Did they dumb down the Gwent game that was in the Witcher 3?

[neldot]

It's more than two years that I don't play the Witcher 3, but I remember that the Gwent game was a lot more fun, and it had three battle lines and different dynamics. Am I wrong? This version seems a lot more dull to me. Am I missing something ?

[✪ Wuhan Warrior 🍉🍉]

The original Witcher Gwent were just basically point slamming big cards. The more rare the cards were, the bigger impact they gave.

Nothing fancy to be honest. It has little to no interaction with opponents board, and definitely isn't geared for online multiplayer.

[Sekoku]

Originally posted by neldot:

Am I missing something ?

You're missing that Witcher 3 Gwent is stupid broke with spies. You're playing AI in the Witcher 3, whereby the broken mechanics (read: Spies) doesn't harm the other party/isn't "unfair" to play.

Standalone you're playing actual people. Spy spam would be a NPE for the majority of people.

The three lane dumbing down I didn't agree with on announcing with Homecoming (the re-work, Closed/Open beta test Gwent standalone was 3-lanes like the Witcher 3 variant) but after playing it more it's a nice change from the Witcher 3 and the Melee/Ranged change means cards have abilities (for the most part, some don't) that give you a choice on where you place them:

Do you play this card on melee thereby buffing by the amount of enemies damaged? Or do you play it on ranged where it buffs based on the amount YOUR cards have been damaged?

You have to go in with an open-mind for Gwent stand-alone and understand that a lot of the changes are built to have Gwent actually play between two human players.

[The Maddog]

Originally posted by neldot:

Ok, thanks guys. Not my cup of tea it seems, I liked the battle atmosphere of the old Gwent. It seems to me that there is almost no battle involved here, you just have to add up to your numbers (and sometimes subtract from the enemy numbers), and a lot of cards have more or less the same effects.

I felt the same when I started playing. Just didn't feel right compared to Gwent in TW3.

Didn't play for a bit then thought I'd come back and try just a few rounds. Been hooked ever since. Just takes a bit of getting used to.

[SolidRaz]

I think some people liked W3 gwent more because it was impossible to lose there. Now since it requires actual thinking, some people can't handle loosing and blame it to be "dumbed down".

It requires a bit of practice, then the game opens up to a whole new level of fun.

[ctclonny]

Originally posted by The Drifter:

The game has taken a lot of weird steps but I still think its pretty fun. The only thing I think I really miss from old gwent was you actually had a leader card that sat on the side that had its own ability, it wasn't just a skin that sat there that casted your ability. You played Carapace? There was a card in your deck of the Arachas Queen, not just a skin. It just made more sense to me. Personally I like the removal of a third line. While yeah it was cool to have a whole "siege, ranged, infantry" thing once you think about it moving it down to 2 lines makes the game more complex in that you have to really think about placement as someone can just completely wipe your side with a card like "Geralt: Yrden" (for me at least, I play Northern Realms boost). And as the others have said, TW3 was mainly just "play spies to win". But if it's not your cup of tea I don't blame you. I know a lot of people who loved TW3 Gwent and got really bummed that this wasn't the same, so if you don't enjoy it, well I'm sorry it wasn't what you were hoping for.

Such that new players don't have limited choices of leader abilities. The ?atmosphere? does hurt but it must be done.

[eddiexy]

Originally posted by neldot:

It's more than two years that I don't play the Witcher 3, but I remember that the Gwent game was a lot more fun, and it had three battle lines and different dynamics. Am I wrong? This version seems a lot more dull to me. Am I missing something ?

Gwent as a standalone used to be close to the W3 version during the whole beta phase. With the official release the team published a deeply reworked version which hadnt been communicated before and triggered a heavy backlash within the Gwent community, leading to most players leaving within a couple of months.

I have played Gwent during the whole beta and really wanted to like the reworked version. tried it several times since then but simply dont enjoy it. a shame, but i guess the mobile market is more important to CDPR.

Watching player numbers and twitch statistics nothing has changed - 90% of players left and never returned. a pity.

[Kat]

If you liked steamrolling AI with overpowered spies and decision making was reduced to slamming the highest value card on board, I guess you won't like nowaday Gwent at all.

[Kat]

Originally posted by eddiexy:

Watching player numbers and twitch statistics nothing has changed - 90% of players left and never returned. a pity.

That's nice statistics you gathered there. What are your sources if I may ask? Also, nice to know that twitch stats represent player count, popularity of the game and if it's enjoyable or not.