Hi, Gwentlemen!
I hope that GWENT, with the best premium cards, unique gameplay, popular universe, and loyal community across the world, won’t be “abandoned” from 2024 as the Devs announced lately. So I came up with an idea of how to design GWENT to be played forever, which took some elements from Marvel Snap, Path of Exile, and other CCGs.
TL;DR(long article, 10 mins to read)
- GWENT could introduce a new mode to make it a profitable game enjoyed by both new and old players forever.
- This mode is called Seasonal Reset Mode, paralleled to the current classic mode, where there is an individual collection system(like marvel snap, cards are categorized into different pools), and also with newly released cards(1/week, 50/year), new currencies, unique seasonal rules, and vanity items.
- Apart from 1 new card each week, the new seasonal rules are key to shaking the meta regularly and making it unique compared to the classic mode.
- It’s a super friendly mode because all cards can be obtained by active FTP players and paying players before the end of each season(less than 3 months), but players should grind for their full collection every season from 0, which means it resets all players card collection in the new mode.
- At the same time, the current classic mode is still available for players who want to play the game as it is now, but without the latest content until the end of each new mode’s season.
- Its monetization will mainly depend on new Journeys, which not only provide unique vanity items but also accelerate paying users’ collection progression.Below are the details of this mode, including its features and some FAQs. Feel free to leave comments and speak out your thoughts.
As we all know, one of the biggest reasons for GWENT not continuing its updates in the future is the unsatisfied revenue(low ROI). Besides, the constantly complained balance issues and fewer new and active users are also hurting it. I am an old beta player since 2016 with over 2 decades of gaming experience(here mainly Path of Exile and CCGs). I would like to share with you my ideas of how to design GWENT to be played forever.
To introduce the Seasonal Reset Mode in GWENT
Purposes (more details in later parts)
1. To Create a new progression system
- (1) The excessively generous daily rewards and resources hoarded by current players are preventing both new and old players from paying and grinding regularly.
- (2) With a new and more friendly progression system, all players can grind for a full collection and rank progression every season.
2. To make GWENT a game enjoyed by the majority of its registered and future players
- (1) There have been fewer active players in GWENT due to its negative new user acquisition strategy(low ROI) and balance issues complained about by current players.
- (2) GWENT should transform into a less hardcore game(but still one of the most competitive CCGs) rather than aiming at the E-sports scene, which is lacking enough support from both its limited audiences and Devs.
3. To design GWENT to be played forever
- (1) The seasonal reset mode can help all players(hardcore, casual or new players) have a chance to start together from 0 each season
- (2) By introducing a new rule set each season(like Path of Exile), it can change the meta regularly to one we have never seen before
- (3) Card pool system provides different meta in different pools, which will be dynamically mixed with the seasonal rules.
New Mode's features
1. Collection level, like Marvel snap, but the collection resets each season
- a) By playing games, players can increase their card level to upgrade their normal cards to the premium version. When the card level increases, it will increase the collection level to unlock new cards.
- b) New quests(produces exp) refresh every couple of hours to speed up and control players' progression pace so that players will neither consume the content too fast nor too slow. Players can also gain exp by playing ranks during cool-down time.
- c) Only card level and quests produce Exp, which can increase the collection level, while resources gained from classic mode will be not available here. But nobody can hoard exp to stay in lower pools intentionally.
- d) Matchmaking system is highly decided by Collection level instead of Rank level. Bots are very important for new players to farm ranks and exp, gain confidence and learn the basics.
2. Card pool system, like Marvel snap
- a) Card pool system: All cards are the same as they are now, but they are classified into different pools, let’s say 4, each pool consists of about 200 cards, basically pool 1 cards are simple and easy to use, while cards in higher pools are more powerful and complex.
- b) We already have a lot of archetypes, and cards that support them should be distributed properly into these pools, making decks in lower pools budget versions of those in higher pools.
- c) In terms of balance, tier 2 or 3 decks’ core cards can be put in lower pools so that every archetype can be relevant in different periods.
- d) Cards are randomly unlocked in each pool so that players can’t depend on net decking and the meta would be even more varied in each pool.
3. Each season lasts 3 months and resets all players' card collection to 0 at the end
- a) Only vanity items can be carried over to the next Seasonal and Classic mode
- b) New cards obtained here could be transferred to the Classic mode at the end of each season
- c) Each season, both new and old players should start from the same line, but new players won’t face old players because of the rank differential
4. One New gameplay rule for each new season
a) There are some principles for designing seasonal rules.
- They should affect the gameplay by a degree of, let’s say less than 20%. Bad examples are the current seasonal rules, which totally changed the gameplay, making it unbalanced and super casual.
- They should influence most archetypes and all factions.
- They should be overall positive, not purely limiting gameplay.
- They should have the potential of developing new or less-played archetypes.
b) Here are some examples I came up with alone these days, I believe with more time and more professional personnel, there will be endless viable seasonal rules. Those proved to be popular ones could stay as permanent rules, while others would be rotated out when the season ends:
- Rule 1: the first 2 turns of each round reveal a random row effect(Devs should create about 50 new row effects for this mode).
- Rule 2: players can ban a faction/leader ability (not self) before matchmaking(this idea could potentially make a huge impact on the meta).
- Rule 3: When building your deck, you can upgrade(or be upgraded randomly before each match) X of your bronze cards to a stronger version. (Devs should design all bronze cards’ upgraded versions)
- Rule 4: At the start of each round, both players can create a neutral or faction golden card that is not included in their starting deck to replace one card in their hand. (This could make every round, especially the short rounds more exciting and unpredicted)
- Rule 5: Players can build their decks with X (bronze) cards from other factions (This will shake the meta substantially, and make deckbuilding more appealing and complex)
- Rule 6: At the start of Each match, both players can choose a faction quest, once completed, they can get some advantage in the match. (Devs should create 3-5 quests for each faction, especially a good opportunity to buff those less-played archetypes)
- Rule 7: Players must play cards at the same turn. (This is designed to speed up GWENT’s pace, changing the way players play GWENT by the way. Some end-turn ability cards may be OP, but they can make some changes before the season starts.)
- Rule 8: Each deck gets +5 Provisions, but players can choose not to use all of them. When you find an opponent each match, the one who has more unused provisions can get some advantage(like a 2-point strategy each turn, or players has 10 fewer provisions can get much more advantage to encourage more low provision deck buildings, other special effects remain to be discussed).
Each rule could last for 3 months, which means each year the Devs only need to design 4 decent rules. Fortunately, those rules can be easily tested in the classic seasonal modes by players.
Monetization
New Journey, which includes new vanity items, cards, and EXP for the Collection level. its Price should be higher than the current Journey: let’s say 20$/3 months
(1) Why should it be more expensive than the old journey?
- No CCG is providing all players a full collection(including premium cards) with 20 dollars/3 months, so that’s still a reasonable price. Recently, Hearthstone is asking its players in a questionnaire if they are willing to rent the standard collection for about 20 dollars/per month, which caused a lot of discussions.
- GWENT’s 10$/3months has been proven to be failed to monetize the current players, so it has to be higher to maintain the development.
- New Journey offers new players a chance to play a full collection much faster than in the classic mode.
- For old players, the new Journey provides additional bonuses, like new cards and faster progression in new the mode(old players in the classic mode can craft the whole new Expansion cards on day 1 without the help of Journey)
- Other occasional events with vanity items for purchase.
- How much revenue could GWENT generate in this mode(only Journey)?
- (1) After checking the Gwent concurrent stats in 2021 on Steam and mobile revenue distribution over 60 regions(from AppMagic), from my rough calculation, it is projected to be around 400k-800k US dollars per month, see the chart below:
- (2) Chinese mobile market plays a vital role for GWENT, which would account for over 40% of the global revenue according to the historical performance of the iOS China Mainland store from Oct 2019 to Dec 2020(with only 14 months' launch).
- Data source: gameworldobserver: gwent-end-support-2023-gwentfinity-tool-community-future
FAQ
1. Q: Why would players play in this mode rather than the classic full collection mode?
A: The new mode would be quite fresh and fun to play. First, in the new mode, players can experience new metas, including 4 metas in pools 1-4(if there are 4 pools), mixed with the seasonal rules, which are totally different from the classic mode. Second, in the new mode, players especially new players, have a fair competition with their opponents, who have similar collections. Third, there are new cards and vanity items released 3 months earlier than the classic mode. Fourth, players will have fun together playing from vanilla GWENT where all players only have basic cards, to late-game GWENT. Last, it’s more rewarding when grinding and competing for new modes’ progressions rather than hoarding resources for the rest of your life without a way to spend them.
2. Will the new mode be more balanced?
A: Yes, it’ll be more balanced and fun to play. First, there are let’s say 4 card pools, each of which consists of about 200 cards, players have to homebrew decks with random cards they got in each pool to compete with each other, who can never know exactly what opponents have because there is not a possible way to the net deck before you have a full collection. Second, players can’t play only 1 deck throughout the season, because each card pool has its unique meta, people will experience 4 metas in the season and keep changing their strategies. Besides, players have to try different decks to level up their cards to unlock more new cards and transmute them to the premium version. Third, even if there were some OP cards in certain pools, unlucky players may fail to get them in the early period of that pool, so they can either find ways to counter them or level up to the next pool where there will be more powerful cards in a different meta.
3. Q: Why would players pay in Seasonal Reset mode?
A: First, paying players can gain cards more quickly than FTP players, so they can enjoy the content earlier than others. Second, paying players who have more cards have a better collection in each pool and stronger decks than those who don’t pay. However it’s not pay-to-win, because the matchmaking system depends on pools and collection lvl, when players with better collections level up to a higher pool, they will not face players in lower pools. Third, paying players can get unique vanity items like the current Journey system.
4. Q: Why would players pay more in the Seasonal Reset mode than before?
A: In the seasonal reset mode, due to the collection reset mechanism, all players need to farm for cards each season. To get cards earlier, players have the necessity to pay. While in the current game, on one hand, old players have hoarded enough resources to craft the whole Witcher universe. On the other hand, new players are having excessive daily rewards which are preventing them from paying for collection progression. When players’ collections are full, they just don’t have the need to pay regularly, which is the most embarrassing situation Devs are facing.
5. Q: Will players be upset when the cards they farmed for months get removed?
A: The reset concept comes from Path of Exile(POE), its game producer Chris Wilson, who answered this question in a speech in GDC: “…This really works well. That’s the lifeblood. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t…” Bellow, we can see PoE’s concurrent players on Steam Since its release in 2015, which has been growing instead of sunsetting. The spikes on the chart are exactly the moments when players' resources got moved to the permanent mode and then they came back for a brand new meta.
When it comes to GWENT, I believe people won’t get upset. Because the newly released cards and vanity items farmed in the new mode will be transferred to the classic mode after the end of the season. Imagine an old player who has a full collection in the classic mode, will he care about whether the new mode’s resources get removed or not? For new FTP players, he would have the best farming experience among all CCGs, with access to all premium cards for free, at the cost of only playing about 1-2 hours daily to get more than 10 cards each day(900 cards/90 days). For paying players who bought the premium Journey in the new mode, they can at least carry over the unique vanity items, not to mention the faster farming experience they had already enjoyed.
6. Q: If the Devs decided to create a new mode, and updated new cards in the new mode earlier, would it upset old players who had been grinding resources in the game in the past years?
A: I can’t answer this question for other players. But the fact is that GWENT is sunsetting with the current monetization strategy. For old players, who stick to the classic mode, they can still play as it is now, besides, they can also receive new cards and vanity items every 3 months.
7. Q: Would the seasonal rule set mechanism work in GWENT?
A: Yes, I believe so. Path of Exile(PoE) has proved that seasonal rules(themes) can offer players a fresh new experience each season, attracting players to come back again and again, some of the most popular ones even became permanent rules. While in GWENT, the current seasonal modes are influencing the game too much, which has changed it to another game without any competitiveness. PoE’s seasonal rules never affect the gameplay that much, most of which are just additional favorable rules. As a result, I believe that with proper seasonal rules, GWENT could potentially have a much more diverse meta each season.
Fortunately, The current seasonal mode could be a perfect test area for new seasonal rules.
8. Q: Many old players witnessed the roller-coasters of GWENT, like the vanilla GWENT Challengers, the Mid-Winter tragedy, the HC disaster, and the mobile GWENT rise. Could it help GWENT or is it just another disaster?
A: I can’t represent others, but personally speaking, I am super excited to see what GWENT would hold in the future. Marvel Snap, with a card pool system and monthly monetization strategy, despite its worse card quality and simple gameplay compared to GWENT, won Mobile Game of the Year 2022 and ranked one of the grossing mobile games; POE with its seasonal rules and resets mechanism, has become one of the most popular gear-grinding games. They are both successful not only in reputation but also in revenue.
Conclusion：
Thanks for reading. All the ideas above are my personal, though I asked for some feedback from my friends nearby. I believe that there must be some oversights and unpractical opinions. Not to mention, English is not my native language. So please share with us your ideas on this topic. Let’s put our heads together to develop better ideas to improve GWENT before it’s too late.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gwent/comments/10rvp6g/how_to_design_gwent_to_be_played_forever/
