Hearthpwn

Quote from Anarchy1 >>

Why do you even play the game when you obviously hate it so much?

 I wish I knew

Sargeras isn't even revealed yet???

I used to be sure that none of the RNG in the game was rigged, because, like this post, no evidence is substantial enough to warrant the conclusion that it is rigged. Nowadays, though, the idea of Blizzard pulling some ropes doesn't seem that far fetched for some reason, so I'm not sure anymore.

More tech cards more denial. Also remove aoe removals almost completely

So tech against everything except board presence?

Shame Stealth and Reborn are included in the bonus effects. I think this could be playable with a different set of them.

It's standard so there aren't enough good giants for that, and it's difficult to stall when the opponent is always guaranteed an attack with the minions they play.

Battletag: BlueBanana#2323

Region: EU

Trade only: Yes

done

There's a huge difference between 5%, 20% and 40% winrate. But the whole concept of win rates is actually misguided - if the mmr system was functional at all, it wouldn't be possible to play with 20% win rate.

Laddering effectively with a bad deck should be impossible, but that doesn't contradict my claims, it supports them. What the community needs to realize is that climbing the ladder isn't by default a positive thing: if someone has a 20% wr, the best thing the game can do for them is drop their rank and fast so that they get matched up with people with equally bad decks (although this contradicts the design of the reward system).

But ok, the meta and balance are linked to the design of the ladder, mmr, and reward systems, but we know none of the latter are getting fixed so let's focus just on the meta. We know there's an ongoing issue where new players get matched up with players with better decks way too fast. As we can assume there are no huge changes coming to the ranking or reward system, is there a fix to that that doesn't involve changing those mechanics? I think heavy rebalancing could achieve that.

Your question, I'd assume, would be why, to which my answer is why not? The top meta can be balanced independent from bad decks, so why not do that in a way that maximizes the fun for players approaching the game from different frameworks? The benefits from a lower power level may be marginal, but the benefits of a higher power level are non-existent.

I'm not sure if you're even referring to my comment with the claim about hating aggro. I don't, and I don't know where you got the impression that I do. All I'm saying about aggro is that while it's approachable to new players for design reasons beyond discussions about balance, it's also the biggest threat to new players playing anything but aggro. A bad deck will probably do a lot worse against a decent aggro deck than a decent control deck. It's not hating on an archetype to aknowledge the positive and negative impacts they have on the game.

Low tiers are a part of the meta, and fundamentally you're right, the meta is about the relationships between decks. But if you make the top aggro and control decks proportionally stronger, the aggro decks gain a bigger advantage over lower tier decks.

I brought this view up in the other thread about optimal meta, but it fits here even better. The game balance can't be determined from the play or win rates of top decks and how many classes are represented and in which proportions in high tiers. The game's (any games' unless they're dying) playerbase is in majority casual players so a good analysis of the meta and balance must account for players who are playing tier 3, or tier 5 decks, or even ones that are homebrewn with no knowledge of meta concepts like deck types and can't perhaps be classified in any tier. Decks like that would've been called tier 6 when the game first released, but nowadays you can probably count a dozen tiers of decks without getting to what a new player would come up with.

There very much is an objective measure of power levels. Everything can be evaluated in regards to vanilla power levels, the amount of cards drawn and mana gained per turn by default, the default starting health and decksize, etc. You'd think, for example, prima facie power creep in burst damage can be offset by power creep in heal, armor gain, and other defensive tools, but with the amount of starting health staying the same, there is in fact an increased degree of volatility being introduced. A single bad draw or a series of good draws has, with these things being changed, a greater impact than when the game released. (This is, of course, everything in theory as this is a simplified model - power creep in card draw has the opposite effect but causes aggro to lose their weakness in sustainability, and power creep in stats, tempo, disruption, and every other mechanic further makes the reality of balance more complex.)

Power creep in stats is probably the most harmful, though it's necessary with all other power creep to keep the game board centric. Here, too, vanilla power levels establish a base line from which even filler cards deviate, and synergies allow for further emergent power creep. More stats mean more attack damage and now even midrange decks need more heal and the advantage of the aggressor in the match is increased (even with stronger heals, because they don't need to waste cards and mana on keeping themselves alive). More stats means necessary implemented power creep in removals which goes hand in hand with increased damage spells and increased burst damage.

Of course much of that is up to debate and matters of individual preference. Running out of cards is frustrating, so maybe a deck designed to by outlasting the opponent punish them for not being sustainable is not objectively good - there's definitely a place for aggro in a healthy meta. But the game is supposed to be fun, this is what that argument too relies on, so how can a view be justified that the performance of bad decks doesn't matter? The combination of power creep and how it favors aggro leaves new players (and experienced players wanting to experiment with janky ideas) quite defenseless.

The question can be framed in the following way: what is the solution to keeping aggro as a part of the meta without it ruining the fun for everything that, frankly, sucks? The answer, equally frankly, is that it's not possible with these kinds of power levels.

TL;DR: power creep favors already good decks over archetypes that don't get support. Good meta is one that leaves room for bad decks.

Doesn't really matter to me what the high meta is like, i.e. what relation tier 1 and 2 decks are in to each other. Some players seem to think there's no objective power level, that if everything is broken then nothing is, but I think the opposite is case. There very much is an objective base level for the power levels of cards and decks which is the vanilla stats. The optimal meta is one where the power level is as low as possible, so that forgotten archetypes and janky meme decks have maximum possible playability.

Out of all the things to get mad about this has got to be the strangest. You can save 15 cents by spending strategically? Ok, if that bothers you so much you can just not do it and pay $79,99 instead?

Year 8 of Hearthstone release announcements giving zero fucks about well-established and widely accepted standards such as UTC.

Release in 2h from this comment, 17:00 UTC.

Quote from Tikku82 >>

Why would it change the connection type like that? Fix ur phone bro 

 Lmao it's basic functionality to switch between wifi and cellular based on which one has a better connection at the moment. Many phones also automatically look for free networks around you, so if you're, say, using public transport, this'd be happening all the time. Sounds like it's you that needs to upgrade your phone.

So the nerfs hit, I open my collection and disenchant my golden Cariel, and start looking for substitutes for my Highlander Paladin. My eyes hit Protect the Innocent, and I start wondering whether I ever put that in my Healadin list.

I open my folder of HS decks and navigate to paladin decks. Healadin, last edited in 2021, Tempo Healadin, last edited in 2020, etc. and looking through different iterations of this deck, I indeed find no Protect the Innocent. Time to fix that: choosing the tempo version of the deck, I throw Injured Blademasters in with Rally!, and head straight for ranked.

The match opens with my opponent playing priest. I, however, pay little mind to this, focusing more on my own mana curve. I keep Injured Tol'vir and Corpsetaker, throwing Crystalsmith Kangor and Wickerflame Burnbristle back in the deck to keep the Corpsetaker active. Opponent, curiously, skips turn 1 - most priests at lower ranks play some quest decks - I coin out the Tol'vir and heal it with Flash of Light the next turn, while my opponent plays Kobold Sandtrooper and the usual reborn and resurrect stuff. I start thinking I may have a chance at winning, as long as Xyrella, the Devout doesn't OTK me.

While I skip my turn 3 hoping I hadn't drawn all my 4-drops, the opponent goes for a curveball: Selfish Shellfish. Healing my way out of this may not be an option, but I'm still a tempo deck, so maybe the game isn't over yet. I decide to play my Corpsetaker sooner rather than later, lest I might draw the very activators for it I decided to not keep in mulligan. Shard of the Naaru negates both my plans to stop the Shellfish from hitting me and to restore the damage taken thus far, and things keep getting more worrying by the minute: both Embalming Ritual and Grave Rune get cast on the Shellfish, while my Call to Arms seriously lowrolls with two Injured Kvaldirs and a Mistress of Mixtures.

It is only on turn 6 that my luck seems to turn: I topdeck the long awaited Protect the Innocent! Furthermore, a silver lining appears to my last turn, as while I don't have mana to cast Flash of Light to activate PtI, I can trade with the Mistress. In a rather rude manner, of course, the aforementioned Shellfish introduce themselves to the 5/5 Defenders.

The situation is, at this point, that I at least have the card advantage, if nothing else. My hand is full, and both my Blademasters get milled so Rally is near useless now, but my opponent seems to be lacking in draw engines of their own. As an occasional player of Mill Priest myself, I'm familiar with the issue. Due to the card advantage I have, I have double Zandalari Templars and Lesser Pearl Spellstones ready to go, and behind these taunts I manage to stick Crystalsmith Kangor. A couple turns forward, it's time to drop High Priest Thekal - the armor will be necessary at any moment.

As a side note, some of you will be wondering, did I also drop my Molten Giants at this point, and the answer is no, because that is simply not the game plan with this deck. Thekal exists to enable my healing and get me armor, and the goal is to be at full health for most of the game, so Molten Giants would be literally unplayable and dead draws in most matches.

With Kangor safe behind taunts and board control irreversibly on my side, it is now the opponent that assumes the defensive role. Good ol' Bloodmage Thalnos + Spirit Lash maybe buys them a turn while looking for their Xyrella, but I now have plenty of armor to go with a good amount of health as well. Four dead Shellfish should mean I don't die immediately even in fatigue, but how many Sandtroopers were there? Three? I get my answer when the opponent drops the Xyrella at 16 health - I have 21 attack showing.

I lose what remains of my deck, take around 20 damage in fatigue, and the Sandtroopers almost get the rest. I'm alive, but with Xyrella's hero power, I don't have lethal either. My turn starts, and with one more fatigue drawn, I'm at 4 health. This is no issue at all for Kangor - Amber Watcher, Truesilver Champion and Burnbristle carry me back to 30. Even Truesilver Champion doesn't give me lethal, though.

So there we are: I'm up to my waist in fatigue damage, but I, very much unlike my opponent, have health, minions, and cards to work with. What can the opponent turn the tables with? The answer I didn't expect from a priest was Coldlight Oracle - forget my waistline, I'm up to my shoulders in fatigue now! 6, 7, 5 damage from hero power, and 8 - I live, at 4 health. A swift swing from Truesilver Champion closes the game while my opponent concedes mid-attack animation.

Seen much Phaoris lately?