Easiest way to find all the gwent cards

[rogermorse]

I am writing this in case someone searches the discussions, this will serve as a hint. I spent all my last 120 hours avoiding to miss cards. I never reloaded a save (luckily), and I will say how I managed to do that without too much effort (in the discussions and guides I found many hints but nothing really helpful regarding the random drops).

So:

1 - install this mod (version full) http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/943/? so you know the locations of every merchant/armorer/blacksmith you discovered in the game and can go back and challenge him/her. Without the mod, the icons will appear only if you are close to it. That means you can't check the world map to see the locations, without the mod.

2 - learn how to play the gwent game (obviously) right at the beginning of the game in white orchard

3 - buy every card from every merchant you meet, follow this list (http://gwentcards.com/) to know always exactly what you have and what not. Never forget to check a card right after you got it.

4 - wait till you get your deck strong (at least buy buying cards) otherwise you will just lose against everyone, by normally playing the quests and getting as many cards as you can, checking them on the gwent website list.

5 - use this interactive map (http://witcher3map.com/) to show all gwent players and merchants, and compare to your in-game map so you can easily find people you haven't challenged yet (thanks to the mod, that is displaying all merchants you have already encountered/played)


For instance, I was struggling with my last 10 random card drops (I only recently installed the map mod, I didn't have it in the beginning but I recommend using it), although I had explored all Velen and Skellige....eventually, thanks to the interactive map, I noticed many merchants that I did not stumble upon (that were not on my map), hidden in some alleys or very very small inns. So I went back to them and was able to get so many random drops I did not know I had missed.

Finally got them all....I will play now and then to see if I manage to get all my 5x blue commando stripes together + commander horn and admire them in all their power :D