After reading the entire Witcher saga (incl. Season of Storms), I got motivation to work on the guide again. Before I start with the relevant subject, I'd like to comment what an amazing experience it was to follow Geralt in his journey. To the players, who have only played the Witcher games, I strongly recommend reading the books as well.
MONOCAT vs BEARWEAVING vs GOTVV-SHIFT
Although the current version of the simcraft doesn't feature bearweaving and the GotVV-shift, a few hours ago I found an older version which helped me compare the damage of those playstyles. Before I show you the screenshots, I want to mention a few things:
1) Props to the people, who worked on the feral simcraft and included all three playstyles;
2) Keep in mind that this is an older version of the simcraft, so it's not impossible for some inconsistencies to exist. Regardless, it can give us a rough idea of how the damage looks like.
3) The following talents and gemming options might not be optimised, but I will work on that the following days. Also, I purposely chose 10 seconds bite time for the bearweavers, and 6 for the GotVV-shift because those values generated the most damage.
4) "Flowerweaving" here is actually GotW with /stopattack. I realised that after checking the "timeline" in the "results" panel.
5) Hysteria was not included.
120 seconds
Monocat
GotVV-shift with /stopattack
Mangleweaving
Lacerateweaving
150 seconds (here you can find the settings and the talents)
Monocat
GotVV-shift with /stopattack
Mangleweaving
Lacerateweaving
180 seconds
Monocat
GotVV-shift with /stopattack
Mangleweaving
Lacerateweaving
The simcraft shows Lacerateweaving prevailing most of the time, followed by the GotVV-shift with /stopattack, Mangleweaving, and finally the monocat. Keep in mind that this regards linear, single-target fights. In boss encounters with incapacitation mechanics, with downtime phases or with constant target switching, the Lacerateweaver will have difficulties refreshing the bear bleed on time. Moreover, the bearweaver generates 1.5 times more threat than the GotVV-shifter:
bearweaving
GotVV-shift with /stopattack
This coupled with the fact that flowershifting is easier to pull off is the reason why I recommend the latter technique.