Journey is Impossible for a Free-to-Play Player to Finish.

[EvanDavidson]

Journey is actually impossible for a F2P player to finish. I've done every weekly quest (which are all boring, tedious, and awful for gameplay for myself and competitor) and play for about 1-2 hours a day and am only at level 70 with like a week to go. What is the logic behind this? Just the most mind boggling decision making on the part of CDPR. Additionally, they even published a huge post on here: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/ind...-performed-by-game-director-himself.11028497/ supposing some sort of "deep analysis" yet clearly missed the obvious that this would just be another thing that would turn off the largest part of your player base from the game.

 

[Vo1fger]

I have one queston - when did you start your Journey? Because I didn't pay anything and there was approximately 15 days left till the end of Journey when I reached level 100 (and I played LESS than with the previous system - at most 3 hours in one day, but more often just an hour when with previous system it was 1.5-2 hours a day to reach 18 rounds won).

 

[EvanDavidson]

I have one queston - when did you start your Journey? Because I didn't pay anything and there was approximately 15 days left till the end of Journey when I reached level 100 (and I played LESS than with the previous system - at most 3 hours in one day, but more often just an hour when with previous system it was 1.5-2 hours a day to reach 18 rounds won).

I started on the first day.

 

[DRK3]

Free Journey player here too, and i finished Journey a couple of weeks, before the last set of weekly quests popped out.

I think Journey is fine as is, but you need to think and plan ahead - for example for casual players, without the premium pass and the premium quests that come with it, it might be hard to finish it - he needs to evaluate how much he wants to finish it, and if he does, consider paying the pass or even the 25 lv jump.

On the other side, there are the hardcore players that play a lot each day, and its kinda ridiculous that it was mostly these players that bought the 25lv jump, as soon as Journey came out, then complained when they finished Journey like on week 7/12 and werent getting as many reward points with the post-Journey system

Also, its advisable to keep track of Journey, for example being on lv 50 (midway) on week 6/12, since the progress is linear and gives you a good idea if you're ahead or behind.

 

[Vo1fger]

I started on the first day.

I too started playing since day 1, but like I said - level 100 was reached 16-14 days before the end of Journey. I was absolutely certain I'd finish it earlier because I was making 9-10 levels per week (3 of which came from completing quests + some games). So it seems to me that you were not playing for some time during the Journey as I played even less time (for the most part - like I mentioned there were some days in which I was playing for 3 hours) but still had handicap.

Also, its advisable to keep track of Journey, for example being on lv 50 (midway) on week 6/12, since the progress is linear and gives you a good idea if you're ahead or behind.

I think many people could use such attitude.

And a little bit of rant:

Spoiler: Rant about wording in a certain quest

I do hope that next time there will be more appropriate wording for quests (because I believed that "Play a unit with power higher than 8" would count units that can get these numbers with certain state of board or hand - namely Roegner, Joachim de Vett, Shaelmaar, Venendal elite and some other cards I am forgetting - but no, only those with BASE power counted for the quest; I think such detail MUST be written in description). I was forced to play the deck I despise the most - point slam thrive monsters (otherwise I'd probably never completed it). There was a match which I lost to a player with deathwish and scenario but just by 5-8 points; I was almost screaming: "Why did I lose so insignificantly?! It's just braindead pointslam - how can it lose to a deck with actual synergies and plan with such little difference?!" I know how it looks like but I can't help it - I HATED those 2 games of pointslam with every fibre of my soul; I'd gladly erase them from my memory and history of matches but alas...

 

[HTMekkatorque]

I think you have to be playing from the beginning, the bonus crowns are too crucial. I'll finish the 12 weeks of quests and I'll probably be left on lvl 60. No bonus, so all my crowns just earned through regular wins with no boost, I don't know how many crowns a win is but it sounds impossible. But this is fine because I only played for 3 weeks of it.

 

[Six-Sided-Prism]

I think you have to be playing from the beginning, the bonus crowns are too crucial. I'll finish the 12 weeks of quests and I'll probably be left on lvl 60. No bonus, so all my crowns just earned through regular wins with no boost, I don't know how many crowns a win is but it sounds impossible. But this is fine because I only played for 3 weeks of it.

Getting to level 60 without unlocking Premium after playing for just 3 weeks is actually quite impressive. Congratulations!

 

[Balgar-bard-slayer]

Not sure about this. The journey has 13 weeks of quests and a little time beyond that.

I purchased premium during week 9. I have managed to grind to completion in just over 3 weeks.

So that would take what? Around 7 weeks if you grind on non premium.

So 13+ weeks should be plenty of time

 

[Guerreroymago]

I finish the Journey two weeks ago.
All days I complete 14/14 rounds as minimum. Maybe 1,5-2 hours or more at day. Too intense in my opinion but I got it.

 

[billmcdougal]

I started playing Gwent a week and a half ago, bought Journey premium last Friday when I was at level 5 and didn't realize there was an end date. Have been grinding the quests like crazy and am at level 60 now. Will probably cap out around 70 or 75 since I started so late.

 

[vultusprime]

Journey is actually impossible for a F2P player to finish. I've done every weekly quest (which are all boring, tedious, and awful for gameplay for myself and competitor) and play for about 1-2 hours a day and am only at level 70 with like a week to go. What is the logic behind this? Just the most mind boggling decision making on the part of CDPR. Additionally, they even published a huge post on here: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/ind...-performed-by-game-director-himself.11028497/ supposing some sort of "deep analysis" yet clearly missed the obvious that this would just be another thing that would turn off the largest part of your player base from the game.

Well, I agree in some way. I started the journey in the middle of May, a little late. I have completed all the journey challenges which I found very interesting and fun. They are much better than the repetitive weekly challenges (win 3 games with monster, win 5 games with Northern Realms and so forth...). They forced you to play different faction with different deck style cards. Those little quests created a set of short term goals that encouraged you to play more. Unfortunately they are finished; I'm at level 80 and now the only way to progress is through grinding.
I like Journey because it gives you access to keys at a much faster rate, which is what this game needs. I dislike the fact that in 6 days it will be over and that's that. Back to the slow grinding.
Gwent needs more frequent and varied challenges to spice things up and allow players to acquire keys in a more timely fashion.

 

[quintivarium]

I too enjoyed journey, especially the special quests and the clear progression. The extra keys are certainly a bonus. And I completed it today after playing irraticly 4 hours some days, 0 matches others - without spending money. Even were I not to finish, I would find journey more interesting and more lucrative than the standard rewards system.

 

[EvanDavidson]

To those that finished Journey as F2P players, congrats. Though I would note many of your comments include the word "grind". That is not a good thing. The mass majority of players (many of whom would never go on a game's forum) do not want to have to grind for months on end to complete objectives on what is simply a casual game. This is another reason for the tremendously small player base for this game and does not bode well for its future (just like shutting down the console versions like 3 months after launch was a huge red flag).

 

[bojerbela]

To those that finished Journey as F2P players, congrats. Though I would note many of your comments include the word "grind". That is not a good thing. The mass majority of players (many of whom would never go on a game's forum) do not want to have to grind for months on end to complete objectives on what is simply a casual game. This is another reason for the tremendously small player base for this game and does not bode well for its future (just like shutting down the console versions like 3 months after launch was a huge red flag).

How do you know, how many players play Gwent? I really like to see the source...

 

[billmcdougal]

To those that finished Journey as F2P players, congrats. Though I would note many of your comments include the word "grind". That is not a good thing. The mass majority of players (many of whom would never go on a game's forum) do not want to have to grind for months on end to complete objectives on what is simply a casual game. This is another reason for the tremendously small player base for this game and does not bode well for its future (just like shutting down the console versions like 3 months after launch was a huge red flag).

To be honest, I'm not sure that it's reasonable to expect it to be easy to completely finish the journey if playing extremely casually. If completing it were a foregone conclusion, it would lessen the feeling of accomplishment for reaching the end. I only wish I had started long enough ago that my grinding could possibly hit the end.

 

[Draconifors]

To be honest, I'm not sure that it's reasonable to expect it to be easy to completely finish the journey if playing extremely casually.

Yeah, it isn't reasonable.
It's never reasonable to expect to get all the rewards without putting in serious work and even dedication; if you're not going to put in effort to earn the rewards then you shouldn't expect to get them.

If completing it were a foregone conclusion, it would lessen the feeling of accomplishment for reaching the end.

 

[vultusprime]

Yeah, it isn't reasonable.
It's never reasonable to expect to get all the rewards without putting in serious work and even dedication; if you're not going to put in effort to earn the rewards then you shouldn't expect to get them.

I agree in principle, but I don't agree in relation to Gwent. First of all let's define "casual play". If you can play for an hour or so almost every day, then this is not casual. If for various reasons it is only possible to play a couple of games a week, then perhaps Gwent is not for you.
But even 1 to 2 hours per day is not enough to get the achievements, rewards, resources etc...
Gwent seems to cater to people who are on youtube or twitch, who can play 5-7 hours every single day. For everyone else it becomes a GRIND. You only need to look at the contracts and rewards to see this.
The GG contract: give 1000 GG and get 3 keys. Give 5000 and get 5 keys. For the mathematically challenged such as myself, that means playing another 4000 games just to get 2 extra keys! How long will it take you to play 4000 games?
The level contract: the rewards become more interesting after reaching level 60 for the 6th or 7th time. But then again how many games will you have to play to reach it?
The irony of it all is that, if you do get to play so many games and finally get those rewards, they will become meaningless. This is because by then you will have managed to collect most, if not all, of the cards already. You can see this with popular Gwent players on youtube; they have 100.000 plus resources, but they already own every card in the game. Do you think they care about Journey?
What also bothers me about the rewards is that often are just cosmetic. After putting in so many hours, a title or a silly avatar is not what you are looking for, unless you are 12.
Gwent is a nice game, but it takes too long to get keys, and in Gwent keys are key.
Journey speeded up the process considerably, but otherwise keys only come through grinding.
No one expects something for nothing, but unless you are willing to spend money, then you must be ready spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours to be able to get kegs and craft cards.

 

[Draconifors]

^ Most of that isn't even about Journey.

 

[bojerbela]

Some one on reddit made the math at the beginning of the Journey. If you are F2P, you need 7 matches a day to complete the Journey (if you complete the weekly quests too and don't lose 2-0). I would not call it a grind.

 

[HTMekkatorque]

What also bothers me about the rewards is that often are just cosmetic. After putting in so many hours, a title or a silly avatar is not what you are looking for, unless you are 12.

I would say that for a lot of players yeah the journey was useless. But earning like 120 keys is a serious chunk of generosity for those that don't have everything, this and I do think the premium mode was totally worth it if you do care about the cosmetics, the card backs are cool at the least. If you compare this to HS they gave away a deck to new players that was more competitive than any deck I had, and I grinded a long time for that. So gwents system was a much better balanced incentive comparatively.

But you're not really forced to participate in the journey and I doubt it took them a lot of resources to implement, so I think it was a successful addition to the game.