as a player who has enjoyed experimenting with both Shudderwock and Tess Greymane, I was very afraid from the clueless knee-jerk reaction the community had towards the day 1 popular OTK Shudderwock deck. while a number of people did specifically say the card isn't overpowered (yet!) and numbers proved that the deck was indeed underperforming, I was very afraid that the large of people against the card would still be able to convince Blizzard to take action against it.
I dreaded the day the Shudderwock patch would arrive! I finally found a Standard and Wild deck that is actually enjoyable, a non-curve deck in Shaman (except Malygos and the Kel'thuzad reanimator in Wild) that was unusual, special, that I could actually enjoy on my path to finally getting my golden Thrall that I keep waiting years for! my god the nonsense I've already pulled off, playing a 4 God + Shudderwock deck, going off with Yogg and N'zoth and Grumble's battlecry... it's all priceless. but then, but then... here the community goes again, poisonous as always to everything that is off the beaten path. here they are again rallying against windmills, instead of demanding to have counterplay cards they just want them to delete decks altogether so I guess they don't have to think too hard about matches anymore.
I don't want to go into the whole aspect of 'singleplayer, uninteractive' decks. combo decks that are focused on assembling a complex and multipart glass cannon should exist no matter who thinks what ; they're just as a needed part to the meta, they answer a particular part of the meta (which is always required) and they attract a certain type of players, rewarding all of us with diversity and higher chance of enjoyment. they also must be just as carefully balanced as aggro, midrange and control - all of these when overpowered are just as 'singleplayer, uninteractive' as the other.
finally, the patch arrived! I sighed in relief ; the card basically works the same! no mana cost increase, no game mechanic-defying Yogg bandage patch on it, nothing but what was really needed since Hearthstone's beginning - animation speed increase. now mind you, HS needed a boost to all animations and not just Shudderwock, but I'll take their little bandages since my expectation for Blizzard over the years has dropped so low anyway. the battlecry cap means nothing, it only takes about 8 to just deliciously break the game. I don't believe this applies to double battlecry and other Shudderwocks per turn, and in that case it means absolutely nothing!
but again, the community. they're all already talking about dusting Shudderwock, demanding dust refund (for a nerf that... does nothing but bandage Hearthstone's endless trouble with animations?) and calling it unplayable, completely oblivious to the richness a card like this brings to the game. a card like this that by itself allows entirely new decks and deckbuilding decisions, reviving unusable cards, bending the rules and possibilities of every HS game played.
a card like this that brings enjoyment to people like me, and perhaps you.
in conclusion I just wish to say this - stop demanding the death of decks ; demand playable answers to them. what we have here is an amazing card that can create completely new decks in a meta overrun with cards from expansions past, a card that by itself tests what is possible in a game of Hearthstone, and we should love and embrace it for what it is and be encouraged to craft beyond what is tried and tested, and walk on the path of unknown.
we must all learn to love and embrace the Shudderwock.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
''He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand.''
I agree - viable, competitive deck diversity is precisely what makes Hearthstone good. If a certain part of the community had it's wish we'd have aggressive nerfs until just a couple vanilla decks remained, and all of the flavor and joy of Hearthstone would be lost.
The current meta is the best I've ever experienced because even at Legend the deck diversity is tremendous. It's a lot of fun to play against a wide range of decks and not know what you're going to go up against.
The only time a deck should be nerfed is when it DECREASES the deck diversity of the meta. Aka the "oppressive" deck which limits competitive decks to those which fare well against the "King Deck".
I keep hearing about this diversity, but all the game is doing is matching me up against Even Paladins. so weird. I'm at rank 8 right now and I stopped playing since it is simply not fun at all going against the same deck in every format (casual or not), even if I am winning all these boring matches. I'll have to play more I suppose!
thanks for reading!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
''He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand.''
I keep hearing about this diversity, but all the game is doing is matching me up against Even Paladins. so weird. I'm at rank 8 right now and I stopped playing since it is simply not fun at all going against the same deck in every format (casual or not), even if I am winning all these boring matches. I'll have to play more I suppose!
thanks for reading!
you should try the brawl, I heard its amazing, you can play against paladins and... well, nope, dont try that either...
as a player who has enjoyed experimenting with both Shudderwock and Tess Greymane, I was very afraid from the clueless knee-jerk reaction the community had towards the day 1 popular OTK Shudderwock deck. while a number of people did specifically say the card isn't overpowered (yet!) and numbers proved that the deck was indeed underperforming, I was very afraid that the large of people against the card would still be able to convince Blizzard to take action against it.
I dreaded the day the Shudderwock patch would arrive! I finally found a Standard and Wild deck that is actually enjoyable, a non-curve deck in Shaman (except Malygos and the Kel'thuzad reanimator in Wild) that was unusual, special, that I could actually enjoy on my path to finally getting my golden Thrall that I keep waiting years for! my god the nonsense I've already pulled off, playing a 4 God + Shudderwock deck, going off with Yogg and N'zoth and Grumble's battlecry... it's all priceless. but then, but then... here the community goes again, poisonous as always to everything that is off the beaten path. here they are again rallying against windmills, instead of demanding to have counterplay cards they just want them to delete decks altogether so I guess they don't have to think too hard about matches anymore.
I don't want to go into the whole aspect of 'singleplayer, uninteractive' decks. combo decks that are focused on assembling a complex and multipart glass cannon should exist no matter who thinks what ; they're just as a needed part to the meta, they answer a particular part of the meta (which is always required) and they attract a certain type of players, rewarding all of us with diversity and higher chance of enjoyment. they also must be just as carefully balanced as aggro, midrange and control - all of these when overpowered are just as 'singleplayer, uninteractive' as the other.
finally, the patch arrived! I sighed in relief ; the card basically works the same! no mana cost increase, no game mechanic-defying Yogg bandage patch on it, nothing but what was really needed since Hearthstone's beginning - animation speed increase. now mind you, HS needed a boost to all animations and not just Shudderwock, but I'll take their little bandages since my expectation for Blizzard over the years has dropped so low anyway. the battlecry cap means nothing, it only takes about 8 to just deliciously break the game. I don't believe this applies to double battlecry and other Shudderwocks per turn, and in that case it means absolutely nothing!
but again, the community. they're all already talking about dusting Shudderwock, demanding dust refund (for a nerf that... does nothing but bandage Hearthstone's endless trouble with animations?) and calling it unplayable, completely oblivious to the richness a card like this brings to the game. a card like this that by itself allows entirely new decks and deckbuilding decisions, reviving unusable cards, bending the rules and possibilities of every HS game played.
a card like this that brings enjoyment to people like me, and perhaps you.
in conclusion I just wish to say this - stop demanding the death of decks ; demand playable answers to them. what we have here is an amazing card that can create completely new decks in a meta overrun with cards from expansions past, a card that by itself tests what is possible in a game of Hearthstone, and we should love and embrace it for what it is and be encouraged to craft beyond what is tried and tested, and walk on the path of unknown.
we must all learn to love and embrace the Shudderwock.
''He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand.''
(.o.))~ ~(('o') (.o.))~
I agree - viable, competitive deck diversity is precisely what makes Hearthstone good. If a certain part of the community had it's wish we'd have aggressive nerfs until just a couple vanilla decks remained, and all of the flavor and joy of Hearthstone would be lost.
The current meta is the best I've ever experienced because even at Legend the deck diversity is tremendous. It's a lot of fun to play against a wide range of decks and not know what you're going to go up against.
The only time a deck should be nerfed is when it DECREASES the deck diversity of the meta. Aka the "oppressive" deck which limits competitive decks to those which fare well against the "King Deck".
I keep hearing about this diversity, but all the game is doing is matching me up against Even Paladins. so weird. I'm at rank 8 right now and I stopped playing since it is simply not fun at all going against the same deck in every format (casual or not), even if I am winning all these boring matches. I'll have to play more I suppose!
thanks for reading!
''He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand.''
(.o.))~ ~(('o') (.o.))~
Two threads in a week with blatant homage to Dr Strangelove.
I'm on to you.
Anger is the punishment we give ourselves for someone else's mistake.