Gameplay Feedback Thread

[Rafal_Jaki]

Additional gameplay ideas and tips

CD Projekt Red, this board game in it's current closed beta state is a 6/10 in my opinion but it has SO much potential to become a 9.

I feel that the content for the current closed beta is a bit meager. There are 8 development cards currently per character and some cards are even completely useless for some. I'd like to see the development card pool increased to 10 or 12. Throw in some crazy ideas not always combat related. I like the healing of Dandelion and the purple proof he can get (though 5 is way too expensive, 3 is a lot more reasonable) You will never spend 5 gold on a proof you could get by just travelling or investigating. Sure it's a free action, but 5 is way too costly. 3 is still costly but considerable.

I'd love to see a lot more variety of monsters. I hope there will be many many more. I have not counted but it feels like there are 5 different bronze, silver and gold monster. Maybe 6 at most. Your average board game has a huge pile of 50 or 60 cards full of monsters. -> Think of Key to the Kingdom. It's brilliant in the monster variety. I understand it's a closed beta,

You might consider expansion packs to increase the game value, but expansions to make the game's quality a bit better is a no go. That's the same stance you have on DLC. DLC is not made beforehand to make more money by stripping content of the game. Same goes with expansions. An expansion for this could be new playable characters perhaps. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

A good thing for the PC version would be: Be able to look at your own cards instead of watching the other person play. This way you can play ahead. You should be able to switch views

& More coming when I get some more ideas.

All the character will have 15 xp cards. There will be 30 monsters.

 

[Ace1rimer]

Hello CDPR, I have rolled a few games now and would like to add some suggestions please.

1) - Could we have some sound when the dice roll to make you feel more real
2) - Could the dice stay on the screen and not disappear off screen
3) - Could the character pieces be modeled on the real characters and not just a color
4) - Could you add sound affects in the background when you visit different places, for example Rivia is always raining so when you enter this region you hear raining and thunder in the background etc....Wyzima you could hear a large city etc etc.... I think you get the picture

Im still enjoying playing and will post more soon. :victory:

 

[Senteria]

All the character will have 15 xp cards. There will be 30 monsters.

Wow thank you for that confirmation. Much appreciated. In the end I noticed that the luck factor is definately there in the game. Meaning any character could win. Though Triss is still the weakest in my opinion and could use a little buff. Oh and I did not mean to insult about the meager part. I just meant that if what is given in the closed beta is the representation of the final version, I felt that it needed more content. Thanks for the clarification.

A question on my part: May I ask if you're considering some game rules for interactivity between players besides the investigation cards/foul fate cards?

 

[Belgand]

1) Wounds are not explained in the tutorial. Until they apply to you you have no idea what they do or how they work, let alone the difference between normal and severe wounds. I had to infer their actions when I saw them applied to someone I was playing with.
2) Getting lead tokens for traveling also isn't explained in the tutorial. In my first game it seemed like that was only done by investigating or card effects, not just travel. Along the same lines it wasn't initially made obvious that investigations can uncover any lead color (and draw from different decks), not just those that you're currently on.
3) During most selections you cannot look at your existing cards to make decisions. Do I really need a development card that will increase my defense or do I have enough of that right now? Let me double-check which color of lead I currently need to be pursuing.
4) The die rolling animation is pretty weak at present. They sort of fumble around awkwardly with no apparent weight and will often just roll off-screen. It feels like the same system used in previous Witcher RPGs which also looked pretty bad. Except here it's a major component of gameplay, not just an optional diversion.

 

[simplemindead]

There's two blue investigation cards that should auto-resolve and not force players to roll dies unnecessarily—Savolla and A Trap(I think; forget name, it's the one where you roll 3 dies and each fail results in spending a lead). If players have no investigation cards or leads, the rolling should be skipped for those cards, respectively.

 

[BGYI]

Thanks to you, we had the chance to play with The Witcher Adventure Game Beta, and we’d like to share our experiences.
The first thing we met was the menu, which is easy to use and looks good, nothing special.
However, we have not such a positive opinion about the tutorial. We understand that it is pretty complex game so it’s difficult to explain how it works, but these random pageants about the given symbols and functions were completely useless and scary at first. Maybe, some chosen situation and interactive mini gameplay with comments would be more effective.
And now the main part, the gameplay. Well, because of the lack of a good tutorial it was rather chaotic at first, but after a few turn and some experimentations, it was quite enjoyable and fun (we’ve played 5 hours in a row). The game mechanics was challenging and there were always new situations to handle. We’ve tried every character and we found that Geralt’s has the most potential for creative gaming. Yarpen and Dandelion were a bit boring, because it was easy to play with them and that’s why if you understand how they worked, you almost always had to do the same steps and tricks again and again. On the other hand, Triss was the most difficult character, because she has a relatively weak special ability.
One of the biggest problems was the idle time, when you wait for other player, you can do absolutely nothing. I mean, you can’t even check your own stats and information, which could be very important if you want to plan your next move.
It is just a smaller thing, but the quantity of monsters and misfortunate events was a bit imbalanced, there were a bit too much event without any serious impact on either player, and to be honest, the whole series/storyline is much more about monster-hunting than random broken chariots.
Another small problem is that it wasn’t evident that the green heart means serious wound and not poisoning and two minor wound equals one major. It was also a bit confusing, what does it exactly mean when you have a misfortune card and you can choose to wait (not rest) or do some kind of action. When you choose to wait, you didn’t missed a whole turn, nor an opportunity to act in that turn. To be honest, we didn’t understand the point of that system even now.
Further minor problem was the music: at first I loved that track, but after 2 hours, it became so repetitive, boring and frustrating, that I almost break my beer mug. So the direction of the music is good, but you should make more of it (or reuse the previous Witchers’ OSTs, or whatever)
Not a fault, rather an idea, that you should interact with the other player somehow, if you visit the same city at the same time (e.g. fight, trade, special event, easter egg…)
But despite these facts, the game was pretty addictive, fun, and made in the spirit of the base material. Compared to the fact, that this is a complicated game with lots of features, it was easy to learn after a while. It was also a positive surprise, when we discovered that the aim of the game is up to the length of the game. When we chose 2 quest as a goal, the speed of these quest was more relevant than the reward, but in the 5 quest game, you had to concentrate on the points and the monsters as well.
So keep up the good work, let all the other gamers play with this marvel as soon as possible, and, if you could, port as much ‘portable games’ to PC as you can, because it looks like it worth the effort.
(And give a deck of card and a cloth map with ALL the collector’s edition of the Witcher 3).
Thanks!

 

[oodvboo]

Thanks for the opportunity for the Beta! It's great that you provide 2 keys, because trying to learn the game vs random people is awkward at best.

Wow, so many comments. Sorry if I'm repeating, but honestly I didn't read all 31 pages. I can't provide a suggestion how to fix this, but the other players' turns feel too long, but at the same time, there's so much happening it's hard to keep track of. Cards and actions blink for a second and disappear. At least being able to hover over the list of actions (on the right side) and seeing more detail on cards / actions would be nice.

Thanks again!

 

[xinix777]

Hi,
Nice game, but hard to understand the rules and all the icons. It is a bit boring to wait sometimes if you do not understand the movements the others are taking. I do not like dices, so this is not the perfect genre for me, but it has an appeal. The user interface is a good design, and the music is really nice. I do not know about the game mechanics. I will give it another try. I might invite a friend and have a talk offline besides gaming. The chat was the thing that kept me playing. You could play and talk at the same time. The other players were a friendly bunch with some interests i share. Like fantasy.

 

[Lieste]

Thanks for the opportunity for the Beta! It's great that you provide 2 keys, because trying to learn the game vs random people is awkward at best.

Wow, so many comments. Sorry if I'm repeating, but honestly I didn't read all 31 pages. I can't provide a suggestion how to fix this, but the other players' turns feel too long, but at the same time, there's so much happening it's hard to keep track of. Cards and actions blink for a second and disappear. At least being able to hover over the list of actions (on the right side) and seeing more detail on cards / actions would be nice.

Thanks again!

You can hover over any cards displayed in the right bar. This allows you to view cards played, be they quests selected, monsters, development cards taken or used, investigations etc.

As the list moves you'll lose the card you were viewing (it is a 'hover over' tooltip, and if the entry shifts in the list you'll lose focus ~ perhaps that could be tweaked a *bit*, to add new entries "off screen" above the list while a tooltip is pinned open??)

You can also use the "thumbs up" icon to encourage good plays where it appears. (Or just type into the chat bar).

 

[StaGiors]

@Rafal Jaki

I'd like to throw an idea on your way.

Right now, the game feels quite "luck-based". I mean, if someone plays with people who have played the game a few times, and do not make many mistakes, it feels like it simply comes down to luck. Whoever has better luck with foul fate/good fortune cards, whoever gets "better" Main Quests, will probably win, regardless of any strategy. Well that happens most of the time.

I've been thinking of a way to make this better somehow. What if players were allowed to choose between 3 or 4 Main Quest cards, instead of two? That way, it would be easier for players to devise a strategy, according to the VP they need to win, but also the rewards from the Main Quest cards.

It's just an idea. I think it would make the game a little better.

 

[Kryptosion]

Suggestions to help players:
- To be able to minimize the quest choices, so it is possible to see the map and get your bearings on where you need to go to complete quests.
It is not all who can memorize where all locations on the map are in reference to your starting position.
- Ability to open your own character info during quest choices, to be able to see how many clues your character needs. (Especially for new players since it takes a few tries to learn how many of each clue token which characters needs for a proof).
- While waiting in the lobby, a choice to skim the characters development cards, so you know what they might end up being able to do before having to choose (also especially for new players).
- A choice to play a cooperation game instead of a competetive race game (someone mentioned Arkham Horror).
- Make the voting actually voting, not just the lowest one picked, with a chance for a compromise. An exsample, one player picks 1 quest, another 5 quest, result 3 quest.
- Add a game type with time and/or turns instead of quest goal.
- When cards gives you the choice to spend Clues(some investigation cards gives you a choice between that or a battle/delayed), let players choose WHICH clues to spend, not just randomly picked.
If it is meant to be randomly picked, the cards should say "loose 2 random clues", not "spend 2 clues".
But i would personally prefer to be able to choose which to "spend" to achieve a result.

 

[pavguiang]

I'm in Vancouver, BC and I tried to play online from 11am PST today. It's 12 noon now and it is still matchmaking. On the average, how long until you get into a match?

 

[simplemindead]

Huh, interesting. Fellow British Columbian here too. :wave: And like you, I've been in matchmaking for a while without anyone joining. I think there's some sort of server problem in general. Or.. maybe just for us British Columbians. :no:

 

[svolod.187]

Hy everyone!

Some thoughts and feedback about the game.

First of all, we have a lot of disconnections during private games - more than 50% of games ended in result of sudden disconnection of one of the players. We now play only single-quest games

Very useful will be to obtain access to rules section during the game.
Dice are very "light" - they fly a lot when rolled and bounce of screen.

Thanks for the game, it's really interesting!

Good luck and sorry for my English

UPD: current version TR038 2014-10-01

 

[Lieste]

It would be *really* useful to be able to minimise the lobby window and have an (optional) audio cue play when someone joins. Right now either you have to sit with the window open or risk missing people come and go while it is minimised.

I'm really looking forward to having hotseat/solitare/player vs AI options in the future... as the completion rate of online games is fairly indifferent, and it would be easier to share with my daughter... who loved the game she did play, even though we lost (first completion, though with insufficient points).

 

[Airin_]

Some simple QoL suggestions were previously mentioned here;

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/31943-Anyone-Playing?p=1425228&viewfull=1#post1425228
--

 

[Lieste]

Observation:
Proofs and Leads - the rules state this is a player controlled operation and that proofs once converted are no longer leads and cannot be reconverted (and presumably also not lost). This is not how the game is currently coded, where they automagically convert to and fro at will.

 

[Airin_]

Observation:
Proofs and Leads - the rules state this is a player controlled operation and that proofs once converted are no longer leads and cannot be reconverted (and presumably also not lost). This is not how the game is currently coded, where they automagically convert to and fro at will.

??

I have always been converting.

Are we asking for a text correction? Or do we want leads to not be "break-down-able" - so they can't be taken away be events/encounters?

I vote for the text correction. Leave in the back and forth.
--

 

[Airin_]

mmm... really dig the new intro music, good change.
--

 

[LadySky89]

It would be *really* useful to be able to minimise the lobby window and have an (optional) audio cue play when someone joins. Right now either you have to sit with the window open or risk missing people come and go while it is minimised.

I'm really looking forward to having hotseat/solitare/player vs AI options in the future... as the completion rate of online games is fairly indifferent, and it would be easier to share with my daughter... who loved the game she did play, even though we lost (first completion, though with insufficient points).

I think we won't have to wait too much when the game gets out of beta and populate.

Anyway here's my feedback.
First things first: the game is so much fun, I play it a lot with friends of mine.
Before the latest update cards were few and a lot of investigation cards were uneffective.. You couldn't use signs and spells during certain investigation cards and mob fights and so on and so on...
Now the game looks much more complete, balanced (the poor Yarpen can now have more chances to win) and the new mechanics make it a lot more challenging. Even if now Triss has so many utility spells than it's difficult to find damage spells.. XD
I hope you won't be stopping, as it appears the game is less performant (at least to me) and some bugs with the new mechanics make 3-4 players games broken.
As for me, I enjoyed even the old screen music (I like action!)... But what I'd love to change in the game is a simple thing: do in a way randomized music keeps playing as it is even AFTER dice rolls (dice roll starts back always the same music, which becomes annoying after a while). I hope you are still in time to do it.. I love Witcher soundtracks, but this way it gets a bit boring...