The Aftermath of the Latest Patch

[Archpriest]

I'm at work at the moment and can't post my thoughts in detail. However, I agree with Nimraphel on many points.
Will post later to highlight a few things.

 

[Tir_na_Lia]

Stop being ridiculous and derail the thread. This hasn't been the case in this thread. Go beat your horse elsewhere where it's merited (I am sure such threads exist on this forum).

I'm not being ridiculous nor derailing the thread, so stop calling names and moderate your patronizing attitude.

 

[Norinoo]

All in all, however, I think this patch, while laying a good foundation for future patches, exposed more weaknesses and flaws in the game than strengths, which I think is a shame.

This is what i actually see as positive. CBT is all about making mistakes. The more mistakes you make the more you learn, thus the more you can fix and balance.

At the same time i do feel this was a good patch because it put a ceiling to most effect cards. As i have said, a good and ancient board game relies on having strict rules. Chess that is. And yeas, this is a video CCG game, but the same rule applies to any kind of game or sport. Strict rules.

Remember, this is CBT, you should want to see mistakes and we all should try to (continue) give feedback and thoughts and suggestions. That's how a game evolves positively and not one sided.

 

[Guest 3973540]

The patch greatly improved variety imo. There were just 3 decks pre-patch, even in unranked. Bran especially was so boring you could and should play with your eyes closed.

Maybe I’m not smart enough to understand these “tempo” considerations. Yes, it is a bit of a race for Round 1, but as SK, for example, it is still okay to lose it. The tactical pass is still there.

I’m also not sure why some of the posters here are so negative on 22-unit decks. I have one 25-unit monster deck. Even if you only want to play control, Eithne control is still perfectly playable, I play one very potent one with D-shackles and Cleaver (with Aglais and Eithne ability – can out-lock anyone). Manticore Venom, for one, is one of the highest power bronzes now; played twice it devastates the infamous SK 11str bears (a bit OP, admitted, esp compared to WHW; same for archer – too versatile) and banishes Morkvarg along the way.

Reveal needs a rework. The synergy cards have their problems (Spotters being Igni/weather material, Mangonels being impossible to revive, unlike SK warships and NK trebuchets). The value of revealing the cards has little value, imo. I felt uneasy playing with open cards initially, but then it turned out you can just ignore the reveal and play normally. But for those who believe ST ambush decks have doomed the game, play a reveal deck and be happy.

 

[Rawls]

Let's stay on topic and not focus on personally going after other users. Thanks.

 

[frbfree]

Let's stay on topic and not focus on personally going after other users. Thanks.

Thank you. If you all could go back to "generally going after other users", we could be back on track!

Now, on topic:

I think the patch is fine. It did what it and all other patches are designed to do. It forced people to play with cards that they weren't necessarily playing with before, because it's a closed beta, and developers need to see how all cards interact. Players hate Metas, but not nearly as much as developers do. Even though it's a beta, and we're all supposed to be here to test things, the competitive nature of humans takes over, and that's why Metas are formed. Because being Rank 15 is more important than what we're supposed to be doing.

I think before release, a lot of cards will change back to similar mechanics of what they were nerfed from. RNR is a good example of this. I think the devs know that in it's current form, it doesn't warrant being a Gold Legendary. But people were abusing it for a while, and so it got a change to steer people away from it. I think you will see it go back to being weather related for Open Beta. It's all speculation at this point.

Ge'els was useless, Henselt was mostly useless, Crach was useless. So this patch made them more playable. Metas change. It will all change again before we are done.

 

[Azhdar-Kir]

Hi. I just wanted to say that I'm an Skellige player who still hasn't changed his faction despite the various harsh nerfs that have been inflicted upon it. I'm close to rank 12 and now almost 90% of my opponents are now Scoia'taels who'll almost use the same exact strategy and I can't do naught about it only because no matter how hard I try they'll get an at-least-one-card advantage and in the meantime they're only buffing their Toruviel and keeping 1 Clear skies to remove all the weather(thx to the new patch) for their last move which is the only counter for Skellige.

To add salt to the injury, my poor axemen's hard gained buffs(with my poor whale which gets eaten or locked or thundered all the time as soon as it's seen and/or YenCon which gets locked easily and if it doesn't, it will most likely hit a high HP card only 1 hit at a time which can be completely harmless and ignored)get burnt three or even 4 times(with Schirru,Aglais,Scorch,Nature's gift). The same goes for bears. I can't just simply change my faction since I lack many good cards in the others. But even If I could, so what? I'd join the Scoia'tael tide and i'd be using the same boring strategy that would make the game even more boring and what would be the point of the existence of a faction named "Skellige"?. All in all, Imo, Skellige is quite a dead and useless faction esp. after the new patch.

 

[Norinoo]

Hi. I just wanted to say that I'm an Skellige player who still hasn't changed his faction despite the various harsh nerfs that have been inflicted upon it. I'm close to rank 12 and now almost 90% of my opponents are now Scoia'taels who'll almost use the same exact strategy and I can't do naught about it only because no matter how hard I try they'll get an at-least-one-card advantage and in the meantime they're only buffing their Toruviel and keeping 1 Clear skies to remove all the weather(thx to the new patch) for their last move which is the only counter for Skellige.

To add salt to the injury, my poor axemen's hard gained buffs(with my poor whale which gets eaten or locked or thundered all the time as soon as it's seen and/or YenCon which gets locked easily and if it doesn't, it will most likely hit a high HP card only 1 hit at a time which can be completely harmless and ignored)get burnt three or even 4 times(with Schirru,Aglais,Scorch,Nature's gift). The same goes for bears. I can't just simply change my faction since I lack many good cards in the others. But even If I could, so what? I'd join the Scoia'tael tide and i'd be using the same boring strategy that would make the game even more boring and what would be the point of the existence of a faction named "Skellige"?. All in all, Imo, Skellige is quite a dead and useless faction esp. after the new patch.

First off, this is good data to have. Secondly, we cannot stay on one data sample to make an argument. The whole point is to see and understand the shift of the meta, how good it is or not, if it brings balance to a variety of decks and factions, that it widens the tactical gameplay and not narrowing it to a handful of efficient decks and/or Factions even.

Personally i think it would be wrong for any player to main (as we call it), one Deck or faction. The game flourishes and has more enjoyment with variety. That's why i am not sharing my experiences atm. as a F2P player and how tough is for me. There are certain milestones lvls i find the game being hugely frustrating even for me, but when i find a solution (or a Legendary card...) it almost feels like an enlightening experience. Same thing, the data sample of one is not data to argue or implement with anything.

We can see it as a whole, the overall experience, the Decks we encounter with their respective strategies, which buffs and debuffs, counters etc. If we stick to the title, the Aftermatch compared to were the meta was, is in a positive direction exactly because we are still able to see what things are flawed, work and not working. That also means the game has a long way to feel more balanced but it is heading there. When we see the mistakes a game has, then we can proceed and fix them. It is always good to see mistakes being made in CBT.

 

[TheAnhsor]

I actually really like the patch so far, but i have also not played ranked as i find casual play FAR more fun. Way more opponent variety (i'm only rank11/level 49 for reference). I have almost all the cards and play all the factions and have tried most meta decks. By far my biggest complaint so far is the bug where i can't target opponents siege and ranged rows which pretty much destroyed my favorite NG letho deck (with Johhny to double the letho fun)

 

[Geneticeye]

I dont like the direction the game is going. After the last patch i for myself dont find much fun to play anymore (300+ hours played since start of beta). Its either play the meta-decks or loose 90% of your games. I cant win a single game in ranked anymore with my own decks which was different before the patch (im rank 10).

Things and directions I dont like/enjoy:

• removing unique card abilities and turning them into boring ones (like Skjall when he still did damage, Katakan, Wild Boar, Woodland Spirit...)
• weather nerfs, especially the silver card ones Skellige storm, Merigold´s, ... no point ever using them now, like wth
• streamlining all damage/bouff bronze cards into basicly the same card for all factions
• gold cards imune to anything but shackles

I still love you CDPR but if you keep going this direction i feel it will be harder and harder for new people to enjoy the game ...

 

[TheAnhsor]

Weather needs to be completely reworked and I think CDPR is aware of this. Also i think that the latest patch was a little "buff-unit" crazy. There are less ways to return units to base power than before, and lots of ways to buff (improved thunderbolt, triss butterfly, dandelion. bloody baron, K-siege expert) Note alot of these are NR specific, but you get the drift.....

 

[4RM3D]

Update:

After climbing the ranks (15) even more, the opponents I've faced, changed a lot. Now 90% of the time it's either Brouver's Ambush or Henselt's Gold (evenly distributed). Monsters suddenly dropped off the map, Skellige I see every now and then and Nilfgaard is still nowhere to be found.

Brouver's Ambush has at least some variation in decks. But Henselt's Gold is nearly always the same. This predominance is a bit disturbing.

 

[Shonendo]

Weather needs to be completely reworked and I think CDPR is aware of this. Also i think that the latest patch was a little "buff-unit" crazy. There are less ways to return units to base power than before, and lots of ways to buff (improved thunderbolt, triss butterfly, dandelion. bloody baron, K-siege expert) Note alot of these are NR specific, but you get the drift.....

YO!
Seriously!
And wth was the point in changing Rag Nar Rog into a BARELY better version of Stammelford's Tremors? Bring back my triple weather :|. Sarah's never been more useless.