For me, the best moment was probably Un'goro. Everything was playable. Every game was different and unique. We thought that primordial glyph was broken back then (yeah, time change)
And was broken, but after the release of glyph mage gets many crap spells, still a very good card after this.
I played every expansion and the best era was Classic, Goblins vs Gnomes and naxxramas. In this era, HS was something new (big hype) and very balanced (non infinite value cards, no extreme mana cheat, a lot of midranges in the meta that has balanced matchups and not decks 100% wr against others like odd warrior nowadays). Also in this time we had the most classic decks in hs: zoolock, jaraxxus handlock, mid hunter, freeze mage, COOL control warrior, mech mage...
Also, the end of the year of the raven has a lot of archetypes viables and cool cards, but in ranked people likes to use boring decks like big spell mage, control warrior and priests, so It's a pretty boring season to play ranked. Geringotzan added a lot of cool cards too. However unbalanced.
When I first read that you thought the beginning was the best I was like 'naw' not really. But actually you are right - I miss the old decks you mentioned (except freeze mage always hated that). Only thing that comes close would be old Gods for me.
League of explorers to karazan was fun. Gadgetzan while it had some cool stuff like Kazakus. Had so many design flaws and poisoned the game. Not to mention at that time wild was not as large as pool as now so that was not as diverse a format from standard so it offered a similar experience.
Ungoro was a step in the right direction. But KoF was such overhyped garbage. Death knights were so hyperbolic to half we're really good and half we're dumpster fire that it put 4-5 classes at a disadvantage. Lich King was the only star in design for the set and single player content was also a step up.
The worst was Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, no question. Pirate Warrior outvalued every fast deck and Jade Druid outvalued every slow deck. The only thing in between was good ol' Face Shaman. Every game was identical. It's the only time I've straight-up abandoned Hearthstone.
I'm going to be a bit controversial, but the best was The Witchwood after Cubelock and Even Pally were nerfed. There was a lot of deck variety, Odd/Even was still a fresh mechanic, and there was nothing too overpowered. Even Shudderwock wasn't that bad, since you still had big windows to kill them. It helps that one of my favourite decks, big Recruit Hunter, became a thing (before being eclipsed by Deathrattle Hunter in the next set).
Mean streets had the worst meta for me. That was the closest I ever got to leaving the game for a bit. Jades, pirates and highlander decks. The variety of decks you faced was just awful.
The best for me was Un'goro and LoE the games were always a load of fun.
I'm hoping the year of the raven sets get a chance to shine a little with the rotation.
Unpopular opinion time but I loved MSoG. The whole tri-class card thing really appealed to me. I remember having great fun (but not much success) with a home brewed Jackson-Raza-Kazakus-Saron deck.
The worst: MSoG. It brought many terrible archetypes such as pre-nerf Pirate Warrior (the king of SMOrc) or Jade Druid (fatigue? never heard of that before while I continuously summon an even larger man...)
The best: Old Gods just because it gave us Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. I never had so much fun in this game when my goal was just to mess around at times and see what kind of spectacular result our saviour might deliver next. And even post-nerf I sometimes run Casino Mage if I need to cheer myself up.
Best: I just missed out on the classic set but I've heard it was amazing. For me though it's Old Gods oh baby was that such a good time. Runner up would be Un'Goro but quest rogue brought that down a bit.
Worst: Mean Streets. The gameplay was so predictable, so boring, and so repetitive that I almost quit hearthstone.
I liked the period of GvG and TgT - I know people hated TgT, but I personally loved that expansion - I loved the old priest decks that did not have a win condition, but would win through attrition and outsmarting your opponent or against aggro, just hope for enough healing and clear untill they run out of resources. Both GvG and TgT had me building a lot of different funny decks that weren't meta. Mech druid with spare parts and Gazlow and inspire priest was some of my favorites. LoE was also an era that I really liked simply due to Reno, which they destroyed later on with their build in highlander cards Raza and Kakkazu (or what is name was). This leads me to the worst era in HS history - MSoG - Never has a meta been this boring - it was Jade Druid beats Reno decks, Reno decks beats Pirate warrior, Pirate warrior beats Jade druid. I Personally hope we will never see this kind of Rock, paper, scissors meta again. This expansion was also the one that destroyed the creative deck building revolving around Reno.
Best era was league of explorers. Worst era was MSOG. Pirate warrior crushes jade druid, jade druid destroys reno decks, reno decks just about beat pirate warrior because that match up was basically whether pirate warrior can rush you down before turn 6 and if you actually draw reno by turn 6. But if pirate warrior got the nuts draw, they could kill you BY TURN 3! Seriously when you were playing against pirate warrior, you were under immediate pressure from turn 1 because of how stupidly aggressive and fast the deck was.
We have had broken as hell decks since then, but we have never again had a rock, papers, scissors meta.
worst: now (Rastakhan 2nd nerf). meta feels stale. the difference in power levels between the year of the raven/mammoth is the main culprit.
best: now ( -II- ) devs apparently start to really listen to the major complaints many players have been having. Genn&Baku rotating early. I'm quite interested in the upcoming expansion so far
The best era was Year 2. We got two adventures and one expansion. Grand Tournament was the worst expansion we ever got yeah, but that was good news for the F2Ps, as that meant they didn't need to craft as much and could spend their gold on GvG and the Adventures. The Adventures though, oh the Adventures. Blackrock had so many good cards and was fun all around, but the best new set we ever got had to have been League of Explorers. The introduction of the Discover mechanic, Reno Jackson and the other meta defining legendaries, so many more good cards, and the best PvE adventure we ever got. LoE is why I wanted them to stop with all the expansions and make more adventures.
Year of the Raven had to have been the absolute worst era we've ever had, and for a lot of people it's what made them quit for good. Witchwood and Boomsday had so many broken cards, Witchwood especially since it gave us Genn and Baku, two cards that are so broken, they're being Hall of Famed a year early. But besides the unfun broken cards, Year of the Raven's single player offerings were terrible, just recycling of Dungeon Run, but made worse, minus Puzzle Lab. But honestly there was no reason to do the single player since the rewards were terrible compared to adventures in the past. To pour salt in the wound, ActiBlizz decided to start paywalling hero portraits again, this time locking them to $50 or $80 preorders, or other ways of timelocking. What used to be a fun reward, was reduced to a cashgrab. But the final nail, was the fact Tournament Mode was promised in Year of the Raven, but has since been shelved with no ETA.
Hopefully Year of the Dragon can fix the damage Raven caused, because fuck man that year was awful.
I don't know how long an 'era' has to be, but the KoFT release was pretty bad. Jade druid's only counter was aggro druid, and that matchup was only barely favorable, every other deck had to play a fun game of 'which completely different druid archetype is going to demolish me this game'. After naxx release before buzzard nerf was also pretty bad, nothing like getting blown out of the game because you dared to have 3 minions on the board come turn 5, not to mention the 0 mana hunter's marks that took out your strongest threats. Undertaker became its own brand of problematic afterwards, but it didn't feel nearly as bad as losing to buzzard + unleash.
The best is, in my mind, unquestionably un'goro. Nobody was right about anything and it was beautiful. Every week a new deck came out of the woodwork, that wasn't just based on an obvious build-around. Decks like murloc paladin and Medivh Mage were fun midrange decks that allowed you a lot of room to show your skill. And, best of all, reddit's meme of the set, Lyra the Sunshard, ended up being an awesome and powerful card.
Best era was league of explorers. Worst era was MSOG. Pirate warrior crushes jade druid, jade druid destroys reno decks, reno decks just about beat pirate warrior because that match up was basically whether pirate warrior can rush you down before turn 6 and if you actually draw reno by turn 6. But if pirate warrior got the nuts draw, they could kill you BY TURN 3! Seriously when you were playing against pirate warrior, you were under immediate pressure from turn 1 because of how stupidly aggressive and fast the deck was.
We have had broken as hell decks since then, but we have never again had a rock, papers, scissors meta.
The best deck by far in MSOG was Aggro Shaman. It was just as explosive as Pirate Warrior, but it beat the crap out of Pirate Warrior. It's early game minions (Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem) were better, it ran the Pirate Package as well, and it's weapons (the two Claws) were just as good. But it also had small AOE (Portal), and taunts (Feral Spirits), so the matchup was extremely favorable. It's only when the nerfs to Spirit Claws and Small Time Buccaneer came that Aggro Shaman was slowed down enough to allow Pirate Warrior to "shine".
I'm not saying MSG was a good Meta, but with the large number of posters in this thread talking about MSG being defined by Pirate Warrior makes me wonder how many of them even played the game back then.
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Ungoro to KFT was the best.
Year of the Raven is the worst.
And was broken, but after the release of glyph mage gets many crap spells, still a very good card after this.
Worst meta was definitely when Pirate Warrior was tier 1, which got Fiery War Axe nerfed and then Secret Paladin meta.
When I first read that you thought the beginning was the best I was like 'naw' not really. But actually you are right - I miss the old decks you mentioned (except freeze mage always hated that). Only thing that comes close would be old Gods for me.
League of explorers to karazan was fun. Gadgetzan while it had some cool stuff like Kazakus. Had so many design flaws and poisoned the game. Not to mention at that time wild was not as large as pool as now so that was not as diverse a format from standard so it offered a similar experience.
Ungoro was a step in the right direction. But KoF was such overhyped garbage. Death knights were so hyperbolic to half we're really good and half we're dumpster fire that it put 4-5 classes at a disadvantage. Lich King was the only star in design for the set and single player content was also a step up.
The worst was Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, no question. Pirate Warrior outvalued every fast deck and Jade Druid outvalued every slow deck. The only thing in between was good ol' Face Shaman. Every game was identical. It's the only time I've straight-up abandoned Hearthstone.
I'm going to be a bit controversial, but the best was The Witchwood after Cubelock and Even Pally were nerfed. There was a lot of deck variety, Odd/Even was still a fresh mechanic, and there was nothing too overpowered. Even Shudderwock wasn't that bad, since you still had big windows to kill them. It helps that one of my favourite decks, big Recruit Hunter, became a thing (before being eclipsed by Deathrattle Hunter in the next set).
Mean streets had the worst meta for me. That was the closest I ever got to leaving the game for a bit. Jades, pirates and highlander decks. The variety of decks you faced was just awful.
The best for me was Un'goro and LoE the games were always a load of fun.
I'm hoping the year of the raven sets get a chance to shine a little with the rotation.
Best era : Frozen Throne and K&C
Worst era : Withwood and Boomsday
Unpopular opinion time but I loved MSoG. The whole tri-class card thing really appealed to me. I remember having great fun (but not much success) with a home brewed Jackson-Raza-Kazakus-Saron deck.
The worst: MSoG. It brought many terrible archetypes such as pre-nerf Pirate Warrior (the king of SMOrc) or Jade Druid (fatigue? never heard of that before while I continuously summon an even larger man...)
The best: Old Gods just because it gave us Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. I never had so much fun in this game when my goal was just to mess around at times and see what kind of spectacular result our saviour might deliver next. And even post-nerf I sometimes run Casino Mage if I need to cheer myself up.
Best: I just missed out on the classic set but I've heard it was amazing. For me though it's Old Gods oh baby was that such a good time. Runner up would be Un'Goro but quest rogue brought that down a bit.
Worst: Mean Streets. The gameplay was so predictable, so boring, and so repetitive that I almost quit hearthstone.
I completely agree!
I loved HS from Ungoro to Kobolds (before Patches was nerfed) and disliked the whole year of the Raven.
As expansions go I liked Ungoro the most and Boomsday the least.
Best era was league of explorers. Worst era was MSOG. Pirate warrior crushes jade druid, jade druid destroys reno decks, reno decks just about beat pirate warrior because that match up was basically whether pirate warrior can rush you down before turn 6 and if you actually draw reno by turn 6. But if pirate warrior got the nuts draw, they could kill you BY TURN 3! Seriously when you were playing against pirate warrior, you were under immediate pressure from turn 1 because of how stupidly aggressive and fast the deck was.
We have had broken as hell decks since then, but we have never again had a rock, papers, scissors meta.
worst: now (Rastakhan 2nd nerf). meta feels stale. the difference in power levels between the year of the raven/mammoth is the main culprit.
best: now ( -II- ) devs apparently start to really listen to the major complaints many players have been having. Genn&Baku rotating early. I'm quite interested in the upcoming expansion so far
Best 3 eras:
1. League of Explorers
2. Whispers of the Old Gods
3. Journey to Un'Goro
Worst 3 eras:
1. Mean Streets of Gadgetzan (by far)
2. Goblins vs Gnomes
3. Curse of Naxxramas (spesifically Undertaker era)
The best era was Year 2. We got two adventures and one expansion. Grand Tournament was the worst expansion we ever got yeah, but that was good news for the F2Ps, as that meant they didn't need to craft as much and could spend their gold on GvG and the Adventures. The Adventures though, oh the Adventures. Blackrock had so many good cards and was fun all around, but the best new set we ever got had to have been League of Explorers. The introduction of the Discover mechanic, Reno Jackson and the other meta defining legendaries, so many more good cards, and the best PvE adventure we ever got. LoE is why I wanted them to stop with all the expansions and make more adventures.
Year of the Raven had to have been the absolute worst era we've ever had, and for a lot of people it's what made them quit for good. Witchwood and Boomsday had so many broken cards, Witchwood especially since it gave us Genn and Baku, two cards that are so broken, they're being Hall of Famed a year early. But besides the unfun broken cards, Year of the Raven's single player offerings were terrible, just recycling of Dungeon Run, but made worse, minus Puzzle Lab. But honestly there was no reason to do the single player since the rewards were terrible compared to adventures in the past. To pour salt in the wound, ActiBlizz decided to start paywalling hero portraits again, this time locking them to $50 or $80 preorders, or other ways of timelocking. What used to be a fun reward, was reduced to a cashgrab. But the final nail, was the fact Tournament Mode was promised in Year of the Raven, but has since been shelved with no ETA.
Hopefully Year of the Dragon can fix the damage Raven caused, because fuck man that year was awful.
I don't know how long an 'era' has to be, but the KoFT release was pretty bad. Jade druid's only counter was aggro druid, and that matchup was only barely favorable, every other deck had to play a fun game of 'which completely different druid archetype is going to demolish me this game'. After naxx release before buzzard nerf was also pretty bad, nothing like getting blown out of the game because you dared to have 3 minions on the board come turn 5, not to mention the 0 mana hunter's marks that took out your strongest threats. Undertaker became its own brand of problematic afterwards, but it didn't feel nearly as bad as losing to buzzard + unleash.
The best is, in my mind, unquestionably un'goro. Nobody was right about anything and it was beautiful. Every week a new deck came out of the woodwork, that wasn't just based on an obvious build-around. Decks like murloc paladin and Medivh Mage were fun midrange decks that allowed you a lot of room to show your skill. And, best of all, reddit's meme of the set, Lyra the Sunshard, ended up being an awesome and powerful card.
Best era: none of them
Worst era: all of them
Every HS player at one point in their life.
For me, best is WoToG with C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, Hope's End, or LoE with Reno Jackson or even Un'Goro. Worst is WoToG with Flamewreathed Faceless, or LoE with Tunnel Trogg or even Un'Goro because of Vicious Fledgling.
...wait
That'll do, Huffer. That'll do.
The best deck by far in MSOG was Aggro Shaman. It was just as explosive as Pirate Warrior, but it beat the crap out of Pirate Warrior. It's early game minions (Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem) were better, it ran the Pirate Package as well, and it's weapons (the two Claws) were just as good. But it also had small AOE (Portal), and taunts (Feral Spirits), so the matchup was extremely favorable. It's only when the nerfs to Spirit Claws and Small Time Buccaneer came that Aggro Shaman was slowed down enough to allow Pirate Warrior to "shine".
I'm not saying MSG was a good Meta, but with the large number of posters in this thread talking about MSG being defined by Pirate Warrior makes me wonder how many of them even played the game back then.