Troubles with The Witcher 3

[Venom 3135]

Hey

I've been playing the Witcher 3 for a good amount of hours now, I'm level 8, I've made some small progress into the story, done a good few side quests, contracts etc.
I was hoping you guys could help me with my playthrough.

I'm finding trouble with the pacing/balancing of the game. For example, I'm level 8 but I'm still using the default silver sword and a steel sword I picked from the corpse of a dead elf. I'm attempting the Jenny O' the Woods quest, which is recommended level 10 and I'm getting the absolute shit kicked out of me every time I attempt the fight. I guess it's a combination of my poor gear and level, but I feel I shouldn't be having as much trouble as I am, seeing as I'm only 2 levels below the recommended. I've found this with a few quests now and It's making me wonder if I'm playing the game in the wrong way. I've completed most, if not all side quests (I've been around to every notice board and collected all of the quests as well as found a few in the world) for my recommended level so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go about getting new gear/levelling. Should I do some story quests until I'm the exact level for the side quests? Should I grind? I'm just not sure, so I hope you guys can help me with this matter. Maybe I'm just a huge scrub.

Thanks.

 

[Gray-Philosophy]

It may be the difficulty I'm playing on, but I find the game seems to just be decently challenging overall. I didn't find any significantly better equipment until past level 12 or so, but combat was still manageable. It shouldn't be necessary to grind, but if you've held back on the story quests it might be an idea to do some of those.

While I don't remember what level I was when I did it, I remember the Jenny O' the Woods quest being pretty tough and the fight drew out for a while, so I'm thinking you might just need to brace yourself with patience and go for a methodic approach, find a rythm and stick to it. the Yrden and Quen signs should be pretty helpful. Also remember to dodge, sometimes doding diagonally towards your enemy can let you avoid a hit and get you right up behind them for a few critical strikes.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I'm not the best person in the world for this, but make sure you're visiting as many little towns/hubs as you can, and probably 80% of them end up having some merchants you'll want to trade with (either to get armor/sword specs off them, or to outright buy armor/swords off them that might be pretty good.)

also in case you haven't run into it yet, many traders in velen end up having "maps" for you to buy that end up giving you treasure hunt quests for witcher specific loot (most of it will be WAY overleveld for you, so don't attempt it unless you are within a few levels of it) and the loot is upgradeable so once you find some that you like, you should be able to use it most of the game by getting new maps and upgrading it along the way. (school of the cat, griffin, and another school give you 3 different styles of armor and swords)

I would just go to other towns if you can for now and complete other smaller quests to get more money and more loot. (when you are talking to merchants, do you sell most of your "junk"? most items that are listed as junk in your inventory I end up selling, it can really make your wallet fat if you've been picking up a ton of animal hides and stuff)

edit: as the previous person mentioned, sometimes there is just that one random quest that is quite tough (relative to the other quests), so make sure you check the bestiary to see what the monsters weaknesses are and use those to your advantage (use your signs if you don't, they can be very helpful).

Story quests seem to have the most XP, so if you feel you're underleveled or don't know why you're dying alot, maybe try to advance in a couple of those and them come back later.

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

Run around in the open world and do the "?" locations and search or either your level guarded treasure locations or bandit camps, bandits have a chance of dropping magic or master crafted velen/novigraad swords that should be a upgrade for you. Do the cockatrice contract, that thing should drop a silver sword for ya. Visit weapon smiths and armor smiths, you can buy schematics or quests that give you upgrades. Upgrade the Quen shield and deflect arrows with parry skill. those archers are a painfully annoying.

 

[Venom 3135]

Thanks for you help guys. I've moved on to a few story quests and I've taken the combat advice into account. Hopefully I'll start seeing improvements soon hahaha.

 

[Silence]

Did you fight Jenny at day or at night?

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Jenny was pretty tough for me, I think I was a few levels below recommended. When those 3 Jennys come out, kill them as fast as possible as that's how she heals, and you don't need to yrden them either. The annoying ass thing for me with that fight was I had a system that worked like 70% of the time. After a certain attack of her's I would sidestep back and do massive damage. However, due to the games not-so-great combat, I would get hit by it like 30% of the time even though I was visually out of range. Also, you can save during the fight if you move far enough away and her health will remain the same. I've found all of the boss fights so far have been very poorly designed like Deus Ex Human Revolution bad; you just do the same simple thing over and over again, you end of dying usually because of the game's hit detection or Geralt rolling the wrong way (into the attack), and the boss usually has some way to heal and thus you have to do the same boring thing even more.

You really don't get loot in this game. The loot is getting diagrams to make good stuff basically. It's annoying I can't make any good swords because there's no master swordsmithe available unless I do this like level 24 sidequest. I used the beginning silver sword for awhile because I didn't find one with better stats for awhile. Better steel swords I found quite often. A lot of the sidequests give very little experience so doing story quests actually levels you up the fastest. Though doing that Keira Metz sidequest nets a lot of experience.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Hey

I've been playing the Witcher 3 for a good amount of hours now, I'm level 8, I've made some small progress into the story, done a good few side quests, contracts etc.
I was hoping you guys could help me with my playthrough.

I'm finding trouble with the pacing/balancing of the game. For example, I'm level 8 but I'm still using the default silver sword and a steel sword I picked from the corpse of a dead elf. I'm attempting the Jenny O' the Woods quest, which is recommended level 10 and I'm getting the absolute shit kicked out of me every time I attempt the fight. I guess it's a combination of my poor gear and level, but I feel I shouldn't be having as much trouble as I am, seeing as I'm only 2 levels below the recommended. I've found this with a few quests now and It's making me wonder if I'm playing the game in the wrong way. I've completed most, if not all side quests (I've been around to every notice board and collected all of the quests as well as found a few in the world) for my recommended level so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go about getting new gear/levelling. Should I do some story quests until I'm the exact level for the side quests? Should I grind? I'm just not sure, so I hope you guys can help me with this matter. Maybe I'm just a huge scrub.

Thanks.

Couple things...

1. First arrival in Velen can be tough. There's a huge level range in Velen, and it's a bit mixed up, so you can run into stuff well above your level close by, and stuff appropriate to or below it further out. If you're into exploring and doing side activities, don't be afraid to wander.

2. Follow the main storyline for a bit. It gives level appropriate quests, and will take you to a variety of different areas around the map, many of which will have level appropriate side quests and activities.

3. Jenny O' The Woods is an atypically difficult Witcher Contract. Come prepared for the fight, use the proper signs/oils, and make sure you're attempting it at or around the recommended level.

4. If you do all of the above, upgrading your gear will happen slowly and naturally. Eventually you'll find schematics for Witcher armor and swords from the various schools. You'll want to make that armor. It vastly outstrips anything else in the game, and can be upgraded.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Do you have any treasure hunt quests that you haven't completed? Those usually reward you with a unique sword or a nice piece of armor. You should try to do the witcher gear treasure hunt missions because they will give you the best armor and weapons in the game.

 

[Nimzabaat]

One thing i'll add is that the Witcher contracts are usually harder than the other content. So if you see side missions that are a few levels higher you can probably do those and then do the contracts when you've leveled.

I do agree that the scaling is messed up. There was some priest I met at level 4 and when I pissed him off I encountered level 12 goons that he sent shortly after. Running away is always an option

 

[Venom 3135]

This advice has been really useful guys and I fully plan no following it all. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[G00N3R7883]

Don't worry about XP, you'll gain plenty.

When comparing character level to the recommended quest level, what I found was that in Velen, I was typically 1-2 levels lower than the main quest, so I looked for side quests and contracts to get a bit of extra XP. You'll meet a sorceress called Kiera, who has a pretty lengthy side quest arc which is really good for levelling up.

As I progressed through Novigrad, I became a couple of levels higher than the main quest. Plus there's alot of quests in Novigrad that are more about talking, less about fighting, which makes it a bit easier. When I got to Skellige, I was several levels higher than the main quest, and I didn't attempt most of the side quests from Skellige until after I'd finished the main quest. I think the recommended level for the final main quest is 22 and I was 30-ish.

In terms of weapons and armour, again in the long term, there's plenty. By the time I reached Skellige I was finding new swords all over the place. It is tough when you're starting out in Velen. I'd recommend finding a blacksmith - there's one near the Baron's house - and trying to forge a new sword. Hopefully you'll already have found the necessary crafting materials.

Other than that, when in combat I tried to focus more on avoiding being hit - lots of rolling - and waiting for the right moment to attack. Make sure you have Quen (shield) active, Igni (fire) does decent damage against most enemies. And don't underestimate Yrdan (slow). I never used it in Witcher 1 or 2 (except the Kayran fight) but its extremely useful in W3. For example, when fighting a human who has a shield, roll towards them, cast Yrdan, roll behind, hit them in the back.