Deathwish / New Game + / DLC

[AffectatiousDonk]

Hey all,

Looking for some advice on what to do as intend to focus on this game over the next month(s). I am about 7 hrs into Witcher playing on 2nd hardest difficulty and have a couple of questions.

1. If I continue and finish is Death March difficulty easier or harder on New Game plus

2. Am I better off just lowering difficulty to reduce time and continuing then playing New a Game Plus on death march

3. Would you play the DLC before you started new game plus or after.

Many thanks,

Edited July 1, 2016 by cjshaitan

[Yadilie]

Do Death Match from regular New Game. When you go New Game+ you're not fighting level 1s with your stuff. The level cap increases and things are even higher level. Death March is hard until you get the skills that let you spam the Shield spell. Once you get that it's still challenging but drastically easier because you can always have shield on.

 

Beat game -> Hearts of Stone -> Blood and Wine from the regular New Game. If you do a lot of the quests you'll be properly leveled for both DLCs in that order.

[AffectatiousDonk]

Thanks mate I appreciate it

[Griffon234]

1) Start a brand new file and play on Death March. It would be easier to do that, than to do NG+ Death March.

 

2) No. I suggest you just restart and play a Death March file from the beginning.

 

3) Definitely after. The recommended level for the Hearts of Stone (I think it's a lower recommended level than Blood and Wine) is 35, you should be around 35 at the end of the game, and if you're not, you can easily farm Cyclopses at Skellige and level up quickly to 35.

 

What Yadilie said, Beat the game -> Hearts of Stone -> Blood and Wine. 

 

Honestly, the game isn't very hard even on Death March, just a little difficult at the beginning. Learn to use Quen and Axii and the game shouldn't be hard at all. Put some level up points into the skill trees for Quen and Axii. I strongly suggest Axii Puppet. Do the Places of Power in the White Orchard for some points early on.

 

Before starting the DLC, make sure you do the quests for any of the Witcher Gear sets. You'll want Superior or Masterwork gear of a school. For example, I had a set of Masterwork Cat School gear before starting, and my brother had Bear school. It should be fine regardless of what school you choose, but try to stick to one. (Not only will it make it easier to get the Grandmaster Gear for one of the trophies in the DLC, but it will also make your experience better with a decent set of gear.)

 

Try to track the "Collect em All" quest for Gwent cards, there's a few missable ones in the game, but you shouldn't miss them if you keep that quest on, and if you feel skeptical, just keep a guide open on your phone for that like I did.

 

One more thing, you should pick up a lot of your enemy's weapons and armor and sell them to respective merchants (Weapons to weaponsmiths, and armor to armorsmiths), they fixed the infinite money glitch if I am not mistaken, and you will need a lot of money for two things in Blood and Wine.

[Feral]

Definitely better off playing it through on an easier difficulty and just enjoy it first time around.

That's my only advice lol.

Edited July 1, 2016 by feral611

[Pirelli913]

Hey all,

Looking for some advice on what to do as intend to focus on this game over the next month(s). I am about 7 hrs into Witcher playing on 2nd hardest difficulty and have a couple of questions.

1. If I continue and finish is Death March difficulty easier or harder on New Game plus

2. Am I better off just lowering difficulty to reduce time and continuing then playing New a Game Plus on death march

3. Would you play the DLC before you started new game plus or after.

Many thanks,

1. Can't help you with this because I've only ever played on Death March. Lol.

2. I'd say yes simply because the game is LONG and you can, essentially, get all trophies (except for the one for Death March) in one play through.

3. BEFORE. I don't want to spoil too much for you, but you gain a LOT of XP playing the DLC, plus you get some really great items that carry over to NG+.

[Redgrave]

I'm one of those that did my Death March run on NG+. I personally think it would be easier to do since you start out with better gear and get to choose which abilities you want early on. To quote myself from another thread.

 

 

I've been doing NG+ on Death March and it's rough at first but I got the hang of it after the first few battles. The key to fights from my experience is patience and always being on your guard. With enemies like Drowners and Ghouls it's easy to get swarmed but you can just constantly dodge with circle. Another thing that has helped is upgrading Quen all the way, and using the ability that lets you use Adrenaline Points for Signs if your stamina is too low. The other thing that helped me a lot is a certain Alchemy build I use. I'll post the exact stats tomorrow when I can look at it, but the build basically makes Potions more effective and last longer while giving more tolerance. Plus when I use Thunderbolt or any other similar potion it heals me.

 

So I wouldn't say start all over, as in NG+ the points that carry over can make you powerful if you put them in the right slots, plus I think it would be even more annoying to have to wait to get all the points again. And if you're going for Gwent it's best to have as much Gold carry over as possible, since you're going to want to spend Gold on cards, repairing equipment, and buying other things like food or Alchemy ingredients.

 

Edit: Okay, here's the Alchemy stats I use.

 

Refreshment: 5/5

Endure Pain: 5/5

Acquired Tolerance: 5/5

 

With those and a Greater Green Mutagen equipped I get a Vitality boost of +600. So top that off with more effective potions and healing with each one, most fights are easier.

 

 

As far as DLC, I think Blood and Wine is probably the one you should do after the main story because it has some tough battles that I found more challenging than the main story. But on the other hand it does give you some of the best swords in the game.

 

 

[Eraezr]

Do acquired skills carry over in NG+