Gwent, over the long period of its existence, changed several times. As soon as The Witcher 3 appeared in stores, the game became a people’s favorite. The evolution and development of genres is only a matter of time, and the guys from CD Projekt Red took this statement too seriously, updating their game with enviable regularity. The beta test is coming to an end and the game is already at the finish line for release, so I welcome those who are interested in what the Poles have done and remade in our beloved Gwent
Development history Gwent is very interesting, and to touch on it without going deeper would be blasphemy, this will be discussed in one of the following blogs. This blog will talk about innovations, changes and transformation of the game into what can with a clear conscience be called a “dream CCG”.
POINT ONE
They worked conscientiously on the visual part of the project – they changed almost all the interface elements, making them more pleasing to the eye. Although not everything can be assessed, since PTR does not imply full-fledged functionality, the “backbone” of the functionality is available now – a regular game, creating decks, setting up the game and switching to Blood feud.
We removed the “cartoonishness” of the design of the board and some cards, moving towards a realistic design, thereby emphasizing that Gwent is no longer a gathering in a tavern, now these are real military battles, in which cards are unique combat units.
Each faction has a unique field design, so “mirror” matches feel different, namely as a war of different ideologies and different leaders within one faction. Speaking of leaders, they are no longer ordinary cards like before. They take on the role of commanders, standing to the side and reacting to events from both the enemy and yours. Their abilities no longer require a separate move to activate; from now on, you can, for example, place a card and immediately strengthen it with the leader.
The final of each round ends with the joyful emotions of the winning leader and the anger of the loser, which helps to feel the importance of this match. The end of match and round screens have also been changed for the better, in my opinion, giving way to darker tones.
POINT TWO
What’s Most Important in a Trading Card Game?? In fact, there is nothing specific, everything is important and necessary to approximately equal extent, but the most interesting and creative element is the creation of a deck, since the game has hundreds of different and unique cards, and each player can create something unique.
They worked on this aspect of the game no less than on the visual component – from now on decks are not limited to a certain number of gold, silver and bronze cards, this is a thing of the past. To create a deck, you now have to not only have imagination, but also cold calculation, because a new type of limitation has appeared – Provisions
All decks have a limit of 165 units Provisions, if you exceed this limit, you will not be able to play. This kind of balance gives you the opportunity to create a deck with a huge number of gold cards, but if you mindlessly build decks without relying on synergies, then you simply will not be allowed to try out what you have done.
Each card has its own www.foxybingocasino.uk price, starting from 4 and ending with 14, but this does not mean that the card is worth 14 Provisions several times stronger. The balance of the cards has also been reworked, but it is too early to discuss it, because it can be changed at any time. The only thing I can say about this is that it is excellent.
Let’s return to deckbuilding and leaders in particular, because they have also been redesigned, and radically.
When creating a deck, you are given a choice of 5 factions, which have become default for Gwent in recent years, namely: Monsters, Northern Kingdoms, Scoia’tael, Nilfgaard and Skellige. The lore of each faction is described in the selection window when you hover over any of the factions. It’s no secret to many that the Reds were preparing a new faction even before the announcement Homecoming and I think one of the first updates will be dedicated to a new faction, for which a place has been kindly allocated next to Nilfgaard.
Now to the leader changes. They, as I said above, are no longer separate cards, they now perform a passive function, similar to the features of factions in the past. The number on the leader’s card is not their strength – it is the number of cards you can exchange during the game. If you managed to exchange all possible cards at the beginning of the game, then in the second and third rounds you will have a hard time, since no one has canceled the element of randomness, and you may come across a card that is currently useless, or minimally useful.
Since leaders differ in the strength of their abilities, this decision was more than logical and acceptable.
POINT THREE
With music everything is much clearer. It was hardly changed, and musical compositions with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I really hoped that the music at the entrance would be changed, but we have what we have. In this case, the Poles could learn from their American colleagues from Blizzard — every addon they change the innkeeper’s phrases, and you simply don’t get tired of them, and the quiet music in the background complements the image of a very lamp tavern. The music in the main menu is the same, the game mode has changed, many audio recordings have been changed or replaced with those that suit the surroundings of the battles.
So far, we only have an incomplete picture of the future game, but from what we were shown and allowed to play, we can already guess what kind of game we will get. What is available at the moment is beyond praise – the developers managed to update and refresh both the game and the genre as a whole. The game is fun and interesting due to new mechanics and restrictions, players will have to think while building a deck and build tactics for each deck, and not just throw cards. Visually the game is pleasing, the new style is laconic and very rich, which fits into the project. The music most likely will not be updated, although I hope otherwise, but the cards and their abilities will be reviewed for release according to tradition CD Projekt Red.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Best comments
They are already coming up with something with Voorhis, and Skellige, they say, is impatient. Looking at the leaders I can’t help but think the same thing, but I haven’t played against/for the islanders yet
Eh. Well, I hope they balance it out. I really want to play a good and noble Gwent (I had one in the 2nd or 3rd iteration of the beta). I love board games and that’s why I fell in love with CCGs, but Hearthstone hurts, and others are scared off by unfamiliar and unattractive universes.
Another beautifully designed review, thanks to the author.
I really liked Gwent in The Witcher itself, but I never got involved with the separate card version, it’s somewhat not my thing, as it turned out. But I’ll probably try the plot addition “Blood Feud”.
I’ll try to buy it in the first days and also make a review. Kosarik should contribute to the emergence of new content ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I played pre-built decks a couple of times during my work break. First impressions: the hackneyed strategies with drypass and spies have finally disappeared. There is a feeling that you need to feel the synergy and plan every round. I really like it so far, I hope that the release doesn’t introduce any crazy features like overly imbecilic weather or a slight buff of the deck after 1-2 cards.
For some reason the dividing marks have disappeared. Like – /\| (I wonder if at least one will remain).
Oh well. Gone and God bless them.
At one time, back in the first CBT, the game captivated me with its style and the fact that randomness was kept to a minimum – if you want to win, be able to calculate your moves in advance and read your opponent. Then there was OBT and an influx of players – the game developed and moved forward, new maps were released in the future. A year ago the game went into hibernation. The developers released a pack of new cards and the “three spies” and dry passes meta appeared. She was still interesting and complex, BUT. But the developers, instead of balancing the game, began to cut it. Several interesting (note interesting, not imbe) archetypes like milla disappeared from the game, and the top squirrels at that time were nerfed and nerfed, but they still remained relevant. As a result, these actions and the lack of any global updates brought the game into a state of degradation. The meta did not change at all, the “top decks for climbing the ladder” contained the same decks, gwent guides almost re-uploaded their videos every month in turn. Online on Twitch began to fall. And then the developers are like, so guys, we screwed up, in six months there will be Homecoming, but for now here’s the fuck with butter. Homecoming came out on the test server and what I see is that they haven’t changed a thing. Besides the graphics, of course – this is SO important in a card game. And now, by the way, the gwent jitters on my trough even on low settings. But apart from the graphics and the “holy shit” removal of the third line, nothing has changed on the board. Archetypes will be built on the same mechanics. Changed 1.5 cards. Some people simply had their abilities swapped. Six months, I remind you. All this update gave was visual. And I’ll say this, why the hell didn’t I need this 3D board with volumetric leaders. It was quite possible to upgrade the old board and cards to the level of the conditional Birna Bran with the Skellige storm in terms of animation level. I needed balance and regular change. An online game needs to constantly change to be interesting and in demand. Homecoming – an update that everyone will now hype and that’s it. This is where it all ends, the Poles still don’t understand what they screwed up.
I’ll also add that in the long term this 3D can tire the eyes quite a lot for those who really play a lot.
Very bad.
In order.
Visual.
It got TOO dark. The leader models are quite ugly, take up a lot of space, and are SOOOOO annoying with their long animations. In general, everything is VERY slow, because you now need to complete the move manually. Inconvenient.
The field seems to be large, but there is not much space. And because of the big cards. And because of the packed scenery. For me, the minimalist board looked much better. The game has lost SCALE. So the battle of the troops? No. Squad Skirmish.
The fact that one row was removed – well, in general you can get used to it. In itself this is not so bad. The bad thing is that the promise that the ranks would become of great importance was not kept.
Music and sounds
I don’t know about you, but I had problems with this on the PTR. The sound constantly disappeared, cards entered the field without cues. So I can’t say anything.
But you can get used to all this. The main thing is changes in gameplay.
Anyone who has played with MBT knows that developers REALLY love to change all abilities upside down, change/remove/add game mechanics. Everyone who has been playing for a long time is used to this.
But this time they learned specifically.
The most important change is the two bronze limit, which is exacerbated by the new provisions/mana system.
Let’s start with them, perhaps.
What did they lead to?? TO THE DEPRESSION OF bronze, to the destruction of such a thing as the “engine” of the deck. Degradation of the synergistic component and a decrease in the amount of gold in the deck\or the need to add garbage cards.
Anyone who has played on the Nova deck knows that without a good spin, you will not be able to control the deck, and your “engine” is running at half power. Why can’t you collect, say, Alchemy on Nova. Or Dolblatantsev. More precisely, you can, but by taking only two copies of bronze, which you absolutize, on which you place a bet, with which you accelerate the value, you deliberately reduce the strength of the deck. Therefore, Nova played in a very limited number of decks, the strategy and synergy of which were not tied to a specific bronze pack. But even in this case, let’s say, playing, say, on Nova Eredin you have fewer tools to implement your main strategy. By the way, Nova is the middle ground between synergistic decks and the completely non-synergistic Shop.
So why would I do this? And to the fact that now all decks will be like Nova decks. More precisely, worse than Nova-decks, since completely SUDDENLY on PT the bronze scrolling completely disappeared. But silver and gold cost so much that it’s not worth taking them. And this is only a limit of two bronzes, and there are also provisions!
Provisions led to the fact that.
Firstly, the cards are clearly divided by strength. If earlier you collected 10 gold\15 bronze, now you either collect outright rubbish, which plays there for 6 points, maximum, and even with conditions. Or you take good bronze, such as Swordsmen (who are now axes), who easily play for 13 points there, but you are left without strong gold.
Personally, I don’t like this, because it again diminishes the value of synergy. A card for 13 provisions JUST plays better without any synergies than a 6 card coated with synergy. Which again leads to degradation in style – The winner is not the one who pulled off the most powerful combination, but the one who has more mana in his hand. Yes, of course there are exceptions that quickly became meta. The same swordsmen + Harald, or Eithne + epidemic. But, in general, this is the situation. Synergy means less. More provisions.
Another blow to the gut from provisions is the degradation of card abilities and a decrease in the number of deck-forming cards, t.e, cards around which the deck is built. Let’s say the same Imrelikh, for example. Or Triss, who played quite well in fan decks, and now they kicked her under the bunk, making some kind of bronze Gavencar out of INTERESTING gold. And in general, the lion’s share of card skills are now Damage, damage or buff. A bit boring. The fighting became a skirmish of reskin ballistas, on each side.
Fights have become more reminiscent of Arena fights. You are not spinning combos, but simply trying to get the most out of such a misunderstanding that fell into your hand.
Muligan\Number of cards.
Another change that led to gameplay degradation.
Oh, this is a coin problem, dry passes, the need for tempo, strategy and a headache..
How did the developers solve all this?? And it’s very simple. They took it and cut it all to hell. Why, my friend, think? Here’s a HUGE mulligan right on the table, among the first two optional rounds and ONE decisive round.
In fact, out of three rounds they made ONE. The first two are foreplay, which doesn’t solve anything at all. The first mover now has an advantage, so the coin problem is still not solved. Only the winning side has changed.
The idea with the mulligan is, in general, interesting, but it’s a matter of taste. If not for one BUT.
Taking into account the fact that the decks in general began to spin much worse, the mulligan has acquired great importance, but it has become LESS. Much LESS. Which again leads to an increase in the randomization of the game and the influence of entry. Players in PTR, with the exception of those who are sorting through the deck, control their decks LESS than players of the current Gwent, and depend on random MORE.
Rows.
Reducing the series in itself would be nice. Yes, we all understand that this measure is forced only because of Mobile phones, and not because of the mythical difficulty of balancing each ability across three rows. OK. They removed it, they removed it. But where are our promised cards that play different abilities depending on the row?? But they are not there, hahaha. They attacked us. Cards like IRIS can be counted on one hand.
Bronze, the ability of which works only on one of the rows – this is your declared revolution in the importance of rows? But excuse me, how is this different from the early Gwent, where there was exactly the same connection to rows, essentially? But nothing.
Ozrel, whose ability was JUST divided into two rows – maybe this? No either. This is not gameplay depth. This is not even the mythical “THINK WHERE TO GO”, this is an ordinary, beggarly MICRO. Just MICRO. And there’s nothing good about it.
Shot range? Well, in general, okay, but again nothing that radically changes the gameplay.
Conclusion: The ranks are out of order. Promise not kept.
I guess that’s all.
Result: Gwent has become stringy, slow, boring, monotonous and most importantly – RANDOM. In my opinion, this is good for mobile phones, but bad for all Gwent fans.
I agree to a large extent. It’s strange that everything changed so dramatically. Although that’s all? They devoured the row for the sake of mobile phones, made the matches tedious, and the field extremely dark.
I’m not panicking yet, but the monotony makes me sad: inflict damage, strengthen, etc.d. New charges and orders.
