After the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, players quickly discovered that by killing cows, they could easily farm gold. However, if Geralt hunts too many cows, a "cow protector" (a large fiend) quickly materializes and attacks the hero.
Recently, Cyberpunk 2077 Quest Director Paweł Sasko, who also created quests for The Witcher 3, shared the story behind this specific mechanic in the game.
According to the developer, such an "exploit" could have been easily removed, but CD Projekt RED had a different vision – the creators of The Witcher 3 wanted to give players a chance to have fun:
We could have fixed this cowhide farming exploit in a couple of minutes – just remove respawns or lower the price of hides. But that's not our approach. A designer's job is to create fun, not cut it out. So we added the fiend.
Paweł Sasko also noted that the developers of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gave players an additional opportunity to earn money (if they could handle the threat):
[The fiend's hide] is twice as expensive as a cow's – and that's no accident. We saw you farming, and we raised the stakes.
Previously, the developer talked about some details of the development of the story expansion Blood and Wine for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Read more on the topic:
- The Witcher 3 screenwriter revealed details of the Blood and Wine expansion development - the story of the Land of a Thousand Fables and more
- CDPR Unveils Russian-Language Poster to Celebrate The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine Expansion Anniversary
- Escape from Tarkov creators celebrated Subnautica 2 release with a crossover - showed a reaper on "Lighthouse"