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Time to make those cards sing.

CD PROJEKT RED just announced the start of Public Beta for <span class="bold">GWENT: The Witcher Card Game</span> for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
For those who still haven't felt its warm embrace, GWENT is an engrossing card game featuring creatures, characters, and lore from The Witcher series.

You can download <span class="bold">GWENT</span> from GOG.com and start playing immediately.
Moreover, since the game is powered by GOG Galaxy, those playing on PC will be able to do battle with their Xbox One and PS4 friends!

“Public Beta is an important step towards GWENT’s final release,” said Marcin Iwiński, co-founder of CD PROJEKT RED. “We’re opening the gates to everyone who wanted to play, but didn’t make it into the Closed Beta, and — at the same time — we’re introducing some pretty significant content and gameplay changes like adding animated versions of cards for every card in the game, new starter decks, or how weather cards work,” Iwiński adds. “I’m extra curious how all of the community feedback we’ve incorporated will resonate with both current players and those who’re just starting. Please keep the feedback coming, we’re listening!”

In addition to the cinematic trailer, CD PROJEKT RED has also released a gameplay video presenting GWENT’s features (you can watch them both below), and a set of faction videos covering the playstyles of each of the game’s five factions.

More information about GWENT and the Public Beta is available in the <span class="bold">FAQ</span> section of <span class="bold">playgwent.com</span>.

Watch the cinematic trailer.

Watch the gameplay trailer.
Post edited May 24, 2017 by maladr0Id
I've been playing it on the PS4, and the thing that stands out most is that some things must have carried across from the previous Closed Beta into this one, as I play people with titles like Pioneer and Adept (and a Cardsharp, who lost spectaculalry and quit in a huff) - none of whom are level 10 and therefore couldn't have earned them from Ranked Multiplayer in the Open Beta.

I've also noticed that some of these Titled players have *ridiculous* card collections - I played against a Queensguard deck fully stocked with Transformed Queensguards....

So I'm curious - what carried across from Closed Beta into Open Beta for these players? Does anyone know?
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Klumpen0815: Also why are so many people thinking multi-player without DRM is a no-go?
They do know know anything else. They may not know even about playing on a LAN without no required connection to internet whatsoever.
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KoolZoid: So I'm curious - what carried across from Closed Beta into Open Beta for these players? Does anyone know?
No cards (with the exception of Geralt premium gold card, which was a gift to anyone who took part in the closed beta) carried on to the open beta, however you did receive card kegs according to your level and rank (and any kegs they bought in real money), hence some people ended up with hundreds of kegs and pretty much have a full collection.
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MarkoH01: So why doesn't GOG simply explain the situation for us making this a whole lot easier?
I would guess that it's probably because it's up to CDPR to answer that rather than Gog them-self; hopefully somebody from CDPR will clarify that next week.
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KoolZoid: So I'm curious - what carried across from Closed Beta into Open Beta for these players? Does anyone know?
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Ingsoc85: No cards (with the exception of Geralt premium gold card, which was a gift to anyone who took part in the closed beta) carried on to the open beta, however you did receive card kegs according to your level and rank (and any kegs they bought in real money), hence some people ended up with hundreds of kegs and pretty much have a full collection.
Thanks for the info.

I'm not sure this is a good model for coming out of a closed beta. The titles, the Premium Geralt card, the head-start in terms of experience, these are perfectly fine things to carry across. But giving a select (or rather, selected) crowd of individuals a *huge* advantage, equivalent to hundreds of dollars in game investment, will do nothing but discourage new players in the open environment.

Competitiveness is based heavily - given the deck-building resources of some players out there, I'd say *exclusively* - upon the cards available to you. In the opening rush, not every player is equal, and that's a *terrible* environment for a 'new' game. New players will be hard-pressed to find a 'fair' game until all the resource-heavy Closed Beta players have advanced in level sufficient to no-longer be matched with them, at which point the competition is already lost for the new player.

Unless *every* player has a fair chance when the Official launch comes, I fear I'll have to give this one a miss. Which is a shame, because it's actually been pretty good fun.
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KoolZoid: Unless *every* player has a fair chance when the Official launch comes, I fear I'll have to give this one a miss. Which is a shame, because it's actually been pretty good fun.
It's pay2win, what do you expect?
When will that big ugly banner be removed from the front page of the store ?
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KoolZoid: Unless *every* player has a fair chance when the Official launch comes, I fear I'll have to give this one a miss. Which is a shame, because it's actually been pretty good fun.
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Klumpen0815: It's pay2win, what do you expect?
I almost don't mind that aspect - you'd have to put in a considerable amount of cash to get all the cards you might want right at the outset *AND* be capable of making a decent deck - but the problem lies with everyone not starting from the same point. Beta players can benefit from their experience in deck-building and playing matches without having masses of cards that only serve to create an unpaid elite right from Launch.

And yes, people could drop a couple of hundred dollars on Official launch day and have a huge number of cards - that's their perogative. But at least they'd have started from the same point as everyone else.
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Klumpen0815: Also why are so many people thinking multi-player without DRM is a no-go?
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Carradice: They do know know anything else. They may not know even about playing on a LAN without no required connection to internet whatsoever.
they carried titles amd frames for rank in closed beta - rewards in kegs for levels (2kegs / 5 lvl) and kegs for rank (2 for each rank) and also all kegs bought for money.
its all in gwent forum in news topic if You want know exacly.
Because forum doesn't have https login (seriously, wtf?), I'll write my feedback here.

1: please add "hide animated cards" into a filter category. If you're a new played building your deck, you don't want to see double of each card.

2: Please don't make it P2W like Hearthstone is. You've been the good guys of the video game industry, and that's why I've bought your games, and yelled at friends who pirated (who damn well could afford it) until they bought as well. At the moment, you have 4 seriously crippled starter decks when you start playing, and you desperately need new cards to get versatility. I understand that you might want to limit the range of cards for new players, but this is just wrong. (also, wtf is the deal with closed beta people who have full decks already?)

Seriously though. Please don't become Pay2Win, and for gods sake don't have a store with so hard incentives for people who suffer from gambling addiction to spend thousands of dollars on your game. Because that's what your storefront is geared for right now. You're setting up a payment option that almost no one but the most frail-minded people will use, and they will destroy themselves over it. Please don't do this.
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Einaman: At the moment, you have 4 seriously crippled starter decks when you start playing, and you desperately need new cards to get versatility.
That's why you feel so good getting kegs - you just need those cards. What would be the fun if you have what you need at the start? Everyone is on the same playing field, you won't play versus full decks with a starter deck.

Seriously though. Please don't become Pay2Win, and for gods sake don't have a store with so hard incentives for people who suffer from gambling addiction to spend thousands of dollars on your game.
Read up on the f2p whale theory. Now you're just asking them to not profit off the game. They won't be able to support the game or make new ones without profit.

If someone destroys their lives with games they need professional help, not developers refusing to take money.
Post edited May 29, 2017 by eliseus
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Klumpen0815: Sorry, but I don't get the logic behind this. Client-DRM is okay as long as you need to go online anyway?
I am mainly interested in the single-player mode of a game, and all the games I have bought here are single-player games. That is the only part of a game that I could play again in the future, and that's why I want it to be DRM-free, while the multi-player part is only interesting as long as there are a lot of people that play it.

The requirement of GOG Galaxy is an annoyance for people that don't want to use it, but I don't think that the client is a DRM by itself. There are in fact multi-player games that won't be possible to implement without an account and a form of authentication without major changes to their gameplay, and I don't think that the presence of a DRM is determined by how the authentication is implemented.

Anyway I'd love a fully offline card game with a single-player campaign. The only one I have ever played was "Magic: The Gathering" (1997!).
Your signature says "DRM-Free + Linux" and you say a mandatory Windows client isn't standing in your way?
What about client-bound games that have no official Linux support but work fine via WINE? Do you LIKE additional hurdles?
How exactly are you able to play GWENT btw?
I think that GOG Galaxy will be available for Linux, but for now it works fine via WINE. I only use it for GWENT.

But I won't spend money for a multi-player game that is not even released for Linux, unless there will be an offline campaign. That would be an advantage over Hearthstone, in which everything is online and Blizzard even removes expansions and adventures every year, making most of the single-player content already developed impossible to obtain for new customers...
Also why are so many people thinking multi-player without DRM is a no-go?
Thanks for the list! :)
Post edited May 29, 2017 by One_of_Many
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Einaman: At the moment, you have 4 seriously crippled starter decks when you start playing, and you desperately need new cards to get versatility.
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eliseus: That's why you feel so good getting kegs - you just need those cards. What would be the fun if you have what you need at the start? Everyone is on the same playing field, you won't play versus full decks with a starter deck.
Actually, everyone is *NOT* on the same playing field, and new players have to contend with players from the Closed Beta who have had upwards of a hundred barrels to start the Open Beta with. One of my first matches was against a level 3 player in Casual Multiplayer who had the Adept title from the previous Beta and fielded a full set of Animated Queensguards.

This is precisely why I want everyone to start from the same place when Open Beta ends and the game officially launches - no barrels for anyone (beyond those purchased with actual money), and I'm more than fine with the Closed Beta players keeping the Animated Geralt and any title they may have earned.

But this is a competitive game, and no-one wants to take part in a competition where several players start off half-way down the track already.
Look at it this way. Gwent has Seasons that reset the score but do NOT reset cards. So in first season you play you will strugle to collect cards, make new decks for me it is VERY fun to strugle! Those that have played a season before OR used real money to buy kegs will be able to get right into hard decks for top positions in first season.

If you played enough in first season you can WITHOUT using real money make one or more "perfect" decks which you can use in second season to be on even playing field even if they used money!

To me this is a GREAT buiseness model, pay if you want to be top ranked in first season. But after that playing filed is even the next season for free or for paying customers. Personally to me it is even more fun the first season where i strugle(and matching system gives me better and better oponents based on me prograsing my skill and deck), than the second "competitive" one where i play full decks vs full decks. But i still look forward to competitive play.

The only problem is first few days after lounch/beta reset, where matching system does not work OK(paying players are level 1) but that i gues is only for the first day or 2.

I am puzzled though why this public beta is even needed, this game is already too long in beta, time to make version 1.0, after which no more card resets.
Post edited May 29, 2017 by Lonsarg
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Lonsarg: Look at it this way. Gwent has Seasons that reset the score but do NOT reset cards. So in first season you play you will strugle to collect cards, make new decks for me it is VERY fun to strugle! Those that have played a season before OR used real money to buy kegs will be able to get right into hard decks for top positions in first season.

If you played enough in first season you can WITHOUT using real money make one or more "perfect" decks which you can use in second season to be on even playing field even if they used money!

To me this is a GREAT buiseness model, pay if you want to be top ranked in first season. But after that playing filed is even the next season for free or for paying customers. Personally to me it is even more fun the first season where i strugle(and matching system gives me better and better oponents based on me prograsing my skill and deck), than the second "competitive" one where i play full decks vs full decks. But i still look forward to competitive play.

The only problem is first few days after lounch/beta reset, where matching system does not work OK(paying players are level 1) but that i gues is only for the first day or 2.

I am puzzled though why this public beta is even needed, this game is already too long in beta, time to make version 1.0, after which no more card resets.
The model you're talking about is perfectly fine - standard, even - for games of this ilk BUT, and this is the kicker, only when everyone has the SAME CHANCE to be in the SAME PLACE at the start.

And we are not.

Anyone who did not get access to the Closed Beta is at a disadvantage, not through any fault of their own, but because some were allowed to play and others were not. And a Leaderboard of (for arguement's sake) 100 active players is far easier to achieve a good result in than it would be in a tournament of 10,000 active players - thus rewards from Closed Beta are further skewed.

What I am seeking, I suppose, is that - come Official Launch - collections are reset. Those who have done well or have participated in the Closed Beta keep any titles they earn, perhaps some exclusive Quality Of Life rewards, such as special Avatars or Frames, Animated versions of some cards, maybe, and Barrels equivalent to any they have bought with real money.

And then we start for real. All of us. Everyone who wants to play and compete in the game. Without any unpaid head-starts.

Is that so unreasonable?