There is a very important point that I think you have not mentioned:
TRUST.
1- The change from Gwent beta to HC should not be something celebrated, since it was not a "risk to improve", I don't know what to call it, I just think that some guy with delusions of greatness shot a ridiculous idea and for some strange reason they validated it.
From a user point of view, I saw how all the things I liked went to waste and were replaced by totally different ones. We know that this happened to many people since the community ended up decreasing to less than 50%.
They gave us the resources to create new cards, the numerical value is still there, but it was as if they removed the Witcher 3 from your collection and returned the money in the form of fallout 76.
After that we saw a year of expansions that added "new" content that was just the same as what we already had and had been taken from us.
The beta had its problems, even so it had more interest from people, just imagine all this time of HC dedicated to the beta and adding the mobile platforms and Steam ........
2- Collection: We have the incident of the repeated cards, I will not put details, we already know what I mean. They simply did not treat the matter with the respect it deserved.
3- Stolen content: It is difficult to have high expectations when new content that is not from the beta comes out of HS or MtG mechanics. There is a lot of "design space" with the spaces in the rows, the 3 row may have been reduced to a 5 row shared between both players and as a shock point where they fight for that space. They just don't look for solutions, it's easier to steal from someone else.
4- About what they call "design space": We have had some occasions where they changed things that were interesting to players due to their version of design space. Do they really understand what they mean when they refer to it? NG can play their leader ability 2 times thanks to Damien, so all the new abilities they create must revolve around Damien. SY was presented as a faction of advanced users given its nature of currency management, there we have Luiza throwing away that concept and not to mention HCh.
Again and like all last year we are close to a new expansion, although I always hope for the best at the same time there is a whole year of excuses that are a sad reality for the game.
The beta was an ingenious combination between one of the best art teams we have in the CCGs and a game with interesting mechanics. Now the only thing that has made me play more often is the journey.
What Gwent Wrong Part 1: Adapting the Game to Become a CCG
To summarize, the time invested must have value, they showed that our time has no value when they threw the beta in the trash and offered us, ironically, another beta.
I have my Ciri Nova the same as before, it looks the same, it's called the same, but it's just part of another game where I'm not interested in using it.