The entire Northern Realm faction needs a buff

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The entire Northern Realm faction needs a buff

Just came back from working on lots of college stuff and finds out that Gwent has a nice new patch with an event. So I decided to check NR since they are my favourite faction and the only faction that invest in a lot.

And oh boy I was so disappointed. They added ANOTHER MACHINE THAT NO ONE WANTS. Like seriously why CDPR keep adding machines when NR has a trouble in having a nice crewman unit , but well they added Ronvid . But still the problem persist, NR has no nice bronze crewman unit that could tie the whole machine archetype together. Siege Master and Siege Support is too weak since every removal could just smack them and problem solved. While other faction has a nice card update with new cards that actually synergize pretty well with their deck.

After that NR has 2 more archetype which is the meme 40 card deck or the Henselt swarm deck and both of them isn't even viable. the 40 card deck is too RNG based for me to consider it as a proper deck. And the swarm deck could be outpowered by any deck in high MMR and could be shut down pretty easily with killing their siege support.

But well probably CDPR plans NR to be the basic faction that every newbie would flock into since almost every of their card is a basic card that lacks any kind of synergy. Like Thaler for example he is a 11 str spy that only draws 2 card from the top of your deck and you choose 1. Well basic CA spy and let's compare it to Cantarella which is a direct upgrade to Thaler with a slight downside.

Sorry if this post sounds like a rant since I'm a huge NR fan and i'm just completely disappointed with this current state of NR.
 
This is no rant, this is truth. I've been fighting hard to put together a competitive NR deck and I have to rely on neutrals to do it. NG has Tibor, SK has Vabjorn, the highest point golds in game, as well as highest point silvers like The Guardian and Djange Frett. NR has nothing comparable and that is a flat fact. The Gwentlemen website revealed that in the last Gwent tournament NR was the least played, NG the most banned. Thaler is a garbage version of the Last Wish. Why not just run the Last Wish and spare giving your opponent 11 points to avoid making the NR situation worse? Yeah I know canon worshippers will say NG beat NR in canon but this is a CCG, not canon. If it's an esport all teams should get some play, but playing NR is difficult, much more difficult than other factions.
 

4RM3D

Ex-moderator
esra01;n9808321 said:
After that NR has 2 more archetype which is the meme 40 card deck or the Henselt swarm deck and both of them isn't even viable.

There is also the Foltest 27 cards swarm which is more consistent and having a lot of power, but lacking in control options.

lemonsplitter;n9813011 said:
NR has nothing comparable and that is a flat fact.

Let's not forget Dijkstra who can pull off a +50 points swing (not on average, but still) or Natalis pulling a tactics card (which can pull Reinforcement).

lemonsplitter;n9813011 said:
Thaler is a garbage version of the Last Wish. Why not just run the Last Wish and spare giving your opponent 11 points to avoid making the NR situation worse?

Because Thaler gives card advantage and Last Wish does not; important difference. Also, esra01, while Thaler might be the weakest agent, you can still combine him with Light Cavalry, which isn't that bad.
 
Every single NR player is dissappointed with how weak the faction is. Machine archetype is very easily countered by taking out siege masters and siege supports, and believe me, there is PLENTY of ways to do it. Muzzle(every deck can run it), Alzur's(Spelltael), Enforcers(NG), Lugos(SK), Kayran(M), Eskel. If you take it out with any cards i mentioned, NR player is in some deep troubles, most likely going to be further and further behind as the round is going on. Machines and crewmen are the core, and taking either of those 2 completely trashes the deck. You pretty much summarized Foltest's swarm, just keeping fingers crossed that the enemy can't counter what you do(again, just take out siege support and germain either by killing them, muzzling, or artifact compression). NR decks lack strong bronzes when compared to other factions. With slyzards, there is no way you can deal with Nekker spam unless your enemy has a very unlucky draw. NR cannot run mardroeme, locks are simply not effective. Hell you can say it is possible to create a deck to win vs monsters, I've done that, problem is, it sucks against every single other thing. NR has also big problems to deal with pretty much every skellige archetype. Spamming Tuirseach veterans in round one gives you three 10 strength bronzes, and with new skellige units "better reaver scout" you always play all three in R1, same goes for the whole curse deck with all the berserkers and marauders, then just ressurect round 3. You may say "include scorch or villentretenmerth" yeah guess what, brokvar archer just kills your hopes for good line-up and makes you say goodbye to your dreams of at least equalizing the score. Not mentioning, marauders keep their value after dying, they are not unstable, so you always have HUGE freya target. Djenge frett is just ridiculously strong not only buffing self but damaging allies for even more marauders value. I would like NR to be comparable with that. I would like to see Streamers, Pro players and hell anyone at 4k MMR to be able to compete with other factions, but noone is playing NR. And here is another reason why they do not: you have to try incredibly hard, hope for your enemy to be damn unlucky and even then it is hard to win. No strong bronzes, incredibly easy to counter and mechanics that are really easy to play around. Try playing around whale harpooners, you obviously cannot, because rowstacking makes you easy lacerate target. You cannot keep up with veteran Skellige, cause if you commit too much R1 or you are dead in R3 cause of freyas. You cannot let them win round one, because they easly bleed you round 2 or drypass to round 3 and guess what, you are in the exact same spot again. Discarding freya and then restoring her round 3 ressurecting one of your 17 strength units ~casual 25 points (not even radovid africa shani can beat it, and she is gold). If you need any further proof that NR need a damn buff just reply, i have plenty more to say(I'm only NR player and have plenty of experience tryharding at 4-4,3k and i only explained a part of SK matchups(there is more factions)) but not all at once, I know the TL;DR pain and I think it is too much for one post. The most obvious proof that NR are weak: nobody plays it and gets good results on the ladder.
 
4RM3D;n9813261 said:
There is also the Foltest 27 cards swarm which is more consistent and having a lot of power, but lacking in control options.

Yeah forgot about the existence of that deck since the new patch rolled in. Before the Restore cancer patch that deck is really viable since most of deck at that time lacks tempo and the Foltest 27 card deck is really good at out tempo-ing your opponent. But now that deck could not compete in high MMR match anymore with NG spy and Bran deck that would completely overpower the 27 card Foltest swarm deck pretty easily.

4RM3D;n9813261 said:
Let's not forget Dijkstra who can pull off a +50 points swing (not on average, but still) or Natalis pulling a tactics card (which can pull Reinforcement).

Yea NR has a powerful collection of gold cards , but gold cards alone could not carry the game when most of the NR silver card collection is shit. And let's not forget that only few of them has some kind of a synergy with their bronze cards. Heck even their own bronze cards doesn't even synergize well with each other and has low power value if compared to other faction bronze card.

4RM3D;n9813261 said:
Because Thaler gives card advantage and Last Wish does not; important difference. Also, esra01, while Thaler might be the weakest agent, you can still combine him with Light Cavalry, which isn't that bad.

But the thing is about Thaler is that not everytime you want to put Light Cavalry in your deck. While other faction CA spy ability is always there. ST spy pulling the top special card is always needed , Skellige ability in discarding the other card is pretty good in populating your graveyard for Priestess target or when you are lucky and getting raider. NG spy has the most synergy with their deck. And Monster spy pulling ability is pretty good in disrupting your opponent game plan.

Meanwhile thaler could pull light cavalry which doesn't even have any kind of a benefit for any NR deck archetype. That I even consider the Card advantage that he provides isn't important and switching to last wish like what lemonsplitter said ,since it is more beneficial if you don't run light cavalry.
 
Totally agree. I also think NR is quite bad right now. Even with all neutrals it is still hard to combine a deck that can achieve 50% winning rate. Generally avarage rate for all kind of decks (swarming, damage, reavers, gold spam,...) is only about 35%
 
Well this is why I am quitting this shitty game.

My rank was 4000++ last season, and always played NR.

But I found out that NR is lacking in every aspects.

Every other factions have viabilities and consistencies out side of the RNG factor.

NR? BOOM!!! 3 infantry + 3 commandos = Instant forfeit.

Lack of combos, lack of control abilities, lack of synergies, no fun at all.

I am DONE with this game.

A poor game with SWIM netdeckers everywhere.

Seriously, if everybody are playing the same god damn decks, why bother play this game?

So long you guys,

I had such a high expectation in this game, since I really loved witcher3.

But it really makes me angry and tired playing against net decks every game.

 

4RM3D

Ex-moderator
exuma92

Because your favorite faction got nerfed, you are quitting the game? A bit narrow-minded. Regardless, it's your call.

BTW, netdecking is a part of every CCG. If you are complaining about this, then the CCG genre might not be for you.
 
4RM3D;n9816271 said:
exuma92

Because your favorite faction got nerfed, you are quitting the game? A bit narrow-minded. Regardless, it's your call.

BTW, netdecking is a part of every CCG. If you are complaining about this, then the CCG genre might not be for you.


I started this game in the middle of season2.
So I didn't have any chance to play "OP NR" ok?
I play gwent for fun, not for some rank point like you. On the other hand, I played this game because I enjoyed the sound effects and voices of characters whom I saw in the game. That's why I prefer NR than any other faction not because it is strong or op.

To be honest, justifying netdecking Pro's deck just to earn some rank points is shameful dude. Rank points system should work as an supplement element which aids you to enjoy the game by matching player with same level of yours. Netdecking destroys the fundamental of this period
Are you playing a card "GAME"? or just playing for meaningless rank points?
Please DO think.
 
4RM3D;n9816271 said:
exuma92
Because your favorite faction got nerfed, you are quitting the game? A bit narrow-minded. Regardless, it's your call.
BTW, netdecking is a part of every CCG. If you are complaining about this, then the CCG genre might not be for you.

"Got nerfed" NR faction was incredibly weak until shani stennis combo was actually doing something(since closed beta). Back then NR were not more powerful than other factions, they finally became comparable, but well it cannot stay that way clearly. I wonder if there is a reason for keeping NR weaker. Don't you think something is really wrong if one faction is consistently ignored every single patch? Pros completely ignoring this faction is not an argument? Pathetic winrate or pick rate? Trashing this faction seems to really be a thing, just look at Catapult, fixed to one row, incredibly hard to set up crewmen for this, it is by far the worst machine and yet they added it even though we did not need something like this. Nerfing commandos only to pop up when temerian unit with the same strength is on the board, shani stennis also nerfed. At the times these nerfs happened NR were already not being played so why trash it even more. It is really frustrating, every single patch for half a year, watching everything being stronger than your faction. You hope that something will change the next patch but oh hello there, another Skellige buff. Do devs even look at statistics? Anyone with half a brain would deduce something needs to be done.
 
I completely agree, NR has been forgotten. It's the faction I use the least nowadays for multiple reasons. The biggest one being that they just simply can't keep up with everybody else lol. The Catapult should have been a unit that could take out a 5+ strength unit instead of what it currently is. I think that faction needs lots of buffs to all their archetypes. Except maybe armor. Don't even get me started on the Tutors, Jesus Christ that's a terrible card.
 
SalSolo13 Let's talk about statistics...

Here's a link to the last GwentUp Meta Report. Based on 82497 matches (2500+ MMR), here are some win ratios per faction that I extracted from the report:
  • Skellige
    • Average Win Ratio: 53,63%
  • Monsters
    • Average Win Ratio: 51,54%
  • Northern Realms
    • Average Win Ratio: 49,45%
  • Scoia'tael
    • Average Win Ratio: 48,20%
  • Nilfgaard
    • Average Win Ratio: 47,17%
So in summary, no NR isn't increadibly weak. In fact the most underperforming factions at the moment are Scoia'tael and Nilfgaard. Skellige is a bit over the top, that's true, so I believe a small nerf is required. The low win ratio for ST and NG are due to experimenting with the Reveal and Handbuff archetypes. We'll have a better picture on the following weeks.
 
Well then do not use this statistics as an argument, we are taking about players aspiring to be high on the ladder, and high up on the ladder you do not face a lot of NR, and if you do play NR you usually have incredibly hard time.

Low MMR ladder is very random because people do not play decks properly, have them incomplete or just randomly made. This is not a reliable statistic.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Would be more reliable if you actually explained why you think like that, but whatever, just tell me i'm wrong and leave. Adult behaviour, congratulations sir, you won.
 
exuma92;n9817001 said:
I play gwent for fun, not for some rank point like you. [...] Are you playing a card "GAME"? or just playing for meaningless rank points?

Every person has their own reasons for playing Gwent. Some just play for the sake of reaching the top ladder. Others play to experiment with new decks and have fun. This also means that certain players just copy the best deck they can find because they value efficiency above originality. I can understand both sides. Netdecking is not the best part of the game, but it is still something that is found with every CCG, Gwent included. There are other ways for you to have fun with the game. Sticking only with NR, might not be one of them, in my opinion. But, like I've said before, it's your call.
 
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