For those of you who don't know, Andrzej Kwiatkowski, who created the popular Full Combat Rebalance mod for the orginal Witcher has released a free and sizable combat update called Full Combat Overhaul 2. You can download the mod here after a quick registration: http://redkit.cdprojektred.com/index.php?c=mod&m=show&p=77. You can view the massive changelog here: http://www.pcgamesn.com/gigantic-witcher-2-patch-includes-combat-rebalance-and-new-animations. So what are you waiting for go get it!

UPDATE: Well it seems the CDPR severs have overloaded as the link is no longer working. Hopefully Flash (the mod creator's nickname) will upload it to a third-party website such as Moddb or better yet create a torrent.

Horrible server load, I can't reach it. I hope they throw up a torrent.

yes the mod does seem somewhat popular :D

Downloading now, though no idea how long it will take. The changelog all sounds really fantastic. I don't think I'll have time to play TW2 soonish, but the next time I do play it it will be with this mod for sure!

Looks interesting. But I have one doubt that prevent me from using any mods so far. Will saves be compatible with upcoming TW3?

So I just redownloaded and re-installed Witcher 2 from GOG.com. So basically a completely fresh install.

Is there anything else I need to do / install before I install this mod? Is the base game already up to date? I've read something about REDKit modding tools, is that necessary?

Andrzej Kwiatkowski, who created the mod is a developer for CD Projekt Red, so I'm almost aboslutely certain that your saves will be imported to Witcher 3 without a hitch.

MediaFire for Torrent is up

It works, I'm currently downloading at 600 to 900 kB/s.

Great, thank you!

That torrent doesn't work for me. It says invalid tracker URL. damn :(

Should I use these overhaul mods for a first playthrough of the series? Or does it change too much of the core gameplay?

A few comments from the CDProject RED forum says it doesn't work for them either but it worked fine for me.

I had short a trial of the mod and I'm not sure what to say other than that it feels like it's not complete, I wonder if RedKit is needed for the animations to work, if there are bugs or just missed parts. It seems to have increased the challenge as even with Dark Mode that I tried yesterday with 3.4 vanilla it was easier than I expected but that may have other causes.

The newest change I noticed is that Quen is now active block, you've no shield you can throw on yourself but you've to use Queen/Magic Block to defend yourself. This seems to block 100% of the damage received but it drains 1 vigor, possibly more if you meet tougher enemies but I didn't play enough to meet any. Personally, I think this is better because Quen could only block one attack and it usually happened to me that it blocked an attack right after I used, decreasing its effeciency as well as entertainment value.

As for the mobility promised I noticed it, it seems you can move around faster or well, less constrained perhaps. Something about the animation hitboxes from enemies look like some attacks should hit but they missed and vice versa, that's a bummer for sure.
That's a tough question to answer, I think it's personal of how you view mods in general. Personally, I've no problems using gameplay changes in the first playthrough of a game.

As for using this mod I can't yet say, I haven't played it enough to see and I think you should wait at least to see if they release any hot fixes. If you're eager to play than I suggest you leave it to a second playthrough.

Yet to play through TW2. For those of us who havent played vanilla yet, would the mod make it a better experience overall?

It's up at Nexus Mods if you're still having trouble :D

Edit: It looks like you were already successful!

Well actually, basic quen could do that. Upgraded quen blocked quite a few attacks, and then electrocuted everybody who attacked you. It was terribly overpowered, but kind of fun.