the time to make these changes was during closed beta

[RickMelethron]

the time to make these changes was during closed beta

it was there for several months, were most of the obvious problems with UI and card balance were pointed out by multiple players. the fact that they completely redesigned the game for open beta without any public testing gave me the impression that the developers had no planning on what they were doing, and the midwinter update was the final nail on the coffin for me. i had already lost most of my interest in the game due to the wack-a-mole changes, where one thing gets fixed only for something else to get broken for no reason... balancing cards without any goal in mind, balancing cards in "preparation for future updates" that are nowhere in sight, dangling a single-player campaign to keep people engaged, even though it wasn't anywhere close to finished, and now that the UI redesign finally came to fix the old problems (that should have been fixed within three months of closed beta), they managed to bring a whole host of problems along with it

whatever interest i once had is finally gone, as is my hope for the game ever getting fixed. i joked a couple of times about how it took them seven months to remove the black mulligan screen, and it's disappointing to face the truth behind it... i have no confidence in the game's development anymore; tolerance has a limit, and "good guy CDPR" only lasts so far. i don't think the team has any idea of what to do with the game (or how to implement the ideas they do have) and it's sad to see so much time invested go to waste

but hey, at least this whole thing taught me a lesson: don't bother checking out games in early access

 

[Kingoko]

Imo CDPR should focus only on adding new content : cards, game mods, campaigns, music, sounds etc and don't touch mechanic and general overhaul of existing content. It's so much development time wasted. Changing all time old cards and balancing it, cheanging sound and animations instead adding new, changing visual design then changing it again and again. Changing card names and descriptions tags. Ehh

 

[StrykerxS77x]

I can understand that perceptive for sure. I don't understand how the game could ever be remotely finished or polished when everything is constantly getting reworked. Feels like any decent balancing they do is quickly destroyed by other changes and reworks. For example the Northern Realms medic card. At first it resurrected a random card they decided they didn't like that card and a lot of other NR's cards so they changed it completely, then it took a bronze off your side of the board and put in a random one from your deck. I got used to that card and fit it into my decks. Now all of the sudden it's completely changed again. It's hard to have faith in this game sometimes.

 

[GlassCards]

Skellige got hit with the nerf hammer so hard, I don't get why queensguard was not viable no more, and Self-harm SK literally got scrapped by 0 to almost no actual self-damaging units. Boat and men healer makes more logic but who would build 2-3 of each when all cards with value reset, giving hardly any late pressure value for building multiple of those. Also, probably worst SK nerf is the resurrects, only heal SK. Vicavaro is much better in every way even though you take from your opponent. It's not limited to "spy" only and most bronze in your opponent's deck has value. While you are stuck with just SK, even Nilfgaard is better at healing now and the surrounding aspects of it. You got 8 heals in SK compared to NG's 6 heal (which this faction is not supposed to be based on healing), sometimes specified by requirements, but not limited to the possibility. Let's face it, Restore is a bad Sigrdrifa now other than "8" Gremist, bear master or Battle maiden.

 

[Chickencababs]

To rework every single card to the point this game is unrecognizable was there biggest mistake. I was excited for new cards, but the reworks on the old ones have broken so many things I just don't get what they were thinking. I feel like cleaver is the best example, he is a card that is so different from the original the only thing that they have in common is the name. I hope that the majority of people feel the same way because I am at the point of uninstalling. Unfortunately, the things they did are so drastic it would be impossible for them to undo them. Went from my top two most played games to 3/10

 

[StrykerxS77x]

To rework every single card to the point this game is unrecognizable was there biggest mistake. I was excited for new cards, but the reworks on the old ones have broken so many things I just don't get what they were thinking. I feel like cleaver is the best example, he is a card that is so different from the original the only thing that they have in common is the name. I hope that the majority of people feel the same way because I am at the point of uninstalling. Unfortunately, the things they did are so drastic it would be impossible for them to undo them. Went from my top two most played games to 3/10

I could talk about a lot of cards but Cleaver is another one I just don't get. What was wrong with having another lock card? If he wasn't being used enough they could have just buffed him by 1 or 2 points and he would be fine. Now Cleaver is just another damage card that isn't that good or interesting. They really need to stop reworking everything.

 

[Guest 4226291]

Imo CDPR should focus only on adding new content : cards, game mods, campaigns, music, sounds etc and don't touch mechanic and general overhaul of existing content. It's so much development time wasted. Changing all time old cards and balancing it, cheanging sound and animations instead adding new, changing visual design then changing it again and again. Changing card names and descriptions tags. Ehh

Exactly. Wasting their own time for absolutely no reason, actually it even makes it worse. What exactly is the point of wasting development time to cheapen the game. The old damage effects actually sounded somewhat realistic and now they sound cheap and pathetic. They actually went through the effort to make the sound effects and card bordering WORSE.

They seem to think making the base game identicle to the mobile version is a good idea. And since the mobile version won’t nearly be as good in terms of effects, we get a crappy downgrade on our version. The card borders aren’t the blue flames they used to be, but not just a solid blue line. The cycle effect wasn’t perfect, but now when you have to select only one or two cards, having them sit in the top left corner is ugly. The only reason they’ve done it is to make it the same as the mobile version, since the cycle effect is harder to do on mobile. But they’re on different platforms completely, they shouldn’t be the same. We shouldn’t have ugly-looking and cheap effects just so the mobile and main version has a unified look. The new consume effect looks cheaper, the new revive effect doesn’t have the green *whoosh* anymore, etc. The colour on cards feels out of place for the darker tone of the Witcher, the colours are more generic now (just look at the collection screen) and as I mentioned earlier, sound effects of damage are way worse, and personally, while it doesn’t effect gameplay, the name shortening was absolutely pointless and ridiculous. Not only does it remove some of the lore, but it’s inconsistent. Some have full names others only a first and others only a last. Like what was the point of that? Plus every patch reworks the entire game, removes cards (ex. Quen), removes abilities and other play styles (ex. Carryover, Veteran Ability, Bond Ability, Trio ability, Deathwish no longer end of turn, cards getting generic abilities in place of old unique ones (Expired Ale is now just a generic damage card) etc.) It’s kind of sad honestly.

What a waste of development time this whole patch was. The only thing they should be doing is adding new cards and modes and trinkets, improving gameplay balance and tweaks, and adding effects and Quality of Life features, not removing them. The worst part about this is that they won’t change it despite all the negative feedback they’re getting. They think it looks better to stick to their guns rather than listening to their player base.

 

[bl4ckit]

Dude, it's still beta. No matter if open or closed. If you don't like fast changing game mechanics and reworked cards, just wait until the game is released.

 

[slow_cheeetah]

EternalJxx Couldn't agree more. Someone in CDPR should read your post very carefully. Maybe send them your suggestions.
And what's the saddest, developers used to listen to us, to the community. And now?
Look at this, there is a horrible silence. No one is answering all this questions and no one is seemed to be bothered with all the complains.
There wasn't a single announcement since PTR was launched about changes and players opininon. Instead of it they advertising Christmas kegs. It's not fair.

 

[Guest 4021160]

Everyone said everything is going to be alright after Damien Monnier left the company. That man was the last hope for community to have gwent the way it was suppose to be. 1 year and 50 days later we have this. And yes, CDPR, we remember Damien.

 

[slow_cheeetah]

Everyone said everything is going to be alright after Damien Monnier left the company. That man was the last hope for community to have gwent the way it was suppose to be. 1 year and 50 days later we have this. And yes, CDPR, we remember Damien.

During the Twitch streams developers even were laughing at players, thay they're not going to tell us about how works moonlight effect and units limit in the row.
They just don't want our opinion, they prefer to release they product their way, rather than think of what players expect.

 

[Guest 4021160]

During the Twitch streams developers even were laughing at players, thay they're not going to tell us about how works moonlight effect and units limit in the row.
They just don't want our opinion, they prefer to release they product their way, rather than think of what players expect.

Sorry, I have to disagree. They were laughing, because someone in the chat said that they already know. So it was more of a spiteful "you say you know, WELL OK WE WONT TELL YOU THEN".
I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

And on the contrary, CDPR listens to everyone too much, I'd rather they stick to their guns. I think sticking to their guns now is "gold immunity" and "all agile" too late. I believe what happened was, they tried to make rows work, tried to make gold immunity work. But gave up eventually due to pushy community.

All in all. Damien's CDPR = improve it, Today's CDPR = change it.

 

[partci]

Oh, man... the Moonlight - the best kept secret in Gwent. For a crippled archetype.

Nice.

 

[StrykerxS77x]

Sorry, I have to disagree. They were laughing, because someone in the chat said that they already know. So it was more of a spiteful "you say you know, WELL OK WE WONT TELL YOU THEN".
I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

And on the contrary, CDPR listens to everyone too much, I'd rather they stick to their guns. I think sticking to their guns now is "gold immunity" and "all agile" too late. I believe what happened was, they tried to make rows work, tried to make gold immunity work. But gave up eventually due to pushy community.

All in all. Damien's CDPR = improve it, Today's CDPR = change it.

I thought the community liked gold immunity and cards locked to a row.....

 

[SkippyHole]

The trouble with CDPR's design philosophy is that they seem to look at an OP card or combo and think "nerf it", instead of "what can we add to the game to make this less troublesome?" They see a moderately underplayed card and think "give it a new effect" instead of "what can we add to the game that could work with this, make it good?" The game is still decent to play (when you aren't running into the same decks over and over), but it's chock full of half-finished archetypes, ideas that never went anywhere and token cards that every faction must have (the mages, row clear cards and now resurrections apparently). CDPR need to take a step back, work out what they want from their release set and stick to it, instead of giving up and trying something new every other patch.

 

[Guest 4021160]

I thought the community liked gold immunity and cards locked to a row.....

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Community pushed for more content and balancing is what I am saying and CDPR eventually lost it, as hoomans do.

To balance it that's what I would do. Watch the streams. Identify decks and combos that are too powerful. Nerf them very slightly. Wait for a week. Repeat. Keep mechanics. When complains stops. Add 20 more cards. And repeat for all cards, not just new cards. Its so obvious i want to puke...

 

[Rawls]

I thought the community liked gold immunity and cards locked to a row.....

There were definitely people who were vocally dissatisfied with the side effects of gold immunity (specifically too much control from Eithne and Radovid, inability to counter certain cards etc etc). The reason those were issues at the time stemmed from the immunity of golden cards. There were also lots of people who said the game wasn't fun when there was no way to effect the opponent's board. No one was saying "gold cards should no longer be immune," but there was dissatisfaction with several of the side effects of gold card immunity from what I remember. Granted this was 4-6 months ago, and all the different metas bleed together after awhile ... so I could have my timeline confused.

I think the cards locked to a row vs agile has been a natural progression ever since they started tinkering with weather (which was needed). Again I don't think it was ever "cards shouldn't be locked to a row." However there were complaints about other mechanics that were associated with the fact that cards were locked to a row. Making more units agile makes all the decks more flexible, which mitigates a lot of the earlier complaints.

So while I agree that few were actually calling for these things to be changed as they were ... some were strongly dissatisfied with the consequences of the earlier designs. Hence, changes. I would love it especially if golden immunity came back ... but I get why they changed it based on the feedback.

 

[Jezaboom2]

In fairness to CDPR, whilst this game is still Beta (regardless of whether it is open or closed), is the correct time for them to make changes. Where CDPR has lost my trust is making these changes before the season finished