Everyone who played with a new account in the last half a year or so can agree that the new player experience has deteriorated immensely. When I started playing Hearthstone a couple of years ago, I made it to rank 14 in one month from playing, with a homebrew deck of the cards I had, and maybe a few key common and rare cards I crafted. Now, even though I'm a much better, I struggle to get past rank 19 with my alternative account. The gap between a basic deck and a constructed deck has skyrocketed, and you start seeing top tier decks much much earlier on the ladder.
So I came up with an idea: what if we had a format designed specifically for new players? The format will only allow basic and classic cards, as those are 90% of the cards new player have anyway, so the average deck quality would be far more friendly for new players.
The beginners' ladder will end at rank 10, so you won't see experienced players trying to climb to legend there, and winning a game there will not count as a win for the golden portrait, so you won't have players grinding the noobs. I'm also thinking of disabling the 10 gold for 3 wins in this format, as it will make people grind the noobs for an easy 100g a day. instead, new players will receive a 50g log-in reward each day for the first month, which will also draw them into the game itself. After a couple of months playing in the beginners' format, a new player will have a big enough classic collection, and more importantly, knowledge and skill, to start playing in arena and standard format.
So what do you guys think? do you agree that the new player's experience needs to be improved? do you like my idea? do you have other suggestions? Let's hear about in the comments below (:
Blizzard should make a special stream lessons or youtube videos in which they explain the the only way hs should be played is with supa dupa 1000 IQ control/combo homebrewed decks and 30 minutes long match is a minimum time period that proves you're not braindead blah blah something etc.
Just make a "Pauper Mode": All cards of Wild are allowed but only basic, common and uncommen cards (no epics and legys).
I considered your idea as well, but I think it would feel really bad for a new player to get Ysera, and not being able to play it. New players don't have any wild cards, so it's not like it's a real restriction. Maybe a format with basic, classic, and the newest expansion? cuz a lot of the time you get few of those for free.
I like the idea, I think it would be a fun mode to break the mold as well. However, I'm afraid things would get stale there rather quickly since it's always the same two sets, and I imagine there would be 1 or 2 really oppressive decks that would always dominate.
I would like to see a mode where no epics or legendary cards are allowed (maybe with an additional ban/restricted list). That way it would still be vastly different from regular ladder, would have rotating sets, and it still caters to the new and f2p players. I do like your rules about limiting the climb to rank 10, but not being able to win gold in the mode is counter-intuitive for the new players. Not sure how you prevent noob farmers, but a few more details ironed out and you'd have something there.
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Nature is the Day. Man is the Sun. Woman is the Moon. The Stone is the Sky. The Art is the Way.
Yes, it's a problem, that they have no Wild cards. But I think a Pauper Mode should not be for new players only and a mode with no epics and legys and only basic, classic and the newest exp. seems to too little card pool for me. The Pauper mode whould be just a "much easier to excess Wild mode" for everybody. Even if you have to craft a lot of wild cards: 1 legys costs the same as 16 uncommons - or 40 uncommons.
I would definitely play a Pauper Mode myself from time to time, even if I play since the open beta and have all legys and epics I need for every deck in Standard and Wild I want to play.
Blizzard should make a special stream lessons or youtube videos in which they explain the the only way hs should be played is with supa dupa 1000 IQ control/combo homebrewed decks and 30 minutes long match is a minimum time period that proves you're not braindead blah blah something etc.
Quote from CrovaxTheCursed>>not being able to win gold in the mode is counter-intuitive for the new players. Not sure how you prevent noob farmers, but a few more details ironed out and you'd have something there.
Yeah, you might be right. if you don't win gold by playing, there is no motivation for playing there, regardless of the format's properties.
The thing about this format is that it is not supposed to be too attractive for experienced players, cuz it feels unfair for beginners to play against people they can not beat. It's great when it's just a couple of thousands, so all of them are going to be at rank 15-10, but more than that will just feel too much like standard.
Definitely, it feels really unfair to have to play against so many cards that are out of reach for their own collection.
You could do something where every time you get like 10 wins you get one random non-Legendary Classic card that's not already in your collection (non golden). That way, experienced players who likely have a full Classic collection wouldn't have incentive to play that mode. Seems reasonable for a new player with a limited collection. Within a few months they would have a very full Classic collection, and it frees their gold to buy packs from newer expansions.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Nature is the Day. Man is the Sun. Woman is the Moon. The Stone is the Sky. The Art is the Way.
Wow, I actually just thought the exact same idea and wondered if someone else had come up with this too. I think that what it fundamentally solves is that there are 3 groups of people that play hearthstone, standard players, wild players and new players and these new players are forced into standard, where that most broken new cards have been just released. Just realize how different hearthstone is now from when it first launched, it can't feel good for a new player to get obliterated by jade druid and if blizzard keeps nerfing basic and classic cards that difference is only going to get bigger and bigger. However, I thought that if this classic mode exists (it doesn't have to be a begginer only mode, I would be very interested in playing it to remember the days of vanilla hearthstone) basic and classic should not be part of standard. Standard players want a fresh experience each year and blizzard doesn't want powerful evergreen cards so everyone would be happy. The only possible problem that I see is new players not wanting to invest in standard since it's a new mode entirely but you can always incentivize it with more rewards and cheaper decks. Overall glad to see that other people are considering this possibility since I think it's the key to the future of hearthstone.
Everyone who played with a new account in the last half a year or so can agree that the new player experience has deteriorated immensely. When I started playing Hearthstone a couple of years ago, I made it to rank 14 in one month from playing, with a homebrew deck of the cards I had, and maybe a few key common and rare cards I crafted. Now, even though I'm a much better, I struggle to get past rank 19 with my alternative account. The gap between a basic deck and a constructed deck has skyrocketed, and you start seeing top tier decks much much earlier on the ladder.
So I came up with an idea: what if we had a format designed specifically for new players? The format will only allow basic and classic cards, as those are 90% of the cards new player have anyway, so the average deck quality would be far more friendly for new players.
The beginners' ladder will end at rank 10, so you won't see experienced players trying to climb to legend there, and winning a game there will not count as a win for the golden portrait, so you won't have players grinding the noobs. I'm also thinking of disabling the 10 gold for 3 wins in this format, as it will make people grind the noobs for an easy 100g a day. instead, new players will receive a 50g log-in reward each day for the first month, which will also draw them into the game itself. After a couple of months playing in the beginners' format, a new player will have a big enough classic collection, and more importantly, knowledge and skill, to start playing in arena and standard format.
So what do you guys think? do you agree that the new player's experience needs to be improved? do you like my idea? do you have other suggestions? Let's hear about in the comments below (:
Just make a "Pauper Mode": All cards of Wild are allowed but only basic, common and uncommen cards (no epics and legys).
I like the idea, I think it would be a fun mode to break the mold as well. However, I'm afraid things would get stale there rather quickly since it's always the same two sets, and I imagine there would be 1 or 2 really oppressive decks that would always dominate.
I would like to see a mode where no epics or legendary cards are allowed (maybe with an additional ban/restricted list). That way it would still be vastly different from regular ladder, would have rotating sets, and it still caters to the new and f2p players. I do like your rules about limiting the climb to rank 10, but not being able to win gold in the mode is counter-intuitive for the new players. Not sure how you prevent noob farmers, but a few more details ironed out and you'd have something there.
Nature is the Day.
Man is the Sun.
Woman is the Moon.
The Stone is the Sky.
The Art is the Way.
Yes, it's a problem, that they have no Wild cards. But I think a Pauper Mode should not be for new players only and a mode with no epics and legys and only basic, classic and the newest exp. seems to too little card pool for me. The Pauper mode whould be just a "much easier to excess Wild mode" for everybody. Even if you have to craft a lot of wild cards: 1 legys costs the same as 16 uncommons - or 40 uncommons.
I would definitely play a Pauper Mode myself from time to time, even if I play since the open beta and have all legys and epics I need for every deck in Standard and Wild I want to play.
Definitely, it feels really unfair to have to play against so many cards that are out of reach for their own collection.
You could do something where every time you get like 10 wins you get one random non-Legendary Classic card that's not already in your collection (non golden). That way, experienced players who likely have a full Classic collection wouldn't have incentive to play that mode. Seems reasonable for a new player with a limited collection. Within a few months they would have a very full Classic collection, and it frees their gold to buy packs from newer expansions.
Nature is the Day.
Man is the Sun.
Woman is the Moon.
The Stone is the Sky.
The Art is the Way.
Wow, I actually just thought the exact same idea and wondered if someone else had come up with this too. I think that what it fundamentally solves is that there are 3 groups of people that play hearthstone, standard players, wild players and new players and these new players are forced into standard, where that most broken new cards have been just released. Just realize how different hearthstone is now from when it first launched, it can't feel good for a new player to get obliterated by jade druid and if blizzard keeps nerfing basic and classic cards that difference is only going to get bigger and bigger. However, I thought that if this classic mode exists (it doesn't have to be a begginer only mode, I would be very interested in playing it to remember the days of vanilla hearthstone) basic and classic should not be part of standard. Standard players want a fresh experience each year and blizzard doesn't want powerful evergreen cards so everyone would be happy. The only possible problem that I see is new players not wanting to invest in standard since it's a new mode entirely but you can always incentivize it with more rewards and cheaper decks. Overall glad to see that other people are considering this possibility since I think it's the key to the future of hearthstone.
Check out my Hearthstone expansion: The Shifting Sands