TL:DR; Paladin has historically gotten a lot of midrange tools in expansions, lately though, they've been getting more tokeny aggro tools, but since the rotation, much of their good stuff has rotated out. The reason their later sets were weak, is because paladin has been strong SINCE UN'GORO.
Disclaimer; I've not played in the RoS meta, up until the galakronds awakening meta, so I don't really know what pally did back then. I've also only been a player since the launch of Un'goro, so before then the meta is a little vague to me.
People have been complaining a while about how bad paladin is, and even though pure-libram and murloc paladin both see succes, people do long for something more original and new than murloc paladin, and pure-libram is not that strong. A big talking point has been the class identity for paladin, and their weak evergreen set. To find their class identity, let's go set by set;
Naxx; one card, Avenge. Good card, works in many playstyles.
LoE; Sacred Trial; Control Keeper of Uldaman; Midrange Anyfin Can Happen; I feel like this card wasn't made to be run in an anyfin combo deck, but whas rather made for an aggressive/midrange murloc deck
KFT; I'm getting tired of writing out all these cards, so I'll summarize it. 2 spells for buff synergy, bad spells at that. Dark Conviction could be used in control paladin. Righteous Protector can be used in any deck, some weird divine shield synergy, some weird heal synergy.
KnC; More weird heal synergy, a LOT of token/silver hand synergy, more buff paladin synergy
RR; Heal synergy in High Priest Thekal, Zandalari Templar, Flash of Light, Shirvallah, the Tiger, looks control/midrange to me. This is the first time there has been some substantial support for control pally (Time Out! also works for control) The rest is just awful (We see blizzard toning back the powerlevel of paladin here, remember, it's been meta for a bloody while now)
DoD; Righteous Cause, Sky Claw, more tokens. A lot of dragon cards, I'd say it's pushing into a midrange direction. The pure cards look midrang-y to me too.
There has almost never been a lot of control released to paladin, but the evergreen set seems to suggest that that is a part of their class identity.
But the cards that have been released in sets are almost all midrange and token oriented, most of the above listed archetypes are midrange or token (be it regular aggro with board buffs, or silver hand).
Paladin is actually in a decent spot right now, and if they get a libram with draw, I predict they'll be quite strong next expansion. It would be nice to Paladin get some more lategame tools, but they're actually not to bad right now.
Paladin is actually in a decent spot right now, and if they get a libram with draw, I predict they'll be quite strong next expansion. It would be nice to Paladin get some more lategame tools, but they're actually not to bad right now.
I'm not sure if Libram Paladin needs more late game. With Liadrin you get 2 (or more) Librams of Hope and many Librams of Wisdom to solidify your position on the board. I've done games where you go LoH, LoH, Liadrin, LoH, LoH.
I really love that the deck offers a lot. Good early game coupled with solid mid-game stabilization tools, and value generation through Liadrin and Lightforged Crusader. It's not perfect, but it's a satisfying deck to play.
There's a difference between control (aka antiaggro) and value. I've seen many people, including analysts, mix up the two. Paladin, with its boardclears, heals, etc. has been a good antiaggro class, but it traditionally runs a lighter list (in terms of value) than other later-game classes. The only exception is Tirion.
My response to your original question is that Blizzard doesn't want to give Paladin quality top-end cards because it doesn't fit their vision of paladin. Without that top end, it cannot play a true value deck. Blizzard sees paladin as a midrange-board flood class that looks to take a position in the early to mid game and use weapons/buffs to solidify that position, with heals to safeguard against aggro. The evergreen set is from a time when class identity was more based on what the class did in WOW than what it should do in HS. The solution is probably a priest-style rework, but idk if and when they'll get to it.
TL:DR; Paladin has historically gotten a lot of midrange tools in expansions, lately though, they've been getting more tokeny aggro tools, but since the rotation, much of their good stuff has rotated out. The reason their later sets were weak, is because paladin has been strong SINCE UN'GORO.
What do?
I dunno.
Paladin, hopefully, is next-in-line for a Priest-style revision of the basic and classic sets. Cut some cards, add new ones (and new-new, not bringing back stuff like Solemn Vigil, since new is exciting and old is boring).
Personally, I'd just ditch paladin secrets. Theme is kind of awkward, they're weak, and have gone almost entirely unplayed unless paladin has had a way to cheat a lot of them out.
Add then some cards to help them flood. If Air Raid didn't already exist, it'd be a great example of a card they should have.
While we're at it, Paladin needs another draw tool. Doesn't have to be that great, but Paladins are harmed by most of their draw being in non-classic/basic sets. Maybe 2-mana summon a dude and draw a card; if your opponent has more cards than you, summon a 2nd dude and draw a 2nd card? That does both minor-flood and minor-draw, with some of the feel of Divine Favor, but much less strong since it caps at 2 cards.
In terms of theme: I like the big-tent of paladin. Murlocs and dragons and silver-hand recruits all working together. I'd lead also in that direction, giving them some dragon or murloc baseline. Those seem to be some of the best Paladin themes. Flood, buff, unity. Only Buff is in their core set.
//
Also, off to the side, I'd call Coghammer very midrange. One of the times it's going to be most powerful is when you can drop it when you have a single big minion, to trade using that divine shield.
As a player since Vanilla and a Paladin main, I can tell you when the frustration comes from in a few short points:
1. As you mentioned, Blizzard totally ignores Paladin's identity. We're not only talking about Hearthstone here, but generally Paladin in WoW lore, is a class that has the following qualities - Tanky (like realllly tanky) with a lot of Healing and Shielding, working a lot like a support for their fellow raid-mates, I would say. If you ever told a WoW player that has never played Hearthstone that Murlocs are the theme of Paladin, they would just laugh in your face. I do realise that this point is just like very strict, but I am a fan of Warcraft lore and seing paladin as an aggro class just doesn't feel right.
2. Sticking more to Hearthstone itself, Paladin has never really gotten any new archetype, since every time Blizzard tries to introduce one - Quest (both Un'goro and Uldum), Highlander, Healadin, and so on... it just doesn't work. Just take a look at Shamans, they love their new archetypes, both Quests were very succesfull for them, Galakrond was nuts pre-nerfs, Shudderwock and Big synergies. My question is, where are "new" things for Paladin? Some players can argue that: "Paladin is a good class now, because it has a tier 1 deck of Murloc Paladin and a tier 2 Pure Paladin", but guys, Murloc Paladin stopped being interesting to me in TgT when it was all over, and basically Murloc Pally remained in tier 3 to 1 for the whole existance of Hearthstone. I mean, how long can you play the same deck for and not get bored? Oh yeah, you can say "what about Pure Paladin?". Well, it's just a midrange Paladin in disguise of a different name. So, long story short - Paladin has not had a single new archetype since TgT (because we got Secrets then and it was something "new"). Odd is just midrange. Shirvallah and Exodia are interesting but they have never really seen any serious level of competetiveness.
These are my thoughts, and I also don't think it's possible to do anything other than just totally rework the class - if they really want Paladin to be an aggro class (which doesn't make any sense but whatever) they should just move some control classic stuff to Hall of Fame and add some token synergies. Paladin has struggled, because they don't have anything like Bloodlust, so if Blizzard wants them to be a token class - just add one. I would prefer Paladin to be pushed towards control, because it just matches their class identity much more.
The basic set needs a rework, ditch the murloc cards ans return them to Shaman, and most importantly, they need to stick with a theme when they introduce new ideas, rather than put in the base stuff via an expansion, but not supporting it further whilst they move on to their next idea.
Paladin have become their beta class for testing purposes, though here's hoping it changed this time. Librams are interesting, but they still need more support (especially draw, and a board wide buff) to really shine.
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TL:DR; Paladin has historically gotten a lot of midrange tools in expansions, lately though, they've been getting more tokeny aggro tools, but since the rotation, much of their good stuff has rotated out. The reason their later sets were weak, is because paladin has been strong SINCE UN'GORO.
Disclaimer; I've not played in the RoS meta, up until the galakronds awakening meta, so I don't really know what pally did back then. I've also only been a player since the launch of Un'goro, so before then the meta is a little vague to me.
People have been complaining a while about how bad paladin is, and even though pure-libram and murloc paladin both see succes, people do long for something more original and new than murloc paladin, and pure-libram is not that strong.
A big talking point has been the class identity for paladin, and their weak evergreen set. To find their class identity, let's go set by set;
Naxx; one card, Avenge. Good card, works in many playstyles.
GvG;
Quartermaster, Muster for Battle, Bolvar Fordragon and Coghammer are all geared (pun) towards aggro token playstyles, while Shielded Minibot, Cobalt Guardian and Bolvar Fordragon are more cards for Midrange. (I don't know either what Scarlet Purifier is)
BrM;
Dragon Consort; dragon synergy, looks midrangy to me.
Solemn Vigil; more token synergy
TgT;
Competitive Spirit, Warhorse Trainer; Token synergy
Argent Lance, Murloc Knight and Mysterious Challenger; Midrange
Tuskarr Jouster, Enter the Coliseum; Control.
Seal of Champions fits into both aggressive and midrange decks
LoE;
Sacred Trial; Control
Keeper of Uldaman; Midrange
Anyfin Can Happen; I feel like this card wasn't made to be run in an anyfin combo deck, but whas rather made for an aggressive/midrange murloc deck
WotoG;
Forbidden Healing, Ragnaros, Lightlord; control decks, Rag can fit into midrange as well
Steward of Darkshire, Stand Against Darkness, Selfless Hero, Vilefin Inquisitor; token decks
Rallying Blade, Divine Strength, A Light in the Darkness; looks more midrangy to me, but these are all flexible cards that can fit into most decks (not that they'll perform, but they can fit)
OniK;
Nightbane Templar; tokens, dragons, midrange, whatever
Silvermoon Portal; a bad card designed for midrange
Ivory Knight; control? this is such a bad card
MsG;
handbuff cards (3), Meanstreet Marshal, fit into most decks, but probably midrange
Grimscale Chum; more murlocs, probably token-oriented, but it can work in midrange murloc paladin
Getaway Kodo; bad secret
Grimestreet Protector; midrange
Small-Time Recruits; more token synergy
JtU;
Lost in the Jungle, Lightfused Stegodon, Vinecleaver, Sunkeeper Tarim; more tokens
Sunkeeper Tarim, Hydrologist, Spikeridged Steed; midrange
Adaptation, The Last Kaleidosaur, Dinosize, Primalfin Champion; buff paladin cards
KFT;
I'm getting tired of writing out all these cards, so I'll summarize it.
2 spells for buff synergy, bad spells at that. Dark Conviction could be used in control paladin. Righteous Protector can be used in any deck, some weird divine shield synergy, some weird heal synergy.
KnC;
More weird heal synergy, a LOT of token/silver hand synergy, more buff paladin synergy
WW;
Genn Greymane for midrange, Baku the Mooneater for token/silver hand
1 card for heal synergy, Rebuke for control? Secret synergy, token weapon more heal synergy in The Glass Knight
Boomsday;
Handbuff card? why blizz...
Token synergy in Crystology and Glow-Tron. Control/heal from Crystalsmith Kangor, Shrink Ray. Annoy-o-Module, Mechano Egg, Kangor's Endless Army look like they're made for some midrange mech deck. 1 random secret in there.
RR;
Heal synergy in High Priest Thekal, Zandalari Templar, Flash of Light, Shirvallah, the Tiger, looks control/midrange to me. This is the first time there has been some substantial support for control pally (Time Out! also works for control)
The rest is just awful (We see blizzard toning back the powerlevel of paladin here, remember, it's been meta for a bloody while now)
RoS;
WAY more secret synergy (Commander Rhyssa, Desperate Measures, Never Surrender!, Mysterious Blade)
some dragon synergy, Nozari and Duel! look like they're made for control.
SoU;
More token synergy in Brazen Zealot, Micro Mummy, Sandwasp Queen, Salhet's Pride.
Subdue for control. More murloc synergy from Tip the Scales, we've been playing murlocs for 2 years blizzard...
Pharaoh's Blessing for midrange. Quest is just bad.
DoD;
Righteous Cause, Sky Claw, more tokens.
A lot of dragon cards, I'd say it's pushing into a midrange direction.
The pure cards look midrang-y to me too.
Awakening;
Tokens in Scalelord and Air Raid.
Shotbot for midrange.
Outland;
This set gave us librams (midrange), and EVEN MORE MURLOCS (tokens)
All this, while the evergreen set is geared towards secrets and control, with a lot of healing (Lay on Hands, Holy Light, Guardian of Kings) and control (Humility, Consecration, Light's Justice (yes) Equality, Aldor Peacekeeper, Avenging Wrath) tools , FIVE different secrets, and some midrange tools.
We see a divide between the evergreen set, and the released sets. As pushed archetypes for paladin we've seen;
Regular midrange
Murlocs
Heal paladin
OTK w/ death knight
Secret paladin
Dragon paladin
Mech paladin
Divine shield paladin
Buff paladin
Handbuff paladin
Silver hand recruit paladin
There has almost never been a lot of control released to paladin, but the evergreen set seems to suggest that that is a part of their class identity.
But the cards that have been released in sets are almost all midrange and token oriented, most of the above listed archetypes are midrange or token (be it regular aggro with board buffs, or silver hand).
What do?
I dunno.
Paladin is actually in a decent spot right now, and if they get a libram with draw, I predict they'll be quite strong next expansion. It would be nice to Paladin get some more lategame tools, but they're actually not to bad right now.
I'm not sure if Libram Paladin needs more late game. With Liadrin you get 2 (or more) Librams of Hope and many Librams of Wisdom to solidify your position on the board. I've done games where you go LoH, LoH, Liadrin, LoH, LoH.
I really love that the deck offers a lot. Good early game coupled with solid mid-game stabilization tools, and value generation through Liadrin and Lightforged Crusader. It's not perfect, but it's a satisfying deck to play.
Pure pally is fun to play.but HS favors aggro stuff and here we go.. you draw consacration or you dont till turn 4.. basically thats it.
BUT... whats nice is that it has tons of heal to annoy hunters...and its full of them
Uther of the Ebon Blade
There's a difference between control (aka antiaggro) and value. I've seen many people, including analysts, mix up the two. Paladin, with its boardclears, heals, etc. has been a good antiaggro class, but it traditionally runs a lighter list (in terms of value) than other later-game classes. The only exception is Tirion.
My response to your original question is that Blizzard doesn't want to give Paladin quality top-end cards because it doesn't fit their vision of paladin. Without that top end, it cannot play a true value deck. Blizzard sees paladin as a midrange-board flood class that looks to take a position in the early to mid game and use weapons/buffs to solidify that position, with heals to safeguard against aggro. The evergreen set is from a time when class identity was more based on what the class did in WOW than what it should do in HS. The solution is probably a priest-style rework, but idk if and when they'll get to it.
Paladin, hopefully, is next-in-line for a Priest-style revision of the basic and classic sets. Cut some cards, add new ones (and new-new, not bringing back stuff like Solemn Vigil, since new is exciting and old is boring).
Personally, I'd just ditch paladin secrets. Theme is kind of awkward, they're weak, and have gone almost entirely unplayed unless paladin has had a way to cheat a lot of them out.
Add then some cards to help them flood. If Air Raid didn't already exist, it'd be a great example of a card they should have.
While we're at it, Paladin needs another draw tool. Doesn't have to be that great, but Paladins are harmed by most of their draw being in non-classic/basic sets. Maybe 2-mana summon a dude and draw a card; if your opponent has more cards than you, summon a 2nd dude and draw a 2nd card? That does both minor-flood and minor-draw, with some of the feel of Divine Favor, but much less strong since it caps at 2 cards.
In terms of theme: I like the big-tent of paladin. Murlocs and dragons and silver-hand recruits all working together. I'd lead also in that direction, giving them some dragon or murloc baseline. Those seem to be some of the best Paladin themes. Flood, buff, unity. Only Buff is in their core set.
//
Also, off to the side, I'd call Coghammer very midrange. One of the times it's going to be most powerful is when you can drop it when you have a single big minion, to trade using that divine shield.
As a player since Vanilla and a Paladin main, I can tell you when the frustration comes from in a few short points:
1. As you mentioned, Blizzard totally ignores Paladin's identity. We're not only talking about Hearthstone here, but generally Paladin in WoW lore, is a class that has the following qualities - Tanky (like realllly tanky) with a lot of Healing and Shielding, working a lot like a support for their fellow raid-mates, I would say. If you ever told a WoW player that has never played Hearthstone that Murlocs are the theme of Paladin, they would just laugh in your face. I do realise that this point is just like very strict, but I am a fan of Warcraft lore and seing paladin as an aggro class just doesn't feel right.
2. Sticking more to Hearthstone itself, Paladin has never really gotten any new archetype, since every time Blizzard tries to introduce one - Quest (both Un'goro and Uldum), Highlander, Healadin, and so on... it just doesn't work. Just take a look at Shamans, they love their new archetypes, both Quests were very succesfull for them, Galakrond was nuts pre-nerfs, Shudderwock and Big synergies. My question is, where are "new" things for Paladin? Some players can argue that: "Paladin is a good class now, because it has a tier 1 deck of Murloc Paladin and a tier 2 Pure Paladin", but guys, Murloc Paladin stopped being interesting to me in TgT when it was all over, and basically Murloc Pally remained in tier 3 to 1 for the whole existance of Hearthstone. I mean, how long can you play the same deck for and not get bored? Oh yeah, you can say "what about Pure Paladin?". Well, it's just a midrange Paladin in disguise of a different name. So, long story short - Paladin has not had a single new archetype since TgT (because we got Secrets then and it was something "new"). Odd is just midrange. Shirvallah and Exodia are interesting but they have never really seen any serious level of competetiveness.
These are my thoughts, and I also don't think it's possible to do anything other than just totally rework the class - if they really want Paladin to be an aggro class (which doesn't make any sense but whatever) they should just move some control classic stuff to Hall of Fame and add some token synergies. Paladin has struggled, because they don't have anything like Bloodlust, so if Blizzard wants them to be a token class - just add one. I would prefer Paladin to be pushed towards control, because it just matches their class identity much more.
The basic set needs a rework, ditch the murloc cards ans return them to Shaman, and most importantly, they need to stick with a theme when they introduce new ideas, rather than put in the base stuff via an expansion, but not supporting it further whilst they move on to their next idea.
Paladin have become their beta class for testing purposes, though here's hoping it changed this time. Librams are interesting, but they still need more support (especially draw, and a board wide buff) to really shine.