Witcher 3 Is there supposed to be some logic behind Points of Interest showing on your map?

If I go to a Notice Board and grab every mundane advertisement that's posted, I then see a bunch of unknown Points of Interest show up on my map. Is there supposed to be some in-game reason why I would know exactly where all the interesting stuff is? Is each POI related to a specific posting?

I just recently left White Orchard, and last night spent my first time in Velen. After clearing out all POIs in White orchard, and checking out a couple in Velen, it's starting to feel like adventuring by checklist, and seems to go against the point of an open-world game. I'm considering turning them off in my map, but the completionist in me will hate knowing that I've likely missed a ton of stuff.

I wish there were some compromise setting, like showing them only within a certain range of your current position or something...

Is anybody playing with them off? Or found some way to enjoy the open-world environment despite their presence?

I'm with you on this. The map seems too large not to give you a few hints, but those markers do detract from the feeling of exploration.

Fantasm said:

Is anybody playing with them off?

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I'm playing with them off.

I don't really get the purpose of this thread. If you don't like the markers then simply turn them off.

There doesn't need to be an in-game reason for them. They were included because some people like them, and they can be toggled off because some people don't.

I realize it can be hard to get past the feeling that you might have missed something, but I don't see TW3 as being the type of game where you're expected to see and do everything in one playthrough.

Fantasm said:

Is anybody playing with them off? Or found some way to enjoy the open-world environment despite their presence?

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I'm also playing with them off. Along with other UI that bothers my exploration, like the minimap. This does mean I do quite a bit of switching to the world map, but so be it. It's mandatory for me that I focus on the beautiful world, and not the minimap.

I suppose I should have titled the thread with simply, "Do you leave the Unknown markers on?". But I was also curious as to why groups of these only showed up after visiting a notice board, and was wondering if there might be some in-game justification for having them show up. I admit, my limited playtime these days has me liking the convenience. I guess I'm just torn as to what I actually prefer here. It's an interesting design decision, especially since they're on by default, and gives it a different Open World feel than, say, a Skyrim.

I'll just say that you get even more markers by "solving" random encounters, reading looted letters/diaries and by eavesdrop on chatty.

I didn't disable them. Keeping your eyes on the minimap is not necessary and I don't see any reason why should anyone be concentrated on the minimap - once you get close to POI the engine will display you a notice on screen like HIDDEN TREASURE, MONSTER DEN or something similar. With same big letters that show up for quests in FO3 and F:NV.

I think we can reasonably assume that the notice boards represent "local news" in some fashion, and it's sort of a gamey way to provide people with information that's related to the town/village in question.

I agree it doesn't make much sense, and I would have preferred an in-game explanation as well.

I've decided to play with the markers ON, finally, because I don't think I'll have the time to really comb all the areas manually. I'm relieved that there are still things to find that aren't marked, though.

Also, I would have preferred the "Skyrim" way of having them "pop up" when you're in close proximity to a new PoI - over this kind of magical appearance of markers over a wide area.

Some of the notes on the notice board does indeed spawn new marks, which makes sense if you actually read them. However, you can play with it on and just avoid the notice boards until you've explored the majority of a region - in that case they'll simply pop up in a small radius around you.

Edit: I've done that a lot myself. Simply leave the notice boards for last. It works fairly well, though it's a bit slower than simply grabbing everything on every notice board before exploring.

Some of the notes on the notice board does indeed spawn new marks, which makes sense if you actually read them. However, you can play with it on and just avoid the notice boards until you've explored the majority of a region - in that case they'll simply pop up in a small radius around you.

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What doesn't make sense are the countless markers that appear just by clicking on the Notice Board without reading a note on it.

Ah, I've never tried that. I've always read all the notes after clicking the board.