Here’s my vision of Gwent.
I’ve never seen anyone mention anything close to this, so I may be way off base.
First some background. (You can skip this part)
I played two full play-troughs of TW3 before ever trying to play Gwent in-game. I did it only to complete all the quests, however I was hooked immediately. I then switched to the Gwent open Beta in the period a few months before Midwinter updates. Before this I’ve never played a CCG, and to be honest I likely never will play one.
Gwent was different. It was a continuation of the The Witcher characters, lore and voice lines that I fell deeply for. I enjoyed the intellectual demand needed to play at high level, and I enjoyed winning. I play to have fun, but if I’m losing a lot in ruins my mood. Until Homecoming came, I logged around 700h in the game, and was always a few wins short of reaching GM.
First presentation of Homecoming was unplayable for me (no need to go into whys), and I deleted the game without hope of returning. After yet another TW3 play-through I wanted that fix of the old Gwent. I started playing again (little bit before Novigrad expansion) and found the game greatly improved technically. It was a steep curve to learn all the new cards and mechanics, but it was fun.
It was fun until I realized that Gwent is now just a CCG. It seems like developers’ whole approach is the need to balance the cards and decks. All factions feel overwhelmingly similar. A lot of cards are basically the same. Connection to the lore and characters is as far from “home-coming” as could be.
Now I rarely play, and mainly follow the development hoping something new will draw me in.
Enough background.
The Vision.
From the start I wished Gwent was more grownup and more intellectual. I imagined the cards as representation of characters from books and games. They would be more human and more monstrous respectively. They wouldn’t be tied to typical CCG mechanics, but have more psychology and complexity to them.
If the current system is difficult to balance, then my vision would be even more. So be it.
Nilfgard wins against Northern Realms most of the time, but it should be fun and challenging to play as NR .
Geralt usually kills the Monsters, but it’s never easy for him.
Scoia'tael are complex, unscrupulous and vain. Spies actually spy and betray, then come back around.
Emphasis wouldn’t be on winning and grinding toward arbitrary levels that reset every month. It would be a human journey of struggle, ambitions and weaknesses.
Sapkowski and the CDPR did well to put all these traits and dynamics into the books and games. Imagine if you could have a collection of these characters (i.e. a deck) and guide them against foes in complicated ways. It wouldn’t be boost-this-damage-that.
Even the original TW3 Gwent is closer to this than the Homecoming edition.
I know next to nothing about how other CCGs need to operate to attract the people who want and like that format. My vision of Gwent wouldn’t be a CCG in that sense. It would be a card game for people who like The Witcher lore and those who are interested in dynamics of human interactions. With a bit of magic and monsters on top, of course.
If these ideas sound half-baked, it’s because they are. Right now, it’s just a jumble of concepts in my head that I’ve never shared or contextualized. If anyone has a anything to add or critique, I will gladly discuss it no matter how far-fetched this general idea is.
I’ve never seen anyone mention anything close to this, so I may be way off base.
First some background. (You can skip this part)
I played two full play-troughs of TW3 before ever trying to play Gwent in-game. I did it only to complete all the quests, however I was hooked immediately. I then switched to the Gwent open Beta in the period a few months before Midwinter updates. Before this I’ve never played a CCG, and to be honest I likely never will play one.
Gwent was different. It was a continuation of the The Witcher characters, lore and voice lines that I fell deeply for. I enjoyed the intellectual demand needed to play at high level, and I enjoyed winning. I play to have fun, but if I’m losing a lot in ruins my mood. Until Homecoming came, I logged around 700h in the game, and was always a few wins short of reaching GM.
First presentation of Homecoming was unplayable for me (no need to go into whys), and I deleted the game without hope of returning. After yet another TW3 play-through I wanted that fix of the old Gwent. I started playing again (little bit before Novigrad expansion) and found the game greatly improved technically. It was a steep curve to learn all the new cards and mechanics, but it was fun.
It was fun until I realized that Gwent is now just a CCG. It seems like developers’ whole approach is the need to balance the cards and decks. All factions feel overwhelmingly similar. A lot of cards are basically the same. Connection to the lore and characters is as far from “home-coming” as could be.
Now I rarely play, and mainly follow the development hoping something new will draw me in.
Enough background.
The Vision.
From the start I wished Gwent was more grownup and more intellectual. I imagined the cards as representation of characters from books and games. They would be more human and more monstrous respectively. They wouldn’t be tied to typical CCG mechanics, but have more psychology and complexity to them.
If the current system is difficult to balance, then my vision would be even more. So be it.
Nilfgard wins against Northern Realms most of the time, but it should be fun and challenging to play as NR .
Geralt usually kills the Monsters, but it’s never easy for him.
Scoia'tael are complex, unscrupulous and vain. Spies actually spy and betray, then come back around.
Emphasis wouldn’t be on winning and grinding toward arbitrary levels that reset every month. It would be a human journey of struggle, ambitions and weaknesses.
Sapkowski and the CDPR did well to put all these traits and dynamics into the books and games. Imagine if you could have a collection of these characters (i.e. a deck) and guide them against foes in complicated ways. It wouldn’t be boost-this-damage-that.
Even the original TW3 Gwent is closer to this than the Homecoming edition.
I know next to nothing about how other CCGs need to operate to attract the people who want and like that format. My vision of Gwent wouldn’t be a CCG in that sense. It would be a card game for people who like The Witcher lore and those who are interested in dynamics of human interactions. With a bit of magic and monsters on top, of course.
If these ideas sound half-baked, it’s because they are. Right now, it’s just a jumble of concepts in my head that I’ve never shared or contextualized. If anyone has a anything to add or critique, I will gladly discuss it no matter how far-fetched this general idea is.
