Character Build Will Not Unlock Past the First Set PS5 Next Gen

[xyon42]

I finally got around to playing The Witcher 3 after the Next Gen Update on my PS5. It's still wildly fun and yes, it seems more buggy than when I played it on PS4.

One particular issue I've run into is that my character build screen will not past what you have available when starting the game. This really determines what kind of play experience you will have in a particular playthrough.

What does work is the tree - what did unlock was the actual tree itself so I've been able to fully place abilities available in those places and the mutagens in their slots to compliment my limited options.

The big problem is that all the abilities will not unlock. I am currently level 31 and the abilities that should've unlocked at level 6 (and higher) have never unlocked. This kind of makes its own - unintended strategy - of a unique playthrough to find the best compliment with what's available.

My question is - Is this just on my end? I haven't found it listed anywhere as problems other people have experienced. Granted, I haven't done much more that surface level investigating. It seems like it would be a giant red flag if a lot of people was experiencing this issue.

I am at a loss on what to do except to keep playing with my limited options as I've checked everything on my end (PlayStation 5 updates / Game updates).

I thought at some point it might unlock as some things have changed regarding the character building screen. I am currently slogging through all the ocean question marks in Skellige something might come to my console or even the planned mod update by the time I eventually get through all of these. With console play - at least up to this point - I still can do only 3-4 of these before having to sail back to offload at the nearest blacksmith.

I hope someone here has had experience with this / or someone at CDProjekt Red sees this and can help with this issue. I'm not above the possibility that it is entirely my doing either. I know just enough to break something and not how to fix it later. ;-)

One other bug that is annoying is that the game will freeze / lock up with no other option but to restart my ps5. I don't control driver updates and this is the only game I've experienced this happening to on my PS5. Thank god for autosaves (most of the time anyway - this reminds me that I need to lower the times between autosaves when I get home from work. ;-) )

Thanks

Rob

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I finally got around to playing The Witcher 3 after the Next Gen Update on my PS5. It's still wildly fun and yes, it seems more buggy than when I played it on PS4.

One particular issue I've run into is that my character build screen will not unlock past what you have available when starting the game. This really determines what kind of play experience you will have in a particular playthrough.

What does work is the tree - what did unlock was the actual tree itself so I've been able to fully place abilities available in those places and the mutagens in their slots to compliment my limited options.

The big problem is that all the abilities will not unlock. I am currently level 31 and the abilities that should've unlocked at level 6 (and higher) have never unlocked. This kind of makes its own - unintended strategy - of a unique playthrough to find the best compliment with what's available.

My question is - Is this just on my end? I haven't found it listed anywhere as problems other people have experienced. Granted, I haven't done much more that surface level investigating. It seems like it would be a giant red flag if a lot of people was experiencing this issue.

I am at a loss on what to do except to keep playing with my limited options as I've checked everything on my end (PlayStation 5 updates / Game updates).

I thought at some point it might unlock as some things have changed regarding the character building screen. I am currently slogging through all the ocean question marks in Skellige something might come to my console or even the planned mod update by the time I eventually get through all of these. With console play - at least up to this point - I still can do only 3-4 of these before having to sail back to offload at the nearest blacksmith.

I hope someone here has had experience with this / or someone at CDProjekt Red sees this and can help with this issue. I'm not above the possibility that it is entirely my doing either. I know just enough to break something and not how to fix it later. ;-)

One other bug that is annoying is that the game will freeze / lock up with no other option but to restart my ps5. I don't control driver updates and this is the only game I've experienced this happening to on my PS5. Thank god for autosaves (most of the time anyway - this reminds me that I need to lower the times between autosaves when I get home from work. ;-) )

Thanks

Rob

Hi,
Just to be sure :
> You talk about the slots to insert mutagens?
Because skill/abilities aren't tie to levels, but the amount of points you invested in the class.
> It's a new playthrough, started on the next-gen update (4.0+) or an old playthrough started on an old-gen version, you continue?

First, if you didn't, try to clear the cache just in case. It often can help on console when encountering issues

Clear cache on PlayStation — Cyberpunk 2077 | Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

Welcome to CD PROJEKT RED Technical Support! Here you will find help regarding our games and services, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

support.cdprojektred.com

 

[xyon42]

Hi,
Just to be sure :
> You talk about the slots to insert mutagens?
Because skill/abilities aren't tie to levels, but the amount of points you invested in the class.
> It's a new playthrough, started on the next-gen update (4.0+) or an old playthrough started on an old-gen version, you continue?

First, if you didn't, try to clear the cache just in case. It often can help on console when encountering issues

Clear cache on PlayStation — Cyberpunk 2077 | Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

Welcome to CD PROJEKT RED Technical Support! Here you will find help regarding our games and services, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

support.cdprojektred.com

Was just saying that everything over on the "tree" side of things, where you put the mutagens and the skills you unlock as the game progresses, is working fine. Looking at it on screen its on the right side of the screen. The left side where you unlock the skills - they are not unlocking. It shows the next row locked until level 6 (I'm assuming it it level 6 - there is a padlock with a 6 next to it). As I'm at work right now my memory is failing me what it says on the next row but it's another padlock symbol and another number).

You can't even put one point in a skill when it's not yet available. All the general skills are unlocked and only a few for the different skills attached to a specific mutagen. For example - For the red mutagen, attack skills, only the first 2 rows are available for me to choose from. The last 2 rows are not selectable yet. It looks like they lowered the level you need to get to for the third row from level 12 (original) to level 6 (next gen) and for row four from level 18 to a lower level as well (I'm at work and have slept since the last time I played ). But for the attack skills - I only have 2 rows available to me and 2 rows that are 'grayed out' - remember I'm level 31 at this point. The other mutagen skills - blue and green are the same way but, again, not all are available. If I remember correctly - my blue skills only have one row available with 3 rows still 'grayed out'. I apologize for my failing memory on the exact skill sets.

I'm stumped. Thank you

Rob

Edit to add - My save data from my ps4 was accidently deleted so this go around is totally a new play through like I've never played before. #boomer

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2025

Hi,
Just to be sure :
> You talk about the slots to insert mutagens?
Because skill/abilities aren't tie to levels, but the amount of points you invested in the class.
> It's a new playthrough, started on the next-gen update (4.0+) or an old playthrough started on an old-gen version, you continue?

First, if you didn't, try to clear the cache just in case. It often can help on console when encountering issues

Clear cache on PlayStation — Cyberpunk 2077 | Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

Welcome to CD PROJEKT RED Technical Support! Here you will find help regarding our games and services, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

support.cdprojektred.com

I will try clearing the cache when I get home

Thank you - never knew that was an option.

Rob

 

[LeKill3rFou]

You can't even put one point in a skill when it's not yet available. All the general skills are unlocked and only a few for the different skills attached to a specific mutagen. For example - For the red mutagen, attack skills, only the first 2 rows are available for me to choose from. The last 2 rows are not selectable yet. It looks like they lowered the level you need to get to for the third row from level 12 (original) to level 6 (next gen) and for row four from level 18 to a lower level as well (I'm at work and have slept since the last time I played ). But for the attack skills - I only have 2 rows available to me and 2 rows that are 'grayed out' - remember I'm level 31 at this point. The other mutagen skills - blue and green are the same way but, again, not all are available. If I remember correctly - my blue skills only have one row available with 3 rows still 'grayed out'. I apologize for my failing memory on the exact skill sets.

Check the infobox, but skills aren't locked behind character levels, but by the amount of points you invested in (you should see in the infobox how many points you have to invest before unlocking the row).
So for example, to unlock the third row in combat skill, you must have invested at least 6 points in. So in short, you have to invest 6 points in the first or second row at first, and then you will unlock the third raw. And the same for the next raw, it will require even more points and so on.

The only thing which is locked behind character levels, it's the mutagen slots. Each one is unlocked when your character reach a specific level.

 

[xyon42]

Oh - That makes sense. If that is the case I will be relieved but also realize how much of an idiot I am. ;-) lol

Thank you so much for your help and I really bet that's it. I didn't have this issue with my first playthrough! Well, it has been interesting only playing with limited skills to get to level 31. There are really many ways to get overpowered in this game it really boils down to your preferred style of gameplay.

Merci beaucoup!!

Rob

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Oh - That makes sense. If that is the case I will be relieved but also realize how much of an idiot I am. ;-) lol

Thank you so much for your help and I really bet that's it. I didn't have this issue with my first playthrough! Well, it has been interesting only playing with limited skills to get to level 31. There are really many ways to get overpowered in this game it really boils down to your preferred style of gameplay.

Merci beaucoup!!

Rob

You're welcome!
So now, it's time to spend your points you have been saving for a while

 

[SigilFey]

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