Leveling up takes too long?

[Skunk]

Hi! I am 65 hours into the game, playing at hard (blood and broken bones), did most of the quests from boards, around half question marks (nests/treasure) and I am near the end of main story I gathered every ally and I'm going to the mist island and I am only level 23. I was hoping to be around level 30 at this point so I can start Hearts of stone. Am I missing something?

[Living Broscillograph]

No, you're all right.

[Skunk]

Originally posted by Living Broscillograph:

No, you're all right.

So the game pushes you to do all the secondary stuff before moving to the DLCs...

[Living Broscillograph]

*shrugs*

[Krogdalo]

Nah you're fine.

Getting to a high level isn't really that much of a deal here.

[Vellari]

You are not at the end of the game at Isle of Mists you're about 3/5 done. The suggested level for the main quest finale is 30, without much extra effort typically everyone reaches 33-35 by then (which is the suggested starting for both DLCs).

[Fafżywo]

Originally posted by ᖇᗩᗪIᗩᑎT:

Nah you're fine.

Getting to a high level isn't really that much of a deal here.

[Chummy 8]

Wow. I'm level 20 doing the stage play in Novigrad right now.

[Furiey]

You can safely leave witcher contracts and ? But you should progress the secondary quests along with the main story as some will fail when you go to the place you mention. You will be warned at that point. There will be time to do HOS after that but before the end of the game if you wish.

[Amix]

The maximum level I was able to get before going to 'Isle of mists' on Deathmarch mode was 27. As I wanted to complete Hearts of Stone before 'Isle of Mists'. I had completed all secondary missions & contracts till level 30. High difficulty means low experience points. Getting experience is really pain in Witcher 3. Managing missions is also difficult as I had to constantly watch the some mission does not grey out.

[Mr_Faorry]

If anything you level up too fast.
I'm always too high of a level for half the quests by novigrad and too high for most by skellige.

HOS is meant to be played around the time you're wrapping up the main quest, besides there is no point of no return that you need to do the dlc before, just a handful of regular quests you'll miss out on when you get the point of no return message.

[meep_meep]

You're not even close to the end of the game. You're just at a point where some quests fail for story reasons if you haven't done them already.

Basically, make sure that you've completed every quest that's level 20 or below (that you want to do) before proceeding past that warning and you won't miss anything.

For reference, I did that mission at level 23-24 IIRC and I was already about 130 hours into the game.

Also, IMO Hearts of Stone should be completed after you finish the main story. By the time you get to the required level during the main story it feels weird to go and do Hearts of Stone because you'll already have the final sequence of the main story started. In my playthrough I actually did jump out of it and go do Hearts of Stone at this point, but it felt like the story momentum was all wrong - it didn't make any sense to abandon this very pressing problem for weeks of in-game time to go take care of something else.

IMO both expansions are best played after finishing the main story as a "further adventures of Geralt" sort of thing.

[Purfet]

Gratz on your playthrough so far! It's a fantastic game. Like everyone else has said don't worry about it to much, just continue to enjoy the game at your pace because you still got some time ahead of you! I do recommend that if you intend to do a NG+ after your first go, make sure you get all max level diagrams alchemy wise and make them! As for what Bad Player said you should indeed finish main quest then move to the dlc, it just seems to run together better this way. Also may I ask what type of build you've been using? If you haven't tried it yet the alchemy build is super fun especially once you unlock the new mechanics from Blood and Wine. Happy Hunting!!

[v0]

Originally posted by Bad Player:

it didn't make any sense to abandon this very pressing problem for weeks of in-game time to go take care of something else.

except most of time in tw3 geralt's doing precisely that helping random peasants with their pets and whatnot instead of finding ciri ;)

[meep_meep]

Originally posted by v0:

Originally posted by Bad Player:

it didn't make any sense to abandon this very pressing problem for weeks of in-game time to go take care of something else.

except most of time in tw3 geralt's doing precisely that helping random peasants with their pets and whatnot instead of finding ciri ;)

Yeah I know lol, but it feels particularly egregious to just leave Ciri there waiting outside the door in the tavern to talk to the sorceresses.

[Amix]

Originally posted by v0:

Originally posted by Bad Player:

it didn't make any sense to abandon this very pressing problem for weeks of in-game time to go take care of something else.

except most of time in tw3 geralt's doing precisely that helping random peasants with their pets and whatnot instead of finding ciri ;)

Geralt is a Witcher & he must earn money for his livelihood & for potions mainly. Although Gwent is too much ralaxing instead of finding daughter but hey I am just a Witcher,I am not an ordinary person. According to story Ciri was in still Isle of Mists (unconscious) when Geralt starts searching her. It is what I think.