Personal opinion: Ardal and Usurper issues

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In this DJ-Foltest meta I play only Seasonal. I do not touch Ranked 'til these leaders will be fixed. And it's not surprising that people play Usurper and Ardal...if you want to win against these overtuned leaders, than you must play hard counters. DJ and Foltest will be fixed and there will be much less Usurper player.
Side note: DJ need no fix right now (Burza said)...why did they then fixed Dettlaff in a couple of days? He was problematic and DJ is not? How is that?
 
Personally, I think Usurper is a Broken Leader because of one reason: he simply destroys an entire deck strategy by just being a leader, and there is absolutely no defense against it. Nilf is, indeed, a faction that has very disruptive gameplay, but aside from very few decks, losing a card isn't immediately an instaloss, because they are targeting a card, very rarely an entire deck. Usurper does just that: Gernichora, Arachas Queen, Meave, King of Beggars, Dj, Eldain, you name it... all of these decks are, most of the times, unplayable thanks to that leader that, don't forget, has an entire deck built to synergize with the fact that he, as a leader, doesn't provide any synergy at all. There should always be a chance to avoid our strategy get completely destroyed, hell, even some RNJesus is something we need to take in the account (ffffff... trebuchet hitting the wrong target)... the Usurper gets all of this, strategy, and throws it out of the window, simple as that.
This is absolutely no different to that OP deck that was Tempo Calveit during the open beta last weeks, which was totally unfair to deal with at the time.
 
Usurper does just that: Gernichora, Arachas Queen, Meave, King of Beggars, Dj, Eldain, you name it... all of these decks are, most of the times, unplayable thanks to that leader
As for DJ, Usurper does only disable his broken combo potential. Played as DJ against Usurper today, managed to win by adapting my strategy: instead of townsfolk, I copied some Cutup Lackeys and then 2 crime cards were sufficient to gain point advantage in R3.
 
I never had any serious problems with Demavend (who falls into the same category as the mentioned leaders) against Ursurper thanks to deckbuilding and adjusting my game plan. No matter if I won those games, those were some of the best and most enjoyable games I played.
And after the NR rework, Demavendis even relying on Demavend himself. The same with Meve.
 
I don't think Usurper is a bad leader. In fact, I even like his concept. Because in a way, he serves very efficiently as a "community discontent measuring tool". When his popularity is low, it inhibits the meta is in a good state. When he rises, red flags start popping up and it is a signal to Devs to take note.
 
I don't think Usurper is a bad leader. In fact, I even like his concept. Because in a way, he serves very efficiently as a "community discontent measuring tool". When his popularity is low, it inhibits the meta is in a good state. When he rises, red flags start popping up and it is a signal to Devs to take note.

So it's the leader people use when they aren't enjoying the game.....

hmmmmmm
 
Just watched Gwent on Twitch and realized that also all the streamers are pissed of because of all the NG players. No fun there. Ardal & Usuper everywere. Also Tibor + Xarthisius + Yennefer combo in every second deck sucks.

I hoped that NR can shine this seasen but there are disgusting DJ and NG Decks instead.
I was Rank 1 with NR last season, even though the buff to NR it makes much less fun to play because of NG and DJ.

This situation is not healthy for the game.
 
Usurper is popular because the game is totally broken assimilate decks are useless because of this policy of no nerf.

I mean now NR are totally OP and half of players play with NR and half play with NG to counter NR.

I played for 2 days and 90/100 of the server is either NG or NR.

That's because there is no balancing framework.

A lot of other games use a formula for every unit to create a balance here there is no such thing, no explanation for why a card is like it is, total incompetence.

The devs don't use server statistics and math for balancing they just want profits, that's expected I guess from this kind of game.
 
So it's the leader people use when they aren't enjoying the game.....

hmmmmmm
Not the game, but the Meta. And the Meta is controlled by Leaders, and by extension, their army. If one appears unbalanced, the only way to fight it, is to nullify their leader's ability. Thus - Usurper.

Remember the CC patch and Dettlaff? Players reacted accordingly and the Usurper had risen again. He then served as a chisel that carved the Meta with the community's discontent.

This is why I fancy his design concept. He is not liked much, yet he is necessary. He ain't the hero we want, but the hero we need.
 
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And when the big nerf comes what then? Everyone will abandon DJ and usurper and they will just find the next leader and deck that performs well. And everyone will want those nerfed too, and on and on it will go...l
 
And when the big nerf comes what then? Everyone will abandon DJ and usurper and they will just find the next leader and deck that performs well. And everyone will want those nerfed too, and on and on it will go...l


That's why this game needs balancing formulas to be applied to every card including leaders, less RNG and more balancing by strict transparent rules set.

I understand that very balanced factions may seem dull but at least it will be fair I rather have a dull fair game then swinging between OP factions.

Now you only see NR, NG mostly with Usurper and SK with Harald. For God sake I played over 150 games in the past two days and I never got an opponent with a SK deck other than Harald.

It's clear that no one is looking at sever logs and stats...
 
While there is some valid point in the statement, that number of usurper players is a measurement of dissatisfaction with the state of the game.
I would like to metion a counter argument, which most likely was mentioned before, and if repeated, we may finally get rid of usurper like we (partially) did with Gimpy Gerwin.

1) Usurper is the only reason we cannot have leader-dependent decks dominating the meta. Instead we will always have a triangle of value vs control vs combo. This is unhealhy for the game in terms of the skill, as you are likely to win based on the opponent you encounter, and not on how good you are at piloting a deck. Devs did a great job by nerfing control (damage), which allows more combo-based decks to thrive. Now its time to do the same with usurper, so that we would have more decks like Genichora, Emhyr (Zoltan,Vivieene) or any other leader/unit combo which may trully surprise our unsuspecting opponent.

The surprise factor in leader/combo bulding will increase by the number of cards that will be introduced in the future. And it will most likely be the way we may play gwent, by selecting the most interesting decks. And if that is the case, then Usurper doesent belong in this game at all, as he serves as a major constraint in terms of deck-bulding.
 
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Usurper is a necessary tool to counter OP leaders. It's simple, the more balanced the game is, the fewer people will play him.

For instance, around May-June Gwent was in a comparatively balanced state. Haven't met Usurper even once for a period of two months.
 
Usurper is a necessary tool to counter OP leaders. It's simple, the more balanced the game is, the fewer people will play him.

Around May-June Gwent was in a comparatively balanced state. Haven't met Usurper even once for a period of two months.

And that's a good thing? To have all these leaders in the game that no one ever uses??
 
Usurper is a necessary tool to counter OP leaders. It's simple, the more balanced the game is, the fewer people will play him.

For instance, around May-June Gwent was in a comparatively balanced state. Haven't met Usurper even once for a period of two months.

The problem is how Usurper is essentially a hard counter for leaders that contribute a lot to a deck. Let's say DJ is nerfed soon so that the big final play no longer works. Now it's balanced with the other factions in the game, except Usurper will still wreck it. Personally I see very little reason to play a leader like that who gets auto countered by Usurper.
 
Usurper is quite unfair with all those mulligans tbh. The 2-3 less provisions compared to the mass of other leaders is not a big deal compared to having those mulligans.
 
Personally I see very little reason to play a leader like that who gets auto countered by Usurper.

Thats a second valid point shared in he community, the enjoyment aspect of playing/playing against a deck that has no synergies. Not only is Usurper antifun for the player that plays him, but also for the player that is unlucky enough to encounter him.

With regards to balancing issues, devs have been very active in the past at balancing this game. And it's the way I assume they will continue to work. Usurper will find its way in every meta, that would be alright if he didn't completely shut down the gameplayer for leader-dependent decks. You could say, that he might even discourage experimenting with certain decks that fully rely on their leader.
 
You could say, that he might even discourage experimenting with certain decks that fully rely on their leader.

I think you must be joking, the fact that many leaders and many kinds of decks don't see the daylight is because the game is unbalanced.

Too many synergies too many buffs, and no strict ruleset for balancing.

Everybody plays what performs well because they want to win instead of having fun.

If you blame Usurper because hundreds of cards are almost never played that's in my opinion only because you have something against Usurper and not because you want to make a valid point.

If you remove Usurper there will be still hundreds of cards rarely used and the same with leaders.

The solution is less RNG and strict balancing with fewer synergies, make this game more like chess and then it will be fair for any leader and any deck even if it may seem dull or boring and many may leave.
 
The solution is less RNG and strict balancing with fewer synergies, make this game more like chess and then it will be fair for any leader and any deck even if it may seem dull or boring and many may leave.

Then there is no idea in doing it, especially because many beta players left exactly for this reason during the launch-phase of Homecoming.

I would rather see some crazy combos for every faction, than Usurpers played by those who did not find their place in the meta and would like to spoil fun for everyone else, because they have a problem with any particular deck.

And if you have problem with RNG, then ask yourself, whether it isnt RNG when you encounter Usurper which beats your deck that fully relies on synergies with your leader.

In terms of Usurper's impact on your deck building and experimenting immagine this: Two cards with equal potential, however one of them requires leader-synergy, while the other does not. Which one do you pick ?
 
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