No Gwent for Old Men

[MaroonJack]

No Gwent for Old Men

... and by old I mean "30-something". Most of us just have no time to put in the hours of grind. Pro Ladder isn’t for people with jobs. Pro Ladder isn’t for people with families. After hearing others talking about grinding for 4-8 hours a day to get the GM I realized that for me the climb just isn’t possible, even if I’m good enough to compete at a high level.

I can afford to play a little over an hour per day, on average four games, which is enough to get my dailies (although there are days when I don’t have the time to do it at all). All in all I’m able to play about 100 games a month. At the start of every season I spend few hours experimenting with new cards, building a competitive deck, adapting to a new environment, maybe participating in a new event. So it’s reasonable to say I have time for about 80-90 ladder games per month.

I have a decent WR, I know my deck, I’m able to pilot it with good efficiency, I know the meta, I know different strategies, but so what, if the time requirement to get to the top is much, much higher. I’d like to play in a tournament of some kind, but the game requires too high level of commitment to even qualify. If you have a family, kids and wife to take care of, work and off-work duties, the climb becomes virtually impossible. And I think it shouldn’t be. Think about it Reds.

"Just play casual then", some will say... Sure, but that’s not fun for me. I have a strong competitive nature. I bought 60 kegs to get my collection going and support CDPR, but now I think I’m about to quit, as I feel there’s not much left in it for me. Which is a shame, because the game at its core is great. Maybe I’m just one in a thousand, and can be safely ignored, or maybe there are more people like me. What do you guys think? Anyone with an advice for an old dude?

 

[4RM3D]

To summarize: you don't have the time, but you do have the skills to participate in the pro-ladder.

I can understand your predicament. However, I think you are looking at this the wrong way. First of all, with the little time you have you can still climb ranked up to rank 21. This is for the skilled players looking for a challenge. Beyond that, pro-ladder offers nothing, unless to push for the top and then you'll be entering a whole new world, one that leads to e-sports and events. This isn't just about skill, but also about commitment. If you cannot give that commitment because of family, work and whatnot, then that's understandable. However, the game cannot facilitate such players because it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the 'elite'. Practically speaking, how can you prove yourself worthy of entering such tournaments, when there are a 1000 other players in line as well? The pro-ladder does exactly just that.

 

[gards]

I'm 44 and echo the OP's opinion. I'm not bothered about pro ladder. I can't even win that many on normal ladder. Constantly coming up against ridiculous cards at rank 7. It seems rank 7 is the new rank 14 which is where I got last season. So that suggests some massive changes between the new seasons. New players are coming in and kicking ass so i'm struggling to get out of rank 7 now whereas last season I was doing okay beyond rank 10.

In summary, it's got harder to win games this season, for me. I introduced a friend to GWENT a few months back and he opted for NG and climbed the ranks way faster than me. Then he switched to SK and has never looked back. He's in pro ladder now. I'm not..haha good for him though, he spotted the loopholes in that deck and sent me insane screenshots of the points he was getting. 4 pirate captains buffed to 26 in R3 sometimes.

 

[SrdjanB]

You have bunch of free to enter online tournaments, you have one almost every weekend.

Lifecouch holds absolutely open qualifiers before every GwentSlam, all you have to do is to follow Gwent news to know when they are held, have free Strivewire account (you don't even have to enter bank account or anything, just email and Gwent account), sign up on time (it is pretty easy since there are 512 places available, so there is no rush in like few hours), check in in the hour before the torunament and of course play the tournament, if you are good you can aim for the top spot which gives you a chance to hang out in the mansion with top players and play for the 10k dollars.

It usually lasts whole day, but with a little luck if you really are good, you can qualify, it certainly is easier and faster than placing in top 3 (or top 8) in Pro ladder. If not, hey you competed, saw how good you really are and there is always next GwentSlam.

Pro Ladder is for pro career, you can't have pro career with 4 games a day, it is impossible, even if you win few online or local tournaments or even a GwentSlam which is ridiculously hard to do, even for a players who are really pros.

Give those tournaments a try, you will fulfill your drive to compete if Ranked or Pro Ladder is not enough of that for you.

 

[MaroonJack]

Thanks for the reply and I get what you're saying. That's how it's meant to be, it just looks like I was misinformed. My bad. I thought this season was supposed to be one month long, but it looks like I have time till the end of December, which should be fine. I just thought to myself: "Jack, why do you even bother. Climbing ranked to reach GM with 75% WR, playing 4 games a day, 3 up one down, at the sharp end of the ladder nets you about 10 MMR points a day. There just isn't enough time for you to get there. You have one week left." As it stands, my apologies for the undeserved rant, looks like it's game on. Next season will be tough though.

 

[gigabomb]

Unless you play 100 games with every faction in the pro ladder, you don't qualify anyway. I just treat the regular ladder like skill based match making and try to enjoy it.

 

[Kingoko]

Well yea pro ladder is for very motivated players and skilled ones of course. For OP : you don't need to participate in proladder, as you sad you not a teeneager who can grind many hours per day. You got familly, job i assume as well, you are able to spend some money on any entertainement you like. Will it be cinema ticket, familly trip, poker game with friends or online game like Gwent. That way you catch up younger f2p grinding players on therm of card possesion. Experience, well you need to learn this but that dosen't mean you need to reach GM. Cause what for? for 10 extra kegs? Nah. To enter pro ladder? Then if you smart enough it will happen even playin 3 games daily. But hey if im correct you play to have fun, pro ladder change nothing, play normal ranked instead for now. If you reach lvl 21 you ready to beat others in pro ladder. I can play pro atm but damn, some guys out there are better then me for sure, playing there a bit instead of casual and normal ranked just to see their strategys.

 

[Guest 4021160]

Tournament mode which you can host within your friend circle would be great. That kind of play mode wouldn't require to be limited by time or place, answer the urge to compete and issue of time. Who would like to sign for "over 30" club.

 

[Fjormarr]

At 30+ you should be old enough to know that you can't have everything and you need to set your priorities. Having a day job AND playing a computer game hardcore mode is perfectly possible if you give up your social life and other interests/hobbies you might have. But you can't have it all.
A lot of people would like to be doing more things than they do, but a day has only 24 hours. And you also need to sleep.
When it comes to computer games specificaly, ccg games aren't even the worst example. You can still play a ccg 1-2 hours per day and dedicate a couple of hours per week to study cards/decks and progress. With an MMORPG it would be impossible to do so. I wish I could still play Warhammer Online (private server) but with a day job, I can't, unless I don't mind being the utlimate noob.

Pro ladder is very hardcore, it's an "all or nothing" thing. The regular ladder is quite competitive in my opinion, the higher you go the more points you lose per game, so it's not just grinding. I mostly play to complete my 6 rounds "quest" and if I have the time and I'm in the mood I may play some more. And byt the end of the season, I hope I will have gotten to r20, which should be more than fine for someone who plays only a few games per day and not necessarily every day. That's because you mentioned GM, a rank which many people struggle to achieve even if they play 3+hours per day.

Also Gwent is very free to win and building a meta deck is ridiculously easy (anyone who thinks otherwise can go play Hex and tell us his impressions). Even people who olny play the game less than 10 hours per week can have a strong meta deck.

 

[HTMekkatorque]

If you consider that I'm at 38-29 and it could be a lot higher if I didn't get super experimental and let myself settle into one deck for a while longer then... consider that at this point most people in top global are only 5-8x more games played then me, I think it is very doable. I am not nearly 30 but I am at work for 43 hours a week, and at that I spend about 10x longer looking at cards then I do playing the game, so maybe if you weren't stuck in that mindset like me and actually spent time practicing the decks it's very doable. When I was watching some of the open tournament I had noticed the professionals even made a few judgement errors, in my opinion, maybe I calculating percentages on the top draw a little incorrectly and what not, for instance I think SuperJJ kind of threw that game, he had it so tightly closed up but miscalculated the tempo and let freddy get 2 card advantage, which seemed like it was a pressure thing cause I was watching and thinking omg why did you play that, you're going to get punished and then he did, though being able to see both players hands too.

Though one thing I want to press is that with only playing 3-4 games a day you'll never understand fully how statistical your pulls are, it's like if I were to play amateur poker, I might have no had any clue other than that king, queen or pocket aces is a fairly good hand however I can't go so far as saying ace queen, or king jack has this percent chance to win given the circumstances, which is where I assume this pro league, the level those players go to in some instances when its actually quite a hefty prize pool, 25 grand over such a short span is actually pretty amazing. That chinese guy actually had pen and paper out, I can only assume he was working out maths while he was playing or something like n chooses c. blabla...

 

[devivre]

I think the most important thing is that you have fun playing the game. Therefore you don't have to reach GM or whatever rank.
Playing with friends alone for example can be a lot of fun, even if it doesn't get you any other rewards.

I'm not that young either, but I try to not let myself get stressed by things like that.
Besides, even for lower ranks the rewards are pretty nice.

In general I'd say: Just play as much as you want to, and you should be fine.

 

[Archpriest]

At 40+ with 4 kids, I completely understand what OP means but I disagree. I'm on pro ladder for both seasons and barely even played there, this season probably not at all. Pro-ladder requires dedication we can't afford, and that is fine. I bit disappointing for people like us but we can't have it both ways. Dedication should be rewarded - it's a PRO-ladder after all.
We still have regular ranked though
:cheers:

 

[Guest 4021160]

At 40+ with 4 kids, I completely understand what OP means but I disagree. I'm on pro ladder for both seasons and barely even played there, this season probably not at all. Pro-ladder requires dedication we can't afford, and that is fine. I bit disappointing for people like us but we can't have it both ways. Dedication should be rewarded - it's a PRO-ladder after all.
We still have regular ranked though
:cheers:

Congrats on the 4th!!!

 

[Archpriest]

Congrats on the 4th!!!

Thank you, my friend!

 

[scorba]

my biggest problem with "pro-ladder" is that they made an interesting new format, but made it accessible only to the hardcore players.
I still can't figure out why they want to scare away the casual players so much.
I understand that "e-sports" is the rad way to go, but you must keep the casual crowd for income, player base and buzz.

why the hell do they do this??

 

[4RM3D]

my biggest problem with "pro-ladder" is that they made an interesting new format, but made it accessible only to the hardcore players.
I still can't figure out why they want to scare away the casual players so much.

People seem to misunderstand the purpose of the pro-ladder. When you play in pro-ladder you gain nothing new*. It's almost like playing casual, except that every opponent has reached rank 20-21 at some point. When you cannot reach the pro-ladder, then there is no reason to play it in the first place, even if you were granted access. Because why would you only want to play against rank 20-21 players? If you want a challenge, go play the normal ranked ladder instead.

*Except for the top 3, which isn't a realistic goal for most players.

 

[gigabomb]

People seem to misunderstand the purpose of the pro-ladder.

I think that some of us hope it will offer something different than casual or ranked, and it has to be unlocked, which is something to shoot for. Maybe another default game mode would scratch the itch.

 

[scorba]

People seem to misunderstand the purpose of the pro-ladder. When you play in pro-ladder you gain nothing new.

well since I am not allowed in, I can't know that. it feels like an elitist club. and it really makes me, as a casual player, feel valued less. not a good feeling, dear developers.

however I'm hearing it's a ranked system where you have to play 4 different factions. that's a difference right there. it sounds so much more interesting, that you have to keep changing your decks to get ahead.
sure, I could play 4 different decks in normal ranked too, but there's just no incentive to do it.

 

[partci]

... however I'm hearing it's a ranked system where you have to play 4 different factions. that's a difference right there...

Yes. It is really frustrating and agitating when on the regular ladder you are forced to play and play against the flavor of the day over and over again and actually don't have as much fun/diversity with the game while climbing and reaching for rewards.

I mean, Casual is nice if you want SOME diversity, but than you don't get nothing like a new Border or Avatar. Even rewards for leveling are becoming obsolete after you hit 60, so I think there should be shake ups (Avatars and Borders) there too.

 

[Sunsibar]

...so I think there should be shake ups (Avatars and Borders) there too.

We could get achievements and trophies from Casuals I know all people don't pay interest to those, but at least it would be something and maybe help creating a bit more variety. Achievement for playing 100 games with certain faction, achievement for using X card in X amount of games and that sort of things. You could even somehow use those achievements to decorate your profile, since there is still room for more content.

Borders and titles are kinda part of the ranked, so Casual could have something different.

I don't have enough time (or interest) for being competitive even in normal ladder, so I don't mind being outside pro ladder either.