New player [Hints and tips, how to get started]

[Tuska5]

New player [Hints and tips, how to get started]

Hello, Im new to this game and I have some questions about it.
However, if you have good websites/youtube guides or channels it will be great.
I started to play but the game seems to be very difficult maybe I need time to realise how it works, there are a lot of things to know and learn I only level 4 but I dont know how it works.
I mean I need to do the main quests but do all the contracts I can for money and items? Where can I find iyems to my level and to be sure that I continue to the next quests on the right level and gear, how to upgrade which potions to make and how should I train my abillities?
For now I just do maon quests and loot everything I see and before continue I just go to repair my armour and weapons. What food should I buy for doing quests or contracts?
I just need a little help with that.. I now doing quests in Velen.
Thanks!!

 

[sv3672]

The game is most difficult around level 4-6 when you do the early quests in Velen (White Orchard is more of a "tutorial" area), but it will get easier as you progress. There is not much specific advice I can give, just explore, loot, and do any quests that are not above your level. It is also important to become familiar with the combat, and learn when to dodge or roll to evade the attacks of specific enemies, which signs to use (e.g. you need Yrden against wraiths), etc. You can also travel to Novigrad early, the merchants there have better prices and inventory than those in Velen.

 

[Tuska5]

I see, so I will return to White Orchard for the "tutorial" abd starter things.
About merchants, I dont have money yet and I dont know what I should buy and when. Swords or armour and food for quests and travelling..
I was told that I can do quests that over 5 levels from my level, if I level 10 I can do quests even for level 15, is that right?
And what abot food for quests? How should I regain health in a middle of a fight? In the innkeepers it looks expensive everything there.

 

[sv3672]

About merchants, I dont have money yet and I dont know what I should buy and when. Swords or armour and food for quests and travelling..

At this stage, you probably want to collect everything you can, and sell what you do not need. I think buying food is generally not worth it, there is enough of it that can be looted. You can often collect honeycomb from the trees and sell it to the herbalist in White Orchard, or just eat it. Also, one of the abilities lets food regenerate health for much longer time.

I was told that I can do quests that over 5 levels from my level, if I level 10 I can do quests even for level 15, is that right?

Yes, if an enemy is more than 5 levels above yours (which is indicated by a red skull icon), then its stats are artificially increased making the fight much harder. But in the early game even some enemies at equal level can be difficult.

 

[Tuska5]

#4
Okay so just loot during tge quest? And what ability do you mean? So I just need to loot food and it will be okay for quests and enough? I think I will need a way to get more food if I will die lot of times :s
And if my weapon breaks during a quest, what should I do?
And what about vivaldi's bank what can I do there? Just convert coins?

 

[sv3672]

#4
And what ability do you mean?

It is the "Gourmet" skill, if you have that equipped, then food regenerates vitality for 20 minutes.

And if my weapon breaks during a quest, what should I do?

There are tools that can be used to repair armor or weapons at any time. You can buy them from a blacksmith or armorer, or sometimes find them as loot.

And what about vivaldi's bank what can I do there? Just convert coins?

The bank can also loan some (not much) money, although I never used that myself.

 

[Sunsibar]

Few beginner tips:

Loot everything. You can loot houses for food if guards don't see you, or you can hunt animals for food. Use Igni to burn beehives and then pick up the honeycomb from the ground. No need to buy food. Avoid ? marks on the map at first (although you can explore all of them in White Orchard), or you will be running away a lot. You have plenty of time to clear those when you are at level 10-15 or higher. You will be running away from strong monsters anyways, so don't feel bad about it. That wilderness outside the roads is dangerous. If enemy has a red skull over it's head? RUN!

You can also regenerate health when meditating (in easy and normal difficulties), so after a fight just meditate and hour and your vitality is full again. There is "Sun And Stars" ability which slowly regenerates health during daylight and outside of combat. Can be handy in lower levels, but not necessary.

Use steel sword to enemies with red health bar and silver for monsters with silvery health bar. Always use Quen! That helps your surviving a lot. I mean, really lot.

Buying armors or swords isn't necessary, but fixing is. When you keep looting everything, you'll eventually get repair kits for armors and weapons that you can use from your inventory. I'd advise to save those for places where you can't fix your stuff other ways, and generally use the smiths always as you see one. You should find decent enough equipment while doing quests near your own level. Witcher equipment are the best and you'll eventually find those while playing the game.

You are going to be poor at the beginning. Selling books to book merchant, weapons to blacksmith, armors to armorers etc will help you earn a bit more. You'll gather some coins while looting and exploring. Once you get to see Vivaldi at this bank, you can change those coins to usable money. Also contracts give you money.

If you want to save money, collect every herb on the road while traveling around. It makes alchemy crafting much cheaper. You can also sell the most common herbs to herbalists for money. (Always keep at least 10 though)

IMPORTANT! You have multiple save slots even when playing with console. Use those! Don't never use all saves for one quest only. Always keep the way back if something goes wrong and you can't complete your current quest for some reason (bug, too strong enemy...). This game is massive and it will take a long time to complete, so always keep some random saves from earlier points. Don't trust autosaves only, make proper saves here and there.

 

[Gator_Country]

Few beginner tips:

Loot everything. You can loot houses for food if guards don't see you, or you can hunt animals for food. Use Igni to burn beehives and then pick up the honeycomb from the ground. No need to buy food. Avoid ? marks on the map at first (although you can explore all of them in White Orchard), or you will be running away a lot. You have plenty of time to clear those when you are at level 10-15 or higher. You will be running away from strong monsters anyways, so don't feel bad about it. That wilderness outside the roads is dangerous. If enemy has a red skull over it's head? RUN!

You can also regenerate health when meditating (in easy and normal difficulties), so after a fight just meditate and hour and your vitality is full again. There is "Sun And Stars" ability which slowly regenerates health during daylight and outside of combat. Can be handy in lower levels, but not necessary.

Use steel sword to enemies with red health bar and silver for monsters with silvery health bar. Always use Quen! That helps your surviving a lot. I mean, really lot.

Buying armors or swords isn't necessary, but fixing is. When you keep looting everything, you'll eventually get repair kits for armors and weapons that you can use from your inventory. I'd advise to save those for places where you can't fix your stuff other ways, and generally use the smiths always as you see one. You should find decent enough equipment while doing quests near your own level. Witcher equipment are the best and you'll eventually find those while playing the game.

You are going to be poor at the beginning. Selling books to book merchant, weapons to blacksmith, armors to armorers etc will help you earn a bit more. You'll gather some coins while looting and exploring. Once you get to see Vivaldi at this bank, you can change those coins to usable money. Also contracts give you money.

If you want to save money, collect every herb on the road while traveling around. It makes alchemy crafting much cheaper. You can also sell the most common herbs to herbalists for money. (Always keep at least 10 though)

IMPORTANT! You have multiple save slots even when playing with console. Use those! Don't never use all saves for one quest only. Always keep the way back if something goes wrong and you can't complete your current quest for some reason (bug, too strong enemy...). This game is massive and it will take a long time to complete, so always keep some random saves from earlier points. Don't trust autosaves only, make proper saves here and there.

All excellent pointers. One thing I would add is to take the time to explore all of the question mark locations in White Orchard, the starting area. Some of the fights you get will be challenging, but you won't find anything impossible to complete at your current low level.

You'll get, among a bunch of loot and some money, diagrams for really good early game swords. Even better, you'll discover a lot of Places of Power, which give you character points to spend on your skills the first time you draw from them. If you visit all White Orchard locations, you'll be at or very near Level 4 by the time you start the real game, and in pretty good shape to face it as long as you're careful and don't get into situations where you're in totally over your head.

Definitely get into the habit of looting everything you can and hauling it back to merchants to sell. Make sure you keep at least a few of the crafting materials you find in your inventory though. When you get to the late game and into the DLCs, good gear starts getting insanely expensive to craft, especially if you have to buy the materials for it - having the materials for it on hand will save you a lot of money.

And again, to reiterate, save your game often! I like to save before every battle and at critical quest points. You're going to encounter some battle where you're going to get your butt handed to you at some point, and your only choice will be to skip it and come back later at a higher level. It's only a question of "when", not "if." You don't want to run into that only to have your last save before it three or four (or more) hours of playing time back. And on some of the quests, you'll probably want to replay them with different dialog/action choices just to see how they turn out.

Above all else, though, have fun!

 

[Tuska5]

Okay, so I will save the gane often, but how can I skip mission?
However, if I get diagrams of swords, how do I craft them make them? To use them how do I know that I prepare to the next quest or act? I dont know how my inventory should look, what food what gear and when, how to train my abilities I dont know how to train them. And near White Orchard there are places of power or only one? Where can I find more and how can I get more points for abilities and mutagns and everything?
And about crafting how do I make crafting materials or find, and how I increase my crafting levels? How I can make money for crafting or for buying gear? Its confusing I should buy or wait for diagram to craft to get swords for my level which will be good enough to the quests?
Did you used guides or wikis to play this game? I would like to look for guides.
By the way, how do you quote comments here? If Im using my phone?
Thanks!!!

 

[Sunsibar]

If you are using phone, try turning it sideways and there should be a "Quote" option in lower right corner of the posts.

You can craft weapons and armors in blacksmiths and armorers (available in villages and bigger cities) once you have found any diagrams. I think I never crafted anything else than Witcher gear, I just used what I could find while traveling. Don't worry about your inventory too much. Equip strongest armors and weapons you have/get and sell all the rest (you can't sell important quest items, so don't worry about that). At least this is what I did. If you want to save something because it looks pretty or it has some other value to you, you can stash it into those green chests visible on the map. One is at the inn in White Orchard. You can find the same stashed items from any chest in any map.

EDIT: Once you craft some witcher gear, don't sell those! You can upgrade them later and you need the earlier version for doing that.

Armorers and blacksmiths only have crafting levels. Different smiths have different levels. Amateur is lowest level, then it gets up to journeyman, master and grand master. Grand master can craft everything, while amateur can only craft amateur level stuff.

There are several places of powers in White Orchard. You can pretty safely explore all ? marks on that map and you should find them without problems.

What abilities you should choose, is pretty impossible to say. Do you want to play with bombs and fire? Or do you prefer swords? Maybe a mixture of magic and swords? Do you prefer heavy gear and strong attacks or would you like to be light and fast? Developing Quen skill a bit is good if you need protection. Developing Axii skill works if you want to persuade some enemies without swords. There are four kinds of skills: red for combat, blue for signs, green for alchemy and yellow for general. Just check them up and see what fits best to your style. Note that once you spend the ability point to activate skill, you then have to move it to your skill tree, so that you can use it. There is also a "potion of clearance" which costs some money, but it resets your skill points if you want to change something later.

You can get crafting materials from looting (you can also buy it, but most of it can be found while exploring) and mutagens from monsters. Ability points are gained through level ups and finding places of powers. Some can be obtained when eating few late game items.

Just relax and play your game You'll have plenty of time to get to know this game. If some quests are too tough for you at the beginning, just load your earlier save and do something else first. Then return later. Every one of us has been running away from too strong monsters at some point and returned back later. I'll see if I can find some useful threads for you to read.

 

[Sunsibar]

Something about ability points in general: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/foru.../the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/70312-ability-points
Character builds: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/foru...-builds-ability-points-how-to-kick-ass-thread

Please be noted that some things have been changed (like character page which looks a bit different now), but basic idea should still be the same.

 

[Tuska5]

If you are using phone, try turning it sideways and there should be a "Quote" option in lower right corner of the posts.

You can craft weapons and armors in blacksmiths and armorers (available in villages and bigger cities) once you have found any diagrams. I think I never crafted anything else than Witcher gear, I just used what I could find while traveling. Don't worry about your inventory too much. Equip strongest armors and weapons you have/get and sell all the rest (you can't sell important quest items, so don't worry about that). At least this is what I did. If you want to save something because it looks pretty or it has some other value to you, you can stash it into those green chests visible on the map. One is at the inn in White Orchard. You can find the same stashed items from any chest in any map.

EDIT: Once you craft some witcher gear, don't sell those! You can upgrade them later and you need the earlier version for doing that.

Armorers and blacksmiths only have crafting levels. Different smiths have different levels. Amateur is lowest level, then it gets up to journeyman, master and grand master. Grand master can craft everything, while amateur can only craft amateur level stuff.

There are several places of powers in White Orchard. You can pretty safely explore all ? marks on that map and you should find them without problems.

What abilities you should choose, is pretty impossible to say. Do you want to play with bombs and fire? Or do you prefer swords? Maybe a mixture of magic and swords? Do you prefer heavy gear and strong attacks or would you like to be light and fast? Developing Quen skill a bit is good if you need protection. Developing Axii skill works if you want to persuade some enemies without swords. There are four kinds of skills: red for combat, blue for signs, green for alchemy and yellow for general. Just check them up and see what fits best to your style. Note that once you spend the ability point to activate skill, you then have to move it to your skill tree, so that you can use it. There is also a "potion of clearance" which costs some money, but it resets your skill points if you want to change something later.

You can get crafting materials from looting (you can also buy it, but most of it can be found while exploring) and mutagens from monsters. Ability points are gained through level ups and finding places of powers. Some can be obtained when eating few late game items.

Just relax and play your game You'll have plenty of time to get to know this game. If some quests are too tough for you at the beginning, just load your earlier save and do something else first. Then return later. Every one of us has been running away from too strong monsters at some point and returned back later. I'll see if I can find some useful threads for you to read.

Thank you for your help!
So I just now come back to White Orchard and I keep exploring and do all the quests and discover every ? mark.
It feels like I'm learning the game and everything is easy even if I forget to use the right sign or something like that while in combat.
So, how can I know when I have Witcher Gear and what is the difference between Master item and Magic item? I just wearing the best armour and weapon I can and everything else just selling. About junk, I can sell only to merchants and not to armor or weapon smiths? How do I get weapon Gear? I don't selling crafting materials because I'm sure I will need them.
How do I make more inventory space? I mean how do I get more kilograms to take with me? How do I upgrade Roach saddle?
Now I don't using potions/oils or food, but when I will return to Velen and main quests, I'm sure that I will need those, so how do I craft potions and which potions should I have or gear, or even food to take with me? The bosses in this game seems very hard and taking time to kill because every little hit seems that it doesn't do much to their life points.
And about Grindstone or Armour Tables, when I use them its saying "Items enhanced", what does it mean?
And can I get repair kits more efficient than only 15% repair?
Thanks for helping me!!!

 

[Sunsibar]

It feels like I'm learning the game and everything is easy even if I forget to use the right sign or something like that while in combat.
So, how can I know when I have Witcher Gear and what is the difference between Master item and Magic item?
About junk, I can sell only to merchants and not to armor or weapon smiths? How do I get weapon Gear?
How do I make more inventory space? How do I upgrade Roach saddle?
Now I don't using potions/oils or food, but when I will return to Velen and main quests, I'm sure that I will need those, so how do I craft potions and which potions should I have or gear, or even food to take with me?
The bosses in this game seems very hard and taking time to kill because every little hit seems that it doesn't do much to their life points.
And about Grindstone or Armour Tables, when I use them its saying "Items enhanced", what does it mean?
And can I get repair kits more efficient than only 15% repair?

If you are playing with easy difficulty, it's not that terrible if you make some mistakes I started with easy, because I wanted to enjoy the story rather than fighting. I also played with hardest difficulty, but that was my fourth playthrough when I already knew how things work.

You get witcher armors and weapons once you find the diagrams first, then you need to craft it. You may find those diagrams randomly while exploring, or buy maps from blacksmiths and armorers and trigger the quest that way. Every witcher weapon/armor has always Viper/Griffin/Feline/Wolf/Ursine school on it's name. Those are leveled like "Griffin steel sword" (basic version), "enchanted Griffin steel sword", "superior Griffin steel sword", "master crafted Griffin steel sword" or "grandmaster Griffin steel sword" (best version). Once you have crafted something "witchery", it has a greenish background in your inventory.

I never payed any attention to "magical", "master" or "relic" mentions in my inventory items, so I can't tell more about that. I just checked the very basic damage and armor stats.

Merchants usually buy all kinds of stuff. Herbalists, armorers etc mostly only things they sell themselves.

Not quite sure what you mean with weapon gear?

You can get better saddlebags (more inventory space) by winning horse races, or you can buy those from random places. Once you get better horse gear, just change it in your inventory like you do with your own armors and weapons. There are own lots for horse stuff.

For potions, you also need to find recipes first. You can buy those from herbalists, but you'll also get them if you just keep looting, so no need to spend money on that if you don't want to. Once you find recipes, check the alchemy page from your ingame menu. If you have required ingredients, you can make potions/bombs/decotions etc. Once gain, keep looting everything to get ingredients You can only have few potions per sort at a time, but those are automatically restored to full when you meditate and you have strong alcohol in your inventory (keep looting to get this for free). Once you have made potions/bombs etc, those can be found from your inventory and it stays there for the rest of the game (doesn't weight anything). If you use all your potions, it just shows 0 until you meditate and it gets back to full stock.

Grindstones and armorer tables raises (enchants) your armor/weapon stats for a while. So always use it if you see one. Specially just before the boss fights if you are having troubles with beating them. And remember to use the right sword (this was very confusing to me when I started with Witcher 2). Silver for monsters and steel for humans/animals

You'll eventually get better repair kits, once you progress with the story and get more levels. And once you level up and get better armors and weapons, those won't need fixing that often. Always remember to repair your gear at smiths/armorers when you are passing by. Save those repair kits for emergencies when they are not around.

 

[Tuska5]

If you are playing with easy difficulty, it's not that terrible if you make some mistakes I started with easy, because I wanted to enjoy the story rather than fighting. I also played with hardest difficulty, but that was my fourth playthrough when I already knew how things work.

You get witcher armors and weapons once you find the diagrams first, then you need to craft it. You may find those diagrams randomly while exploring, or buy maps from blacksmiths and armorers and trigger the quest that way. Every witcher weapon/armor has always Viper/Griffin/Feline/Wolf/Ursine school on it's name. Those are leveled like "Griffin steel sword" (basic version), "enchanted Griffin steel sword", "superior Griffin steel sword", "master crafted Griffin steel sword" or "grandmaster Griffin steel sword" (best version). Once you have crafted something "witchery", it has a greenish background in your inventory.

I never payed any attention to "magical", "master" or "relic" mentions in my inventory items, so I can't tell more about that. I just checked the very basic damage and armor stats.

Merchants usually buy all kinds of stuff. Herbalists, armorers etc mostly only things they sell themselves.

Not quite sure what you mean with weapon gear?

You can get better saddlebags (more inventory space) by winning horse races, or you can buy those from random places. Once you get better horse gear, just change it in your inventory like you do with your own armors and weapons. There are own lots for horse stuff.

For potions, you also need to find recipes first. You can buy those from herbalists, but you'll also get them if you just keep looting, so no need to spend money on that if you don't want to. Once you find recipes, check the alchemy page from your ingame menu. If you have required ingredients, you can make potions/bombs/decotions etc. Once gain, keep looting everything to get ingredients You can only have few potions per sort at a time, but those are automatically restored to full when you meditate and you have strong alcohol in your inventory (keep looting to get this for free). Once you have made potions/bombs etc, those can be found from your inventory and it stays there for the rest of the game (doesn't weight anything). If you use all your potions, it just shows 0 until you meditate and it gets back to full stock.

Grindstones and armorer tables raises (enchants) your armor/weapon stats for a while. So always use it if you see one. Specially just before the boss fights if you are having troubles with beating them. And remember to use the right sword (this was very confusing to me when I started with Witcher 2). Silver for monsters and steel for humans/animals

You'll eventually get better repair kits, once you progress with the story and get more levels. And once you level up and get better armors and weapons, those won't need fixing that often. Always remember to repair your gear at smiths/armorers when you are passing by. Save those repair kits for emergencies when they are not around.

So how can I be sure I will get diagrams of Witcher Gear? and Witcher Gear is one set or there are many sets that you can wear and upgrade?
And when I have ingredients to any potion and diagram just craft it and it will be in inventory for ever? just mediate? but craft all the potions and everything when I have the materials just craft it? Or there are recommendation which to make first? Or where do I find all diagrams I need? For witcher gear and etc?
Where do I find horse races? And what about romance? how can I be sure I make the conversation right?

 

[Sunsibar]

Here are few guides for you to check. Read at own risk, may include spoilers.
Witcher gear guide
Missable sidequests (includes some errors?, read the comments)
Work in progress guide
Gwent card guide (If you want to collect them all, pay attention to this guide from the beginning, some are missable)
Hidden stuff and secrets (Read at your own risk, may heavily spoil the fun of finding something special)

Short and spoiler free romance guide: If you want to romance someone, help her when she gives you quests. Be nice to her. Tell her that you love her when you get the chance. If you don't want to romance someone, don't tell her that you love her! You can also help them even if you don't want romance, but just don't tell that you love her.

Yes, once you make potions/bombs or decotions first time, it automatically goes to your inventory and stays there even if you use it all. It just shows 0 and you can't use it again until you meditate. I just crafted everything I could in random order. If you don't play in Death March or Broken Bones difficulty, you'll survive even without potions.
Alchemy guide

Don't think too much about what you should do in this game. If you read too much guides, it takes the focus off from the game itself. At least this is how it works for me. I always miss my first playthrough where I didn't know what to expect. Yes, I missed something here and there (after 6 games I still haven't found everything), made mistakes with some quests, got failed quests and ended up bugging some, but it was part of the original and unique experience.

 

[Tuska5]

Here are few guides for you to check. Read at own risk, may include spoilers.
Witcher gear guide
Missable sidequests (includes some errors?, read the comments)
Work in progress guide
Gwent card guide (If you want to collect them all, pay attention to this guide from the beginning, some are missable)
Hidden stuff and secrets (Read at your own risk, may heavily spoil the fun of finding something special)

Short and spoiler free romance guide: If you want to romance someone, help her when she gives you quests. Be nice to her. Tell her that you love her when you get the chance. If you don't want to romance someone, don't tell her that you love her! You can also help them even if you don't want romance, but just don't tell that you love her.

Yes, once you make potions/bombs or decotions first time, it automatically goes to your inventory and stays there even if you use it all. It just shows 0 and you can't use it again until you meditate. I just crafted everything I could in random order. If you don't play in Death March or Broken Bones difficulty, you'll survive even without potions.
Alchemy guide

Don't think too much about what you should do in this game. If you read too much guides, it takes the focus off from the game itself. At least this is how it works for me. I always miss my first playthrough where I didn't know what to expect. Yes, I missed something here and there (after 6 games I still haven't found everything), made mistakes with some quests, got failed quests and ended up bugging some, but it was part of the original and unique experience.

Yeah you right I am having fun while exploring without guides but I can't like that I have weird character that I have to know everything, especially when you saying that there are itmes/cards that are missables. Furthermore, I don't have much time to play on PS4, I'm in the army and get home for a weekend after couple of weeks, so I prefer to learn a bit more about everything and when playing to know where should I go first or what to focus on.
I finished exploring White Orchard, although I get to "Spoils from the War" question mark and it was under water gurded by Drowners and I just found one barrel with loot there, don't know if I loot everything there. In addition, I find Witcher Gear, diagrams for Viper steel and silver swords,and serpatine I think or something like that, but I think I can craft swords that strongest than the Witcher Gear, so what should I do? what to craft? and what about armour? I had to find an armour of witcher gear at white orchard? And if I sold my Kaer Morhan armour?
About Witcher Gear, if I want to focus on light build, just make sure to uprdage and craft for getting the light armour only? you have recommendation about gears and swords? If I want to play light and fast. Or if another build is better?
Thanks!

 

[Sunsibar]

I find Witcher Gear, diagrams for Viper steel and silver swords,and serpatine I think or something like that, but I think I can craft swords that strongest than the Witcher Gear, so what should I do? what to craft? and what about armour? I had to find an armour of witcher gear at white orchard? And if I sold my Kaer Morhan armour?
About Witcher Gear, if I want to focus on light build, just make sure to uprdage and craft for getting the light armour only? you have recommendation about gears and swords? If I want to play light and fast. Or if another build is better?

(Thread title edited a bit for clarification)

I mostly played light and fast myself. I crafted those Viper swords as soon as I could, because those were the best swords to me at the beginning. There is no Viper armor in White Orchard, so I used what ever armor I could find. One option is to buy Temerian armor set, if you downloaded that free DLC. It gives you some protection against monsters, but it's not "a must have" if you don't want to use your money on that. Griffin set is available first, but it requires you to be level 11 before you can use it. Although you can find the diagrams earlier. It's medium armor, but it doesn't slow you that much yet. Feline armor was my all time favorite because it's light, but you can only start to use it at level 17.

Here's what I did: Once I crafted my first Griffin set (swords and armor) at lvl 11, I only used Witcher gear ever since. Yes, there are moments that some swords or armors seem to be better after that, but any Witcher gear offers you an EXP bonus (more exp = faster leveling = faster ability points = faster skills) and special protection against monsters. When I got to lvl 17 I crafted Feline set and put my Griffin set into stash for possible future use. Then it's up to you, if you want to swap between Griffin and Feline when you have enough levels for upgraded versions, or stick in Feline set and upgrade only that. If you want to swap sets, just get the previous one from your stash, upgrade it and put the other one in there. You don't need to craft other Witcher armors if you don't want to, but you can still collect the diagrams if you want to complete those quests away from your quest log (once those appear in there).

You can do just fine without your Kaer Morhen armor if you sold it. I accidentally did that too in my first playthrough

Heavy armor is mostly for those who want to focus on sword fighting and raw power, instead of speed and signs. Armor looks cool though, but I used it only once because I mostly built sword/sign hybrids myself. Medium armor (Griffin or Wolf) goes for everybody.

 

[Tuska5]

(Thread title edited a bit for clarification)

I mostly played light and fast myself. I crafted those Viper swords as soon as I could, because those were the best swords to me at the beginning. There is no Viper armor in White Orchard, so I used what ever armor I could find. One option is to buy Temerian armor set, if you downloaded that free DLC. It gives you some protection against monsters, but it's not "a must have" if you don't want to use your money on that. Griffin set is available first, but it requires you to be level 11 before you can use it. Although you can find the diagrams earlier. It's medium armor, but it doesn't slow you that much yet. Feline armor was my all time favorite because it's light, but you can only start to use it at level 17.

Here's what I did: Once I crafted my first Griffin set (swords and armor) at lvl 11, I only used Witcher gear ever since. Yes, there are moments that some swords or armors seem to be better after that, but any Witcher gear offers you an EXP bonus (more exp = faster leveling = faster ability points = faster skills) and special protection against monsters. When I got to lvl 17 I crafted Feline set and put my Griffin set into stash for possible future use. Then it's up to you, if you want to swap between Griffin and Feline when you have enough levels for upgraded versions, or stick in Feline set and upgrade only that. If you want to swap sets, just get the previous one from your stash, upgrade it and put the other one in there. You don't need to craft other Witcher armors if you don't want to, but you can still collect the diagrams if you want to complete those quests away from your quest log (once those appear in there).

You can do just fine without your Kaer Morhen armor if you sold it. I accidentally did that too in my first playthrough

Heavy armor is mostly for those who want to focus on sword fighting and raw power, instead of speed and signs. Armor looks cool though, but I used it only once because I mostly built sword/sign hybrids myself. Medium armor (Griffin or Wolf) goes for everybody.

Okay so I think I'll go with the Viper, than at level 11 I'll go for Griffin, and in level 17 I will go with the Feline, and I think I will use Feline or Griffin I will see what I like the most. I like light and fast I played Dark Souls before (long time ago ) so I like this type of play.
The Griffin armour is weak than the Feline? or all the Witcher Gear should be the "same" level but tiny changes? I mean if I prefer to use medium armour ( Griffin - Level 11) instead of the light armour (Feline - Level 17) it is weaker? or each witcher gear has his own advantage and disadvantage? About skill points, for now I use all the points on combat, the red tree, it seems good for now, later maybe I use on signs. About Alchemy, I don't know if it worth it..

 

[Sunsibar]

Okay so I think I'll go with the Viper, than at level 11 I'll go for Griffin, and in level 17 I will go with the Feline, and I think I will use Feline or Griffin I will see what I like the most. I like light and fast I played Dark Souls before (long time ago ) so I like this type of play.
The Griffin armour is weak than the Feline? or all the Witcher Gear should be the "same" level but tiny changes? I mean if I prefer to use medium armour ( Griffin - Level 11) instead of the light armour (Feline - Level 17) it is weaker? or each witcher gear has his own advantage and disadvantage? About skill points, for now I use all the points on combat, the red tree, it seems good for now, later maybe I use on signs. About Alchemy, I don't know if it worth it..

Basically light armor gives you least protection, but it allows you to move faster and doesn't cost that much stamina. Heavy armor gives you the most protection, but slows you down and costs more stamina. Medium is somewhere in between. I don't remember every armor stat that well, but you can compare those in that Witcher gear guide I linked before. I didn't notice that much difference in stamina cost, so you can also try to use Ursine set if you are going to focus on red skills instead of blue ones or hybrid. Few good signs to use no matter what you play, are Quen (for protection in combat) and Axii (for dialogues, if you want to talk yourself out of trouble). I didn't use that much alchemy skills, but there are also few good ones. Maybe those are more of an mid - late game skills for you. I believe that alchemy build is the most challenging type to use in this game.

I'm not a combat expert, so this is only my average opinion Check the gear guide, check the skills you want from the skill tree and then think what armor suits you the best (for protection and other stats).

 

[Tuska5]

Basically light armor gives you least protection, but it allows you to move faster and doesn't cost that much stamina. Heavy armor gives you the most protection, but slows you down and costs more stamina. Medium is somewhere in between. I don't remember every armor stat that well, but you can compare those in that Witcher gear guide I linked before. I didn't notice that much difference in stamina cost, so you can also try to use Ursine set if you are going to focus on red skills instead of blue ones or hybrid. Few good signs to use no matter what you play, are Quen (for protection in combat) and Axii (for dialogues, if you want to talk yourself out of trouble). I didn't use that much alchemy skills, but there are also few good ones. Maybe those are more of an mid - late game skills for you. I believe that alchemy build is the most challenging type to use in this game.

I'm not a combat expert, so this is only my average opinion Check the gear guide, check the skills you want from the skill tree and then think what armor suits you the best (for protection and other stats).

About Witcher Gear, I just find it in the game? I didn't understand how it works, I need just to explore every question mark in the same area/map/game to find all diagrams to Witcher Gear? or this is something I need to find "by mistake" in some hidden cave or something? Because I'm level 6 and finished Wandering in the Dark and I sw that after this quest with an item I get from this quest I can explore some cave that contains Feline Armour diagrams..
However, I jsut doing the Shrieker contract, and its kinda hard to kill him I can't finish this contract.