The Witcher 3 Alchemy System

[DukeAlmighty]

I'm ok with everything, except - no potion drinking animation
They could have made it really quick , like less than a second and it would be fine.
Lets hope for mod..

 

[EliHarel]

I feel like there must have been some misunderstanding.

It is in fact NOT possible to switch out skills mid-combat. Players will have to get out of combat state before they can switch equipped skills. Same, incidentally, goes for equipped items.

Once you are outside combat (so without any monster still targeting you), you can do these things. In this case, you could also meditate of course, so the effect is more or less the same.

Thanks for that. On that note, when you say items, do you also mean alchemy? Because in last night's twitch session it seemed that you didn't have to prepare your potions beforehand, but instead you could just equip them mid-combat and repeat that with all your inventory once the toxicity wore off, regardless of if the fight is done or not.

 

[GingerEffect]

Thanks for that. On that note, when you say items, do you also mean alchemy? Because in last night's twitch session it seemed that you didn't have to prepare your potions beforehand, but instead you could just equip them mid-combat and repeat that with all your inventory once the toxicity wore off, regardless of if the fight is done or not.

This applies to alchemy as well. While in combat state, you cannot change which potions you have prepared to use.

 

[ReptilePZ]

This applies to alchemy as well. While in combat state, you cannot change which potions you have prepared to use.

Are you certain of this? I'm only asking because I saw Lukasz (sorry if I got his name wrong, don't have time to look it up) equipped swallow potions mid-fight during the gog stream. I suppose that was only enabled for demo purposes?

 

[azrael.1289]

Are you certain of this? I'm only asking because I saw Lukasz (sorry if I got his name wrong, don't have time to look it up) equipped swallow potions mid-fight during the gog stream. I suppose that was only enabled for demo purposes?

I think they were playing with certain cheats on or in 'dev' mode.

 

[Kinley]

This applies to alchemy as well. While in combat state, you cannot change which potions you have prepared to use.

Are you certain of this? I'm only asking because I saw Lukasz (sorry if I got his name wrong, don't have time to look it up) equipped swallow potions mid-fight during the gog stream. I suppose that was only enabled for demo purposes?

Here it is:

http://a.pomf.se/pvbzfq.mp4

 

[GingerEffect]

Are you certain of this? I'm only asking because I saw Lukasz (sorry if I got his name wrong, don't have time to look it up) equipped swallow potions mid-fight during the gog stream. I suppose that was only enabled for demo purposes?

I confirmed this with our Gameplay team. I can't say what happened yesterday as i wasn't involved nor did I watch it. (I know, shame on me).

Edit: I will double check about the video you guys linked. Give me a bit.

Edit 2: OK, there was a bit of miscommunication on my end here. Consumables (this includes potions/bread etc) can be changed during combat. I wasn't clear enough when I asked them previously.

 

[bixnood]

Well I guess I'll just have to wait for a mod to "fix" it than.

 

[HellKnightX88]

OK, there was a bit of miscommunication on my end here. Consumables (this includes potions/bread etc) can be changed during combat. I wasn't clear enough when I asked them previously.

Meh, I hate pausing the action so I doubt I'll do it anyway.

 

[Scryar]

I confirmed this with our Gameplay team. I can't say what happened yesterday as i wasn't involved nor did I watch it. (I know, shame on me).

Edit: I will double check about the video you guys linked. Give me a bit.

Edit 2: OK, there was a bit of miscommunication on my end here. Consumables (this includes potions/bread etc) can be changed during combat. I wasn't clear enough when I asked them previously.

So i pretty much can use my whole inventory during a single fight? Wow that's extremely disspointing. Looks like the game will become a cakewalk once again.

 

[PT-Desu]

So i pretty much can use my whole inventory during a single fight? Wow that's extremely disspointing. Looks like the game will become a cakewalk once again.

You only have yourself to blame if that is what is gonna make the game a cakewalk for you.
If it feels like it makes the game too easy for you and you don't like that, don't use it/take advantage of it.

 

[Scryar]

You only have yourself to blame if that is what is gonna make the game a cakewalk for you.
If it feels like it makes the game too easy for you and you don't like that, don't use it/take advantage of it.

No I can blame CDP for a bad design choice.

 

[PT-Desu]

No I can blame CDP for a bad design choice.

 

[Kinley]

So i pretty much can use my whole inventory during a single fight? Wow that's extremely disspointing. Looks like the game will become a cakewalk once again.

No you can't since you'll die of toxicity.

 

[Scryar]

Care to explain or is this childish smilyey all I can expect from you?

 

[ReptilePZ]

I confirmed this with our Gameplay team. I can't say what happened yesterday as i wasn't involved nor did I watch it. (I know, shame on me).

Edit: I will double check about the video you guys linked. Give me a bit.

Edit 2: OK, there was a bit of miscommunication on my end here. Consumables (this includes potions/bread etc) can be changed during combat. I wasn't clear enough when I asked them previously.

Alright, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[PT-Desu]

Care to explain or is this childish smilyey all I can expect from you?

Kinley pretty much already explained.
Besides there is not much to go on and discuss this with you, you think it's a bad decision and i think it's not.
It's there to help you out, but not to the point of "no one can kill me, I'm immortal".

And, It's something that comes down to the player, when you start the game there won't be a dev right beside you pointing a gun to your head saying "How about opening that inventory and messing with some health items".

 

[Scryar]

No you can't since you'll die of toxicity.

You are right, forgot about that. Still imo it's a bad design decision. They always highlighted how important the preparation is for a Witcher and for the monster hunting in Witcher 3. Giving us the possibility to change potions during combat pretty much contradicts this.

---------- Updated at 11:35 AM ----------

And, It's something that comes down to the player, when you start the game there won't be a dev right beside you pointing a gun to your head saying "How about opening that inventory and messing with some health items".

That's something I disgaree with. I will play on the highest difficulty so I hope to be challenged as much as possible. One part of it is to find the most efficient way to master this challenge. So of course I will use the possibilities CDP gave me. If something is unbalanced it's their fault and like I wrote a bad desgin decision. And CDP is unfortunately not known for releasing balanced games. Igni is still OP in witcher 1, so are Quen and roll spamming in Witcher 2, which makes both games to a cakewalk even on the highest difficulty.
But like Kinley wrote, I forgot the toxicity, so maybe it will be balanced.

 

[PT-Desu]

You are right, forgot about that. Still imo it's a bad design decision. They always highlighted how important the preparation is for a Witcher and for the monster hunting in Witcher 3. Giving us the possibility to change potions during combat pretty much contradicts this.

Not really.
By preparation i think they mean creation of items/bombs/oils , which i assume you can't do while in combat.

 

[EliHarel]

Here at around 08:25 he uses the potion.

http://www.twitch.tv/gogcom/v/4721705

The toxicity is very low, and it fades fairly quickly, so it doesn't seem to be too much of a limitation. On the other hand, that Swallow potion was very weak and didn't contribute much to health regeneration, so it seems to balance out. I do wonder now where the preparation comes into play. We'll see.

@Scryar I suggest to just wait 12 more days (and 10 hours and 24 minutes) to see how this system turns out. Judging this so flippantly as bad or good from our chairs is very easy. What may seem like a weird choice could prove to be alright once we actually play and experience all the systems together. There are too many things we don't know yet. Worst case scenario - you wait two weeks and realize it's still crappy, but at least you'll be able to form that opinion based on a much broader information. And this is coming from someone who doesn't intuitively grasp why this is a better decision.