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

[Absinthe]

The iPhone launch is new so I'm not surprised at the flurry of revenue. Remains to be seen how sustainable it is. Gwent had longevity, but this Thronebreaker mobile shit doesn't. You get bored of it.

 

[cvv]

Is anyone still playing? I've just finished Thronebreaker, got a few cards and cheevos so I thought imma check out the multiplayer game for a bit.

I don't want to spend half a day with research tho so is it even worth trying? I have a bunch of reward points, about 15 kegs, some ore....no idea what's good and what's not. In Witcher I used to main Nilfgaard but this is an entirely different game now.

 

[Danikas]

Is anyone still playing? I've just finished Thronebreaker, got a few cards and cheevos so I thought imma check out the multiplayer game for a bit.

I don't want to spend half a day with research tho so is it even worth trying? I have a bunch of reward points, about 15 kegs, some ore....no idea what's good and what's not. In Witcher I used to main Nilfgaard but this is an entirely different game now.

Ye there is still lots of people playing. You can check viable decks here.
https://teamaretuza.com/meta-snapshot/

 

[cvv]

Ok been playing for two days now and I gotta admit, I am having fun. I played the closed beta for a while and this is a very different game but I can't help it, I'm hooked.

Btw the production values and all the extra stuff (like the reward points, the Thronebreaker campaign) make Hearthstone look like a cheapo indie, it's p. funny. The only beef I have is the pack prices, it's the same kind of MTX shit as Hearthstone. I mean 60 euro for 50 packs? And you need 50 at minimum to have a solid base for just ONE faction. Not to mention all the expansions. Fuck this business model man.

 

[Danikas]

Ok been playing for two days now and I gotta admit, I am having fun. I played the closed beta for a while and this is a very different game but I can't help it, I'm hooked.

Btw the production values and all the extra stuff (like the reward points, the Thronebreaker campaign) make Hearthstone look like a cheapo indie, it's p. funny. The only beef I have is the pack prices, it's the same kind of MTX shit as Hearthstone. I mean 60 euro for 50 packs? And you need 50 at minimum to have a solid base for just ONE faction. Not to mention all the expansions. Fuck this business model man.

Didnt you get some scraps from the beta? I have 300k scraps from beta and crafted all the cards in the game, only thing I would consider buying is powder for animated cards.

 

[FritzedProcess]

Ok been playing for two days now and I gotta admit, I am having fun. I played the closed beta for a while and this is a very different game but I can't help it, I'm hooked.

Btw the production values and all the extra stuff (like the reward points, the Thronebreaker campaign) make Hearthstone look like a cheapo indie, it's p. funny. The only beef I have is the pack prices, it's the same kind of MTX shit as Hearthstone. I mean 60 euro for 50 packs? And you need 50 at minimum to have a solid base for just ONE faction. Not to mention all the expansions. Fuck this business model man.

In addition to the scraps you get from your closed/open beta collection (which should be full value), I would encourage you to at least log in daily for the rewards. Also check the rewards book; you will start accumulating keys, especially early on when the low-hanging fruit contracts get completed, and the nodes will give you a nice boost in terms of resources. F2P in this game is much, much easier than in the competition.

 

[Absinthe]

Ok been playing for two days now and I gotta admit, I am having fun. I played the closed beta for a while and this is a very different game but I can't help it, I'm hooked.

It doesn't last though. Classic Gwent hooked you with tactical depth, where you could play the same deck a hundred times and appreciate the way you adjust your playstyle with the same deck and interact with your opponents. It was somewhat like playing chess, in a way. Homecoming/Thronebreaker Gwent dazzles you with fancy things but after a while the high element of luck, lack of strategic depth, and significantly lowered skill ceiling make the game boring and you find yourself enjoying the game less and less as you ultimately go super-casual or quit altogether.

 

[cvv]

Ok been playing for two days now and I gotta admit, I am having fun. I played the closed beta for a while and this is a very different game but I can't help it, I'm hooked.

It doesn't last though.

Yeah, it didn't.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Classic Gwent hooked you with tactical depth, where you could play the same deck a hundred times and appreciate the way you adjust your playstyle with the same deck and interact with your opponents.

Isn't your statement a bit unfair though? Seems to me that once you've developed a strong enough deck with more than a few possible synergies, there still are tactics to decide upon in the current version of Gwent depending on what faction you're up against and which cards you've got in a particular round.

 

[Absinthe]

Classic Gwent hooked you with tactical depth, where you could play the same deck a hundred times and appreciate the way you adjust your playstyle with the same deck and interact with your opponents.

Isn't your statement a bit unfair though? Seems to me that once you've developed a strong enough deck with more than a few possible synergies, there still are tactics to decide upon in the current version of Gwent depending on what faction you're up against and which cards you've got in a particular round.

Certainly, there "still are tactics" but there certainly is nowhere near as much tactical depth as there was in pre-HC Gwent. They lowered the skill ceiling, increased randomization, reduced rows, implemented hand size limits, increased card draws between rounds (these two combined to effectively create a form of "minimum round length"), reduced positional effects, punished tempo, decreased overall deck synergy, decreased deck-thinning options, increased non-interactive options (artifacts), made archetypes a lot more binary overall, and so forth. So you don't have that same sense of weighing your moves on every turn because you have strong options and missteps can decide the match. Controlling round-lengths and weighing tempo vs engine plays and investing high points now vs saving them for later along, whether it's more important to deny your opponent a foothold now or have options up your sleeves to punish his plays later, positioning your cards carefully for synergy with your own cards or opposing your opponent's synergy, and carefully contemplating what sorts of options you are opening up to your opponent and which options you are devaluing and whether you want to create setups that induce certain plays as a way to fish information on his hand are all aspects that went into playing pre-HC Gwent, that gave you a feeling of measuring your decisions with every play. And that's not even getting into the mindgames that were possible when you could expect interactivity and consistency out of both your own deck and your opponent's. Homecoming is simply not on that level. Worse still, they gutted much of what made Gwent good. Because to bads, most of these aspects were ways you would abuse your opponent, if they even noticed them at all. HC Gwent is generally much lower on interactivity, consistency, options, and a lot of particular pressures that were exploitable in pre-HC Gwent are gone in HC, leaving the game that much more barren and uninteresting for it. Homecoming feels like it was made by people who enjoyed Hearthstone too much and appreciated Gwent for what it was too little.

 

[FritzedProcess]

Homecoming is simply not on that level. Worse still, they gutted much of what made Gwent good. Because to bads, most of these aspects were ways you would abuse your opponent, if they even noticed them at all. HC Gwent is generally much lower on interactivity, consistency, options, and a lot of particular pressures that were exploitable in pre-HC Gwent are gone in HC, leaving the game that much more barren and uninteresting for it. Homecoming feels like it was made by people who enjoyed Hearthstone too much and appreciated Gwent for what it was too little.

Yes, sadly the most inventive archetypes are gone, along with the tactical depth. I wouldn't say it's gone full Hearthstone as balance patches are quite common and there are more tactics involved, but everything has been streamlined to the point that bluffing or bamboozling an opponent is detrimental to you, and it certainly doesn't hook me like it used to. About 90% of my 265 hours spent in that game were pre-HC, and I now play maybe once (as in "one or two games") a month or when there is a new expansion or big patch, and even then not much more than 6 or 12 games, then it's back to getting the daily login reward for the next couple of months.

 

[Julyan Morley]

The gameplay of the old Nilfgaard Spies deck was about as good as it gets with these card games. High skill cap, very interactive, lots of difficult decisions. They should have just let that be the best deck instead of nerfing it. Every other best deck that followed was boring as shit.

 

[FritzedProcess]

Yes, that was one deck that was terrible if you were a shit player, but the best if you were good, and my favourite back in the pre-HC days. Nowadays there's Nilfgaard mill, but it's a bit hit-and-miss, that is to say, it's very draw-dependant, but it's the deck that keeps me checking the game every now and then (it was really good maybe four months ago, but they gimped it).

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Eh, I myself am mostly a Northern Realms sort of guy. Though that's less about my preference for the NR builds and more of an aesthetic choice.

 

[LESS T_T]

Now on Steam:

 

[FritzedProcess]

Well, I guess they want to inflate the player count or something. I haven't played in 3 months, but from what I hear the state of the game since the last patch is not good (some have likened it to the Winter Patch).

 

[Absinthe]

Homecoming itself was basically a far worse version of midwinter patch.

Anyway, looks like nuGwent is just about done with its death spiral. Releasing on Steam was just about the last thing they'd do, and they're doing it. They've done mobile release, they've done intentional powercreep expansions to push people to buy new cards (even though it's bad for longevity), they've done Hearthstone copycat shit, they've had to close down their console editions because they earned less than they cost, they've done garbage store deals to try to induce overspending, and now they're doing the Steam release, which CDPR said they would never do. Means they are well and truly desperate and failed to get back the GOG userbase. It is almost finished now.

Also, holy shit their Steam trailer is bad too. It looks like they're trying to sell a card game as an action game. Horrible display of gameplay, bad appeal to any Witcher fandom shit, ridiculous camera angles, and a mindless focus on special effects (in a card game). Are they retarded? God damn this shit make me laugh. These guys have no clue what they're doing anymore.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Are they retarded?

Yes. That's been evident since they moved from closed to open beta, and open beta to release. You could even argue trying to make Gwent a CCG was stupid in and of itself since Gwent is just a straight ripoff of Condottiere which is intended to be just a fucking board game and isn't made to be widely expandable, but there was enough time when you still had counterplay and mindgames going on. Then they just managed to fuck it up worse with basically every single update they did to the poor fucking thing. The fact that I actually spent cash on Gwent during open beta based on the fun I had in closed beta still bothers me. I thought there'd be balance changes but I didn't realize they'd completely overhaul and gut the game multiple times and leave it a horrible pile of slop.

 

[Agame]

The fact that I actually spent cash on Gwent during open beta based on the fun I had in closed beta still bothers me. I thought there'd be balance changes but I didn't realize they'd completely overhaul and gut the game multiple times and leave it a horrible pile of slop.

Yea I am finally in the apathy stage with this game, have not even checked on its progress in months. I was stuck in the 'anger/hate' phase for a long time which is actually a positive because it means you still care and are invested in the product. Now I am done with it, its pretty much dead to me and I dont care about the money I put into it, I did play alot so I guess I got my value for money.

Honestly I dont even like CCGs, I have tried Hearthstone and MTG and I fucking hate them, but Gwent was so unique and played differently, and the card art so beautiful that it really grabbed me.

Anyway lets see what mini game they put into CP2077...?

 

[PulsatingBrain]

It seems like a lot of you are having the same issue I'm having. They fucking ruined the game

 

[Infinitron]

OUR FATE IS IN HIS HANDS!

He’s always been there, quietly pulling at fate’s strings, his evil touch creeping its way into key events in the Continent’s history. From the Empire of Nilfgaard, to the Northern Realms, to the isles of Skellige and beyond, his influence knows no bounds. You may be tempted to try to defy the diabolical trickster, but in the end all will play by his rules and all will bend to his will. He is Master Mirror, and it is he who decides how the story plays out.

 

[Infinitron]

OUR FATE IS IN HIS HANDS!
The latest free GWENT expansion, #MasterMirror is LIVE and brings over 70 new cards including evolving legendaries and much more!

 

[FritzedProcess]

I had a bunch of ore from daily logins and I got some packs from the new expansion. Maybe in a couple of days I'll netdeck something and give it a try. I'm not holding my hopes high for this one...

 

[Erikkolai]

Played the beta nearly every day, from November 2016 until it ended in late 2018. Was utterly hooked. Tried very hard to like Homecoming, but haven't touched it since March 2019.

These are the things that dismayed me:

1. Loss of identity. It didn't really look or feel like Gwent any more, so it lost most of its charm. It went from being an upbeat tavern card game, to having a semi-realistic battlefield with awkward leader puppets next to the cards. It doesn't even look like the minigame from TW3 any more. It was so different that CDPR even removed the iconic Gwent music from the game.
2. The obligatory deck size was doubled, trainer cards were removed, and you could only have 2 version of bronze card (instead of 3). So instead of building consistent decks and reliably drawing nearly all your cards, decks felt incoherent and there was much more randomness.
3. I think the removal of the siege row wasn't done for gameplay reasons, but to optimize Gwent for mobile devices. This limited our gameplay options, especially since CDPR also restricted how many cards could be placed on a row (from endless, to 9).
4. CDPR restricted how many non-unit cards you could use in your deck. This hampered innovation in deck building, and felt like a ham-fisted 'solution' to pure non-unit decks.
5. The game felt much more casual in general. In beta I struggled to reach the top rank (21), didn't always make it. But in Homecoming I easily cruised to the new top rank (1) early in each season. Maybe because so many veteran players had abandoned the game.
6. All the archetypes I'd known and loved were deleted and replaced by what I perceived to be very simplified alternatives.
7. Some card art and voice lines were being altered to make them more family friendly (to please Chinese censors perhaps). It detracted from the 'Witcher feel', which has always had mature content and adult language.
8. I felt like CDPR lied to us about Homecoming. They said they'd bring the game back to the roots (after the Midwinter RNG fiasco etc.), instead they radically changed it into something else. I think they went all-in on Thronebreaker and only left a skeleton crew working on Gwent.

There was also an expansion after I quit the game. My most anticipated faction (Temple / Eternal Fire) was introduced, but as an archetype within a Novigrad thief guild faction.

Has Gwent improved in any significant way since then? Any reason to give it another shot? I demoralized myself just writing this, but I guess it's worth asking. If at least a few of the points above aren't valid any longer, perhaps I'll convince myself to give it a go.

 

[v1rus]

Classic Gwent hooked you with tactical depth, where you could play the same deck a hundred times and appreciate the way you adjust your playstyle with the same deck and interact with your opponents.

Isn't your statement a bit unfair though? Seems to me that once you've developed a strong enough deck with more than a few possible synergies, there still are tactics to decide upon in the current version of Gwent depending on what faction you're up against and which cards you've got in a particular round.

Certainly, there "still are tactics" but there certainly is nowhere near as much tactical depth as there was in pre-HC Gwent. They lowered the skill ceiling, increased randomization, reduced rows, implemented hand size limits, increased card draws between rounds (these two combined to effectively create a form of "minimum round length"), reduced positional effects, punished tempo, decreased overall deck synergy, decreased deck-thinning options, increased non-interactive options (artifacts), made archetypes a lot more binary overall, and so forth. So you don't have that same sense of weighing your moves on every turn because you have strong options and missteps can decide the match. Controlling round-lengths and weighing tempo vs engine plays and investing high points now vs saving them for later along, whether it's more important to deny your opponent a foothold now or have options up your sleeves to punish his plays later, positioning your cards carefully for synergy with your own cards or opposing your opponent's synergy, and carefully contemplating what sorts of options you are opening up to your opponent and which options you are devaluing and whether you want to create setups that induce certain plays as a way to fish information on his hand are all aspects that went into playing pre-HC Gwent, that gave you a feeling of measuring your decisions with every play. And that's not even getting into the mindgames that were possible when you could expect interactivity and consistency out of both your own deck and your opponent's. Homecoming is simply not on that level. Worse still, they gutted much of what made Gwent good. Because to bads, most of these aspects were ways you would abuse your opponent, if they even noticed them at all. HC Gwent is generally much lower on interactivity, consistency, options, and a lot of particular pressures that were exploitable in pre-HC Gwent are gone in HC, leaving the game that much more barren and uninteresting for it. Homecoming feels like it was made by people who enjoyed Hearthstone too much and appreciated Gwent for what it was too little.

I also loved beta Gwent, and was hooked as all hell. Think I even finished a season in top 10k or something akin tot hat. Compare to hearthstone, which i still regulary play, I NEVER had the drive to get fucking legend, much less anything above. It truly was an intricate, and high skill game.

But, it was also sorta boring tbh. You had your deck, and its strategy, and the counterplays to 3 decks you are always going to ladder against, and thats pretty much it from the tactics department. Then, there was a decent amount of mind games, and truly, those were the moments the game shined. But, midngames using the same pieces gets boring (heck, why not just play chess if thats what you are in).

I can never consider Hearthstone a good game. Like ever. But the amount of RNG insanity it has, makes for a lot of variety in gameplay, so it doesnt get dull fast. Can never imagine myself trying to be competitive in that game, cuz thats a sure road to insanity, but casually ranking to like d5, heck, even Legend these days, because they made it so easy, is a real, casual zen type of fun.

Ill give homoecomnig another try. I have all basic cards, and like, 90.000 dust, so eh, ill be extra fine. Game seems to be doing ok, so it has to have something going for it, right?