Hey Guys,

I've recently started playing The Witcher 3 again, and I don't know if I'm doing something wrong. When I first played it, I played the first couple of hours, and got out of white orchard. I then had to find a man who would start "The Bloody Baron" questline. My current "to do" quests are "The Bloody Baron" and "Find the Witch". Now, I'm level 3, and these quests are both level 6. I've tried to level up, but I can't find a consistent way to do so. I've tried to find witcher contracts, and other sidequests, but they're all out of my level. (One in particular was level 33?!)

I've tried going to the ? mark spots on the map, but the last one I went to had a bunch of level 7 harpies, which were no problem solo, but they had a level 16 basilisk with them, which absolutely pasted me. Now, I've changed the difficulty to "Story only" because I really cant get on with the controls or combat, and this has kind of made things a bit easier. When I was on the second difficulty, I got ripped apart by these three dogs in a village. I beat them handily once I changed the difficulty back down, and I'm planning to stick with the game on the easiest difficulty, because I just wanna experience this "amazing story and world" that I hear so much praise from, from a lot of the fans of this game.

I'm not sure what I'm asking I guess. Is there an easier way to level? Doing a level 6 quest at level 3 seems a bit silly, and I can't seem to find secondary or witcher contract quests to give myself that extra edge.

Thanks!

The quests for your level are around man you just aren't finding them. The game just will throw you to the wolves in the environment so you gotta search. Also the early game is some of the harder times with the game period, in my memory.

Are you using Quen a lot? Especially early that's important. Using magic is really key. Also getting better gear is key too.

This all sounds a bit strange to me because I've always found myself over leveled for most things during my time with The Witcher 3. I'm curious - while in White Orchard, did you come across any of the Notice Boards and do most of the missions attached to those? I'm a bit surprised you ended up in Velen before you were at least level 7 or 8, honestly.

That aside, the combat doesn't get very taxing before you go to the difficulty above normal. My advice for the combat would be to activate Quen as soon as you're aware an enemy is nearby (it will last its normal amount of time, but if you activate it before the game goes into combat, your stamina will replenish almost immediately rather than on a slow timer) and then you can rotate to Igni or Axii until you get hit once. I found that the key to getting used to combat was definitely having my Quen shields up early and often. You should also equip the Swallow potion if you've learned it (I can't remember if it comes stock with Geralt or not); alcohol is PLENTIFUL in The Witcher and you should never hesitate to use the potions you've learned to brew.

Personally, I'm also not used to item damage in games so I almost never try to block/parry attacks (pretty sure you can't parry monsters, anyway). I just practiced my dodges and rolls until that made more sense and I could create/close distance like an acrobat. I've since come to learn this may be more consistent with Geralt's character in the novels this game is based on, anyway.

If you haven't, food is beyond bountiful as well and you shouldn't be shy about engorging yourself during battle. Heal those wounds (and keep your Quen up so they don't happen in the first place!)!

edit: re-reading this, I just wanted to establish that last summer when this game first came out I DID find the combat a little bit of a struggle for the first few hours, so I can remember what that felt like. My confusion is entirely about your being under-leveled, the combat tips come from having felt similarly about the game at one point.

Yeah you should go back to White Orchard and clear that area out. You should be higher level like @nodima says.

I'll nip back over to White Orchard and clear out all the stuff there. Didn't know you could go back. Cheers lads!

Don't forget all the places of power (meditation shrines) in White Orchard. Each one gives you a skill point to spend.

Also, quests that are 3-4 levels above your own are totally doable, that's why they're colored as doable, they're not red or grey or whatever color it is that makes them too high.

Like other people have said, you really got to clear out White Orchard. While you're there, make sure you tag the Places of Power to get free upgrade points. I think there are five of them there. Enough to get the achievement for having all the buffs in you at once.