The Witcher 3 Alchemy System

[BlackWolf500.298]

I never played TW1, it seems the hardcore pc players want this. I sure hope it does not suck.
I'll say it again, I still trust Konrad's dream idea because I can't give real honest feed back until I play it myself first-hand.
It's got to be better than TW2 at least.

http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/The_Witcher_alchemy

I see what you mean Guy N'wah. i chose the witcher 2 system at my vote because I hated the alcohol system and forgot the fact that we can experiment and create diffrent version of the same potion. In my opinion if an experimental system will be added to the witcher 3 it should be a lot more interesting then added stats boost.
what if sign related potion will be able to give extra boosts like... for quen an added weight to the enemy's weapon causing slower atack speed or reduced precision for a brief moment. For aard an added confusion effect somewhat like alcohol intoxication the enemy will stagger for a briff moment. For igni the ability to ignite the environment creating a physical barrier for a short duration of time. for yrden a reduced movement speed for a brief time after the enemy is released. There can be specific potion for every added bonus in this way we will be able to think our strategy before engaging in combat.

I think one key question was often ignored in our discussion here: why don't I use potions in TW2? This question is what sparked Konrad to change the alchemy system in the first place, but if potion rarity is not the cause of my disinterest in potions, then auto-refilling will not solve the problem for me.

Why didn't I use potions in TW2? For me, it was because the changes brought by potions were merely quantitative and not qualitative, and therefore could be replaced by a more intuitive effort: better clicking and swordsplay. Let me explain:

When I fought a group of drowners in the Forest of Flotsam, the most frequent cause of death for me was when several of them jump-attacked me (especially when from the back), and I was killed or fatally wounded instantly. Which potion was going to help with that? Certainly not Rook and Swallow. Again, when I fought enemies with shields, my greatest difficulty was to find a narrow angle to land an attack. Damage bonus from potions does not help if the shield is there. When I fought the dragon, her flaming damage is high, but I have Quen which cancels the burning debuff, why then do I worry about potions that cancels burning?

My point is, potions will be marginalized as long as they do not provide something beyond what can be achieved by faster clicking, better dodging and better sign casting. I am a stupid gamer unfamiliar with TW2 combat, so when I see the Game Over screen, my gut reaction is "damn, I need to play better next time." instead of "hmm, I wonder if I need to explore another game mechanic." And if all potions do is to enhance potion-less game mechanics, I would always think I can get away with potions by "playing better next time."

So I do have some little suggestions. What if we have a potion that heightens Geralt's reaction, so he enters a brief time dilation when enemies are about to strike a critical blow? I'd use that potion every time when fighting drowners. Or what if Rook, in addition to granting damage bonus, strengthens Geralt's muscle so he can shatter enemies' shields with few heavy blows? Or what if, as Geralt becomes intoxicated and looks scary, his intimidation is much more likely to success? Or what if the potion that grants sign intensity will now also unlock a powerful third stage of Geralt's signs? Or what about a potion that makes Geralt smell like a beast so wolves/nekkars would be quite confused in battle? etc. The spirit is that, just like swordsman and signs, potions should be able to do something that other mechanics cannot or can hardly do. Until this happens, merely granting infinite refills, I'm afriad, will not solve the problem of underused alchemy.

This is just my opinion. What do you guys think?

I actually have to agree.

The bottom line here is, the solution to the problem of potions not being used is not to make them easier but to make them more interesting and provide the player with something the other systems and mechanics can not provide. And in that I agree.

Which btw. does only underline my point that in the end the auto-refill will not change that much since people who didn't use potions previously - if they still work like in TW2 - will not use them now, no matter if auto-refill or not.

In my opinion the new system should be optional, if we need to search for ingredients for the first potion and we wish to search for ingredients for the rest let us do it.
Give us an alchemy system that is more interesting and more rewarding.
One of the reasons that people didn't constantly used potions in the witcher 2 was because we could only use it while meditating, we had to know what is ahad of us if we don't know that we can only have that knowledge after a reload which means a lot of quick savings or reg savings, in the witcher 1 i used a lot more potions then the witcher 2 (even though i hate the alcohols system that cluttered my inventory). a combination of both systems can be incredibly good for me a system that let me experiment without the need of the alcohol clutter. the infinite potion system is one click away in the system menu.

Exaxctly.

Yet another example that there are a BUNCH of reasons for which potions where not used that often in TW2 which have nothing to do with how they are acquired, ingredients collected and brewed.

1. Monsters were too easy
2. Potions could only be taken while meditating
3. Potions did nothing that skill couldn't do as well
4. TW2 system was slightly dumped down in comparison with TW1 potion/alchemy system
5. No experimenting in TW2 alchemy
6. A lot of potions had negative effects as well which some players didn't want to risk

And last but not least the ONE reason that HAS something to do with ingredient collection:

7. Some people found it a "chore" to collect ingredients

(As example, the only potions I regularly used in TW2 were Swallow, Rook and Petri's philtre)

 

[Rahx.482]

I believe that the people that found it annoying to find the ingredients aren't even the target group for the auto refil potion mechanic. Because, most likely, the ones that found it annoying to find ingredient were doing so because they were using the potions. I doubt they did the tedious work to let it sit in their inventory.
So the solution for them would be to make the merchants more valuable, so they can get their potions/ingredients easier.
I really do think that kissybyc has it spot on

 

[schinderhannes.999]

To (briefly) touch on another game that successfully implemented the 'casual' next to the 'hardcore' approach to a specific mechanic:

Diablo III (yes, I know, I'll make it short)

Here, by default, you are severely limited in your choice of active skills and can only choose 1 skill each from 6 categorized skill pools that are mapped to 4 predefined keys ([1], [2], [3] and [4]) and the two main mouse buttons, so that you could only have 1 primary skill mapped to LMB or 1 defensive/crowd control skill mapped to [1], for instance.

Now, that's all fine and dandy and does a fairly good job of preventing casuals and newcomers from making poor decisions regarding skill composition and completely messing up their character build in the process. Nothing wrong with that.

But did Blizzard just leave it at that and force everyone to just go along with this overly restrictive implementation? No, they thankfully came to their senses and realized that their audience may not only consist of casuals and newcomers but also the established playerbases from Diablo I and Diablo II that generally like to think for themselves, like to have freedom of choice and with that actually don't mind worrying about skill composition. Even if that means experimenting (God forbid!) with weird or deliberately 'unviable' skill combinations, just to see how far one could get.

And so, the 'Elective Mode' came to be, which, when checked basically 'unlocks' certain parts of the skills user interface, enabling the player (in combination with remapping) to freely distribute any kind of skill from any skill category to pretty much any key or third mouse button or whatever.

Now, if it actually would 'only' take whipping up a The Witcher 2-like alchemy user interface (with, for instance the 'tea bag' solution providing the necessary 'foundation') to sufficiently counter auto-refilling then the approach of optionally 'unlocking' certain parts or even entire screens of the UI might be something that (still, at this stage of developement) could be adopted for The Witcher 3?

 

[Tocsin]

In my honest opinion and I repeat IMO mate there is tremendous amount of dumbing down when it comes to alchemy.It's not only complete nonsense from logical stand of view (and yes logic EXISTS in fantasy world inside it's context) but it literally makes bombs and potions little more than cheats.Cause cheat in gaming is getting upper hand and becoming more powerfull or getting buffs with zero work or thinking involved and after initial recipe obtaining and first bunch of herbs collecting it becomes CHEAT.Imagine if ammo or bombs would refill in GTA every time you visit safe house or cars repairing itself every time you stop and wait for few seconds.That would be cheats.

In my opinon this is very lazy approach to problem which will trigger inflation of potions because there will be disproportion between amount of work needed to make potions and potions made and as consequence it will lead to DEVALUATION of potions worth.

Right now, no one, except for CDPR, knows for sure the exact amount of time and effort you'll have to put to gather the ingredients needed for the potions.
So, right now, we cannot know for sure, except based on wild guesses, how the new system will work. We cannot know how the world will be build around that system and if the system will be rewarding or not.

And you know what,I'm fine with it.Yup,I'm fine.AS LONG AS WE HAVE OPTIONAL MODE WITH OLD SCHOOL ALCHEMY FROM WITCHER 1 OR SOMETHING SIMILAR TO IT.Why you ask?Cause it's fun.Not to you,not to Konrad,not to investors,not to Skyrim kiddies but it is fun because it's challenging,rewarding and immersive to significant amount of people and for hundredth,no for GAZZILIONTH time I'm asking you and those who defend this system to tell me why win-win situation is bad and all of us or at least huge majority being satisfied is bad thing?Why?

- A world created to be balanced with the auto-refill system will not be with the system of the first game. And vice versa. This is not a simple option that can be toggled on or off, and if it could, it would just mean that the game wouldn't be balanced.

- I did not find the alchemy of the first game fun or challenging. It was just brainless gathering of herbs and drowners brain. I agree it could be rewarding, but clearly gathering herbs is not my idea of having a fun and challenging experience. So your win-win situation is not one for me, that's just as simple as that. It's just a lose-win (lose: gathering ingredient ; win: using the potions).

- If they find another way that makes the actual gathering of ingredients fun and interesting for me, I'll be good with it. But no open-world game ever did make this part interesting.

 

[Pedrolago]

I think one key question was often ignored in our discussion here: why don't I use potions in TW2? This question is what sparked Konrad to change the alchemy system in the first place, but if potion rarity is not the cause of my disinterest in potions, then auto-refilling will not solve the problem for me.

Why didn't I use potions in TW2? For me, it was because the changes brought by potions were merely quantitative and not qualitative, and therefore could be replaced by a more intuitive effort: better clicking and swordsplay. Let me explain:

When I fought a group of drowners in the Forest of Flotsam, the most frequent cause of death for me was when several of them jump-attacked me (especially when from the back), and I was killed or fatally wounded instantly. Which potion was going to help with that? Certainly not Rook and Swallow. Again, when I fought enemies with shields, my greatest difficulty was to find a narrow angle to land an attack. Damage bonus from potions does not help if the shield is there. When I fought the dragon, her flaming damage is high, but I have Quen which cancels the burning debuff, why then do I worry about potions that cancels burning?

My point is, potions will be marginalized as long as they do not provide something beyond what can be achieved by faster clicking, better dodging and better sign casting. I am a stupid gamer unfamiliar with TW2 combat, so when I see the Game Over screen, my gut reaction is "damn, I need to play better next time." instead of "hmm, I wonder if I need to explore another game mechanic." And if all potions do is to enhance potion-less game mechanics, I would always think I can get away with potions by "playing better next time."

So I do have some little suggestions. What if we have a potion that heightens Geralt's reaction, so he enters a brief time dilation when enemies are about to strike a critical blow? I'd use that potion every time when fighting drowners. Or what if Rook, in addition to granting damage bonus, strengthens Geralt's muscle so he can shatter enemies' shields with few heavy blows? Or what if, as Geralt becomes intoxicated and looks scary, his intimidation is much more likely to success? Or what if the potion that grants sign intensity will now also unlock a powerful third stage of Geralt's signs? Or what about a potion that makes Geralt smell like a beast so wolves/nekkars would be quite confused in battle? etc. The spirit is that, just like swordsman and signs, potions should be able to do something that other mechanics cannot or can hardly do. Until this happens, merely granting infinite refills, I'm afriad, will not solve the problem of underused alchemy.

This is just my opinion. What do you guys think?

Well said man, well said indeed, this is absolutely spot on

 

[Pajkes]

- I did not find the alchemy of the first game fun or challenging. It was just brainless gathering of herbs and drowners brain. I agree it could be rewarding, but clearly gathering herbs is not my idea of having a fun and challenging experience. So your win-win situation is not one for me, that's just as simple as that. It's just a lose-win (lose: gathering ingredient ; win: using the potions).

- If they find another way that makes the actual gathering of ingredients fun and interesting for me, I'll be good with it. But no open-world game ever did make this part interesting.

Well what I meant by win-win situation is one group gets optional mode with alchemy sistem which resembles Witcher 1 and another group gets this new system.So despite legitimate techical problems which might come with it,including two different alchemy modes or simply making some kind of compromise and making new one less casual by making collecting herbs an interesting thing to do would be solution.Or in worst case scenario giving modding community proper tools and helping them as part of post release game support to make alchemy mod.There are multiple solutions and bunch of great ideas in this thread and I'm sure CD Projekt will at least consider them,cause that's what makes them different from rest of game devs or at least from majority - ability to really listen to fan feedback.

 

[GHOSTMD]

@schinderhannes

exactly what i mentioned several times... just make an option to choose between a simplified (autorefiling no herb "farming) system
and a complex TW1 herb grinding system.

BTW @schinderhannes ------> Diablo III you never mention this abomination again, there is no D3!
lucky me i hyped this out after Blizzard said BN2.0 constant online is needed for D3 PC .... so another
dissapointment i did not expierienced *sigh* nuff said!
@ONLY ONCE

Well the clue (for me) in the TW1 system are the mutagenic potions they give you a constant trait/skill
because you killed (for example) certain monsters

Spoiler

Vincent Meis and Adda

or you did not get the skills because you decided otherwise
Also TW1 system overall was quite good in get the ingredients, brew the potion you ve learned before from a
book. Hard to explain if you did not played it... maybe you can describe the TW1 system as

gredible or thrustworthy and it was never pushy.

TW2 instead rly sucked (for me) potion effects are not the same... (yeah i repeat myself) CAT is not CAT anymore
missed blizzard to... (was a "heliotrop" potion) also the sideeffects are gone in TW2.... and a few more....
also the duration of the effects got cut off drastically... also the mutagenic potions got replaced by those
mutagenes.... really disliked this fact :/

remember TW1 cat or swallow duration against TW2 durations? meeeeehhh....

@konrad
However it did not influence the fact TW2 is a really great game, these reasons just caused me not to
use the potions that often like i did in TW1 heheheh

 

[serxho92]

TW1 definitely has some mechanics that should be brought back

 

[EmperorZorn]

I have to admit that I did use potions in the arena mode of TW2, rarely in the main game.

Why ? Because the fights were so challenging that potions made a big difference,
especially with talents from the alchemy tree - they made you slightly overpowered.

Another question I have in regard of the TW3 potion system is this:
Can you only take one potion of each kind with you in combat ?

The way I understood it you only "brew" a potion once, then you can upgrade it.
But what if I want to take along more of a certain type of potion when going on a long exploration trip ?
Do I have to fast-travel back and forth to "auto-refill" them ?

 

[Vigilance.492]

But what if I want to take along more of a certain type of potion when going on a long exploration trip ?

You can't. However each potion will have multiple charges. One of the interviews recently confirmed that and so the "3/3" on the Swallow Potion in the Demos was definitely charges. Perhaps all potions will have 3 uses, maybe once upgraded they might have more.

Do I have to fast-travel back and forth to "auto-refill" them ?

Nope. You will refill every time you meditate. So unless you're caught in a part of the game where you can't meditate, you'll always be able to refill, however even in those situations you should have the multiple uses of each potion.

 

[EmperorZorn]

You can't. However each potion will have multiple charges. One of the interviews recently confirmed that and so the "3/3" on the Swallow Potion in the Demos was definitely charges. Perhaps all potions will have 3 uses, maybe once upgraded they might have more.

Nope. You will refill every time you meditate. So unless you're caught in a part of the game where you can't meditate, you'll always be able to refill, however even in those situations you should have the multiple uses of each potion.

Thank you for taking the time to answer !

 

[Nihiru]

Whyyy, CDPR, whyyy? T_T

Honestly I'd have to say that the biggest issue for me with this new Alchemy system is that it isn't alchemy. (At least, to me.) It's just a "temporary buffs" system. I mean, sure, you could say that's what alchemy has always been, but now it's that without any of the things that made alchemy unique in the first place. You're not brewing potions, you're leveling up a talent tree.

 

[Pedrolago]

@Nihiru

I hear you man I simply cannot understand why they have chosen to make the system shallower and shallower with each game, Its just a shame

 

[thislsmadness]

To (briefly) touch on another game that successfully implemented the 'casual' next to the 'hardcore' approach to a specific mechanic:

Diablo III (yes, I know, I'll make it short)

Here, by default, you are severely limited in your choice of active skills and can only choose 1 skill each from 6 categorized skill pools that are mapped to 4 predefined keys ([1], [2], [3] and [4]) and the two main mouse buttons, so that you could only have 1 primary skill mapped to LMB or 1 defensive/crowd control skill mapped to [1], for instance.

Now, that's all fine and dandy and does a fairly good job of preventing casuals and newcomers from making poor decisions regarding skill composition and completely messing up their character build in the process. Nothing wrong with that.

But did Blizzard just leave it at that and force everyone to just go along with this overly restrictive implementation? No, they thankfully came to their senses and realized that their audience may not only consist of casuals and newcomers but also the established playerbases from Diablo I and Diablo II that generally like to think for themselves, like to have freedom of choice and with that actually don't mind worrying about skill composition. Even if that means experimenting (God forbid!) with weird or deliberately 'unviable' skill combinations, just to see how far one could get.

And so, the 'Elective Mode' came to be, which, when checked basically 'unlocks' certain parts of the skills user interface, enabling the player (in combination with remapping) to freely distribute any kind of skill from any skill category to pretty much any key or third mouse button or whatever.

Now, if it actually would 'only' take whipping up a The Witcher 2-like alchemy user interface (with, for instance the 'tea bag' solution providing the necessary 'foundation') to sufficiently counter auto-refilling then the approach of optionally 'unlocking' certain parts or even entire screens of the UI might be something that (still, at this stage of developement) could be adopted for The Witcher 3?

Well, the difference is that this doesn't really have anything to do with hardcore vs casual players. I'm also not sure an option to rebind keys and use unsupported skill combos is really comparable to something that potentially has a far reaching effect on just about every major gameplay system. When everything has been built under the assumption that players will not farm ingredients, I can't imagine its easy to just make a sudden 180 to add that in as an option.

That said, if it is something that is simple enough to add, I'm sure CDPR will do it. Thats the kind of developer they are.

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

Well, the difference is that this doesn't really have anything to do with hardcore vs casual players. I'm also not sure an option to rebind keys and use unsupported skill combos is really comparable to something that potentially has a far reaching effect on just about every major gameplay system. When everything has been built under the assumption that players will not farm ingredients, I can't imagine its easy to just make a sudden 180 to add that in as an option.

That said, if it is something that is simple enough to add, I'm sure CDPR will do it. Thats the kind of developer they are.

I think it might be possible and I agree on your last sentence that if it is possible I am sure CDPR will think of it.
I just hope that if it's NOT possible they will think of another system and somehow replace the auto-refill with another idea/system.

 

[IsengrimR]

Witcher's 1 alchemy system was the best, not only it had it's advantages if you paid attention to what you brew and how, but the potions didn't have blasting the earth side-effects, just toxicity.

Witcher 2 system was ok... but Witcher 3...
what? Self replenishing? Why? What for?

That's a seriously bad... and I mean... bad, design decision in my eyes. Yes, potions should be a thing you need to use wisely not just drink all the time, whenever you feel like.
And if someone wants to pull an argument "But people do not want to run around collecting plants" - Let's be frank, the fans of the series were collecting herbs, or they ignored alchemy. Both possible. So if you do not want to collect plants - ignore alchemy, your loss.

It's feels like...
you know...
DUMBING DOWN.

Please do not do that CDPR, you gonna have an allmighty pissed pole with bad attitude instead of a long time fan. Never... dumb... down..

 

[Zhyphix]

I still believe that the system of the first game was spot on, but it only needed some tweaking, some polishing and to be expanded upon to really make it shine. Making an elaborate and satisfying alchemy system completely optional for those who don't care about it, in my opinion, was completely possible, if this was the goal of CDPR. And this makes me depressed about the current prospect of how alchemy will turn out to be. I'll put my personal perspective on how it could have worked under spoilers, in order not to make a wall of text.

Spoiler

What I think would be the optimal solution to satisfy both sides is the following: common ingredients would be very abundant in the world, with plants and monsters giving lots of them and herbalists selling them for a dime a dozen, but the ones with additional substances would be rare and require a little exploration. Additional substances being Albedo, Nigredo and Rubedo in the first game, but the more the merrier, of course.

The right combinations of additional substances would produce better potions, whether in base bonuses (a 10% increase becoming a 15% increase, for example), collateral benefits (such as Rook allowing you to break shields and other solutions like those @kissybyc mentioned), other advantages (like a slight vitality regeneration, but not enough to substitute a Swallow potion), reduced toxicity, longer duration, fewer negative side effects and similar incentives. This would both reward an accurate preparation and encourage experimentation in finding the best combination for your potions. Thus, you would solve several problems for different targets of players:

- Those who play for the challenge and found fights too easy to use potions wouldn't need to completely overlook them, since they could either use those prepared with "weaker" ingredients or find some of the potions with collateral benefits to be useful in some nasty situations (I would have surely liked a Rook potion which could allow me to break shields, for instance);
- Those who play on harder difficulties and those who want the real experience would be encouraged to explore, think about the right ingredients to collect and use, and tinker with different potion versions and combinations;
- Those who don't really care for alchemy would have plenty of common ingredients to satisfy all of their needs without having to chase plants all over the map. Perhaps even looting the monsters you kill would be enough to provide most of what you would need. A "press X to refill equipped potions" mechanic, which automatically consumes the necessary ingredients, would work just like the current auto-refilling system.

Alcoholic bases could also work alongside additional substances just fine and add an additional layer of depth, providing additional combinations of side effects and bonuses, and maybe even work like in the first game through "ingredient slots" for the most advanced concoctions. Perhaps cheap potions could require only water to be made, thus making bases optional as well since water would be given for granted and not require to be stored in the inventory (there's going to be plenty in the environment, after all).

As for the large quantities of "cheap" ingredients in the map, they could just make plants and monsters provide you with many different reagents for each of them (say, a celandine plant would provide three flowers which contain Quebrith, three leaves with Rebis and three roots with Vitriol; a drowner could be looted for brain extracts, claws and teeth in the same way). This, apart from adding to the realism of collecting ingredients, would allow everyday potions to be made at basically every time, effectively covering all of the issues that auto-refilling tries to solve.

This, of course, is only my personal opinion on the matter, but I'm really saddened to see such a potential - the one their old system had - go to waste. I'm conscious that none of this stuff could ever find its way into the game without having to overhaul its balancing at this stage of development, but I wanted to express my frustration about the fact that it's just a damned pity to throw out the window all the great stuff they had created because people supposedly didn't use alchemy. I guess I'll have to hope for some mods that will try to fix the system and give it some depth, if that will even be possible.

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

I still believe that the system of the first game was spot on, but it only needed some tweaking, some polishing and to be expanded upon to really make it shine. Making an elaborate and satisfying alchemy system completely optional for those who don't care about it, in my opinion, was completely possible, if this was the goal of CDPR. And this makes me depressed about the current prospect of how alchemy will turn out to be. I'll put my personal perspective on how it could have worked under spoilers, in order not to make a wall of text.

Spoiler

What I think would be the optimal solution to satisfy both sides is the following: common ingredients would be very abundant in the world, with plants and monsters giving lots of them and herbalists selling them for a dime a dozen, but the ones with additional substances would be rare and require a little exploration. Additional substances being Albedo, Nigredo and Rubedo in the first game, but the more the merrier, of course.

The right combinations of additional substances would produce better potions, whether in base bonuses (a 10% increase becoming a 15% increase, for example), collateral benefits (such as Rook allowing you to break shields and other solutions like those @kissybyc mentioned), other advantages (like a slight vitality regeneration, but not enough to substitute a Swallow potion), reduced toxicity, longer duration, fewer negative side effects and similar incentives. This would both reward an accurate preparation and encourage experimentation in finding the best combination for your potions. Thus, you would solve several problems for different targets of players:

- Those who play for the challenge and found fights too easy to use potions wouldn't need to completely overlook them, since they could either use those prepared with "weaker" ingredients or find some of the potions with collateral benefits to be useful in some nasty situations (I would have surely liked a Rook potion which could allow me to break shields, for instance);
- Those who play on harder difficulties and those who want the real experience would be encouraged to explore, think about the right ingredients to collect and use, and tinker with different potion versions and combinations;
- Those who don't really care for alchemy would have plenty of common ingredients to satisfy all of their needs without having to chase plants all over the map. Perhaps even looting the monsters you kill would be enough to provide most of what you would need. A "press X to refill equipped potions" mechanic, which automatically consumes the necessary ingredients, would work just like the current auto-refilling system.

Alcoholic bases could also work alongside additional substances just fine and add an additional layer of depth, providing additional combinations of side effects and bonuses, and maybe even work like in the first game through "ingredient slots" for the most advanced concoctions. Perhaps cheap potions could require only water to be made, thus making bases optional as well since water would be given for granted and not require to be stored in the inventory (there's going to be plenty in the environment, after all).

As for the large quantities of "cheap" ingredients in the map, they could just make plants and monsters provide you with many different reagents for each of them (say, a celandine plant would provide three flowers which contain Quebrith, three leaves with Rebis and three roots with Vitriol; a drowner could be looted for brain extracts, claws and teeth in the same way). This, apart from adding to the realism of collecting ingredients, would allow everyday potions to be made at basically every time, effectively covering all of the issues that auto-refilling tries to solve.

This, of course, is only my personal opinion on the matter, but I'm really saddened to see such a potential - the one their old system had - go to waste. I'm conscious that none of this stuff could ever find its way into the game without having to overhaul its balancing at this stage of development, but I wanted to express my frustration about the fact that it's just a damned pity to throw out the window all the great stuff they had created because people supposedly didn't use alchemy. I guess I'll have to hope for some mods that will try to fix the system and give it some depth, if that will even be possible.

This so much.

Your idea is perfect IMO.
And even if it is not for others, it's still one of the best concepts here.

I say it again, I LOVE the idea about the upgrade system (especially the way you imagine it @The Fixer), I LOVE the fact that there are different types of potions, that you can take some during combat others not, I love the fact that potions during combat are limited to a number and that toxicity plays such a big role.

The only problem I have is auto-refill.
I LOVE the way you imagine the system to work and it sounds great like "normal" "low-level" potion ingredients being available all the time because all you need is monster loot, the advanced ingredients giving you different benefits encouraging searching for more rare ingredients and encouraging experimentation, there is something for everyone in your idea and if people then still do not want to use potions then it's their loss, seriously.

If you do the following:

- Make monsters harder
- "Weak" potion ingredients being available en masse
- Additional ingredients make potions "stronger" in different ways (either stats or "special" benefits like shield breaking) and by different amounts based on the ingredients you add and how much of them you add
- Keeping the idea about the mutagenic potions, the limit of potions during combat, the toxicity (and hopefully the negative effects of it)
- (maybe) Create a visual effect based on the level of toxicity of Geralt

Then there is something for everyone and if you do still not use potions then you will NEVER use them anyway.

 

[serxho92]

Just bring back the Alchemy system from TW1. It was great. I can only prepare potions while camping around a fire but i can drink them whenever i want , even during the fight. In my opinion the Alchemy thing is one of the most important parts of the game. I always used it and needed it.

 

[JackieEstacado]

I was thinking that they could show a quick animation of Geralt drinking the potions in the menu screen. Also they could make the potion-brewing a minigame (like arkham series' security system decrypting, using both the analog sticks to mix up the ingredients).
You should do it only the first time that you discover a potion and when you upgrade it.
This way I think alchemy would have the right space and be funny for everyone.
Anyway I think that, if alchemy is that important for you, you should organize a petition (maybe putting in other affordable requests) so that, if a lot of people signs it and there is still time for gameplay changes, CD Projekt could please you.
If not, you didn't loose anything.