New player having a blast... and a small suggestion

[Azdru]

New player having a blast... and a small suggestion

Hi there,

I started to play Gwent five days ago and I am having an absolutely great time. I was playing a lot of Hearthstone (since Open Beta) but I am fed up with the game and Team5s decisions that I finally decided to try Gwent (due to a reddit-post about Lifecoach, which got me to watch Gwentslam and I totally wanted to understand what these guys were doing). What I am trying to say is that my initial impression of Gwent might be biased, as I currently would favour anything over Hearthstone, and my pov might change in the long run. Anyways, back to Gwent...
I love the concept, the cards, the mechanics, the artwork, the presentation... its just great. Also, the reward structure is just incredible. The next keg(s) always seems right behind that next opponent and I am totally hyped to see what´s in it. The chances to get silvers and golds seems absolutely fair. I already got four or even five golds from kegs and idk how many silvers... a bunch. I mean, I got lots of free kegs on the first day and I have probably opened 20 to 30 so far. Compare that to Hearthsone, where you can open 5 packs on your first day if you try really REALLY hard. But not only the amount of kegs is great, also the quality of the individual cards is awesome and really makes me want to keep playing. Everytime I get a new card that looks even slightly interesting (which nearly all cards do btw, good job on that!) I immediately start thinking about the possible combos and interactions I could use for a deck.
Atm I play a homebrew Skellige selfdamage-resurrect-buff deck which got me to rank 14 already (didn´t expect to rank that fast or to even reach anything above 10... mind you, I am comparing to Hearthstone after all). Idk if the deck is good or if the faction is simply very strong atm so even total crap can work out, but it´s just a blast. Even against appearant netdecks (probably, as they always look the same) I still feel like I have a decent chance to win. The balance just seems good (again, I might be biased or too inexperienced to really gauge it), especially the powerlevel of silvers and golds compared to bronze cards. Yes, I felt a little salty the first few times I got Hailstormed and Ignied, but I quickly learned to try to play around that stuff. And after milling the patched cards (learned to do that from Hearthstone - at least one positive thing I can attribute to that game) I am now running Igni and Hailstorm myself. Screw you, netdeckers!
So, over all my impressions are extremely positive, especially regarding the liberal reward structure and the smooth start for a new (f2p) player.

And here comes my small suggestion: yesterday I hit the cap for daily rewards and got the message "No more rewards. Come back tomorrow." That felt really offputting. And somehow the game didn´t feel as rewarding as before, simply because that golden bar didn´t keep on filling up. And after two more games (one to get another rank, one more to get a level up) I decided to stop playing for the day. So why don´t you give an insignificant reward for winning maybe, idk, 100 rounds or even higher. Just 1 keg or another 75 Ore or even a random rare card. Just enough to suggest, that the player is still working on another reward, that him playing the game is still paying off. And this is not about "me want moar stuffz *babyrage*", it´s about rationalizing the decision to keep on playing. If there are still available rewards, I can always tell myself that I am not wasting my time because I get something more than just fun out of it. But if I get the message "No more rewards. Come back tomorrow." I think to myself "well, playing the game is fun. But playing tomorrow will be more fun because I also get free stuff". So as I said, give a pretty insignificant reward for a high amount of wins (but not too ridicilously high, like 1000 wins would probably be too much).

Anyways, so far it´s a great game and I am sure I will play it for some time at least.

edit: sorry, didn´t want to write a novel. But one thing I forgot is the voice acting. It´s fantastic. The tutorial generates a great atmosphere and brought me back to the nights I spent playing Witcher.
:threaten:

 

[4RM3D]

"No more rewards. Come back tomorrow."

That's the devs way of telling you you've spent too much time playing the game and that you should go outside and enjoy the weather or, in case the sky is falling down, invite some friends over and do something else.

Seriously though, when you've just started playing the game, you might want to push it further. However, even if there was no daily limit, you would soon find yourself playing less games, up to the point where you're only playing 2 - 3 tiers a day. Not many players continually max out the dailies.

 

[TheShift]

Yeah..that's a new player syndrome there.
We were all there once..wanting to play hours on end to keep getting MOAR!

You can still level up though. so there is still an incentive to play

I know I've tapped out the rewards system a few times but was 5 to 10 games from the next level..and kept on going to get it.haha

welcome to the forums

as 4RM3D said though ...after awhile 2 to 3 tiers is about normal for most people

 

[rulezfin]

Definitely new player syndrome. After hitting the daily reward cap go outside and "Enjoy the weather while you still can" )

On a serious note: too much of anything is not good. In time, you will get more out of this game (any game in this regard) if you learn to do things with moderation.

Welcome to the forums

 

[Theodrik]

"No more rewards. Come back tomorrow."

I felt like that too on the first days, but it's like all the others have said already, I still find this game the best CCG I've played (I was a HS addict btw), but after a while the hype settles down and you'll find yourself playing less games. Still, just wait a little longer and you'll have much more to do when Thronebreaker gets released!

Watch the video below if you haven't already and take a peek on what's comming this year

 

[TheShift]

Ash..

 

[Archpriest]

Hahaha. Welcome! Glad you're having fun.

If you need any help, you can always PM me.

:cheers:

 

[Azdru]

Thanks for all your friendly and welcoming replies.
Yeah, it probably IS the new-player-hype and I probably won´t hit the daily cap too often, but that was just the first thing that jumped to my mind when I had seen that message. Probably because I had recently discussed a similar phenomenon at university about how to keep addicts addicted. By staggering the time between each "free fix" (= daily rewards) you can keep folks on the drug and incentivice them to keep on pushing... so based on the current gaps there could be another reward at 104 and at 192. That should be sufficiently high to never realistically be reached while still providing incentive enough for players to rationalize their gaming addiction. But as I said, just a quick idea.

Anyways, @Theodrik: thanks for the video. I´ll be sure to check it out.

I indeed have a few questions, maybe someone can help me out here: 1. are there any guides for advanced concepts of the game, like what tempo is in Gwent (or its equivalent, but I have heard casters talk about it at Gwentslam), which kind of cards provide tempo, available tech against specific archetypes (some is selfevident, but how do you counter Mill for example?) and so on?
2. are there any insightful youtubers/yt-channels for Gwent? Guys (or girls ofc) like Kripparrian for Hearthstone or FilthyRobot for Civ5/EU... I learned a lot about the respective games from those channels. Maybe there is an extremely good but fairly unknown channel for Gwent that you guys could recommend...
3. Is it common to press GG in ranked? I have beaten (and got beaten by) some guys with super fancy borders around their avatar today who were all playing the same Scoia´tael spell stuff, that weird Nilfgaard spy I-play-a-million-cards-every-turn-and-then-rope-every-single-time-in-round-three-because-I-dont-have-enough-points-on-the-board-deck or Skellige Greatsword buff and not a single one of those pressed the GG button (btw, awesome addition! a simple button to pay respect ). Do people avoid it because it gives your opponent a possible future advantage? Or are they simply salty?

Thanks again and sorry for writing another essay.

edit:

Someone wants to talk about GG? Here we go, many, many pages of GG talk. There should be all possible and impossible (and everything between) reasons to GG or not to GG
[...]

Thanks a lot. I´ve read into it a little and it seems to be kind of a personal thing. Not too much rational reasoning behind it, appearantly. I mean the GG button is one of the most simple examples of the prisoner´s dilemma I have ever seen. Folks should just press it every game. Period. Weird that in 2017 stuff like that still seems to be a mystery to people who have access to the internet
And sorry for asking about it btw, must have missed that point in the guidelines...

 

[TheShift]

Someone should sit him down and have the "gg talk"

 

[Sunsibar]

Is it common to press GG in ranked?

Someone should sit him down and have the "gg talk"

Someone wants to talk about GG? Here we go, many, many pages of GG talk. There should be all possible and impossible (and everything between) reasons to GG or not to GG

(Be noted that the thread started almost a year ago, so many cards and mechanics have changed on it's way to latest posts, but the basic idea has been the same since the beginning)

 

[Archpriest]

Someone should sit him down and have the "gg talk"

In the words of Pavetta: -You must stop… please…

 

[Theodrik]

2. are there any insightful youtubers/yt-channels for Gwent?

I believe Swim and Merchant have the most relevant and insightful channels for Gwent so far: Swim | Merchant
You can also watch them on Twitch: Swim | Merchant
Personally I watch Swim streams alot. He's a very good player and really really good at deck building. I've seen so many decks made by Swim that went viral

I hope that helps you a bit.

 

[Azdru]

I believe Swim and Merchant have the most relevant and insightful channels for Gwent so far: Swim | Merchant
You can also watch them on Twitch: Swim | Merchant
Personally I watch Swim streams alot. He's a very good player and really really good at deck building. I've seen so many decks made by Swim that went viral

I hope that helps you a bit.

Thanks a lot. I already stumbled upon Swims videos yesterday. Seems like a pretty chill guy, judging by his videos.
I´ll be sure to check out Merchant. Ty again

edit:

Merchant isn't a very good player, imo. Either swim or Lifecoach would do perfectly.

Thanks. I know Lifecoach and that he is a good player, but as I am not a native english speaker his accent is just too much. I can hardly understand him. Sry if that sounds harsh . I also get triggered by his explosive thought ramblings, like "hm... I think I will... oh oh but if he wait oh does that then oh wait I can no just better but if he has but then I can oh what ohnoohno the timer!"

 

[Archpriest]

I believe Swim and Merchant have the most relevant and insightful channels for Gwent so far: Swim | Merchant
You can also watch them on Twitch: Swim | Merchant
Personally I watch Swim streams alot. He's a very good player and really really good at deck building. I've seen so many decks made by Swim that went viral

I hope that helps you a bit.

Merchant isn't a very good player, imo. Either swim or Lifecoach would do perfectly.

 

[rulezfin]

Thanks for all your friendly and welcoming replies.
Yeah, it probably IS the new-player-hype and I probably won´t hit the daily cap too often, but that was just the first thing that jumped to my mind when I had seen that message. Probably because I had recently discussed a similar phenomenon at university about how to keep addicts addicted. By staggering the time between each "free fix" (= daily rewards) you can keep folks on the drug and incentivice them to keep on pushing... so based on the current gaps there could be another reward at 104 and at 192. That should be sufficiently high to never realistically be reached while still providing incentive enough for players to rationalize their gaming addiction. But as I said, just a quick idea.

Anyways, @Theodrik: thanks for the video. I´ll be sure to check it out.

I indeed have a few questions, maybe someone can help me out here: 1. are there any guides for advanced concepts of the game, like what tempo is in Gwent (or its equivalent, but I have heard casters talk about it at Gwentslam), which kind of cards provide tempo, available tech against specific archetypes (some is selfevident, but how do you counter Mill for example?) and so on?
2. are there any insightful youtubers/yt-channels for Gwent? Guys (or girls ofc) like Kripparrian for Hearthstone or FilthyRobot for Civ5/EU... I learned a lot about the respective games from those channels. Maybe there is an extremely good but fairly unknown channel for Gwent that you guys could recommend...
3. Is it common to press GG in ranked? I have beaten (and got beaten by) some guys with super fancy borders around their avatar today who were all playing the same Scoia´tael spell stuff, that weird Nilfgaard spy I-play-a-million-cards-every-turn-and-then-rope-every-single-time-in-round-three-because-I-dont-have-enough-points-on-the-board-deck or Skellige Greatsword buff and not a single one of those pressed the GG button (btw, awesome addition! a simple button to pay respect ). Do people avoid it because it gives your opponent a possible future advantage? Or are they simply salty?

Thanks again and sorry for writing another essay.

edit:


Thanks a lot. I´ve read into it a little and it seems to be kind of a personal thing. Not too much rational reasoning behind it, appearantly. I mean the GG button is one of the most simple examples of the prisoner´s dilemma I have ever seen. Folks should just press it every game. Period. Weird that in 2017 stuff like that still seems to be a mystery to people who have access to the internet
And sorry for asking about it btw, must have missed that point in the guidelines...

Let me try to answer some of your questions:

1. Here tempo is more simple compared to HS because you don't want to take into account the intricacies of each deck in order to make a meaningful comparison. You can simply view each card as following: gold -14 points / silver -12 points / bronze - 10 points. Gaining a value above that threshold yields +x tempo. a value below that threshold yields -y tempo. Plain and simple. Also, don't forget about card advantage.

2. Firebat nad LifeCoach have one. I am not into streamers (because I prefer to play the game instead of watching other play it for me ), but they provide good content and you may be familiar with them from HS.

3. I don't have the numbers for GG but I think for ranked the value is around 55% and for casual around 75%. Interesting view on the prisoner dilema, but I think the GG mechanic is a little more than that. For example, Some of my friends view it as a very good mechanic to vent frustration (and punish their opponent) after a tough loss.

 

[Azdru]

Let me try to answer some of your questions:

1. Here tempo is more simple compared to HS because you don't want to take into account the intricacies of each deck in order to make a meaningful comparison. You can simply view each card as following: gold -14 points / silver -12 points / bronze - 10 points. Gaining a value above that threshold yields +x tempo. a value below that threshold yields -y tempo. Plain and simple. Also, don't forget about card advantage.

2. Firebat nad LifeCoach have one. I am not into streamers (because I prefer to play the game instead of watching other play it for me ), but they provide good content and you may be familiar with them from HS.

3. I don't have the numbers for GG but I think for ranked the value is around 55% and for casual around 75%. Interesting view on the prisoner dilema, but I think the GG mechanic is a little more than that. For example, Some of my friends view it as a very good mechanic to vent frustration (and punish their opponent) after a tough loss.

Thanks a lot.
@1: I will definitely keep those pointvalues in mind. They absolutely match my experiences so far. And yeah, I learned the cardadvantage lesson pretty quickly
@2: I haven´t seen any Firebat videos about Gwent, yet. I check his channel quite regularly, are you sure about him? I am clicking through Swims and Merchants videos atm.
@3: That is exactly my point. Subjectivity clouds rational judgement. If everyone would always cooperate, every player would get about 94% more Ore from the button in ranked and about 33% in casual (based on your estimates). Or in other words: the option to vent from time to time halves your rewards. Do you think that´s actually worth it?

 

[illicitSoul]

Merchant isn't a very good player, imo. Either swim or Lifecoach would do perfectly.

I also can suggest MegaMogway

 

[Archpriest]

Thanks. I know Lifecoach and that he is a good player, but as I am not a native english speaker his accent is just too much. I can hardly understand him. Sry if that sounds harsh . I also get triggered by his explosive thought ramblings, like "hm... I think I will... oh oh but if he wait oh does that then oh wait I can no just better but if he has but then I can oh what ohnoohno the timer!"

His ramblings are worth listening to. That's what can make a decent player good.

I also can suggest MegaMogway

Yeah, a much better suggestion. But tilts a lot.

 

[Lornick77]

I had to LOL at the new player syndrome comments. After the first couple of days, that will never happen again. It's the games not so subtle way of telling you to pace yourself.

 

[Azdru]

His ramblings are worth listening to. That's what can make a decent player good.

I will check him out again, maybe you are right. I couldn´t stand it in his HS vids but maybe it´s different with Gwent. I also watched some MegaMogwai and McBeard. There´s definitely a lot of stuff for Gwent. So thanks to all of you. You helped me out a lot.

I have another question if I may...
How is the amount of Ranked Points determined? Is it based on some kind of hidden MMR? Or is it a set formula? I got somewhere around 50 to 70 points around rank 10, but now I am r17 and only get about 30 per win.