Devotion improvement suggestion.

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not to mention the WH archetype resolves around dominance but has no unit higher than 7, which is terrible design.
True, but with my suggestion that too can change. For example Conqueror. The card stays as it is right now BUT you add:
Devotion: Wild Hunt - Boost self by 4-5 points.
That would help with the dominance problem without making the card an auto include in all monster decks (well, not more than it already is.)

The WH is a bad designed archetype, like many others, the cardpool isn't fully optimized top-down.
The Conquerer ability you describe here is similar to beta Ice Giants but buffing a 4 provision card to 11 points is of course broken.
Buffing the Ice Giants instead would be better and is actually in line with other 6p cards likes NG Viper witcher.
It will definitely will make them playable but frost as a whole is not good right now due to armor dwarves and no unit ST.
Weather effects actually should ignor armor otherwise these cards will rapidly enter the large pool of dead cards when armored units become more prevelant.

Another example why WH sucks as an archetype is the Imlerith and Imlerith Wrath combo.
This combo will cost you a whopping 18 provisions to do a single unit removal.
For just 10 provisions you have Heatwave that does the same with the extra option to remove a scenario without any condition at all!
This already is a terrible trade and on top of that the discard deploy ability on Imlerith makes it even worse.
It's barely better than a 6 provision Ghoul and you'll need to sacrifice provisions on something like a Pugo, Golyat, Yghern or Speartip cards.
Playing such cards from hand from a value point of view is always better than discarding them.

But details aside the whole dominance concept supporting the WH archetype is bad.
WH only have to be centered around frost to activate their stronger deploy ability.
This will also buff the frost leader because using a charge will make your cards better + the frost damage + movement value.
Some kind of row punish card would definitely help as well perhaps Ice trolls could do the trick here.
But having both conditions(dominance & frost) makes this archetype uncompetative at higher ranks/pro rank thus not played.
 
The WH is a bad designed archetype, like many others, the cardpool isn't fully optimized top-down.
The Conquerer ability you describe here is similar to beta Ice Giants but buffing a 4 provision card to 11 points is of course broken.
Buffing the Ice Giants instead would be better and is actually in line with other 6p cards likes NG Viper witcher.
It will definitely will make them playable but frost as a whole is not good right now due to armor dwarves and no unit ST.
Weather effects actually should ignor armor otherwise these cards will rapidly enter the large pool of dead cards when armored units become more prevelant.

Another example why WH sucks as an archetype is the Imlerith and Imlerith Wrath combo.
This combo will cost you a whopping 18 provisions to do a single unit removal.
For just 10 provisions you have Heatwave that does the same with the extra option to remove a scenario without any condition at all!
This already is a terrible trade and on top of that the discard deploy ability on Imlerith makes it even worse.
It's barely better than a 6 provision Ghoul and you'll need to sacrifice provisions on something like a Pugo, Golyat, Yghern or Speartip cards.
Playing such cards from hand from a value point of view is always better than discarding them.

But details aside the whole dominance concept supporting the WH archetype is bad.
WH only have to be centered around frost to activate their stronger deploy ability.
This will also buff the frost leader because using a charge will make your cards better + the frost damage + movement value.
Some kind of row punish card would definitely help as well perhaps Ice trolls could do the trick here.
But having both conditions(dominance & frost) makes this archetype uncompetative at higher ranks/pro rank thus not played.

Sooo your whole point is that focusing the WH archtype around dominance and not frost is bad design. Ok, what about the subject of the topic?
 
Generally I like the idea of this type of Devotion (I would limit it to units, so you still can go wild with specials and artefacts)

Maybe one should focus on currently not competitive archetypes like the below for instance.

Bandit:

Iron Falcon Knife Juggler:
Add: If your deck contains no other units than bandits, give 3 random enemy units Bleeding for 3 turns instead

Highwaymen
Add: If your deck contains no other units than bandits, ignore the armour of the target unit.

Cutthroat
Add: If your deck contains no other units than bandit, increase the bleeding amount by the number of bandit you control.

Gascon
Add: If your deck contains no other units than bandit, deal random damage according to the amount Gascon has not been boosted randomly

One-Eyed Betsy
Add: If your deck contains no other units than bandit, ignore the armour of the target unit.

Soldier (Nilfgard)

Slave Infantry
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, increase base power of every allied slave infantry to 7.

Ard Feainn Light Cavalry
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers: Deathblow if the power of this unit was 3 spawn and play another Ard Feainn Light Cavalry with base of 1.

Spotter
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers and If the power of the unit is below 8 after the boost spawn another spotter.

Nilfgaardian Knight
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, spawn a copy of this unit and damage it by 6.

Ard Feainn Tortoise
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, gain a Shield

Soldier (Northern Realms)


Lyrian Landsknecht
Add: If you deck contains no other units than soldiers, inspired damage it by 5 instead

Redanian Elite
Add: If you deck contains no other units than soldiers, boost self by 8 instead.

Rivian Pikeman
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, Resupply: Boost self by 2 instead

Aedirnian Mauler
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, gain Formation.

Temerian Infantry
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, Damage an enemy unit by 1 for each allied boosted unit instead

Lyrian Scytheman
Add: If your deck contains no other units than soldiers, Boost self by 1 for each allied boosted unit instead
.
 
Vampires are more or less still mediocre to my mind. Therefore, I have some idea for vampire devotion.

Katakan:
Add: If you deck contains no other units than vampires, if this unit thrive is triggered, boost all allied Ekimmaras by 1.

Also for Insectoides I have some ideas:

Armoured Archas:
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, apply rupture to an enemy unit instead.

Barbegazi
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, gain Zeal.

Idr
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, gain Shield and Veil

Kikimore Worker
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, gain one additional armour for each allied drone.

Yghern
Add: If your deck contains no other units than insectoides, increase base power to 15.

Viy
Add: If your deck contains no other units than insectoides, increase base power to 8.
 
Kikimore Worker and Yghern could get an effect like:
Devotion: Insectoids - Ignore the Exposed condition.
This way they won't die if you destroy their armor.
 
This way of deckbuilding isn't a good idea because this is prone to abuse if the rest of Gwents cardpool doesn't change.
When something like this will become viable players will add only the best units in their deck and fill them with all kind of special cards.
 
When something like this will become viable players will add only the best units in their deck and fill them with all kind of special cards.

How is that any different from what's happening now? With this we will at least see some diversity instead of the same 2-3 meta decks per faction over and over again.
 
How is that any different from what's happening now? With this we will at least see some diversity instead of the same 2-3 meta decks per faction over and over again.

This version of devotion will probably not change diversity when you buff units into oblivion and promote special cards at the same time.
If such decks have better winrates than regular decks all players will turn to these and you'll have 2-3 meta decks again :)
Instead it should be the other way around a lot of cards need a ceiling and special cards far more limited in usage.
Archetypes that don't see play will need gold & bronze cards that support and create synergy with their abilities.
This is exactly the weakspot of many of them a lot of cards suffer of some weird mixture of conditions/abilities.
What are you supposed to play with NG spies? Conspiracy, assimilate, poison, spies........I'm lost in building a deck now.
 
This version of devotion will probably not change diversity when you buff units into oblivion and promote special cards at the same time.

It will change diversity if the devs make these decks tier 1. Lets take monsters for example - you have WH, Vampires, Insectoids and beasts or maybe ogroids. Those are already 4 new tier 1 decks in the meta and the other mixed decks can stay as they are right now with WH + Vamps or Insectoids + Ogroids etc.

If such decks have better winrates than regular decks all players will turn to these and you'll have 2-3 meta decks again :)

There's no reason to turn to these decks unless you want a thematic deck. If you don't, you can stay with the decks you already have right now.

Instead it should be the other way around a lot of cards need a ceiling and special cards far more limited in usage.

Limiting (nerfing) cards is not the way to go. If you nerf cards instead of buff other possible archtypes this will only kill gwent in the long run. All decks will go to very linear, predictable and unimaginative abilities that won't be fun for anyone.

Archetypes that don't see play will need gold & bronze cards that support and create synergy with their abilities.

Of course. That's why i said that this idea will probably never happen. Because it takes a gigantic amount of work.

This is exactly the weakspot of many of them a lot of cards suffer of some weird mixture of conditions/abilities.

You have to limit these cards to specific archtypes because if you don't they will be OP and auto include in every deck and that is exactly the opposite of what i'm going for. I was proposing thematic decks, not making all cards op to be used wherever and break the game.

What are you supposed to play with NG spies? Conspiracy, assimilate, poison, spies........I'm lost in building a deck now.

I don't understand what you mean here. All those decks already exist in the game. How can you be lost in building a deck around those?
 
Vampires are more or less still mediocre to my mind. Therefore, I have some idea for vampire devotion.

Katakan:
Add: If you deck contains no other units than vampires, if this unit thrive is triggered, boost all allied Ekimmaras by 1.

Also for Insectoides I have some ideas:

Armoured Archas:
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, apply rupture to an enemy unit instead.

Barbegazi
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, gain Zeal.

Idr
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, gain Shield and Veil

Kikimore Worker
Add: If you deck contains no other units than insectoides, gain one additional armour for each allied drone.

Yghern
Add: If your deck contains no other units than insectoides, increase base power to 15.

Viy
Add: If your deck contains no other units than insectoides, increase base power to 8.
honestly I'm not the biggest fan of these kind of changes. I'd prefer cdpr to make cards that just bind those archetypes together like they now did with unseen elder or crach. it should be easy enough to print an insectoid (arachas queen?) that greatly benefits from a full board of insectoids without making each card individually insanely strong.
 
honestly I'm not the biggest fan of these kind of changes. I'd prefer cdpr to make cards that just bind those archetypes together like they now did with unseen elder or crach. it should be easy enough to print an insectoid (arachas queen?) that greatly benefits from a full board of insectoids without making each card individually insanely strong.

From my perspective this ideas has Pros and Cons:

Pro: Inviting players to try out completely new deck
Thematically fitting
Still can go wild with special and artefacts
Way to buff underperforming cards / archetypes

Con: Afraid that this new devotion cards gets too strong and invite to boring deck building

=> From my perspective many bandit cards scream the loudest for such kind of buff.

=> Especially the Katakan idea is really great to my mind. In best cases he is a 11 for 9 + Thrive Engine. He is not at all synergizing with vampires and makes limited sense in a deathwish/thrive combo.
After his vampire devotion only Detlaff, Protofleder (conditional) and Gael (very conditional) could trigger his Thrive.
He could boost Ekimmaras from leader charges (1 Blood Scent, 2 Overhelming hunger), Crimson Curse (2) and would nicely synergize with Dettlaff van der Eretein (conditional 1 each turn)
If you go for vampire devotion your deck would lack cards like caranthir and defender
 
honestly I'm not the biggest fan of these kind of changes. I'd prefer cdpr to make cards that just bind those archetypes together like they now did with unseen elder or crach. it should be easy enough to print an insectoid (arachas queen?) that greatly benefits from a full board of insectoids without making each card individually insanely strong.

I mean, making more cards to bind the archtype together better is good and all. And i'm sure Arachas Queen is coming at some point one way or the other but they do have to buff the existing insectoids in some way if this is implemented to give players a reason to build decks around those archtypes.
As i said Yghern and the Kikimore Workers can ignore the Exposed condition if the insectoid devotion is met. Might be good enough to trigger the Larva and Koshkey thrives and without exposed condition they would be quite resilient.
 
True, but with my suggestion that too can change. For example Conqueror. The card stays as it is right now BUT you add:
Devotion: Wild Hunt - Boost self by 4-5 points.
That would help with the dominance problem without making the card an auto include in all monster decks (well, not more than it already is.)
But to have decks like that you will need to have plenty of cards to create otherwise you can only have one deck. It might be easier to just create a card that says devotion boost your wild hunt units by 1 or 2. Like Vesemir mentor.
 
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