Dwindling Player Numbers - Long Search Times

[CallMeHoot]

So I haven't played GWENT in months for reasons that have been hashed over on these forums by many people, many times (the Midwinter debacle is the shortest version I can give).

I decided to come back today and have a couple games, even though nothing has changed since I stopped playing, just to see if I could rekindle some joy and get hyped for Homecoming. I searched for a Ranked match for 6 minutes before I got one. The next search went on 8 minutes so I just left. 8 minutes to get a game in Ranked mode? Come on. Are the player numbers that low? For the pretty much solid year I played GWENT everyday I never experienced a wait time longer than 30-45 seconds.

I mean I'm based in the UK so play on Europe servers I guess, are Sunday mornings just quiet or what?

 

[FG15-ISH7EG]

I guess there are a couple of factors:

1. The number of players has definetly dwindled after such a long time without any changes and parts of the meta being the same since Midwinter.
2. It is summer in Europe. During summer people tend to play a lot less computer games.
3. The time for sure should have an effect too and could amplify itself too. If players notice that most others play at certain times such that the search times are shorter, they will try to play at those times, too.
4. We are halfway through the season. I don't know which rank you are at, but most players still continuing on playing should already be at a higher rank such that it takes longer to find an opponent for you.

Of those, the number of players is the biggest problem for sure, but I think the other factors should increase the problem, too.

 

[Khreygond]

I've started having this problem, on and off, since after the balance patch. Which makes sense, since I too think it is related to the amount of players. But yeah like FG15 said, there's probably many other factors that amplify it as well.

 

[sfruzz]

The Europe server should be the most populated one. This season I played roughly 30 games, aiming at the new avatar. As I can see there are 30.000 players above me, 20.000 of those are EU accounts.

If you manage to find some opponents for the first few games, the waiting time will decrease greatly as you rank up.

 

[devivre]

Yeah, the main reasons have already been pointed out. Also keep in mind that there hasn't been a major patch for several months - so of course the player base is currently smaller than right after a patch.

Very early ranks can be tricky in terms of waiting times, but it will get better soon!

 

[Void_Singer]

I think many people are also ambivalent about the upcoming drastic changes and are wandering away to wait to see how that goes

 

[Shadow-Stalker]

Believe me it won't be much better after everyone comes back to find homecoming is no longer the Gwent we knew.

But that's fine according to the development team. They will just give us Homecoming 2.0 and transition the game into a first person battle royal game.