Open PTR feedback

[seb0815]

There is so much good and needed in the version we played at the PTR and I want to appreciate that with my first words. Well done, CDPR!
Here are some improvements and ideas I would love to see in the final version:

• Gameplay should be speed up
• A lot of sounds are missing and should be added to guide the players through the match - this would give the cards more weight
• Visual helpers should be added (e.g. coinflip result and "Your turn" notifications)
• Auto "end turn" and "pass" if everything is done in a turn
• Card dragging is a thing!
• Reenabling 3 bronzes limit
• The decklists look very chaotic atm - power and provision should be splitted in a better way (different sorting options would be great too)
• Consistent wordings on cards
• Bigger and more icons on the cards
• Fully visible cards at all turns (looking at 1/3 of my cards to analyze the next steps feels so clunky while the enemies turn)
• Some more diversity on bronze abilities (too much "Deal 1/2/1+x/2+x Damage" placeholder cards)
• Just a little bit more tutor cards and readjusted card draws between the rounds

 

[panete4]

Hi guys, after 15 hours testing PTR i wanna give you my feedback about it.

1.- And most important for me, I think the game have lost two great mechanics: card advantage and bleed. I think the problem is the hand limit and/or to draw 3 cards each round, that makes 1st and 2nd round matter much less. Probably is better to remove hand limit (because less draw would decrease consistency, wich is really good in PTR, or maybe adding more tutors would help).

2.- Pace of the game, autopass when you cannot do anything else, drag and drop from hand, faster animations, wathever. I know this is gonna be fixed.

3.- More mulligans. I would add 1-2 for each leader.

4.- A lot of archetypes have dissapear: amor, mulligan, old reveal (i don't like new rng based reveal), movement, weather... Hope they will come back in the future, i think they fit perfect in HC.

5.- Deckbuilder options: filter by strength, manual deck sorting...

Maybe this is not the kind of feedback you want, but I've tried every faction and apart of Eskel, Vesemir & Lambert low provisions cost and ask for some love to machines and NR in general i think is quite well balanced.

Overall i like Homecoming, i've had a lot of fun in the PTR and i think is a great new start for Gwent.

Thanks for your great work and sorry for my lame english.

 

[Veruis]

I didn't notice this before:

Units with ability like "boost self by x when unit (with order/scoia'teal) appear" works wrong or tooltip is misleading, because they triggered even when non-unit card was placed on board.

 

[jonybir]

Copied from a Google Doc, hope formatting is fine

Gwent HC PTR Feedback

Bugs

• Had a disconnect bug once where no one could do anything after time ran up nothing happened
• Unable to reconnect despite perfectly fine internet connection once
• Siren can boost non-deathwish units (wild hunt navigator)
• Wrong text (numbers?) on slave driver
• Not all cards read default (copy, strength) [e.g. NEKKER]
• Tactical Advantage shows a white layer stating 0 power
• Was not able to mulligan in multiple games containing Usurper (despite having a mulligan left)
• Multiple cards with Order were able to be triggered right away multiple times, without Zeal
• Hefty Helge does is not a deploy, but apparently order and immune
• Incinerating Trap triggers on repeating deploy effects
• Pitfall Trap blocks Deploy effects (intended?)
• Cantarellas card text is not 100% conform with her actual ability
• Phoenix hatchling isn't doomed
• Henselt plays ALL units from deck AND hand

General Feedback

• Tactical Advantage should stay on board for later rounds if not used yet
• Searching “elf” in the deckbuilder should not include “self”, &similar
• The game should not assume that multiple charges of an ability will be used right after another
• Removing CA spies was very good - coin flip solution is OK for now
• The basic game plays great, it just needs a few more low cost bronzes, specifically with synergies instead of generally good effects.
• After 3 days of testing Discard Skellige seems really strong because 1. unremovable ping-effect on the leader and 2. Mulligans hardly mattering for the deck
• Cards really need row indicators beside their row locked abilities
• Deck Reveal Archetype is too RNG depended. Maybe weaken the cards a bit but have them always use top card, then actually shuffle back?

leave henslet alone. he is good with the way he is. Nr is already at a gutter

Post automatically merged: Oct 9, 2018

Also, another feedback is that when u can do something flashing that card is good I think. Enables player easier understanding of the card can do and good for new players

 

[Tapiir]

First of all thank you for setting up a PTR for us plebs as well! These few days got me very hopeful and excited for the future of Gwent; I think the game is going in the right direction and I like the graphical and gameplay changes. I'm finding deckbuilding loads more interesting because of provisions and the lack of tutors, and I found it great being able to do more during my turn. Artifacts, orders and new leader abilities are all really good additions to the game. However the deckbuilder's search function needs improvements; right now you can't search for e.g. special cards. Furthermore some of the tooltips are rather opaque e.g. Aglais seems to double the boosts she got in hand as well.

 

[2Manyfaces]

3. Emhyr var Emreis. one of the coolest characters getting the WORST leader ability. Not even a completely new player would pick that him up.

Yes and I am very very sad about that. And I really wanna write about this again, please make him stronger!
Also bring back Blacklist please

 

[Legreb14]

Here is a list of things that i noticed in the PTR:

• Deckbuilder:
  • It would be nice to have a filter for the three main card-types: Units, Artifacts and Specials
  • It is hard to see see the difference between the cards that are in your deck and the cards that are not, when you scroll through all the cards. Maybe there could be greyed out more.
  • The lock-tooltip mentions the flipping of face down units, but there are no such units in the game as far as i know, as all ambush cards are artifacts
• Ingame:
  • It was hard to see my hand during the opponents turn, as the view shifts up to him
  • When the coin gets flipped at the start it is not very clear who gets to go first and second
  • There isn't a very clear sound when the opponent passes
  • It would be nice to see provisions ingame
  • It would be nice to see the number of cards left in each players graveyard and deck
  • It would be nice to see the cardstacks of the deck/graveyard getting smaller/bigger as we draw and discard cards
  • I like that you can see the row effect like weather on the symbols to the right. But it would be even better if it showed the effect of the card and the counter of the weather effect.
  • It would be nice to have a clearer turn-history with the use of orders and leaders displayed
  • When you destroy a trap, it is missing an animation. Right now the card gets a nilfgaardian cardback and vanishes without sound or animation. It would be nice to see it flipped over and to see what trap got destroyed.

I hope your consider this feedback and I thank you for your hard work. Homecoming looks awesome.

 

[BANANA_UASergiyUA]

The funniest thing, that right now, the most players like the current Gwent...Because many cards playing, game has a healthy dose of random, all fractions is prettymuch equal... All what CDPR need to do, it's resurrect, cards like Pavetta, Improve weak concepts, fix the coin, and then just add and add new cards, new conceptions, new fraction, and company...Why do I have to re-acquaintance with cards that I have seen thousands of times? Why it was impossible to add all the good ideas and concepts of Homecoming, in addition to what we already have? but with new cards..

 

[inverted_forest]

I've played the PTR for about 15 hours and on the whole, I have to say good job! It is a lot of fun and a better game than before. The changes were very well thought-out and you can ignore the people with knee-jerk negative reactions because they don't understand the current game or don't know how to play now that they can no longer slam tempo for card advantage as easily. They will come around soon enough.

Hand limit and Tactical Advantage make coinflip feel much better. You can lead with a low-tempo engine on blue, whereas in Old Gwent that was a good way to lose. The 3+3+3 draw is good. Maybe at most you can go down to 2 draws in the last round, but I wouldn't change the 3 draws in the first two rounds.

Rows feel like they matter. Going from 3 rows to 2 didn't hurt at all, and actually helped a lot in my opinion.

Locks are important, even necessary. Again, it shows that the game is less about point-slamming tempo.

There are only two main gameplay complaints I have:

1. Bronzes feel too weak. They are bad and they feel bad to play and include in your deck. Whereas previously they were the core of every deck's strategy, they are now filler cards you use to bring down the provision cost of your deck. Even when you have two bronze cards with synergy out at the same time, the value you get from them is usually negligible and doesn't compare to the gold cards. The only exception is when you use your 4 point bronze card to destroy the opponent's gold artifacts. Then it feels overpowered.

2. This is a more fundamental problem and I'm not sure how to get around it -- the game is still centered around points and points alone. I'm sure you guys have thought about this, since it's one of the primary limitations of Gwent. But it would be very interesting if there were something else to play for besides points, some other avenue of attack so that cards don't just become some variation on boosting and damaging. I don't have any great ideas about this but I hope you guys might.

Overall, thanks for all the thoughtful work you put into this, and I really look forward to Homecoming.

 

[sevenspring]

List of questionable? cards for today. (after 3 days gameplay)
Gwent PTR

Disclamer:
I don't pretend on truth,
so please, be patient, there are only my thoughts. And yes, i've filled form already

1.Questionable cards Shortlist:

Lowerpowered cards: for it's food cost or card power:
-------------------
Lyrian Cavalry
Ida Amen,
Avalac'h sage, Dandelion Poet,
Isengrim's Council
Triss: butterfiles
Mandragora

Overpowered (for it's card abilities or food cost)
-------------------
Bomb Heaver,
John Natailis,
Sihil,
Lacerate (!)
Spores (!)

Random cards:
-------------------
Gascon as it is currently.
Angouleme
Count Caldwel
-----------

2. When will be good perfomance? With all enabled premium cards perfomance
is Not good, even on 2017 year bought, new notebook on middle video settings.

Longread:

Spoiler

if you curious, or need more details, why i have write specificly that cards, (not others)
please read below:

Underpowered cards:
===============================

Destroy artifact cards.

Ida Amen:
----------------
4 power and 8 food

destroy artifact or boost unit by 3
I believe the card is to week for gold card with 8 food cost.

Lets search: on good alternative:
For scoia'tael we have 5 food and 4 power Vrihedd Sappers
For elf-build deck is the best alternative,

for others deck here: even more powerfull in this terms card:

Bomb Heaver (!):
----------------
most of decks with i played for 3.5 days, used this card.
Bomb heaver is powerfull and cheap 4 power, destroy artifact and only 6 food.
I think this card is overpowered.
On the other hand, ida amen is under developed.



Avalac'h sage
----------------
13 food (maximum) and give bronze or gold kard by
2 power and play gold or bronze artifact from the deck
-1 scrolling card from the deck, but
in current situation, is not That useful
because extra cards are banished on each round start.

So, Not bad card, maybe should cost 11 food


Lyrian Cavalry
----------------
2 power 4 food.
don't live too long, probably should be 3 power.

Dandelion Poet (beloved champion in current meta)
----------------
13 food cost: scrolling deck for one card,
but same issues as Avalac"h

Lets look on Gold Item card 10 food

Isengrim's Council
----------------
Not bad card, but much weaker as Commanders Horn
because of random (!)

It Should cost less food or provide: any dryad, any dwarf or elf.

Triss: butterfiles
----------------

for 12 food Triss promises Randomly (!) boost card in your hand.
Hardplay for 12 food, should cost less,
or may ask for game designer: please return "good old Triss butterfiles",
she was not easy to play, but defenetly good card.

Mandragora
-----------------
Not useful card for its cost. as we have current Champion: "Spores for 5 food"
same effect for much lest cost.
Mandragora sould be give weaken - strengen by 2.
Removing strengthen effect from the game is a big question for now.


PS: have you notice totally mess up with swap cards on each round start?
Sometimes game offer mulligan cards, some times not. Not good at all.
i think this is bug.

===============================
Owerpowered cards:
===============================

John Natailis
-----------------
Gain zeal for All order cards with 6 power.
- play John.
give to drink Mahakam Ale on John.
Win.

Maybe it's overpowered for 9 food, should cost 11 food
or have same power as Priscilla.

Lacerate
-----------------
i believe it's overhelming powered for 7 food.
Let's compared to Zoltan with Duda Agitator
pretty the same for 11 food.

And Merigold Hairstorm is not so good compared to this card.

Lacerate Sould be changed (!), maybe cost 9 food.

==================
Dragonballs Chamion (!)

Spores
-----------------
Heal and ally or reset an enemy. This good pack we get for Only for 5 food. The

same as Leader Emhyr.
Even if to remove healing ally (in future);
this card still be very strong (sometimes stronger than Scorch)
Again: removed strength weaken effect from the game: it is a big question.




===============================
"Random cards" (hardcore gameplay)
===============================

Angouleme:
----------------
It should be good useful card, Should be.
(remove artifact from opponent deck, good idea)
But is not (in real game)
If player want to win 60%+, he probably would'not add random like this in deck.
Should be more power, or cost less food.

Even her "friend" Gascon with random power is better
Boost self from 0 to 11 power
At least we could calculate "good chances" to play good this card is 5 of 10.

But random func can guarantie that Gascon may boost himself 10 10 1 1 1 2 1 1 10

right?

Master of random betrayal,
Count Caldwel
---------------- with 10 power, it give more fun than win.
No comments


================================

Thank you for reading and reached this line.

================================

To all game creators team:
Thank you, for all your hard work!
================================

 

[Flying_Donkey]

A very quick and general feedback : overall, the gameplay feels really "thin", moreso than with previous gwent. The deckbuilding phase is still good, maybe even better than before with the 165 cap but the gameplay is thinner than ever, and I think that this is what he's trying to say :

2. This is a more fundamental problem and I'm not sure how to get around it -- the game is still centered around points and points alone. I'm sure you guys have thought about this, since it's one of the primary limitations of Gwent. But it would be very interesting if there were something else to play for besides points, some other avenue of attack so that cards don't just become some variation on boosting and damaging. I don't have any great ideas about this but I hope you guys might.

Gwent desperatly need more mecanics, like A LOT MORE, cause only "order" is new and this is far than enough.

Another thing : is strengthening out of the game ? If so, why?! Was it that hard to balance? Cause it basically throws out the window 80% of skellige gameplay....

Also armor is no more (or I missed something), I guess it was a weak mecanic, but why not try something else instead? Like make armor lower but mitigate every damage and not disappearing after damage?

Because again, I feel we are left with really thin gameplay, and the game doesn't feel "achieved" (I still bought thronebreaker...)

PS: I can't connect to the PTR anymore.

 

[Draconifors]

PS: I can't connect to the PTR anymore.

The PTR ended at noon CEST, so about five hours ago.

 

[flagstaff]

Got about 25 hours in on the PTR. In addition to my previous post, I have some more feedback.

Deck Building:
Enjoy deck building a lot more in Homecoming. Instead of what is the best card for my deck, it is a game of what I am willing or not willing to sacrifice to get this ability or effect into my deck. Where can I shave 2 more provisions off of? Is there a big card I am willing to give up, to upgrade 4-5 other cards? I LOVE deck building in homecoming.

Provision Cost:
The following cards should have their cost changed.
Sihil (+2 and a cap of 4 damage), Avallach(+2), Anna Strenger(+1), Nithral(+1), Glustyworp(+2), Phoenix(+2), Regis(+4 or he needs a cap on how many times the effect can trigger).
I am sure there are many more, but these are the OP ones I ran into.

Row Effects:
The row effects show their name, when you hover over the row icon, but it would probably be helpful for new players to also show the effect.

Artifacts:
We need more of them, maybe not for homecoming, but soon.

Traps:
Traps need to be capable of being interacted with. I think destroy artifact cards should work on them, even if they are face down.

Game Speed:
The countdown on the board needs a sound queue, to get people's attention.
The game is too slow. Too often you take an action or end a round and there is a few second wait after it.
Work to tighten up how quickly things happen would go a long way.

Hand limit/card draws:
I think we need to go down to 3 cards in R2 and 2 in R3 for draws.

Mulligans:
Every leader needs 1 more, that they get at the start of round 3.
Letho taking all mulligans is unbalanced, because it punishes weaker leaders more. I think removing a set number of mulligans, i.e. 2 from an opponent would be more fair, that way weak leaders are not punished more by Letho(his provision cost could then be reduced by 1).

Mill:
CPDR has said, like 10 times, that mill would no longer be viable, but there are new mill cards??
Give Viper Witchers a new ability that doesn't mill the opponent's deck.
Example ability: Poison (3) A unit takes 1 damage per turn for 3 turns, unless a heal effect is applied to the unit.

 

[Tertley]

Hi,
I quite like the new Gwent.
Artefacts are a cool new addition and I really like them. They add a completely different way to play and another layer of complexity.
The points added at the start of the game are a nice addition, but the boosting aspect is unfair as it gives certain cards an unfair advantage. Sabbath requires having the tallest unit, NR strategies are built around boosted units, it allows counter-play around cards like scorch, etc. Having the points added at the side would give an equal advantage to all factions and archetypes, helping to prevent abuse of the mechanic.
The hand limit is a nice way to help CA abuse, however I think that adding three cards in the last round is a mistake. It means that the only viable decks will be long or medium round. Tempo or finisher decks are vastly inferior because the last round is always at least 3 cards. Bleeding round two is extremely risky as your finisher (like Vilgefortz into Tibor or witchers) become worth much less.
The mechanics and archetypes are interesting, I particularly like the Thrive ability. However, NR suffer massively compared to other factions. The only viable NR deck I could build used Foltest and deploy abilities. The order ability is far too disrupt-able in my opinion. Even the cards that add zeal just get locked or removed. Looking at the provision cost for these cards and then the chances of them ever being able to go off makes them seem pointless, leading to most of NR looking pointless. I know some people have managed to play some of these decks, but those are only against decks that either don't draw, or lack removal.
Bring back blacklisting. Mulligans are already limited, but now some are also worthless.

Many have already said, but the game is too slow. The animations and order abilities need to be sped up and become more fluid.
Games are far more draw dependant. There is no worse feeling than knowing that you teched against a specific card set (like artefacts) but then never draw your cards. I don't think all cards should be able to be tutored easily, but I do think that specific techs, like artefacts and weather clear should be able to be tutored. Most of the time they're just 4 or 0 points anyway.

I'll now go into specific cards and they're abilities. I don't have a list in-front of me so there might be some mistakes.
Leaders.
The number of mulligans assigned to leaders seems inconsistent.
Eredin has one of the most powerful abilities, but 4 mulligans. Emyhr has a much worse ability, but less (or equal if I've forgotten) mulligans.
Eithne is too powerful. She should have a cool down of 1 per shot to allow counter-play. She also makes removal far too strong. You can't play engines against her. She then also has 3 mulligans. Easily the best ST leader.
Usurper should trigger his ability on round start and only have 1 or two charges. He can still deny leader, but you have to be smart when using him and you don't auto lose if your deck is built around your leader (like consume).
Woodland spirit should just boost a unit by 10. Every other leader can guarantee getting at least 10 points of value from their leader except for woodland spirit (and Emhyr).
Arachas queen drones should be doomed (not the ones from the nest). Mourntart is op.
Henselt might be an issue, but if you allow the bleeding round to work then it should be fine as his set up is very low tempo.
Bran is the only consistent leader for thinning. I think this makes him very powerful as there is so little thinning at the moment.
The Foltest animation is extremely frustrating. You often end up double clicking when you want to use the order but just use the next zeal boost. Please either cancel his ability after use or make it more clear via the blue beam that you are still using his power.

Viper witchers should not banish. This can auto lose you games purely by RNG. I think they should be 1 point and do the opposite of spotters, damaging an enemy. (I know this is bland, but milling and banishing is crazy powerful).
Canterella should play from you own deck. Again, this card can cause you to auto lose purely by RNG.
Cynthia is too expensive. The golem can just be played round 2 with no consequence. Equally you could reduce the power of the golem to 3 or even 2.
Vilgefortz should allow the card draw to activate its deploy affect. Free Tibor is insane or equally pulling a deploy dependant card for your opponent gives him very powerful removal. There are few 1 point cards anymore (unless your opponent damages your units). If you think that it's too strong them reduce his power to 4.

Traps are really powerful. Pit trap should damage opposite row, so you have to move units and opponent can play around it. Fire trap should not kill units before their abilities activate (what's the points in the artefact removal cards then?). The destroy next unit card should cost more as it can deny insane value (this can still kill artefact removal).

There should be a way to remove immune on units. Immunity will become one of your biggest problems (looks at the Eredin combos). Giving the gold artefact removal cards the option to remove immune might be a way to do this. Milva, Saenthesis, Alpha Werewolf etc are too strong for their cost.

I think that locks are OK. The chances of you drawing them validate their low cost and high base value.

Regis is OP. I've been hit for 40+ points and I used it to get 30+ points. I've never seen him used for less than his provision cost. He is auto include for any deck that does targeted damage. Either only have him kill the weak with a damage cap, or increase his provision cost.

Sihil is also too powerful. When combined with Eithne or Crach this card also achieves insane value. If you become able to access artefact removal more easily then it can stay as it is, but this is another card that becomes, draw removal or lose.

Keltullis is fine. The only issue is Eredin immunity. This applies to the Ciri cards as well.

That's all I can think of for now. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

 

[Jaynert]

After 34 hours and around 80% battles won playing all decks >> first 2 rounds are almost meaningless now. we need card advantage mechanics.

In the 1st round I get rid of the weakest cards and/or boost my cards in hand, then pass with 7 cards in hand regardless if losing or winning.

In the 2nd round obviously I make sure I win & just make sure I don't end up with one card less than the opponent (but if the opponent won the 1st round he/she usually also just gets rid of the weak cards).

The 3rd round is 'normal battle' but if the opponent put some golds into winning the previous rounds he/she is at big disadvantage.

 

[Sablin]

Traps:
Traps need to be capable of being interacted with. I think destroy artifact cards should work on them, even if they are face down.

Actually, I think you can destroy face-down traps. I might be wrong, but I'd say the other day I destroyed a fireball trap with the bronze neutral which destroys artifacts.

 

[tomo_kallang]

Many cards either have inaccurate description or inaccurate implementation. I will start with the obvious offenders:
- slave driver: Deploy Damage an enemy by 2. If a unit is locked, damage it by 1 instead. For every enemy unit locked, increase damage by 1.
- King Henselt: Order: Play a copy (all copies) of an allied unit from your deck and give it Zeal.
- Ivo of Belhaven: Order. Melee: Damage an enemy by 2. Gain 1 Charge whenever you play a Witcher. (Reach 1)
- rot tosser: Deploy: spawn and play a cow carcass. cow carcass: Spying: After 1 turn, on turn end, destroy this unit and the unit on its left (including artifact).
- Hattori: Order: (Deploy: )resurrect a bronze artifact.
- Hefty Helga: Deploy: (Order: ) Damage an enemy by 2 for each Soldier on this unit's row. (Immune)
- Abaya: Deploy: Trigger a bronze ally's deathwish
- Triss: Telekinesis: Deploy: Ranged: Create and play a bronze Special card from either player's starting deck.
- Canterella: Spying. Deploy: Play the top card from the deck (your opponent's deck).
- Siren: Deploy: boost an ally with deathwish by 3.
- Crash An Craite: Order: Damage an enemy (an unit) by 1. Cooldown: 2.
- Naglfar: Look at 2 random gold (units) from your deck, then play one and place the other on top.
- Sihil: Order: Damage an enemy by 1. If it was destroyed, permanently increase damage by 1. Cooldown: 1.
- Woodland Spirit: Order: Set (Boost) the power of a unit in your hand to 10.
- Reinforcement: Spawn a copy of a unit (on your side of board).
- Eredin: Order: Boost a unit by 4 and give it Immune (permanently).


Now there are two intereactions that can be abused to gain card advantage;
- When you play Kambi when opponent has one card left, opponent just passes. Even when he has leader order or unit order ability to use. Allowing opponent to have his turn when he has no cards, or remove kambi from the game for now.
- Stregobor + King Foltest when going first flips the coin, gain a 11-pt advantage and burns opponent's one card. Pretty sure this is the definition of coin-flip abuse.

 

[Sablin]

BUG:

I discarded a Tuirseach Skirmisher with Derran and he didn't resurrect :/

 

[tomo_kallang]

Actually, I think you can destroy face-down traps. I might be wrong, but I'd say the other day I destroyed a fireball trap with the bronze neutral which destroys artifacts.

The gold trap card resolves before bronze card deploy effect. The bronze trap cards can be destroyed.

 

[RichardRage]

I am experiencing a major bug. The game does not get past the first loading screen with Geralt and Ciri. Reinstalling the game, restarting the PC or verifying the game files does not fix the issue. Does anyone know of a fix?