Healing on hard

So, I see there aren't any gameplay questions on this yet - I realize it's not out for everyone. On the stream last Friday I recall Alex saying he heard that normal was too easy. However, apparently on hard, you don't heal when you meditate, and can only do so by using consumables. I get the feeling that I'm going to go broke with all the water I need to buy just to stay alive. Is this basically a situation where if I take too much damage, reload (in which case I'll probably knock down the difficulty) or am I missing a straightforward mechanic?

From what i understand your potions regenerate when you meditate, so make that vitality potion early. And you can put a early skillpoint into that skill with passive vitality regen during daytime. Thats what i did anyway.

Well if you are just reloading every fight until you take no damage you are better off playing on easy.

I would recommend playing on Blood and Broken Bones if you want a challenge first couple of fights feel tough but it quickly evens out, it feels right to fear wandering into dangerous places Quen is still very useful for taking those first few hits I haven't played enough to give any specific tips but if your trying to never get hit just play on normal.

Colin Moriarty said on Colin and Greg Live today that he started playing on the highest difficulty, and found it impossible, then knocked it down to hard and found that too difficult as well before settling on normal. Take from that what you will.

The food is relatively cheap, and you can get a talent very early on that will give you passive regeneration out of combat.

As far as difficulty goes I started off playing on the hard setting and went and killed the level 7 (skull) wraith in the cemetery near the starting town right off the bat at level 1, took a couple of tries, but no potions or nothing was really necessary, just dodge and weave sprinkle some aard here and there, easy life.

Who needs health when you have Quen?

I've put in about 3 hours so far and have died a couple times. Just try to keep Quen up at all times in combat in the early going and you'll be fine.

The game seems to be more about avoiding damage than healing through it. If you find that you need constant healing then you need to either find ways to avoid taking so much damage, or drop the difficulty down.

Oh yeah potions will replenish when you meditate, but they will use alcohol from your inventory to do so.

Pretty much this, although it does take one "hard alcohol" to refill your pots. But from what I've seen so far it won't be a major problem unless you're chugging like crazy.

I forgot what difficulty I used for Witcher 2, but I started on Hard and it's fine so far. Just keep your dodges and parries on the ready and keep Quen up as you learn the combat.

I stopped playing for the night because I'm too sleepy to focus, but so far I've just kinda wandered around the the village. I'm in no rush and the hard difficulty setting means I'll need to focus on not taking damage so I'm not wasting my supplies.

Considering how much food is around everywhere and that there's a talent that heals you during the day it's not that big of a problem, especially if you roll a lot (the normal dodge sucks) and keep Quen up.

Also there's enhanced versions of potions like Swallow and talents in the alchemy tree that heal you for taking any potion.

OK, I'm still level 1, so I didn't see the talents yet. That will probably be enough to get me by.

I started on hard, but switched to normal because everything felt more annoying than challenging. Getting killed in one combo by a drowner off screen wasn't doing it for me lol.

Play like lion tamer and you won't have much issue with hp. I've been hopping away from fools with the B button while casting Quen as soon as it's not already on my body. It's not so hard to stay overly safe in this game. Though you will most likely be a bit annoyed by small chip damage things like falling off short ledges or nudging a poison cloud...

And I regret focusing so hard on leveling the heavy attack for my hit and run strategy. Trying to hit some of the fast enemies with that is the wooooooorst. And my light attack feels gimped in comparison. T.T

I put it on normal so I could adjust to the combat. Those drowners still hit like a truck lol. Having fun so far but still trying to readjust to witcher speed. I may put it back up to hard but its whatever if I don't. I'll probably still get that regain vitality trait just because I don't feel like medicating every time I want to heal.

Hmmm. I'm still in Orchard, playing on Hard, and I'm choosing to invest in Quen early on. I plan to continue to invest in Quen. I'm assuming its a viable tactic, but I might just get that health regen ability to hopefully save some crowns.

I spent one of my earliest upgrade points on the talent that adds health regen. During the day it helps to top up your health after fights without having to eat half my wallets worth of food. At night it only regenerates during combat so I find myself meditating through until morning if it looks like I'm heading into combat.