So, I've run into two bugs. One is a quest that just disappeared in the middle of it! It's called Lord or the Woods and is a huge old Leshen... poof! Gone! I can make it active, but it won't show up anywhere on the map. If I go back to the location, nothing is there. The other is I found two Rock Trolls in a cave and they are frozen. I can move them around with Axii, but they are just frozen in place breathing and snorting.

Almost to level 28. I had to abandon the first couple of quests in Hearts of Stone as I'm just not a high enough level. The Toad Prince is going to have to wait as is the Arachnomorph!

That Toad Prince... I, too, abandoned that guest until I was a couple of levels higher. If I remember correctly, Golden Oriole turns poison into healing so that might help. I think for this fight I just plonked down my Alt Yrden and jumped away from his attacks. I always cast another Yrden before the old one died out. Eventually it wore him down. Some of the bombs might be useful, too. Northern Wind? Freeze him?

Also, Your Quen shield will block his attack so you can get away.

The Two Rock Trolls are part of a quest, I'm pretty sure, so you probably can't attack them. I don't want to spoil it, but attacking them would wreck the quest.

Not sure what to think about the Leshen. I did have to verify my files a few times, and also sometimes a bug would be okay after relaunching the game.

I'm thinking about doing the file verification. It's getting kind of "hitchy" at times. I might give a try to uninstalling or at least disabling my Razer Synapse. Although I just have a simple mouse!

I'm just too low right how... Going to get to at least level 30 before I start taking on these hard ones. I tried all of the above with the toad and it just wasn't enough.

Yes, the DLC really are a bit of a challenge at first. I waited until the recommended level before starting them.

I'm still cruising around Toussaint. Quite a few quests left to complete and some mystery spots to explore. There really is a ton of content in Blood and Wine.

I'm laughing at myself because I CANNOT stay out of this game!

GOG released this today:

Witcher 3 hotfix

I know. It's has to be one of the very best games EVER. I tell myself it's time to make dinner but then there's that place-of-interest question mark nearby and it'll only take a minute, and the next thing I know it's an hour later and I have three more secondary quests.

Marian, I'll check that out. I think my game is set on auto-update anyway.

Yes, mine updated first thing this morning. I was in that "one more place of interest" thing and all of a sudden it was 12:30 am last night!

Interesting note... after the hotfix installed, I got the Ancient Leshen quest back in Skellige.

That's good news, Drac.

Glad the hotfix worked. My game was glitchy when I first started playing and I uninstalled/reinstalled twice. Then everything settled down, though I've still had smaller issues.

I'm interested in seeing how Cyberpunk is now, with all the updates. I think I'll play that next. But first, Geralt still has work to do!

Well, I spoke too soon. I activated the quest again, but nope it wasn't there. Oh, well.

Last night I did score three cave troll livers from the farting trolls! Woot! Making those Superior Oils!

Ran into a big nest of level 34 arachnomorphs yesterday. Laughed as I trapped them with Yrden and watched it zap them while I hit them with Igni... very satisfying!

I hope I don't have to defeat that horrid Toad Prince before I can get more Blood and Stone quests! I'm just shy of level 30, but I've also added 4 more points with Places of Power.

I've defeated Big Bads by casting my Yrden and standing back watching them run towards me, get zapped, and fall back.

There's a couple of places in Blood and Wine where you're battling many human enemies, and they can't even get close because of Yrden! Combined with your Quen shield these battles go from "Arrggggh!" to "Wake me when it's over"

Hearts of Stone is pretty linear sine it's a single storyline, but you can always lower the difficulty for the Toad Prince for a few practice runs. I defeated him that way a couple of times, then once I knew the strategy, reloaded and took him out on the higher level.

I might try that with that cursed Toad Prince. I was reading something saying that Yrden is a very under-rated power in Witcher 3.

Fully upgraded Yrden plus fully upgraded Quen is pretty powerhouse. Yrden zaps anything that comes towards you, including arrows, and Quen zaps anything that gets close enough to hit you, including high-level bosses.

I've only upgraded Geralt's fast attacks to the top level for the Whirl, and the slow, heavy attacks to the first upgrade level, and he's doing fine.

I still haven't bought any of the Runemaster's special runes -- BTW he comes with Hearts of Stone so should be available to you now and there are a couple of quests associated with him and his merchant partner.

Yeah, I already did the Runemaster's quests and the merchant's quests. Quen is next on my list to start upgrading. Think I've got my Yrden fully upgraded. I put some points into the potion/poison ability too. It helps when I need to use several at one time.

That's pretty much the way I progressed Geralt, too, increasing the ability to take more potions but pretty much focused on Yrden, Quen and Igni, and enough Axii to influence people in conversations. I now have the Mutagen options that open up in Blood and Wine and they seem very powerful, so I won't be focusing on Signs anymore.

Mind you, by the time I get to that final battle in the Main Quest it'll be a cake-walk, or thereabouts.

How far did you go in the Main Quest before you played the two DLC's? I dropped Uma off at Kaer Mohren and haven't gone back.

I like Igni - it is kins of the Sign that keeps on giving? Watching the Ekhidnas and Harpies just continue to burn is very satisfying!

I got to the point where Ciri is supposed to go and see the Lodge of Sorceresses, which is very close to the end of the game, before starting Blood and Wine. This DLC is kind of like a holiday in the south of France for Geralt before he challenges the end game. You'll see what I mean when you get there. You'd want to stay there, if it were a real place.

I played Hearts of Stone after I completed everything in Velen/ Novigrad and Skellige except for a few races and fistfights.

I am cleaning up all the Unknown locations in Skellige now. Most are out in the water... ugh. Drowners and Ekhindas!

Yrden can be cast on water or the boat. Takes care of the Harpies and other flying annoyances.

I got pretty good with my crossbow underwater after a few of those Smuggler's caches.

I keep forgetting to use my crossbow! Hadn't thought of casting the Yrden on the boat. I have several more to do, so will definitely change my strategy. I've just been taking the damage.

The Harpies are still annoying but if you can stay balanced in the boat you can mostly just zap-and-slash.

I got tired of diving in Skellige and decided to try the Toad Prince again, hoping for at least SOME new Blood and Stone quests! I'm only level 30, but I've found at least 4 more Places of Power, so decided to give it a go. I got him down to just a hair of defeat before I ran out of bombs and health potions! So, that means I can do it - it just may take a few more tries.

The Toad Prince is where Olgierd's story line really takes off, and it is a good one.