Talk:The Witcher 3 main quests/@comment-67.161.138.96-20150818044654/@comment-72.128.208.82-20150830071901

One thing you need to watch is the in-game recommended quest levels to maximize XP earned. Killing creatures earns only a few (sometimes only 1) xp per kill and as mentioned, even killing a higher level (than you) creature earns little. Its the quests that give the most however, the farther above the recommended level of te quest you are the less XP you will earn no matter what outcomes you select. Unfortunately, its very difficult to manage doing the main and side quests at the recommended level without overleveling many of them. Red quest names mean you will get the maximum XP, green quest names give a normal XP, while grey gives a very reduced XP (as low as 10 or 20).

For instance; most of the Velen main quests are set to level 5 or 6 yet starting at level 2 thru 4 means you will finish the main quests at around level 9 (and a reduced XP) and all side quests give even less if completed afterward. Shoving side quests in between the main quest reduces the amount recieved from the main quests from the leveling gained from the side quests and so on. Novigrad quests are typically from 10 to mid teens with a few exceptions but completing all of them (including the side quests) puts you in the mid-20'ish. ["Get Junior" are all level 9 quests while Novigrad Dreaming is a level 7 quest for instance.] The Skellige main quests start around mid to upper teens but again trying to complete all inside their optimal zones is impossible.

This also means its very hard to get to the higher levels some people have reported in a single playthrough without a PC only MOD ... diminishing returns slows the XP scaling down to next to nothing too early. I have yet to finish the game above Level 34 out of 5 full finishes (i.e. Start to finish not starting a second playthrough partway through a previous.) Worse, level 34 (for the WOLF max upgraded gear), was very hard to attain even using a chart of the best levels to do each main, side, contract, and treasure quests often completing them while they were at the higher red level. In each playthrough, all known side quests were completed and all "?" locations found and as many unmarked quests completed as was possible to locate. (I kept a spreadsheet just to make sure.)

Of course with the new Game+ mode this will change if the levels reset (yours and/or the quests) which I have yet to find out. I'm on a PS4 so I have a limited number of game saves and was clearing them out each time I restarted. If the levels don't reset there is still a diminishing returns issue, i.e. if your level is 34 and the initial White Orchard quests are 1 thru 3 you will get very little XP for completing them. We'll see!