4Game

In response to the latest card drop and balance changes, there has been quite a bit of controversy regarding the state of gwent, balance choices, and the game developers. Many people are unhappy with the state of Gwent and we have all seen, and engaged in, complaints on this subreddit followed by others complaining about those who complain. Turmoil has seemingly built up around the game, “spirited debate”, if you will. I think this has been the elephant in the room for a while now, and these are some of my thoughts that I commented on a recent post in response to someone complaining about those who complain on this sub, which I thought warranted its own post to further the discussion:

I understand the devs do their best and CDPR isn’t exactly funding this game adequately enough for the devs to do what they would like with the game (we all know they’re on here and regularly see our thoughts and sometimes engage with us), but it is my opinion that players have a right to be upset when they aren’t having fun playing. The devs are human, too, and I don’t think anyone really hates the devs or blames any one person for the problems the game faces, they simply recognize the issues, feel negatively about it, and complain on this subreddit.

The reality is that this game is not balanced, the players are ultimately acting as play testers for new cards until the next patch when balances changes come. The game balance isn’t stable and hasn’t been for a long time. The last open literally had every non GN deck running Yrden and Igni because long gone are the days of macro strategy against decks that you don’t have an exact answer for. Cards play for so many points, so quickly, that you can’t just concede a round and defend bleeds, watch what you commit, save win cons for later rounds, try to calculate ahead, etc. You literally have to run these cards (Yrden, Igni) in your deck because it is the only reliable way to beat the current decks in the meta. That is a serious systemic issue that results from months and months of powercreep.

We all play this game to have fun, and we all have fun in different ways. Some like to create their own homebrews and try to perform well with those, others like to netdeck. Ultimately, it is impossible for all of us to be pleased at once. However, there are glaring issues with gwent, and what I don’t understand are the people on here who white knight for CDPR as if they aren’t players of the game like the rest of us, and who act as if other players aren’t allowed to criticize the game or have different opinions.

The reality is that CDPR aren’t funding this game as much as we all would like. The devs do their best and sometimes it means the game is wildly unbalanced, and that is what it is. And unfortunately, for the sake of the game and atmosphere of this community, I don’t think that will change any time soon.