Hearthpwn

After watching the first few videos on Mercenaries it did not appeal to me at all. But, in a moment of pure FOMO I pre-ordered the Lich King bundle on Monday the day before launch. Last night I played for a little just to get the feel of it. All PvE.

Still too early to know if I will really enjoy this mode but I had fun last night. It was a little annoying having to complete the tutorials before I could open my packs but I suppose it gave me a very basic understanding of how the game works even though I'd watched the intro videos so it wasn't really necessary.  

My first impressions after playing it for a little were better than I expected. The game looks good and doesn't feel very clunky once you get used to the combat sequence. Some of the fights were actually quite enjoyable. Some of the character portraits are gorgeous and I definitely get the appeal of customizing your character. 

There seems to be an excellent variety of characters which is cool but maybe a little too many when you consider that you have to earn coins for each character in order to upgrade abilities and equipment. Does anyone know if there is a complete list of all the mercenaries available?

Mercenaries seems like an ideal mode to play on iPad or tablet. Playing BG's on a tablet is super frustrating but I think Mercenaries will be great. Little to no APM required. 

My main concern is that I think Mercenaries has been hyper monetized and designed with monetization in mind from the very beginning. I've read some people getting 8 characters to level 30 in one decent sitting so maybe it is possible to F2P the mode and still enjoy it but with so many characters, each with his own currency, it seems like those who spend $$ will have a significant advantage over those who don't. 

Conclusion: it's better than I thought it would be. Game feels good to play which is no surprise. Let's see how long it takes for the novelty to wear off or how long until someone discovers the best combination of characters and we get a standard meta like PvP experience. 

You know what keeps people coming back to a game? Winning and fun experiences. Winning is more enjoyable than losing. While you learn more from your losses, losing still sucks and is super frustrating. You know what people do when they lose too often? They quit and find something else to do. 

I am personally on the worst BG losing streak I've ever had. In the last week I've played about 20 games and haven't finished higher than 5th. It sucks. I suck at the game but I thought I was getting better. Clearly not. So instead of playing BG's tonight like I've done for the last few months I am going to do something else. Not sure what I'll do yet but I know for sure I ain't touching BG's. Fucking game drives me mad.  A few weeks ago I was winning and climbing nicely. And you know what? I was thinking that maybe I'd pre-order a Mercenaries bundle and maybe buy myself a Tavern Pass for the season and see how it goes. Right now, after having such a shit time playing the game the last thing I want to do is actually spend more money on it. 

So what am I trying to say? The only way for Blizzard to rig HS in their benefit is to ensure people win more and enjoy their time in the game. This will keep players coming back for more and make them more likely to spend money on the game. Why would they go out of their way to punish a random selection of their player base and deliberately give them bad RNG? What purpose would that serve? The only thing it would do is ensure more and more people have a negative experience when playing which increases the odds that they will quit the game and not spend money on it. 

And believe me, the game is not rigged in favour of those who spend money on it. If that were the case I'd finish top 100 legend every month and make the BG's leaderboard. 

All card games have an element of randomness to them. HS even more so because it's an online game with mechanics like discover and spells that generate random effects etc. Sometimes you will draw the nuts and destroy any opponent. Sometimes you will discover exactly what you need to steal a game you were bound to lose. Sometimes you will topdeck exactly what you need. And sometimes you'll draw like shit and die on turn 5. Or your discovers and random effects will work against you. Or you'll pick Patches in BG's and not be offered a pirate in the shop until turn 8. The outcomes, both good and bad are part of the game. 

Generally speaking, humans are averse to losing. A person who loses $100 will lose more satisfaction than the same person will gain satisfaction from a $100 win. It's just how we're wired psychologically. As unique and wonderful as all of us are as individuals, this applies to everyone. I just cannot see how Blizzard would benefit from deliberately creating negative experiences for its players, which they would have to do by default if they rigged the game in favour of certain other players.  

Nothing like putting your feet up after a long day and playing some BG's... and coming 8th THREE FUCKING GAMES IN A ROW!! FML. Also on the biggest losing streak ever. Haven't placed higher than 5th in a week. Maybe it's time to find another hobby! 

I'm probably classified as a whale with the amount I spend and have spent on the game. Not sure of the exact amount but the answer is probably somewhere between 'way too much' and 'are you fucking insane??!' 

Anyway, I have never bought any cosmetics aside from the Khadgar skin which was only $5 at the time. Personally I think the cosmetics are cool and if we could buy them with gold then I'd probably get some of them, especially for BG's. But no way I'm throwing real money at cosmetics. But I have zero issues with people who do. People are free to spend their money as they wish. As long as cosmetics stay purely cosmetic and have zero effect on actual game play then I don't see the problem. 

Of course we all know that you get even worse RNG if you're playing with a pleb skin but that's just something we have to live with! :p 

I would strongly encourage you to give BG's a proper try. It's awesome. I haven't played constructed in months. And this is coming from a guy who only ever played constructed and has had a total of 3 arena runs in the 7 years he's been playing HS. It's also the least monetized mode, for now. Skins are just cosmetic and the perks, while they improve the experience a  lot, aren't 100% essential. 

£200 seems a lot. I usually get by with buying both bundles for each new expansion. If you're careful with your dust and crafting you could probably get away with spending even less and still being to play 80% of the best decks. Most importantly, don't rush to craft things on day 1. Wait a few weeks and see what happens wrt balance changes and how the meta settles. 

Trying to scam a golden Barron with Tony Two Tusk TWO games in a row only to realise he only works with Pirates. FML. 

Quote from fusilli >>

Unpopular opinion - it's not that overpowered, generally, though if it all comes together it's a very strong late game comp.

Feels like a bit of a unicorn build, if I'm honest, until the super late game. Without baron and at least one golden, you're going to just die to most midgame builds (not really enough stats without 4 DR procs from the parrot). If you can treble multiple minions that are in fierce competition and get a key T5, then of course you're going to have a strong build. Running a rat early turns it into a tossup, so you can't add that until later when you have baron and golden parrot. Very easy to just run out of targets for the buff to jump onto in the midgame and get smacked around, I find. Most beast builds die out before lategame, particularly if demons are in.

I'd also of the opinion that impatient doomsayer isn't the entire issue with demons, though it's strong. It's got a relatively narrow window of effectivess before you're switching over to less tokens and more big demons and getting zero value. You've got the immune demon at 4 being significantly easier and allowing for weaver ridiclousness with less consequences which feels like a big part of that, along with the huge scaling of urz'hul. Doomsayer does help propel you between the two modes, though, and increases odds of seeing the immune demon and urz'hul. But a nerf to TT4 would make it not around for long enough to be effective. Maybe up it to avenge (4).

 I think you have some really good points here. When beasts are in a lobby most people will try to force them. But most players will die before they find all the pieces, especially Barron. Not sure I agree with you on Rat midgame though - it's won me a lot of fights even without Barron or Bird. I think the issue is that the player who gets all the pieces for the beast comp usually wins and there seems to be little to no counter play. I saw 2 double Zap videos on YT yesterday which seems like the only way to counter it but that just makes you so weak to everything else. When every player is trying to force a build it means that there's usually a balance issue. 

You're spot on re Impatient Doomsayer. It has a very small window to be effective but in that small window, it is incredibly effective. Probably a little too good. The value it generates makes it very hard for other players to actually keep up mid game and with a hero like Galywix you can scale and speed level with next to no downside. Getting 2 free minions a turn in midgame is insane, that's a 2 - 6 gold boost and allows you to roll, scale and or fill your board if you need to. And then there are the triples - so many triples! Even though you wind up selling most of them it still gives you too much early access to higher tier minions. I had a game yesterday as Galakrond and got a doomsayer on t2 (hero power no buy t1, hp t2 into buy doomsayer). I lost one round immediately after while getting enough avenge fodder but then it was gg for everyone else. Easy game, easy life! And yes, you have to eventually sell doomsayer because you have to transition into end game but right now there is no better midgame option. It's so much stronger than anything else which is the issue I have with it. 

Quote from TheHiddenNinja7 >>

Gets defeated by murlocs tho.

Murlocs usually have bigger stats at the start of combat, so even against beasts with reborn they should live.

And then poison just stops the combo in its tracks

It would be hard to be more wrong about something even if you tried. As others have said, Rat is a key piece of the build and when Rat pops the fight usually ends with a couple of 456693673697/49354069734679 rats on the board and maybe a 23947354079/209574360 Maexxna as well. The only chance any build has against beasts right now is sniping Barron early. Unfortunately this only seems to happen when I'm playing beasts. 

Frog is an issue for sure. Cool idea but just way overcooked. When they fix Frog the next culprit will be the 3 drop demon doomsayer guy. That card is just nuts as well but it's overshadowed right now because beasts are so absurdly broken. 

Well, they finally fixed dragons, yay! But then they also fixed this little Frog fucker which had been disabled as soon as the patch went live. I thought he looked pretty cool at first and I loved the guy the first time I played him. Some crazy shit. No more than 6 hours later BG's descended into a game of whoever forces Frogs wins. I've had several games where 6 people in a lobby are all trying to force beasts. The other 2 players probably don't know how broken he is yet and are trying to go dragons. The winner is usually the first guy to get frog + Barron - that person is usually the most skilled in the lobby, obviously. 

So again, FUCK! Why?? Why is a 2 drop better than a 6 drop wolf for end game comp beasts? It makes no fucking sense at all. Right now Froggy, Rat, Bird, Barron and friends seem unbeatable. There's just nothing you can do. Yes, you can tech Zap but still - it shouldn't be this way.  And Frog builds can build around Zap by buffing Barron so there is literally fuck all you can do in some games. 

On a side note, it would have been nice for Blizzard to let players know which minions were disabled while they were fixing the bugs. I donkey rolled my way to 7th more than once looking for the Frog when he wasn't even in the game! I got 7th only because someone else dc'd or rage quit before I died. 

Right now we're back to where we were 5 days ago w dragons. If beasts are in the lobby it's pretty much guaranteed to be unfun. Unless you're the guy who gets the frog and barron first. 

I have faith in the patch though. I think it's good but they need to do something about the Frog. The demon doomsayer is also an issue but it pales in comparison to the frog.

FUCK DRAGONS UP THEIR STUPID FUCKING ASSES

WHELP SMUGGLER NEEDS TO DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH 

NEW PATCH RUINED IN LESS THAN 2 DAYS. FUCK FUCK FUCK

Apparently they play tested the new patch loads. Ya, could have fooled me. How the fuck they didn't pick this up in testing is beyond me. This stupid crap is just so unfun to play against. If dragons are in a lobby then 90% of the time the winner is a dragon build smashing everyone for 25 damage a turn. 

Longing for the days of poisonous, divine shield murlocs already. Fuck me but what a fucking train wreck, even with the hotfix. 

It´s hard to say. Typically people go Iron Forge turn 1 and then upgrade tier once they get their discover. This seems better than going for the tavern upgrade on turn 1. Going for the upgrade on t1 makes you rush to level and you usually just level from 3 - 4 or 4 - 5. Going with discover a minion quest on t1 gives you more time and then the tavern upgrade is usually from 5 - 6 which is the best value. 

Lately some people go with the +2 attack on t1 into discover a minion on t2 and then tavern upgrade once you discover the minion. This gives a lot of time and the upgrade is usually guaranteed to be from 5 - 6. 

I've also seen Dog just go with the discover a minion quest the entire game and destroy lobbies so I suppose the answer depends. Personally I find +2 attack, discover into tavern upgrade works best for me. Gives me time to build a decent board and not have to stress about power leveling while my crotch is getting stomped on. 

Ah OP, I feel you dude. That stings. It’s still better than the 1 in 40 but ugh, such a let down.

My opening wasn’t terrible ito number of legendaries. Got 9 from 140 packs, no golden and got two golden epics from golden packs but I got all the crap legendaries. My free golden ones from the bundle were the stupid shaman one (not the murloc) and Neeru, two I’m never going to use. Gonna wait a couple of days before I de them and craft something better. 

anyway, not the best but def not the worst. 

Fucking hell, what an absolute balls up of a launch. Played a whole 3 games in nearly three hours. Haven't been able to join a game for the last hour and half. Tried removing golden cards, still doesn't work. Then I picked wrong deck by mistake and it worked only for my opponent to instantly concede. 

Giving up for tonight, hopefully it gets sorted tomorrow. 

Quote from TinTinDance >>

no one cares

 But they care enough to comment. That's enough for me.