Should the hotfix details be announced to PTR streamers?

[Tir_na_Lia]

Should the hotfix details be announced to PTR streamers?

Should the next hotfix details be announced to PTR streamers?

I am one of those who felt cheated by the game becoming OP meta in a matter of hours.
As you all know there has been a huge discussion on reddit, about whose fault it was, whether Swims', or PTR's, or devs'.

No matter whose fault, only one thing is clear to me: this should not happen again, even if it means taking drastic action to preserve hundreds of thousands of people's fun.

I'd gladly restrict the streamers' knowledge if it means lowering the chance of the same event happening again each release.
What about you guys?

 

[fostdecile]

It's a yes and no for me. It cannot be prevented as the internet is vast, you can post deck builds almost everywhere and it's going to cost a lot and bring down the name of the game drastically if there were to be moderators going around banning top players from showing their builds here and there. Eventually, even if the action is not done, the deck will still make it to the ranked/casual match without netdeckers. It's the balancing that's the problem - we are still in the Beta phase though, maybe take it as something the Devs will learn from when the game goes public release.

 

[gigabomb]

They are just revealing how unbalanced certain cards are and influencing the flow of the game so that good devs can change it. They are more likely to respond quickly if people ferret out the issues immediately.

Quick access to information is the strength of the internet. Will it be positive if CD project throws up an arbitrary embargo and employs a ton of people to chase down every stray video for a card game with no spoilers?

I'm thankful that these devs actually respond to problems and have ambition and vision rather than just counting their money.

What if you figured this out on your own and exploited it for weeks before anyone noticed? Would that be better? Just wait for a patch or deal with it.

 

[arubino99]

The only way to prevent streamers posting anything is to cut off their access. But that would mean less exposure for the game.

If devs have any integrity, they wouldn't let anyone have access to changes/new cards until they are released. They should also have a week after new release before ladder becomes active. Gives people a chance to get the new cards as well as play them on equal footing.

 

[DannyGuy]

Why censor anything? It's the internet for Christ's sake. Honestly, this doesn't affect me too much since I don't netdeck and play mostly casually. If people want to blindly copy decks from the web, they're taking half the fun away, which is building your deck on your own. People can do whatever they want though.

 

[Zefyris]

Isn't that netdeckers' fault? There's always someone that will find an "unbalanced deck" (that may not even be unbalanced after a while when other, less "obvious " strong deck will have been put together and popularized ) right away and talk about it.

I mean I have nothing against the idea of netdecking itself. But jumping right away on the rumoured strongest new deck and all flocking towards "easy win in the new meta" again and again feels so cheap to me. At least trying without netdecking first and then not simply flocking towards the "easiest+strongest to play" but actually netdecking a deck from the faction/play style that we wish to play (and works better than what we did ourself, for example) sounds so much healthier to me.

But no, last patch even though it was definitely possible to play scoia a high level, it was too difficult to play so players mostly ignored that faction, but now that there is a very strong and simple day to play, everyone plays it. Where were all those "scoia players" last patch? And even worse, where were they before the July patch? Are most peoples that thirsty for wins ?


Since there's no way to fix or even attenuate that behaviour from the community, no matter what you do, this will happens every times there's many changes made to the game. Even if the game is actually balanced after the change, there will always be strong decks easier to come up with that will flood the ladder right away before their counter can be put together and popularized.

TL;DR, I don't think there's any way to fix this problem, as it comes from the community itself.

 

[Vaishar]

Even if streamers PTR players were on vacation for 2 weeks after patch this situation would still have happened day 1. PTR is around 100 people (it will change when PTR becomes open).

I bet someone on the top 1000 , especially someone that exclusively plays ST would have found a refined deck in a matter of hours and then post it on a Database to brag about his 80%+ win rate.

And people that netdeck will always monitor those Databases at the start of a new patch because their last patch op faction got nerfed.

.

What if you figured this out on your own and exploited it for weeks before anyone noticed?

Good call.

Imo it's better to happen faster rather than later. This way a hotfix patch happens faster.

 

[Tir_na_Lia]

Imo it's better to happen faster rather than later. This way a hotfix patch happens faster.

Actually, it's the opposite.

No matter if the "next patch" happens faster or later, the moment you have fun the most is upon release, when everyone is experimenting and netdecking is still impossible.
If everytime a patch goes live you "expose the netdecks immediately", we'll have a neverending circle where you sacrifice the initial fun for the sake of "future improvements" and the game won't have time to be enjoyed, since there always will be a "next patch".

If some ppl manage to silently find the best deck just 1 hour after release and use it, let them do.
Surely it's better than having half the players do the same.

 

[RickMelethron]

the fault is ultimately with the devs for failing to see so much balance issues. especially with the new tremmors effect

 

[Ouderkirkj]

Definite no. Whether streamers meant to or not, they ruined this patch for many people with this information.

Usually we have a solid few days to a week before the net decking begins. It was a matter of hours. I understand most of these people are passionate and really care about Gwent, but they shouldn't have preferential treatment. In addition, they should understand how their popularity causes problems in the community when this stuff happens.

 

[Vaishar]

If some ppl manage to silently find the best deck just 1 hour after release and use it, let them do.

Yea but that one if he has a higher that 70% winrate will immediately post it on the database or Reddit for fame, followers ,youtube likes etc. And usually dedicated players, play alot on patch day so someone is bound to find a broken deck in no time.

I played Mulligan ST last patch (now i play something else as i want diversity) when they were a bit tricky to play (with surprisingly good results). And when i saw the Vrihedd Officer change i knew the archetype would be good this patch.

The real problem is that some cards exited PTR in the current form, not the streamers youtubers, top players, netdeckers that played them. I dont even blame the Devs as i know they had a full week of organising the Gamescom events and the patch was released a few days after that. I just hope in the future that this sort of thing does not happen. Especially when the game exits Beta.

Plus a funny thing is that you do not need all the knowledge from streamers, PTR players. You just need to play Nilfgaard at the start of the patch and put Xarthisius (witch is not that played as people thought before patch) in the deck. Instant Netdecking op factions (when you encounter them).

They should also have a week after new release before ladder becomes active. Gives people a chance to get the new cards as well as play them on equal footing.

I like this idea. This might work especially in this game where a season last's 2 months Plenty of time to rank up. They did delay the ProLadder though.

 

[Tir_na_Lia]

The real problem is that some cards exited PTR in the current form, not the streamers youtubers, top players, netdeckers that played them. I dont even blame the Devs as i know they had a full week of organising the Gamescom events and the patch was released a few days after that. I just hope in the future that this sort of thing does not happen. Especially when the game exits Beta.

I refuse talks like: "Hey man, it's no one's fault".
When something bad happens, there is always a chain of events that made it possible.

For example, regardless the patch's existent bugs (where the responsibility is CDPR's), if there wasn't anyone eager to post a broken deck few hours after the release we would not have ended in this pitiful situation.
Every patch/game version has bugs, without PTR streamers to point them out it would have taken longer to discover the "Glorious Stammel'Tael".

Yea but that one if he has a higher that 70% winrate will immediately post it on the database or Reddit for fame, followers ,youtube likes etc. And usually dedicated players, play alot on patch day so someone is bound to find a broken deck in no time.

Not so.

People will usually wait to post their discovered OP deck until they reached the top, after they became #1 they will gladly share the knowledge to boast.
The proof is before anyone's eyes: 6 days passed from patch release, yet no broken deck appeared in GwentDB except for the spell one.
(Mulligan is not broken, everyone saw it coming and it's not so hard to defeat)

6 days and counting is a little better than 6 hours, don't you think so?

By the way, I'm not against people posting their decks if they really wish, provided we all start on equal footing.
PTR guys have an undeniable head start, that's one of the many reasons why they shouldn't be allowed to spoil people's fun.