Gwent: The Witcher Card game - standalone Gwent game - now with Rogue Mage standalone expansion

[Agame]

Welp game still sucks.

New Dettlaff leader is broken OP (12 point potential leader) so 90% of ladder is "control Dettlaff" every card "value" removal, what a flipping joke.

Multi-headed Cow your assessment is correct, currently Gwent is engines and removal. Engine slam is just awful as its whoever can get bigger combo going, removal is even worse as there is no real interaction when every card damages, and the value of damage cards is ludicrously good compared to original Gwent. May as well play Hearthstone, at least it has more interaction on the board.

As you say the only thing that made Gwent fun and interesting to play to begin with was all of the synergy and interactions between the cards. Since they removed all that and we are now playing Gwent the mobile herpya derpya version its just a giant pile of steaming cow dung. At this stage I regret every cent I spent on the beta...

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Definitely sorry to hear that, though it's unsurprising. Still haven't looked at it yet myself though I never got around to uninstalling the game, but that's more a combination of being lazy/sticking to MTGA/procrastinating health issues instead of going to a fucking doctor and sending myself into a delirium rather than being all that interested in checking the new set out.

I also agree with you on regretting spending the money on it since I blew some money on it too after it went from closed to open beta. The reasoning being that I enjoyed closed beta so throwing some cash at them to kickstart my collection in open would be decent. Then after some play it sank in how they'd changed the game from closed to open but even though they fucked some things up it was still pretty enjoyable. Then homecoming. I'm pretty sure I've done the exact same line of bitching a few times on here but it still absolutely blows my mind how they nuked the game twice, presumably for mobile since they already announced Android and iPhone versions are coming.

 

[Agame]

Yeah the rot set in around the Midwinter patch, I think that was when they changed a ton of card names to "generic something or other", that was a huge screaming warning sign they were shifting priority to mobile friendly. But the eventual release of Homecoming has to be almost unprecedented in game development as Homecoming is quite literally an entirely new game to Gwent. Adapting and changing the game is fine, but reinventing it entirely is a giant fuck you to everyone who invested in the beta. The reality is Homecoming itself is now in Beta as they are still making dramatic changes to the core game eg. the whole artifact fiddling and nerfing, recently taking away Eredins immunity ability (they may as well have deleted the card, its utterly worthless now), nerfing Witcher trio into oblivion because they are incapable of coming up with a different mechanic for them etc.

The whole thing is a mess, and tbqh I will be happy if it fails, game devs need to have actual consequences and punishment for this kind of behaviour. I will never spend another dollar on Gwent, and you are wise to skip playing it. The expansion has done nothing to change any of the core problems, in fact they are just doubling down on the current bad mechanics.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I heard about the change to Eredin, and honestly he shouldn't have even been given immunity in the first place. IIRC one of their lines of reasoning for removing the unique faction abilities when they went from closed to open was "It constrains the design space" because you had to consider things like monster players potentially leaving basically any unit they could play on the board if it was played last, etc. Even though I can sort of understand why they'd say that (Although honestly shit like that was a cool mechanic and it helped give the different factions unique identities which is even more lost in homecoming) it was still a lot less of a red flag than being able to slap immune on anything the turn you play it. Sure, you can still hit things with indirect removal, but that's generally pretty spotty and a large part of why Eredin was consistently a heavy hitter in homecoming.

And then (Just because I'm launching into a Gwent rant again) there are other fucked up things like the case of Crach and Meve. Crach is damage a unit by 1, cooldown 2. Meve is boost and ally by 1, cooldown 2. At first glance you'd think they're just mirrored versions of one another, but Crach is strictly better. For one thing, 1 point of damage is more valuable than 1 point of boost (Can knock a unit into lethal range for other removal, can line up Regis/scorch/gigni targets, can remove things like dead cows from rot tossers, can self harm for Skellige units that do that, etc etc etc) and most importantly, Crach can hit both enemies and allies while Meve can't even boost enemies to try to line things up. There are NR cards that benefit from and synergize with boost, definitely, but the same can be said with Skellige with bloodletting, self wounding, and then the previously mentioned removal benefits. I was still mostly out of Gwent when they added the Thronebreaker leaders, but I was still playing a little bit of Adda Shupe at the time just because playing a retarded pile of cards like that was the only way I could feel like there was more decent thought going on.

 

[Absinthe]

I see it hasn't been linked here yet, so I'll post it now: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/gwent-coming-to-smartphones.11001778/

After almost a year of declaring that they are not going to make Gwent into a mobile game, CDPR has finally officially admitted that they are. This is really no surprise, but the blatant lying is definitely a strike against CDPR. Whatever the fuck is happening in there, it isn't good. I wouldn't be surprised if they had sales/marketing guys at the helm - every change they make looks like an attempt to capture a bigger audience with blatant disregard for game quality and gameplay. But Gwent, unlike most GaaS shit, has absolutely no selling point other than its gameplay, so every dumb decision they make (like the more Hearthstone-ish gameplay mechanics for Nilfgaard in Homecoming, increased emphasis on luck-based gameplay, and reduction of rows to prepare the game for a mobile release so the game fits on a screen better), keeps bleeding them a large amount of players even though they are designed to bring in a bigger audience (hearthstone audience, casual audience, mobile audience). Mobile is probably their final attempt before the chain of disasters gets them fired. Pretty sure Gwent is bleeding players hard even when they don't do anything just because fewer and fewer people are motivated to keep playing. The latest expansion is an attempt to prevent that fall-off and encourage old players to rejoin, but instead their fuckups meant that they are once again losing players hard and inviting a fresh wave of complaints. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before heads roll, but it will probably be another year or so before Gwent is either dead or rolled back to beta.

But this incompetence and flagrant apathy for good gameplay in favor of whatever those idiots believe gets the most sales (even though it causes them to lose sales instead) is also lowering my expectations for Cyberpunk 2077.

 

[Agame]

Homecoming was 100% designed for mobile, I think they gave up on old Gwent as a viable product for whatever reason, and went full retard mode into Homecoming. As you say they are bleeding all of their original audience and destroying all trust to cater to this potential mobile audience. Is turning Gwent into "Witcher Hearthstone" going to be profitable? Who knows, but they sure pissed off a lot of their fanbase doing it...

I for one will feel quite content to travel the high seas for Cyberpunk 2077. I spent a fair bit on beta Gwent so CDPR owe me.

 

[TheChickenKing]

I'd be curious to know how much Gwent's success - or failure - is related to the brand it's associated with. Hearthstone is tied to the hugely popular Warcraft series and Blizzard's reputation, Magic The Gathering's digital presence is boosted by it's ubiquity in the phyiscal TCG scene, and those are the two big competitors in the digital card game space. The Witcher universe, conversely, hasn't gained a ton of mainstream success. I'd say it's been successful within gaming itself, but even then, the Witcher games are squarely aimed at older audiences who like RPGs that are complex by most gaming standards. That doesn't line up well with the more generally casual card game demographic, and no matter how good Gwent is, I'm guessing most of the audience for the Witcher games isn't particularly interested in playing something like Gwent long-term.

Now, if the Netflix show is successful, I could see this changing overnight. But that's a pretty big if.

 

[Grubba]

I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before heads roll, but it will probably be another year or so before Gwent is either dead or rolled back to beta.

They'll take it out behind the barn and shoot in in the head before they ever revert it back to it's beta state. Didn't they already admit that they fucked up once? I can't see them doing that again. Doesn't matter anyway, I don't give a fuck. Even if they did blow it up and go back to beta I wouldn't play. I've moved on. Why waste my time with a game that's obviously ran by a bunch of shit-for-brains potatoes? They would inevitably ruin it again.

Gwent will forever be remembered as an example of what NOT to do.

 

[Agame]

I'd be curious to know how much Gwent's success - or failure - is related to the brand it's associated with.

I think it is, quite a bit. And Im sure that was the reasoning for the 'suits' decision making, if they can push the Witcher brand through TV, RPG gaems, collectible figurines, whatever, then having a mobile casual retard game getting revenue is a bonus. Beta Gwent WAS more catered to the Witcher diehard fanboi, but also was seen as a "thinking man" CCG as compared to something like HS, you can see how many of the big Gwent streamers jumped ship onto Valves "You need a higher IQ to understand this" Artifact CCG. Since that went belly up they all came crawling back to Gwent like the filthy two-bit whores that they are now that it seems to be trending again.

They'll take it out behind the barn and shoot in in the head before they ever revert it back to it's beta state. Didn't they already admit that they fucked up once? I can't see them doing that again. Doesn't matter anyway, I don't give a fuck. Even if they did blow it up and go back to beta I wouldn't play. I've moved on. Why waste my time with a game that's obviously ran by a bunch of shit-for-brains potatoes? They would inevitably ruin it again.

Gwent will forever be remembered as an example of what NOT to do.

Yea we will NEVER see beta Gwent again. Unless someone else just takes the concepts and makes a new game with a completely different IP. CDPR already stole the basic ideas from some other game so its not original. Anyway I hope someone does, the 'weather' mechanics was one of my favorite CCG mechanics I have seen, could really suit a 'war' themed CCG like WW2, napoleonics etc.

 

[Absinthe]

Yea we will NEVER see beta Gwent again. Unless someone else just takes the concepts and makes a new game with a completely different IP. CDPR already stole the basic ideas from some other game so its not original. Anyway I hope someone does, the 'weather' mechanics was one of my favorite CCG mechanics I have seen, could really suit a 'war' themed CCG like WW2, napoleonics etc.

RuneWards has already existed for years. Being an extreme Gwent knockoff (with Hearthstone graphics) is what made it unpopular, but now that Gwent has been replaced with the Homecoming abomination it's become the superior option.

 

[Agame]

Interesting, shame the graphics/factions look generic AF. I have to admit I still play Gwent purely cos the art is so gorgeous. I went back to Hearthstone recently after a year or two break, I used to think the card art was pretty good, now it looks like fucking kindergarten level shit. I guess cos these games are all aimed at mobiles people just expect generic garbage art.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[FritzedProcess]

So, has anyone played with the new expansion cards? I haven't had the time to try them yet, but there's a lot of people butthurt about the Syndicate faction being OP. No wonder, with cyberaugmented agents in a medieval world.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I haven't. I still haven't played with the vampire expansion, either. I did pick up Thronebreaker though, which is genuinely less fun than the Hearthstone singleplayer shit they've been putting out recently. I did load it up long enough to craft all the cards from both expansions and look at the art though, CDPR does get some purdy lookin' art made.

 

[FritzedProcess]

I haven't. I still haven't played with the vampire expansion, either. I did pick up Thronebreaker though, which is genuinely less fun than the Hearthstone singleplayer shit they've been putting out recently. I did load it up long enough to craft all the cards from both expansions and look at the art though, CDPR does get some purdy lookin' art made.

The main problem with Thronebreaker is that it's too easy even on hard, and you only have to adapt your deck in a couple of battles. They try to incentivize replays through multiple endings and card unlocks in Gwent, and I have replayed it for the second reason, but it felt like a chore.

 

[Agame]

Yea Syndicate are OP, and they did this purposefully as 90% of the new cards are for the new faction, imagine if they were bad and no one wanted to play them? Allegedly they were actually not OP in early testing, but they buffed them up for release, thats why even the bronzes for Syndicate are OP compared to other factions.

I have been playing a bit, they did a hotfix which didnt really change much, but the next big patch will supposedly buff some other faction bronzes (hopefuly NR who are woefully under powered.) Interesting precedent if they will buff cards up rather than constant nerfing...

 

[Agame]

New expansion trailer:



So armor mechanic is back, maybe you hackjobs shouldnt have removed it in the first place?

At this rate in a few years they may have re-invented the original Gwent card game...

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

On one hand, Gwent is dead to me. On the other hand, I feel obligated to come back for the mad lad.

 

[Agame]

On one hand, Gwent is dead to me. On the other hand, I feel obligated to come back for the mad lad.

Same, I kind of hate it but I keep coming back...

At least the card art is still amazing.

 

[Agame]

Was this thread moved from Gazebo? If not shouldnt it be in there anyway?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Was this thread moved from Gazebo? If not shouldnt it be in there anyway?

It was. Same with Slay the Spire. Someone's quietly moving threads out of the gazebo so they can shut it down, I reckon.

 

[Infinitron]

https://playgwent.com/en/news/31087/important-announcement-about-the-future-of-gwent-on-consoles

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE FUTURE OF GWENT ON CONSOLES

Dear GWENT players,

When we launched the console versions of GWENT back in 2017, our intention was to provide console players with the same level of support as their PC counterparts. However, having just launched GWENT on iOS, and with the Android version coming, the number of supported platforms would significantly increase. Looking to the future, we do not believe we can support a growing number of different versions of GWENT while improving feature parity between them.

Considering that PC and mobile are the most popular platforms among GWENT players, we have made a tough decision: to discontinue support of console versions of the game. All GWENT players on consoles will be offered an option to copy their account progress and purchases from their current platform to a GOG account, which is used by both PC and mobile versions of the game.

How exactly is this going to work?
Starting from December 9th, 2019, console players will be able to access a webpage where they can request to copy their progress from their console account to a new or existing GOG account. Since we do not support the “merging” of accounts, we will only be able to copy progress to existing GOG accounts that do not have any GWENT progression on them at the time the request is made.

This account-copying process will be available for a period of 6 months — from 09/12/2019 to 09/06/2020. On 09/12/2019 we will release an update which will essentially freeze GWENT in its current state. From this point onwards, both console versions will be operational up until 09/06/2020. Until that time, their functionality will be limited. For example:
- There will be no regular updates for console versions starting with the December 9th update
- Future expansions and additional content won’t be released on consoles
- We’re disabling all real-money purchases on consoles, starting today - After the December 9th, 2019 update, matchmaking on consoles with other platforms will no longer be supported

What progress will be copied:

• All collected ornaments
• Meteorite Powder — Only applies to Xbox One players*
• All other currencies
• Cards
• Deck lists
• Account level
• Current Rank
• Thronebreaker rewards
• Contracts

*Unfortunately, transferring Meteorite Powder from PlayStation 4 to GOG.COM is not possible. PlayStation 4 Players will have to spend their Meteorite Powder before requesting the account-copying process to ensure that its equivalent value can carry over.

We will share more details about the process once the account-copying request webpage goes live on 09/12/2019.

 

[J1M]

This should be moved to the Gazebo forum.

 

[Absinthe]

Translation: Gwent is losing so many players that maintaining the console versions costs more than it is earning CD Projekt, so they shut it down to cut their losses. Seems it's doing pretty bad.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Translation: Gwent is losing so many players that maintaining the console versions costs more than it is earning CD Projekt, so they shut it down to cut their losses. Seems it's doing pretty bad.

Gwent only made 4% of its revenue on consoles while iOS accounts for 68% and PC for the remaining 28%.