I made sure to read all the comments in order to correctly analyze what were people’s concerns regarding Northern Realms current state. All in all, I do agree with the gist of most points being made. I do, however, think most users weren’t able to correctly express their opinions in an understandable fashion and/or were unable to validate their arguments.
We have to understand that each person can only offer his opinions based on his/her experiences and knowledge, so it’s common that disagreements arise in topics regarding balancing issues. I will try to tackle what I believe are the biggest flaws in NR’s design concept. This will, most likely, be a long post, I am sorry for it, but I care a lot about the faction and I do want to help with as much as I can.
Why this sort of discussion started?
A new patch has arrived. Not only that but new cards.
Catapult is the newest bronze card added to the faction. Now, I see two immediately recognizable problems about that. By comparison, every other bronze card added is being used in some way or another, but not only that. Every other card feels like it’s adding a different dimension to the way each faction can work. Catapult doesn’t. It’s more of the same, it doesn’t introduce something that the faction couldn’t do before (
Dol Blathanna Swordmaster,
Heymaey Battle Maiden,
Slyzard) or a brand new interaction altogether (
Venendal Elite). Catapult feels lacking…
Which leads to the second problem: It’s not a particularly good card as well. It’s probably one of the most situational and hard to set up cards in the game, and even when all the stars align and you’re able to optimally play it. It’s still, just as good as existing cards (
Battering Ram,
Reinforced Siege Tower).
So this, obviously, makes people worried. It makes us wonder if CDPR is able to recognize what NR has and what it needs. If they were just pushing a crappy card because they didn’t care about it or if they were lazy about it.
Why is CDPR trying to push crewmen / machines? and why they are doing it wrong?
Both Ronvid and Catapult fit into the same archetype.
Ronvid is an example of a great card design that really added to faction( I don’t think you’ll find many people that can deny it ), but it’s targeted towards an already established archetype. It has great power and it’s finally a card that can be reliably played to guarantee a crewmen on the board. But when every deck plays Ronvid even if they don’t benefit from crewmen, it goes to show that there’s something inherently wrong with either the card or the faction. In this case, I believe it’s the latter.
Machines feel great to play with and it feels oppressive to play against. Because it offers something that most NR cards lack: synergy. Cards outside this archetype feel random, static, weak. Let’s try to give some examples to illustrate this argument:
Aretuza Adept -
Wild Hunt Hound: It’s not unreasonable to compare these two cards. Hounds have one more power but have a fixed kind of Hazard, that seems completely fine, right? Well yes, Aretuza isn’t bad as a card. It just lacks a follow-up. Monsters have cards that synergize with Biting Frost/Hazard (
Wild Hunt Rider,
Wild Hunt Warrior,
Drowner and others). NR doesn’t. It could be argued that weather is good by itself, if so… then why monsters have cards to make it even better? Notice that the problem here is not that monsters have tools, is that NR doesn’t have them.
Redanian-Knight Elect,
Kaedweni Siege Support,
Temerian Drummer,
Reinforced Trebuchet. All these cards are low tempo with over-time potential cards. Four cards that offer very little immediate value, with the “promise” of big rewards. Aside from “Siege Support”, they are cards that also offer NO inherit synergy with any other faction cards. That’s 3 slots bronze slots. There’s also
Dandelion,
Priscilla, and
Odrin that fit the same category. It could be argued that Dandelion is not low tempo. Well, that’s a
Drowner on a bad day, when there’s no weather; or a very sad, top-deck, last card
Whale Harpooner. But on a good day, these bronze cards can offer way more immediate value than a gold card with a promise of a happy ending.
So what’s the problem? Gwent in its current state relies on coinflip ( problem for a whole different topic ), which means 50% of the time (
haHAA ) these cards will only hurt you. The other times, they can still be easily locked or killed. Why NR need 7 low tempo cards with overtime potential, that offer zero to no synergy?
Final thoughts.
Now there’s a lot more to address about cards that feel wonky: Temerian mulligan chaos, Field Medic/Dijkstra
RNG factor, shield not translating into power with Stennis/Shani. But the underline is the same, machines are played because they are the only archetype that feels remotely decent while still requiring some kind of decision making. Playing NR nowadays isn’t as rewarding as playing other factions. It feels like your steps are predetermined from the moment you draw your cards.
I don’t want to extend it much further so I’ll end it here.
PS: Make
Muzzle lock the unit, 16 points swing + added card ability is way too strong. Making a low-tempo with over-time potential card even worse when turned into a high tempo with over-time potential play by your opponent.