Game is missing something...

[EvanDavidson]

I'm not sure if there is a single definitive issue but after playing this game for only a week, I'm already finding it to be a grind and not rewarding and probably going to stop playing. Generally like card games (have played Hearthstone for 6 years or so now) and like the Witcher games, but this game feels off... So things that stand out to me are listed below, please add others you can think of and maybe a comprehensive list can catch a developers eye.

1. 3 Rounds seems like a waste of time. The first two are nearly always split so why not just have 1 round? Seems like a holdover from the Witcher 3 version and not worth the additional playing time now.
2. GG/Forfeiting/Losing seems off. The whole GG thing should be rethought, it's a decent idea but I find myself giving one to everyone just so I can complete the GG contract even when a game was dull. If i'm losing, why do I get less rewards for forfeiting? It's dumb to sit there wasting time when the game is already over.
3. Lack of RNG. Better decks win and everyone can know what the better decks are just by looking online so you either have those cards or you are grinding to craft those cards. More RNG is needed to give any player a decent chance.
4. Daily grind is way too long and not rewarding enough. Heard some pushback from other players about this but no, it takes hours and hours to get multiple crowns. If someone gets say 5 wins in a day, that takes about an hour and should get them all possible rewards for that day. To ask players to player longer than that won't work for most gamers. There are just too many FTP and CCG options now for the level of grind this game asks for.
5. Some mechanics are just poorly thought through and ruin the fun of the other player (i.e. poison or discard your opponent's cards). Discarding your opponent's card is particularly damaging to fun gameplay.
6. Should be a rapid play mode for people who just want to play quickly and not perfect every move. I don't care about being the "best" player. I just want to put down the first card I think will work and move on. Why am I waiting a minute for my opponent to play his card. 15 seconds a turn is more than enough for non ranked play.
7. Reward trees should never go away, including seasonal events. It's unreasonable to expect players to even still be playing this game in a year, so you won't get buy in from most if seasonal trees go away for a year after the season. Just leave them up and let players put their points wherever they prefer.

Understand most people here are probably big fans of the game and may see the above items and feel differently and want to voice so immediately. That's great, but there is no way to get a comprehensive list of issues if every time someone lists one, 10 other people dispute it. So, I suggest we just list issues, then sum them up to key themes, and can dispute or discuss those.

Edited. -Drac

 

[Pacifixer]

I agree with no.5, don't care about no.7 and STRONGLY disagree with the rest. I will not comment the problems you listed, and just add few things that i see as a potential problem

8. Lack of skill - gwent needs more skill oriented gameplay, more opportunities to outplay our opponent, more complicated strategies and more difficult choices to make. Every strategy that is too easy to execute feels like braindead pointslam.

9. Better tutorial - some new players have no idea what to do, they don't understand the core mechanics and make very stupid mistakes.

10. New game mode - i would like to see something new and big.

11. Better seasonal mode balance - just ban the problematic cards omg.

12. Formats - like MTG and HS, Gwent will need at least standard and wild format sometime in the future.

 

[jmoyano92]

I agree with both and I have like 1000 hours in this game. We need more mechanics, archetypes, useful cards, a third row, Co-op, more skill oriented gameplay, difficult choices, less grind (for newcomers), more rewards points to complete trees and so on. A bigger hand with 12 cards instead of 10 and a deck with 30 cards could be better.

This game has potential (I'm talking about the gameplay) but it could be much better. I know it very well. The art is the best out there but gameplay is the most important thing. It's a game you know. There are also people that complain about RNG but there must be a bit of it because sometimes is fun to watch weird things or mis plays.

 

[Payus]

There's healthy RNG: the draws, if you go first or second, the random dmg pinging units, the runestones I find fine, Uma's curse, Aguara true form, etc are also weak rather than strong most of the time...
Then there's unhealthy RNG: Bribery, viper witchers, etc
The ones I don't know how to classify( maybe fun maybe the awful RNG?): Gascon, Musicians of blaviken, Summoning circle, The treasure guys, Shupe, Angouleme...

One thing is for sure, there's heaps of RNG, not saying that's bad, but it is a fact.

 

[BoYoDes]

The game is missing itself. It's not engaging or if it is, the games take way too long, thus making you getting bored of it quicker. While in OB one game was roughly 7 to 10 minutes, today a game is in the range of 15 minutes. Everybody hated Mill back than and the most common complain about it was "the games take too long". Yet when CDPR reworked Gwent into Homecoming, they made it play twice as slower. It was even MORE SLOWER than now, but they've managed to fix some animations and such with time. And they still have work to do.

1. Rounds are fine.

2. Yes, the system is flawed. But it still helps new players with scraps and such.

3. Enough with the RNG. Way too much as it is.

4. Grind can be fixed with just speeding the game.

5. The devs stripped so many mechanics your head will spin if you go and look at some old abilities.

_________________________________________

... The ones I don't know how to classify...

Stupid? Meme?

 

[Anciluart]

3. Lack of RNG. Better decks win and everyone can know what the better decks are just by looking online so you either have those cards or you are grinding to craft those cards. More RNG is needed to give any player a decent chance.

If you want HS, you can play HS...its free too

 

[dragoonzen]

I like the idea of a bigger deck, heck boost the requirements to 40 cards, that way you can't always expect to be up against the same deck over and over and each time being played out the same way.

 

[mazeebra]

I don't like this thread. And jmoyano92, it is possible to build a deck with 30 cards if you want.

 

[jmoyano92]

I don't like this thread. And jmoyano92, it is possible to build a deck with 30 cards if you want.

Yes I know, I was talking about having 12 cards in hand and 30 cards minimum in the deck. It was just an opinion.

 

[EvanDavidson]

If you want HS, you can play HS...its free too

Sure, and as the game stands, that's probably what I'll do. But that doesn't improve this game and in my opinion, if this game doesn't improve, it will not sustain a viable user base and won't continue. Which would be a shame, cause I would like to have a good Gwent game to play.

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2020

Seems like time invested is really an issue. One member put in 4,000 hours before completing the yearly reward tree. It's just not a reasonable expectation that most gamers will commit that much time and if they can't get rewards they are more likely to leave the game.

 

[mazeebra]

Yes I know, I was talking about having 12 cards in hand and 30 cards minimum in the deck. It was just an opinion.

There are good aspects of this game and there are bad aspects. Suggesting to change things that actually work is a bit annoying to see, especially when there are things that don't work well.

I just simply dislike most suggestions in this thread, alot. Just my opinion.

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2020

Sure, and as the game stands, that's probably what I'll do. But that doesn't improve this game and in my opinion, if this game doesn't improve, it will not sustain a viable user base and won't continue. Which would be a shame, cause I would like to have a good Gwent game to play.

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2020

I suggest you actually try to learn Gwent and see if you like it.

Sure, reward points, reward books and scraps are systems that are currently dysfunctional. But despite that, pretty much anyone is more than able to play Gwent and make themselves good decks. You don't need hundred or thousands of hours for that.

 

[EvanDavidson]

I suggest you actually try to learn Gwent and see if you like it.

I have played it for a week now and it's not that fun. But regardless of my opinion or yours, Google search trends indicate that Gwent never has got the traction that other CCGs have: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 5-y&geo=US&q=Gwent,/m/0rysk0k and it doesn't seem like a hit so issues should be discovered and addressed or it won't be around for that much longer as it won't be viable for the developer.

 

[Draconifors]

Rounds are fine the way they are. One round would be way too short, not to mention it would cause major issues with getting key cards when only 10 out of 25 (or more) cards would be played. Three is a good number and there really isn't any reason to change it.

Exp is counted based on how many cards are played, which is why forfeiting awards less exp. Forfeiting can also cost matches if done hastily, because the opponent's last card(s) might be garbage. Never know.
Nothing wrong with that system.

As for GGs, nothing really wrong with them either. They could be renamed to something other than "good game", I suppose, but that's it.

More RNG? Nope, not needed in the least.

Grinding is entirely optional; if you choose to do it then that is your choice. It should not be super easy and fast to complete all the tiers, and six crowns really doesn't take that long unless you constantly lose 2-0 (which does happen but that's just how it goes).

6 is already a thing, the Draconid seasonal mode, and it's also a popular suggestion for a permanent gamemode.
However, it should not replace casual, and adding more modes would split the playerbase further than the existing modes (seasonal, ranked, casual, and Arena) already do.

It's unreasonable to expect players to even still be playing this game in a year

No, it really isn't. GWENT has existed since November 2016 so it's not at all unrealistic to think players will continue to play the game.
It would make no sense to have 12(!) seasonal trees at the same time when only one season will ever be going on at a time. Add to that (presumably) 12 yearly trees and... yeah, nope.



One thing I'd still like to see is getting rid of the "opponent forfeited" popup. It's entirely unnecessary and requires interaction before the results screen will show up.

QoL things like that are what the game is missing, in my opinion. CDPR have been adding those, in quite large numbers even, but there's no such thing as too much QoL.

 

[mazeebra]

I have played it for a week now and it's not that fun. But regardless of my opinion or yours, Google search trends indicate that Gwent never has got the traction that other CCGs have: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 5-y&geo=US&q=Gwent,/m/0rysk0k and it doesn't seem like a hit so issues should be discovered and addressed or it won't be around for that much longer as it won't be viable for the developer.

Well, that's probably the same reason that Call of Duty is so popular while way better games sell way less. Ofcourse we all wish Gwent would be very popular, but I don't think anyone want Gwent to be more like the other (more popular) card games.

 

[Alrun24]

I have played it for a week now and it's not that fun. But regardless of my opinion or yours, Google search trends indicate that Gwent never has got the traction that other CCGs have: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 5-y&geo=US&q=Gwent,/m/0rysk0k and it doesn't seem like a hit so issues should be discovered and addressed or it won't be around for that much longer as it won't be viable for the developer.

Not all players like the same games and it would be terrible if all games were similar. I'm playing Gwent and not HS for a reason. Everything you suggest (except point 5) is exactly the opposite of the gameplay I like. I would leave if that would be implemented.

 

[EvanDavidson]

Will see what happens. A complete rebuild of the game was already done and I suspect there were fans of the old version, so the developer will obviously change things to get more gamers. With the user base as small as it is now, it's only a matter of time before the game is significantly update or discontinued.

 

[Anciluart]

A complete rebuild of the game was already done and I suspect there were fans of the old version, so the developer will obviously change things to get more gamers

And that was precisely the problem, to recreate the game without thinking about making a quality product or with its own identity, just trying to sell at the cost of losing what made the game unique.

Continuing to steal mechanics from other games will not work, we have cards that are literally the same as HS, mechanics of HS ...... and the last expansion added the scenarios as a novelty and are nothing more than the sagas of MtG.

The worst thing is that the treatment that received the beta was unfair, those 6 months where they abandoned it could change many things.

If I want to play RNG I go to HS, I have my gold cards and I don't need another game that offers the same.
There is also MtG arena and now LoR.

Gwent is not going to improve by sacrificing his roots .... to later be a frankenstein, simply needs to remember what it was before and work that out, even if the previous version of the game was less friendly to the apes.

 

[StrykerxS77x]

The only thing the game is missing imo is decent balance patches.

 

[mazeebra]

The only thing the game is missing imo is decent balance patches.

I agree. Faction balance is one of the most problematic things of this game. And instead of trying to balance the factions, they just release new stuff instead. Seems the focus is a little bit lost there. By faction, ofcourse that also means individual cards for each faction. Fine tuning the cards and faction balance.

However, this might not be as easy as we think. Any small change could upset the balance alot, and when we're talking about thousands of cards, balancing factions could be inherently problematic. But they could at least try? Fine tuning the cards and factions.