I'm quitting Gwent

[RichardIgnanz]

My best guess would be the delay isn't CDPR's fault at all.
The stuff you are allowed to consume needs to be approved first. Certain things are not allowed where you live.

You probably don't know that like you are receiving custom versions.

 

[StrykerxS77x]

Fyi for any who need the info.

Legends of Runeterra is a much newer ccg than Gwent and its deck variety is astronomically better than Gwents has ever been.

Mirror matches are hard to come by. You can actually use a relatively unknown deck and play it to a high rank! This alone makes it a far superior game imo.

 

[TheSpoonman]

Oh boy, I read through this whole thread to get an idea of the plight that's befallen this game. I started playing again recently after playing on and off for some time. I played on consoles when that was a thing, then again on GoG for a bit. Started again when I found out it has cross progression with mobile, so figured why not.
I've only really been playing for fun, I don't even have enough cards to make my own deck yet. I'm still looking forward to progressing in this game but it is rather disheartening to see it's in such a state right now. Hoping it can improve sooner rather than later.

 

[Messyr]

Oh boy, I read through this whole thread to get an idea of the plight that's befallen this game. I started playing again recently after playing on and off for some time. I played on consoles when that was a thing, then again on GoG for a bit. Started again when I found out it has cross progression with mobile, so figured why not.
I've only really been playing for fun, I don't even have enough cards to make my own deck yet. I'm still looking forward to progressing in this game but it is rather disheartening to see it's in such a state right now. Hoping it can improve sooner rather than later.

Don't get fooled by reading the possibly most negative topic in this whole forum in my opinion. This thread is mostly about venting rage and frustration - hardly an objective source of information about the actual state of the game.

 

[MANYUE2003]

For those complaining about Gwent, you should try Spellstone. I spent 5 years there and spent 5 figures and it is now in such a terrible state.

Gwent truly is a very generous game for f2p. I spent a little at the start and after 6 months, I almost have ALL the cards.

I bought the recent expansion kegs as a support and it is less than $100.

 

[Sensimilius]

I am proud of myself to have uninstalled the game from my PC.
I will keep it on my phone just in case I have to wait for a bus for like 20 minutes sometimes... but I mostly game on my computer and once I uninstall a game it's not coming back on my computer in a long time, so this is a great thing I've done for myself.

 

[exuma92]

Even Devs don't care about this game, why bother?

Faction Favoritism is out of control.

Strongest and Easiest faction gets no nerf over 6 months.

Hell I just insta-forfeit if the matched up with SK

Why bother play against it?

Patch is souless, any meaningful patch happens once a year.



Done with this game.

BYE.

 

[BartonFink]

I bought the recent expansion kegs as a support and it is less than $100.

Wow. I broke my duck of not spending a cent on GWENT until recently. I've only paid for the Alzur premium Journey. I've got all the recent expansion cards just from using gold to get the kegs. $100 spent on that seems crazy to me!

 

[SeledkaBoy]

If you think that something will change in the future, then, unfortunately, I can upset you.
The developers don't give a damn about this game because they don't play it. It doesn't generate a lot of revenue, so they rarely add new content and make really useful balance adjustments other than explaining the delays between updates.
Balance changes are only made based on dry analytics like win percentage, pick percentage, etc.
If, for example, NG or SK have a small percentage of the selection frequency, then, accordingly, they will strengthen these factions, and not weaken or restore order.
For example, SK and NG have been the dominant faction for 6 months, and people have been asking developers to do something about it for 6 months (you can check the Reddit archives and see for yourself).
But in the end we got another increase in the already broken NG and SK factions.

Arguments that the development team is small and takes time to tweak and improve is no excuse.
It all depends on the attitude towards the players and the game in general,
There are a huge number of examples of small teams that consist of several people, but who love their games and are constantly trying to add new content.

Take, for example, the same team that originally created Amoung Us, which consisted of just four people.

 

[quintivarium]

If you think that something will change in the future, then, unfortunately, I can upset you.
The developers don't give a damn about this game because they don't play it. It doesn't generate a lot of revenue, so they rarely add new content and make really useful balance adjustments other than explaining the delays between updates.
Balance changes are only made based on dry analytics like win percentage, pick percentage, etc.
If, for example, NG or SK have a small percentage of the selection frequency, then, accordingly, they will strengthen these factions, and not weaken or restore order.
For example, SK and NG have been the dominant faction for 6 months, and people have been asking developers to do something about it for 6 months (you can check the Reddit archives and see for yourself).
But in the end we got another increase in the already broken NG and SK factions.

Arguments that the development team is small and takes time to tweak and improve is no excuse.
It all depends on the attitude towards the players and the game in general,
There are a huge number of examples of small teams that consist of several people, but who love their games and are constantly trying to add new content.

Take, for example, the same team that originally created Amoung Us, which consisted of just four people.

In my opinion, nearly all of this rant is simply untrue. I’ve been playing Gwent about a year, most of which has been under the shadow of COVID. In that time I have seen two amazing updates, a revamped award system, a revamped draft system, regular reward upgrades, regularly sponsored tournaments, unfailing monthly balance patches, frequent as needed hot fixes. What I haven’t seen is bombardment of advertising in a free ap, or easy misclicks resulting in unwanted purchases.

Except for one over nerf to ST harmony, the balance patches have been conservative (as they should be) an reasonable. The meta has changed from NG to SY to SK to NR, and presently does not have a dominant faction ( though it does seem a bit rock/paper/scissors due in large part to VIY).

While I do not think the design philosophy is fully comparable with a perfectly balanced, skill (rather than luck) driven game requiring frequent original innovation, it has always been and remains fun. The insessant whining on Reddit or these forums about particular factions or cards does not appear to be ignored — but fortunately, it is taken with a grain of salt.

And while I am not sitting over the developers shoulders to see what they play in their spare time, or in their minds to know what they sit or feel, I have no reason to believe they never play Gwent, or that they don’t care about their product.

 

[Damashiuchi]

In my opinion, nearly all of this rant is simply untrue. I’ve been playing Gwent about a year, most of which has been under the shadow of COVID. In that time I have seen two amazing updates, a revamped award system, a revamped draft system, regular reward upgrades, regularly sponsored tournaments, unfailing monthly balance patches, frequent as needed hot fixes. What I haven’t seen is bombardment of advertising in a free ap, or easy misclicks resulting in unwanted purchases.

I agree and do appreciate the lack of advertising and pay to win practices. However having been playing since the closed beta, I have seen how great this game has been and was becoming. After homecoming things took a turn and have not really bounced back. I will agree that things have leveled off a bit, but I miss the old "real" Gwent. And I can understand some people's frustration with the current state, especially if they have been around for a while.

I have taken extended breaks from the game a few times over the years, there's nothing wrong with that and then coming back later and trying again.

 

[Ulubey0]

I have no reason to believe they never play Gwent, or that they don’t care about their product.

If you watch the developer streams you will see Burza and Slama often struggle to remember card names and abilities. I remember one in particular where they were trying to remember what Slyzard does, and the confusion went on for far too long. It is quite cringey.

I like both those guys a lot, they seem like great people with charisma, but their streams really make me miss Rethaz (the old game director in Beta). I know Rethaz was kind of abrasive, but you would always see him in reddit talking game design and explaining all his decisions. It felt reassuring that somebody who was passionate about the game was behind the wheel, even if his discussions would turn into arguments. I just don't get the same feeling from Slama.

It's tragic but I don't think Homecoming Gwent will ever reach the popularity the game had in Beta, it really feels like all of the soul of the game is gone. It's clear that Slama isn't intent on bringing back all the strategy that old Gwent had.

 

[SlamaTwoFlags]

If you watch the developer streams you will see Burza and Slama often struggle to remember card names and abilities.

For the record, I personally have a very visual memory and have struggled with names, in general, all my life. Hell, when I started working here, I had to draw on paper the room I was working in with people's names on desk symbolizing squares and rely on it for weeks. I have also lived through so many versions of cards that very occasionally (especially a less popular card that I haven't recently played with or against) it can be easy to be slightly confused.

On a final note regarding Rethaz, no doubt he was mega focused on gameplay aspects and relied on people (like me) to cover other topics around the game (such as UI design). In my current role, I make almost ZERO direct decisions regarding card design on purpose. Injecting me in the design process would make things worst and cripple the team's ability to deliver and cripple my ability to handle a large number of aspects of the game that are easy to take for granted.

It's clear that Slama isn't intent on bringing back all the strategy that old Gwent had.

Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but stating what someone else's intent as being "clear" to you is just rude and unfair. Apologies if I'm equally abrasive, but that rubs me the wrong way. I was the first person to work on GWENT and no one has put more effort into making this game better than me. Am I perfect? No. Have all of my decisions been perfect? No. The direction taken for Homecoming was the only part of the project's history where I had very little influence on and have been struggling to find a way to make the game better without doing another all-in crazy revamp or spending another half a year undoing year's worth of work.

 

[quintivarium]

The real test is not whether you can remember what all 1000+ cards are named — it’s whether you can spell them correctly.

 

[MikeBiazzo]

Like someone told before, I also began playing gwent because of the covid. In all this time I saw a lot of changes and balance things, and I always enjoyed the game or, at least, see an effort from the developpers. Saying the opposite just because you don't like the changes is a bit childish.
I have the feeling that some people are made because they don't yet achieve to win with their favourite decks and, you know, it's ok. I had that feelings to, but hey, you can try other decks. I liked druids and beasts, did a deck based on them and having good results without Gedyneith or SK warriors. I liked NR wizards and tried to do a deck with them, achieving... nothing (, because they are too bad, as SK pirates which suffered the same fate (please, some love for them). But it was also ok, because I loved ST traps and I made a deck using most of them (only 3 get out) and arrive to pro rank for the first time, and even continuing to win there.
What I want to say with all of that it's you have to try, and you have to persevere. None of my decks were my first attempt; I had to do some trial and error, changing cards for others and adapting it until I reach the final version. And even there, maybe it's not enough (pirates cof cof), but thart doens't mean that the game is not good enought; it's just that archetype have to be ajusted. But you have plenty others to proof your imagination.
I'll finish this by thanking the CPDR (I even don't know whats this means, but I'm pretty sure it's a short way to say developpers, ins't it?) team for his job.

 

[Ulubey0]

Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but stating what someone else's intent as being "clear" to you is just rude and unfair.

You're right, I apologize for saying it like that. I get that you don't directly manage the card design, and it was unfair of me to use your name when talking about that department.

I know you didn't have a lot of say in Homecoming either. I honestly feel bad for you and everyone else who put those years of work into the game just to see it all undone. I'm sure you were more frustrated than anyone. I hope you believe me when I say I want the game to improve too. The card design has just felt so incomplete when compared to how the game was years ago.

 

[DC9V]

For the record, I personally have a very visual memory and have struggled with names, in general, all my life. Hell, when I started working here, I had to draw on paper the room I was working in with people's names on desk symbolizing squares and rely on it for weeks. I have also lived through so many versions of cards that very occasionally (especially a less popular card that I haven't recently played with or against) it can be easy to be slightly confused.

On a final note regarding Rethaz, no doubt he was mega focused on gameplay aspects and relied on people (like me) to cover other topics around the game (such as UI design). In my current role, I make almost ZERO direct decisions regarding card design on purpose. Injecting me in the design process would make things worst and cripple the team's ability to deliver and cripple my ability to handle a large number of aspects of the game that are easy to take for granted.

Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but stating what someone else's intent as being "clear" to you is just rude and unfair. Apologies if I'm equally abrasive, but that rubs me the wrong way. I was the first person to work on GWENT and no one has put more effort into making this game better than me. Am I perfect? No. Have all of my decisions been perfect? No. The direction taken for Homecoming was the only part of the project's history where I had very little influence on and have been struggling to find a way to make the game better without doing another all-in crazy revamp or spending another half a year undoing year's worth of work.

I think you all are doing a great job! There are no perfect decisions. The only bad decision is not to make a decision.

And I don't think that it's important to know all the card names. Let's be honest, nobody does.

Gwent will always be one of my favourite games. Keep up the great work!

 

[BlueberryQ]

I am not quitting Gwent, but I certainly can't play it as regularly as other digital CGs. The reason is simple: it gets stale quite quickly after expansions drop. No disrespect to any of the devs, but the idea of only releasing expansions every 6 months is just crazy for a CG. All CGs get stale without regular infusions of new cards.

Interestingly, Riot reached the same conclusion with Legends of Runeterra: they release new cards much more frequently than other CGs, because it helps to keep the game fresh. Not that I'm a LoR fan particularly, but that's a different story!

I have a feeling that it's due to Gwent having limited dev resources. Perhaps the devs think they can keep players engaged via Battle Passes, which are no doubt cheaper to develop? The lack of content limits the game's potential though, in my opinion.

 

[BartonFink]

The direction taken for Homecoming was the only part of the project's history where I had very little influence on and have been struggling to find a way to make the game better without doing another all-in crazy revamp or spending another half a year undoing year's worth of work.

I'm curious as to whether card games like this can have modelling done with proposed changes to cards or the introduction of new cards and how that will effect play.

With some standard decks or decks after changes are made, you can see great imbalance in their performance. Ideally factions should be evenly matched, before and after changes are made. Often cards get nerfed as a result of this imbalance.

Is sophisticated modelling with AI not possible to ensure that factions are evenly matched?

When I played MTG online, I'd like certain decks or found some slow decks appealing but due to matchmaking and the design of the decks in general, they could just be unplayable or easily beatable. I'd just like any faction's deck to be competitive.

At the moment I'm finding all factions equally hard to beat but I'm not elite...I'm stuck on Rank 2. The matchmaking does seem flawed and the games seem rigged as a result. I'm not sure how you would prove that the game really does not independently match two opponents together without regard to any concealed design. For two or three days a week or so ago I had a dream run with what decks I faced. That was the oddity. Usually my decks get smashed by, I assume net-decks. The needle was on one extreme for only a brief moment for me. It feels like the matchmaking is trolling me as a result.

 

[N.P.C]

Good game don't lie)