Can someone explain me why all the Witcher gear I find is worse than my already existing gear?

Is there some extra bonus for it being witcher gear? it also mentions some possible upgrades. How to get these?

Thanks

Check with all blacksmiths/weaponsmiths for treasure maps. Your key to witcher gear greatness.

Gear is level specific, so if you're finding the first tier of griffin gear (for level 7 or 8) at level 15, your current gear is obviously going to be better. Each set has 3 upgrades (enhanced, superior, and mastercrafted), and those will have different (higher) level requirements. From what I've heard the end game witcher gear (mastercrafted) is the most powerful. However, I have not reached end game yet, so I can't personally confirm. Follow this advice.

By the time I got my first set of Griffin Witcher gear, it was all a little under powered but it was quite easy to get the Enhanced upgrade recipes to upgrade them. When you make the enhanced (and then superior, followed by master) versions of the items, you need to have crafted and still hold on to the previous versions of the same items. So getting the first bits of the Griffin (and other sets) set isn't a complete waste of time because you will need it to craft the next level etc

With version 1.02 of the game, I do remember getting the next maps for some of the sets from the Herbalist in Novigrad.. that may have changed in future versions of the game though.

For the prescribed levels, the specialized Witcher gear is simply the best there is, and potentially some time after. (Seriously, once I got those Viper swords in White Orchard, those carried me through almost the entire Velen arc; Baron and Witch)

And yeah, there are further levels for the Griffin, Cat, and Bear sets, if you're beyond the prescribed levels for the first tiers.
And Mastercrafted Witcher Gear is just about the best you can get, practically speaking.

1. run around the merchants (mostly armorers and blacksmiths) listed below to collect the maps
2. read them
3. do the quest
4. craft

Witcher gear around your level is always superior to anything else you might find or craft.


Feline
basic, enhanced - Backbough
superior - Crow's Perch
mastercrafted - Lindenvale

Griffin
basic, enhanced - Midcopse
superior - Hierarch Square
mastercrafted - Hattori

Ursine
basic - Oxenfurt
enhanced, superior, mastercrafted - Bridge to Kaer Trolde

You will obtain upgrade quests by buying different maps from blacksmiths/armorers. They're marked as "Treasure Hunts." You do require the lower level gear of that school to craft the higher level gear, i.e., you require enhanced griffin gauntlets to craft superior griffin gauntlets.

Again, each upgrade is level specific so you can't just upgrade at will if you haven't leveled sufficiently.

Ah ok.. now I got what you mean by "upgrade". It's just that to craft the next level, I need the item from the previous level. Got it got it.

Thanks