Homecoming Feedback

[stritzi]

ST is just so stupidly broken op, deploy units that remove everything on spawn, traps and artifacts (still after "nerf" lol), eithne lining up, schirru, etc.. this whole faction ruined the game finally for me. I tried to adjust, to like hc, but no Chance with that focking dwarves and Elven bullcrap. ST needs a nerf, and they deserve a state like NR before hc (or even now, haha)

 

[_Kili_]

Just for anyone that cares, a full list of all the cards that got remove with Homecoming:

NR:
philippa eilhart
reaver scout
temerian infantry
witch hunter
shani
dijkstra
radovid
reaver hunter
redanian knight
redanian knight elect
redanian elite
trollololo

NG:
nilfgaardian gate
sentry
henry var attre
the guardian

MO:
moonlight
ekimmara
nekurat
dagon

SK:
ornamental sword
cerys fearless
raging berserker
berserker marauder

ST:
elven blade

N:
shrike

 

[4RM3D]

Just for anyone that cares, a full list of all the cards that got remove with Ho[m]ecoming:

Most cards will likely see a return with the coming expansion; maybe even in a new faction.

 

[_Kili_]

Most cards will likely see a return with the coming expansion; maybe even in a new faction.

Just for clarification, I did not leave out the m on purpose

 

[Draconifors]

(Technically, the Guardian was not removed since Cynthia now spawns it -- just like she used to.)

 

[Alexander_Volgin]

Many may argue that the complexity of gameplay is gone, which gives the impression that most games are played passive, rather than reactive. This in some cases is true, even for control decks, which during some turns are maximizing damage output, while in other turns are killing an engine, thus defying the opponent value. Thus there seems to be a predominant strategy of each deck to achieve value. This varies ofc. with once knowledge about the opponents deck, but still.
Another issue is that some matches takes too long to play (opponent being lazy, whatever), this deminishes once excitement to play the game when each turn takes forever.

My solution is to reduce the time each turns takes by half.

The result:
- Players unfamiliar with a deck can go into practice mode to learn playing.
- Skill will be measured by knowledge of a deck, hence there will be no need for deep thinking of something that is straight forward.
- Ability to play under pressure, is one of the soluions which may define skill. Lets just remember that even chess is played by time cap.
- Alternatively a player may be given an option to double the time of his decision, which in return would cut his time by half next turn.
- Real world war simulator: Blitzkrieg, ever heard of it ? Exactly, you take too long time, you loose, deal with it.
- Introduction of cards that may give a time advantage. Exciting right?

How to implement:
- Special event, experimenting. If people like it, go for it.
- Hearthstone has "Brawl" mode which gives the developers option to experiment, while giving diversity to the player base.
- (Well now that i think about it, a brawl mode may actually be the best idea for the time being of what i have proposed, as a way of proper testing the game/innovate for the future.

 

[mahboi1]

Just for anyone that cares, a full list of all the cards that got remove with Homecoming:

NR:
philippa eilhart
reaver scout
temerian infantry

The Temerian Infantry is still there. Now it deals 1 damage for every boosted unit on it's row

 

[sikoraj]

I want to add following feedback:

1) GAMEPLAY / CARD ADVANTAGE / DRAWING:
A) First part apply for player who starts the game (the one who have the tactical advantage)
- Current design force player who starts to play until he has at least 5 cards in his hand (when you have good lead and pretty good chance that player would need use at least 2 cards to beat it >> because you need to be sure win the round).
- Why? If he pass early then second player is free to use more then one card to win first round without any consequence. He will draw another 6 cards!
- That is super bad for play who starts. The tactical advantage doesn't need to be enough. Second player can overcome it pretty easily and you are forced to play. Yes, you can pass with 7 cards but the second round will be equal on number of cards and you had quite big chance to loose 2:0.

B) Cards on hand
- Current design forces player play longer game. That is OK but it has also a problem. It pushes you to have good cards in your hand and possible use all of them because of problem in point A).
- Second player is always free to pass and he can save his good cards.

2) MISSING SUPPORT FOR SOME ARCHETYPES
- I have had time to play only Nilfgaard so for them... It feels like only reveal and maybe soldiers are only possibility to play.
- The game has even more cards then in Beta but how come that you cannot build different decks...? Some cards feels only like duplicate. They should be rather reworked and create support for different archetypes from them.

*3) Shupe (heh)
- I guess it is only for fun now . But that's OK i guess. I tried create a deck with him and i found it is not worthy.

I LIKE:
- The redraw leader mechanic. It is perfect!
- Fillers are GONE (reworked) and cards like that. Eg.: old resurrect units (when you play it, you will have more power because of the one point unit) and etc. It was bad design in my opinion > how to balance game.

 

[StrykerxS77x]

The only control problem old Gwent had was that control was bad

Control has always been a bit too powerful. Depending on which part of old gwent we are talking. Control is boring when it destroys nearly all strategies.

 

[tatkoleciwkosmos]

For me the absolute hugest change they could make concerns the reward system. I had some more time recently, so I could enjoy my six round wins a day, but six winning rounds @ 50% win-rate is 4 games, easily over an hour. In the long run I'd much rather "pop in for a hand or two" instead of organizing these longer play sessions.

So my suggestion is: make the reward points for rounds won system more granular. No reason for: 6-12-24-24. If you want to give us 2 points + 30 tidbits for 6 rounds, give 1 point + 15 tidbits for 3 rounds twice. Alternatively, stop resetting wins if the player doesn't reach 6. Make it possible to end day one with 4/6, then start day two with 4/6 and go into 0/12 after you win your first two rounds of the day - I like this option much less, though. I think a 3-3/6-6/12-12... model would be optimal.

Sidenote: I realize that the current system is already designed to encourage shorter sessions and to reward "grinders" less. I just think that maybe whoever designed this doesn't realize that for some adult people 60-80 minutes is a large amount of time?

 

[Meatcide]

So apparently I can't make a new thread until I've got ten posts or something like that, but I really gotta' know...

I picked up Gwent: The Witcher Card Game a week ago because I fell in love with the Witcher 3's Gwent game and thought "yeah, a beefed up version of that sounds cool."

I logged in and found that there weren't any like, row-specific cards in this version, and there was a ton of new rules and stuff. The new rules and stuff I expected, but the locked board positions mattered a lot in basic Gwent so this was something I had to get used to (and did so easily after figuring out that it would work without it and a lot of cards did unit moving which was neat, but honestly they could have had row synergies so that some cards benefit more from being in a specific row... Maybe even have that be a deck archetype?).

So I play, I get stomped on with my wimpy deck and work out getting some cards. I really liked the monster faction, especially the idea of a weather deck. One at a time I crafted the cards I needed to get this deck off the ground, using that very half-baked deck to try and mette out round victories for at least one keg a day.

Today I felt I finally had a breakthrough. I finished off the bronze units in my deck, crafted my first silver card and got excited when I pulled my first gold from a keg - Imlerith: Sabbath (I know it doesn't synergize with anything in the deck, but it had stomped me so many times almost single-handedly that I was willing to try it out).

In respite after another ranked match I poke around the menus a bit and find the "Homecoming! Dec. 4th!" thing and decide to take a look, see what's up... And it's just, I don't even know where to begin with that. That's Gwent?
It looks nothing like it, but maybe the game's intact underneath that kinda dodgy exterior reminiscent of a phone game. I go to poke around aaaaand nope... Not Gwent. It's a CCG, and it might even be alright, but it's not Gwent.


So... Should I just uninstall this game (PS4 Gwent is apparently a legacy version of Gwent, as PC has the Homecoming edition) and forget about it entirely? Pretend that Gwent was only a cool part of the Witcher 3 where Spy cards were some of the most broken shite, and that this really interesting adaptation that I stumbled across was just some fever dream? I'm conflicted, I was getting really invested and relieved that despite the Witcher 3 having an end that Gwent would continue on as something I could play to pass a little time here and there... I'm kinda super bummed, no lie.

 

[Pruny]

I realy miss old arhetypes, why cdpr destroys stuff instead of expanding the game, feelsbadman.
Also moving abilities from previous cards to others its so anoying.

 

[Alexander_Volgin]

Keep in mind that the current cards represent the base set. However, what worries me most is that addition of new cards wont create a diverse meta, since there will always be few decks that will achieve a higher winrate than others.
To actually have diversity there needs to be different game-modes, special rules, etc that can vary from week to week, and hence a meta that changes regually.

 

[_Kili_]

So, I was a little bored, so I dug up the old open letter from back in april, when they were announcing their plans for Homecoming. These 2 quotes caught my eye:

"[talking about create and RNG] ...we realized that this form of wide RNG is not something that fits our focus on player skill. We will be extra careful with these types of mechanics in the redesign process."

"[talking about strategy and depth] ...We want GWENT to remain a deep game, where each faction has its identity and offers distinctive gameplay archetypes. We want rows to really matter in terms of gameplay, and gameplay itself needs to be engaging and rewarding."

Apart from fixing the coinflip, those were their core points. Let that sink in.

 

[nedders]

So, I was a little bored, so I dug up the old open letter from back in april, when they were announcing their plans for Homecoming. These 2 quotes caught my eye:

"[talking about create and RNG] ...we realized that this form of wide RNG is not something that fits our focus on player skill. We will be extra careful with these types of mechanics in the redesign process."

"[talking about strategy and depth] ...We want GWENT to remain a deep game, where each faction has its identity and offers distinctive gameplay archetypes. We want rows to really matter in terms of gameplay, and gameplay itself needs to be engaging and rewarding."

Apart from fixing the coinflip, those were their core points. Let that sink in.

Tried another few games - its absolutely, mind-numbingly dull and repetitive. I've never ever seen a game that is 100% uttely and completely reliant on the deal. Spend tonnes of "points" on cards that may never even make it to your hand. Build synergies that don't appear game after game. The victory, when you get precisely the right deal, is hollow and unfulfilling - mainly because you know the next time you click "ranked game", your hand is going to be awful.

Some of the RNG is infuriating. Just quit a game when Tibor revealed a 1 power unit, then their very next turn they played Xarth (sp?) who randomly revealed the ONE unit that then appeared on their row! 2 x 12 point plays in a row, purely by random. It's a clusterflook.

It's just a really hateful experience.

 

[_Kili_]

Tried another few games - its absolutely, mind-numbingly dull and repetitive. I've never ever seen a game that is 100% uttely and completely reliant on the deal. Spend tonnes of "points" on cards that may never even make it to your hand. Build synergies that don't appear game after game. The victory, when you get precisely the right deal, is hollow and unfulfilling - mainly because you know the next time you click "ranked game", your hand is going to be awful.

Some of the RNG is infuriating. Just quit a game when Tibor revealed a 1 power unit, then their very next turn they played Xarth (sp?) who randomly revealed the ONE unit that then appeared on their row! 2 x 12 point plays in a row, purely by random. It's a clusterflook.

It's just a really hateful experience.

Against Tibor I can suggest playing Blue Stripes Scouts/Commandos and Pavetta, it's hilarious when Tibor pulls one of them so you can order the other 3...but that again is very RNG dependant

 

[sphinxa]

I've enjoyed Thronebreaker very much, its well designed and follows the witcher storyline. Too bad Gwent Homecoming has little to do with the card game in Thronebreaker, same cards in some cases that do very different things. I have been playing Gwent diligently and I HATE THE RNG! I really wanted to like the game and the hero concept I like, but the cards and game design are very frustrating. I can be well ahead in round 3 and a single card does 30 damage? Is that balance? I also don't like that Nif cards destroy your deck and take cards away from you, its something CD promised not to do for the right reason (not fun!). This game has become more work than fun even though I like the progression system and generous kegs that you can earn. Goodbye CD Project!, I really wanted you to succeed.

 

[Masur]

It was hard to pin down why I find HC to be the most boring version of Gwent to come out during the past year. It was much easier to find things that I like about HC.

In HC a lot of the cards fulfill their purpose in one or two turns and play no role in the long term plan. The purpose of your turn might be to sacrifice an expendable card to certain death, to add some points to your side of the board, or to remove some points from the opponent's side of the board. None of those turns play a role in the overall story of how the match unfolds. At least for me it is boring to play with the sights set on the short term, on expending the cheapest resource or maximizing value this turn and maybe the next turn. HC seems to be designed to have a lot of such short term plays.

When playing a turn based competitive 1v1 game of any kind I want to be thinking about how my turn is going to bring me one step closer to achieving victory. I also want to think about how to sabotage my opponent's long term plan. It's not necessary but a nice bonus if the plan has to be changed depending on matchup, card draws and opponent counters. Another optional but nice bonus is if there is some depth and skill to reading what the opponent's plan might be is. The important part however is that I would have more fun playing HC if there was more focus on executing and sabotaging long term plans instead of maximizing short term value.

 

[Dakkoon]

Long gameplay suggestions but may interest you

1. Patience (New keyword ): Total numbers of Orders or Deploy you can trigger before activating this effect.

• So basically this is the idea of Shaggy (I saw this in Molegion’s video) but instead of making cards go first in order to active its effect, we could limit the actions for setting up.
• For example: “Epidemic”: Patience: 0 this means you cant trigger any Orders or Deploy before playing this card, otherwise it will do nothing. (same as Intiative in original Molegion’s video). |**“Geralt Igni”:** Patience: 1 you can only trigger 1 Orders or Deploy before playing this card, otherwise it will do nothing.| “Schirru”: Patience : 4you can only trigger 4 Orders or Deploy before activate this card’s Orders.
• Use: Because of unlimited actions per turn atm, there is little to no way to play around controlling effects. This keyword could make control meta less frustrating to play against without direct nerf to control cards.

2. Block (New keyword ): If a Ranged row's card is targeted by a damaging effect while a Block card is on Melee row, Block card take up to 2 damage for targeted card instead (one time, one unit only).

• For example: An unit called “Blocker”( has Block) is on melee row, opponent use “Alzur’s thunder” (deal 5 damage to an unit) on “Ciriash” (ranged row). Now “Blocker” takes 2 damage, and “Ciriash” takes 3 damage instead of 5. Second “Alzur’s thunder” will still deal full 5 damage to “Ciriash” unless there is another Block unit on melee row. 1 damage ping still trigger Block (Block unit takes 1 damage and cant no longer block).
• Use: Bring another non-binary way to protect Engine beside Avalach’h (binary, a gold card), buffing Artifact (which has no body) etc. This mechanic also make 2 rows matter even more. If a protecting mechanic is needed on Melee row unit, we can also add a similar mechanic but with adjacent units instead.

3. Delay (New keyword): Disable on-going effect of an unit or artifact for a turn(s).

• Basically a weak version of Lock, but can target artifact, sometimes setup for your own unit to have the best possible outcome (like "Borkh").
• Right now dealing with Artifact is very binary, we need some other way to balance them, one solution is to bring back Armor for some artifacts (already planned by CDPR), give some artifacts Reach and make them movable***.*** But artifact is very problematic, with leads to artifacts hate cards like “Bomb heaver”, “Sapper”, “Warmonger” … or artifact synergized cards like “Hawker support”,”Half-elf hunter” … hard to be balanced as well. Delay could be another way to balance Artifact packs.
• For example: only Gold cards have effect that can destroy artifact (with good body or another effect), some bronze cards, that used to destroy artifacts, now will have effect that Delay them or Delay unit for a turn(s).

4. Starting hand: We start with 6 cards in hand, redraw for free, at begin of each round we draw more cards and redraw again but this time using leaders’s redraw. Round 1: 4 cards, Round 2: 3 cards, Round 3: 3 cards (or 2).

• With 6 cards starting in hands, we can redraw any number of cards, but redraw one time only, and no Blacklisting is applied. This redraw does not use Leaders’s redraw. (We could call this phase “Preparation” instead of “Redraw” to avoid confusion). Leaders’s redraw will be used at each round’s begin, one card at a time (same as current system ), and Blacklisting is applied.
• Use: right now if you draw some cards which you want to save for Round 3, there is no other way but to redraw it then pray for RNGseus to draw them back in Round 3 (a very wasteful method), or keeping it in hand and pray for opponent pass before you have to use them (a very risking method). Applying this system could make players more open with tech cards, unusual cards, unusual leaders. Overall this also increases consistency. In future if there are some cards that make certain cards always appear in starting hand, limit at 6 could prevent abusing this kind of effect.

5. Additional effect for weather:
For example: “Fog”: 7 provisions, deal 2 damage to highest unit on a row for 3 turns, reduce Reach of cards played on this row by 1 (I suggested this a long time ago, so it’s not a copy of Molegion’s idea, this is lore friendly). | “Frost”: 7 provisions, deal 2 damage to lowest unit on a row for 3 turns, reduce Patience of units played on this row by 1. |“Rain”: 7 provisions, deal 2 damage to 2 random units on a row for 3 turns, reduce total 3 Armors of random cards on this row per turn.
6. Some ideas for underperformed or overperfomed or extremely binary cards: ( avoid simply tweaking provision or points)

• “Henselt”: 1 more mulligan, keep old effect, but now can choose another effect “Add a base copy of an unit on field to the bottom of your deck, Strengthen all copies of this unit by 1”
• “Usurper”: 2 mulligan, remove old effect, new effect “Disable opponent’s leader at first turn, consume 1 charge to repeat this effect. Charge:7”
• “Arachas queen”: 2 mulligan, keep old effect but only 6 drones maximum per turn, new active: “Destroy 2 allied unit, spawn 2 “Shelled spider.” on melee row (1 points, 2 armor, Block). Can use twice per game."
• “Demavend”: old effect but can active on Artifact. Or unit only but now can stack up to 2 charges.
• “Ghoul”: old effect, but only 1 Gold card can be consumed per game by “Ghoull”.
• “White frost”: Delay all artifact in 3 turns or Delay all opponent unit on a row for a turn.
• “Viper witcher”: old effect but only reveal Bronze units.
• “Spotter”: old effect, but only reveal Bronze units, upon being revealed by owner, reveal another bronze unit in owners’ deck.
• “Daerlan soldier”: 2 points, old effect, upon being revealed by owner, reveal another bronze unit in owners’ deck. Deploy: Damage an enemy by 2.
• “Deithwen Arbalest”: old deploy effect, if win on revealing, boost your revealed unit by 1.
• “Xavier Lemmens”: 8 points, 11 provisions, remove old effect, new effect: “Melee: Banish up to 1 Gold card in both players’s graveyard. Ranged: Banish up to 3 Bronze cards in both players’s graveyard”.
• “Korathi heatwave”: keep old effect, but now can choose another effect “Delay all copies of up to 2 different cards on a field for 2 turns.”

 

[StrykerxS77x]

So, I was a little bored, so I dug up the old open letter from back in april, when they were announcing their plans for Homecoming. These 2 quotes caught my eye:

"[talking about create and RNG] ...we realized that this form of wide RNG is not something that fits our focus on player skill. We will be extra careful with these types of mechanics in the redesign process."

"[talking about strategy and depth] ...We want GWENT to remain a deep game, where each faction has its identity and offers distinctive gameplay archetypes. We want rows to really matter in terms of gameplay, and gameplay itself needs to be engaging and rewarding."

Apart from fixing the coinflip, those were their core points. Let that sink in.

I haven't been able to play much of homecoming yet but as far as I can tell they did not meet those goals at all.