I've posted threads here about not having spent a cent on this game...

[BartonFink]

...so I thought I'd do the opposite and suggest how I could be 'encouraged' to spend money on the game:

1) Fix the matchmaking. I've posted a thread on this topic and often raise the issue. Not sure if my post was merged with another thread or not. Basically, I don't think that Level or Rank are good determiners of a competitive contest between players. Decks are. E.g. match similar decks against each other or faction decks that are KNOWN to be competitive against each other. If you try out a new faction, be matched against someone in the same boat as you, with a similar or competitive deck to you.

2) Have a parameter in matchmaking for "Classic" or "Basic" decks or factions. I.e. pretty much your starter decks which everyone gets when they first start playing. Sure, if you want to play a fancy deck, allow that, but if you're just a casual player who wants a bit of fun, have the ability to filter out decks or factions which you don't want to play against because you have a simple or old deck and your opponent has the latest deck which hasn't been properly tested for balance and hasn't been nerfed yet by CDPR.

My suggestion is for a one-off payment, not an annual subscription though. I.e. you pay once, and at the very least you are guaranteed to be matched against comparable decks. However, this should not preclude such players from being able to acquire and play new cards like they can now.

 

[Draconifors]

Basically, pay-to-win.

Couldn't possibly agree with that, and I doubt you'll find many who would. It would just hurt the game's reputation and do more harm than good.

 

[BartonFink]

Basically, pay-to-win.

Couldn't possibly agree with that, and I doubt you'll find many who would. It would just hurt the game's reputation and do more harm than good.

I disagree with you. The game as it stands now is pay-to-win. Since I'm not paying, I'm losing. A lot. The matchmaking system is broken now. At least my way, the matchmaking would have a fix. They could implement my suggestion now on matchmaking. They won't. That's why there is a need for some sort of fix to their broken matchmaking system.

 

[Draconifors]

The game as it stands now is pay-to-win.

No, it really isn't. But that discussion already has a thread, here.

The matchmaking system is broken now.

No, it really isn't. You disagree with how it works, but that in no way means it's broken.
That discussion also has a dedicated thread, here.

They could implement my suggestion now on matchmaking. They won't.

Implementing it would cause some players to leave. There would also be backlash, and accusations.
Fixing what isn't broken and putting the change (that would directly benefit players) behind a paywall would simply be a really bad idea.

 

[Anciluart]

I disagree with you. The game as it stands now is pay-to-win. Since I'm not paying, I'm losing. A lot.

"A lot" means you are nearly 50% with NG, now...in rank 14....with NG. Dont look for ghosts, look the mirror.

My suggestion is for a one-off payment, not an annual subscription though

Artifacts and Valve could have a word in that mather.

match similar decks against each other or faction decks that are KNOWN to be competitive against each other. If you try out a new faction, be matched against someone in the same boat as you, with a similar or competitive deck to you.

MtG arena have it and is the worst possible experience for a game, the comunity hate that.


Im not saying the game is in a fine state right now (all the opposite), but your implementations are worse.

 

[mazeebra]

I disagree with you. The game as it stands now is pay-to-win. Since I'm not paying, I'm losing. A lot. The matchmaking system is broken now. At least my way, the matchmaking would have a fix. They could implement my suggestion now on matchmaking. They won't. That's why there is a need for some sort of fix to their broken matchmaking system.

I've not paid for the game and I win all the time. I was even high ranking at one point until I decided to take a break.

Regarding matchmaking, I think there is actually some mechanic to match on other things than marely rank or whatever. It seems that when I play certain decks, I always meet certain types of decks, and when I play other types of decks, I don't meet those, but other types of decks that I don't meet with deck A.
Furthermore, when I make special decks including say weather, I actually encounter decks with weather cards in, something which is very unusual with my other decks.

I meant to say it before, but I find it a bit annoying that based on which deck I play, I meet a limited type of opponents and not all kinds.

I'm probably wrong, but there seem to be mutually inclusive and mutually exclusive factors to matchmaking.

 

[thetruerenter]

I spent zero money in the game and lose like 80%. It's because of the meta decks and I do refuse to play with those uninspired 2nd hand dumbness. That's probably also the reason why you lost some % of the matches. These metadecks might even give the game a feeling of obsoletion. They aren't funny or entertaining and eventually a serious waste of time when you play more creative decks. Nevertheless, I do owe all cards without paying a nickle so p2w is quite nonsens.

 

[StrongFirst]

The game is not pay-2-win, but play-with-your-time to earn currency to build decks what are more meta, IF your goal is to "grind competitively".

Which is not neccessarily a good reason to "play" any game.

 

[EvanDavidson]

Depends on the price but I would much prefer to just buy a full game with one upfront payment than all the F2P+pay to win and locked content nonsense that just tries to overvalue the offering. The full game plus Thronebreaker should be no more than $10. Instead CDPR is trying to squeeze a lot more out of a few saps while everyone else just gets frustrated with a less than complete experience.

 

[mazeebra]

Well, you don't have to pay anything. It's pretty cool.

If you want to pay and get a better collection faster plus more cosmetics. I guess it will depend on the longterms, but I may decide to pay for something in the game at some point just to support it. It would probably be something like Thronebreaker and/or meteorite powder.

But it's my choice, and I can still pay for free.

So stop whining and play!

ps. it took me a couple of months to come to terms with the basics of the game and build a decent enough collection to start the next "stage" of Gwent.

 

[AMANiac21]

I am only Rank 17 or so, but I don't think the game feels unfair or pay-to-win like you say. You can prepare a very decent deck if you plan it and the game does give you a lot of free stuff to be able to build a great 25-card deck which can be competitive. The only games I found unfair were the ones where the players used Stratagems which are ridiculously OPed and should be nerfed in the near future. I haven't spent any scraps on building those yet because I want to wait and see if the final version will be worth it.
The ranking and matchmaking system is also very decent and you can see that the opponent's deck improve accordingly, so you have to make sure you continue to improve your own deck otherwise you will lose a lot. Once you get used to regularly upgrading your deck with the ample free resources, its not so difficult. You'll still lose from time to time, but that's just RNG and more skilled players you'll play against, and they can actually give you ideas about what you should be looking to add to your own deck.

 

[Sumgee]

Interesting views

wait... people are paying to play this game?

 

[static-ghost]

This game is not Pay-to-win unless you want to get into the top 500 in just a week

 

[4RM3D]

This game is not Pay-to-win unless you want to get into the top 500 in just a week

If you mean bribing a pro-ladder player to boost your account to the top 500, then yes. Otherwise, no amount of money you throw at the game will get you in the top.

 

[static-ghost]

no amount of money you throw at the game will get you in the top.

How do you know? Some talented newcomers rather quickly reached the pro, it's not so difficult with netdecking

 

[4RM3D]

How do you know? Some talented newcomers rather quickly reached the pro, it's not so difficult with netdecking

Reaching rank 0, possibly, yes. However, the top 500 requires more than netdecking, namely skill and dedication.

 

[static-ghost]

Reaching rank 0, possibly, yes. However, the top 500 requires more than netdecking, namely skill and dedication.

Anyone can achieve top 500 with enough amount of time. Top 20 is a different story, but I think until recent changes it was more about popularity, because they are always the same famous streamers. It’s not known how many fans simply surrendered when they got into a match with their idol

 

[4RM3D]

Anyone can achieve top 500 with enough amount of time.

Skill ≠ Time

Anyhow, let's just agree to disagree and get back on-topic. That is, you can reach the top 500 without spending a single penny, once you've farmed a competitive deck.

 

[static-ghost]

Skill ≠ Time
Anyhow, let's just agree to disagree and get back on-topic. That is, you can reach the top 500 without spending a single penny, once you've farmed a competitive deck.

I agree that skill is an important part, but this is a card game, not chess.
To succeed you only need a good knowledge of meta and an understanding of what your opponent wants to do, to predict and counter it.

 

[mazeebra]

If you mean bribing a pro-ladder player to boost your account to the top 500, then yes. Otherwise, no amount of money you throw at the game will get you in the top.

It's not pay-to-win, that's for sure. But you can pay to speed up your progress and build your collection faster. I guess the guy was exhaggerating in a way, but his point is valid. If you're new to the game and play for free, it will take some time to build your (decent/good) collection (but you also learn from it). If you buy 1000 kegs from the start, you have a much bigger collection to play with when you are new.

Post automatically merged: Feb 17, 2020

To succeed you only need a good knowledge of meta and an understanding of what your opponent wants to do, to predict and counter it.

I guess this is the next stage of my learning curve. I'm currently learning to play with more/all factions, and I am freely build my own good decks, which I guess in turn will make me better than I am now at understanding the meta, and when I complete all factions, will let me be able to predict my opponents better.

I understand the cards and factions, meta quite well, and I have an idea how the opponent plays. But not like the pro's, I'm quite amazed how they "know" the next move before it happens and sometimes prepare for it. And their knowledge of every card in the game is pretty amazing.

I'm a good and skillfull player with alot of experience though, but I'm way below that level. And that's one of the good things about this game, the learning curve is really long and experience is a real thing.

I'm one of those guys just below pro-rank, and then behind me again I have a variety of players with various skills and experience. I guess it is easy to become impatient if you are new and just expect to jump straight to the top, but the game is not really like that, even if you buy all the cards.