And here we are, almost 3 years and a half later, talking about the same things. On average, 7 games out of 10 are against VERY pleasant Nilfgaard decks, and you lose the desire to play, you quit, you don't GG anyone. It's very sad.
This thread was opened on December 5th 2019, today it's April 30th 2023.
Yes, people are generally lacking creativity, courage and a mind of their own (they just watch youtubers and copy their decks like one-way mules).
Yes, it seems like people have a tendency to be pervert and prefer a possessive style of playing in which they easily win by destroying the opponents cards, steal their cards, play their cards against them etc. rather than just having fun and try different things.
Yes, it seems like the only important thing for people here is to win and reach pro rank, rather than having the pleasure of playing with all the cards from the witcher universe.
But the root cause of this trend is clearly something else, it's a game not properly balanced in which it seems like developers focused on adding new broken cards and mechanics rather than balancing carefully what they already had under their nose. And, even more disappointing, they had received all the possible feedbacks and had all the time in the world to take actions, but unfortunately decided to turn a blind eye.
As a result, people are tired of facing Nilfgaard decks, people are leaving the game, people forfeit as soon as they see the opponent's faction or leader's ability, people are discouraged from trying original and creative decks because they will be crashed quickly. Is this ok? Is this the definition of fun? What is the point of playing this game nowadays?
Playing Gwent nowadays feels like going to a restaurant in which you cannot choose the meal that you want, but you rather have to eat the food that the majority of the customers are having, or feels like playing a RPG game that is well advertised but in the end doesn't give you freedom of choice.
Why I cannot play my original decks and have the same probabilities of winning as the other people?
Why, 9 times out of 10 I am crashed by the opponent not because they were better than me but simply because they were playing a not balanced meta deck? What is the fun in playing against the same meta decks over and over, 500 times in a row?
Why I have to spend hours thinking about new ideas, new strategies, when I know that the opponents will play always the same crap? (crap is a polite word replacing something else)
Why I have to patiently wait for the Seasonal Mode Bearly Balanced to get again that feeling of having equal chance of winning the game and have fun at the same time?
Why every patch that came out addressed everything apart from the balance issues and this big Nilfgaardian elephant in the room?
This game doesn't incentivate creativity, but rather punishes it. And this is what you get when you try to be creative.
View attachment 11352298This my April 2023 statistics, and it's similar to the statistics of my previous months. I don't use meta decks, I destroyed the one I had (including the Nilfgaard ones) and milled their cards. Why should I play and easily win 100 games using always the same overpowered meta decks, the same mechanics, the same cards in the same order all over again. It's too easy. It's not fun.
And I got tired of playing this game, and tired of the opponents I have to face every time.
I didn't get tired because I am not winning every single time, but rather because the majority of the defeats comes by forfeitting half way through a game or even at the beginning of the game (when it's already clear they will crash you). The majority of the games are not continued till the end because I lose the desire to play.
And, the few times I win, rather than feeling proud (because I am using decks no one else is using) I still feel uncomfortable because I played against yet another opponent playing the same repeatitive, sad and disappointing decks, with always the same cards used in the same order.
Thinking out loud, I am asking myself the same question over and over.
What is the legacy of this game?
This is potentially the best card game in the world, but I am afraid the ugly truth is that there will be less and less players and the majority will always be playing Nilfgaard.
To this regard, please find below some sad data representing the current (and probably future) trend. I collected this data over the last few weeks, observing all the fresh players using Nilfgaard, to illustrate the issue, to show how much new players are using Nilfgaard meta decks as a mean to easily win and progress to the high ranks.
Every line is a different opponent I faced.
I will also add some data regarding few very experienced players I faced, because seeing this data in new players is sad but seeing this data in experienced players made me feel particularly sad and angry.
FYI, I decided to omit the names of all the players I observed, although I collected all of them and in some cases I really wanted to disclose them.
NEW PLAYERS (WHO WON LESS THAN 1000 GAMES AND NEVER REACHED PRO RANK)
274 out of 324 games won using Nilfgaard (84,5%)
220 out of 593 games won using Nilfgaard (37%)
97 out of 328 games won using Nilfgaard (29%)
391 out of 918 games won using Nilfgaard (42,5%)
173 out of 174 games won using Nilfgaard (99,4%)
407 out of 457 games won using Nilfgaard (89%)
101 out of 581 games won using Nilfgaard (17,3%)
238 out of 558 games won using Nilfgaard (42,6%)
100 out of 161 games won using Nilfgaard (62,1%)
434 out of 508 games won using Nilfgaard (85,4%)
125 out of 669 games won using Nilfgaard (18,6%)
118 out of 154 games won using Nilfgaard (76,6%)
138 out of 597 games won using Nilfgaard (23,1%)
656 out of 745 games won using Nilfgaard (88%)
286 out of 576 games won using Nilfgaard (49,6%)
162 out of 450 games won using Nilfgaard (36%)
229 out of 507 games won using Nilfgaard (45,1%)
46 out of 128 games won using Nilfgaard (35,9%)
432 out of 995 games won using Nilfgaard (43,4%)
158 out of 552 games won using Nilfgaard (28,6%)
396 out of 732 games won using Nilfgaard (54%)
422 out of 810 games won using Nilfgaard (52%)
722 out of 753 games won using Nilfgaard (95,8%)
338 out of 1190 games won using Nilfgaard (28,4%)
373 out of 963 games won using Nilfgaard (38,7%)
239 out of 813 games won using Nilfgaard (29,3%)
408 out of 804 games won using Nilfgaard (50,7%)
167 out of 249 games won using Nilfgaard (67%)
432 out of 489 games won using Nilfgaard (88,3%)
246 out of 246 games won using Nilfgaard (100%)
191 out of 525 games won using Nilfgaard (36,3%)
256 out of 313 games won using Nilfgaard (81,7%)
229 out of 416 games won using Nilfgaard (55%)
408 out of 893 games won using Nilfgaard (45,6%)
243 out of 391 games won using Nilfgaard (62,1%)
194 out of 205 games won using Nilfgaard (94,6%)
275 out of 855 games won using Nilfgaard (32,1%)
194 out of 216 games won using Nilfgaard (89%)
139 out of 548 games won using Nilfgaard (25%)
82 out of 393 games won using Nilfgaard (20%)
351 out of 351 games won using Nilfgaard (100%)
Average percentage of games won using Nilfgaard: 55,4%
EXPERIENCED PLAYERS (WHO WON MORE THAN 1000 GAMES AND REACHED PRO RANK AT LEAST ONCE)
1758 out of 1758 games won using Nilfgaard (100%)
4547 out of 4817 games won using Nilfgaard (94,3%)
1941 out of 1941 games won using Nilfgaard (100%)
2184 out of 2185 games won using Nilfgaard (99,9%)
4623 out of 6099 games won using Nilfgaard (75,7%)
3279 out of 3690 games won using Nilfgaard (88,8%)
3538 out of 3958 games won using Nilfgaard (89,3%)
4006 out of 6408 games won using Nilfgaard (62,5%)
3146 out of 5937 games won using Nilfgaard (52,9%)
4089 out of 8202 games won using Nilfgaard (49,8%)
1752 out of 2150 games won using Nilfgaard (81,4%)
Average percentage of games won using Nilfgaard: 81,3%
