Let's talk about Scoiatael
In my opinion Scoia is still little underpowered in comparison to other factions and it has too many weak cards, that needs some buff. It gets little better with first patch, that nerfed all other faction and I also know there is thread here about how Scoia is actually strong. I did not want argue about that and my favorite deck is elf swarm, even thought it is not my best deck.
But I think that CD should make Scoia little more accessible for beginners. Sure, Scoia is tricky faction so it will be always little harder to start with it. But something should be done with horrible choice for starter leader and how difficult is Scoia ability is for beginners.
Let's start with Francesca, I'm sure she has fans. But I think she need little boost and she is least played starter leader for sure, even when I take into account Scoia is least played faction. I get it, most leaders have ability equal to silver card. And you can argue that Francesca effect is similar to Last Wish, silver card that is played in some deck. I still think that Last Wish is better than Francesca, because discarding is better than shuffling back. And even thought Last Wish let you see only 2 more cards instead of 3, you know what you drew before discarding so it is at least much easier to make correct decision. And that is my point. Maybe Francesca is not worst Scoia leader how I think she is, but she is by far hardest leader to use correctly. Even Last Wish is only played in advanced decks that looks for some specific cards. Compare this to any other starter leader, Eredin and Crach both give 10 power on board, no question asked. And when my opponent copied his buffed rushed Catapult with Foltest and I responded by exchanging 1-3 cards and I was not even sure, if my new hand is better than old, I really questioned my choice of faction.
Now Scoia faction ability. Again compare it to other factions. NR gives +2 bonus to gold, sure that is good. All Skellige units gain +1 after each round, that seemed even more insane to me when I started. And monster could keep one unit, I did not liked randomness of it, but opening with Geralt/Eredin and pass was everywhere at that time and it is quite hard to counter with starter deck. Now Scoia, as beginner I was asking what this ability even do and how should I use it. Should I play first or last, should I use it on first round or when? OK, I played Gwent in Witcher 3, so I knew I want play last. But I had no idea who will start next round so I wasted many uses on outcome, that would happen anyway and I'm still not sure, who will play first when round ends in tie.
Even now, when I value playing last card super high and I play Decoy + Spy in nearly all of my 15 different decks, I still think Scoia ability is weakest, but I could see arguments otherwise. But again, it is quite hard concept to get right for beginners and you need to play so you will always keep card parity with opponent, because if you are 1 - 2 card behind, Scoia ability will have nearly no effect when opponent will be able to play last card(s). I think Scoia ability should be that you can always play last, it will be only small boost, because when you lose round, you play last anyway so it will be only about round one where you would normally play last in half games.
But what bother me most, is why to let player choose in first place? I mean in 95% I choose to play last after round I won, the rest 5% are games where I misclicked or missed choice because of super short timer. OK, maybe there is like 1 game in 50, where I could make willingly different choice. But it is not worth it, the choices is there only to confuse new players and let them make mistake and this clearly bad design.
In my opinion Scoia is still little underpowered in comparison to other factions and it has too many weak cards, that needs some buff. It gets little better with first patch, that nerfed all other faction and I also know there is thread here about how Scoia is actually strong. I did not want argue about that and my favorite deck is elf swarm, even thought it is not my best deck.
But I think that CD should make Scoia little more accessible for beginners. Sure, Scoia is tricky faction so it will be always little harder to start with it. But something should be done with horrible choice for starter leader and how difficult is Scoia ability is for beginners.
Let's start with Francesca, I'm sure she has fans. But I think she need little boost and she is least played starter leader for sure, even when I take into account Scoia is least played faction. I get it, most leaders have ability equal to silver card. And you can argue that Francesca effect is similar to Last Wish, silver card that is played in some deck. I still think that Last Wish is better than Francesca, because discarding is better than shuffling back. And even thought Last Wish let you see only 2 more cards instead of 3, you know what you drew before discarding so it is at least much easier to make correct decision. And that is my point. Maybe Francesca is not worst Scoia leader how I think she is, but she is by far hardest leader to use correctly. Even Last Wish is only played in advanced decks that looks for some specific cards. Compare this to any other starter leader, Eredin and Crach both give 10 power on board, no question asked. And when my opponent copied his buffed rushed Catapult with Foltest and I responded by exchanging 1-3 cards and I was not even sure, if my new hand is better than old, I really questioned my choice of faction.
Now Scoia faction ability. Again compare it to other factions. NR gives +2 bonus to gold, sure that is good. All Skellige units gain +1 after each round, that seemed even more insane to me when I started. And monster could keep one unit, I did not liked randomness of it, but opening with Geralt/Eredin and pass was everywhere at that time and it is quite hard to counter with starter deck. Now Scoia, as beginner I was asking what this ability even do and how should I use it. Should I play first or last, should I use it on first round or when? OK, I played Gwent in Witcher 3, so I knew I want play last. But I had no idea who will start next round so I wasted many uses on outcome, that would happen anyway and I'm still not sure, who will play first when round ends in tie.
Even now, when I value playing last card super high and I play Decoy + Spy in nearly all of my 15 different decks, I still think Scoia ability is weakest, but I could see arguments otherwise. But again, it is quite hard concept to get right for beginners and you need to play so you will always keep card parity with opponent, because if you are 1 - 2 card behind, Scoia ability will have nearly no effect when opponent will be able to play last card(s). I think Scoia ability should be that you can always play last, it will be only small boost, because when you lose round, you play last anyway so it will be only about round one where you would normally play last in half games.
But what bother me most, is why to let player choose in first place? I mean in 95% I choose to play last after round I won, the rest 5% are games where I misclicked or missed choice because of super short timer. OK, maybe there is like 1 game in 50, where I could make willingly different choice. But it is not worth it, the choices is there only to confuse new players and let them make mistake and this clearly bad design.
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