Understanding, PR and all the rest
First of all, I'd like to thank CDPR for being so understanding and not cracking down on people (everyone, basically) who leaked footage and info about the performance and gameplay of the KTS test. It was very magnanimous of you, since you had every right to do so.
While the amount of backlash following the test was large. I don't think that it was done by any fans in bad faith. Even the most vehement objections were, at least neutral in tone and most of them was very polite critique. However it does raise a problem of why that even happened.
While CDPR has always been very forthcoming and fair to its fanbase, mistakes happen. And I believe CDPR made that mistake. For weeks we have been analyzing and discussing the Gamescon build which was featured as recently as during PAX. People built decks, theorycrafted, discussed strategies and balance. Then, suddenly, all of that was erased and during the KTS test we were presented with something that many people consider to be a too big departure of what they thought as Gwent. Not saying they are right. Gwent is still the same, but the drawing mechanic, the invulnerability of heroes to both buffs and debuffs, decoys, all of these where considered to be staple for Gwent. Now that has changed and people are both confused and a little bit angry. Confused because all the theorycrafting and deckbuilding is now useless, since they game has changed so much. Angry because they were surprised by the changes. They got to experience the game first hand without any preparation and some were very confused as to what was going on.
To summarise: I believe that showcasing builds that were changed so drastically in that short time and not communicating these changes before the test, CDPR has created this problem themselves.
I still am very excited about Gwent and I like many of the changes, for example card classification is great now, I really like it. Same with special cards being bronze, silver or gold. I also like the fact that bronze cards appeared to be weakened from previous versions, which raises the power of silver cards respectivelly.
So I am convinced that while we, as a community, may have some issues with the current build, we need to calm down a bit and try to absorb the changes before we declare that Gwent is ruined. Which in my opinion it of course isn't.
First of all, I'd like to thank CDPR for being so understanding and not cracking down on people (everyone, basically) who leaked footage and info about the performance and gameplay of the KTS test. It was very magnanimous of you, since you had every right to do so.
While the amount of backlash following the test was large. I don't think that it was done by any fans in bad faith. Even the most vehement objections were, at least neutral in tone and most of them was very polite critique. However it does raise a problem of why that even happened.
While CDPR has always been very forthcoming and fair to its fanbase, mistakes happen. And I believe CDPR made that mistake. For weeks we have been analyzing and discussing the Gamescon build which was featured as recently as during PAX. People built decks, theorycrafted, discussed strategies and balance. Then, suddenly, all of that was erased and during the KTS test we were presented with something that many people consider to be a too big departure of what they thought as Gwent. Not saying they are right. Gwent is still the same, but the drawing mechanic, the invulnerability of heroes to both buffs and debuffs, decoys, all of these where considered to be staple for Gwent. Now that has changed and people are both confused and a little bit angry. Confused because all the theorycrafting and deckbuilding is now useless, since they game has changed so much. Angry because they were surprised by the changes. They got to experience the game first hand without any preparation and some were very confused as to what was going on.
To summarise: I believe that showcasing builds that were changed so drastically in that short time and not communicating these changes before the test, CDPR has created this problem themselves.
I still am very excited about Gwent and I like many of the changes, for example card classification is great now, I really like it. Same with special cards being bronze, silver or gold. I also like the fact that bronze cards appeared to be weakened from previous versions, which raises the power of silver cards respectivelly.
So I am convinced that while we, as a community, may have some issues with the current build, we need to calm down a bit and try to absorb the changes before we declare that Gwent is ruined. Which in my opinion it of course isn't.