I have played through the White Orchard and the difficulty was fair. The difficulty of a level 4 wolf when you are level 2 was very hard, nut not impossible, for example. Same with the Griffin. It all seemed reasonable.

Now in Valen, at level 5, I am going on level 6 quests (like the Bloody Baron/Botchling quest) and am feeling I am in a level 10 mission. Same with the Witch/Elven Ruin quest.

I am now very suspicious of quest levels now, and feel I will need to be level 10 to take on the level 7 quest to find the guy's wife, for example!

Any comments?

Which is your difficulty level, UK_John?

If it's higher than "Only the Story": Did you learn and practise the basic melee techniques in White Orchard?

If not, but you want to enjoy the next 100 or 200 hours of the game, then I would propose to take half an hour and learn and practise them:

Dodge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fzby0f-rwU

Roll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1y8Hy34LQM

Parry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p0SQeeKJdE

Counterattack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0qB6Mwbb8w

And if you combine it with signs, bombs, oils, potions etc. then you will see: Things get easier and easier and that TW3-combat is fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUx_9l42M7g Do you mean the "Wild at Heart"-quest? You can do it on Level 5 on Death March - if you find out a proper technique. The Werewolf is sensitive to Devil's Puffball - and to Axii (out of the box is sufficient):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIUmq6F4_ug

Good luck!

I think I didn't explain myself clearly. I mean that, for example in the Mage/Elven Ruin (wandering around a huge ruin with poison gas and so on) quest I fought level 5 Wild Hunt dogs and wraiths, but the Wild Hunt guy with the axe, opening rifts with more dogs while he re-healed was no way level 5 in my mind. Overall, including the Wild Hunt guy, was level 7 in my mind. And I play on normal difficulty, and did do the tutorial and do know how to roll and dodge etc. I am just pointing out that in a quest now all enemies seem to be at quest level in my mind.

We can always fall back on me not knowing what I am doing or not finding the right items, but you're assuming I cannot compete these quests; I have, but I still feel within a level you can have enemies that don't seem to be the level the quest says it is. I repeat if the Wild Hunt dogs are level 5 how can the giant Wild Hunt guy with the huge axe and big hit was level 5? It just makes me suspicious of quest levels, and feel they are a bit out of whack, as my initial comment pointed out.

I have to thank you for the links, it was a superlative reply! I also went to the You Tube video's found out they were your's and went to each one and gave a thumb's up! I also gave you +1 to GOG rep!

Thx for your nice reply, UK-John, appreciated. Yes, this early boss fight isn't easy. Its the longest of all my boss fights (2:15) of the whole game, expansions included. But it's a typical TW1/2/3 boss fight: On the first sight they seem to be very hard, perhaps impossible. But as soon as you find the King's Way(s), you will see that they are doable at the indicated level. They are some kind of riddle: Which combat tactics, signs, oils, bombs fit best on the way to success?

Concerning the Nithral: He is sensitive to Axii and Samum. You get 2 or 3 free strong hits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUaAP4WWmeE

(DL: Death March with Enemy Upscaling ON)

You are in an early phase of the game, UK_John, a phase when you get familiar with all the combat techniques the game offers. It feels hard sometimes, that's normal. But I'm pretty sure that this will change soon - and then will come the phase when you feel overleveled :)

Yes, I accept all you say. But let me give another example. the Level 8 :Shrieker" quest for the army commandant for gold and a pass. I thought as you need that pass, the quest was an 8, but it turned out to be 5/6 Scoiatel that were no worse than level 4 bandits. I dispatched them easily. I think this was a level 5 quest not a level 8 quest so, for me, it's a little whacked both ways!

Sure, that's the difference between a boss fight and an everyday encounter. But give the elves your weapons and quarrel with them afterwards: Lvl + 2.

Don't take the level recommendations too seriously, UK_John. There is some misleveling of the devs, no doubt. Don't let your mood be spoiled by it. As long as you move in a range Geralt's level / Geralt's level +5 you will be on the safe side in most cases - with the exception of boss fights.

Oh no, I won't, it just leaves me not sure of quest levels just like not being sure of the results of decisions in the story! I am sure some will come back and bite me in the butt! :) I will just throw another one at you as a closer. In Valen there are TWO Shrieker quests. I described the first one in my last message, this second one was against a cockatrice! Gotta love Valen! :)

Thanks for all your nice words and the great video's. Makes me feel the world is a little bit better with you in it! :)

The quest lvls are fine...if its too hard you need to change your play style.

I struggled a lot in my first playthrough as well. It will get much easier trust me, and I don't mean to sound condescending but are you taking advantage of oils and alchemy such as boms and potions/decotions? They make all the difference and really are part of the Witcher trade and what makes them such deadly killers. Oh and use your trophies from monsters too! They can give exp boosts against certain monsters. The quest levels are definitely okay, however it will probably serve you well to explore and find side quests that can help level you up too.

Best of luck on the path!

Yeah, the game is VERY unbalanced. There are random areas of monsters 15-20+ levels above me completely surrounding the level 10 areas I need to get to. To me, for the first 50 hours, it was clutch butt-clenching, with a diaper on stand-by as I tried to get to the mission areas. My personal fave was the level 7 wraiths in a witcher gear location, with a surprise enema from a level 22 lechen.

I don't know why they designed the game this way. But, I'm sure it makes for good reaction videos for streamers.

Forgot to add, others hit on it in this topic...once you get oils and start getting your mutagen/skill slots filled matching the colors whenever possible, also getting good gear after doing the butt-clench olympics, you'll be able to handle quests 6-8 levels above you sometimes w/ relative ease. The mechanics are rather generous at higher levels, but at lower levels, they definitely make you scream like a girl.
P.S.- I recommend you do the witcher gear scavenger quests. That gear is very strong for their levels.

I have a few of the cat scavenger quests done, but because most Witcher gear quests are level 20 plus, by the time I could do them (level 17-20 or so) I found that they were weaker than the weapons/armour I had found in loot or bought in merchants. They should have been lower level quests to make the gear useful. I feel the main reason getting the initial gear is you need it to get the enhanced gear, which is much better, rather than actually use what you find. I am now level 23, so am now going for the level 25+ gear quests.