Feedback from a newcomer

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Having only played a minimum amount of TW3 Gwent before, and a couple of matches of the stand alone game while on early beta, i decied to try the new finaly released game out. My first impresion is it being overwelming and in a bad manner.

The tutorial with its own short story is quite neat and enjojable(made me even consider getting Thronebreaker), and it does an ok job at teaching us the basics... However, it does not even scratches a 1% of what is there to learn.

* Too many diferent terms: deploy, order, resiliance, zeal, summon, reach, lock, charge, spawn, melee, range, etc... with some cards having multiple effects at that, and while some of those terms might seem obious to what they mean, many others are not, the result is an overall confusing and overwelming first experience! Specially taking in consideration the many factions with their respective unique cards that the player is suposed to keep track of.

* Linked to the point above, too many card "powers" and "charges" and too many clicks. I feel as if we are now in some hybrid state where Gwent doesnt know what it wants to be.
Before it was simple but elegant, see card value, play card, with only some "powers" in the form of leader cards and row affecting weather cards that for the most part where one time use. Now with so many "power cards" the game feels less unique, and those cards who lack "powers" feel mostly useless.

* Too many diferent currencies: kegs, ores, dust and shards. I feel its a little confusing and overwelming at first. I am usually of the opinion that less is more and Gwent: The Witcher Card game aint the exeption.

* The new Art aproach. The game no longer feels as an in-world card game. There should be a distinction between Thronebreaker aproach("realistic" battle simulation) and Gwent aproach(tavern card game). Might sound silly, but this is actually a big one for me.

* Bad matchmaking(or low playerbase?). My 3 games so far vs human players, have been me as level 1 vs a level 10 player, me level 2 vs a level 40 player and me level 3 vs a level 24. The question then is, how exactly does matchmaking works in this game? Or are there simply so few players remaining that that is all i am able to find to play against?

* Inconsitent mechanics and lack of QoL:

- For some reason not all cards can be mill or transmuted? So far i have found that each faction has at least 4 cards(even more on the neutral category). This is not explained anywhere and it seems very random, almost as a bug.

- Transmuting only works for 1 card, rather than that card type. I understand that being FTP some grind and/or incetives to purchase things have to be in place, but i find this very unintuitive and dissapointing. I much rather have a sigly nerf on how to gain dust without paying, and all cards of the same type being transmuted, than what we have now.

- Linked to the previous point, transmuting a card should simply replace and remove said basic card(from everywhere), what is the point of being able to craft a basic version of a card when there is an option on the options menu to disable card animations(basicaly making any premium card into a regular one)? Having both versions showing up on deckbuilder just adds cluster in my opinion.


All in all i feel there is too much disconect between TW3 Gwent and this new "gwent". Maybe it is just personal opinion but i found the minigame-gwent to be more enjojable, even if arguably simpler(for the best). The only thing i would say is superior here are the animated cards(wish those were in TW3), and the "provisions" for balance purposes.

PS: What are "spare cards", i have the option to mill them but nowere its explained what cards those are.
 
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PS: What are "spare cards", i have the option to mill them but nowere its explained what cards those are.
Bronzes that you have more than two copies of, and Golds you have more than one copy of.

S 2: Nowhere is it explained the food requirement cards have and the limit on decks, this should be on an advaced tutorial.
There's an indicator "X/165" at the top of the deck builder that shows how many provisions (the bread and bottle icon) you have available to build your deck. Stronger cards have higher provision costs.
 
Bronzes that you have more than two copies of, and Golds you have more than one copy of.

Thanks, is it explained anywhere ingame?

There's an indicator "X/165" at the top of the deck builder that shows how many provisions (the bread and bottle icon) you have available to build your deck. Stronger cards have higher provision costs.

Thanks, i did figure that out eventually, but its something that should at least be mentioned during the tutorial or at some other point. I understand why it is there, its actually something i wish was on TW3 gwet to prevent us from steamrolling everyone later on.
 
Thanks, is it explained anywhere ingame?
I actually haven't even checked.
But the term "spare cards" is fairly clear; spare cards as in cards you cannot include in a deck. Two copies of Bronzes --> any more than two are spares. One copy of Golds --> any more than one are spares. Separate counts for normal and premium versions of cards, meaning two normal Bronzes and two premium Bronzes before they become spares.
 
After having played Thronebreaker on the past two days, start to end, i have some new thoughs, specifically regarding the new art direction.

I feel that the game board transformation into something more resembling of a battlefield, as well as the Leader Cards now being transformed into a 3d model "Leader Unit" fit Thronebreaker's atmosphere and narrative very well. However personaly i dont feel as if they fit Gwent The Card Game at all.

As someone who cares a lot about immersion and lore, specially on The Witcher Franchise(being an avid fan of the books), i always tried to imagine Gwent as an in-world card game designed by dwarves and/or mages.
That rapidly spread all around not only because of how enjojable it was to play but also thanks to the value of the cards as collector items, meaning that both honest folk and rufians alike would want to get their hands on them.
And while i was and still am rather skeptical to so many ingame/book characters being despicted on said cards, i tried to justify it by simply saying that Geralt and Co. are after all well known through out the witcher world thanks in part to Jaskier's(Dandelion) ballads and such, so it would make sense that the dwarves and mages behind Gwent, wanted to capitalize on that in order to sell more cards...

Yet this new version of Gwent takes as many steps as posible to resemble nothing of the previously said, the game for me at least simply feels very disconected with it being "a game".
It tries too hard to emulate something else, a battlefield, and while that works perfect for Thronebreaker, it does not for Gwent. I feel as if there should have been a clearer distiction between the two products.

PS: Updated OP with a few other gameplay opinions.
 
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