I would agree that the point-commitment required to put any points in the higher level skills is too steep/demanding.
Have you picked up any Witcher gear sets yet? At 17 you should be able to use the basic Feline set, at least part of which is conveniently located in Novigrad. And you’re almost high enough to use the upgraded Griffin set.
I only have whatever is laying around plus a shirt and boots I had crafted with items at an armorer.
Finding the Witcher gear is definitely a bunch of side quests you should do, if only because it’s the best-looking gear in the game (especially the Wolf, IMHO, although you can’t find that until later).
Yeah. Rule of thumb: any side quest featuring a major character - defined as a character Geralt knew from before the game - should to be done.
Hard to keep track since I did not play Witcher 1 or 2. I did not return to see Keira after her main-game quest, but it is still down there as a level 6 quest I could do. I did finish what seems to be Triss’s initial quests. She left and said farewell from Novigard.
Well, I mean, if Geralt and the character act like they already know each other, then one can assume they know each other from before the game, right? Basically, this means Ciri, any of the sorceresses, any of the other Witchers, Zoltan, Reuven, Roche, Bran, Ermion or Dandelion.
And you definitely should do Keira’s quest. Besides it being important for later on, it’s a great little horror story.
Just try and go by any character Geralt seems fairly familiar/friendly with when he first meets them. Folks like Zoltan for example.
I’d suggest going back and doing it. It certainly isn’t necessary so feel free to ignore Keira’s quest line, but it will have a small impact later in the story depending on how things shake out with it. Same with all of Geralt’s other closer associates. Honestly a number of them didn’t show up in Witcher 1 or 2 either.
ETA: Ah, my first ninja’ed post on the new board 
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One thing I didn’t realise when I played the game was that it took place around the last book of a fairly long series of books. So there are a lot of references to “hey, remember the time we did XYZ?”
Now that there’s an English-language TV series, I can catch up on some of the XYZs in question.
Just to note here that Witcher 3 is longggg. The original goal of the publishers was purportedly 50 hours of main quest and 50 hours of side quests. The main quest is likely a little bit short of that, but the side quests quickly expanded to well beyond the original goal. A playtester with full inside information on the plot and important decisions to make and who skipped all the dialogue, cutscenes and side quests apparently made a speed run of 25 hours on the main quest. But normal players are not getting through the main game in less than 100 hours unless you skip a fair bit. 150-200 is apparently quite common if you a methodical and thorough completionist, listening to every line of dialogue and doing a lot of exploring.
That’s not counting the DLCs, which were collectively planned to add another 30 hours, but probably are closer to 40-50 for completionists. Might as well settle in for the long haul 
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The tv show is a little cheesy at times, but I have to say I’m enjoying it more than I expected to.
Just to be clear, the Witcher gear are things you have to have an armorer/blacksmith craft, like your shirt and boots, rather than finding the actual items themselves. The diagrams are scattered all over the world. It’s extremely unlikely you’d find them all on your own. You’d have no idea where they are unless you buy and read the maps, which give you quests under the “Treasure Hunts” tab, which, when activated, give you map markers pointing you toward the areas to search. And it’s extremely unlikely you’d find all the maps on your own, since they’re scattered at different vendors all over the world. That’s why I’d really recommend looking at an online guide about where to buy the maps. Otherwise, you’re going to miss out on the best weapons and armor in the game.
I’m fine with the game. I put in 21 hours up to now and I think today marks the one week mark of me playing it. That’s huge for me. One of the most amount of hours I’ve put in a week on a game in a really long time.
I met Dandelion, helped build and re-design his place, and tried to locate Priscilla’s attacker. She seems to be recovering.
Bear in mind that the games are set after the books, which means that they have lots of spoilers for the TV show.
Yeah, for one we know that Geralt survives!
Should I have spoilered that?
Well, I, for one, have already role-played the Witcher 3 ending in which Geralt dies a bunch of times. Pretty disappointing if you ask me. All you get is a prompt to “continue from most recent save.” No ending cutscene, no credits, nothing.
I had my first re-load for a choice. I ended up fighting Keira Metz to the death, so I loaded back and let her take her research notes away.
I guess that at least keeps her alive…
Uh, I hope I don’t get that bad of an ending…I’m trying my best!
A live and allied Keira helps
Uh, so maybe not. I have no idea. We let her go, but hardly were thrilled about it.