The Seasonal Modes need to be improved

[4RM3D]

CDPR, we need to talk about seasonal mode and who comes up with these ludicrous ideas. I imagine you guys sitting in a room and whomever's idea sounds the most insane gets picked for next month's seasonal to see how quickly one little change can completely "break the game". And sure, some players enjoy trying to find the most broken combo possible and, yes, it might even be fun for a day. But what about the rest of the month?

Joking aside, let's have a serious talk, CDPR. What are you trying to accomplish with the season mode? I think you want to give players a variation of standard where you can use existing cards and mechanic in a new way. However, that's not working out because of the following issues:

1. A lot of (new) players want to "escape" the meta and go to seasonal mode. Yet those players get wrecked even more because seasonal usually exacerbates the meta, not make it more fun or interesting (because of the next point).
2. Finding new ways to play (around) the seasonal rules is getting old quick. Also, because of the broken nature, seasonal can be "solved" within a day, making it even more stale than the normal meta. After that, it's less fun.
3. While one little change can have big consequences, not enough effort has been put into the seasonal mode to keep players engaged for more than a few days.
4. Matchmaking is all over the place, which isn't a great experience for new players.

The result is that only a handful of player are actually enjoying it, which is an assumption I want to confirm in this thread. Maybe CDPR thinks seasonal is a succes when looking at the number of people playing it, but I don't think that's a good indicator.

So, how can seasonal be improved? I actually don't know. Nonetheless, I do have one important suggestion: Let the community choose (from a feedback suggestions thread). Not only does this create more involvement, it will also make more players happy. It's still not a perfect solution, but at least it's an improvement. As a closing note, I personally want to see a Thronebreaker online seasonal mode. That is, unique cards with different powers and special scenarios. Giving that thought a shape is a discussion for another time, though.

 

[Pacifixer]

This seasonal mode is one of the worst. I was sick of it after 2 games. I usually don't like and don't play seasonal modes - they are either boring or broken (not all of them, but at least 3/4).
CDPR should at least try to balance them by banning certain cards.
Seasonal is the only non-clasic mode worth playing and ut is not playable.

 

[static-ghost]

To each his own?
I prefer seasonal games more than ranking games.
And you can always leave the game without fear that you will lose the rating points.
If a person plays a really cheesy broken deck, the worse for him he will not fulfill the contract if all the opponents refuse to play it further than 1 round

 

[partci]

This months' Seasonal I thought was better than the last 2, which were ATROCIOUS and made me leave the game for two months. Than the BS with Emhyr ability came and every time I see said ability I just Esc+Enter.

Than, I don't know what you thought would happen if you give every engine a second copy, with NR as the worse offender (the obvious).

I hope by doing these you are at least LEARNING what can be nerfed and what can be buffed, so the game can become better. Unfortunately all I see from you is ZERO balancing and only releasing new content, that brakes the game even more.

Did ever occur to you that BALANCING also counts as "releasing new content" and makes this game more enjoyable, by buffing existing cards that had NEVER seen use or tuning down over performing cards that are all over the place and a MUST in every deck you built (goes for every faction you play with)?


I am now pushing this Seasonal cause I like the cardback. Than most likely I'll be done with the game for the rest of the month. Again.

 

[DRK3]

I didnt even try the Resilience seasonal mode, first time i didnt try one. I quite enjoy this one, but i agree that is definitely problematic, with some broken strategies.

 

[FacerollTactics]

The only seasonal modes i really enjoyed was Season of Magic (first special card played duplicates) and Season of Draconid (each player has 8 seconds to do their turn.)

Especially the Draconid. Honestly, it should be renamed to blitz or turbo mode and be a permanent game mode. Playing normal gwent afterwards felt pretty terrible.

 

[partci]

... Especially the Draconid. Honestly, it should be renamed to blitz or turbo mode and be a permanent game mode. Playing normal gwent afterwards felt pretty terrible.

I don't think that will be right thing to do such mode, except if they don't cut the XP gain to like 25% there. I'm pretty sure CDPR wants you to spend more time in the game also, not do 10 games in 30 minutes and call it a day.

 

[croloris]

You probably should have phrased your poll question as, "Excluding the blitz Gwent seasonal mode... do you enjoy seasonal mode." Let's take a look shall we, first lets take a look at them all...as a console player, I had plenty of time to compile this...

[To make my point quicker, insert list here then continue]

...if you notice, the only really terrible seasonal modes involve playing /creating 2 cards in the same turn, which is also a problem in the regular game with leader abilities.

3 seasons have had this ability in some manner, Elves, Magic, and Wild Hunt so 30% of all seasonal modes have been based on the most complained about element in the game (25% at best by the end of the year.)

Change these to something more creative and divergent from the current meta, and the problem is solved. So if the community has any suggestions please chime in. Here is mine...

Season of the Console Reparations

Anytime you play a card as or against a former console player, gain that card's transmutation cost in Meteorite Powder and Scraps #consolereparations !!!


Anyways, the aforementioned list....

1. Season of the Bear,

Both players begin the game with Unrelenting She-Bear on their side.
On turn start, if either player does not control Unrelenting She-Bear and has not passed, Spawn and Summon her to their Melee row.

Unrelenting She-Bear with 5 Power, 0 provisions
At the end of each turn deal 2 damage to the opponent's Unrelenting She-Bear.
Deathwish: Your opponent draws a card.
Doomed.

2. Season of the Elves

all cards in your deck will be duplicated when you enter the game.
Whenever you play a unit from your hand, you will also play a unit with the same Provision Cost from your deck!

3. Season of the Viper

Whenever a unit is damaged by another unit or itself, give the damaged unit Bleeding with a duration equal to the damage amount.
Whenever a unit is boosted by another unit or itself, give the boosted unit Vitality with a duration equal to the boost amount.

4. Season of Magic

whenever you play a special card, you will also cast a copy of it.

5. Season of the Griffin

power of all cards will be equal to their provision value

6. Season of the Draconid (i.e. Blitz Gwent i.e. Make this its own mode)

Each player has only 8 seconds to complete their turn

7. Season of the Dryad (aka season of old Arachas Queen)

In this month’s seasonal mode on turn end friendly odd value units are damaged by 1 friendly even value units are boosted by 1.

8. Season of the Cat

you and your opponent will swap hands every 2 turns

9. Season of Mahakam

Each played card will gain resilience

10. SEASON OF THE WILD HUNT

whenever you play a unit, spawn a 1-power copy of it at the end of its row

11. SEASON OF THE WOLF

Unknown... Starts in January

12. SEASON OF LOVE

Unknown... Starts in February

 

[TanatosRex]

"I usually don't like and don't play seasonal modes - they are either boring or broken (not all of them, but at least 3/4) "
- Pacifixer

This. So much this.
Also I hate them because you MUST play them if you want new seasonal trinkets.
I hope someday they will make new quests for seasonal trinkets that we can do everywhere else EXCEPT seasonal mode.

 

[Pacifixer]

Nice summary

1. Season of the Bear
Awesome, i really liked this one
2. Season of the Elves
Not good, not bad
3. Season of the Viper
Boring
4. Season of Magic
Broken, but fun
5. Season of the Griffin
Boring
6. Season of the Draconid
Annoying, but most people loved it
7. Season of the Dryad
Broken
8. Season of the Cat
Awesome, but broken - assimilate lol
9. Season of Mahakam
Boring, and i think there were some broken decks as well, thankfully only one seasonal quest was restricted to it (win 6 rounds in seasonal mode)
10. SEASON OF THE WILD HUNT
Broken as hell!

So in the end, i liked only 3/10 seasonal modes and 2 of them were broken.

 

[croloris]

Frak it, @4RM3D , I am a console player with plenty of time. Here are my suggestions for Seasonal Changes. Outside of getting daily rewards, it is not like I am actually playing Gwent.

Did you know we only have one mode now, Classic Mode, and there are no divisions on Rank or Skill. Just an endless all level Casual Mode. It does queue surprisingly fast at the moment, though that will probably change after the 14 business days (ahem, including end of year breaks, probably will be 20 - 30 actual days) when console players are transferred out to PC with the first batch.

Suggestions :

Season of Magic suggested change : Whenever you play a Mage, Druid, Cleric, Dragon or Crone, spawn a random strategem

Why this change works...still 2 cards, but strategems are fairly well balanced and capped at around 5 points.

Season of the Elves suggested change : At start, Duplicate a copy of your opponent's deck and shuffle it into your deck. Whenever you play a card from your hand, you will draw a card with the same Provision Cost from your deck! End of Match bonuses are doubled.

Why this change works... Now you are playing two stratgies at the same time. It has the added benefit of being able to just use your normal decks in a different setting. Games will be twice as long as a normal game, so you gain 2 rounds of credit for each round won.

Season of the Wild Hunt suggested change :

At beginning of the game, board begins with all rows covered in frost. Every 4 turns, apply a random bronze weather effect to all rows and destroy the lowest unit on the row with the most units until both ally rows have the same # of units.

Strategem : Permanent Resilence : Immunity : Charge 6 : Give status Warmth. Whenever you do not play a unit, lose a charge or deal 5 damage to your highest ally.

Warmth - this card is not effected by weather

Why this change works : I mean, it IS Wild Hunt and Weather...


Season of the Wolf (in Sheep's clothing) suggestion : Shoutout to MisterHabbla for this one.

Reveal the card you wish to play and another card from your hand. Your opponent must guess which card you wish to play. If they guess wrong play your card, if they are correct return the card to your deck and spawn and play a Sheep followed by a Wolf Pack to a random row(s)

Sheep : 1 Power : When you play a Wolf Pack, boost self by 1


Season of Love suggestion : Every other card you play is on your opponents side of the board.
You may trigger opponents order cards on rounds you play on the opponent's side.
Whenever a card would be damaged, boost it by that amount instead.
When a card would be destroyed, double its current power.
When a card would be banished, triple its value.
Whoever has the most points at the end of the round, loved less and loses.


And as always, #consolereparations .

 

[gaonestar]

meh. Now on Wild Hunt’s season... nilfgaard... nilfgaard everywhere.
with broken Nilf’s ability - +2 & grab to hand. Whoopsys this spam 1 card. Mehh. Monsters & NR best:/

 

[sanabas]

This is only my 3rd seasonal mode, and no, not finding them very enjoyable. Particularly this month.

However, I do find the seasonal arena modes enjoyable, because it allows you to actually think about using the changes without there being the same very broken combo in 50+% of games. The very simple change I'd like to see, and one I simply can't understand why it hasn't happened, is for arena games to allow you to pick leader skin & cardback after you finish your deck, and then allow arena games to count towards daily crowns.

 

[Evangium]

As mentioned in the other thread -

Strategic Withdrawal in New Season: Exploit or Legit?

Hi, I‘m a fairly new player and I tried the new Season mode yesterday, and I was pretty dumbfounded by what I came across. Basically this player played Damien de la Tour, gets a copy of it, withdraws one, gains two more. Their next turn then they would use their whole turn to use the card’s...

forums.cdprojektred.com

CDPR could monitor seasonal a little more closely and implement emergency bans on cards that prove to be too problematic. In Magic the Gathering Arena (another game I play) some cards get banned from certain event formats.

For example we have an event format called Cascade. In this format, which uses the current Standard card sets, every card you cast triggers an additional phase in the turn where the game drills through your library until it finds a spell card of less mana cost than the one you just played. Currently in MTG have several cards that prevent an opponent from playing more than one card a turn (Rule of Law, Deafening Silence and Lavinia, Azorius Renegade to name a few). Apart from the first Cascade event this year, where Lavinia was allowed, those cards are all banned in the format, since they provide a massively unfair advantage for the player who controls them.

Likewise, Brawl, a commander-like format in MTGA, has Oko, Thief of Crowns and Sorcerous Spyglass banned, since those cards can prevent a player from utilising their commander's abilities. In both cases (and in other events I've not mentioned) card bans were determined prior to the event and the bans are only applicable to the event.

Given that events on MTGA tend to be only a few days long and they can identify problem cards in the planning phase, I don't see why CDPR can't do the same. Yes, part of Gwent's core identity is that you can play any card you like without restriction. However playing cards should be fun and a mode like seasonal should be offbeat and fun. It should never devolve into a binary meta where players have little choice in deck if they want to have enough wins that their time is validated, and where loses don't make them feel like they been seal-clubbed.

 

[RaynStargaze]

Agreed with everything OP said.

One of the possible solutions albeit not the most elegant one is premade decks.

That way the mode is less exploitable and the chances of winning are somewhat less dependent on the cardpool a player has making it more appealing for players who dont have the exact meta cards for seasonal.

In addition this can ensure some variety rather than people playing the same 1 or 2 broken combos every game. It does however require a lot more work since the premade decks would have to be fairly well balanced to prevent auto concedes whenever the "worse" deck is given.

Id also like you to consider that seasonal mode doesnt necessairly have to be gwent in the traditional sense and could deviate a lot more from the regular game than it does now.
E.g. it could be the "memory game" from thronebreaker where you have to find 2 of the same cards to get 1 point (actually this game specifically is a terrible idea because people would just write down the cards on a sheet of paper - so scratch that specifically - but you get the idea.)

 

[Duhad]

Lordy just got my PC back from the shop and thought I would try and get the new card back... Little did I know that their is one and only one deck in that modes meta and trying to get the wins necessary (even just round wins) would be basically impossible without joining in the 'fun' of replaying Damien over and over and over...

I love seasonal, but 4RM3D's right, too often the seasonal mode goes from a fun alternative mode too a broken mess defined by utter nonsense. CDPR obviously was working hard on this mini expatiation and so likely spent less time testing this new mode, but just... Good lord, its absurd how binary the game mode is! Going forward SOMETHING has to be done about the way seasonal modes are designed.

 

[partci]

I have to mention one more thing about balancing and it comes from a post that someone made in this or in some other topic: this abuse would NOT be possible if we had the Bronze, Silver, Gold distinguishing between the cards - in Beta you could not replay your Golds with Emhyr, cause their effect was often way too strong.

Food for thought.

 

[nedders]

I have to mention one more thing about balancing and it comes from a post that someone made in this or in some other topic: this abuse would NOT be possible if we had the Bronze, Silver, Gold distinguishing between the cards - in Beta you could not replay your Golds with Emhyr, cause their effect was often way too strong.

Food for thought.

Yep, it's a pretty simple solution (theoretically). Take every card that costs 200 scraps, make 'em silver. 800 scrap cards are gold. Amend card abilities accordingly.

 

[Luckless_Jack]

I have to mention one more thing about balancing and it comes from a post that someone made in this or in some other topic: this abuse would NOT be possible if we had the Bronze, Silver, Gold distinguishing between the cards - in Beta you could not replay your Golds with Emhyr, cause their effect was often way too strong.

Food for thought.

I don't know if this was the post you were thinking of, but I never really understood why CDPR got rid of silver cards. They provided a valuable extra means of restricting various targeting mechanics. So many of the current broken or OP combo issues currently plaguing Gwent could potentially have been controlled by it. Incidentally, it is worth noting that originally silver cards could be of any rarity, not just Epic.

As for the seasonal modes, I found some of the earlier ones very enjoyable. They rewarded your ability to come up with new ideas to make best use of the rule variations. Unfortunately, there are a lot more borderline OP cards than there were back then, many of which are just such a seasonal rule variation away from being totally broken and ruining the fun of playing seasonal games. Ban lists for specific cards would certainly help as a last resort. We also have more team websites now who often broadcast such broken or OP combos within days of each new season starting, so seasonal meta decks quickly proliferate.

On top of this we have the by now stale topic of CDPR's failures at balancing this game (for whatever reasons). If they can't achieve good balance within the more controlled environment of Classic mode, what chance is there of having reasonable balance in these seasonal modes - many of which seem to have been dreamt up at the last minute and not subjected to even 5 minutes of thought or testing as to potentially serious issues?

I have found little to enjoy in the last few seasonal modes and coupled with the seeming rise in required seasonal games to complete some of the seasonal reward trees, the whole thing has started to feel too much like an unwelcome grind. I hope this isn't just a way of encouraging people to buy the seasonal reward packs instead of earning them...

I really hope that CDPR put a lot more thought into it when they review the seasonal modes for next year (as they alluded to in their recent roadmap overview stream). An extra mode that is both a fun and refreshing diversion from Classic mode is very much needed (Arena also needs a lot more love!)

 

[dunadan5]

To me the best thing about seasonal modes is that they give you freedom to mess about and experiment with various cards.
However the problem is that after a few days a very strong strategy emerges and the entire season becomes about countering that one strategy.

And just like that - into the bin goes the creativity and the experimentation.

I love these seasonal modes, at times more than the actual ranked matches. And i believe that they can indeed be fun and enjoyable but for that to happen we Badly need some of these season-breaker cards and combos banned.
Just look at this season - it could have been one of the best ones yet - pretty much every faction has its own OP combos - NK engines, Scoiatell Dwarf legions, Monster Deathwish mosh pits, even some rare Syndicate power plays.