Deathmarch: Do you ever catch up in levels?

[Reoden]

Playing on Death March I've felt like I've been "underleveled" for quite a while, though strangely enough, many quests in Skellige are lower level than a handful of quests/hunts in Velen. Apparently Skellige ranges from like lvl 14 to level 30. I'm currently level 25, and I believe I'm about to finish Act Two (Completed all the Brothers in Arms quests and got the Full Crew achievement, and I've done most sidequests up to this point)

My issue is mostly with the gear sets. I.e. I'm using the Feline set, but I need to be level 29 to even be able to equip the regular crossbow.. and at this point it looks like I might finish the game before I even get there. (Not including DLC, which is done after the main story line, right?).

I've also found a bunch of crafting diagrams for level 30+ gear that it seems I would never be able to equip without the DLC or NG+.

Is this normal? The level progression is just screwed up? Or I messed up somewhere along the way?

(I have enemy upscaling turned on, but that seems to do nothing for any items or exp rewards you might find. Many older side quests just give like 3 exp and maybe 20 Crowns so I'm just doing them for the hell of it.)



UPDATE: This question has pretty much been answered.

The end game main mission quests give a disproportionate amount of exp relative to sidequests. I probably gained something like 7000 or 8000 Exp from certain events at Kaer Morhen (More specifically the Battle of Kaer Morhen and Blood on the Battlefield quests). So all in all I would say, yeah the level progression is kind of screwed up, and you do "catch up" in levels towards the end.

[Vince ✟]

Are you taking regular excursions into contracts and secondary quests? I know they provide diminishig returns but should be supplementing more Id think. Im behind you in the line but already 27. Hopefully more folks here could give you a better idea. Ive also held off from the idea of Toussaint and whatnot, figuring it is done prior to main line completion at higher levels. (I dont know how the storyline goes, i just know im behind you.)

Dont let those side quests become too old. And try for ones above your level often

[Reoden]

Originally posted by VassI:

Are you taking regular excursions into contracts and secondary quests? I know they provide diminishig returns but should be supplementing more Id think. Im behind you in the line but already 27. Hopefully more folks here could give you a better idea. Ive also held off from the idea of Toussaint and whatnot, figuring it is done prior to main line completion at higher levels. (I dont know how the storyline goes, i just know im behind you.)

Dont let those side quests become too old. And try for ones above your level often

Yeah I've done like 90% of the sidequests that I've found. The only quests I've really ignored are the Treasure hunts for sets I don't plan to use (Bear and Griffin), though I've still found a bunch of them just by exploring or doing other quests.

My only Main quest left undone is Isle of Mists, only secondary quests are Soldier Statuette (can't talk to Triss atm), and Tower outta Nowhere which I believe is one of the free DLC quests (makes a reference to DRM and GOG). For witcher contracts I only have 4 left undone, 2 of which are out of level range I think (33 and 35). And then yeah like 12 treasure hunts for Wolf, Bear, and Griffin crap.

Maybe I missed some noticeboards I'll take another look. Though putting off the main story to grind for levels at this point doesnt sound greatly appealing. Oh well.

PS: Though I'm pretty sure even if I completed every side quest I have left in my tracker currently, I'd at most gain 1 level. I'm only like 10% along to level 26.

[Duncan]

You still have a half of the main plot ahead of you, and these mission are very rich in exp lol.

[Amigo]

Just play the game dude. Enjoy yourself.

[Reoden]

Originally posted by Amigo:

Just play the game dude. Enjoy yourself.

That's a pretty useless answer, m8. I am enjoying myself, but this is something that has been bugging me for a while now. Google didn't provide much insight, so I'm asking here.

Originally posted by Duncan:

You still have a half of the main plot ahead of you, and these mission are very rich in exp lol.

Well, I've seen a quest list for Act 3, didn't look that long. I do believe the last major story mission I did gave like 400 Exp, while I finished that Tower Outta Nowhere quest a while ago and only got 40 exp for it. So guess I'll probably get a few more levels by the time the main quest line ends. But I'll be surprised if I'm any higher than like lvl 30 by then.


On a side note,

I read that after completing the main story quests you can still go back and finish Witcher Contracts and Treasure Hunts, right?

[Duncan]

Yes, after the main story you will get back to the world and continue playing.

As for your level, I'll be surprised if you finish being lower than 35. The last quests are ridiculous in exp amounts, 1k, 2k exp just for talking to someone easily.

[Reoden]

Originally posted by Duncan:

Yes, after the main story you will get back to the world and continue playing.

As for your level, I'll be surprised if you finish being lower than 35. The last quests are ridiculous in exp amounts, 1k, 2k exp just for talking to someone easily.

Ah, alright. Didn't expect they would give quite that much. Thanks for all the info.

[Sleeping Giant]

I always start with secondary quests. After finish them all I do the contracts and finally the treasure hunts. I ve never had a problem with lvling cause I always had the best armor set. I could go any mission easy. So I think your situation is normal. Lvling its not easy but the progression is viable. I finished the game 3 times in death match and the expansions too. :D

[Reoden]

Originally posted by Duncan:

Yes, after the main story you will get back to the world and continue playing.

As for your level, I'll be surprised if you finish being lower than 35. The last quests are ridiculous in exp amounts, 1k, 2k exp just for talking to someone easily.

Seems you were quite right. After handling certain events at Kaer Morhen, which were more or less two quests, I've shot up to lvl 28, almost 29.

[pie gie]

There are alot of balancing issues with this game, but luckly a couple of mods fix that.

[HealthyGamer255]

There are a lot of xp quests you can stumble over my advice is DO NOT USE FAST TRAVEL AND ENJOY THE GAME WITHOUT FAST TRAVEL SON

[Reoden]

Originally posted by HealthyGamer255:

There are a lot of xp quests you can stumble over my advice is DO NOT USE FAST TRAVEL AND ENJOY THE GAME WITHOUT FAST TRAVEL SON

Congratulations on coming up with a comment that seems about equal parts patronizing and useless, "Son."

If you've bothered to read any of the previous replies, you might have learned a few things:

This has nothing to do with fast travel. I've done most of the side quests, and I'm at a level where many sidequests are only really done for their own enjoyment. Understanding of simple math might have helped you realize that doing a sidequest that provides 3 exp isn't going to help me level up very quickly at all when I need 2000 exp. Even if I found a side quest that gave 40 exp, it's still merely a drop in the bucket.

A better answer was already provided: the end game main mission quests give a disproportionate amount of exp relative to other quests. I probably gained something like 7000 or 8000 Exp from certain events at Kaer Morhen (More specifically the Battle of Kaer Morhen and Blood on the Battlefield quests). So all in all I would say, yeah the level progression is kind of screwed up, and you do "catch up" in levels towards the end.

[Duncan]

Yeah, for some reason CDPR decided to go their own route. Instead of using classical geometrical progression experience per level scaling, they went with "each level is only 1000, 1500 or 2000 exp" but totally cutting side quests exp rewards basically attaching your level progression to your main quest progression. People who avoid all side content end the game with ~29, people who do everything usually end up ~35. Only 6 level difference, with basically 100 hours spent more.

It has its share of logics, but I'm personally not a fan of this design decision. And overall the way levels are handled in the game i.e. level based buffs/debuffs (+-500%dmg if level is 5+ or -5) and overall feeling of randomness in enemy and quest level distribution across the maps.

[Reoden]

Yeah, overall I think it's a great game and I've enjoyed my time with it, but there's no denying some questionable design decisions were made. I'm not a big fan of that 5 level gap magic switch that turns enemies from tigers into kittens depending on whether you're 5 levels or 6 levels apart. Though there are definitely worse offenders, like Iorveth's rather conspicuous absence.

I suspect this bit about the level progression being tied so strictly to the main story quests was an intentional move to cater to a more casual mainstream audience. You can mess around with sidequests and spend an extra 100 hours on the game, but it'll be for it's own sake. The game will still throw heaps of experience at you from the main story missions to make sure you don't fall too far behind if you ignore the side quests. Meh, I suppose that's alright. It's probably better than forcing people to do sidequests in order to be able to complete the main story. If you don't comeplete them you're likely to be punished with a reduced influence on the ending anyway, I guess.

[Duncan]

Originally posted by Reoden:

Though there are definitely worse offenders, like Iorveth's rather conspicuous absence.

He was cut out.
http://wccftech.com/witcher-3-dev-comments-iorveths-cut-content-blood-wine-games-finale/