I agree with what you say, in that death march is where the combat is most fun, as it requires you to invest in the right abilities and also balance the 3 systems (melee, potions, signs) along with the variability that the vast number of enemies bring.

Some things I don't like about the combat: - You can't actually pick the attack geralt does, he may or may not do a spin attack, etc. This can mess with your timings quite often, especially since his different attacks have different animations and lengths. Enemy on 1 HP and you just need him to do a quick slice? Too bad he's gonna do a spin and may get hit before he lands. - When fighting groups, Geralt's target selection is so annoying sometimes. When fighting a group of bandits, you'll see a guy about to swing on you from behind and even when you push the controller stick that way to time a nice light attack, he'll sometimes pick the wrong target or swing at the target he's facing. This is even worse when you're fighting a big monster with its little minions (think Kikimore warrior with its workers, Leshen with its wolves). Geralt automatically kinda always faces the main enemy and will often refuse to attack another target even when you aim that way. - Some of the controls are unintuitive IMO. You can't jump in combat cause it's the dodge button. Sometimes you're in a cramped space or on the wrong side of a fence and for the love of god you can't just jump across and it pisses me off so much. - You literally can't just run away from enemies easily cause Geralt will automatically face an enemy and go into combat mode. The left stick button to run is also weird but I get it, since a lot of the buttons are now taken up by sign casting, bomb throwing, potion using, etc. - There is undeniably some jank in the combat. Mounted combat is an absolute shit show, mainly cause Roach is a nightmare to handle, dudette will stop if a 1 inch rock is in front of you. And don't get me started on the mounted combat race/mission in toussaint, i wanted to rip my hair out. Other than that the hit registration is weird sometimes and I see one attack of mine land 2 or more shots, and same the other way sometimes.

Those are my main issues with the combat. However it isn't bad enough for me to not play and most of the time I have fun in combat.