Today is 'throwback tuesday'. And i wanted to discuss something that is a never-ending debate on the Gwent community.
My goal is not to 'bring players to my side' (the "dark side"), but to clarify context, judgements and facts for everyone, especially those that weren't around in Gwent back then and only have heard stories from random players and formed an opinion of their own, based on little information.
GWENT: "TEST" PERIODS VS HOMECOMING
Gwent had a long period of testing - it had an alpha, a closed beta (when i started, in October 2016) and an open beta.
Then the developer decided they didnt like the direction of the game and they rebooted the game, 'Project Homecoming' (HC), so the final release of Gwent, out of betas, happened in October 2018.
A lot of players probably already heard a veteran saying something along the lines of 'Gwent beta was better' or 'Project Homecoming' was a mistake. I am one of those veterans, and rarely missed an opportunity to share that infamous opinion.
With this post, i dont want to prove that the betas were better - in fact, i don't think i could prove it anymore, because it was so long ago, there's so much i can't remember, or remember only the good parts.
I've seen other veterans share their nostalgic stories, of old card abilities, but even though i have a great memory, it seems i cant do the same - since the card arts and names remained the same, only the abilities changed, and my brain replaced that information with the new abilities
What i do remember from that period are the feelings and emotions the game provided me. Now, i know these are far from facts, and each person is different and would experience the same events in their own way.
Still, i wanted to share them so at least anyone can understand my preference on this debate, instead of assuming i'm right or wrong based on their previously formed opinion on the subject.
-Frustration was not a thing, at least for me. I rarely, almost never forfeited or ragequitted. This is mostly associated with
netdecking, where i get increasingly enraged everytime i face the same decks, even more when they are so strong that even when you know exactly what they include, they are hard to beat, and require little talent.
Back in betas time, netdecking was much less of a thing. There was no playgwent site or way to import/export decks directly from game option. This functionality is so important, but i think it hurt the game so much indirectly i wish it was never added.
There was however a website or two where you could share your decks but you had to built it there manually, and the player copying it would have to build it ingame, copying it manually too. The thing is, because it required so much effort, it didnt hurt deck variety enough, and almost every deck you faced had at least a couple of variations.
And yes there were streamers, but there were no teams publishing meta reports, which IMO are one of the biggest culprits in killing deck diversity. Fast forward a few years later and now even those teams arent posting those reports each season, having lost interest in the game.
-Ignorance is bliss. I already played a lot back then, but wasnt in touch with other players, wasnt a member of this forum yet and i think gwent subreddit still didnt exist. The only time i got to know other players comments were during opens, where i first started noticing the top lists tended to be very similar. Still, i was mostly unaware if other players were disgruntled with the game.
-New player experience is better. Only in betas i had the rush of adrenaline of having a cool card i wanted drop in a keg, or finally having enough powder to transmute one of my favourite legendaries. In HC, like many other veterans, i've had the "millionaire experience" - have everything, as soon as something is out i can get it instantly and effortlessly, so that collection side of the game is lost.
The irony is that new players envy veterans with full premium collections, and veterans envy the new players collecting experience.
-Game UI change. In betas, the game looked simpler. There were no different boards or 3D leader models or animations. But the game played faster and smoother. They sacrificed functionality for aesthetics. Although for example, most will agree the leader models they want us to crave are nowhere near as good as the quality of the card artworks.
-Joy of original deckbulding. That is probably the only thing that REMAINED THE SAME, and the biggest reason why i cant stay away from Gwent for long, even though it brings me more hatred than joy. Its the exploration of every card's potential in ways never seen before, which seems natural to me but it seems to be scary to so many players, who dive instantly into the safety net of netdecking.
-Average player skill. This is probably my most controversial opinion, and im sorry if i offend any players, but the skill level in Gwent has kept decreasing for many years, with 2 major drops: the first when HC was released, and many of the best players left the game due to how basic and dull it was, and then when it was released in mobile platforms, which increased the playerbase but brought along a more casual audience, as intended by the developers.
Unfortunately, since then the game has also seen a gradual decrease in player skill, deliberate by the developers, the so-called 'dumbing down' that happens with every expansion. Yes, the cards have gotten more complex, with more text, but the powercreep favours new cards over cards and streamers and meta reports make all the hard work for their audience, converting even the trickier decks into something run in auto-pilot.
The players in Gwent today are bad, not because of their limitations, but because they arent motivated to improve in order to succeed.
CONCLUSION: i don't know if Gwent was better back then, but i, and seemingly many other veteran players, had a more enjoyable, unique experience during those times, even if it also had its fair share of unbalanced cards and strategies.
And there was never any sign that the game would move in that direction again, most likely due to financial reasons, so its unlikely our opinions will ever change...
