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[TheSadRanger]

I like the consistency that 25 cards give. Having a larger deck size is basically adding more RNG.
With 25 cards, you still need thinning cards to be able to see all your cards every match, but this also allows for building strong decks that allow you to pull off your strategy consistently.

What the game really needs is a lot more (bronze) cards. This is where the main variety will come from. Perhaps once the main release goes live, we'll start seeing new cards more often.

That's part of the problem though imo, games are boring and and all kind of mesh together. Whenever I play against consume monsters or skellige or most popular decks, 90% of those matches are played the exact same way. It's like paint-by-numbers gwent.

I agree that new bronze cards would help but I don't think it would do enough. They would have to release a bunch of cards to change it drastically.

A 30 count hard cap would change things up and at least provide a little variety, it would force players to adapt their strategy. A little more RNG is not necessarily a bad thing. It's not like you going to HS levels of RNG by adding a 5 card minimum.

 

[StMeph]

Then deck thinning becomes even stronger, and people cry as Nilfgaard is, once again, ascendant. Changes have repercussions on balance and the meta, and it's not like some factions aren't better suited to handling an increase in the minimum deck size.

Does no one have any experience playing CCGs? This is normal. Letting the meta develop and change and THEN balancing is being responsible, rather than immediately patching things three days after another patch because people haven't learned how to respond to things yet. Holy hell it's been one week of a patch and people already want everything to be overhauled again.

Edit:
Except things like the drop hack, which should be patched as quickly as possible and has zero bearing on card balance.

 

[Exentryk]

A 30 count hard cap would change things up and at least provide a little variety

Even with 30, it probably won't be enough for what you want. You probably want something close to 40, but it's drawing a line in the sand really.

I much prefer the tighter 25 cards setup which I can optimize. I want less RNG.
So agree to disagree I guess.

 

[ZangBa]

I like the game but I think I give up. I don't want to copy a better deck because it's boring, which probably makes it more frustrating. The other problem is kegs suck and always have garbage. I'm like level 13 or so and have always done my daily rounds for at least 1 and still haven't pulled a single gold card since the beginning. This is worse than Japanese gacha games. I think it's fun and unique, but I'll wait for there to be a lot more cards and archetypes more fleshed out.

 

[Syntsui]

Mandatory 30 would be a gigantic buff to Nilfgaard and, to an extent, to Scoia'tael (who needs any help they can get lmao) though.

 

[Exentryk]

I like the game but I think I give up. I don't want to copy a better deck because it's boring, which probably makes it more frustrating. The other problem is kegs suck and always have garbage. I'm like level 13 or so and have always done my daily rounds for at least 1 and still haven't pulled a single gold card since the beginning. This is worse than Japanese gacha games. I think it's fun and unique, but I'll wait for there to be a lot more cards and archetypes more fleshed out.

There is a pity timer for gold cards at 40 kegs. With level 13, you should be close to opening 40 and your first gold any keg now.

Also, it might be better to buy some meteorite powder for $20-30 and then convert those to scraps so you can pick your desired gold cards. This was only available during this patch period though, so you'll likely have to wait until the next patch to do it.

 

[TheSadRanger]

Just got a legendary flip choice from a keg and the choices are stefan, caranthir, and premium prescilla. I have Stefan.

Even though Caranthir is better, premium prescilla is tempting :/

edit: I also had a weird bug against monsters, so they play harpies turn 1. I use myrggbakte, I go 2 then 2 on the main harpy and pop one of the eggs. Fugging two harpies popped out.

 

[Musan]

Even though I derided it before, playing Spell ST has been a fun change of pace. Definitely not drop-dead easy, as it felt playing against it. It really drives home the importance of card advantage.

edit: I also had a weird bug against monsters, so they play harpies turn 1. I use myrggbakte, I go 2 then 2 on the main harpy and pop one of the eggs. Fugging two harpies popped out.

That's a feature. Harpies activate the deathwishes of neighboring units.

 

[TheSadRanger]

Even though I derided it before, playing Spell ST has been a fun change of pace. Definitely not drop-dead easy, as it felt playing against it. It really drives home the importance of card advantage.



That's a feature. Harpies activate the deathwishes of neighboring units.

I get what happened, when I popped the egg it popped a harpy next to it which made the remaining egg trigger. Talk about bad luck

 

[Crossing Eden]

Ok is this anywhere near as addictive as the one in the main game? Cause I genuinely can't stop stopping by merchants, blacksmiths, armorers, etc. to play Gwent...

 

[frontovik]

Well, it certainly can be...

The gameplay has changed significantly from the main game though. Nonetheless, you should give it a whirl as it is in Open Beta currently.

Keep in mind that the learning curve can be quite steep though.

 

[Naar]

Ok is this anywhere near as addictive as the one in the main game? Cause I genuinely can't stop stopping by merchants, blacksmiths, armorers, etc. to play Gwent...

I am someone who thought The Witcher 3 was over hyped, and the only thing I LOVED was Gwent in it. I did what you did and went to every shop and merchant in hopes of playing Gwent and this card game only version is like blessings from heaven

GET IT

 

[Exentryk]

Ok is this anywhere near as addictive as the one in the main game? Cause I genuinely can't stop stopping by merchants, blacksmiths, armorers, etc. to play Gwent...

It's probably more addictive as the game has become even more in-depth. There are lots of new cards too! Lots of fun!

It's free to play, and in open beta so everyone can try it out. There are some nice single player challenges that will gently guide you in. Definitely give it a try. The only thing to worry about would be it might make the old Gwent in Witcher 3 boring

 

[Rahk]

I like the game but I think I give up. I don't want to copy a better deck because it's boring, which probably makes it more frustrating. The other problem is kegs suck and always have garbage. I'm like level 13 or so and have always done my daily rounds for at least 1 and still haven't pulled a single gold card since the beginning. This is worse than Japanese gacha games. I think it's fun and unique, but I'll wait for there to be a lot more cards and archetypes more fleshed out.

You must have been pretty unlucky. I've found it to be way more generous with golds than most gacha games, and it's much easier to earn kegs/scraps than the typical equivalent.

 

[Turin Turambar]

You must have been pretty unlucky. I've found it to be way more generous with golds than most gacha games, and it's much easier to earn kegs/scraps than the typical equivalent.

Oh, for me it's grindy. I don't like how it forces to me to play 3-5 games in a day to obtain the minimum reward, sometimes I only want to play a pair of matches but then it feels 'wasteful'.

Also, I has stretches of 20 kegs without any gold OR any silver.

Comparing with 'most gacha games' is moot. Most gacha games business model are shit.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I am someone who thought The Witcher 3 was over hyped, and the only thing I LOVED was Gwent in it. I did what you did and went to every shop and merchant in hopes of playing Gwent and this card game only version is like blessings from heaven

GET IT

It's probably more addictive as the game has become even more in-depth. There are lots of new cards too! Lots of fun!

It's free to play, and in open beta so everyone can try it out. There are some nice single player challenges that will gently guide you in. Definitely give it a try. The only thing to worry about would be it might make the old Gwent in Witcher 3 boring

......

I'm sorry but I can't. I would get way too addicted to this game. ಥ_ಥ When's the beta over?

 

[Zemm]

Not for a long time.

They released some matchmaking update today, think it's mainly aimed at the higher ranked people though

 

[StMeph]

Open Betas for F2P games basically are soft launches. There's still stuff to work through, and I'm sure CDPR wouldn't describe the game as final, but it's basically released. The official rollover to launch will be seamless because the game will probably have already been out for 6+ months by then, and it's just going to be a major card release + balance patch along with a new advertising push.

 

[Zemm]

The amount of horrible players playing SK right now is so obvious, it's just such a strong faction they don't get punished as much as they should. Even Swim is giving CDPR a bit of shit on his stream, they've really fucked up with this meta.

 

[QFNS]

Open Betas for F2P games basically are soft launches. There's still stuff to work through, and I'm sure CDPR wouldn't describe the game as final, but it's basically released. The official rollover to launch will be seamless because the game will probably have already been out for 6+ months by then, and it's just going to be a major card release + balance patch along with a new advertising push.

Echoing this statement that the F2P rewards in this game feel QUITE generous. Winning 6 rounds (not even matches just single rounds) rewards you with a card pack EACH DAY. Starting earlier will give you a big leg up over others and since CDPR seem to be quite lenient with their currencies you can probably craft a sizable portion of the cards for your favorite faction or two if you are dedicated. It really is quite quick.

Add to that the rewards for ranked play (when you get to account level 10) are quite substantial compared to other F2P CCGs I've played (Hearthstone).

 

[Zemm]

I think I'm done until they patch the game, it's so so bad right now that I don't even think you can call it a competitive game. It's sometimes hard to believe this is from CDPR.

I want to love the game so much because of the lesser reliance on RNG and because I love CDPR but for me it's just not there yet. The balancing is an obvious issue but things like the UI is going to need a massive overhaul at some point.

 

[wesleyshark]

Signed in today on Xbox and there was a banner announcement saying they fixed the matchmaking because people were getting unfairly paired in rank games.

I definitely have noticed a massive difference. Every game I've played this evening have been very close, compared to yesterday when I was getting absolutely destroyed game after game after game.

 

[frontovik]

I agree. It's kinda refreshing to be paired up against opponents on similar skill levels now.

 

[Yoshichan]

I think I'm done until they patch the game, it's so so bad right now that I don't even think you can call it a competitive game. It's sometimes hard to believe this is from CDPR.

I want to love the game so much because of the lesser reliance on RNG and because I love CDPR but for me it's just not there yet. The balancing is an obvious issue but things like the UI is going to need a massive overhaul at some point.

.

 

[Rahk]

Oh, for me it's grindy. I don't like how it forces to me to play 3-5 games in a day to obtain the minimum reward, sometimes I only want to play a pair of matches but then it feels 'wasteful'.

Also, I has stretches of 20 kegs without any gold OR any silver.

Comparing with 'most gacha games' is moot. Most gacha games business model are shit.

I don't really find it grindy as the games are usually pretty quick and I still enjoy playing it, but I see your point. I might feel the same way if I start getting bored or just want to have a quick game. Sometimes I don't have enough time to complete all the games, but not sure how else they could do it.

I agree in regards to gacha games, but was just responding to a post that compared them.

 

[waxinlyrical]

Rank 17!

Climbing the ladder definitely got slower after the patch, but I guess I'm not losing as much when I'm first learning how to play a new deck. It definitely feels like it makes climbing the ladder to get ranks a lot more of a grind overall though.

 

[MrCinos]

Today has been a good day to me. Overall, 30 wins 9 losses (13w-5l vs monsters, 11w-3l vs Skellige) with one of the netdecked Dagon decks. In my hand it works much better than a few Consume variants I played before.
Now I LOVE playing vs Skellige because they are easy prey. At least at my current MMR level. I'm also glad to ditch Crones and Nekkers, no more mulligan hell.

 

[JustinBB7]

Yay Rank 15 again.

 

[yo_soy_el_topo]

Grats Justin and what deck are you guys playing to climb?

What is the net dragon deck? Been outta the meta game for a minute

 

[Turin Turambar]

Grats Justin and what deck are you guys playing to climb?

What is the net dragon deck? Been outta the meta game for a minute

Dagon, not dragon. As in one of the monster leaders.

I suppose it's the typical Weather/consume deck?

 

[TheSadRanger]

I've been running axemen cept instead of the usual craite with mork. I use bran with raiders and alzur's double cross to pull mork.

It's a little iffy but provides me with tempo and thinning.

 

[Yoshichan]

SK definitely getting nerfed next patch

"Well, the people who are defending it probably got to 4k MMR by playing a broken SK deck."

"We're working on some balance changes, stay tuned "

 

[TheSadRanger]

If you nerf SK than you'll just see monsters which is arguably better than SK atm anyways.

 

[Zemm]

I'd like to see them make some bigger changes than just stat changes. I like weather but not how it currently is, it's so shit to play against and doesn't really feel fun to play either. There's so many ways they can change it to be more fun to play against. Things like:

Limited amount of weather cards per deck (like how silver and gold cards are limited)
Weather cards only last a certain amount of turns
They tick at the start of the turn rather than the end

Etc.

I think you'd get more variety in decks and unused cards might get some use if they tweak the weather a bit.

 

[QFNS]

I find it hilarious that people are complaining about NR Ballistas, when those are the card I ended up cutting from my NR deck due to lack of useful targets. The Reinforced Ballista ends up doing LOTS more damage most of the time, except against decks like Monsters where they have 5 copies of the same small unit. And in that case if you just play some weather on them, you'll frequently accomplish the same thing, although at a lower tempo cost.

The deck just doesn't really have issues with the standard consume monster deck anyhow, so I'm not sure where the memes about Ballista are coming from. The card is good against maybe two decks and kinda blows most of the rest of the time.

 

[Warablo]

Wow, this meta sucks. I switched to Lifecoach's axemen deck and immediately started on a winning streak after dropping MMR hard, maybe I actually can make it to 2.8 MMR if I grind fast enough.

 

[TheSadRanger]

I don't like how the new ranking system punishes you the same for losing to people who are 2-3 ranks ahead of you.

I face rank 15 and 14 players at 12 and lose the same damn RP.

 

[TimeEffect]

Man I am REALLY hating SC spell decks.

They play a bit the first round, and then its straight spells that remove everything you have.Then in round 3, they can fish/play the card that gets boosted for every spell they used earlier.

Cant find a way to counter a spell deck since I cant respond to any of their plays

 

[waxinlyrical]

I don't like how the new ranking system punishes you the same for losing to people who are 2-3 ranks ahead of you.

I face rank 15 and 14 players at 12 and lose the same damn RP.

It's been mentioned several times before, but: you shouldn't be looking at Rank when assessing your opponents. Only MMR matters. Rank, once reached, never goes away, so it's very likely that you're facing opponents who reached Rank 15 and lost a shite ton of MMR, enough that they'd face you. If you use gwent tracker or gwent up they also display the MMR of the opponent, I'd be surprised if they aren't close to where you are.

Cant find a way to counter a spell deck since I cant respond to any of their plays

Having large gold strength units ( Vanilla Geralt, Avallach etc) are traditionally good against them. They do pack shackles, so you'll have to be careful of the timing of when you play the gold units. Regis:Higher Vampire is also traditionally a good tech card against them.

 

[Papercuts]

I'd like to see them make some bigger changes than just stat changes. I like weather but not how it currently is, it's so shit to play against and doesn't really feel fun to play either. There's so many ways they can change it to be more fun to play against. Things like:

Limited amount of weather cards per deck (like how silver and gold cards are limited)
Weather cards only last a certain amount of turns
They tick at the start of the turn rather than the end

Etc.

I think you'd get more variety in decks and unused cards might get some use if they tweak the weather a bit.

I think changing the time it ticks to the end of the turn instead of the start would actually go over well, it makes the counter cards actual counters and blocks the value from happening.

That was the issue with RNR, even if you cleared ASAP it would have still hit for 9 already and you spend a card to do nothing but stop it.

 

[Patapwn]

Man I am REALLY hating SC spell decks.

They play a bit the first round, and then its straight spells that remove everything you have.Then in round 3, they can fish/play the card that gets boosted for every spell they used earlier.

Cant find a way to counter a spell deck since I cant respond to any of their plays

I never give them a GG. They don't deserve it

However, I've found the best way to beat them is by going strong in the first round but limiting the amount of cards you play. If you rush to a 25 point advantage as they play their weather and special card bullshit they'll give you the first round. Try to get a card advantage in the 2nd round but give it to them and then in the final round scorch or something that resets their Dol blathanna protectors.

I've had a lot of success against them this way so that's just my 2 cents

 

[TheSadRanger]

I think changing the time it ticks to the end of the turn instead of the start would actually go over well, it makes the counter cards actual counters and blocks the value from happening.

That was the issue with RNR, even if you cleared ASAP it would have still hit for 9 already and you spend a card to do nothing but stop it.

I honestly didn't think RNR was that bad. Yes in combination with drought and weather decks it could be annoying.

But on it's own it wasn't bad at all, if you FL it they just spent a gold for 9 dmg which is nothing. It was only decently strong in weather decks and even then it's value was questionable at times.

White Frost is a better card that can potentially do more dmg and it's a silver. White Frost was already arguably better before the RNR nerf because you could re-use it with aeromancy and now it's the defacto best card for weather.

 

[TimeEffect]

Having large gold strength units ( Vanilla Geralt, Avallach etc) are traditionally good against them. They do pack shackles, so you'll have to be careful of the timing of when you play the gold units. Regis:Higher Vampire is also traditionally a good tech card against them.

They absolutely pack Scorch, which can be replayed at least once more, if not twice, since one of their gold cards lets them convert cards in their hand to scorch.

Since they dont play units, they also carry the plague card that destroys the lowest units, which can hurt a lot too.

Then they carry typical removal cards like the ones that do 7 damage a unit.

By round 2, they are removing every card you play, including gold thanks to x3 shackle, demetrium, etc.

Then, they have another special card that lets them find one of the only units they play, which is a card that gets 1 power for each spell played, which lets them play like a 20 point bronze unit, 3 times.

 

[StMeph]

ST Control has been around a long time and hasn't changed much.

Play deep into R1 and exhaust as many of their spells as you can. You should already know what spells they're packing at this stage, so play your cards and stagger/stack them between the zones as you need to.

Run a Mardroeme/reset or Scorch effect analogue to shut down their Protectors.

 

[waxinlyrical]

They absolutely pack Scorch, which can be replayed at least once more, if not twice, since one of their gold cards lets them convert cards in their hand to scorch.

Since they dont play units, they also carry the plague card that destroys the lowest units, which can hurt a lot too.

Then they carry typical removal cards like the ones that do 7 damage a unit.

By round 2, they are removing every card you play, including gold thanks to x3 shackle, demetrium, etc.

Then, they have another special card that lets them find one of the only units they play, which is a card that gets 1 power for each spell played, which lets them play like a 20 point bronze unit, 3 times.

Yes, all of those things are true. All of the advice I gave you on how to beat them also remains true.

Without going into full-blown rant mode: I understand your frustration with playing against that seemingly unbeatable deck. Let me assure you that the deck is not unbeatable, in fact the consensus among the higher ranked players is that the deck, while clearly still strong, is not among the top tier of competitive decks. You can beat them in 1 of 2 ways, a: teching in cards that are targeted specifically against them (e.g. Regis Higher Vampire), or b: playing better with the cards you do have.

Understandably b) is of course much harder, and often has lower effect. a) is much easier, but you do so at the risk of now being weaker to other decks. That's the way it should be in a healthy metagame. You could argue we aren't in one; that there are very dominant decks that have no real counter, and that might be true, but as I mentioned above, the general consensus seems to be that Socia'spell and its variants are not such a deck.

 

[Naar]

I was messing around with a spell deck in my collection and forgot that the game saves the last deck you tinkered with as your first option and went into a match with a non complete spell deck lol

I lost obviously since I barely had any good cards and wasn't meant to play with it, but since then I started to build it up and it is fun and not as easy as it looks when you fight against it.

Although I think I play it differently than other decks and actually use units throughout the match

Also noticed a lot less games vs skellige in the last 2 days

 

[frontovik]

Don't know why CDPR thought Dol'Blathanna protectors and Spell'atel was such a good idea. Just a lousy deck.

 

[poppedcollar69]

Would it be so bad if weather, and clear skies, hit both sides again?

 

[TheSadRanger]

Whatever, I'm now sub 1900 RP playing against people who are higher ranked than me and losing RP more than I win RP against people higher level than me.

Fuck this shit I'm done, there's a reason this game has less than 1k viewers whenever the big streamers are off.

 

[TheSadRanger]

This is the most garbage ass card game ever created, I would rather hammer bamboo skewers underneath my fingernails than play this shit.