Here's the way the skill development works.
There are 4 groups of skills. Swordsmanship, Alchemy, Signs and Miscellaneous. The fifth group some folks were talking about is Mutagens.
As you level up the character, you unlock various skills. You can then assign them to one of the slots. Assigning a skill to a slot makes it active - you can activate and deactivate skills at will making custom builds to suit your current needs best. There are up to 12 slots (+ 4 for mutagens) which are being unlocked as you progress - mutagens modify skills making the skills stronger. To make mutagens even more effective, it's best to use the same type of mutagen and skills in one combination.
There are 4 groups of skills. Swordsmanship, Alchemy, Signs and Miscellaneous. The fifth group some folks were talking about is Mutagens.
As you level up the character, you unlock various skills. You can then assign them to one of the slots. Assigning a skill to a slot makes it active - you can activate and deactivate skills at will making custom builds to suit your current needs best. There are up to 12 slots (+ 4 for mutagens) which are being unlocked as you progress - mutagens modify skills making the skills stronger. To make mutagens even more effective, it's best to use the same type of mutagen and skills in one combination.
Thanks for the info! Will we be able to create presets so that we can quickly switch between them?
Thanks Marcin.
This sounds great. Good to know synergy is there. Congrats to the team.
When can we expect to learn more about the skill tree?
You do know that tomorrow's the trimester-before-release mark, right? Calls for celebration, a poem, new screenshot, a trailer maybe?
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We've talked about it but ultimately there will be no presets.
Do purchased but not activated skills have any use? Like +1 default effect when unslotted and +3 and a special effect(additional animations etc) when slotted?
At any moment? Even in the middle of combat? Or is it limited to meditation?
It only makes sense.
Well, that's actually my problem. I AM a "maximum efficiency type of guy". So I already see me spending a whole lot of time in the skills menu changing the active skillset every now and then just to get the maximum out of it. But I would prefer if I don't had to. It's easy to say "just don't do it" but psychology isn't that simple and usually game design should kind of guide players imo.
It's a very similar problem to the one I have with crafting and mining. I'm also one of these guys who collect everything in the world and who can't hardly pass an ore vein or flower without exloiting it or picking it up. And here again the issue is that it can get VERY tedious in the long run if you spent most (or at least a huge chunk) of your time with the game doing "pointless" busywork like collecting flowers (or, to stay on topic, maximizing the active skillset).
The underlying psychological problem is imo very similar: it's the unconscious fear to miss something, to haven't properly prepared your character for the upcoming challenges. So I pick up every flower as I probably maximize my active skillset much more often than objectively "needed" or even required. That's why I for example hate extensive crafting (and collecting) as in Dragon Age Inquisition and why I'm against that active skillset thing. It overcomplicates MY gamestyle and it leads me away from gameplay and immersion to do busywork and micromanagement instead of just let my play the "important" parts of the game while leading me through the world by clever (pre-defined) design.
@Marcin Momot
At the time we unlock 3/6/12 active skill slots, how much skills will we probably have unlocked by character progression each? What's the overall ratio between unlocked skills and active skills? And how big will the benefits of "maximized" active skills will probably be? Will the game be a lot harder or even almost unsolvable if we don't mess around with the active skillset every now and then?
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That's unfortunate, in the sense that there's really nothing that can be done about this because not everyone has your issue. The problem of resisting the fear that you've missed something isn't something everyone has; it's a "preference" or something similar I think.
I personally don't have that problem - if I bump into an enemy and my build isn't adjusted to maximum efficiency, I just see that as an additional challenge and won't bother adjusting the activated skills unless I'm in real danger of dying. It's the same as not having Insectoid Oil on your sword when you accidentally walk into an Endrega nest. Sure things will get harder, but it won't be impossible to kill the enemies. Same with potions - I find it highly unlikely that, given the open-world nature of the game, you will be able to predict exactly what enemy you'll encounter next so at times you won't have the right potions equipped. In the case of skills, you'll be able to swap them out if you wish but it is not necessary for survival (I assume so, because a maximum of 12 slots is quite small). It just makes things harder.
I'm afraid this clash of personal preference cannot be resolved in any way. There are as many supporters of this experimental design as there are detractors so yes, unless when the game releases this system is universally blasted and not appreciated by a majority of the community, it's a matter of personal taste. If you truly abhor this system, I'd suggest learning to ignore it in combat and possibly only use it during meditation (or similar cicumstances), ignore it completely, modding it out of the game, or not playing the game at all.
I really liked the skills in The Witcher 2, some trees more than others, but it added a lot of depth to the combat. The usage of signs really made fighting more interesting. You're able to use a lot more tactics other than just block and slash. I can't wait for The Witcher 3.
There are some details in the gamestar hand-on from the 26th january (very detailed and informative,http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/artikel/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt,49062,3082308,3.html#kampf-und-krampf) I haven't seen mentioned here:
Some of the sign upgrades are described:
Yrden-trap will do dmg and destroy arrows if upgraded.
Quen in it's basic form absorbs damage in the amount of 6% of Geralts vitaly. Upgraded it absorbs every hit until our stamina is consumed (probably one stamine is consumed with every hit, seems overpowered)
- in the miscellaneous skill tree there are talent's like "more vitaly" or "Geralt heals faster during the day"
- We will have 3 skill slots at the beginning (up to 12 at level 50, which seems to be the max level)
Some of the sign upgrades are described:
Yrden-trap will do dmg and destroy arrows if upgraded.
Quen in it's basic form absorbs damage in the amount of 6% of Geralts vitaly. Upgraded it absorbs every hit until our stamina is consumed (probably one stamine is consumed with every hit, seems overpowered)
- in the miscellaneous skill tree there are talent's like "more vitaly" or "Geralt heals faster during the day"
- We will have 3 skill slots at the beginning (up to 12 at level 50, which seems to be the max level)
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You can't get all the skills by the end right?
So this means I'll be spending an hour or more before starting the game figuring out the best build using the Prima Guide. Would have preferred if you could get all the skills by the end of it, as that would have made me explore it all without reading the guide.
But this is not a big deal. Excited for all these skills and how they'll keep the gameplay interesting throughout.
Even if you could, you wouldn't be able to use all of them at the same time. We should be able to get most of them otherwise 12 slot limit would be pointless.
I recall reading in one of the interviews that you can't learn all of the skills. Can't seem to find the interview. Be great if you can learn all of the skills in a single play through, even if it requires some extra grind work at the end. Once you have all, you can design an optimum build for different enemies, and decide on what skills work best in the 12 slots etc.
As i see it know, i don't think i'll be changing the skills for every different type of enemy i'll encounter, that really is a nuisance although i love customizing. I will go for a balanced build. I think i'll use medium armor type and use perks that will give speed and strength in the same amount.This will make it more challenging and maybe for a boss or two i'll change something.
I will most likely go for a general build to handle routine encounters, while custom builds I expect would be more for unique monster hunts and bosses.
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I agree with you, but monster hunts will be frequent and since Marcin said there will be no presets and we won't have our builds to change quickly, it'll be very boring to take one by one every slot and change it depending on the monster or boss we will face. in the beginning i'm sure it will be interesting and i'll definitely experiment with different skill but since there are 100+ hours i can't imagine doing that all my walkthrough. That's why the balanced or general build as you say it's the best choice imo.