The Witcher 3 offers a rich open world to any player willing to put in the hours and spend a lot of time exploring it. Not only are there multiple lands, each different from the previous one, but they also hide a lot of interesting details worth discovering. One such detail concerns the Places of Power.
Places of Power help Geralt to boost the magical power of his signs, although only for a time. They can be found in multiple places, and Geralt can either deliberately search for them or wait until he stumbles across one during his quests. However, there are plenty of things about the Places of Powers that don't quite make sense.
10 It's Not All That Powerful
Places of Power might seem like a nice trick to boost Geralt's strength, albeit temporarily. But in reality, it doesn't do that much. In fact, Geralt can quite easily manage without it as well. For example, at level 8, a certain player reported that drawing from a Place of Power only boosted the sign's strength by 40 points. While that can come in handy, it's also not a big improvement.
9 It Doesn't Always Work
Another problem with the Places of Power is that they don't always work. It's most likely a glitch. It doesn't happen to every player but enough of them to merit discussions online. Some players tried to draw from the Places of Power — with no result. The possible solution is trying to draw from the Place of Power from a different side. Some players even went as far as to reinstall the game.
8 It's In All Lands
Regardless of where Geralt travels throughout the game, he will come across a Place of Power sooner or later (usually sooner). Places of Power are in Velen, Novigrad, Skellige, Toussaint, and the list goes on. The question is: why there are everywhere? For example, when Geralt appears in Toussaint, it soon becomes clear that the presence of a witcher is something unique for the land. So why does it have places of power?
7 It's On Different Worlds As Well
Alright, let's say that both the Continent and Skellige needed the Places of Power and someone took the time to create them in all of the lands. But what makes even less sense is that Places of Power are also on different worlds.
When Geralt travels to other worlds with Avallac'h, he comes across a Place of Power. Considering how vastly different the worlds are, it doesn't make sense for them to contain something so unique from Geralt's world.
6 Who Built Them?
Before it became obvious that the Places of Power also were on different worlds where the witchers had no access to, the question of their origin seemed obvious. Everybody assumed the witchers were the ones who built them. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. The more likely answer is that it's the work of sorceresses or mages, considering the Places of Powers are magical in nature.
5 Their Age
Truth be told, the Places of Power would make much more sense if only the players got to know more about them (more on that later). But the way it is, a lot of things about them don't make sense. Besides their origin, it's also their age. The story of The Witcher 3 takes place in the thirteenth century, and the Places of Power look old like they've been around for centuries in some cases.
4 Nobody Talks About Them
The witchers may seem like a tight-lipped bunch. However, they can actually be quite chatty if one knows how to make them talk. Despite all that, Geralt never discusses places of power with any other characters in the game.
They talk about many things, some crucial, some relatively unimportant, but no one ever thinks to mention the strange monuments emanating magical light.
3 Scholars Don't Write About Them
Since the game takes place in the thirteenth century, it's not as easy to come across books as one is accustomed to today. Despite that, the world of The Witcher 3 seems relatively progressive and many people have their libraries or at least own a few books. Scholars are also common and write about many great topics — but not about the Places of Powers, despite the fact that they're rather fascinating. Perhaps it's a taboo in the society to write about them or there isn't that much information available to base the research on? Hard to tell.
2 It Doesn't Last
Even if Geralt bothers to draw power from the Places of Power, it's only temporary help. The power drawn doesn't last long. That would make sense in case Geralt would immediately fight someone and use the sign against the monsters or other enemies. But even if he's just peacefully walking around and enjoying the view, the power depletes itself quickly and Geralt is back where he started.
1 Other People Can Also Access It
Finally, since the Places of Power are so common and they're often near populated areas, do other people touch them as well? And does it do anything? They wouldn't draw power from it, of course, but it could give them something akin to a magical/electric shock. It also doesn't make sense that the witch hunters, determined to destroy everything magic, don't do anything about the weird stones emanating magic.