Transforming Gwent’s Arena mode into a new Draft mode

[plastiq33]

Been playing draft a bunch today and I gotta say I am having a lot of fun. Im curious if you will eventually be able to get past 7 wins? I drafted a seriously OP deck and wanted to see how many wins I could take it for.

Also it seems like when you are drafting, the categories are decided at the very beginning of the draft and then try to synergize even if you dont pick them. What I mean is that at first I will choose between 3 leader abilities and one will include deadeye strike, but even if I pick one of the others I get suggested a bunch of elves in the draft picks. Similarly if I choose a single "deck suffle" draft the game seems to go "oh he wants deck shuffle" and then suggest it a bunch of times whereas it is more useful to only have once or twice. Don't know if its completely random and Im just projecting onto my choices or if there is some kind of AI that decides what might synergize what you already have.

 

[Gewaltloser]

Here's a suggestion.

Why not KEEP arena mode AND add Draft Mode as well.

I felt the fun part of the game was going through the Arena 26 card choices and deciding what to take.

Yes this was the most interesting part. With only 9, mostly obvious choices draft feels so shallow.

Post automatically merged: Nov 5, 2020

100%agree. It's very sad you killed arena. Draft seems bad, even when fixed. Why CDPR?

 

[yangzaibao]

I really think reward system should be kept in the draft mode or at least give us the option to pay entry+reward. From what i know lots of players play arena for the rewards including myself, if not for the rewards it'll just be like seasonal matches which opponents are hard to find, and since the drop percentage already dropped a lot, now theres no way we can make quick ores our only way to afford kegs will be purchases.

 

[Six-Sided-Prism]

if not for the rewards it'll just be like seasonal matches which opponents are hard to find

That's strange. I actually get the quickest matchmaking in Seasonal. It seems that hardly anyone ever plays Ranked or Casual when I'm on this month, often taking at least a minute to find an opponent, whereas Seasonal matches seem to start almost immediately after I begin searching. Whether this is due to a complicated matchmaking formula at work in the Classic modes or just that too many people have stopped playing the main game is anyone's guess.

Regardless, I don't expect that players will have to wait too long on matchmaking in Draft mode; people seem to love playing with completely broken decks, so Draft will never die out completely.

 

[DC9V]

I like the new draft mode because it feels more casual. Arena always kinda scared me.
It would be nice to see a bit smaller modules while creating a deck.
Maybe you can keep it like it is but turn the last 2 modules into single card selections like it was in Arena.

 

[Footsoulja]

Played a few more rounds of draft mode, and gotta say its pretty fun and the crazy combos make for some different styles of play. I was able to twice take down the millions of charges deck with priscillas, corvos, and shanis. All thanks to a wild hunt crew aided by Keltullis and so much extreme weather even the strongest climate change denier would change their tune.

P.S.- Previous post still stands, create some optional entry fee for those who want rewards when it goes live. Draft mode feels a little empty after making a long run.

 

[Sensimilius]

Okay now I played one 7 game cycle in Draft Mode. I like what they're doing with it, both with how choosing cards looks like and how we can pick our own leader (not the ability, but the actual person or monster commanding your cards ).
Now for drafting decks... there should be a 10 or 15 so minutes cooldown for ppl who abandon their draft process or deck, just to make sure ppl aren't rejoining constantly to get exactly what they want, after all, the feeling of randomness is the whole point of the mode. Now some people would try to solve this by making an entry fee... BUT this would only penalize newer players or ppl with less Ore, while the older players or ppl who spend money on the game would already have tons of unused Ore they could just spend to redraft decks so that's not the best choice. I don't mind there being an entry fee but not for that purpose. And yes, there should be some exciting reward system for doing good, sort of like it was before in Arena.
Other then that... I guess they're already working on more possible card package combinations, and maybe restricting some cards so you don't get so many of the same cards again and again would be cool.

 

[RichardIgnanz]

I already said it in another thread. You have to do something how the cards are put together. A point range to draft decks from x provisions to X or something what comes into your mind to fix that. Otherwise I don't think this mode will last long.
Today I drafted a deck with 205 - that's insane.

 

[sPooKySs]

Hi everyone!
It has been a while since arena was changed and I don't see any other anouncements or posts about the fate of the draft mode. So, I thought to ask if anyone knows... Will the draft mode remain like this, with no entry fee / no rewards or the plan is to add those features later on? I can see the mode is on early acces for so long now and I'm wondering when the normal version will be released?
In my opinion the entry fee / rewards is crutial for the survival of the draft mode. No one will be so interested to play more draft runs once they try the first couple of times out of curiosity. The players must feel the risk of giving something in order to be rewarded. At the moment is boring. You can start for free as many times as you want again and again untill you manage to make a powerfull deck and reach seven wins to get... nothing. There is no motivation here (players who like limited modes know exactly what I mean). I hope the draft mode will get the attention it deserves soon. Its a pity to leave a mode which it so succesful in any card game to be wasted.

 

[DC9V]

You can start for free as many times as you want again and again untill you manage to make a powerfull deck and reach seven wins to get... nothing.

Well, that's the thing. Most of the times you don't get a powerful deck. At least I find it very difficult to play a deck that I'm not used to, even if it looks strong on paper. But that might be different to players that are more experienced. I still like this mode tho...

 

[sPooKySs]

I still like this mode tho...

I like this mode too. I always find limited mode more appealing than standard mode. I only said about the entry fee / reward aspect of the mode. Maybe the plan was to put entry fee and reward after the early access period, but is so long time now like this, which makes me feel there is not interest on this anymore. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[StanislavOZZO]

I think CDPR were excited about this mode at first, but did not realise how much ongoing management it requires to remain balanced and interesting to play. Now the Draft feels abandoned, and also no incentives were added to play it.

Most likely, people will play less of it and CDPR will soon replace it with the good old Arena.

 

[Lokiat0r]

Most likely, people will play less of it and CDPR will soon replace it with the good old Arena.

Fingers crossed. The only change that Arena truly needed was to balance the number of common/uncommon/epic/legendary cards in each hand so you didn't have the 6 gold card vs 20 gold card matchups.

Even the need for balance adjustments for broken combos was rare... Yoana and the old version of Freak Show was the only truly imbalanced combo which I can think of that needed (and got) a fix. But that combo happened so rarely (and also needed a defender), that I didn't get too upset losing to it. After all, I had just as good a chance of getting the cards for it as my opponent did.

 

[ReaperTek]

Yoana and the old version of Freak Show was the only truly imbalanced combo which I can think of that needed (and got) a fix.

Honestly I'm kind of confused that they now desperately needed to remove this interaction shortly before getting rid of Arena Mode when they now in Draft Mode just don't need to offer Freakshow or Yoana in any of those packages, I also think it would have been better if they only reworked Yoana because no Skellige Deck I've ever encountered runs her anyway.

 

[jovi_wan_kenobi]

As a long-time 'old' arena player and fan of it, i would like to bring this topic forward and see some progress in the draft mode. At least a reward, e.g. after three wins - while spending an entry fee.

 

[MANYUE2003]

Just bring back arena

 

[Gimme_a_break]

I like the draft mode more than previous arena. Of course, the entry fee and rewarding system should be put in place, as it always gives more excitement. In arena, it was very common to end up with a leader ability or a bunch of crappy cards, that play for nothing and do not synergize with anything. At least in draft this is partially solved. Sure there are other issues, like card selection in packages. Prime example is the Madoc package - you get 3 Madocs and then you have a chance not to be offered a single bomb. Draft certainly needs more work to be done in order to improve, but in my opinion it's the right direction.

 

[DarksideDestro]

As others have said, the only thing that needed fixing in Arena was the balance of golds. If cards do or don't synergize, that's luck of the draw and partly up to you to figure out. That was the fun of it, the appeal. The sense of accomplishment came from knowing that you had done it, it wasn't handed to you. I put in 2000 hours in less than a year most all in Arena. I tried to play Draft, probably put a few hundred hours in, but I refused to draw the easy win meta that it seemed almost everyone else was choosing. How can you feel any sense of accomplishment if you use the easy win to win. What's the point. There aren't any major rewards, there's no buy-in. When I did win with my non meta decks it felt so good because I knew I did it by myself, but eventually it just became overwhelming that no changes had been made. i kept seeing the same exact hands 9 times out of 10 which is the reason I stopped playing ranked as soon as I found Arena. I wish I could come back. I went from checking this message board a few times a day to now every few days hoping for the good news to come, but it never does. Please bring back Arena. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MANYUE2003]

No reason why we cannot have both draft and Arena. I will just play Arena while some others who prefer draft can continue.

Infact this might be a good gadge. Say after a few months, we can see if the numbers are higher in arena or draft. I have a feeling it is arena.

 

[Draconifors]

No reason why we cannot have both draft and Arena.

Yes, there is. Too many modes.

There has been absolutely no indication that Arena is ever coming back, so I really wouldn't hold out hope. On the contrary, Burza has said they are working on improving draft (i.e. putting work into it).