Patch Notes 8.0

+


Way of the Witcher is almost here and with it a considerable amount of changes. As many of you guessed, some are centred around the "Witcher" tag, so that already existing cards interacting well with Witchers are properly adjusted for the arrival of the new ones. Of course aside from that, there were multiple balance changes to other cards and you can read about them in detail below.

And with the festive season already in full swing, we also introduce the feature of Gifting so you can send goodies to your friends in GWENT and celebrate together.

Closing the list of changes are game fixes, some very much anticipated (Eredin!), some Quality of Life, but all improving the experience we'd like to offer you.
Changes
New Packges for Draft. More detailed info soon.

Redraft, Settings and Quit buttons have been added to the Draft user interface.
Neutral

Eskel, Vesemir and Lambert power changed from 2 to 3.

Provision changed from 8 to 7.

Ability changed to:

Adrenaline 4: Summon Eskel/Vesemir/Lambert from your deck to this row.

Developer comment: The introduction of Adrenaline opens new possibility for old cards.

We've decided to rehabilitate the Witcher trio but added the Adrenaline condition

to make it less flexible and force to commit in round 1.

Vesemir Mentor ability changed to:

Deploy: Boost all allied Witcher units on the battlefield by 1.

Adrenaline 5: Also boost your Witcher units in hand and deck.

Developer comment: With plethora of new targets for Vesemir Mentor,

his overall value increased a lot. Similarly to the Witchers trio,

we introduced Adrenaline to the effect to keep it in check and force commitment.

Roach provision changed from 10 to 9.

Knickers provision changed from 9 to 8.

Dandelion: Poet provision changed from 12 to 11.

Portal provision changed from 13 to 12.

Ability changed to:

Deploy: Summon a random 4 provision unit from your deck to the left of this card

After 3 turns, Summon a random 4 provision unit from your deck to the right of this card.

Developer comment: In the past, the strategy to nerfing Portal was to nerf its targets.

This time we would like to experiment with something different by removing one of Portal most oppressive feature: the ability to immediately put two engines on the board.

This allows us to bring Portal down one provision and most importantly rehabilitate its old targets by putting them back to 4 provisions.

Wagenburg now has a Siege Engine category.
Monsters
Haunt provision changed from 13 to 14.

Vran Warrior now has 1 armor.

Old Speartip provision changed from 13 to 12.

Imlerith ability changed to:

Deploy (Melee): Draw a card, then discard a card. If discarded card was a unit, boost self by its power.

Developer comment: New month, new Imlerith! We are adjusting Imlerith to have better synergy with Way of the Witcher cards such as Dol Dhu Lokke.
Skellige
Brokvar Hunter provision changed from 5 to 4.

An Crate Blacksmith now has 1 Armor.
Northern Realms
Vernon Roche provision changed from 12 to 11.

Lyrian Cavalry provision changed from 5 to 4.
Scoia'tael
Elven Swordmaster provision changed from 5 to 4.

Dwarven Chariot now has a Siege Engine category.
Nilfgaard
Coup de Grace provision changed from 10 to 9.

Damage dealt increased from 2 to 3.

Affan Hillergrand provision changed from 9 to 8.

Braathens power changed from 3 to 4.

Provision changed from 11 to 10.

Ability changed to:

Assimilate.

Deploy: Create and play a bronze disloyal unit from your starting deck.

Developer comment: We would like Braathens to be a card that supports Assimilate and Spies archetypes, rather than just a good midrange card that can be put in any deck.

To make it so, we are adding a deck building condition that shouldn't be a problem for archetypes mentioned, but other archetypes can still run him if the player is willing to adjust their deck. At the same time, we are improving his stats.

Emissary boost to a unit increased from 6 to 7.

Assire Var Anahid provision changed from 8 to 7.

Nauzicaa Sergeant provision changed from 5 to 4.

Master of Disguise power changed from 3 to 4.

Viper Witcher name changed to Kingslayer.

Fire Scorpion now has 1 Armor.

Alba Armored Cavalry power changed from 4 to 5, Armor changed from 0 to 1.

Impera Enforcers now have Zeal.

New Features
Gifting. New feature giving players the ability to send gifts to their friends. (Available only for Meteorite Powder and Real Money purchases)

Game Fixes
Assire now reveals the picked card before putting it in the deck.

Developer comment: Quality of life change. This removes the need to check graveyard to know which card the opponent put back in the deck. Makes already shared information more accessible.

Miruna's tooltip now correctly mentions that the target is picked randomly.

Ampibious Assault, Blood Eagle, Avallac'h: Sage and Novigradian Justice will now properly show a shuffled version of the deck instead of listing the cards in order.

Vrihedd Officer tooltip was harmonized with other similar tooltips.

Eredin Bréacc Glas will now correctly increase the damage dealt by Frost.

Defender is now correctly referred to in tooltips as a status.

Units with the Bounty status will now grant coins correctly only when destroyed.

Master Mirror will now correctly transform cards that are able to interact with the deck, such as Oneiromancy and Matta Hu'uri.

Cantarella is now able to play Trap cards from the opponent's deck.

Icons in Reward Book tabs should now always be shown correctly.
 
Last edited:
Developer comment: New month, new Imlerith!
I see the devs are embracing the meme.

Vesemir did get a nerf after all, then.

Zeal on Enforcers is nice.
As far as I'm concerned the Braathens change is definitely a buff despite the ability adjustment. Never need Emissaries anyway.
 
  • RED Point
Reactions: rrc
Bravo, CDPR, bravo to the team on this and the expansion! I know Slama pushed for more riskily designed cards, and I think it'll pay off in the form of more fun.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who expected zero balance changes like we've had recently, and I'm glad I was surprised.
 
Vernon Roche provision changed from 12 to 11
Is it a buff to spying Roche or Merciless? Slama said on stream that it's a buff to Blue Stripes Commando and that would mean that Merciless is geting a buff. But here it says that the spying Roche gets a provision buff.
 
Great to see the devs are willing to go back and add Adrenaline to past cards, a lot of good can be done with this.
Pre-emptively doing these changes shows a lot more foresight than at the time MM launched. Vesemir: Mentor could've really made a mess out of things.
Really looking forward to this.
 
Let's say hello to "Excommunication" and its bug, which hasn't been fixed since the release of "Novigrad".
 
Also appreciate the latest balance patches (especially the NG buffs), but miss a few things:
-> Sukrus nerf do make the expected unhealthy interaction with Arnaghad less impactful. Maybe 1 body left (and in return 1 provision less) might make this duo more vulnerable.
-> Harald Gord nerf: e.g. Adrenaline 2: Damage this unit by 1 for each played special card of your opponent
 
[...]
Vesemir did get a nerf after all, then.
[...]
The overall power is the same on Adrenaline 5, it is just a little bit less flexible.
Also due to the Adrenaline condition one can now search Vesemir: Mentor directly via Selective Mutation,
not just via Geralt: Quen, which one can get through Selective Mutation.
You might argue that this is overall a small buff.
 
:shrug: the balance patch is embarrassingly small, can't believe we've waited for 2 months for this. It's like those numerous unplayable cards and archetypes don't exist for gwent team. Or overpowered SK and Hunger? The game's income grows with more cosmetics and journeys, but the balancing is only getting less active and lazy with time. I really don't like where this is going
 

Gyg

Forum regular
No Sukrus change though. The combo Defender-Sukrus-Arnaghad will be problematic if SK player will manage to draw all of them. But it requires perfect draws and long R3.
 
"Ampibious Assault, Blood Eagle, Avallac'h: Sage and Novigradian Justice will now properly show a shuffled version of the deck instead of listing the cards in order."

Woooo....what?
Were you guys and gals aware that AA was showing cards in order? : - /
 

rrc

Forum veteran
...
Roach provision changed from 10 to 9.

Knickers provision changed from 9 to 8.
...
The ONLY deck which used these cards were SK Lippy deck. And it has just got +2 provision buff. Lippy deck was already in top 4 (or 5?) most winning decks and this is only going to push it even further up. I don't think because of this provision buff any other deck is going to use Roach or Knickers. Ideally Sval Blood should get -2 provision nerf and bring it to 15P leader.
Well done CDPR :giveup:
 
The ONLY deck which used these cards were SK Lippy deck. And it has just got +2 provision buff. Lippy deck was already in top 4 (or 5?) most winning decks and this is only going to push it even further up. I don't think because of this provision buff any other deck is going to use Roach or Knickers. Ideally Sval Blood should get -2 provision nerf and bring it to 15P leader.
Well done CDPR :giveup:

Yeah, I don't get why this was done either. Literally no one asked for it.

Also not crazy about Vernon Roche buff. Was not needed. Coup de Crace buff was not needed.

And the entire ST faction got literally 1p buff to a card that was overdue by about 2 years. Where are the Harmony provision fixes? Why is Oak still 13? Just so it could be spawned by Alzur+Oneiro?
 
Thank you for increasing Coup de grace damage and making it better overall
Too many time that I felt this card is not as good as other cards due to its damage limitation in short round
Make Nilfgaard great again!
 
Yeah, I don't get why this was done either. Literally no one asked for it.

Also not crazy about Vernon Roche buff. Was not needed. Coup de Crace buff was not needed.

And the entire ST faction got literally 1p buff to a card that was overdue by about 2 years. Where are the Harmony provision fixes? Why is Oak still 13? Just so it could be spawned by Alzur+Oneiro?
Harmony getting a new category is a pretty big buff in itself. Still, I would've liked to see some slight buffs to their already existing cards as well, but maybe it's a bit more viable now we will see.
I think they are hesitant to buff it after how dominant it was an entire year. It's one of those archetypes that can very quickly spiral out of control with just a few changes.
 
Also appreciate the latest balance patches (especially the NG buffs), but miss a few things:
-> Sukrus nerf do make the expected unhealthy interaction with Arnaghad less impactful. Maybe 1 body left (and in return 1 provision less) might make this duo more vulnerable.
-> Harald Gord nerf: e.g. Adrenaline 2: Damage this unit by 1 for each played special card of your opponent
They're extremely greedy engines in a meta full of removal, it's crazy to me that you even think they're good cards let alone OP cards
 
Harmony getting a new category is a pretty big buff in itself. Still, I would've liked to see some slight buffs to their already existing cards as well, but maybe it's a bit more viable now we will see.
I think they are hesitant to buff it after how dominant it was an entire year. It's one of those archetypes that can very quickly spiral out of control with just a few changes.

Come on, a new category is a "buff?" And a "pretty big one"? Really? You play Harmony at all?
And when it was dominant it was because of the double Waters. Everyone knew it then, and everyone still knows it now. As a mechanic, Harmony is no stronger (actually weaker) than Thrive and Assimilate. Fixing the provision changes that were applied as [failed] bandaids for double Waters is not going to make it "spiral out of control."
 
Top Bottom