Swordsmanship, Magic, or Alchemy which one are you favoring this time out, and why.

[crimzonwarrior]

Swordsmanship, Magic, or Alchemy which one are you favoring this time out, and why.

Me I am probably going pure swordsmanship with a little bit of magic, and than heavy magic my second playthrough with a mixture of the two for my third.

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

It entirely depends on how the talents are handled, like for example if I don't get abilities that SHOULD be available from the start, like riposte and group style, then swordsmanship is the way to go.

But thinking from an ideal perspective where the talent-trees are done very well, I'm thinking a hybrid of Alchemy and Swordsmanship, with a greater focus on Swords.

 

[KA1N3R]

First playthrough will be a Magic/Sword Hybrid with more focus on Magic and then Second either the opposite(kinda boring, I know) or a Pure Swordmanship build

 

[guilhermecn]

I usually go for Swordmanship and use magic and Alchemy as support.

 

[didymos1120]

Poll needed a "Will try all three, then decide" option. Still, first playthrough, I'll probably go swords.

 

[crimzonwarrior]

I don't know what tweaks have been made to the Alchemy system, but it would be nice if some of the new potions create strong enough effects that it is worth using.

 

[BroccoliSouP]

Witcher 2 hard difficulty made me fall in love with alchemy so I´ll go full alchemist. I believe that even with autoreffiling poitions it won´t be totally screwed and broken and I hope I will have enough fun with combinating and brewing. Witcher one alchemy was way more fun with that so I hope we will get at least blind brewing. Sadly we won´t get TW1 like skilltree so you can´t combine alchemy efficiently with other stuff like magic/swordsmanship.

 

[crimzonwarrior]

Witcher 2 hard difficulty made me fall in love with alchemy so I´ll go full alchemist. I believe that even with autoreffiling poitions it won´t be totally screwed and broken and I hope I will have enough fun with combinating and brewing. Witcher one alchemy was way more fun with that so I hope we will get at least blind brewing. Sadly we won´t get TW1 like skilltree so you can´t combine alchemy efficiently with other stuff like magic/swordsmanship.

I am hoping we will get physical enhancing potions like the Cat Eye potion that will make Geralt on par with a monster in terms of physical ability similar to the potion he took when fighting the Strega. Also the ability to have encapsulated spells like Letho used would be awesome.

 

[Thothistox]

1st playthrough -- magic with others as support (normal difficulty or "veteran" difficulty if available)
2nd playthough -- swordsman with others as support (hard difficulty)
3rd -- alchemy (very hard difficulty)
4th -- mixed alchemy and whatever magic and swordsman skills are best amplified by alchemy (hardest difficulty if available)

 

[Pawlle]

Swordsmanship all the way!!!
That's how i played TW2 on my 1st playthrough and that's not gonna change

 

[Boreas_Mun_bg]

I'll go all the way with swordmanship and if there are some points left I'll invest them into magic tree.

 

[JackieEstacado]

I would squeeze every ability Geralt can learn until its limits.
I'd use alchemy to enhance my power, speed accuracy etc.., then I would slashfest around with my swords leaving death, suffering and devastation behind me.
Finally I'd use signs for mid/long range offensive, particularly to stun enemies or to burn the s**t out of them.

I am a peaceful fellow after all...

 

[crimzonwarrior]

Its looking like the bulk of people are really stoked about the new sword system, or mixing it up with all the new systems together. I have to admit as awesome as the new sword moves are I am looking forward to the new, and expanded magic system.

 

[Sharpy47]

Im definetely going with my Swordsmanship skill tree. Geralt is the deadliest and fastest swordsman in Witcher lore and I can't wait to fully upgrade his sword fighting skills and devastate my enemies by cutting off their limbs (I did the same in W2)

 

[EmperorZorn]

The alchemy tree was the most powerful skill tree in the Witcher 2.
If it remains this way in the Witcher 3, along with auto-refilling potions then it's a no-brainer what to take.

I'll probably choose alchemy with some swordmanship to amplify these powers.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

If the game is as good as TW2, eventually I will play pure runs of all three, and various hybrids until i've played the game to death (which still has not happened with my dozen TW2 plays). But the one that I hope interests me most and so the one I have voted for, on my own so far, and recognising that the little info released about it so far is uninviting, is Alchemy. I feel that is an extremely important aspect of Geralt, and in TW2 was initially very difficult but ultimately a lot of fun.

edit: someone else has voted alchemy already, probably Zorn, some reason my initial vote didn't apply.

 

[HellKnightX88]

Since all my finished TW2 playthroughs were only with the FCR mod installed (I'll explain why in a bit) all my play styles boiled down to a hybrid build by the end of the game since with FCR all abilities have one level instead of two and that made it easier to get deep in each of the 3 skill trees. But I focused on different stuff in the beginning each time. First I went with alchemy then signs then swordsmanship. Then on other playthroughs I went for swordsmanship first or signs.

Generally I tend to go with sneaky melee types in RPGs if given the choice. So on my first playthrough I'll probably go for swordsmanship while using signs for crowd control mostly but it's not set in stone, it depensd on what skills I find more attractive. I really hope we won't have to get "beginner skills" before investing in the three trees. Never quite understood behind the reasoning of that in TW2, you're Geralt of Rivia, The White Wolf, famous for your deeds and skill, why are you treated like someone that just passed their Trials of Grasses?

I really liked playing TW2 with FCR. I really liked some of the changes especially the XP reward changes with completing quests being the only source of XP (they're doing the same for TW3 which is awesome), the more responsive combat and the skill tree changes (more rewarding, beginner tree already maxed out from the get go). I also liked the fact that blocking didn't take vigor, instead it was based on a stamina system of sorts running in the background, you could only block a limited amount of hits so you couldn't just stand there but neither were you forced to roll 24/7 in order to keep vigor up. And vigor didn't influence sword damage so you use it solely for signs.

Didn't like everything in it though, I get the choice Flash made regarding the more low fantasy theme for the items you get but sadly it made most items very generic, none of them stood out from the others except for the +X to damage or armor. Overall the whole thing was quite well thought out though.

I don't really like the fact that blocking and vigor are yet again linked in TW3. I'd prefer a system similar to FCR.

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

Depends how the Alchemy system turns out to be, but if everything is okay then I go for my favorite combination: A little bit Swordsmanship, high magic, mid-alchemy.

Alchemy supports the preparation phase, mutagen effects, potion system and probably toxicity-related elements.
Swordsmanship helps me keeping a medium level of melee damage dealt
Magic will help with crowd control and protection.

 

[crimzonwarrior]

Since all my finished TW2 playthroughs were only with the FCR mod installed (I'll explain why in a bit) all my play styles boiled down to a hybrid build by the end of the game since with FCR all abilities have one level instead of two and that made it easier to get deep in each of the 3 skill trees. But I focused on different stuff in the beginning each time. First I went with alchemy then signs then swordsmanship. Then on other playthroughs I went for swordsmanship first or signs.

Generally I tend to go with sneaky melee types in RPGs if given the choice. So on my first playthrough I'll probably go for swordsmanship while using signs for crowd control mostly but it's not set in stone, it depensd on what skills I find more attractive. I really hope we won't have to get "beginner skills" before investing in the three trees. Never quite understood behind the reasoning of that in TW2, you're Geralt of Rivia, The White Wolf, famous for your deeds and skill, why are you treated like someone that just passed their Trials of Grasses?

I really liked playing TW2 with FCR. I really liked some of the changes especially the XP reward changes with completing quests being the only source of XP (they're doing the same for TW3 which is awesome), the more responsive combat and the skill tree changes (more rewarding, beginner tree already maxed out from the get go). I also liked the fact that blocking didn't take vigor, instead it was based on a stamina system of sorts running in the background, you could only block a limited amount of hits so you couldn't just stand there but neither were you forced to roll 24/7 in order to keep vigor up. And vigor didn't influence sword damage so you use it solely for signs.

Didn't like everything in it though, I get the choice Flash made regarding the more low fantasy theme for the items you get but sadly it made most items very generic, none of them stood out from the others except for the +X to damage or armor. Overall the whole thing was quite well thought out though.

I don't really like the fact that blocking and vigor are yet again linked in TW3. I'd prefer a system similar to FCR.

I think the Vigor gage is now more of a stamina gage considering how fast it refills now.

 

[HellKnightX88]

Not sure about that because these demos are usually ran with more cheat-y settings: more HP, increased HP regen, increased vigor regen etc. This is because you don't want your audience to see deaths when you're demoing it. It has become a convention of sorts with hands off presentations.