Tips For New Players/Second Playthrough

[Horwath1]

@Horwath1 you can just craft a new one. The diagram is permanent, we can create as many as we want as long as we have the materials.

I need to find more diagrams then. I don't have a diagram for the starting armor or base griffon trousers. I have enhanced griffon trousers diagram but you need griffon trousers to craft them.

Same with the ursine sword. I had these things but I sold them somewhere.

To craft the Warriors jacket you need kaer morn armor which I believe is the starting armor. I sold that and can't find any more. So, no Warriors jacket for me. Unless I have the kaer morn armor.

 

[Smurfin]

Crafted armors and "standalone" armors are different, you won't find one that's supposed to come from crafting in loots. In your case yeah you might have missed the part 1. Read all your books/letters, you might have the location but haven't read it.

I forgot about Warrior jacket, it's probably like you said, and it's possibly just one exception. Haven't come across similar case with later armors from diagrams.

 

[shawn_kh]

Find the places of power early and get their skill points and invest them in Geralt instead of waiting until you are high enough of a level that the skill points are not a matter of life and death.
It will help you a lot especially at the beginning of the game.

 

[Goodmongo]

First off sell EVERYTHING but some monster parts. You really don't need it. All of that stuff can be bought. Anything in the junk section really is JUNK so sell it.

If I need components to craft stuff the blacksmith usually has it outside of monster parts. In my last game I had all kinds of crafting materials that I never needed or used. Also sell those trophy heads, especially the ones with a bonus that you don't need.

 

[Marajah]

F*ck reading! No seriously if I wanted to read i would have gone into a bookstore and bought a book

Im playing the game for a reason, it's because I wanted to play a game

This is really flawed logic...

 

[warbaby2]

13. Upgrade Delusion
For some cool Jedi mind tricks.

So much this... do that early, with your first points... you don't really need them for anything else anyways and delusion gives quite some extra XP down the line.

15 - Do the scavenger and treasure hunt in White Orchard

16 - Buy the DLC armor before leaving White Orchard, it's really good

17 - Play the heck out of Gwent opponents before they become inaccessible (like the Baron)

18 - Plan your skill build, buy a potion of respec with your first spare 1k crowns and keep it

19 - Do not buy the fake letter of save conduct, you have the option to get it for free from two quest chains

20 - Roam, roam, roam... there are some minor quests/events you only come across once, which are gone later

...I could think of more, but that's it for now.

 

[MacCrusher]

things to do on second play-thru:

-- Turn all of hud off, no Heroics by Numbers -- nada. Witcher Senses only, full immersion. You'll actually see the stuff your hitting on without all the techno-console bling. No help for the goofy chat bubble above the heads of all not-chattable npc, doh.

-- Never fast travel, unless to Skeligah. Extend your play time for several months -- try to make it to the first DLC expansion before completing final chapter.

-- Save as much of the main quest as possible for last -- use a mod to zero out 'quest exp' and increase 'kill exp'. You'll understand why if you are playing Death March difficulty -- More "build" oriented par Skill-Based gameplay.

-- Fight everything that is unnatural -- you're a witcher, do your job.

-- Try using a programmable gameboard if playing on PC, you can fix all the 'console-silliness' that the control scheme insinuates awkwardly into pc. (example: G13 + programmable mouse) Likened to the difference between a Mosher Pit and world class Ballet.

-- Keep mental notes all the things you 'do not like' about the game, small and large as there's a good chance of a modding community ahead. And CDPR may be listening to great ideas, for inclusion into future content. Many dislikes, bugs, or wonky mechanics may be improve-able, if REDkit releases. (many skyrim fans will likely port over some of TES's better improvements if REDkit is capable)

--Save manually before critical events, so you can explore various paths in the decision tree. Note where both choices are bad, ergo, not really a choice at all (example: Sile) -- likely mod fixable.

--Give solid feedback in the bug forums, and good suggestions in the modding forums,

--Don't forget to 'breath'. -- and brush your teeth.

 

[Lieste]

Be careful not to sell the starting armor. You need it to craft the Warriors jacket. Also don't sell the griffon armor or really any Witcher gear. You won't be able to upgrade because the crafting takes the base set and improves it. Be careful what you sell. In my first play through I have some armors and swords locked out because I can't remember where I sold them at and I haven't been able to find them again.

Kind of sucks. I'll get them on my second play through,

Oh ya, put the difficulty on at least broken bones and become familiar with the quen sign. If you get the quen sign to replenish health and have that sun thingy perk that regens health in the sun you won't have to worry about the meditating not filling your health.

You can sell Griffon/Ursine/Feline sets, if you don't mind starting again with crafting the base armour. Later the Wolf/Kaer Morhen armour should be craftable too.

 

[mbaker51591]

Play Gwent! PLAY GWENT! gwent Seriously play gwent.:huh:

Always visit all the innkeeper to buy gwent card and challenge everyone for gwent. White FROST will be stop by gwent.

White Orchards gwent cards are highly missable cards. Don't worry about crowns worry about.

 

[Domhnallaich]

F*ck reading! No seriously if I wanted to read i would have gone into a bookstore and bought a book

Im playing the game for a reason, it's because I wanted to play a game

Then you are not experiencing all of the game. It's an RPG full of lore, that's what RPGs are, and you are missing out by not immersing yourself in the world.

 

[Phinnway]

I already posted this in a modding thread, but I thought I would post it here too.

These are the mods I am looking at using for my second playthrough. A lot of these are popular so there is a strong chance you will like one of these too.

Disable Story Book and Intros: As the name implies
REASON: A must have mod if you're tired of listening to videos on the loading screen.


The Witcher 2 Input: Remaps controls to match The Witcher 2.
REASON: For those people who liked The Witcher 2's controls better than The Witcher 3. You no longer need to hold down [SHIFT] for strong attacks.


Project Destiny: Recolors the game to look like the E3 2014 version.
REASON: A "colder" "paler" version of The Witcher 3. Look exactly like the Sword Of Destiny trailer!


Fixed XP: All quests give full XP reward even when you're overleveled.
Better XP Curve: Reduces XP gain by 15% on top of the 20% reduction from Death March.
REASON: Now you can enjoy side-quests without worrying about being over leveled.


Wealthy Vendors: Increases the amount of coin merchants have in stock.
Weightless Crafting Mats: All crafting materials and food are weightless.
Improved Saddle Bags: Increases the capacity of saddle-bags.
Over 9,000! Weight Limit: Customizes Geralt's weight limit.
REASON: These mods will reduce the amount of time I spend managing my inventory. Geralt's default weight limit is 60 and the largest saddle bag is 100. I intend to set Geralt's weight limit to 100 and double the capacity of saddle-bags. The wealthy vendors mod means I only have to visit one merchant to sell all my loot.

 

[Lieste]

So much this... do that early, with your first points... you don't really need them for anything else anyways and delusion gives quite some extra XP down the line.

15 - Do the scavenger and treasure hunt in White Orchard

16 - Buy the DLC armor before leaving White Orchard, it's really good

17 - Play the heck out of Gwent opponents before they become inaccessible (like the Baron)

18 - Plan your skill build, buy a potion of respec with your first spare 1k crowns and keep it

19 - Do not buy the fake letter of save conduct, you have the option to get it for free from two quest chains

20 - Roam, roam, roam... there are some minor quests/events you only come across once, which are gone later

...I could think of more, but that's it for now.

Actually, if you have Delusion 1, then *do* buy the fake pass. At a discount, "just because". You'll get XP for skill use and for quest completion. No risk of the brother dying locking you out of this quest even if it is a 'passed' mission to defend the group of scavengers.

Don't bother if you can only get the discount from helping the brother (no Delusion Skill). He is too keen on dying young, and at lower levels or harder difficulty you can't keep on top of the whole group of Ghouls.

 

[mecha_fish]

tips from fish:

- walk everywhere (use ctrl to toggle)
- trot on Roach instead of canter/gallop
- dont use fast travel
- turn off the minimap (you can tell which way is north from the sun -- once you learn that, you'll be checking the map a lot less)
- get the free cam mod and a third party screengrabber, you gonna want it
- think about your fashion sense at least a little bit (my tip to let's players, christ)

some things i've been doing on this playthrough to manage difficulty/immersion:
- playing on death march
- must buy not loot crafting components unless they're valuable (like diamonds, silver etc.)
- dont pick up swords/armor unless gifted to you
- ive also told myself not to use any gear other than witcher gear
- turn off all HUD elements except for quest tasks ( this includes npc names and monster health bars 8) )
- play only two or three hours at a time -- i've found this second time round, i enjoy the game more taking it in snippets rather than marathonning it

 

[Phinnway]

some things i've been doing on this playthrough to manage difficulty:
- ive also told myself not to use any gear other than witcher gear

In my opinion these two are mutually exclusive. I'm beginning my second playthrough and I'm not using any Witcher armor because they make the game too easy. I mean, +50% damage from your armor? Come on...

you can tell which way is north from the sun -- once you learn that, you'll be checking the map a lot less)

Thanks! That's a huge help!

 

[Costa417]

Then you are not experiencing all of the game. It's an RPG full of lore, that's what RPGs are, and you are missing out by not immersing yourself in the world.

That's irrelevant. My point persist. If I wanted to read, i would have read a book

 

[cyberpunkforever]

F*ck reading! No seriously if I wanted to read i would have gone into a bookstore and bought a book

Im playing the game for a reason, it's because I wanted to play a game

if you read books, letters, maps, etc, you will find new quests to do and new places to explore

---------- Updated at 04:33 PM ----------

find as many recipes as you can, oils, potions, etc are really useful, you can enter new places, do more damage and don't need to repair your gear an sword so often

 

[Costa417]

if you read books, letters, maps, etc, you will find new quests to do and new places to explore

---------- Updated at 04:33 PM ----------

find as many recipes as you can, oils, potions, etc are really useful, you can enter new places, do more damage and don't need to repair your gear an sword so often

Looting and actually reading are 2 different thing mate

 

[Domhnallaich]

That's irrelevant. My point persist. If I wanted to read, i would have read a book

It's not irrelevant, you will miss parts of the game. So you are not fully playing the game.

 

[Costa417]

It's not irrelevant, you will miss parts of the game. So you are not fully playing the game.

Dude you are missing the point here. Maybe I will miss parts of the game, but it doesnt change the fact that that lore/info is presented to me as books, something I need to actually read to get to me.

And I dont want to read too much when I'm playing a game. When I want to know more lore when the game doesnt explain to me in gameplay or cutscenes, I go to the wiki or google that stuff. But not while I'm playing

 

[Domhnallaich]

Dude you are missing the point here. Maybe I will miss parts of the game, but it doesnt change the fact that that lore/info is presented to me as books, something I need to actually read to get to me.

And I dont want to read too much when I'm playing a game. When I want to know more lore when the game doesnt explain to me in gameplay or cutscenes, I go to the wiki or google that stuff. But not while I'm playing

It's up to you how you want to play the game I guess.