Encouraging Players to Play Underused Cards

[265feral]

I think we're all aware that there are a number of cards which never see play. These eventually get buffed or changed by CDPR but in the meantime they just don't see play and IMO this is an opportunity missed by CDPR.
How about adding additional daily rewards that focus on underused cards and rotating the daily quests through such cards? Perhaps increase the normal limits on rewards to try and increase their play rate (because without that incentive no-one in their right mind would play these cards)? For example, Fringilla Vigo is never seen, so how about a daily quest that says: "Win a game playing Fringilla Vigo 5 times" with a reward of 5 RP (as opposed to the usual 2 RP awards)? This can be changed to Gimpy Girwin, Gascon, Olgierd:Immortal, Dandelion:Vainglory, Wolsbane, etc on a regular basis.
Will most players play decks just to get these rewards...no. But some players, like me, who like a challenge, aren't too fussed about hitting Pro Rank and like to play different decks may be interested. It may end up promoting the play of such cards a bit more and perhaps lead to decks that are a bit more inspiring than the usual netdecks.
Wishful thinking? Yes, absolutely. Are there any other ideas on how to get underused cards played more often?

 

[Pacifixer]

These cards are never played for a reason. Forcing players who want daily rewards to play them is unreasonable. On the other hand i would love to see some "underdog" mode, as an alternative to clasic.

 

[4RM3D]

For example, Fringilla Vigo is never seen, so how about a daily quest that says: "Win a game playing Fringilla Vigo 5 times" with a reward of 5 RP (as opposed to the usual 2 RP awards)? This can be changed to Gimpy Girwin, Gascon, Olgierd:Immortal, Dandelion:Vainglory, Wolsbane, etc on a regular basis.

A bad implementation of a good suggestion. Yes, you want to stimulate players to play more underused cards, but you do not want to feel like it's mandatory, which is one of the reasons your suggestion won't work.

What we need is a new system that is dynamic and works for all cards, something like an underdog bonus.

Related, you could also go one step further by using automated balancing by popularity. That's not a real suggestion, though, but an interesting thought experiment.

 

[Sleeperko]

Forcing new players with limited amount of resources to craft weak cards and subsequentially win with them just to obtain those scarce resources doesn't sound like good idea, does it?

 

[Anima_13]

Its simple: make a list of cards and heroes based on (usage divided by win rate [or some simmilar value]) every month
->
take the top X cards /Y heroes and publish them
->
integrate a permanent event into classic where player not using the top heores and have maximum 1-3 cards [exact numbers need testing of course] from the top list gain extra rewards

the extra reward could be resources or what might work even better is faster progression on ranks (eg only every second loss makes you lose a mosaic piece) or increased rewards when beating a non submeta deck ect.
->
Now you established a pararell submeta in ranking progression section: The player have the option to go for a top meta deck trying to brute force through everything or design a weaker submeta deck that is more resistent to loss due to extra ingame support.

 

[dragoonzen]

Could just wait until Gwent comes out with more cards that can utilize the current unused cards.

 

[Esmer]

There are underplayed (or not played at all) cards in constructed formats in all CCGs. However, those cards can be good in limited formats.

The real problem is that Arena is the only limited format in Gwent. Moreover, since Arena wins don't contribute daily crowns progress, it's even less popular than it could be.

Actually, daily crowns is also the problem: to get them quickly, the players are incentivised to win as much as possible, which means playing top tier decks. What's the point of playing weak cards, if the game is all about winning and provides the best rewards that way?

Thus, the solution to underplayed cards problem should be:

- Introduce more limited formats with good rewards
- Rework daily crown system along with dailies, so that it requires the players to experiment instead of winning (the quests in the reward book are a good example of what could be introduced on a daily/weekly basis)

 

[265feral]

Forcing new players with limited amount of resources to craft weak cards and subsequentially win with them just to obtain those scarce resources doesn't sound like good idea, does it?

That's a fair comment to a point (and I admit to approaching the problem as a long time player who owns all the cards in the game and regularly forgets the new player experience). The focus here is not on new players crafting cards but on those who have the card but don't play it. It could have been gained through a keg drop (as mine was) rather than expecting the card to be crafted.
Players are never 'forced' to craft cards (and intimating such is hyperbolic at best) - in reality how many new players would squander their limited resources to craft a useless gold card just to complete a daily quest? They're concentrating on getting a decent deck and quests such as this are superfluous to them. New players would just ignore it in the main and focus on attainable rewards. I'd suggest that such quests be additional to the current limit of 3 daily quests and these 'special' quests be changed regularly to promote the use of underused cards.

Post automatically merged: Dec 12, 2019

Thus, the solution to underplayed cards problem should be:

- Introduce more limited formats with good rewards

Gwent is the only card game I play so I don't understand what you mean by 'limited formats'. Can you give some examples of what limited formats could be implemented in Gwent?

Post automatically merged: Dec 12, 2019

Its simple: make a list of cards and heroes based on (usage divided by win rate [or some simmilar value]) every month
->
take the top X cards /Y heroes and publish them
->
integrate a permanent event into classic where player not using the top heores and have maximum 1-3 cards [exact numbers need testing of course] from the top list gain extra rewards

the extra reward could be resources or what might work even better is faster progression on ranks (eg only every second loss makes you lose a mosaic piece) or increased rewards when beating a non submeta deck ect.
->
Now you established a pararell submeta in ranking progression section: The player have the option to go for a top meta deck trying to brute force through everything or design a weaker submeta deck that is more resistent to loss due to extra ingame support.

That's a really interesting and innovative approach to the problem. The more I think about it the more I think this could be a better solution than mine. It would require a bit more work from CDPR but it has the chance of altering the types of deck you would meet beyond the usual net deck ones. Kudos to you.

 

[Pacifixer]

"Limited format" = you can play only certain cards/expansions.
Example: Merchants of Offir arena mode.

Limited formats are inevitable next step for every successful card game.