I also seldomly used signs in TW1. I thought they were pretty underpowered there even when upgraded, and you could win each battle without them.
As for TW2, I loved EVERY sign (well except Axii which I only found out half way through my first playthrough that I have to HOLD IT DOWN to cause an effect)
It is nice to create variety, deal differently with threats and to keep the fighting interesting, though Quen was my go-to power first an foremost.
I gracefully combined the mutagen-boosting effects of the alchemy skill "impregnation" with the damage and vitality boni of the swordsmanship tree in combination with the sign intensity boni and vigor boni of the magic tree. Was pretty powerful. Quen protection, sword damage boosted by potions and oils and short and fast sign attacks and traps when needed. I was a hybrid and I LOVED it.
As for TW2, I loved EVERY sign (well except Axii which I only found out half way through my first playthrough that I have to HOLD IT DOWN to cause an effect)
It is nice to create variety, deal differently with threats and to keep the fighting interesting, though Quen was my go-to power first an foremost.
I gracefully combined the mutagen-boosting effects of the alchemy skill "impregnation" with the damage and vitality boni of the swordsmanship tree in combination with the sign intensity boni and vigor boni of the magic tree. Was pretty powerful. Quen protection, sword damage boosted by potions and oils and short and fast sign attacks and traps when needed. I was a hybrid and I LOVED it.
quen was only to drink potions and useless in tw1
I neither used sign a lot of times, but when I've used was Igni
yrden was extremely weak in the witcher 1
In the second game quen got really overpowered and aard as second
I didn't mastered well axii in both games
for me quen has so overpower, but the battle was so static that sometimes quen was useful to don't die in a dumb way
I also hope they nerf backstabb lol
I found Aard and Igni to be the only useful signs in TW1.
In TW2, I get mileage out of all the signs, mostly for crowd control. Blasting soldiers off the ramparts. Setting wraiths against each other. Causing traffic jams then throwing a bomb into the queue.
Aard is really fun on the one good escort quest, "She's No Early Bird". Vesna Hood is pretty handy with a dagger. I stun 'em, you stick 'em.
In TW2, I get mileage out of all the signs, mostly for crowd control. Blasting soldiers off the ramparts. Setting wraiths against each other. Causing traffic jams then throwing a bomb into the queue.
Did anyone see the purpose to the Yrden trip wire upgrade? Since it disappears after the first enemy hits it, seems useless to me. The enemies run straight into your single traps anyway. The sign that needs the most work is Axii. Even upgraded, Axii is far too little reward for the risk.
That is 'just' some flashy PhysX thing.By dynamic I mean falling stuff affecting monsters / bandits etc. in a realistic (and ofc not scripted) way.
Hehe, I see what you mean, but is it 'just' that though? It's from a trailer, so of course it's for show, but I don't think the 'stuff flying in every direction-mechanic' is just a PhysX thing, and not scripted either to be honest. I can't know for sure of course, but I don't think so. And look at that table. If a table and perhaps chairs react that way, why not a cart or a market stall? Why not something heavier? Hell, why not a rocks or a boulder on top of a ridge and other stuff? As I said, it looks dynamic enough.
This discussion got me thinking of destructibles. Allow me to quote Tomasz Gop from CDPR Spring conference 2011: "We have destructibles, yes." Good times. :happy:
It will be very interesting to see if there's some use of Signs in new gameplay footage.
You could win whole fights with Igni maxed out, came especially handy when fighting multiple foes. on my second playthrough I did a full mage Geralt focused on Igni and Aard and it worked well, though there was a difficulty spike at the beginning compared to a standard swordsman. If you plan to play again, give it a try - it's fun.
TW2 did a great job at balancing the skill trees compared to TW1- alchemy made hybrid builds work really well. There was a way to rape the game balance though. Full alchemy + swordfighting. I had with some sick hits, some over a 1000 on dark mode. The dragon even bugged out since I killed it in 3 hits before getting to the top of the tower. Please let me do it again in TW3!
It's not scripted for sure, I did not say that. But it doesn't change anything about the gameplay. Although making a mess with Aard will be fun as hell.
Aard in combo with maxed sword tree was fun.
Mass stun - then use multi finisher to kill them while dancing ;]
I was not a big fan of Igni - it has its uses but not as all out combat spell - was fun every now and then, but Aard + sword was my way of dealing with packs of enemies :victory:
Mass stun - then use multi finisher to kill them while dancing ;]
I was not a big fan of Igni - it has its uses but not as all out combat spell - was fun every now and then, but Aard + sword was my way of dealing with packs of enemies :victory:
CDPR What Has Changed About the Signs in Balance?
Back in the Witcher 1/2 the Signs were incredibly unbalanced. Witcher 1 Aard was undoubtedly the go to sign for 1v1 fights. Meanwhile, Igni pretty much was ridiculously overpowered once you invested talents into it. Yrden ended up useless, Quen wasn't that useful and Axii I never saw a use for either. Igni just out damaged them too much and hit way too many enemies. Meanwhile, Aard just set up instant death kills and knocked enemies down. Witcher 2 came along and improved the sign balance a little fortunately. Igni got severely nerfed, but unfortunately arguably too much so to the point where using it isn't worth it anymore. Meanwhile, Aard got incredibly overpowered by being able to hit like 3 people at once, knock them back and even set up instant death kills. Quen was too good too and pretty much was the main sign anyone used for boss fights since it allows you to take one hit for free. Yrden got a lot better in Witcher 2 and that was good. Unfortunately though, in the end it was ultimately that Axii was relatively useless and so was Igni. Quen was too much of the go to sign for boss fights and Aard was the main sign for fighting enemies. What has been addressed to adjust the balancing of signs in Witcher 3 CDPR?
Back in the Witcher 1/2 the Signs were incredibly unbalanced. Witcher 1 Aard was undoubtedly the go to sign for 1v1 fights. Meanwhile, Igni pretty much was ridiculously overpowered once you invested talents into it. Yrden ended up useless, Quen wasn't that useful and Axii I never saw a use for either. Igni just out damaged them too much and hit way too many enemies. Meanwhile, Aard just set up instant death kills and knocked enemies down. Witcher 2 came along and improved the sign balance a little fortunately. Igni got severely nerfed, but unfortunately arguably too much so to the point where using it isn't worth it anymore. Meanwhile, Aard got incredibly overpowered by being able to hit like 3 people at once, knock them back and even set up instant death kills. Quen was too good too and pretty much was the main sign anyone used for boss fights since it allows you to take one hit for free. Yrden got a lot better in Witcher 2 and that was good. Unfortunately though, in the end it was ultimately that Axii was relatively useless and so was Igni. Quen was too much of the go to sign for boss fights and Aard was the main sign for fighting enemies. What has been addressed to adjust the balancing of signs in Witcher 3 CDPR?
From the gameplay videos we seen it seams that igni is the most effective as the flame burst not only does quite some dmg, but also push your enemies back a bit.
Glad that they have found a better use for Axii.
Not sure if I like the new Yrden, the one from Griffin hunt video looked better imo.
Glad that they have found a better use for Axii.
Not sure if I like the new Yrden, the one from Griffin hunt video looked better imo.
Yeah, Yrden looked 100 times better in the XB1 Griffin hunt video.
The purple cones animation is to much and looks really cheese if you ask me
The other Yrden is probably still in there, the one in the new videos could be the secondary effect.
aard and igni looks really sexy in witcher 3...especially igni with the sparks being deviated by the wind...
even aard with the air blast...it's like being a freaking jedi
even aard with the air blast...it's like being a freaking jedi
This is pretty much how I approached signs in The Witcher 1:
Igni. Igni, Igni, Igni, Igni, Igni
I didn't enjoy the combat so I just cheesed as much as I could
In the Witcher 2 though, this is how I approached signs:
Igni is good at first for finishing single opponents or stunning them fast. Later on it manages to deal not only a decent amount of damage, BUT it can also hit groups of people. Depending on how much Vigor you had and what potions you were using, Igni could deal with a group of measely humans in maybe 2-3 casts? So it not only became a good damage dealing sign, but also a good way to crowd control.
Aard was also a good crowd control spell and useful for finishers. Also, Aard+Cliff=$$$$$$$. It's also a pretty good spell for individual fights.
Quen is overrated. People say that it's really the only sign to use, but I disagree. Cheesing a fight with Quen takes longer than using Geralt's entire arsenal and screws you over with no Vigor regen. Investing points into the Shocking abaility of Quen is very useful for stunning multiple enemies, but it doesn't deal much damage unless you have The Human Torch Quen ability from the swamp in Chapter 1. I like to use Quen when I know I'm going to be exposed and facing multiple enemies like in the Harpy Lair.
Yrden was the only spell that I wasn't too much of a fan of. I didn't use it that often because Axii did what Yrden did except better. It could trap multiple enemies and deal damage, but I wasn't concerned about either of those abilites also because of Axii. I think the most I used Yrden for was facing that one sorcerer, the kayran fight, and stopping enemies when I wanted to Axii.
Axii was like my special spell for special things. It was really satisfying to use and also really useful. Imagine facing a group of 4 human enemies with shields with the ability to Riposte and an upgraded Axii(Plus 50% Vitality and Damage, Ability to Enchant 3 people. Casting Axii on just one of them will distract 1 (possibly 2, but unlikely) of the enemies. That takes two enemies off of your plate already. Put down a Yrden spell, and enchant a second one. Boom 2 allies. Backstab the Yrden enemy to kill him. So now you have 2 allies killing other dudes for you and one guy is down. See the potential of Axii? It's like playing the game without putting in any effort.
This is one of the reasons why I'm excited for The Witcher 3. People complained about the combat in 2, but I fucking loved it. Gimme more pls.
New IGN Clip regarding signs
Ign released a new article + video regarding signs. Not very long, also I do not like the editing at all, but still here it is:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04...he-magic-of-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-ign-first
(Hopefully it's ok posting the video here in the discussion ... anything I did wrong, I'm sorry !!)
Ign released a new article + video regarding signs. Not very long, also I do not like the editing at all, but still here it is:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04...he-magic-of-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-ign-first
(Hopefully it's ok posting the video here in the discussion ... anything I did wrong, I'm sorry !!)