Well, I loved Gwent in Witcher 3 and I love it now as a standalone game
Of course there are times of frustration here and there (like with every other game too), but the fun moments definitely overweight the occasional frustration.
I have been playing since the start of Closed Beta, and this is my first online game. Since emotes are the only way to communicate with our opponents (and even those can be muted if needed), the experience is really pleasant compared to everything that I have heard about online games. I avoided ranked games for a long time, because I'm really not a competitive person, but few patches ago I started playing those too. Mostly for the sake of experiment. And I liked it. At least enough for rank 16
I have taken few short breaks here and there, because the lack of time, but I always come back. What makes Gwent awesome, is that I can take few short and quick matches here and there, or I can spend hours with the game, just experimenting with new ideas and building and trying out different sorts of decks. I don't even have to play matches and I can still have fun. I really do enjoy messing around in Deck Builder and I enjoy seeing that awesome card art.
I think Gwent is really flexible for my needs. If I want to challenge myself, I can go to ranked. If I want to enjoy something beautiful, I can spend time in Deck builder and just hover over the cards, thinking what could be my next target for meteorite powder. If I want to have fun and earn some dailies, I can go to casuals. If I want to go completely bonkers, I can play friend matches with really wacko decks. Or I can just play normal matches with friends.
Holiday events have been really enjoyable and interesting new content. Can't wait to see more of these puzzles! And, of course, at the moment, I'm mostly waiting for Thronebreaker, so that I can hear some good stories again
There has been few moments, when constant game changes have been a bit overwhelming, but I have to admit, it keeps the game fresh. Cards and abilities are changing, new content and cards have appeared time to time... Since I don't have the opportunity to play every day, there seems to be something new all the time. There is lots of stuff that I haven't tested yet, but I'm definitely going to try at some point. These tests and experiments are not always that successful, but the fun is in creating and trying something different every time. Sometimes it even works wonders!
And now this is really becoming a wall of text, so sorry about that... But I still have to add something.
It's not only the game itself. I enjoy a lot of watching those developer streams and other videos and Rounds Of Gwent. It's nice to hear the reasoning and small details behind the game. It makes me appreciate the game even more. The amount of work and dedication happening behind the scenes... I really respect that. And the
latest settings of Gwent Challenger, that was definitely worth seeing!
So yeah, you can keep the money, I'm continuing with all things Gwent