But is this because ST is that bad, or is it that SY and NG are presently so dominating? In particular, is the situation for MO or even SK much better?
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Never mind, ST is much worse — the highest ranked player whose best MMR was in ST was 123 rd. SK surprised me — a good number are doing well with that.
Both? ST is bad as a whole right now while SY is very strong and NG more annoying than ever.
MO has the middle ground. Its most efficient deck does well, but it ain't oppressive. SK is in a little bit of a poor spot compared to previous metas where it dominated the ladder. Still, Reckless Flurry decks are very control/removal heavy and they can be very strong in certain matchups.
The reason why ST is bad is because the 4 cards it received require too much setup to be effective and it got almost no card changes that mattered. Cards with orders and no Zeal are bad, 99% of times (Sorceress). Whisperer takes too much time to develop and as 3 power it doesn't take much to remove. Vanadain is useless because he is not flexible. Francesca is the ST version of Queen Meve. How often did we see Queen Meve getting play? Statistically 0.
ST was already in a bit of a tough spot even before the first part of the PoP expansion was launched. As such, it needed to get some useful cards in order for it to stay competitive, like NR or MO received for example, as well as the NR stockpile/charge changes. SY was already very strong and the new cards did not make it better or worse. The change to Jackpot made it more oppressive rather than the new cards.
SK got some interesting cards, but none of them helped the weather archetype become competitive. Weather SK is still not there yet.
This thread is still so relevant. Looking at the stats, ST was played ehm... ZERO times during last Gwent Open Qualifier. As a dev looking at this chart you MUST be going like.... "Hmm, Wait a minute... Something ain't right!!". But no! Dev's go: "Let's give ST a couple more crappy cards!!"
Eldain, Vernossiel, Gezras, Barnabas, Brouver, Forest Protectos Eleas, Gabor, Saber-Tooh, Schirrú, Novigrad Justice, Call of the FOOrest, Shaping Nature, Rebuke, Dunca, Malena, Treant Bor, Trapas, Cat Witcjer, Don Blathana Sentler, a lot of units with poison, Hamadyad, Sorceres Of dal Blathana, Whisperes Of dal Blathanna, Brokilon Sentinel, Pyrotechnician, Make a bomb and problably a lot of more cards i forget that are good in SC.
So stop to only see the bad cards and try to see the good cards.
You whant what? Every SC card be good only because you love that faction?
Indeed there are still lots of good ST cards. But I think Projcekt RED should still try to make every card playable, because if some cards are really too bad to play, then what is the meaning of the existance of those cards ?
Please, a 4-5p card doesn't "play insanely into tall punish." ST Echo card also "plays insanely into tall punish," so why is it 9p and not 4p? In fact, why don't we just make ALL of the cards that go tall 4p, because apparently otherwise it's "not worth it."
Also the "also" part, which you cut off half of the quote to make it make less sense and then responded to it like it was the whole thing, I did read what you wrote about Waylay in your response to the OP, nor did I claim YOU said Mardro was a priority buff. Rather, in both instances I was reiterating the question OP posited in his original post about why the devs thought a card like Mardroeme needed a buff IN THIS PATCH (read: was a priority for the devs) when cards like Waylay, which NEED MUCH MORE WORK AND ATTENTION are ignored. The point being (I assume) Mardro is SK, which, as a faction, has been consistently getting buffs after buffs, arguably well past what's necessary if we follow the meta, whereas Waylay is ST, and the dichotomy between the two was supposed to illustrate the difference in treatment of factions.
And finally, the "disingenious" argument wasn't mine, but OP's (who is not me), which, either way, I don't consider to be such.
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1. The fact that none of the other factions got anything blatantly game-breaking in the 9.0 is not an objective proof of lack of deliberate neglect. Whatever they got, those factions got meaningful changes. Sigdriffa's Rite went from 9 to 8p. Peaches 5 to 4. Mardro to 4. Those are MEANINGFUL changes. Magne is a meaningful change. [AND JESUS WHY THE HELL DID THEY MAKE BOMBARDMENT 4P? That card was already insane!] These changes will affect how the decks are built and played. Oak, meanwhile, got 1HP buff in 8.5 instead of provision, which it had pre-harmony murder. That means f*ck all. Munro rework to zeal DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. Neophytes are a novelty card. Seer boost of 1 point, on a card that's still 50/50 success at best, does NOTHING. Nobody needed that. It will never be played. Sage change to 4p would be meaningful if they left him alone, but with the rework this change is pointless. Card got cheaper, but also worse. So yeah, other factions may not have gotten anything super OP in the last two patches, but that's a pretty weak argument if you're trying to convince me that THEREFORE ST IS OK. Even though I personally don't subscribe to the "deliberate neglect" theory, it's pretty plain to anybody who but looks that ST got shafted big time the last two months.
2. I'm not really worried about the expansion business at all. Vanadain is a bad card, but bronzes are OK, and Fran is fine, because she demands thinking, though I think it will be rare that she actually "wins" games.
3. Already mentioned 8.5 patch. You don't think ST has anything to complain about? Well, that's not objective. You think Oak, Neo, Munro and Vrihedd are "viable" now? Guess what? That's not objective. Not only they aren't instantly auto-include, they aren't even recommended most of the time. And if they ARE playable in certain decks, well, they were playable in those same exact decks BEFORE this patch and I'm willing to bet the winrates of those decks did not improve after 8.5. Objectively. And no, Whoreson wasn't the only buff better than what ST got in 8.5. Even someone like an Unseen Elder going from 5 to 6 is MAGNITUDES better than Oak going from 7 to 8. Do I have to explain why that is?
Anyway, like I said, it might not be malicious or deliberate, but the devs have not really give ST anything fun to work with, patch-wise, in 2 month. Maybe they're just running out of ideas.
Indeed there are still lots of good ST cards. But I think Projcekt RED should still try to make every card playable, because if some cards are really too bad to play, then what is the meaning of the existance of those cards ?
So simple so true. The main complain still standing are all the cards that left to rod. Worse part is there are like three dead archetypes that were ones viable but since then totally powercrept. In that regard CDPR does bad busines (perhabs this they understand) by having a lot of products created and then forgotten. And to put it in perspective, other factions get the treatment like SK consistantly gets buffsto outdated cards. I don't want to cry about SK this and SC that, it's just a question, why? Do you just lack ideas? Do you just went black when asked to think green? Do you fear to totally total the meta if you buff old but highly sinergistic cards and archetipes like elves?
last and least, let my remind you that Alzur spellatel deck had a neutral highroll (alzur) as a wincon. Thats an indicator for "faction is not strong enough"
And to put it in perspective, other factions get the treatment like SK consistantly gets buffsto outdated cards. I don't want to cry about SK this and SC that, it's just a question, why?
My guess is, they plan to add something in the future expansions that would support these archetypes, but don't have it yet finalized, so they don't want to change the existing cards without being sure how the new ones will look exactly.
But that might as well be just my wishful thinking.
) by having a lot of products created and then forgotten. And to put it in perspective, other factions get the treatment like SK consistantly gets buffsto outdated cards. I don't want to cry about SK this and SC that, it's just a question, why? Do you just lack ideas? Do you just went black when asked to think green? Do you fear to totally total the meta if you buff old but highly sinergistic cards and archetipes like elves?