Gwent: Old Pals is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Note: For those looking to get the Card Collector achievement, this quest must be completed.
The 
rewarded in this quest is unaffected by difficulty level.
Walkthrough[]
This quest is started by challenging and defeating Zoltan at gwent, and the earliest and easiest opportunity to do that is during the Broken Flowers main quest, when Geralt first meets him.
Zoltan[]
Note: Getting Zoltan to play a game is not so easy as his dialogues change depending on where you are with the main quest.
There are only two occasions to play him during Broken Flowers. 1st is after reporting back to him after talking to all the girls, simply talk to him again and he will be available for a round. 2nd is after talking to Priscilla at the end of the quest, simply talk to him while he is leaving. If you fail on both occasions, you will have to wait until you complete A Poet Under Pressure whereupon he will also give you the quest A Dangerous Game.
Once beaten he'll give 25 and the Eithné card, and will direct Geralt to play Vernon Roche, who's hiding out at the Temerian Partisan Hideout.
Roche[]
If you haven't already met Roche, head out and after a small conversation with one of his men, Roche will appear and will be available to play. Once he's beaten he'll give 25 and the Saesenthessis card. If you haven't already played Lambert, he'll then direct you to play your fellow witcher, though depending on where you are in various quests, you'll have to wait a bit on this. He'll also hint at another player, but won't drop his name if you haven't completed A Deadly Plot.
Lambert[]
The quickest way outside the main storyline to play Lambert is by doing the secondary quest Following the Thread and continue the quest until you're given the objective to meet him at The Nowhere Inn. When you meet him there, when given the chance to say "Let's go" or "I'll meet you there" pick the latter and Lambert will begin to walk away. Talk to him as quickly as possible (if he moves too far away from you he'll disappear to the next quest location) and challenge him to a game of gwent. However, you can also play with Lambert right after completing the quest, just talk to him as he is walking away and he will be available for a match. Alternatively you can follow him back to The Nowhere Inn and challenge him there, but don't leave him out of your sight or he will disappear.
Note: As of error, Lambert will also first stick around the Seven Cats Inn until Geralt leaves its vicinity after the encounter with Vienne, and later he will also go to the Nowhere Inn after completing Following the Thread, and remain there until Uma is retrieved during Ugly Baby, giving lots of time to play with him.
If you failed to challenge Lambert in Novigrad, continue the main storyline as normal and you'll eventually be able to challenge him again at Kaer Morhen. Beating him at either location gives another 25 and the Triss Merigold card. If you're having trouble getting a non-quest conversation with him, don't worry - simply playing gwent during No Place Like Home counts toward this quest (even though you're technically playing Eskel), but in any case you will be able to challenge him before starting The Isle of Mists and the quest will update to remind you too.
There's one last opportunity to play him even after The Battle of Kaer Morhen, provided that he survives it - during Blood on the Battlefield, he is the sole person at the funeral who can be talked to with non-scripted dialogue, after his initial response, allowing to challenge him to a match.
Thaler[]
Note: This part is only available if A Deadly Plot has been completed prior to playing with Roche. If it was not, then Thaler is excluded from this quest and will have his own (Gwent: Playing Thaler) once A Deadly Plot is completed.
After beating Roche he will direct you to Thaler (and Lambert of course) who now spends his time at the Seven Cats Inn. However, he cannot be played during Reason of State and he can also die during that quest, so it's best to play him before that. Once you beat him you will earn 25 and the powerful Geralt of Rivia card.
Failsafe conditions[]
Despite plenty of time to complete this quest beforehand, it is entirely possible that it isn't even started for the duration of the entire main story and, as Lambert becomes unavailable, and Roche and Thaler can die during Reason of State, that creates a lot of possible branches.
Particularly if Roche dies before he is beaten at gwent, an objective will be added to look for his card at the Temerian Partisan Hideout. What you'll actually find there are Roche's notes, with the card attached to them and the notes themselves directing Geralt to Lambert and Thaler. Of course, neither can be played anymore either, but an objective will be created to find Lambert's card at Kaer Morhen keep. After an unknown patch, another one to find Thaler's card at the Seven Cats Inn is added as well, but the card could be found there even without the objective (use Witcher Senses to find it easier).
The difference if Roche was defeated before he dies is small - you simply won't have to look for his notes, with the rest playing out the same, all the possible conditions attached; i.e. Thaler may not be part of the quest, but his card is still lootable.
You will get red marks for winning matches, but is still awarded and the quest is allowed to complete. Bug: Thaler's objective, if you have it, is bugged in multiple ways - it doesn't show a marker on the world map, doesn't award , nor does it resolve itself, leaving the quest stuck even after the card is obtained. There's no known workaround for this and so this scenario should be avoided (his standalone gwent quest is fine).
Journal entry[]
- Gwent is played for pleasure, a pleasure that is highest when playing in good company - and the best company of all is that of old and true friends. Geralt thus sought out some of his long-time companions for a hand or two of gwent - and the chance to win powerful cards from each of them.
- Geralt had a wonderful time slapping down cards with familiar faces and added several powerful new cards to his collection while he was at it.
Objectives[]
- Win a unique card from Zoltan.
- Win a unique card from Vernon Roche.
- If Roche dies during Reason of State and hasn't been defeated yet:
- Look for a unique card in Roche's hideout.
- The following three alternate depending on Lambert's whereabouts:
- When you get a chance, win a unique card from Lambert.
- Win a unique card from Lambert.
- Find Lambert's unique card in Kaer Morhen.
- If met Thaler before challenging Roche:
- Win a unique card from Thaler.
- If Thaler dies during Reason of State and hasn't been defeated yet:
- Find Thaler's unique card.
Notes[]
- Having non-quest conversations with Roche and Thaler is disabled during Reason of State, but a bug in Patch 4.0 sometimes allows this to be bypassed, which can be used to play them for the purposes of this quest.