Is this the end?

[265feral]

With the announcement that post-2023 Gwent will have no new card drops and, in essence, the game moves from a developer-led structure to a fan-lead one, I'm left in a state of shock. Perhaps I should have seen this coming but I didn't. The developer stream felt to me like a eulogy, nearly an hour of deliberately not saying the game was being dealt a death blow by CDPR but in effect actually saying that same thing.
I felt equally sorry for, and angry with, Burza and Vlad for having to annouce it. Not their fault but the bearers of bad news always get the blame.
We've lost so many pro players, streamers, casters and YouTubers over the years but others have always come forward to take their places - this isn't going to happen now. With this news the game is on a definitive downward spiral. The developer stream tried to spin it differently but we all know what it is actually going to happen.
I'm surpised there hasn't been a cavalcade of threads posted on this site but perhaps players have simply retreated to Reddit posts and Twitter rants instead. All I can say is that this news has left me incredibly sad. The game I've loved since closed beta is now ending. I don't really have the words for this. I'll probably play for the next year because I love the game but once CDPR move to this new approach then I just don't see the point in continuing. It's been fun, I guess but now I'm left with a hollow feeling. Merry Christmas everyone; this is the one present I could have done without.

 

[igor565]

I'm surpised there hasn't been a cavalcade of threads posted on this site

It’s because the forum seems to have lost quite a few people from the last and pre-last patches.
It’s no surprise it’s almost a dead land here.

As for this topic: considering this whole year’s development of the game and its direction (no new journeys, no new additions like finishing the Draft mode or fixing the new seasonal) the end of the project was kinda predictable from the beginning of the year with the roadmap.

Being a veteran of this game it’s something that was always here, to which I was preparing since The way of the Witcher expansion.

 

[NoGG4Netdeckers]

I assume it must be because the game isn't turning a net profit anymore. If that can't be changed naturally it is much more honourable to just put it to rest rather than turn to scummier business practices to milk the players for more money like certain other game devs. It must have been a hard decision and although it of course saddens me as well, I can at least respect it.

Never thought I'd enjoy a card game this much and I'll remember it fondly. Thanks to TW3 for pulling me in and making me give it a chance.

 

[ortokot]

The developers coherently made harmful decisions for Gwent:
- "let's replace somewhat playable arena with dead on arrival draft mode";
- "let's abruptly releasy Rogue Mage and make it completly separate from online Gwent";
- "let's release cards that were problematic and fixed in beta, and kill it in a few months (ornate censer says hi)";
- "let's make promise and completely forget about it (animated tokens say hello)";
this list goes on and on...

And then they look back and say "oh-oh" and just give up on Gwent.

 

[tonybrain]

Won't there be an award-winning tournament in 2023?

 

[KeldornOfLatria]

It just comes down to money. CDPR is now too big for its own sake. The people on top got a lucky break with the Edgerunners-push for CP2077 and decided to make 2 new CP games, 5 more Witcher games, all supposedly Triple-AAA, and Gwent just doesn't fit into those big plans, because even as it was changing into a power crept meta, it had the old CDPR-soul and never was a Pay-to-win game.
The higher ups killed it, and Burza and Vlad look so sad because they simply have to look for new jobs – and for their sake I hope it will be outside of the new CDPR.

Thanks to the Gwent-Team for keeping the game around for so long!

 

[DC9V]

[...] post-2023 [...] in essence, the game moves from a developer-led structure to a fan-lead one [...]

I though they just asked for feedback.

 

[Murderlin7]

this is very sad i absolutely love this game and want it to never die. i hope they let the community come out with new cards in addition to balance changes. i know this community has a lot of talent and passion for this lovely game. i have almost 5,000 hours in this gem and it is far from perfect but i love it so much.

 

[Markus_Wirth]

Let´s summarize:
- After 2024 Gwent should transform from a company moderated card game to a community driven card game. This does not mean the end of Gwent.
- Basically this means the following:

• No more new cards
• Community can "balance cards" via an coming tool. Probably there will be a voting mechanism where we can adjust provision and power but not the basic function of a card.

What I really enjoyed playing gwent is seeing new mechanisms and archetypes (e.g. 2022: infusion, NG boost opponent units archetype, evaluate if win in upcoming patch,...). So I do fear that my interest in the game will reduce significantly if there wont be any more of this. Of course, I understanding that adding more of these mechanisms becomes more and more challenging as Gwent is already huge. But I still hope that CDPR will find a solution that these new archetypes/mechanisms will still be added on a to be defined way.

 

[Pacifixer]

Well, they have been drilling holes into the hull of a perfectly functioning ship for years, now they have just realized the ship isn't sinking fast enough, so they set it on fire. Now that we know the ship is schedualed to go under, most of us will leave on the next stop.
I knew this game wouldn't be around forever, but i didn't expect them to just kill it like this.
And for those who are saying it's not the end - if this community based balance works out, it will be the single greates miracle in the history of mankind.

 

[BornBoring]

After the homecoming disaster I'm surprised Gwent made it that long.

I knew this game wouldn't be around forever, but i didn't expect them to just kill it like this.

Stopping active development if the project isn't profitable anymore is kind of the standard/logical way to end such a project.

 

[ShinAkira00]

It's been the end for a while now. No testing, poor balancing. They gave up on the game long ago

 

[DC9V]

 

[ShinAkira00]

It's been the end for a while now. No testing, poor balancing. They gave up on the ga

• Community can "balance cards" via an coming tool. Probably there will be a voting mechanism where we can adjust provision and power but not the basic function of a card.

Do you honestly think that will go well? You've seen the community right?

 

[cardgame-respecter]

We have one more year with gwent in it's final stage, and I'm going to enjoy it. I will play gwent as much as possible, if it's over when the community patching enters into effect, then it was a great time still. Content creators leaving the game, the forums dying down is what is really sad.

 

[Trevorzan]

I don't see anything in the main gwent page. So I googled it and found this:

Not sure if this what this thread is about

 

[DC9V]

 

[UMA22]

Sadly i think it is yes
Feel like they did that to themselves,
First not listening to their community as they should be
Many players asked for arena come back
Or to update draft and nothing happened
Then many players left bc of overpowered meta all belonging to the same faction 2/3 of games i'll face NG bc of that, also 8/10 of the games i'll face a 100% copycat deck, so
Facing the exact same deck 5 times a day become something tottaly normal in Gwent that's sad bc it feel like the games have very few possibilies when it tottaly not,
Also as i understend Gwent is not gettin enough benefits, but they are refusing the money, maybe some will not agree here but
Gwent is full with russian players, and since march they cannot buy anything in the game
Games have nothing to do with politics the sanctions were stupid, especially when a huge part of the community are russian

 

[Selestes]

Expected.

I think they tried to increase their profit on the game while having as little effort as possible. It always fails.
The correct way should have been to bring more balance, rewards, game modes, trees etc, thus increasing number of people playing thus increasing the profit. They tried to do it the easy way and failed, which to say again is expected.

I remember one moment, when it became clear to me. It was when they released Radovid. He had only 4 leaders which had to be tested...
That moment I realized that the ending is near. And here it is.

Money and laziness are always to blame.

 

[ShinAkira00]

Sadly i think it is yes
Feel like they did that to themselves,
First not listening to their community as they should be
Many players asked for arena come back
Or to update draft and nothing happened
Then many players left bc of overpowered meta all belonging to the same faction 2/3 of games i'll face NG bc of that, also 8/10 of the games i'll face a 100% copycat deck, so
Facing the exact same deck 5 times a day become something tottaly normal in Gwent that's sad bc it feel like the games have very few possibilies when it tottaly not,
Also as i understend Gwent is not gettin enough benefits, but they are refusing the money, maybe some will not agree here but
Gwent is full with russian players, and since march they cannot buy anything in the game
Games have nothing to do with politics the sanctions were stupid, especially when a huge part of the community are russian

The game has been bleeding players for years now, suggesting that it has anything to do with sanctions just isn't a realistic position to take.

This is about choices the devs made within the game. I used to spend money in the game just to show support but the moment broken cards after broken cards became a constant cycle I just stopped and Uninstalled. I checked back ever expansion to see if they realized the mess they were creating and they never did so it's still Uninstalled