I'm sorry if the updates lately have been slow and some things have still rough edges (as NG+). I am currently moving to another location and so I'm quite busy. From Monday onward, however, I will start working on the mod full time as before and I will update the mod fully with the new changes incorporated by CDPR. I will also begin fine tuning the mod with changes to individual enemies that are too strong or weak.
So have a little more patience as from Monday onward I will catch up the mod to the latest (and planned) updates of CDPR (they decided to do all these updates just while I was moving out, damn my luck).
Just a little update to reassure you that everything is fine and it is just a matter of a busy schedule that, however, will end soon and everything will return to normal after that.
Again I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If you see something not working properly with the latest CDPR updates please post the bugs as a reply to this post so I can catch up what are the things to adjust easily.
UPDATE (24 August):
Ok, now I am ready to begin working on the update (I'm still finishing fixing things for the new place but the bulk is done so I have some free time to work on the mod). Thank you all for your kind words and feedback. I hope to have an update ready soon (a couple of days I think).
@Modny: I personally like the skill slot system as it is and I actually think that with the way BCE works (with all the basic Witcher techniques known and practically just improvements on existent abilities) it would make the game less reliant on decisions. However I will think about it and maybe create an optional download for those that like that system more. I will see.
@ZeroTheHero: Thank you very much for the save games and your feedback! Those save games will help me greatly on pinpointing some of the issues you are describing and hopefully tweak settings in a way that I can balance them as much as possible. I don't sincerely know yet if it is fully possible to balance the ratio of singular vs. pack enemies for the way the settings are made but I will see what I can do, or, at the very least, tweak things in a way that there's less disparity between pack of enemies and singular ones and between certain kind of enemies vs. others. So thank you again for your feedback and those save games as with them it will be much easier for me fix things.
UPDATE (27 August): I'm still working on the new version. Balancing group of monsters vs. single ones it is not an easy task and it is taking some time because I have to test everytime the changes in the game. However I'm at a good point now and the update is almost done. I adjusted the strength of NG+ and increased many Mutagens effects. I also reinstated bonuses on levelups because in this way the gameplay progression is better (with the other changes in BCE the bonuses on levelups are not as intrustive as vanilla and they are a good way to have Geralt increase by and by in power without giving a fixed bonus on NG+).
UPDATE (1 September): Sorry for the wait, I thought the update would take just a couple of days and a week has already passed. Balancing properly strength of single enemies vs. groups is something that takes a lot of time and it is a tricky process; if I had to reach a perfect balance it would probably take weeks of work, but I think that I reached a well enough balance now that, while not perfect, is much better than it was before (however, sincerely, some of the problematics in the balance ratio are present also in vanilla, and CDPR have groups of testers and programmers). What remains to be done now is to revisit a little the bonuses on mutagens and then check the Wild Hunt bosses and then the new version is ready. I'm sorry again for the wait, but believe me, this update was the most complicated one by far and by testing various game sections there were fights that had a clear unbalance versus other sections, so that had to be adjusted even if it takes a while.
One question : If i play with BCE today (normal game, not NG+) and if you update your mod in some day, does it break my game ? May be i should restart a new game ?
@Lautreamont - I want to share some suggestion with you. As far as I know (http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/416/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fwitcher3%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D416%26preview%3D&pUp=1) it is possible to make almost every skill to work without use slots. Until it is impossible to change number of slots or mechanics of General Skills Tree, maybe good idea would be modify abillities in that tree and make them as passive bonuses. Then that tree could be useful at least. Now its hard to decide use more than one, maybe two abillities (and the most of them is definitely not worth to invest) and lost bonuses form mutagens. Made these skills properly weaker and available without slots would be give that tree second life and its own specificity. What do you think?
No need to be sorry, man. Just leaving a comment here to endorse what someone already said: you made a great game even greater. Keep up the good work, you're awsome.
Good idea, I'd also like to add that increased potion durations (similiar to w2) and no level restrictions for armors&weapons mods fits this mod perfectly. Only a few tweaks are needed to run them together, which I do and having a blast, maybe you could add them to your mod also?
There's a mod which make all skill works without use slots for them. I dont want that solution because I like how it was solve in vanillia. It need some changes but not left slots only for mutagens bonuses.
Excuse me for citing myself, but my post is now on the the second page of the comments and I'm afraid that Lautreamont will not see it (if he has not already, then excuse me again), and I wouldn't want it to happen. The post is under the spoiler as it's quite big. There are some info about bugs I noticed in it, as well.
Spoiler:
Show
I've just runned through the game with BCE from Kaer Morhen defence to the very end (I used cleardevelop console command and some other tricks to continue my walkthrough from there having the same level I should've had playing BCE from the beginning) on Death March and have something to say about the balance in the late game. I stress out that everything I say is about my impressions of the LATE game, and in early game it may be different and I therefore may be wrong. I also have completed not many sidequests as it was my 2nd playthrough in a row and I was somewhat tired of the game.
Here is a package of my saved games from different points of the game: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ri8DXvIB31S1VDMEpWdTRuX3c/view?usp=sharing
But first of all - I want to applaud you, Lautreamont, because what you did is awesome and great. I was a little sceptical about your changes to the skill tree but now I see everything you did was right. It just feels great, as build diversity is actually greatly improved, every skill (well, maybe but 2-3 of them) is interesting and balanced. Playing is much more interesting and challenging. You've made a great game greater.
Now to the feedback I wanted to give.
1) Bugs. I've actually seen only two - even one on fact. If Geralt has 3/3 Lightning Reflexes time stops entirely when you aim the crossbow - you can rotate the camera aroung static Geralt, but nothing moves and you can't shoot or get out of aiming no matter what you do. Only way out is to load the game. Same thing happens if you have 4/5 or 5/5 in Steady Aim and aim with a bomb.
2) Regular enemies strength. I'm afraid that enemy damage/hp (mostly damage) needs thorough tweaking, at least in the late game, as some mobs (mostly those in packs) deal very high gamage and are very hard to kill, and some mobs (mostly single ones) deal very little damage and are not that healthy. Good example of what I'm talking about are some saved games I provided: one is a fight against several 15 lvl ghouls and a rotfiend in the dungeons of Deira (resquing Margarita quest) - it was VERY hard; second is a fight with 26 lvl Armored Arachas on Skellige, and third is the Fire Elemental you have to fight when chasing Philippa - both were too easy, moslty because their damage was very low compared to those necrophages in the dungeon. Overall, it seems that almost all necrophages are overpowered, even when they are 10-20 levels below you, and almost every other enemy in 20-30 level bracket needs like 1.5 times more HP and maybe even 2 times more damage (well, on Death March at least). During the final run to the Naglfar, Wild Hunt warriors were extremely weak (~2-3k hp) while the hounds felt overpowered (~20k hp). Examples of really nice balance were Wild Hunt minions during Kaer Morhen battle, elven wraiths in the Sunstone dungeon, every fight against humans I had and an Archgriffin lvl 35 contract (though I'd like to increase his HP and damage about 1.5 times because why it's a 35 lvl contract and not 25).
3) Bosses. I'm talking about Wild Hunt generals - Imlerith, Caranthir and Eredin, and Weavess in the bad ending (yeah, I tried it in this playthrough). Imlerith was a really good boss even in vanilla, as he hitted really hard making your mistakes count and was hard to harm due to his shield. His 2nd phase was fun and required you to be extremely precise with your rolls. In BCE he is pretty much the same, maybe a little harder as you are of a lower level now and I think it's good and he doesn't need any tweaks. Caranthir has somewhat stupid mechanics as it's easy to dodge him, he can't block your attacks and it's very easy to make him kill his own sumonned elementals. Maybe if it's possible to make elementals immune to his damage it will make tha fight noticeably harder (maybe with the modkit it is possible now). His HP also needs to be buffed like 1.5 times, imo. Those changes combined will make it necessary to dispatch his elementals sometimes. His damage was more or less OK imo. Eredin - well, if someone should be a F***ING HARD BOSS, it's him. Unfortunately, I killed him in the first try. His mechanics are okay, as his attacks are not that easy to dodge and he makes quite fast combos. But his damage output is just ridiculous for the last boss - even his full combo was not able to get me to at least 30% hp, and you will not be hurt by a full combo unless you are going for it on purpose. Imo he needs like 3 times more damage - and I don't think I'm exaggerating. His HP should be doubled as well - yes, I've heard someone below in the comments complained that his HP goes down extremely slow, but I didn't notice that, maybe because I was in a strong attack build with some armor penetration - if that's the case, maybe he should be made less armor-dependent (more HP, less armor). Come on, he's the final boss, he should be _frustratingly_ powerful on Death March. Weavess was a little hard only because of her minions, but I don't think she should be harder because, well, this is already hard enough psychologically, you know.
4) Rend. It seemed VERY weak to me right now as it deals at best 40-50% more damage than a regular strong attack (or than a critical strong attack if it crits) even with full stamina bar and 3 adrenaline points. Considiring it's cost and risk you take while performing it - that's way too low, though it sometimes is handy against shielded humans. It needs to be said that Rend in vanilla was a very strange thing for me - it dealt very different damage to different enemies. Sometimes it hitted like a truck (e.q. against Imlerith), and sometimes it was 1.5 times weaker then a regular strong attack (e.g. against an Arachas) even with full stamina bar and 2-3 adrenaline points. I had a guess that it ignores armor and because of that it was effective againstheavily armored enemies, but trolls received very little damage too and they look armored. Maybe it was just me hallucinating badly, maybe it really happens in a way in your mod too and that's why I think it's weak, but it seems to be gone in BCE (though just weak now) as I've dealt ~ the same damage to every enemy.
5) Mutagen decoctions (and Leshy trophy). I won't say much as Philozoraptor already said it all and I agree - they simply should be a little more powerful for their toxicity, as Aquired Tolerance is now gone. I will only add that I think Leshy Trophy adding 50 max toxicity is too much - 30 or 35 would be enough. Trophies are powerful in BCE and I like that, I just think this one is a little OP.
I see people complaining about Ciri's gameplay but I can say that her parts from Kaer Morhen defence and onwards were okay for me, I think her damage there should be even nerfed. In earlier game it can easily be much harder, can't say anything.
I hope this and my savegames are helpful and will not be outdated soon because everyone playing NG+ now.
Sorry for advertising my mods here, but perhaps you would want to incorporate some of my mods into yours. If you want feel free to do that. I try to have BC compatible versions any time its necessary. Ignore Pain Overhaul, Oils overhauled, Quen overhaul, Sign scaling mod, Enemy level scaling, Tweaks for Better Combat Enhanced - submod, Default Inventory tap set to potions, Better Icons. You can find all the links necessary here http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/493/?
Great mod but what if I would play with that mod then uninstall it and then install it again and continue playing not on the new save but that save with mod? { I wrote that question under those posts but I wrote it again because here it would be easier to see }
Maybe instead of levelup bonuses you could buff gear(more hp/attack power) simply because geralt shouln't be able to get significantly physically stronger as a 100 year old mutant in a few months.
As it is, this mod works really great even on NG+, except for some underbalance fistfighting and signs power, i'm using it on DM with the upscaling ennemies mods (all ennemies are at least 6lvl above G's lvl) So i agree with unstopable87, Geralt should only gain power by acquiring new and more powerfull stuff with more upgrading slots
No. Unitl you wont use two mods which change the same files, everything works. If you are not sure (mod is changing .bundle files) I recommend you to use modKitchen (http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/389/?) to unpack files and check its compatibility and if something is wrong - merge these mods. For chcecking if there's any incompatibillity in scrpits - there is already excellent tool - http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/484
You're even balancing the entire thing (or trying to)? Wow that's what I call dedication!
I alway sthought taht this mod + some overhauled enemies mod (something like give bosses special moves, make them use em faster and give different levels of drowners a few different skils) would make for the perfect "Witcher Souls" experience.
And with you at least balancing the enemies this mod alone come a step closer. Thank you : )
Any chance of Cat decoction getting its duration back? "Limit your options in a long underground fight by spamming new Cat every 4 minutes OR don't see" is pretty annoying choice to make.
Hey Lautreamont if you make a new update to the mod and release it, will I need to start a new game or can I continue from my last save that is using current BCE?
And I think you should try incorporating less economy to the player like Ucross hardcore mod, so players really have to be smart with money earned ingame.
Testing mods in Witcher 3 can truly be a pain. It's not quite as easy as it is in a game like Skyrim where it just takes a couple of console commands to see if everything works.
Just letting you know that I am super amped about trying this mod out, even if it means I have to start a new game (after 50 hours...). I really appreciate the work your putting into this game, and how receptive you are to feedback. You're doing a great job!
You can just drop all the stuff in your inventory, open up the console and type "cleardevelop" then setlevel(*thelevelyouwere*) and then pick your stuff back up and assign your skillpoints.
Forgot about cleardevelop... Although console-generating items has not exactly worked in the past, so I don't know if I'll actually be able to get all those quest items back
Guys and gals, it is really not hard to make the mod compatible with the current state of the game by using the mod tools, plus you can install the mod with the "new" method, which is way better in every aspect, especially regards to merging with other db editing mods. I've been playing for dozens of hours, though balance can be off sometimes, it is really easy to tweak and update accordingly. I'm sure Lautreamont has a lot work already, so stop whining and get to work. yeah, tough words
He mentioned relocating. Even with the best luck, any relocation is almost certain to take longer than expected. He also seems like the type who (in the best of intentions) tends to stretch himself a little thin which tends to lead to less than realistic projections (common in software development).
I speculate that the expansion announcement has further thrown things out of wack. It makes perfect sense to go as far as to drop a few things and resched around its release. Given his last posts, it's understandable if he decides these reasons to be not worth the communication. I'd only worry if he was unemployed and completely free of any other responsibilities.
Would this mod be good for a playthrough now, so close to the upcoming expansion?
If I used this mod, would I then have to wait for the creator to go in and update it for the expansion?
Also, I understand you can't apply this mod to an existing game, but if it doesn't work with the expansion, can you remove the mod and it'll be as normal?
You will have to wait for the mod to be updated before starting the expansion. You can't uninstall the mod mid-playthrough. The author probably can't update the mod quickly because he has other stuff to do (which is ok, personal life goes first) and he is still busy with NG+ balancing, so if you can't wait for the expansion don't play this mod just yet, either wait or start without.
Stupid question guys: Does new game + counts as a new game like you would start a completely new game? So do parts of the Mod work with ng+ which needed a new game if you installed\updated the Mod midway in the game?^^
Well if the author no longer intends to work on this, I'm sure there would be many willing to take over. There is no doubt that bce is the definitive gameplay mod, but exactly because of that it kinda obstructs any other big-scale gameplay mods. Building over the mod would seem a bit like stealing, but maybe we should take this to the forums, then make a community project that would keep the spirit of the mod and update it, until the author returns, ofc.
it's a pity, I wish there was a way to take the spinning out of combat. As a swordsman (amateur) the spinning really bothers me. Some of the turning is alright, but that's er . . . different and a hard to explain caveat.
Has this been abandoned? Is it even working with the latest version of the game? I reinstalled java like 2 times and it always says there is a problem installing the mod. I tried with NMM and manual.
I'm currently working on a project very similar to BCE. I've taken many ideas from BCE, Ucross's Hardcore Mod, and Brutal Combat to make a very nice over-all combat modification. It's currently in the final stages of testing, just rounding-out balancing and checking for errors. Should be released by the end of the week.
"BETTER COMBAT EVOLVED", COMING TO A NEXUS NEAR YOU! FALL, 2015!
after trying ucross, I'm a bit ambivalent since he guts a *lot* of skills from the game, altho I definitely like a lot of the stuff he's done. glad you came back and posted an update! I'm betting you have a lot of people looking to migrate o _ o
You guys should totally check Better Combat Evolved.
It does pretty much everything better combat enhanced did right and even more. Mod support has also being great, the guys working on it are really open to feedback and are always keeping the mod up to date with the patches and improving on it.
Oh yeah, and as a bonus you can install the mod on existing saves, you don't have to start a new game!
For some reason setup.exe and InstallBCE.bat don't work. It says couldn't find witcher 3 directory and sht. I saw the patch and xml folder is there way to install the mod manually with those folders?
So I'm trying to download the mod, but when I choose the *The Witcher 3* file it apparently does not contain the files \bin, \content and \dlc even if I am sure i have them, or should the files have this *\* symbol in front of them?
Impossible to install, a problem that apparently has been occuring for years with this mod but the creator never even adress it once. It's a shame because it looks interesting. Don't bother dowloading it
If you're getting "no proper game directory selected" or whatever, it's because the batch file for the installer points to what I assume is an outdated location.
1. Go to WSM_Better_Combat_Enhanced\res\ 2. Right click InstallBC.bat 3. Click Edit (If it doesn't show up, just open it with notepad.) 4. Hit Ctrl+H (or click edit -> replace) 5. In the first box, type patch0 6. In the second box, type patch1 7. Click "replace all" 8. Ctrl+S to save (or file -> save, NOT "save as," NORMAL save!)
Try running the installer again.
The issue was that it appears that patch0 and patch1 got swapped at some point and this mod doesn't take that into account because of, I presume, its age.
Here's the fun bit: I don't know if the mod even works! It's 4 AM and I'm going to bed, so someone else can actually try playing to see if it works! If I remember, I'll come back and edit this or post again. Sorry, wish I could've told you if it worked directly, but I'm just too exhausted. But I know for a fact it will install! (And it's not lying, it can take a while for the install to complete.)
When I select Steam, steamapps, common, The Witcher 3 folder, containing bin, DLC and content folders, a warning pops up saying selected folder is not game home folder, game home folder should contain /bin, /dlc, /content...I mean...what do I do?
Death March (insane): reserved only for the most experienced players of Witcher 3 overexaggeration. a youtuber did a 24 level quest with 24 level enemies while he was level 12 and survived 1 hit. 12 levels difference on highest difficulty and still didn't die with 1 hit. do quests at your level and you'll be fine. and if you have mods it'll be even better.
i downloaded the java and restart the computer but it keep saying "Error: Installation failed: no proper game directory selected." and i 100% sure that is the the witcher 3 folder. "F:\Steam download\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3" how dafuq that could be wrong help me pls?
ok so i follow the step and change patch0 to patch1 and now i can install the mod but how ever, my game not chane a bit, i try both manually and automaticaly but nothing change i try new save game but it still the same pls hep?
Give Feedback
1424 comments
I'm sorry if the updates lately have been slow and some things have still rough edges (as NG+). I am currently moving to another location and so I'm quite busy. From Monday onward, however, I will start working on the mod full time as before and I will update the mod fully with the new changes incorporated by CDPR. I will also begin fine tuning the mod with changes to individual enemies that are too strong or weak.
So have a little more patience as from Monday onward I will catch up the mod to the latest (and planned) updates of CDPR (they decided to do all these updates just while I was moving out, damn my luck).
Just a little update to reassure you that everything is fine and it is just a matter of a busy schedule that, however, will end soon and everything will return to normal after that.
Again I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If you see something not working properly with the latest CDPR updates please post the bugs as a reply to this post so I can catch up what are the things to adjust easily.
UPDATE (24 August):
Ok, now I am ready to begin working on the update (I'm still finishing fixing things for the new place but the bulk is done so I have some free time to work on the mod). Thank you all for your kind words and feedback. I hope to have an update ready soon (a couple of days I think).
@Modny:
I personally like the skill slot system as it is and I actually think that with the way BCE works (with all the basic Witcher techniques known and practically just improvements on existent abilities) it would make the game less reliant on decisions. However I will think about it and maybe create an optional download for those that like that system more. I will see.
@ZeroTheHero:
Thank you very much for the save games and your feedback! Those save games will help me greatly on pinpointing some of the issues you are describing and hopefully tweak settings in a way that I can balance them as much as possible. I don't sincerely know yet if it is fully possible to balance the ratio of singular vs. pack enemies for the way the settings are made but I will see what I can do, or, at the very least, tweak things in a way that there's less disparity between pack of enemies and singular ones and between certain kind of enemies vs. others. So thank you again for your feedback and those save games as with them it will be much easier for me fix things.
UPDATE (27 August):
I'm still working on the new version. Balancing group of monsters vs. single ones it is not an easy task and it is taking some time because I have to test everytime the changes in the game. However I'm at a good point now and the update is almost done. I adjusted the strength of NG+ and increased many Mutagens effects. I also reinstated bonuses on levelups because in this way the gameplay progression is better (with the other changes in BCE the bonuses on levelups are not as intrustive as vanilla and they are a good way to have Geralt increase by and by in power without giving a fixed bonus on NG+).
UPDATE (1 September):
Sorry for the wait, I thought the update would take just a couple of days and a week has already passed. Balancing properly strength of single enemies vs. groups is something that takes a lot of time and it is a tricky process; if I had to reach a perfect balance it would probably take weeks of work, but I think that I reached a well enough balance now that, while not perfect, is much better than it was before (however, sincerely, some of the problematics in the balance ratio are present also in vanilla, and CDPR have groups of testers and programmers). What remains to be done now is to revisit a little the bonuses on mutagens and then check the Wild Hunt bosses and then the new version is ready.
I'm sorry again for the wait, but believe me, this update was the most complicated one by far and by testing various game sections there were fights that had a clear unbalance versus other sections, so that had to be adjusted even if it takes a while.
Take your time, real life is more important ;)
One question : If i play with BCE today (normal game, not NG+) and if you update your mod in some day, does it break my game ? May be i should restart a new game ?
Thank s for your work ;)
PS : sorry for my baaad english...
Until it is impossible to change number of slots or mechanics of General Skills Tree, maybe good idea would be modify abillities in that tree and make them as passive bonuses. Then that tree could be useful at least. Now its hard to decide use more than one, maybe two abillities (and the most of them is definitely not worth to invest) and lost bonuses form mutagens.
Made these skills properly weaker and available without slots would be give that tree second life and its own specificity.
What do you think?
I've just runned through the game with BCE from Kaer Morhen defence to the very end (I used cleardevelop console command and some other tricks to continue my walkthrough from there having the same level I should've had playing BCE from the beginning) on Death March and have something to say about the balance in the late game. I stress out that everything I say is about my impressions of the LATE game, and in early game it may be different and I therefore may be wrong. I also have completed not many sidequests as it was my 2nd playthrough in a row and I was somewhat tired of the game.
Here is a package of my saved games from different points of the game: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ri8DXvIB31S1VDMEpWdTRuX3c/view?usp=sharing
But first of all - I want to applaud you, Lautreamont, because what you did is awesome and great. I was a little sceptical about your changes to the skill tree but now I see everything you did was right. It just feels great, as build diversity is actually greatly improved, every skill (well, maybe but 2-3 of them) is interesting and balanced. Playing is much more interesting and challenging. You've made a great game greater.
Now to the feedback I wanted to give.
1) Bugs. I've actually seen only two - even one on fact. If Geralt has 3/3 Lightning Reflexes time stops entirely when you aim the crossbow - you can rotate the camera aroung static Geralt, but nothing moves and you can't shoot or get out of aiming no matter what you do. Only way out is to load the game. Same thing happens if you have 4/5 or 5/5 in Steady Aim and aim with a bomb.
2) Regular enemies strength. I'm afraid that enemy damage/hp (mostly damage) needs thorough tweaking, at least in the late game, as some mobs (mostly those in packs) deal very high gamage and are very hard to kill, and some mobs (mostly single ones) deal very little damage and are not that healthy. Good example of what I'm talking about are some saved games I provided: one is a fight against several 15 lvl ghouls and a rotfiend in the dungeons of Deira (resquing Margarita quest) - it was VERY hard; second is a fight with 26 lvl Armored Arachas on Skellige, and third is the Fire Elemental you have to fight when chasing Philippa - both were too easy, moslty because their damage was very low compared to those necrophages in the dungeon. Overall, it seems that almost all necrophages are overpowered, even when they are 10-20 levels below you, and almost every other enemy in 20-30 level bracket needs like 1.5 times more HP and maybe even 2 times more damage (well, on Death March at least). During the final run to the Naglfar, Wild Hunt warriors were extremely weak (~2-3k hp) while the hounds felt overpowered (~20k hp). Examples of really nice balance were Wild Hunt minions during Kaer Morhen battle, elven wraiths in the Sunstone dungeon, every fight against humans I had and an Archgriffin lvl 35 contract (though I'd like to increase his HP and damage about 1.5 times because why it's a 35 lvl contract and not 25).
3) Bosses. I'm talking about Wild Hunt generals - Imlerith, Caranthir and Eredin, and Weavess in the bad ending (yeah, I tried it in this playthrough).
Imlerith was a really good boss even in vanilla, as he hitted really hard making your mistakes count and was hard to harm due to his shield. His 2nd phase was fun and required you to be extremely precise with your rolls. In BCE he is pretty much the same, maybe a little harder as you are of a lower level now and I think it's good and he doesn't need any tweaks.
Caranthir has somewhat stupid mechanics as it's easy to dodge him, he can't block your attacks and it's very easy to make him kill his own sumonned elementals. Maybe if it's possible to make elementals immune to his damage it will make tha fight noticeably harder (maybe with the modkit it is possible now). His HP also needs to be buffed like 1.5 times, imo. Those changes combined will make it necessary to dispatch his elementals sometimes. His damage was more or less OK imo.
Eredin - well, if someone should be a F***ING HARD BOSS, it's him. Unfortunately, I killed him in the first try. His mechanics are okay, as his attacks are not that easy to dodge and he makes quite fast combos. But his damage output is just ridiculous for the last boss - even his full combo was not able to get me to at least 30% hp, and you will not be hurt by a full combo unless you are going for it on purpose. Imo he needs like 3 times more damage - and I don't think I'm exaggerating. His HP should be doubled as well - yes, I've heard someone below in the comments complained that his HP goes down extremely slow, but I didn't notice that, maybe because I was in a strong attack build with some armor penetration - if that's the case, maybe he should be made less armor-dependent (more HP, less armor). Come on, he's the final boss, he should be _frustratingly_ powerful on Death March.
Weavess was a little hard only because of her minions, but I don't think she should be harder because, well, this is already hard enough psychologically, you know.
4) Rend. It seemed VERY weak to me right now as it deals at best 40-50% more damage than a regular strong attack (or than a critical strong attack if it crits) even with full stamina bar and 3 adrenaline points. Considiring it's cost and risk you take while performing it - that's way too low, though it sometimes is handy against shielded humans. It needs to be said that Rend in vanilla was a very strange thing for me - it dealt very different damage to different enemies. Sometimes it hitted like a truck (e.q. against Imlerith), and sometimes it was 1.5 times weaker then a regular strong attack (e.g. against an Arachas) even with full stamina bar and 2-3 adrenaline points. I had a guess that it ignores armor and because of that it was effective againstheavily armored enemies, but trolls received very little damage too and they look armored. Maybe it was just me hallucinating badly, maybe it really happens in a way in your mod too and that's why I think it's weak, but it seems to be gone in BCE (though just weak now) as I've dealt ~ the same damage to every enemy.
5) Mutagen decoctions (and Leshy trophy). I won't say much as Philozoraptor already said it all and I agree - they simply should be a little more powerful for their toxicity, as Aquired Tolerance is now gone. I will only add that I think Leshy Trophy adding 50 max toxicity is too much - 30 or 35 would be enough. Trophies are powerful in BCE and I like that, I just think this one is a little OP.
I see people complaining about Ciri's gameplay but I can say that her parts from Kaer Morhen defence and onwards were okay for me, I think her damage there should be even nerfed. In earlier game it can easily be much harder, can't say anything.
I hope this and my savegames are helpful and will not be outdated soon because everyone playing NG+ now.
EDIT:
@Lautreamont
I'm glad I could help!
So i agree with unstopable87, Geralt should only gain power by acquiring new and more powerfull stuff with more upgrading slots
For chcecking if there's any incompatibillity in scrpits - there is already excellent tool - http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/484
I alway sthought taht this mod + some overhauled enemies mod (something like give bosses special moves, make them use em faster and give different levels of drowners a few different skils) would make for the perfect "Witcher Souls" experience.
And with you at least balancing the enemies this mod alone come a step closer. Thank you : )
And I think you should try incorporating less economy to the player like Ucross hardcore mod, so players really have to be smart with money earned ingame.
im not sure that is taking up 10 days to do, he probably has some other issues going on right now and cant work on the mod :>
He mentioned relocating.
Even with the best luck, any relocation is almost certain to take longer than expected.
He also seems like the type who (in the best of intentions) tends to stretch himself a little thin which tends to lead to less than realistic projections (common in software development).
I speculate that the expansion announcement has further thrown things out of wack. It makes perfect sense to go as far as to drop a few things and resched around its release. Given his last posts, it's understandable if he decides these reasons to be not worth the communication.
I'd only worry if he was unemployed and completely free of any other responsibilities.
If I used this mod, would I then have to wait for the creator to go in and update it for the expansion?
Also, I understand you can't apply this mod to an existing game, but if it doesn't work with the expansion, can you remove the mod and it'll be as normal?
thanks.
You will have to wait for the mod to be updated before starting the expansion.
You can't uninstall the mod mid-playthrough.
The author probably can't update the mod quickly because he has other stuff to do (which is ok, personal life goes first) and he is still busy with NG+ balancing, so if you can't wait for the expansion don't play this mod just yet, either wait or start without.
I just started playing Witcher 3 yesterday and this is the first MOD I installed. I thought this would be more fun than the standard mechanics.
Someone updated it to use the current modkit method (copy into mod folder).
It's currently in the final stages of testing, just rounding-out balancing and checking for errors. Should be released by the end of the week.
"BETTER COMBAT EVOLVED", COMING TO A NEXUS NEAR YOU! FALL, 2015!
after trying ucross, I'm a bit ambivalent since he guts a *lot* of skills from the game, altho I definitely like a lot of the stuff he's done. glad you came back and posted an update! I'm betting you have a lot of people looking to migrate o _ o
It's another guy who make another mod...
Better Combat Evolved
http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/769/?
It does pretty much everything better combat enhanced did right and even more. Mod support has also being great, the guys working on it are really open to feedback and are always keeping the mod up to date with the patches and improving on it.
Oh yeah, and as a bonus you can install the mod on existing saves, you don't have to start a new game!
ps. I have selected the correct folder
1. Go to WSM_Better_Combat_Enhanced\res\
2. Right click InstallBC.bat
3. Click Edit (If it doesn't show up, just open it with notepad.)
4. Hit Ctrl+H (or click edit -> replace)
5. In the first box, type patch0
6. In the second box, type patch1
7. Click "replace all"
8. Ctrl+S to save (or file -> save, NOT "save as," NORMAL save!)
Try running the installer again.
The issue was that it appears that patch0 and patch1 got swapped at some point and this mod doesn't take that into account because of, I presume, its age.
Here's the fun bit: I don't know if the mod even works! It's 4 AM and I'm going to bed, so someone else can actually try playing to see if it works! If I remember, I'll come back and edit this or post again. Sorry, wish I could've told you if it worked directly, but I'm just too exhausted. But I know for a fact it will install! (And it's not lying, it can take a while for the install to complete.)
it work
thank
overexaggeration. a youtuber did a 24 level quest with 24 level enemies while he was level 12 and survived 1 hit. 12 levels difference on highest difficulty and still didn't die with 1 hit. do quests at your level and you'll be fine. and if you have mods it'll be even better.