Advice/help needed,please.

[Deathmagnetic]

Advice/help needed,please.

Hi people.

I have started a normal new game from scratch. Currently up to family matters quest. I also plan to do NG +. Given the recent talk about some things being past level 100 in NG+,I have some concerns/questions. I only come back to the witcher 3 when Blood and wine was released,and patch 1.22 was available. I don't remember much about NG+.

In the normal NG I was thinking of just doing the story of the main game, HOS,then Blood and wine,without doing hardly any side quests. The reason being,I don't want to be too high a level when starting NG+...given the recent problems with level 100+ items etc.
1: Is this a wise idea? Or am I safe do do more side content? How much of a difference will it make?
2: If I just do the main stories will I miss out on things for NG+
3: Can I still find item and potion blueprints in NG+?
4: Should I just do the main game story and save HoS and B&W for NG+.
5: Should I save HoS until the end main game like B&W,or do when possible.

NG+ will probably be the main focus for me,which is why I'm asking these questions. I don't want to be overleveled for NG+,but at the same time don't want to miss out on too many things such as potions etc.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Take care.

 

[Rawls]

I think so long as you don't grind and over level you should be fine. I think if you aren't over level 50 when you finish the ng play through, you should be fine as far as getting equipment for ng+ ... but I could be wrong.

 

[Deathmagnetic]

I think so long as you don't grind and over level you should be fine. I think if you aren't over level 50 when you finish the ng play through, you should be fine as far as getting equipment for ng+ ... but I could be wrong.

Thanks for the quick reply,it's appreciated.

By grinding,do you mean killing everything in sight that's not really quest related? Do the quests double in level number when playing NG+? If I finished NG at level 45 say.would quests in NG+ start at level 90? How does this work?

 

[Rawls]

Do the quests double in level number when playing NG+? If I finished NG at level 45 say.would quests in NG+ start at level 90? How does this work?

The way it appears to work is whatever level you start ng+ on is equivalent to level 1 in ng. So if you start at level 51 in ng+ a level 20 quest in ng will not be a level 70 quest in ng+. At least that has been my impression thus far. I haven't looked into it in depth.

 

[mark5916]

It appears the base NG+ level is 30 or higher. So yes if you start at level 45, you will be over-leveled for the play-through,
but when starting a NG+ game you can select any difficulty level! (NG+ itself is not a difficulty setting.)

Recommended normal starting level for the expansions on NG+: At least lvl 64.

Also In Blood and Wine the level cap will be moved up to 100.

 

[Rawls]

It appears the base NG+ level is 30 or higher. So yes if you start at level 45, you will be over-leveled for the play-through,
but when starting a NG+ game you can select any difficulty level! (NG+ itself is not a difficulty setting.)

Hmmm... I just started a ng+ after completing B&W ng a bit ago. I started ng+ level 51. The Quest "Devil by the Well" is level 53. IIRC correctly it was originally level 3. So I think it is dependent on the player level now. But this is my first time through since B&W so I could be wrong. I do know that it is higher than level 30 for B&W though.

I'm unsure if there are different versions depending on if you have the expansions.

 

[Sunsibar]

When I played normal game and did absolutely everything that I could find, I was level 35 when main story was completed.

When I did kinda speed run and did basically only main quest (did only those side quests needed to Brothers In Arms) I was level 33 when main story was completed.

After NG+, when I had played both expansions and did kinda every quest there was, I was level 79.

You shouldn't have any problems with leveling if you just play the game normally without exp mods or obsessed grinding. You'll eventually end up with quite same levels anyways. Level 100 is max, but you need to work very hard and do a lots of special grinding (not just quests) to get to that point.

If you play expansions just after NG+, you miss some stuff that you can bring to NG+. Nothing major, but still something. Maybe it's a good suggestion, that you play your game, then expansions and start NG+ with harder difficulty.

 

[nfi42]

Hmmm... I just started a ng+ after completing B&W ng a bit ago. I started ng+ level 51. The Quest "Devil by the Well" is level 53. IIRC correctly it was originally level 3. So I think it is dependent on the player level now. But this is my first time through since B&W so I could be wrong. I do know that it is higher than level 30 for B&W though.

I'm unsure if there are different versions depending on if you have the expansions.

There are several threads on the support forum of players by whatever means starting NG+ at even level 70. Causes quests, enemies and items to be well over 100.

REDKatjia has posted that they had no problems with level cap starting ng+ at level 53.

 

[mark5916]

Hmmm... I just started a ng+ after completing B&W ng a bit ago. I started ng+ level 51. The Quest "Devil by the Well" is level 53. IIRC correctly it was originally level 3. So I think it is dependent on the player level now. But this is my first time through since B&W so I could be wrong. I do know that it is higher than level 30 for B&W though.

I'm unsure if there are different versions depending on if you have the expansions.

Normally, if you have already finished HoS and B&W you will be at a much higher level as the Lv30 minimum requirements for a new NG+ game-trough.

However if you haven't finished any of the DLCs on your first game-through (for whatever reason),
the suggested level for a NG+ is Lv.30 and greater.

According to CD Projekt Red’s Community Lead and Website Coordinator Marcin Momot:

Players who begin a New Game Plus with a level of 30 or higher character - will retain that level,
and gamers below that mark, will be boosted up to level 30 once they start the NG+ mode.

 

[Deathmagnetic]

When I played normal game and did absolutely everything that I could find, I was level 35 when main story was completed.

When I did kinda speed run and did basically only main quest (did only those side quests needed to Brothers In Arms) I was level 33 when main story was completed.

After NG+, when I had played both expansions and did kinda every quest there was, I was level 79.

You shouldn't have any problems with leveling if you just play the game normally without exp mods or obsessed grinding. You'll eventually end up with quite same levels anyways. Level 100 is max, but you need to work very hard and do a lots of special grinding (not just quests) to get to that point.

If you play expansions just after NG+, you miss some stuff that you can bring to NG+. Nothing major, but still something. Maybe it's a good suggestion, that you play your game, then expansions and start NG+ with harder difficulty.

So 2 levels difference in those two original playthroughs. That's not a massive difference to be honest. I'm guessing in those two NG playthroughs you didn't do HoS or B&W? Because you'd surely be a higher level than 33/35...right?
I do want to probably play both expansions in the normal playthrough,because I don't want to miss out on certain things. But I'm guessing i'll be around level 45-50 if i did both expansions in the NG playthrough.
If I miss things like oils and potions in the NG ,can these be found again in NG+?

@Rawls
"Devil by the well " is level 2 if I remember right. Also ,what does IIRC mean?

Thank you to everyone who replied,it's really appreciated.

 

[Rawls]

IIRC is "if I recall correctly."

 

[mark5916]

You can get the remaining oil recipes, but a lot of those are random.

Some of those are available after reaching a certain level.

--------

IIRC, that means: "If I Recall Correctly"

 

[Sunsibar]

I'm guessing in those two NG playthroughs you didn't do HoS or B&W? Because you'd surely be a higher level than 33/35...right?

If I miss things like oils and potions in the NG ,can these be found again in NG+?

Yeah, levels 33-35 was after main story, no expansions played at that point. Now I'm not absolutely sure if I played HoS before starting BAW, I guess I played it. (I have played so many different W3 rounds with different ways that those tend to get mixed....). BUT, if I was lvl 79 in NG+ after BAW without HoS in the middle, there is still no reason to worry about going over 100 levels.

I can't think of any way to reach level 100 by doing only quests. Even if you play every expansion and every quest. You really need to use cheats, mods or do lots of hours very boring grinding with monsters to get there. Several people in the forums have been asking how's it even possible to reach level 100


Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm 99% sure that you won't get any troubles with just doing every quest.

 

[Deathmagnetic]

Yeah,I'm not bothered about achieveing level 100...I'm not really a level grinder. It's mainly about getting around the right level for NG+ without it going bonkers on me.
If I did just the main story on my NG playthrough without the two expansions, I wouldn't need to worry about NG+ given the info you gave me. I'm just wondering about the added levels if I was to do the two expansions in my first playthrough.

I'm guessing it should be fine. I'll try both expansions in the first playthrough,and see where that takes me level-wise going into NG+. And I like to take some decent stuff with me into NG+.

Once again,thank you for the feedback.

 

[Lytha]

I did a NG with a sort of XP-optimized approach to the quest order (avoided having quests go grey as much as possible). I skipped the last ~50% of HoS quests after I had done all gwent in there; so that would be some additional levels if I had done it completely. In the end, after B+W, I had a level 52 Geralt. That was without XP grinding, except visiting 99.5% of the ??s of all maps, using Axii whenever available in dialogues, and killing everything that attacked me while traveling. No whoring around for more XP or monster hunting for the sake of more XP.

I then started a NG+ and noticed that NG+ is changed now (Everything is "Geralt's starting level + normal level in a NG"). Meaning, "Destination Skellige" would be 52+16 = 68. HoS "Evil's First Soft Touches" should be 52+32 = 64. Or "pretty typical B+W endgame foe" = 52+47 = 99.

So yes, with HoS in both the NG and the NG+, and with even more OCD concerning the order of quests to avoid wasting any XP, I suppose I would end up with a lvl 53-55 Geralt after NG, and that means in the worst case: "some part of last boss fight" = 55+50 = 105.

I think that this would be pretty much still doable.

Serious trouble should only happens if you really seriously grind XP in your NG, like non-stop whoring in the brothels for a few ingame days (you still get XP for the brothel encounters, right? I didn't even do that once in that NG), or if you use an "always full XP for your quests" mod.


=> Relax. You should be fine.

 

[Deathmagnetic]

It seems i'll be fine,especially since I ain't to bothered about some quests greying out. I really don't mind losing exp with certain quests being grey.

Your post has been helpful. Thank you.

 

[nfi42]

Serious trouble should only happens if you really seriously grind XP in your NG, like non-stop whoring in the brothels for a few ingame days (you still get XP for the brothel encounters, right? I didn't even do that once in that NG), or if you use an "always full XP for your quests" mod.


=> Relax. You should be fine.

iirc haven't been whoring for quite a few playthroughs, but last time i didn't receive XP.

 

[Lytha]

iirc haven't been whoring for quite a few playthroughs, but last time i didn't receive XP.

Yes, looks like that got patched out. At least for two of the young flowers of the Passiflora. (1st of them to just test it, the 2nd to check if it wasn't just a case of hidden XP popup. But nope, no XP at all.) Level 9 Geralt in NG.

Did people complain that TW3 "forced" them to peruse the brothels because of the XP? Hehehe.


Oh well. That would reduce the XP grinding possibilities to the mass-murder of monsters, beasts, bandits and witchhunters..