Improving Witcher 3 would be Witchcraft (6): Experience and Money

 
One last time we return to the world of Geralt to discuss the 2 fundamental gameplay features of gaining experience and money. Amassing experience and advancing in level is the most important aspect of character growth. It is a strong motivation for the player to keep on going. The same holds true for money.
In essence, they are both currencies, or numbers, that need to be adjusted by the game designer to prevent 2 things from happening: giving the player not enough of them leads to frustration and repetitive grinding. Giving them too much will sooner or later make the player too powerful and trivialize the content, leading to boredom. So how does Witcher 3 fare in this regard?

Improving Witcher 3 would be Witchcraft (5): Signs

Geralt´s magic arsenal consists of 5 different signs and each one of them has its own mechanics and purpose. This creates the favorable situation that no spell is entirely worthless as there is a niche for every spell and they don´t have to compete against each other that much due to their different functionality. The Quen damage shield is surely the most useful of them but figuring out nasty tricks with the other spells is totally possible. While the balance is okay for the most part, 2 particularly nasty spells and a few underwhelming talents do stand out.

An enemy falls flat on his ass after being hit with a shockwave from the Aard sign.

Improving Witcher 3 would be Witchcraft (4): Mutagens

Mutagens are organs and body parts of all different kinds of monsters that can be used by the Witcher to enhance his abilities. While this sounds rather gory, they are shown as little spiky spheres instead of hacked off limbs and entrails. So no butchering to enjoy here.

Any monster can drop mutagens.

Improving Witcher 3 would be Witchcraft (3): Alchemy Progression and Balance

I was very surprised after discovering that in Witcher 3 potions and other alchemical products don´t really go away when used and their charges can easily be refilled. Before I realized that, I was very hesitant to rely too much on alchemy. The thought of needing to pick empty one or two flower gardens after any serious fight sounded very tiresome in my ears. But alchemy in Witcher 3 works more like an unlocking mechanic and once unlocked, you can consume potions without much restocking. While not very realistic, it made the alchemy a whole lot more fun.

Restocking potion ingredients sounded like a lot of work, but surprisingly Witcher 3 handled it completely different without the need to return to the market every other fight.

Improving Witcher 3 would be Witchcraft (2): Alchemy Skill Tree

Note: The following suggestions mainly adress the complaints about the alchemy skill tree being unattractive and full of boring passive stat increases.

The alchemy makes a really weak first impression for a player that eagerly awaits to spend his first skill point. While the first tier in the other two skill trees is fairly straightforward (improve your favorite attack or spell), the alchemy skill tree starts out with talents that are confusing at best and useless at worst.

Improving Witcher 3 would be Witchcraft (1): Introduction and Quality of Life

Coming up with constructive feedback for the Witcher 3 is a huge effort. Yes, it is a crazy good game and everything, but pessimists like me will always come up with something to complain. The intimidating part comes from how huge the game is. Spending way more than 100 hours with a game and there will be quite a lot of things swirling through your mind. So grab some food and follow me on a journey of relentless nitpicking.