When you first boot up Gwent, depending on your level of experience with other free-to-play card games, you’ll possibly feel a little overwhelmed. One of the areas that may confuse new players is the micro-transactions and in-game currency. [If you’re looking for help on card keywords or player acronyms, go here.]
But fear not, for we’re hear to walk you through the basics of how the microtransactions and currencies work in Gwent. There are four main currencies in the game, although one is simply the delivery mechanism for new cards. One of the interesting aspects of Gwent’s multiplayer is the ability to rate players. A good rating, or “GG” will result in a reward for that player in the form of currency. Please note that this reward is restricted to Ranked play.
Here are the basics:
Ore
InGame currency used to purchase Kegs. Earned as a random reward (5 Ore or 5 Scraps) after each game if your opponent gives you a “Good Game” (GG) or from completing dailies, ranked play and leveling up. 1 Keg costs 100 Ore.
Scraps
Currency used to craft new cards. Earned as a random reward (5 Ore or 5 Scraps) after each game if your opponent gives you a “Good Game” (GG) or from completing dailies, ranked play and leveling up. Think of this as Dust from Hearthstone.
Pricing model for crafting new cards:
- 1 Common Card = 30 Scraps (Normal) or 200 Scraps (Premium)
- 1 Rare Card = 80 Scraps (Normal) or 400 Scraps (Premium)
- 1 Epic Card = 200 Scraps (Normal) or 800 Scraps (Premium)
- 1 Legendary Card = 800 Scraps (Normal) or 1600 Scraps (Premium)
Meteorite Powder
This is the currency used to convert normal cards into Premiums. Each and every card in the game has a premium version. Premium cards act exactly as the normal ones, but their design is animated and voiced over with the appropriate sound for the creature or effect they represent when previewing them.
Pricing model for transmuting normal cards into Premiums:
- 1 Common Card = 100 Powder
- 1 Rare Card = 200 Powder
- 1 Epic Card = 300 Powder
- 1 Legendary Card = 400 Powder
Card Kegs
The main source for new cards. You can earn new cards as a level-up reward, but those are few, far apart and in most cases nothing really of a great value to help turn the tides in your games. Kegs contain 5 cards in total. One of them is always a Rare, Epic or Legandary. First you have 4 cards that are randomly pulled out of all cards available. Then you have to pick your 5th card out of 3 other cards that appear on the screen. Premium cards (animated) are also available. CD Projekt Red’s has released Premium versions of all cards for the release of Open Beta. So start drooling collector hounds.
Kegs can be bought either by turning in Ore, or by spending real money.
Updated Pricing Model for Open Beta (slightly cheaper compared to Closed Beta):
- 1x Card Keg = 100 Ore
- 2x Cards Kegs = $2.89 ($1.45 per Keg)
- 7x Card Kegs = $9.53($1.36 per Keg)
- 15x Card Kegs = $19.05 ($1.27 per Keg)
- 40x Card Kegs = $47.65 ($1.19 per Keg)
- 60x Card Kegs = $66.69 ($1.11 per Keg)
Is It Worth It To Buy Kegs?
Now the obvious question you’ll have is to ask whether buying Kegs directly, or farming Ore for them, is worth it. Honestly, it comes down to two factors.
One, is that Gwent is still early in development. There is no way of predicting how popular or long-lasting this game will be. With the limited accessibility of the five factions for a F2P player, there is an argument to be made for buying into some extra cards to increase your enjoyment of the game. All five factions player in wildly different ways, so it’s up to you in some sense to make that choice. If playing a single faction outside of competitive multiplayer is your thing, F2P will pose little issue for you.
Overall, the case of whether to buy cards so early in the game will be a personal choice. Although the second factor should come into play.
Opportunity cost is something that should always factor into a purchase decision. In simple terms, this means “Time is money”. In the case of Gwent, do you want to spend hours grinding for currencies to buy cards, or spend a few hours, or maybe a couple of days, worth of wages on Gwent Kegs. Obviously, don’t drive yourself into debt over card games, but make the decision that works best for you and your enjoyment of Gwent.
Just to add a sweet reward for reading this far, your should check out Gwentify. It’s a deck building and pricing tool where users contribute decklists for Gwent. It also has a cool feature in that it lists deck prices in the Scrap it takes to craft them.
Do you have more tips to add? Let us know in the comments below.
