9.0 Patch Notes

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The changes to Larva are just bad. The increase in power and provision is a double nerf. There is a reason why 2 power Thrive cards such as Drowner do not get played, because the whole purpose of a Thrive deck is to have your Thrive units as low power as possible so that you can play higher power units to trigger their thrive ability.

You've made Larva less powerful by actually increasing its default power and more expensive as well. Ghoul also was fine as he was with 2 power for 6 provisions, nonsensical change.

The NR changes are interesting, but even there you have some questionable ones such as Thaler acting like a crappier Matta and Aretuza Adept. You should have kept Aretuza Adept's previous ability of giving charges to other units, especially since you kept Cintrian Spellweaver almost the same and Lyrian Arbalest has not been changed. It would have also benefited from the influx of Mages in NR.

The purpose of the Patience archetype is to use the ability as soon as possible and get quick value out of it because of removal/control. As such, the existence of Aretuza Adept now, with her current ability is just irrelevant. Rare as this card was, you could still sometime see it in a Stockpile deck. Now it will be virtually absent for all decks. Even meme decks won't play it.
 
So, no one is going to talk about the elephant in the room? Which is how pathetic the epic ST card is? Vanadain is an absolute trash without a rework on Waylay. Why would you want to add two potentially 3 point play in your hand replacing any cards? If Vanadain is locked or removed the two Waylay can very well play for just 6 points in total. Even if Vanadain survives, the Waylay are going to play for guaranteed 6 and conditionally 9. So, in worst and most probably case, you play for 6+3+3 in three turns and in best case 6+9+9; and even the best case is just not worth the risk. it is a super high risk for a minimal reward.

But at least Vanadain will have company from the Cat Witcher Saboteur and stay in the ditch/pit.
for the first time i have to agree with your blaming about SC new cards.

That new card doesnt make sense at all.
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So, no one is going to talk about the elephant in the room? Which is how pathetic the epic ST card is? Vanadain is an absolute trash without a rework on Waylay. Why would you want to add two potentially 3 point play in your hand replacing any cards? If Vanadain is locked or removed the two Waylay can very well play for just 6 points in total. Even if Vanadain survives, the Waylay are going to play for guaranteed 6 and conditionally 9. So, in worst and most probably case, you play for 6+3+3 in three turns and in best case 6+9+9; and even the best case is just not worth the risk. it is a super high risk for a minimal reward.

But at least Vanadain will have company from the Cat Witcher Saboteur and stay in the ditch/pit.
for the first time i have to agree with your blaming about SC new cards.

That new card doesnt make sense at all.

I
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Maybe if you just really want to boost your melee Vernossiel (or finishing Isengrim) or get rid of Aeliren that you drew on the last round.
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If you put the right card on top of your deck and boost it with Dandelion a couple of times. maybe it will make at least some sense?


Thaler doesn't break devotion.
Really, devotion? In oneiro heatwave meta? the only devotion decks are SK warrior and pirate cove.

I tryed to make a devotion deck with king belohun "buffs" and that card its just a crap.

With the Kaedweni Sergeant buff (formation) he almost get the same value as kerack marine in devotion.

For the dandelion combo, ok, i can agree with you, but still its going to be some dificult to proceed that combo
 
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  • RED Point
Reactions: rrc
So, no one is going to talk about the elephant in the room? Which is how pathetic the epic ST card is? Vanadain is an absolute trash without a rework on Waylay. Why would you want to add two potentially 3 point play in your hand replacing any cards? If Vanadain is locked or removed the two Waylay can very well play for just 6 points in total. Even if Vanadain survives, the Waylay are going to play for guaranteed 6 and conditionally 9. So, in worst and most probably case, you play for 6+3+3 in three turns and in best case 6+9+9; and even the best case is just not worth the risk. it is a super high risk for a minimal reward.

But at least Vanadain will have company from the Cat Witcher Saboteur and stay in the ditch/pit.
But to be fair it has a lot synergy with other cards. Vernosiel, Isengrim, Aerilinn, Yaevinn, Gord, Great Oak, Gezras. And its 8p. And Elves usually create targets so it will be unlikely that both Waylay damages will hit shields or armors.
 
No buffs, reworks, ANYTHING for Scoia'tael? Was Scoia so OP lately, that it doesn't need anything? Am I missing something?

Only 2 changes...

1) IMO the elven sage / scribe change is an actual nerf for me. That card was already good, it just didn't have enough support to be played. It could have been a decent 6p engine bronze to the new spell'tael archetype. Now it's a 4p bronze with an okayish reward after 3 turns. Having a 4 points body though, it's going to be destroyed by a million cards... But we have to change it to support the new "counter" tag. At least make it a good one!

2) Farseer is still trash...
 
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Expansion
I like this one. There isn't a single card that i would consider poorly designed or useless. But i also considered on-release Kolgrim well designed, i realized how horribly wrong i was only after playing against him. This expansion at least doesn't have anything obviously broken or toxic.

On the other hand - kegs! Why no kegs? I of course understand why, but there are so many better ways to approach this:
1.) Expansion kegs with +-50 old cards as place holders.
2.) Temporarily increased drop rate of the new cards from untimate or faction kegs.
3.) Expansion kegs with fewer cards
Opening kegs is fun, not having them for 4 months sucks.


NR Rework
Focusing more on cooldowns instead of charges is a good idea and some reworks are actually really nice. Dandelion is gone! Finaly! I hated playing against him. I don't understand why the biggest offender - Redanian Archer stayed untouched, that card is embodiment of everything that is wrong with charges.


Balance
Some nice changes, especially the Jackpot buff, most of it seems random tho.

Endrega Larva - weird nerf, i like the provision increase, but the power buff makes it impossible to kill without spending absurd amount of provisions on single bronze card. At least nerf it's armor to 1. Also, does this mean that Koschey is now even stronger? That card was already super strong and now he spawns 2p Larvas instead of 1p? That's BROKEN!
Eist - provision cost is not what's wrong with him. The insane point swing he generates with literary 0 preparation is what's wrong.
Imposter - really? That's NUTS!


Overall it looks like a solid patch, assuming Koschey gets hot fixed.
 
No buffs, reworks, ANYTHING for Scoia'tael? Was Scoia so OP lately, that it doesn't need anything? Am I missing something?
ST definitely aren't overpowered. But they can successfully run both unitless deck types - traps and specials, so maybe they're fine (and used quite often).

Only 2 changes...

1) IMO the elven sage / scribe change is an actual nerf for me. That card was already good, it just didn't have enough support to be played. It could have been a decent 6p engine bronze to a spell'tael deck. Now it's a 4p bronze with an okayish reward after 3 turns. Having a 4 points body though, it's going to be destroyed by a million cards... But we have to change it to support the new "counter" tag. At least make it a good one!
It was overplayed at one time, but now it really sees almost no play. A pity. Maybe that's how they're trying to balance it (balancing stuff never being the strong side of Gwent devs)?

2) Farseer is still trash...
One of my favorite cards long ago. Not for the point value, but for the voice effects and thrill of playing it. :) But yes, haven't seen (or used) it for awhile.
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why the biggest offender - Redanian Archer stayed untouched, that card is embodiment of everything that is wrong with charges.
What's wrong with the archer? Without Dandelion boosting him and no other ways to give him charges he's just an equivalent of patience for charges. If the problem is spamming a row of archers - well, that's not his fault, but rather "Adalia-Idarran-ability" combo's (or its variations), It even looks nice lore-wise, though unpleasant to have against you, of course. :D
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Eist - provision cost is not what's wrong with him. The insane point swing he generates with literary 0 preparation is what's wrong.
Imposter - really? That's NUTS!
Totally agree, but that's how balancing in Gwent is done (mostly). :shrug:
 
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What's wrong with the archer?
He can generate charges on his own without any limit. Every other charge engine needs some other card to get more charges.
I think Archer should have cooldown 1, plus maybe some buff to compensate.
 
Balance changes aside, I'm super happy seeing Quality of Life changes in the patch notes. The animation decoupling should make the game a lot smoother to play. I hope we see more improvments like that in the future!
 
He can generate charges on his own without any limit. Every other charge engine needs some other card to get more charges.
I think Archer should have cooldown 1, plus maybe some buff to compensate.

Redanian Archer going from Barricade to Cooldown 1 would actually be a buff. He'd go from gaining a charge every turn when he has armor to gaining a charge every turn unconditionally.
 
He can generate charges on his own without any limit. Every other charge engine needs some other card to get more charges.
I think Archer should have cooldown 1, plus maybe some buff to compensate.
I get that, but with units getting taller (again!) every one damage charge is getting less valuable.
Redanian Archer going from Barricade to Cooldown 1 would actually be a buff. He'd go from gaining a charge every turn when he has armor to gaining a charge every turn unconditionally.
Maybe they could make him "Cooldown 2. If Barricaded - Cooldown 1"?
 
The changes to Larva are just bad. The increase in power and provision is a double nerf. There is a reason why 2 power Thrive cards such as Drowner do not get played, because the whole purpose of a Thrive deck is to have your Thrive units as low power as possible so that you can play higher power units to trigger their thrive ability.

You've made Larva less powerful by actually increasing its default power and more expensive as well. Ghoul also was fine as he was with 2 power for 6 provisions, nonsensical change.

From my persepective the Larva nerf is justified. Until now it was used by many, many MO decks (not only thrive) and easily ended with 10 + value. Now it starts at 2 body and 6 provisions. Should also take into account that you can start your round with Nekker and then trigger thrive of Nekker via Larvae.
Also a huge support for Kotschey which might become an issue.

The NR changes are interesting, but even there you have some questionable ones such as Thaler acting like a crappier Matta and Aretuza Adept. You should have kept Aretuza Adept's previous ability of giving charges to other units, especially since you kept Cintrian Spellweaver almost the same and Lyrian Arbalest has not been changed. It would have also benefited from the influx of Mages in NR.

The purpose of the Patience archetype is to use the ability as soon as possible and get quick value out of it because of removal/control. As such, the existence of Aretuza Adept now, with her current ability is just irrelevant. Rare as this card was, you could still sometime see it in a Stockpile deck. Now it will be virtually absent for all decks. Even meme decks won't play it.


I also consider the new NR cooldown archetype to be very interesting and looking forward to seeing it. Nevertheless some of the reworks will definitely not see much play:
- Thaler: Matta is the much better alternative if you really want to extend a round
- Cintrian Envoy: NR does not have topdecking synergies as NG has

Regarding Aretuza adept I strongly disagree. If you have a defender and Gerhart of Aelle, Istredd and 2 Ban Ard Student protected it can be a 4 provision unit with +4 which I consider to be insane value. I would even argue that Aretuza adept is the card driving the Patience archetype and would expect her provision to go up to 5 soon again.
 

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Larvas being 2 power is a nice buff to Koshchey :)
lol not sure that's a buff and not a nerf, thrive units don't benefit from high starting power. You'll get to max points faster but I guess the extra points can be considered make up for that so not much of a change. I don't mind it either way
 
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rrc

Forum veteran
But to be fair it has a lot synergy with other cards. Vernosiel, Isengrim, Aerilinn, Yaevinn, Gord, Great Oak, Gezras. And its 8p. And Elves usually create targets so it will be unlikely that both Waylay damages will hit shields or armors.
Your argument would make sense of Waylay unconditionally creates Deadeye (even then it is a useless 3 damage and 6 point play when we are in 4P cards creating 10 points)
Assume the Vanadain gets locked/removed and there is no deathblow for Waylay.. you are going to play two cards worth 3 points each. Even two years back this would be unacceptable/unplayable. Where is any Synergy between other cards? Why would anyone take this much risk for such a mediocre reward?

This card will see no play after a couple of days ST players try this and confirm that this is a shitty card. Unless Waylay is reworked or buffed (not just provisions) this will be marked as the junkest design in PoP.

Whoever designed and tested this only tested the best of the best scenario playing Versnosil, Yeaven, Isengrim and approved this card maybe. Otherwise, this card should not have been printed.
 

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Patch 9.0 marks the release of our newest expansion "Once upon a Pyre", but while it definitely steals the spotlight, there are some other changes and improvements coming to the game.

One of them is a widely requested feature to be able to change the look of the "Play" card in the Main Menu, another important one is making the game faster by progressing, even if some visual effects were played and didn't finish yet.

Additionally our developers have a couple of words to say on the topic of new balance changes, and share some insight. Read on that and more in detail below.

Developer comment: First and foremost the main event of this patch is obviously the release of the first expansion of the Price of Power set. To that purpose, we've made a bunch of small changes and adjustments to support it.

The other big event is the long awaited Northern Realms rework! We've decided to move away from design of giving Charges to the profit of the less restrictive and more flexible Cooldown mechanic. Charges as a mechanic stays in the game but from now as a self-contained one.

As a side topic, we keep giving attention to leader abilities to increase the diversity and to give them more identity.
Changes
  • Unranked Standard Mode matches are now shown under Training Mode.
  • Gameplay speed has been improved by decoupling logic and visuals (The game will no longer wait for all card visuals to finish before proceeding further).
  • Search bars no longer require the cursor to hover over them in order to be responsive.
Neutral
Torrential Rain
: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Biting Frost: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Impenetrable Fog: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Avallac'h: Sage: Power changed from 1 to 2.

Provisions changed from 11 to 10.

Avallac'h: Power changed from 4 to 6.

Vaedermakar has a new part of ability:

"If you control Scepter of Storms, increase or decrease durations by 3 instead."

Scepter of Storms: Provisions changed from 6 to 5.

Francis Bedlam: Added Bandit category.

Vigo's Muzzle: Added Spell category.

Commander's Horn: Added Warfare category.

Provisions changed from 9 to 8.

Merigold's Hailstorm: Provisions changed from 9 to 8.

Germain Piquant has a new part of ability:

"Order: Spawn a Cow.

Cooldown: 3."
Monsters
Ghoul
: Power changed from 2 to 1.

Provisions changed from 6 to 5.

Endrega Larva: Power changed from 1 to 2.

Provisions changed from 5 to 6.

Brewess: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Ability changed to:

"Zeal.

Order: Consume an allied unit.

Charge: 1.

Increase the number of charges by 1 whenever you play a Crone."

Whispess: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Weavess: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Fruits of Ysgith: Provisions changed from 11 to 12.

Kayran: Ability changed to:

"Immunity. Deploy: Consume 3 allied units."

Penitent: Ability changed to:

"Thrive.

Deathwish: Summon a random 7-cost from your deck to this row."
Skellige
Rage of the Sea
: Provisions changed from 13 to 14.

Mardroeme: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Sigrdrifa's Rite: Provisions changed from 9 to 8.

Bear Abomination: Added Cultist category.

Hammond: Added Cultist category.

Armored Drakkar: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Eist Tuirseach: Provisions changed from 11 to 12.
Northern Realms
Stockpile
: Provisions changed from 17 to 15.

Ability changed to:

"Order: Reduce the Cooldown of 3 adjacent Northern Realms units by 1 and Spawn a Volunteer to their row.

Charge: 3."

Priscilla: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Ability changed to:

"Zeal.

Order: Heal an allied unit by 4 and reset its Cooldown.

Inspired: Boost an allied unit by 4 and reset its Cooldown."

Dandelion: Provisions changed from 8 to 9.

Ability changed to:

"Order: Boost a unit in your deck by 2.

Cooldown: 2

Inspired: At the end of your turn, boost the top unit in your deck by 1."

Damned Sorceress: Ability changed to:

"Zeal. Order: Destroy a unit's Shield then boost self by 2.

Cooldown: 2."

Reinforced Balista: Ability changed to:

"Formation.

Order: Damage a unit by 1.

Cooldown: 1

Resupply: Reduce the Cooldown by 1."

Hubert Rejk: Provisions changed from 7 to 8.

Ability changed to:

"Whenever you use an order ability while this card is in your deck, remove a counter from it. When counter reaches 0, summon this card from your deck to your Ranged row.

Counter: 10"

Winch: Ability changed to:

"Boost an allied unit by 5 and reduce its Cooldown by 3."

Cintrian Envoy: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Ability changed to:

"Formation.

Order: Look at 3 random cards from your deck and move 1 to the top.

Cooldown: 2."

Foltest's Pride: Power changed from 6 to 5.

Armor changed from 0 to 1.

Ability changed to:

"Zeal.

Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2 and units adjacent to it by 1.

Cooldown: 4

Crew: Set Cooldown to 2."

Cintrian Spellweaver: Ability changed to:

"Order: Damage a unit by 1. Charge: 1.

Gain 1 Charge whenever you play a Mage or a Spell."

Aretuza Adept: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Ability changed to:

"Whenever you trigger Patience, boost self by 1."

Nenneke: Power changed from 4 to 5.

Shani: Provisions changed from 9 to 10.

Ability changed to:

"Zeal.

Order: Summon a bronze Human unit from your graveyard and give it Doomed.

Cooldown: 7."

Thaler: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Ability changed to:

"Formation.

Order: If neither player has passed and your opponent's hand is not full, both players draw a card."

Siege Support: Ability changed to:

"Deploy (Melee): Reduce Cooldown of an allied unit by 1

Deploy (Ranged): Boost an allied unit by 1.

Order: Give an allied unit Zeal."

Battering Ram: Ability changed to:

"Deploy, Crew: Gain Zeal.

Order (Melee): Move self to the Ranged row.

Order (Ranged): Move self to the Melee row, then damage the highest enemy unit by 3.

Cooldown: 2"

War Elephant has a new part of ability:

"Cooldown: 6."

Ves has a new part of ability:

"Cooldown: 3."

Bombardment: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Síle de Tansarville: Provisions changed from 7 to 6.

Runeword: Provisions changed from 4 to 6.

Ability changed to:

"Create and play a Bronze Northern Realm mage and give it Shield."
Scoia'tael
Sage
: Name changed to Elven Scribe.

Provisions changed from 6 to 4.

Ability changed to:

"Remove a Counter whenever you play a Special card.

Counter: 3

When the Counter reaches 0, boost self by 6."

Farseer is now a Mage.

Boost changed from 2 to 3.
Nilfgaard
Imposter
: Ability changed to:

Order: Lock an enemy unit, then Spawn its base copy in the opposite row and boost it by the number of enemy units with a status on the Locked unit's row.

Courier: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Viper Witcher Adept: Power changed from 3 to 4.

Magne Division has a new part of ability:

Bonded: At the end of your turn, boost self by 1 instead.

Fringilla Vigo now also counts Constructs in addition to Mages.

Provisions changed from 8 to 7.

Anna Henrietta is now Ranged locked.

Developer comment: The point of this change is to allow players to choose to use it or not, similarly to Lippy.
Syndicate
Jackpot
has a new part of ability:

Whenever an allied unit gives you Coins, boost it by any excess amount gained.

Passiflora Peaches: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Professor: Provisions changed from 11 to 12.
New Features
  • Three new trees in the Reward Book connected to the Expansion.
  • The "Play" card in the main menu now shows the favourite card chosen in the player profile.
  • New expansion "Once upon a Pyre" introducing 26 cards to the game.
Game Fixes
  • Fixed a rare issue where a match could end with a Draw after playing Selective Mutation.
  • Fixed a visual issue where after purchasing Fast Travel the total number of Reward Points displayed could be inflated.
  • Saskia's Elven Deadeye ability will now correctly target Immune units with random damage.
  • Whispess, Weavess and Brewess will now show correct values in the Deck Builder.
  • The Berserk multi-step contract will no longer progress incorrectly with Drummond Queensguard.
  • Coral will now draw first and discard second as announced in the 8.5 Patch Notes.
  • Snowdrop will now prevent players from clicking the Order ability if they have more than 8 cards.
  • Allied units affected by Salamander's Poison ability will no longer boost Thirsty Dame.
The most notable buff here is battering ram. Considering you can also spawn this from your scenario it's basically a Cat Witcher that hits harder.

Also why was Anna Henrietta row locked, that does nothing if her ability isn't changed to an order.
 
I don't think Thaler is a bad idea, but he is way too expensive. Instead of increasing power I would've reduced provisions. Extending a round with NR can be useful because of all the engines, but there's also a real possibility of your opponent drawing something good.
I think he should be 5 power for 6 provisions. As he is now there's very little reason to pick him above Matta. Still a cute callback to silver spies though.
 

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FOR DEVS:
1. Masquerade ball needs to progress with Joachim and Roderick, just limit progression 1 per turn.
I've said since day 1 that this should apply to all scenarios, ball included. That said, the problem with ball and why it's difficult to agree with that is it's removal with poison has no limit. I think we're better off waiting for them to add more aristocrats than going back to the Joachim shenanigans.
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CDPR can you PLEASE finally fix wererat succubus/ruehin interaction?
what's wrong with werecat/succubus/ruehin...?
 
I've said since day 1 that this should apply to all scenarios, ball included. That said, the problem with ball and why it's difficult to agree with that is it's removal with poison has no limit. I think we're better off waiting for them to add more aristocrats than going back to the Joachim shenanigans.
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what's wrong with werecat/succubus/ruehin...?
in fact its not wrong the interaction, but its uselless.

Wererat consume the unit after the turns over, and sucubus and ruehin respwan when the turns over.

So if they consumed by wererat, they will spawn in 2 turns.

In fact, thats its correct, but i think he whants to wererat first consume and than ruehin and succubes respawns
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Also, speaking in cosume, i didnt like the change in kayran.

I mean, they already killed OH with one less charge and now they kill kayran. Who will possible let 3 deathwish unist alive to be consumed by kayran? If they are gold they will be locked, baned and bla bla bla.

I know OH has the Vyi problem, but devs should rework viy (as i always say, viy must be a good card, since its the epic card bringed by WOW expansion, but need reworks;), and dont nerf even more the OH and deathwish/consume units
 
Your argument would make sense of Waylay unconditionally creates Deadeye (even then it is a useless 3 damage and 6 point play when we are in 4P cards creating 10 points)
Assume the Vanadain gets locked/removed and there is no deathblow for Waylay.. you are going to play two cards worth 3 points each. Even two years back this would be unacceptable/unplayable. Where is any Synergy between other cards? Why would anyone take this much risk for such a mediocre reward?

This card will see no play after a couple of days ST players try this and confirm that this is a shitty card. Unless Waylay is reworked or buffed (not just provisions) this will be marked as the junkest design in PoP.

Whoever designed and tested this only tested the best of the best scenario playing Versnosil, Yeaven, Isengrim and approved this card maybe. Otherwise, this card should not have been printed.
I'm honestly surprised they didnt take the opportunity to buff waylay, it's an absolute atrocity for 5p lol. it would be bad at 4p.
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I've said since day 1 that this should apply to all scenarios, ball included. That said, the problem with ball and why it's difficult to agree with that is it's removal with poison has no limit. I think we're better off waiting for them to add more aristocrats than going back to the Joachim shenanigans.
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what's wrong with werecat/succubus/ruehin...?
when werecat eats succubus, succubus doesnt come from the graveyard
 
Vanadain could be a lovely card if he would had the ability to increase the damage of waylay by one, or other card did it.
 
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