Open PTR feedback

[XPJM40X]

So twelve hours of PTR and I love HC. It gets better the more you play it. I’ll leave my feedback below. Imagine much of this has been said.

Auto pass the turn when all actions have been taken. It will speed things up and I often forget to pass myself.

Row score and round score are difficult to locate and distinguish. Maybe have just the overall score visible and when you mouse over the row, the row become slightly opaque and the row score is shown in middle.

I have been placing units on incorrect row quite often for abilities. Maybe have the blue cursor when it is row appropriate and a grey/yellow cursor if is incorrect row to trigger ability.

Why are the battles/battlefields portrayed at night? Maybe a day/night cycle? A sunlight filter would show off detail of battlefields great.

Spells take too many clicks to target and execute. Also unintuitive to have to click the row with the spell to send resurrected or summoned unit there instead of unit hovering for placement.

Drag and drop cards i stead of point and click! Maybe issue above would be better.

Minor stuff now. Letho Kinslayer should deny mulligans and regular Letho should copy unit. More lore/flavor appropriate.

Eyck is a great card and focaeite from books. He takes too much setup when you can just run scorch. Maybe dragon in hand allows ANY unit to be killed, not just 10+ power.

Infiltrator is a cool concept, but you need to have them out in round 1 to be effective. Maybe lower base power so they can be tutored out? And have a deploy for the value?

Finally got to try a discard SK deck. Summon, discard, resurrect and the criteria for what cards do based on how they are sourced is very confusing and made a ton of mistakes. SK and discard SK is the faction I played very little of, so this is probably just me.

Anyway, I am loving HC and thank you for letting us get an early look and play session!

 

[apu11]

Hi,

UI
• What's been already said: number of cards on grave/deck, most card symbols (like immune, resilience, locks, order, etc) bigger and/or clearer, who starts is confusing, row points are hard to identify, taunts and card remaining symbols are oddly placed and almost unnoticeable.
• When Usurper blocks our leader their needs to be an indication in our Leaders number that this has happened.

LOOKS
• The game area is too dark.
• The battlefield looks good, however, most of the leaders lose their demeanor when in 3D because of actions or just for standing (I imagine because of WIP). Arachas, Morvran, and Eredin look good.
• It doesn't really matter, but golds and bronze still look the same.
• The new card art looks really good and fitting, plus the bigger cards look great.

GAME
• Fun unique card abilities have almost entirely disappeared which make little cards stand out. Here only Regis and Schirru caught my eye. Before when I saw cards like Milka, Kambi, or Sweers, they seemed interesting to play.
• Many abilities related to witcher characters have disappeared: Mages, Johnny, Kambi, Triss Butt, Foglets, Artefact, Pavetta, and others. This does not feel like The Witcher card game sometimes, it feels more like a card game. Also, why does Johnny attack?
• While I understand row abilities, I think there has to be a consistency to it.
Take Vanilla Geralt and Professional, they both destroy but one is specifically played on melee, why? I don't think it adds anything. Why not make cards with one ability row-locked while others have 2 abilities depending on the row and others be agile (like before)?
• I think Igni’s ability should be like the old one: Destroy all the Highest Units on the Opposite Row if that row totals 15 or more Power (instead of being locked to melee). This row idea should be used more like maybe with Regis or Nivellen.
• When playing with other decks besides destroy/control decks, sometimes it felt like I didn't have to pay much attention to the score. It felt like no matter what happens either of us could catch up.
• The game needs a way to put cards in the graveyard. More than 4 times I found myself playing my 1 or 2 unit Eithne deck against a Nilfgard low unit deck. We sometimes spent 2 rounds 4 cards straight using special cards to nothing instead of just being able to discard them.
• I imagine this is because of WIP, but the game felt really slow because of slow animations, like Eithne or Spear.
• Scorch and Igni are back in a really good way.
• Why can Viper Witchers draw gold and banish? Why are Viper Witcher always super powered I hated them before, now not so much, the ability is fine since it seems there is no one only winning card, but Jesus, there are 2 of them and maybe even 3 with Calveit.

BUGS
• In two different games using Scoiatel against Usurper, in the second round on my turn suddenly I could not play my cards, the pass button or anything. Cards got highlighted but I could not play them. In one instance I had to forfeit in the other I had to activate a spear on the board to be able to play.
• Eredin gave immunity to a card (Keltullis) which I scorched, but then after he revived it the immunity was still on the card. Doesn't the card reset itself or have things changed?
• Ihuarraquax brought my Dandelion Poet but it did not activate, neither did the opponent's card.
• I know that if you move a row-specific card their Deploy stops, however, does this apply to Order cards? I moved a Vysogota to Melee and he kept charging, however, he was able to use his order.
• If Iorveth plays 2 incinerate or one of those and a pitfall, both activate at the same time. It would be better if that didn't happen.

COMMENTS
During the whole time I played this game I was always saying to myself to just keep playing it, you'll like it eventually. I found some interesting things like Eithne control or Ciri Nova/Phoenix deck (or an all tutors reveal cards deck that felt like old Gwent) but others like the complete rework of Skelligue were underwhelming (and that was my favorite faction with discard boats, Kambi, Queensguard, Ciri, really old Shieldmaiden and hunter, Skirmishers).

I am disappointed with what the game has become, but I'll give it a shot when it comes to PS4 (Since I own a Mac and need to return the PC I borrowed). I do not like the direction this presented but I hope it is because a lot of stuff was not in this Beta.

Also, I think a lot of us are disappointed because we thought the Homecoming letter meant trying to bring back a better version of the essentials of digital Gwent and because of the minimal info on the development, we didn't know the game was going to be more than 90% changed, from abilities to mechanics, to essentially the way the game is played. The thing is we are now realizing that if we want to play the game we loved and dedicated time to (or others who spent money on it), we have to play this new game even if we like it or not. In my case, I didn't particularly enjoy it.

In Noclip’s Warframe documentary the lead designer talks about how people found an exploit that could be considered “game-breaking” by the team, but they decided to embrace it and adapt it to the game in a controllable way. He says “the community latches on to things for a certain reason.” I know these are significantly different games and the situations are different, but in Gwent most of the time it felt like the philosophy was the opposite. Somethings were embraced, while most others were eliminated; but now it feels like most of the things we discovered from this game are missing from it. Maybe I'm wrong and I just don't see how the previous game still lives in this new one, but of what I played it does not seem like that is the case and I put like 14 hours into it but, I didn't continue because I was just not having that much fun.

I hope I'm wrong and the reason is that some things were not included, still, if this is the path, good luck and sorry for so much text.

PS
Did not play monsters, but I never play them. Skellige!
Also, yes, the previous digital Gwent had problems; but it was unique, genuine, and everybody was having fun, even from the start.

Video: Warframe Documentary (Part Two) - The Story of Warframe (14:12-15:44)

 

[partci]

... Why not make cards with one ability row-locked while others have 2 abilities depending on the row and others be agile (like before)?...

Honestly, this is so irritating to me! Either make cards have binary abilities or "lock" them on the row their abilities triggers. You want that ability triggered? Pay the prize! Cause now this mechanic is exactly halfa**ed.

In this line of thought I'd like to tell/suggest something for cards like Gaston (by just observing watching his animation):

1 STR Boost self by amount between 0 and 11, the card text states (shot me in the head is what I read).

Here's what I can suggest if you want RNG cards in Gwent:

5 STR, Deploy on Melee/Siege, after 1 turn if there are units on both sides of the board Damage/Boost 10 Random units by 1. I'm sure this can be exploited, but both sides will have to THINK and consider tons of stuff before playing or AFTER playing him. THIS is RNG done right(ish). Not "Boost self by amount between 0 and 11".

What this card represents now is an insult. It's an insult to call the guy that came with it a developer/designer and it's an insult to mentally challenged persons to call the guy who approved it to be let go out like this in this PTR mentally challenged person. Most important - it's an insult to each and every FAN who stuck with Gwent through all of this months without an update.

Like, haven't you learn ANYTHING from Mid-Winter FIASCO?

 

[ExperThies]

OK, I have played the PTR for three days now. I got past the initial issues with the massive amount of changes to work through. I have to say this version of Gwent does not feel like it is ready for the public. I will give more details below but there are a number of things that would make me not play if I was new to Gwent.

The graphics are improved but the improvements seem to cost clarity instead of improving clarity.

I assume that all of the icons will be able to be clicked and will do something. For instance, I assume the keg icon will take you to the open keg screen. If not, that should be changed.

On the battlefield the row counts need to be made more clear. I would suggest moving the row count totals next to the row symbols and away from the total points.

One of the biggest issues I have is that the cards in hand are partially obscured during your turn and basically hidden on your opponents turn. You need to be able to clearly see all of your cards all of the time. The change of perspective is annoying and more clearly seeing the backs of my opponents cards does not help.

Another major issues for me is that the matches now take longer and targeting cards every time you want to use its ability is annoying. Further, as other have stated, when you have no more options the turn should auto end. I like it better when you play the cards and that is all you need to do with it. There were plenty of every turn effects before without having to personally activate and target stuff. The beta Gwent is a smoother and faster play experience.

Additionally, there are some cards that seem to make you rope your opponents. I hope this is a mistake and will be fixed. For example, Ciri Dash (I think) draws you a card after 5 turn, however, if you play your last card from hand on the 5th turn then your only option is to "pass" instead of "end turn" but if you rope your opponent then you draw the card and get another turn.

Also when your leader is shut down there needs to be some sort of thing identifying and explaining what is going on. Further, when the leader is used that should show up in the list of plays.

Further, basic things also seem to be missing, I am unable to see a card count of the number of cards remaining in the deck.

The deck builder needs a lot of work. There needs to be many more sorting options. Such as cost, artifact, spell and more.

The clarity of the cards also needs to be increased. Specifically, the definitions need to be better separated from the card abilities. Additionally, when you go to play the card on a row it is too easy to play it on the wrong row. The row triggers need to be visible on the cards.

Obviously, there are some cards that need completed like shupe and other specific card bugs that need fixed.

I am not sure if this is just the limited play time or if it is actually true but passing seems less strategic now which is unfortunate.

I am sure that I am forgetting things but ultimately this feels like the beginning of another beta instead of a finished product.

 

[Robert475]

In this line of thought I'd like to tell/suggest something for cards like Gaston (by just observing watching his animation):

1 STR Boost self by amount between 0 and 11, the card text states (shot me in the head is what I read).

Here's what I can suggest if you want RNG cards in Gwent:

5 STR, Deploy on Melee/Siege, after 1 turn if there are units on both sides of the board Damage/Boost 10 Random units by 1. I'm sure this can be exploited, but both sides will have to THINK and consider tons of stuff before playing or AFTER playing him. THIS is RNG done right(ish). Not "Boost self by amount between 0 and 11".

What this card represents now is an insult. It's an insult to call the guy that came with it a developer/designer and it's an insult to mentally challenged persons to call the guy who approved it to be let go out like this in this PTR mentally challenged person. Most important - it's an insult to each and every FAN who stuck with Gwent through all of this months without an update.

Like, haven't you learn ANYTHING from Mid-Winter FIASCO?

It was stated before that in Homecoming, RNG cards would either have abilities replaced, or be locked to arena and casual. So I'm assuming Gaston is one of those locked cards

 

[Oulfin]

Dear developers,

- Game is quite slow and the lack of music make the game quite boring while you are waiting.

- The blue row should stop once you trigger one charge, because I missclicked several times when I have several charges and I wasted charges opportunities due to this fact. This is more focused on future e-sports. If it is a card based in skills, you should avoid possible missclicks due to that.

- It is really normal that people click in the 3-D leader to find the emotes because. So, please let it clear in the tutorial or something. Stupid things but it will happen for sure.

- At the beginning of the battle you cannot notice who is the "winner of the blue coin"

- The space in the keyboard goes to quick when you push the pass button (again misscliking)

- The coin should be more visible or more colourful, now is like it does not exist.

- NR Machines with Foltest leader quite Ok (maybe need less mulligans). Overall NR is ok, about point ni idea.

- When you are choosing a card, you cannot look in your graveyard. In Skellige this is super important.

- I think hand limit is not good for the game. Less complicated and super difficult card advantage because you are winning 3 card per round, 1st round it seems pointless due to that, you just play the non-useful cards until reach 7. Also, at the beginning of the round they can play an artifact without taking care in point and nothing. In my opinion, skill card game should take this into account that your decisions matters.

- Three cards per round is too much. Maybe 3+2 or 2+2, with 25 maybe is it ok to thin the deck, 30 maybe will be too much if there is not many ways to thin.

- Provisions I think is a success, make deck-building more complicated and you can combine a lot of different possibilities. The more you let the player to construct as they want the better.

General very good I think!!! We will see thanks!!!

 

[oOxhaosOo]

I have to say i love the new dark battlefield and want it to stay that way so its maybe better to get a option for a day/night version in the settings

 

[jonybir]

There is a bug in checking graveyard. A lot of times it just won't click to check either player's GY

 

[Quintino77]

Just downloaded the PTR, it gave me the old PTR, with only 2 starter decks, no shop, can't dust cards. Tried verifying and reinstalling. Nothing works.

The fix for me was logging out from GOG and then logging back in.
I have found the fix in this Reddit thread:

Homecoming Open PTR - No cards?

 

[nikonorik]

Hello

Just want to tell, it is a great update, I like it, thank you CDPR.

But there is a one big MINUS, it is that Bronze cards are working on Gold cards, I think it shouldn't be like this. Like when you boosted your Gold card to the 30 power and then some simple bronze card just replaced his power on your Gold card's power, it is strange don't you think so? And also that some Bronze artiffact's destroyer could distroy your gold artiffact. Then what the difference between Bronze and Gold, make them one collor.

So it's the only big thing that I didn't like it, others is a bags I think you could handle it.

BR

 

[partci]

It was stated before that in Homecoming, RNG cards would either have abilities replaced, or be locked to arena and casual. So I'm assuming Gaston is one of those locked cards

So why bother introduce them in the PTR and WITH AN INTRODUCING VIDEO on top of that?

 

[GiveYourBest]

Feedback:

I have spent ~5h in PTR and ~600h in Gwent usually at rank20 with one season of pro ladder experience.

I know that you have spent a lot of time and effort to prepare HC and thats why I would like to be honest in my feedback from PTR.

I feel sad for the upcoming changes. To describe how I feel lets say that I liked playing table tennis, and one day after few months of waitng for a major update I finally saw that there will be no more table tennis avaliable. Instead we will get a new game of "Grass Tennis" with simmilar points system (win two sets from three). After my experience in PRT I dont feel like a potential new young Djokovic. I feel more like a character from first black and white films about the beggining of tennis in early 1900s. I see that this new HC game has a potential to be a great game, there is a window of opportunity with the great CDPR team behind, but its not a table tennis anymore that I liked to play. I even feel robbed from my time, that I spent to be able to play a completly different game in the future. I know that the last part is selfish to say, but thats how I fell.

I built 3 decks to play PTR. Not everyone likes to build decks from zero. Maybe better was to put there 5 decks, not only two. One per faction, for players who like a specific faction. At the begging I was hyped. Everything was new and beautiful. I even had like 80% winrate but something was missing. Im not sure, probably I lost the joy of playing it. I realy like the new provision system and the new way to change cards in your deck. That drives me more then tryharding with meta decks. Right now everything is raw, turns are slow and gameplay is sluggish but thats a reality of beta testing and its easy to fix. I only would like to point out that I hate to play a card into this vertical thiny shadow. New board looks great and everything shine but after a while thats only a distraction while player is trying to focus. I like the strategy aspect of old Gwent. For me now its difficult to grind becouse after few games my eyes are tired of being exposed to constant animations, flying shadows, annoying mumbling 3D heroes, cards changing their size per turn, board moving back and forward, ect. Coinflip and drypass in R1 are fixed, now mulligan is a part of player's strategy, but RNG is still present in a harsh way.

Better is an enemy of good. Gwent was good with some issues to fix but in two weeks will be completly gone I hope the new HC game will start shine in the next expansion after few updates that need to be done.

 

[roon_shady]

Feedback / Suggestion: on disabling premium animations, please disable the animated elements in the main menu too. i.e animations on "Play" , "Deck Builder" etc.

 

[sfruzz]

The Good

- I like the concept of a token and an additional mulligan to compensate the player who has to go first.
- The idea of having the number of mulligan tied to the leader is a good solution balance wise.
- I like the artwork of the new cards, special mention for Eyck of Densele. I also appreciate the fact that you credit the artist.
- Both old and new Gwents have nice card frames.

The Bad

- Leaders muttering and saying "ah ha" while you play the game are distracting. I don't like 3D leaders overall, as the card counterparts are far superior. Cards are astounding and, in my opinion, irreplaceable.
- The board is overcrowded and too dark.
- The way the lock ability looked with a chain around the card was better. The lock/unlock mechanic was simpler and cleaner, as a single card would serve both purposes.
- Please add the number of cards left in our deck and in the deck of our opponent.

The Ugly

- Too many damage this, buff that cards. A lack of flavour that comes with very few archetype still standing and a lot of keyword and underlying mechanics removed: Armor, Full Moon, Machine with Crew, Strengthen, Swap, Reveal card in hands,...
- RNG and Create cards are unfortunately still present with some new addition. If those cards are going to be available in ranked, I'd be very disappointed.
- handlimit of 10 and lack of CA-spy
- 2 bronze copies


Feedback on few cards:

Derran - moves 3 cards from the deck to your graveyard, it is discard without being discard. It's unnecessarily confusing, plus is one less card for the archetype.

Savage Bear - gain 1 charge for each copy of this unit in the graveyard, would be interesting if we could have multiple bronze copies in the graveyard, like in old Gwent. A duplicate from summoning circle, a duplicate from the operator and 3 bronze copies, that would make the effect interesting.

Xavier Lemmens - this card kills an archetype, it's too binary. If you play against discard is gg, if you play against SK with graveyard synergy is gg.

Gascon - No. Just no.

---

In short, while I respect the effort of the team to give us a new, fresh Gwent experience, I liked the previous iteration of the game more.

 

[psysteel]

Have to agree with all player regarding general game speed.
Even forfeit with Esc+Enter goes very slow now. Takes "forever" for Defeat screen to appear. But i think those things are easily fixable.

Some parts of the screen can be done more visible, like buttons displaying row (meele/range) they are barely visible now.

 

[partci]

Almost forgot one thing that really annoys the hell out of me visual - the really small buttons. Why make them so small? I don't need the struggle to find the exact pixel to click or to pin my nose in the monitor so I can read which button is for "Next" and which for "Close" or whatever.

 

[nizanova1]

After about 10 hours of playing the PTR those are my general impressions:

The good:
-Provisions make deck building a lot more interesting, and are generally the best addition to the game.
-Nothing seems too imbalanced at first.
-The cards look incredible- the new art is great and so are the new borders.

The bad:
-Animations are way too slow, should be sped up by at least 2 times the current speed.
-The new board is too dark, there should at least be an option to brighten it.
-3D leaders are completely unnecessary, I know there's no way you will replace them now but I think it's still worth mentioning for future iterations of the game, they look cheap and are far inferior to the great artwork of the cards. (this is a card game btw, people want it to look like a card game, seems like you forgot that a bit)
-The biggest problem with this version of the game is that most of the cards are just very uninteresting. It is a huge step back from the current version of Gwent which has a lot of unique card abilities.

*I know you probably want to rush the game out but I would honestly prefer it if you delayed the release to work on making this game better, and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

 

[Lantea]

Why was the ability to drag cards onto the board removed in HC PTR? Bring that back.

 

[psysteel]

Why was the ability to drag cards onto the board removed in HC PTR? Bring that back.

Also, you can't manualy discard cards anymore for some reason :unsure:.

 

[swan_dive66]

Warmonger destroyed my Immune Tactical Advantage card. I don't think he should be able to do so, right?