Hey friends, I've got a wild, insane, totally outrageous hot take that no one here has ever voiced before! A tack so radical, I fear even by saying it, I may well be dragged through the streets for my unbelievably brave stance! What is this mindbogglingly hot take?
Heatwave kind of sucks!
What's that? No one cares? Everyone and there mother has either said that or at least heard a few dozen people complain about heatwave over and over again already and DO NOT CARE anymore? Ya I know, but hear me out as I think I have a point that might be a little fresher and a little more actionable then just saying, "Heatwave bad, get rid of it!"
See as a long, long time Gwent player and one who has gone on record as being pretty happy with most of the changes to the game that have come over the years and who is, over all, pretty happy with the dev team's work, I DO feel like one very specific aspect of the game has gotten noticeably worse and less interesting over time. Something that I think has ALLOT to do with why so many people hate Heatwave and, I think, a reason why 'its over used' and 'it should just be removed' aren't really the issue here...
To explain my point, I want you, as a Gewnt player to imagine three situations:
1. Your opponent has 24 points stacked onto a single massive unit: What card do you play to punish them?
2. Your opponent has five 6 point units lined up on a row: Can you punish them?
3. Your opponent has left a 30 point Viy on the board: How do you get that worm out of the game?
Currently the answer to these three situations is likely to be Heatwave for two of them and 'nope, nothing to do about that' for the other despite the fact that, at least on paper the correct answer SHOULD be something like:
1. Geralt or Leo or Geralt Pro or Ike
2. Geralt Igni
3. Heatwave
Heatwave is and for a long time post Homecoming WAS a VERY expensive, very nitch tech card that's biggest benefits where that it could remove artifacts and that it blocked graveyard manipulation. For normal tall punish and a number of other situations you had other cards that could remove big targets cheaper and left a body on the board, but at the cost of having limitations that the opponent could play around. This meant that whenever you where playing a game of Gwent and wanted to go big, you had allot of things to keep in mind, golden numbers where the opponent could punish you if you got to greedy and line ups that could give them an opening to do some real crazy stuff! Heck, do you remember Scorch? That card used to be so devastating and iconic that whole games would hinge on trying to keep your bodies form lining up or staying juuuuuust under your opponent! But these days, I doubt many people even remember what that card did without having to google it first for a refresher.
So what's my point? Well... Heatwave sucks, yes, obviously, its a boring, binary card that has no real way to play around and can make games with big bodies just come down to weather or not one card is in the hand, but... That's not really what I think the problem is. I mean its not great, but its not just about Heatwave being good and thus making playing tall bad. Its about tall punish, a key and integral part of Gwent's DNA and strategy being... Boring! Its about the fact that when your playing a game the question is not, "What can my opponent do to punish me if I do X, Y or Z?" Its, "How can I bait out the one big removal card so all the rest of my engines and big boys stick?"
Whenever people bring up Heatwave being a bad card it tends to be about how it makes tall nonviable or it being boring and thus should be removed, but... To me the issue isn't Heatwave. The issue is that tall removal in Gwent currently has been made so pricey and fiddly that even pro players would rather just spend the additional points on Heatwave as a blanket solution for all problems rather then consider which of the many and varied tech cards would be best to deal with a particular meta. The problem is I'm never even thinking about playing around a devastating Igni or a sly Yrden or a board clearing Scorch or even just one of the big monsters hunters reminding me that "9 Is Death!"
The problem, in short, is that tall removal and to a lesser degree, non damage control in general is kind of non existent.
You have damage (normally capped at 5 for single cards), poison (and I'll go out on a limb here and say thanks to val and purify, poison is a fine, counter-able, somewhat interesting method of control) and then just Heatwave as the big red button who's only counters are defenders and having not drawn or already played it.
What's the solution? I donno, honestly I don't want to just say, "REMOVE HEATWAVE" as I think Heatwave SHOULD have a place in the game, as a BIG commitment tech card that you ONLY bring if you think you need it or want that reliable removal.
Maybe add a few more provision points to its cost, bring down the price of some of the other big removal cards, add some mercy benefits to the Geralts... Like let 'Of Rivia' do 3 damage like Pro so its at least playing for 6 and can be a small removal in a pinch, have Igni do 1 damage to a row if you can't line up a big board as a secondary benefit and take 'initiative' off Scorch so it at least has a CHANCE to do the one thing it's uniquely good at... And obviously tweak, buff and/or nerf as needed to make these changes not utterly busted so it doesn't go the other direction of making these tech cards TOO good! The point is just, make it so that Heatwave is not the 'one true tall punish' and that the other, more interesting tech cards are good enough to see play. Not just so they are more viable, but so even if your NOT running any of them, you actually do need to think about some of the ways your opponent can punish you.
Gwent is a game about planning, risk management and deck building, Heatwave currently being the one and only big removal card seeing play has a detrimental effect on all of these aspects... So please, Gwent Dev Team, consider addressing the games Tall Removal Problem.
(And that's my TED Talk, thank you all for reading and I look forward to hearing why I am actually wrong and all tall removal is bad and should just be blanket banished.
Seriously though, love this community, love the dev team, I hope if you have read this far, your not to upset and have a wonderful day!)
Also as a small footnote, I want to mention that I don't think Heatwave and Oneiromancy being really strong, 'auto-include' neutral cards is a huge issue since to me, as long as 'Devotion' is in the game and is supported properly, having a couple really good neutral cards as temptations to NOT play devotion is fine.
Basically if Devotion makes your deck over all better and adding (often situational and slightly sub par) neutrals as tech cards gives you flexibility, then cards like Oneiromancy and good neutral removal are important to make the choice between the two styles of deck an interesting one.
As long as devotion is a viable choice and I'd say it is in most factions and hopefully will continue to be supported in future, then Heatwave and Oneiomancy aren't actually really auto-include. They are the payoffs for giving up the over all power spike of getting devotion benefits. Now that doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't be tweaked or nerfed, just that I don't think its a big problem to have one or more very good neutral cards if the deck cost of adding them is not just that they are expensive, but that your taking them instead of getting something equally tempting.
Again, NOT saying they are perfectly balanced, just that my problems with Heatwave are not just that 'no neutral card should be so good it basically belongs in every deck!' Since as long as devotion is good enough, that will hopefully keep powerful neutrals in check.
Heatwave kind of sucks!
What's that? No one cares? Everyone and there mother has either said that or at least heard a few dozen people complain about heatwave over and over again already and DO NOT CARE anymore? Ya I know, but hear me out as I think I have a point that might be a little fresher and a little more actionable then just saying, "Heatwave bad, get rid of it!"
See as a long, long time Gwent player and one who has gone on record as being pretty happy with most of the changes to the game that have come over the years and who is, over all, pretty happy with the dev team's work, I DO feel like one very specific aspect of the game has gotten noticeably worse and less interesting over time. Something that I think has ALLOT to do with why so many people hate Heatwave and, I think, a reason why 'its over used' and 'it should just be removed' aren't really the issue here...
To explain my point, I want you, as a Gewnt player to imagine three situations:
1. Your opponent has 24 points stacked onto a single massive unit: What card do you play to punish them?
2. Your opponent has five 6 point units lined up on a row: Can you punish them?
3. Your opponent has left a 30 point Viy on the board: How do you get that worm out of the game?
Currently the answer to these three situations is likely to be Heatwave for two of them and 'nope, nothing to do about that' for the other despite the fact that, at least on paper the correct answer SHOULD be something like:
1. Geralt or Leo or Geralt Pro or Ike
2. Geralt Igni
3. Heatwave
Heatwave is and for a long time post Homecoming WAS a VERY expensive, very nitch tech card that's biggest benefits where that it could remove artifacts and that it blocked graveyard manipulation. For normal tall punish and a number of other situations you had other cards that could remove big targets cheaper and left a body on the board, but at the cost of having limitations that the opponent could play around. This meant that whenever you where playing a game of Gwent and wanted to go big, you had allot of things to keep in mind, golden numbers where the opponent could punish you if you got to greedy and line ups that could give them an opening to do some real crazy stuff! Heck, do you remember Scorch? That card used to be so devastating and iconic that whole games would hinge on trying to keep your bodies form lining up or staying juuuuuust under your opponent! But these days, I doubt many people even remember what that card did without having to google it first for a refresher.
So what's my point? Well... Heatwave sucks, yes, obviously, its a boring, binary card that has no real way to play around and can make games with big bodies just come down to weather or not one card is in the hand, but... That's not really what I think the problem is. I mean its not great, but its not just about Heatwave being good and thus making playing tall bad. Its about tall punish, a key and integral part of Gwent's DNA and strategy being... Boring! Its about the fact that when your playing a game the question is not, "What can my opponent do to punish me if I do X, Y or Z?" Its, "How can I bait out the one big removal card so all the rest of my engines and big boys stick?"
Whenever people bring up Heatwave being a bad card it tends to be about how it makes tall nonviable or it being boring and thus should be removed, but... To me the issue isn't Heatwave. The issue is that tall removal in Gwent currently has been made so pricey and fiddly that even pro players would rather just spend the additional points on Heatwave as a blanket solution for all problems rather then consider which of the many and varied tech cards would be best to deal with a particular meta. The problem is I'm never even thinking about playing around a devastating Igni or a sly Yrden or a board clearing Scorch or even just one of the big monsters hunters reminding me that "9 Is Death!"
The problem, in short, is that tall removal and to a lesser degree, non damage control in general is kind of non existent.
You have damage (normally capped at 5 for single cards), poison (and I'll go out on a limb here and say thanks to val and purify, poison is a fine, counter-able, somewhat interesting method of control) and then just Heatwave as the big red button who's only counters are defenders and having not drawn or already played it.
What's the solution? I donno, honestly I don't want to just say, "REMOVE HEATWAVE" as I think Heatwave SHOULD have a place in the game, as a BIG commitment tech card that you ONLY bring if you think you need it or want that reliable removal.
Maybe add a few more provision points to its cost, bring down the price of some of the other big removal cards, add some mercy benefits to the Geralts... Like let 'Of Rivia' do 3 damage like Pro so its at least playing for 6 and can be a small removal in a pinch, have Igni do 1 damage to a row if you can't line up a big board as a secondary benefit and take 'initiative' off Scorch so it at least has a CHANCE to do the one thing it's uniquely good at... And obviously tweak, buff and/or nerf as needed to make these changes not utterly busted so it doesn't go the other direction of making these tech cards TOO good! The point is just, make it so that Heatwave is not the 'one true tall punish' and that the other, more interesting tech cards are good enough to see play. Not just so they are more viable, but so even if your NOT running any of them, you actually do need to think about some of the ways your opponent can punish you.
Gwent is a game about planning, risk management and deck building, Heatwave currently being the one and only big removal card seeing play has a detrimental effect on all of these aspects... So please, Gwent Dev Team, consider addressing the games Tall Removal Problem.
(And that's my TED Talk, thank you all for reading and I look forward to hearing why I am actually wrong and all tall removal is bad and should just be blanket banished.
Seriously though, love this community, love the dev team, I hope if you have read this far, your not to upset and have a wonderful day!)
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Also as a small footnote, I want to mention that I don't think Heatwave and Oneiromancy being really strong, 'auto-include' neutral cards is a huge issue since to me, as long as 'Devotion' is in the game and is supported properly, having a couple really good neutral cards as temptations to NOT play devotion is fine.
Basically if Devotion makes your deck over all better and adding (often situational and slightly sub par) neutrals as tech cards gives you flexibility, then cards like Oneiromancy and good neutral removal are important to make the choice between the two styles of deck an interesting one.
As long as devotion is a viable choice and I'd say it is in most factions and hopefully will continue to be supported in future, then Heatwave and Oneiomancy aren't actually really auto-include. They are the payoffs for giving up the over all power spike of getting devotion benefits. Now that doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't be tweaked or nerfed, just that I don't think its a big problem to have one or more very good neutral cards if the deck cost of adding them is not just that they are expensive, but that your taking them instead of getting something equally tempting.
Again, NOT saying they are perfectly balanced, just that my problems with Heatwave are not just that 'no neutral card should be so good it basically belongs in every deck!' Since as long as devotion is good enough, that will hopefully keep powerful neutrals in check.
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