4Game

It's been changing for a while now but the last couple of patches have turned it into something I just can't get my head around

I started playing Gwent almost a couple of years ago now, and one of the main draws for me was how you had to think both tactically – on the level of how you're trying to win the round – as well as strategically – trying to figure out *how hard* you should be trying to win this round vs. conserve resources for later rounds. It's a really great gimmick and adds (or added) a lot of surprisingly rich depth to the calculations you were making

I can't find that anymore in the game today. All of the nuance seems gone – you just throw everything you can down as fast as you can R1 to win round control, and then push R2. I can't remember the last time I played a long R3 – everyone just has a poitslam wombo-combo or an Aerondight or some other version of "if I win R1 I win". It feels like passing R1 first is basically a death-sentence now, there's no "should I play this strong card now or save it for later when it could be even more powerful" – you just play all your strong cards early in R1 – probably your leader too – and bank on just overwhelming your opponent with tempo

Maybe this comes across as whiny so apologies – Gwent has just been something I've enjoyed immensely for the past couple of years and it makes me sad seeing what it's like today