Gwent TWCG Closed Beta First Patch Coming Soon

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game closed Beta has been live for a few weeks now. Players have had the chance to test out the game and report any problems they encounter, and now it’s time for the first Gwent patch. In this article we’ll show you all the changes in the first patch for Gwent closed Beta.

The Gwent closed Beta has had its share of problems. This is to be expected, after all, that’s what closed Beta testing is for. CD Projekt Red’s Gwent team has had excellent communication with the community. They encouraged players to report any and all problems they encounter. Now, Team Gwent is ready to release the first big patch (0.8.16) for the game for PC and Xbox One. The changelog for patch 0.8.16 is long, and it really shows dedication to making Gwent a perfect game.

Gwent Closed Beta Patch Major Changes

The patch will fix many technical issues and lend a new layer of polish to the game. However, the most interesting aspects are changes to the gameplay. For example, Leader cards rarity will now be Epic instead of Legendary. This will allow players to get these cards in kegs more often and craft them for less Scrap. This will certainly encourage experimentation and give a lot of flavor to the game.

All the major game-winning strategies in the meta have been nerfed. The Monsters passive ability will no longer keep gold cards on the board. This means that the strong gold cards + pass strategy is now moot. Monsters players will have to use non-gold cards for that, making them more vulnerable. Weather effects will no longer reset buffs. The Eredin unit card will be Silver, making it vulnerable, but also buffable, and it can remain on the board.

The infamous Northern Realms Reinforced Trebuchet will do less damage to the opponent and they don’t buff each other any more. Philippa Eilhart is now a 12 power disloyal card that doesn’t affect Gold cards, making it a far riskier play than before. Dimeritium Bomb now resets Gold cards, making the buff + copy + Promote strategy much riskier.

Skellige Tordarroch Shieldsmith units get more base strength, but their buff will be halved. The Queensguard + Cerys combo got a bit of a buff, in that the bonuses Cerys gets from the guards will now buff her base strength.

Scoia’tael’s special cards spam tactic is getting a nerf as well. Elven Mercenary and Nature’s Gift won’t work on Golden cards anymore. Hawker Support will no longer get buffed when you destroy him with Scorch or Epidemic.

These are just the changes I found the most interesting. Check out the full list of changes in patch 0.8.16 below.

Gameplay – Card Strength / Ability Changes In Gwent Patch

• Changed the rarity of Legendary leaders to Epic. Players receive 600 scraps for any nonstarter Leader in their collection (to make up the difference in crafting price).
• Monster faction ability no longer keeps Gold units on the battlefield.
• Unit version of Eredin now Silver and immune to Frost.
• Unit version of Eredin now has the ‘Wild Hunt’ category.
• Clear Skies now only resets red (weakened) strength values.
• When Weather is removed at the end of a round, only red strength values are reset.
• Philippa no longer affects Gold cards.
• Philippa strength increased from 6 to 12.
• Philippa changed to disloyal only.
• Ice Giant loses 7 strength when Frost is removed, instead of resetting to base strength.
• Reinforced Trebuchet strength increased from 4 to 5.
• Reinforced Trebuchet damage decreased from 2 to 1.
• Reinforced Trebuchet no longer buff each other.
• Tordarroch Shieldsmith strength increased from 3 to 4.
• Tordarroch Shieldsmith buff decreased from 4 to 2.
• Sarah self buff decreased from 4 to 3.
• Nature’s Gift no longer copies Gold cards.
• Added a new “Medic” category.
• Priestess of Freya cannot resurrect cards with the “Medic” category.
• Field Medic cannot resurrect cards with the “Medic” category.
• Queensguard now increases Cerys base strength.
• Elven Mercenary no longer draws and plays Gold Special Cards.
• Priscilla now draws 2 revealed cards, player chooses which one to play.
• Regis: Higher Vampire is now Silver.
• Regis: Higher Vampire strength decreased from 10 to 8.
• Dimeritium Bomb now resets Gold unit strength.
• Redanian Elite ability now only takes into account instances on your side.
• Sigrdrifa strength increased from 1 to 2.
• Restoration now grants a +2 buff to the base strength of the resurrected unit.
• Draug no longer destroys Gold units.
• Fireball Trap now spawns 1 Neophyte instead of none when target is not destroyed.
• Discarding An Craite Raiders now counts as a “discard” despite their ability being triggered.
• Returning a card to your hand from the battlefield now clears all effects, even countdown.
• Saskia now has the “Dragon” category.
• “Elf” category added to several units.
• Weather now affects Ambush cards after they are revealed.
• Ocvist now returns to player’s hand even if there are no units on the opposing side.
• Borkh will not Scorch a second unit if he Scorches himself first.
• Morkvarg is now also resurrected when discarded.
• Hawker Support no longer gets buffed when destroyed by Scorch or Epidemic.
• Hawker Support ability now works correctly with cards such as Lacerate.
• Roach is now played correctly when a card is converted to Gold.
• Geralt: Igni no longer takes into account unrevealed cards.
• Cards immune to Weather display a passive icon now.
• Toruviel now reveals if your opponent’s pass ends the game.
• Priscilla no longer blocks the game if she draws cards that require targets on the first turn.

Gwent Closed Beta Patch Game Fixes

• Fixed issue whereby the game would crash on some PCs while opening Card Kegs.
• Fixed issue whereby losing Internet connection while selecting a Rare card from an opened Card Keg would block users from entering the Shop upon reconnection.
• Fixed issue whereby the player would not get a reward after leveling up.
• Fixed some issues involving infinite loading screens.
• Game stability after suffering from connection losses has been improved.
• Fixed minor Russian language issues.
• Fixed several font issues in Brazilian Portuguese.
• Fixed issue whereby your counterpart would lose input when entering Deck Builder after you canceled a Friend Match.
• Fixed issue whereby using a card received as a reward in a deck in multiplayer required a restart in order to save the deck.
• Fixed performance drops when browsing through lots of cards in a graveyard.
• Fixed issue whereby mashing buttons would lead to input loss.
• Fixed several issues in the Tutorials.
• Fixed issue whereby “Mill Spare Cards Failure” pop-up persisted on screen after attempting to mill while disconnected.
• Milling cards using the keyboard is now possible.
• Improved selection highlights.
• Fixed various typos in all languages.
• Fixed issue whereby viewing a graveyard from which a Ghoul is currently consuming a unit would desynchronize the game.
• Fixed issue whereby registering the Keg received after finishing the Tutorial in some users’ accounts would result in an error and directions to contact support.

Game Polishes Gwent Closed Beta Patch

• A large number of tooltips have been reworded or corrected across all languages (including Torrential Rain, Warcry, Ice Giant, Thunderbolt, and Nekker Warrior).
• New sound effects for cards (Blue Stripes Commando, Pavetta, Sabrina, Sile, Sarah, Vrihedd Vanguard, Igni, Scoia’tael Leaders).
• New Good Game notification icon.
• Tweaks and improvements to Collection layout.
• Now possible to quit the game from the Sign In screen.
• Decreased downtime between crafting multiple cards.
• The AI has been improved and should provide more of a challenge.
• Card Kegs are now sorted differently in the Shop.
• Improved visibility of Gold borders on the board.