impossible to me.

Same here. Its so, so worth the extra effort to ride that dumb horse of yours, but I guess you already know that. You meet so many new characters, side quests, treasure etc etc just by wondering around.

It doesn't have Elder Scrolls ambiance sadly. I am not wasting as many hours as I did with Skyrim and Oblivion than with Witcher 3.

Combat takes some getting used to. In Skyrim, I just hacked and slashed everything and rarely used shouts and never any potions or whatever. Once I leveled up a bit I tore through everyone.

Just got this game a week ago and you definitely have to be a lot more cautious about how you attack. Lots of waiting to strike and I use a lot of my signs. Lots of fun, tho.

My question is do the monsters and enemies level up with you at all? I'm playing on the default because I prefer going through the story instead of spending hours on combat and avoiding things. I'm level 9 right now and went through a place on my map earlier and came back to find some level 23 ghouls. Every ghoul I'd encountered until then had been level 9 or 7. Wasn't sure if they were leveling or they appeared after I got through a certain part oaf the story.

That's because you never played Legendary

 

[HanSolo]

Oh hell. I'm already slightly overleveled for the main quest.

I'm level 11 now with a ton of missions to do in Velen (most of which are under my current level anyway) and a whole bunch of notice boards to visit.

I feel like just doing these side quests and if I become way too overleveled I'll up the difficulty on the game.

I don't want this to end up like Fallout 4 where I beat the game before I do all the side quests and then the side quests feel pointless.

 

[SniperHF]

Don't even worry about it. The game isn't that hard anyway even on Death March. Murdering everything in 30 seconds instead of 40 isn't that big a deal.

 

[HanSolo]

Gotcha. Just don't want the combat being spoiled cause there's something immensely satisfying about it.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

My first play through was on the second hardest difficulty and that was a lot of fun.

Doing my second play through with New Game + on Death March and it's even better.

It isn't that hard, especially if you abuse Quen but I've decided I was going to not level Quen at all and instead focus on the other powers.

Switching between powers as you dodge hits and get in for a few here and there is smooth and engaging. I'm really liking it.

 

[HanSolo]

For tougher engagements I like to combine Quen and Yrden

I practically don't block anymore cause strong enemies will burst through it and do damage to me. And my Quen does damage and knockback when broken.

Also I don't know what the hell just happened. I killed all the monsters for this level 7 mission and I was heading back to turn it in, stopped to kill some wolves for some wolf liver, got a text from my girl so I stopped in the middle of a road to text her back, and when I look up I see Geralt being assaulted by tree roots, I turn around see a level 20 monster, and the next thing I know I'm dead. Totally random encounter. Weird.