Is Gwent a pay to win game?

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Is Gwent a pay to win game?

As title.
I have seen in the BETA game that the initial decks are very weak.

I suppose that people who will spend more will be able to build a better deck and there is no way to win a strong deck with a weak one
(if both players knows how to play gwent).

So, is this game a pay to win game?
 
It doesn't seem to be, at least from my point of view. While the initial decks are weak, it obviously makes sense for them to be. But the thing is you can improve the deck with relative ease, all you need to do is play. Basically I think that as of now, the game is in that right spot.

And who knows what's coming later. Maybe we'll get missions and daily quests that when complete award more kegs/ores/etc?
 

JoMr3

Forum regular
You can currently either buy kegs, or play and use the gained resources to buy kegs or craft cards. I'd say that's fair. Using money to buy kegs only speeds up progress IMHO, it doesn't guarantee you will get good cards.
 
You can compare the pay to win level to Hearthstone. A collectable card game will always have this in its gameplay because they can't give you a play for free option.
 
I would have preferred to pay 50€ for the game and stop.
In this way you can loose with some guys who spent 200€ for a deck.
It's not that fan.

---------- Updated at 10:37 PM ----------

At the end free to play game tends to be more expensive for people who play the game and free for people who play one week and abandon the game.

If you want to have a good deck, be prepared to pay more than the witcher series games, this is my sensation
 
I dont think so. Spending money does not guarantee good cards in every keg, only increases the chance.

This business model is the industry standard and it also works best with games like this, they have to make money somehow guys.

Almost nobody is willing to spend 50€ on a card game just like that.

---------- Updated at 10:39 PM ----------

Speaking of winning.....I haven't won a single match so far with Scoiatael :D :( They seem to be pretty underpowered when compared to other factions.

Also Francesca's ability is not that good if you do not use it right away as you keep running out of cards and your chances for good combo are decreasing with every turn : (
 

Guest 3885261

Guest
Yes, some cards are very obviously above the curve and most of these cards are in the upper rarities. The ability to play any card at any time and starting the game with a huge portion of your deck available makes thing worse, if you have great gold cards you'll see them often and won't have to worry about losing before you get a chance to play them. Players who have a larger card pool have an advantage, there's no system in place to prevent players with disparate collections from playing against each other and spending money gives you access to way more cards than you would otherwise have.

Imagine if you took two players who've spent an hour or two learning the basics and gave one of them $500 to buy kegs while the other is stuck with the cards they've unlocked during that time. Now say they each build a deck and play 100 matches against each other, I imagine the guy who got the huge card pool would dominate and win a lot of their games without the other dude having a chance. In a game like hearthstone things wouldn't be as bad because you see less of your deck and the powerful legendary cards can't be cast for many turns. I fear that without those restrictions on powerful cards things are too heavily weighted in favor of the player with better cards.
 
I haven't tried the beta yet but does the winner only get something at the end of a match? Because if it's the case, it will definitely be a pay to win.

Here is why: if only the winner gets some currency or levels to get cards afterwards, as some people will buy cards right away to boost their decks, they will certainly get the edge over those who don't and thus the chances to get new cards for those not buying anything with real money is gonna grow thin as they will most likely lose most their matches (if according to what I read the starter decks are indeed weak). It will be like a glass ceiling for some players.
 
The same question is asked whenever there's a new card game. I don't see the difference between Gwent's business model compared to other card games, it's redundant at this point to ask. However I do agree with the fact that you should get something at the end of a game despise the result of the match.
 
Yeah I agree, giving a smaller reward to the losers will make things a bit more bearable. Also I'm hoping the matching system will keep into account the deck power of each player. I've already stumbled upon people who had much more powerful decks than mine.
 
To take into account the deck power of each player could cause coding problems (haven't seen other card games that did this) because you not only have to take into account the cards but the deck as a whole.

By the way is there a hidden MMR in beta matchmaking or it's completely random at this point ?

As for the pay to win i never consider free to play games pay to win (unless the paying player has some sort of unique advantage over the non paying player) but pay to arrive at the destination faster.
 
The fact that the resources for buying kegs and crafting cards are fairly easy to obtain, as well as the fact that you get random cards with each keg, make any advantage from buying kegs negligible.

I have played for several hours already and have yet to encounter someone with a deck significantly more powerful than mine, and I did manage to buy with in game resources four kegs already, which did grant me some powerful cards.

Also it seem you can sometime get cards as a reward for winning a match.

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GOG Galaxy was locking up anytime I tried to open it today (and that never happened before) which suggests tons of people were trying to access the service for the beta. The game itself was unresponsive anytime I tried it.

Now finally at 1 am I can connect and play, and it is still fairly slow to respond.

I go through the tutorial, build a deck and am matched with a "comparable" opponent for my first match. I get utterly destroyed 88-5 for the second half of the crown.

Either the matchmaking is broken and/or people are paying to win quickly. You get absolutely nothing for losing. So if I can't compete, I pay to win or I just give up now.

I'm not sure it is merely buy to progress faster. Right now I fear it may be buy as the only mean to progress if you run into unfair competition and literally receive nothing for losing.

Does that answer your question?
 
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The fact that the resources for buying kegs and crafting cards are fairly easy to obtain, as well as the fact that you get random cards with each keg, make any advantage from buying kegs negligible.

I have played for several hours already and have yet to encounter someone with a deck significantly more powerful than mine, and I did manage to buy with in game resources four kegs already, which did grant me some powerful cards.

Also it seem you can sometime get cards as a reward for winning a match.

View attachment 79680

I reached level 3 and first win after that gave me a skellige card..
 
I haven't tried the beta yet but does the winner only get something at the end of a match? Because if it's the case, it will definitely be a pay to win.

Here is why: if only the winner gets some currency or levels to get cards afterwards, as some people will buy cards right away to boost their decks, they will certainly get the edge over those who don't and thus the chances to get new cards for those not buying anything with real money is gonna grow thin as they will most likely lose most their matches (if according to what I read the starter decks are indeed weak). It will be like a glass ceiling for some players.

Yes, no reward for losers.
 
Yes it's full pay to win, i see some guy with OP cards, you can't do anything and how he get those card ? He just pay. I will don't play anymore this game, witcher 3 gwent is better.
 
Yes it's full pay to win, i see some guy with OP cards, you can't do anything and how he get those card ? He just pay. I will don't play anymore this game, witcher 3 gwent is better.

You don't need to pay, you need to play. The more you play the more kegs you'll get. It's a slower path but in no way does it make victory a "paid only" feature.
 
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