A difficult time for new players - A suggestion

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A difficult time for new players - A suggestion

Hey,

First off, before I start making a suggestion, I would like to say that Gwent is a really well put together game and I do thoroughly enjoy playing, even when I loose (which is a lot). I would say, however, as a new player that the rewards system could potentially do with some adjustments to be more beginner friendly.

The system as it stands requires you to win games which gives you exp. During each exp bar there are ? marks which provide rewards, this is supposed to be your main system for obtaining ore and/or scraps. The problem currently is, if you are a player who is learning the ropes there is no way to improve on your card collection without winning. I have managed to just about scrap to level 3 playing a Northern Realms Promote deck but I would say that 90-95% (may even be higher I really don't think I have won more than 5 or 6 games) of my games I lose. This puts me at a significant disadvantage to players who can win more, therefore obtaining more resources and by proxy higher quality/more synergistic cards. It also throws me on the mercy of the 'good game' system for a few scraps and ore, which takes a minimum of 20 games (provided you got ore 100% of the time and every player gave a GG, so likely more) to get a keg for cards. I would personally say that this system is not very beginner friendly as it allows the person with higher quality cards to snowball out of control and forces you (the less experienced player) to either spend real money on kegs to even have a chance of competing with other people or hold out for the 5 ore a game per loss and hope your next keg is good.

Now I am aware part of the problem is, and I fully admit, I am not hugely great at Gwent. There could also be a problem with the matchmaking system throwing me up against people with solid decks that have taken a lot of time and/or money to craft. However my suggestion(s)/feedback is as follows:

1) Have it so a win generates the same amount of exp as you currently get but a loss provides a smaller amount. This way a loss doesn't mean you get nothing (no exp and if you are unlucky no GG reward) but get a small amount of exp towards the next ? in the bar. You could set the loss exp to say 1/4 or even 1/5 of the win amount and it would still mean that players on a losing streak feel like they are making progress. This would also allow players to progress to the much needed level 3 much easier allowing for players to craft and mill cards which is such a useful tool when you have a cool deck in mind but can't craft it.

2) Implement some sort of rewards system that isn't tied to winning. Maybe it could be something like playing a certain type of card or deck or dealing a certain amount of damage over multiple games. That way people could obtain useful resources even when not winning. This could allow beginners to get a foot in the door and get a few more cards.


Overall I hope the feedback I have provided is of use and if anyone has some suggestions for me so I can improve I would love to hear them.

Thank you for reading,
 
Hello there.

The problem with giving exp for loses is abuse, and always will be abuse. That being said, I'm not sure how long have you been playing, but matchmaking for me improved after the first few days, where I got destroyed (partly due to difficult matchmaking, partly due to my ignorance,)

If you have managed to get to level 3, then you must have had more than 6 wins. See here on details for player progression http://forums.cdprojektred.com/forum...gression-video
System was designed as such to reward early on (for those whom don't have a lot of free time to play) and lesser later (as to quell grinding.) IMO all in all, the system is fair. However, much will depend on luck since kegs offer random rewards. You probably opened quite a few kegs by now, you should check which are the best cards that you obtained and try to build a deck around those. Basically what I did with skellige, since I was rather lucky to guickly gather many epic skellige cards.

Feel free to add me as a friend, we can play some friendlies.
 
First of all I'll go out there and say that I don't think the reward system is the greatest ever, when I started out I had your same problems, but those problems usually last until you form a deck you're happy with and you start winning games.
Also don't worry about that too much, as far as I know they are changing the system to an XP-based system that (they said) would also include some form of rewards for the losing player.

But as for now, there are 3 things you can do.
1) Buy kegs from the story. Any kegs you buy will carry on when the game actually comes out, so you won't be losing out on anything technically. And you'll have a higher chance of getting good cards to start off with.
2) Keep playing games, the matchmaker takes a bit to start matching you with players of your own "level", even though there is no visible ranking system as of yet, there is a form of "hidden MMR" that influences who you get matched against. So you just persevere and you start getting more balanced games.
3) focus on just one deck for now, and mill everything else, or mill up to a point where you can buy good cards for the deck you want to focus on. I know it will get a bit repetitive at the end playing the same deck at the same time, but having one good deck will get you more wins than having 4 starter decks at the end of the day.

Speaking of the starter decks, the best one to play off the bat would probably be northern realms, as the rest of the decks have specific strategies that revolve around certain mechanics of the game that require certain special cards (eg. Isengrim/Aglais/Last Wish for Scoia, Ermion/Sigdrifa/Restoration/Brna/Lugos for Skellige, etc etc).
While with NR you at least have access to the medics and can get some stuff done with the redanian knights and stuff (well, more than what you can do with the rest of the starters anyway).

I agree with you about the GG system, it is not really an intuitive system and most people (I'm guilty of this sometimes) don't give GGs anyway at the end of the game, especially if they lose.
It would be better off implemented into the reward system in general in a way where you get a guaranteed something every game, win or loss.

In conclusion, good luck, and don't give up as you get matched against people with ridiculous decks when you're still low level. My fourth-ever game in gwent was me being happy with my Geralt gold card (the only one i had), and the dude against me played Caranthir Caretaker Borkh and Geralt Igni during the game. No wins were had that game :p
 
How about providing some reward for each *round* won? Then - give a more substantial reward for winning the match
How about providing a very small reward for *not* forfeiting in the first round?

Example:
Each player gets 2 ore for making it into Round 2.
Each player gets 3 ore per round won.
The winner of the match gets 10 ore.

Winner (2/1) gets 18 ore.
Loser gets 5 ore.

Winner (2/0) gets 18 ore.
Loser gets 2 ore.

Or something like that with different numbers or scraps (I did not balance via math).
 
pahriah;n7219990 said:
How about providing some reward for each *round* won?
That's a good idea.

Hearthstone gives experience even for losing until level 5. I never encountered players abusing it, but then again, it didn't take long to reach 5.

After that, it gives exp for each card played, for each enemy minion killed, and a bigger bonus for each win. Seems a fair system.

You could also give exp for wins against AI until, say, level 3 or 5 or so. That would help new players quite a bit in getting them past the initial hurdle while giving them useful learning time, too.

 
Hey all,

Thanks for the messages, it was interesting to see others opinions. With the new update being released (which I haven't sat down and looked at yet) which is supposed to combat at least part of what I discuss, I think we may have found some answers. Once I have read all of that I will try to get back and make an analysis post.
 
All I can say is that I have a pal who (FINALLY) got his beta invite just as the patch became live. He's a newcomer now, never seen the pre-patch beta.

He's absolutely enjoying himself.

Complains about weird other stuff like how odd the friend matches are to set up or some weird difficulties with First Light, but no complaints at all about how "pay to win" the game is or that he's only teamed against opponents with a dozen gold and silver cards. In fact, he's winning matches and has the impression that his opponents are also new.

I suppose it's possible that he can only play casual matches for now and that all veterans moved off to the ranked matches instead.
 
Lytha
As a new player from the latest round of invites, I would say I've had a similar experience to your friend:
Aside from a few opponents with really well rounded decks, I feel like I've mostly faced basic decks like mine with the odd strong card that someone was lucky enough to open.

Rank-wise, it's been pretty matched as well for me (for the most part), usually my opponents are withing about five ranks from me.

I would say I have about a 50 percent win rate and I'm having a blast so far! Enjoying the feeling of growing my collection little by little and actually opened my first legendary today (scoiatel dragon whose name I forget that debuffs opponent's non golds and buffs mine).

From what was said earlier in the thread, it seems like the changes in the experience and levelling system have worked so far!
 
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