Well, everyone has their breaking point when enough is enough and I am nearing mine.
I can handle bears and in-hand excessive boosting, but this weather spam is out-of-control.
I’ve preached on several occasions that the developers allowed weather to be the way it is. And it’s really ruining the fun of this game. Want weather in the game? Fine, but, it should be contained not running amuck as it is.
Then you have folks who say, “Well, I never run into weather spammers.”
Really? Good for you. I for one am a stay at home Mom and I play on and off through-out the day; which adds up to a lot of games. I run into weather spammers constantly. Hell, decks that previously did not run weather are now running weather.
Here is another comment from people: “Weather is easily countered.”
Yes, yes, it is – to a point. Let us say, you entered a match and the opponent throws down fog. Ok, no biggie. So, you wait to see if they throw down another weather card after a few turns. Nothing.
Use a clear weather card. The game goes on with no more weather.
Or nine times out of ten you run into someone who uses one weather card after another.
Think of it this way:
There are nine bronze weather cards.
Two silver weather cards.
Two gold weather cards.
As for weather removal:
6 Bronze cards – 3 Clear Skies, 3 unit cards
Then you get into silver cards which can either remove weather or summon it.
And to top it off there is Areomancy.
Basically, there are MORE cards to summon weather then there is to remove it. Thus, even if I were to toss in every card to combat weather, I still would be behind a spammer.
Sure, you could use cards that move your card to another row, dwarves, drowners, elves etc., or even a decoy. But that is only a temporary fix.
Then to make matters worse you have cards which basically enable the summon of weather – axemen, foglets, vanguards.
Oh, this is my favorite response about weather, “Weather is not that bad, people overreact.”
Really? Let us say, in the final round you have a 4, a 6 and a 10 on the board and your cards are covered in weather. You have zero dispel weather cards in-hand. Your opponent has a 4, 4 and a 9 on the board. After two turns, you are screwed. Fun is it not?
And that is the other thing: Just because you have anti-weather cards in your deck does not mean you are guaranteed access to those cards – unless your faction has some means to reach said cards.
“Just use a potion and boost the card!”
Simple solutions are not always the right ones. You boost the card with a potion and you extended the life of the card; but what happens if your opponent has an Axmen on their side? You just basically handed them the game on a silver platter. Thus, one solution may work against this faction but it is not a solution against the rest.
Another thing, I have said numerous times is: Weather should be assigned to certain rows as it was in W3. Fog for range, Rain for catapults and frost for melee. And the player is only allowed three weather cards in their deck (excluding silver summon weather cards). Beyond that any card which gets boosted from such spam actions should be made silver and have a cap on it. Lastly, when you enter a fresh match you are guaranteed to have an anti-weather card on hand.
I swear the developers are not only obsessed with the excessive abuse of weather but they love the taste of anti-weather spamming peoples’ tears.
Weather is a mechanic in Gwent and always has been, however it should not be the dominating mechanic.