In all honestly there are some things you shouldn't change.

1: Unlimited parry, 50% damage?
2: Takes forever to cast/switch between signs (with controller interface)
3: Geralt's attacks are no longer interrupted? Results in getting you killed much faster.

I dunno but is of my opinion that they must have hired idiots on their product management team. The game is not better. It's much worse.

I'm not supporting this company anymore and I regret spending 50 USD on this joke of efforts.
CDPR you should learn from companies that do things right:
1: Blizzard.
2: Ubisoft (Assasins Creed) No pun intended, it's Ubisoft who should be mocking you instead.

To be honest, the problem with this lame patch is that they tried to cover too much ground. By spreading over a large area they managed to screw up good.

So fay I've tried both the tutorial and the Arena. The tutorial is full of bugs. For example you cannot advance if you ever so slighly deviate from the norm (it seems the tutorial was programmed by a very very un-experienced team who has no idea how to write proper code and validate user experience). This results on the user getting stucked on different parts of the tutorial.
The Arena, it simply sucks due to the combat changes. Dodge doesn't dodge blows, it makes you vulnerable. Parry get's you killed (I truly don't know who's the moron in your company who insists that parry should be always diminished by using cheap shortcuts like vigor limited parry and 50% damage block: that's simple idiotic. Just program it to parry blows in an arch area that's limited around the Witcher. Are you that stupid?)
The interface is as clunky as Arma II.
It's good to see gameplay that's separated from story thanks to the Arena. Because to be honest. The gameplay on this game sucks. How good the story might be is totally unrelevant to that. I might as well go read Conan instead.

Try hiring someone with development experience on a game that's not broken. At least one. If not, get a consultant because definitively you're not getting it.

Well, I for one would not say that Ubisoft did much of anything right with the Assassin's Creed games. I hate those games (the first two anyways, as those are the only ones I have played) but then again everyone has different opinions and tastes.

I have to agree with you on the parry changes. I do not think that was a great idea at all. If they felt that people couldn't parry enough with the old system, they could have done something that made alot more sense. For example, you have unlimited parry and if you parry when you have vigor it's 100% damage reduction. But if you have no vigor the damage reduction is alot less but would still prevent being knocked down. I think in that scenario 50% would be too much, though. Maybe 1/3 damage reduction.

My personal preference? Either change parrying back to the way it was where no vigor = no parry, or if they really, REALLY want us to have unlimited parrying, make it work like an actual block move in other games (with the exception of powerful attacks from large creatures, those would be unblockable). Either one, take your pick. I just want blocking in this game to make some kind of sense. But this current "solution" is the exact opposite in my book.

I can't speak for the controller since I don't use one. But how does Geralt's attack no longer getting interrupted get you killed faster? I started a new game, but just barely got into Act 1 before stopping, so I apologize if the answer is obvious to people who are further along than that.

The parry change was idiotic and made blocking completely pointless. I died a few times while blocking by reflex since I was so used to it before.

They should make blocking require timing, so that you can't just hold the key down, and block all damage again.

I like this idea. It would reliably defend the player and still require a level of skill for all those players who only play games to challenge themselves.

Wait, does parrying negate 50% damage when blocking with no vigor, or is that ALL the time? If the latter, they may have just broken the combat for me as my favourite tactic against melee fighters was to counter, something that would be nearly suicidal if I ever messed up now.

As far as I have seen in my game, 50% happens all the time against monsters and the supernatural. Against humans and elves it blocks 100%.

You probably have some bonus damage reduction on your steel sword. There is no difference otherwise.

Also, the 50% reduction is only after you get 2 points into parrying, it's less] before that.

ALSO, parrying still uses up vigor when you have it.

I disagree, I'm really enjoying the new smoothness in combat. Feel like a total badass.

Cant beleive anyone could regret buying this game or question CD Project. Those guys are brilliant and the game is streets ahead of most others.

Is it perfect? No, is there such a thing? No!

I was just thinking about it. Here's a real point:

Give the user a choice. Let the user decide how they wanna play the game. Instead of walking all over yourself and making changes that some might like and some might dislike be pro-choice. It's always easier to add than to remove things. Just add more and make it switcheable. Remember the point here is not the story, but the mechanics. Assasin's creed melee mechanics are what you descirbed. They need someone who really knows how to define requisites. To put it simple, they forgot to define one requisite: is the parrying mechanic fun?

NO.

It's still a game after all and I remember spending time just fighting foes in Assasin's creed and watching the combat animations.

I agree completely. However, there is a very vocal group that plays for a challenge and don't like any mechanic in a game that doesn't make the game more difficult to play. So expect plenty of people to disagree with you.

But to me, the biggest problem is that now parrying no longer functions the way most people would expect such a mechanic to function, which is to completely block an attack. Now it's pretty much useless. It's as if now EVERY enemy in the game is a gigantic boss with unblockable attacks. Just like the dragon battle at the end of the game.

You are right. I am using the Temerian Sword: Damage reduction on block + 5 damage. I am so used to ignoring that number since I always upgraded my parry skill completely in previous playthroughs that I forgot some swords have that.

Well I am really pissed because now Geralt is incapable of blocking ANYONE.

Against monsters I can understand because they are often portrayed as being faster and stronger than witchers, thus necessitating that witchers outsmart them instead of outmuscling them. Also, monsters aren't using weapons against Geralt, they are using their body parts, and in the case of the Endrega, I can see where his sword can't block those attacks. But now a witcher, who is suposed to have been mutated to be both faster and stronger than a normal human and in The Last Wish cut down dozens of men without breaking a sweat, can't even completely block an attack from a regular human being? Not to mention the fat, lazy slobs that work for Loredo in Flotsam? Sorry for the outburst but, ARE YOU F***ING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!

Looks like I am going to have to revert back to a previous patch and suffer with unresponsive controls again just to to have a combat system that makes some semblance of sense for a game that centers around a mutant with superhuman reflexes, stamina, and strength.

This isn't a Witcher game anymore. If you guys wanted to make your own version of Demon's Souls so bad, why not just make a new IP? Why make decisions that go against the canon established about the physical abilities of witchers? Especially since you guys were going on and on in the pre-launch hype about how you treat the books as a bible. Witchers are faster, stronger, and have much better sword fighting pedigrees than most humans, and yet Geralt can't even completely block a sword attack from some fat thug who has probably never learned how to handle a sword properly in his life?

You guys clearly just wanted to make Demon's Souls. But you couldn't just leave The Witcher out of your decision, could you?

And to be clear, I am not complaining because I think the game is unplayable. Far from it. Playing (and beating) this game is still not impossible or that difficult. I am complaining on a matter of principle.

If every PC dev/publisher was like Ubisoft I would stop gaming altogether. Making shitty cashcow sequels, making the life of honest gamers difficult with always online DRM and releasing their games 6 months later from console releases.

Honestly, Ubisoft is probably one of the worst developers/publishers out there atm.

Blizzard? They're money grabbing, big red evil devil.

Using AssCreed as a superior example of combat system ?

HAHAHA, good laugh. Good laugh.

Dunno what to say. I like the changes, but I wouldn't be opposed to going back either. Also, I don't know if the TC is trolling, but he listed two of the companies that are a threat to all things gaming versus CDPR whom embodies everything good about PC gaming and a beacon of what all devs should strive to do.

I'd welcome the OP more if it wasn't filled with so much hostility.