On my first play through they were pretty common. Not every nekker dropped a mutagen, but by the end of chapter 1 I had enough greater mutagens to put in all my available mutagens slots (at least 3,4 of each kind. I liked greater criticals and strength). On my second play through I'm finishing chapter 1 I just one greater strength mutagen and one vitality (I don't care much about them) and so. Is this intentional to force players to use lower quality mutagens? I don't really think it's the right way to go. Any mods to get the previous frequency back?

Frequency of mutagens might be (I'm almost sure it is) totally random. I think that the time you got 4 greater mutagens in the first chapter you were extremely lucky. In the whole game I got only 7 (I rushed through chapter 3 though). Yeah you get tons of normal and lesser mutagens but those don't help that much. Even the greater mutagens only give you a small boost on skills (+10 vitality, +1-3 damage). Don't worry about that and concentrate on building your armor and swords. Those and a correct use of oils, potions, bombs, daggers and obviously your best friend Quen :) will be enough to breeze through the game even in insane difficulty. Hope it helps.

That being said it would be nice if you could combine a stack of lower level mutagens to generate one of a higher level :)

Could it be that you killed many more enemies in your first playthrough?
I am on my third (two with 1.1, now 1.2) and did not notice any big change in the drop rate.

It has definitely been reduced. Pre 1.2, either Insane or Hard diff I would still get some 5 greater critical, and abt the same or more of the other Greater mutagens, including some madness and other without graduation.

Last run on Insane I found 2 greater crits the whole game! Ended up using other few greater stuff to fill the slots but it was disappointing. For a pure swordsman I mean. =)

My bet is on the reduced too, i have 3 playthroughs before patch 1.2 and in all of them i got a lot of lessers and regulars and a decent number of greaters but now, my after patch 1.2 playthrough, even the lesser ones doesn't drop as much as the greaters before patch 1.2.

Hmmm... new run, pure canon 1.2 and still early on act 1 I've got 2 Greater Crits already. That's the same I got in my whole previous run! It's very random and guess we just need a luck roll! =) (I'll be real mad if I find no more of this in the current playthrough though! hehe)

Maybe it is pure luck but 3 playthroughs with lots of mutagens in a row and then one with almost none? Maybe the game is punishing me for that 3 streak?

how many mutagens do you need? 3, 6, 9 or a 100, I have 20 in back rite now. I can sell them on ebay for you

LOL... My build for Insane only allows 5 and I find my own stuff, thank you. Nah.. go hunting more before changing acts! =) (But it's true. The game cheats, specially at Dice Poker. I lost count of how many times I had 4 of a kind and the fraking opponent rolled 4 and got 5 of a kind! Cheaters!)

Lookie here:

http://witchernexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=75

Doh! a, heck, i'll just leave it.

Here is what I think the deal is.

Mutagens were obviously meant to be a bonus item. Geralt can use way more of them if he is an Alchemist. Having access to as many Greater types as he could use makes end game too easy. There is a little ability off one side of Alchemy called "Side Effects." If the drop rate stayed the same as in vanilla, why would anyone ever take Side Effect? And there is Impregnation, which is much more attractive if Greaters are actually rare.

Having way more than one could possibly use was skewing the economy as well.

I think CDPr either accidentally set the original drop rate too high, or realized they had overridden other game mechanics unintentionally by setting it there originally.

Cheers!

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1YwUe7RqYlYi5NSB5LonVPO6NlQmlCIChGHTRc9XxnS0#h.80tsrn6jrf25

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/full_list_of_mods/page1

I agree that it probably too easy to get them before the patch, but they went way too far in the other direction. It should be somewhere in between the two settings. What they have done is a full-on nerf.

Perhaps it would be better to tie those drop rates to the difficulty setting of the game.

Drop rates for New Game started on v1.2 are much much better than that of a v1.1 patched to v1.2 after started. Maybe it's just a feeling but I am getting much more drops, including greater ones, this run than in my latest complete run. I'm pretty happy with the rate now. Not as cheap as pre-patch and not as crazily reduced as in my hybrid 1.1/1.2 run.