Arena is evolving

[RyanSchou]

Hello everyone,

Today is the day we start talking about the future of Arena mode in GWENT. While we are very excited to get into the nitty gritty details of what is coming your way, there is one piece of house cleaning we need to prepare you for. What we want to do with Arena is so fundamentally significant that we decided it is best to rebrand and start fresh. What this essentially means is that we will be saying goodbye to Arena in order to eventually say hello to… Draft Mode!

To make the launch of this new mode a smooth and exciting experience for everyone, we need to prepare and make room for it. With all this in mind, we will be closing the current Arena on October 13th. We want to give you all the possibility to play a few more runs, or complete an existing one. This will also be your last opportunity to finish those Arena contracts you have been playing towards. Of course we will also remind you again once we are closer to the date.

We currently aim to release an open beta of our new Draft mode before the end of the year but please bear with us if we fail to meet this deadline. We are working really hard to get this up and running as soon as possible but would rather wait than release something fundamentally broken. You can expect more details from us regarding our vision of Draft Mode in the near future.

This probably brings a few questions with it so we want to address the most prominent ones straight away.

Q: What will happen to my unfinished Arena run?

A: We will grant 150 Ore to players with unfinished Arena runs.

Q: What will happen to Mirror Shards?

A: Once we close the Arena, we will grant 150 Ore for every Mirror Shard left in your inventory and then remove the currency from the game.

Q: What will happen to the Arena contracts?

A: Unfinished contracts related to Arena will be hidden and won't affect overall contracts progression. Players who completed them earlier will be able to see them.

This should give you a good overview of the situation and we can't wait to get your feedback and engage in discussions that have the real possibility to shape the future of this mode.

If you have any questions on any of the above mentioned topics, let us know on our usual channels.

Stay safe and good luck in your games!

 

[IvarVonEverec]

What about the Gaunter avatar from Arena? Will he become unobtainable or will there be a contract to get it in the new mode?

 

[Draconifors]

Will it still be Gaunter's "dimension"?

Never played any draft mode, nor do I really know what exactly it is, but I'll be interested to see what's coming.

 

[Pacifixer]

I kind of expected the arena rework to be a bit faster than "beta this year, maybe", but i am still glad there is some new information.

What about the arena-exclusive rewards? Are you going to move them to draft contracts?

 

[Sensimilius]

So large of an overhaul that you can't fit it into this year? :O I wonder what amazing change awaits us...
Just played Arena last night and instantly lost 3 games without winning a single game because the cards I drew were utter damn garbage and had no cohesion between them! xD Told my self: NEVER AGAIN! lol

 

[InkognitoXI]

"closing the current Arena on October 13th ", I really hope this will imply that we get proper balance changes, given that if the seasonal mode (like this season) just becomes a far more toxic version of the already toxic meta the arena is the only bearable game mode (in my opinion).
Also I wonder how the mode would be so completely altered that contracts could not carry over.

 

[mert41994]

That's a okay news for me actually, I hope you'll show the new mode or explain more details about it in next few days. But there are some problems for me, first of all, why are you closing the arena before this new mode launches? Some of the players plays the arena only. Even if the best scenario happens, we have only play mode available for 2 months. That'll be bad for some of us.
Also I don't know the new mode yet but I think adding the draft mode as a new game mode could make some of us much happier.

 

[Six-Sided-Prism]

Also I wonder how the mode would be so completely altered that contracts could not carry over.

Many of the contracts aren't really possible even now. I've completed 20+ Arena runs over the last five months, and I've yet to complete many of the contracts that should be simple, like play Gaunter or Shupe, let alone the truly impossible ones like draft only Bronzes/Golds/Crimson Curse cards, etc.

I would say that they could still keep the faction-specific challenges, like win X games with faction Y, but if they decide to create one or more Arena-specific neutral leader abilities, then even those contracts would become obsolete.

 

[vaderag]

What about the GoG achievements related to Arena?

Been trying to get three of the same card for ages!!

 

[wonderboy870]

Hello everyone,

Today is the day we start talking about the future of Arena mode in GWENT. While we are very excited to get into the nitty gritty details of what is coming your way, there is one piece of house cleaning we need to prepare you for. What we want to do with Arena is so fundamentally significant that we decided it is best to rebrand and start fresh. What this essentially means is that we will be saying goodbye to Arena in order to eventually say hello to… Draft Mode!

To make the launch of this new mode a smooth and exciting experience for everyone, we need to prepare and make room for it. With all this in mind, we will be closing the current Arena on October 13th. We want to give you all the possibility to play a few more runs, or complete an existing one. This will also be your last opportunity to finish those Arena contracts you have been playing towards. Of course we will also remind you again once we are closer to the date.

We currently aim to release an open beta of our new Draft mode before the end of the year but please bear with us if we fail to meet this deadline. We are working really hard to get this up and running as soon as possible but would rather wait then release something fundamentally broken. You can expect more details from us regarding our vision of Draft Mode in the near future.

This probably brings a few questions with it so we want to address the most prominent ones straight away.

Q: What will happen to my unfinished Arena run?

A: We will grant 150 Ore to players with unfinished Arena runs.

Q: What will happen to Mirror Shards?

A: Once we close the Arena, we will grant 150 Ore for every Mirror Shard left in your inventory and then remove the currency from the game.

Q: What will happen to the Arena contracts?

A: Unfinished contracts related to Arena will be hidden and won't affect overall contracts progression. Players who completed them earlier will be able to see them.

This should give you a good overview of the situation and we can't wait to get your feedback and engage in discussions that have the real possibility to shape the future of this mode.

If you have any questions on any of the above mentioned topics, let us know on our usual channels.

Stay safe and good luck in your games!

I just have one quick question. If the new beta of draft mode is not going to be available until after October 13, can you please wait until the draft mode beta is ready before closing the arena?

 

[Nathan277]

Take all the time you need. Just excited to see this mode finally get some attention, ever since HC released it's just felt very out of place and it just doesn't fit the format anymore because of the way leaders work and so many cards are faction specific and also the fact Syndicate and the coin system exists now.

 

[goaltendah]

With potentially several months between arena closing and draft opet beta, it feels bad that those who enjoyed old arena will be without a game mode. I personally never play constructed anymore so it feels like I will have nothing enjoyable to do while I wait for the update. I was looking forward to playing arena games to complete the journey but this won't be an option for me for a large part of October. (And the next journey...)

If things look like they will be delayed nearing Oct 13th, it would be nice if they could extend the lifetime of old arena so that the gap between wouldn't be so large.

 

[Rammyp]

If things look like they will be delayed nearing Oct 13th, it would be nice if they could extend the lifetime of old arena so that the gap between wouldn't be so large.

My thought exactly. I fail to understand what is the purpose of removing the old arena before the draft mode is even in beta. It's not as if running the arena mode requires a maintnance team that is busy with running it and needs to be free to work on the draft project. I'm sure that many would be very happy if the old arena stays available untill the draft mode is ready.

 

[pizzarelaguy1]

It is not okay to remove the mode for months and then introduce a substitute, please significantly close the gap

Some of us actually play Gwent for the Arena and this is a huge shot in our enjoyment of it

 

[FilypW]

What do you mean arena IS CLOSING? If you plan to make something NEW, why is it necesary to close the current one at all?? And it will take MONTHS to do it? What the hell does this even mean, there are alot of players who play mostly arena, myself included. This is some stupid way to adress something THAT MIGHT END UP BROKEN FOR MONTHS as well. Why is it getting closed while you are working on it, why can't there be 2 mode? That is such a stupid decision.

 

[judgecsk]

I haven't played a single match in the arena (pretty bussy with casual and ranked) but i've watched some peeps playing online. Seems sad that dedicated arena players will lose their preferred mode of play.

- Maybe they are doing it so that the new mode can take the Arena's resources in terms of server
capacity-performance and such (technical stuff) ?
Isn't the game making enough money to sustain a new mode without removing Arena..?
Maybe they don't want the player base split even more...?
Or maybe they are planning on changing-adding some cards that could break the way the game is being played while in the arena...
...who knows...

I don't know man, seems a bit sad, I wanted to get into that mode and get some contracts done.
I hope and wish for the players to get some more time with the Arena and the new "Draft Mode"
to be released as a "complete product" though the signs point to something more familiar...
...players beta testing for CDPR that is, that's not good and "not good" is just an understatement imo.

Arena should be available to players as long as this new mode is in it's beta state...

 

[CrownedLion]

Or maybe they are planning on changing-adding some cards that could break the way the game is being played while in the arena...

I mean, Arena is already pretty busted as it is - kind of the wild west in there. But it can still be fun, and it definitely sounds like people are still enjoying it, if only to get away from the meta. I personally have barely touched Arena for months, but limiting people to ranked play and a hit-or-miss seasonal mode feels pretty bad. I've been playing since the closed beta and have been waiting patiently for a new mode. I am super excited for Draft mode, so I'm glad to at least hear that it's making progress. It was stated as a goal for this year, so hopefully we can get something playable by the holidays.

I love this game but man, can it be hard to be a Gwent fan sometimes! Nonetheless, best wishes to the dev team.

 

[judgecsk]

I mean, Arena is already pretty busted as it is - kind of the wild west in there. But it can still be fun, and it definitely sounds like people are still enjoying it, if only to get away from the meta. I personally have barely touched Arena for months, but limiting people to ranked play and a hit-or-miss seasonal mode feels pretty bad. I've been playing since the closed beta and have been waiting patiently for a new mode. I am super excited for Draft mode, so I'm glad to at least hear that it's making progress. It was stated as a goal for this year, so hopefully we can get something playable by the holidays.

I love this game but man, can it be hard to be a Gwent fan sometimes! Nonetheless, best wishes to the dev team.

Ya know.. i don't think "change" is always bad, but why take something that works for a certain amount of people and remove it before you have a finished and ironed out alternative game mode...?
Makes no sence to me honestly, why not have both and give the <<option>> (option being the key word here) to try and if they like, beta test your "new" mode.
I don't think i'm being irrational here...

 

[Slizzl]

The dev team's priorities really are quite baffling. Not that I really play Arena and I'm sure there's some issues with it, but there's so much work that needs to be done to standard Gwent right now I don't think getting sidetracked with another project is a good sign at all.

 

[quintivarium]

“Standard” Gwent suffers from a handful of very poorly designed cards, and relatively subtle imbalances exacerbated by the prevalence of highly polished, widely published net decks. Arena was a highly luck dependent, non-synergistic playing mode that valued original deck design from a limited card pool. If draft mode successfully reintroduces meaningful deck building from a limited and changing card pool, it could be just what Gwent needs to become a true strategic masterpiece. Maybe I’m optimistic, but I am looking forward to its release.