The problem is that people play what streamers play, so how creative the meta is in the first week is pretty dependent on how creative streamers are. Some streamers (Brian Kibler for example) are very creative with decks like Highlander Priest the problem is just that deck is insanely expensive so not everyone can afford it.
The problem with creativity in Hearthstone is that Blizzard forces certain archetype decks that are build around specific mechanics. This has been going on for a few expansions already:
Galakrond
Quests
Old gods
Grimmy Goons / Jade / Kabal
Highlander
Odds / Even
Some people managed to create unique versions of these archetype decks but the basics we're always the same...
I have been having some fun. Playing around with Highlander Quest Warrior (Feels Pretty dang good, especially post DH Nerfs), Taunt Quest Warrior a bit (would probably play better without Quest and I don't have Armegadillo) and Quest Council Handlock (Tons of fun, ruins DH and Rez priest but, pretty much 50% winrate overall)
Will likely be posting either the Highlander Warrior or CouncilLock as my first deck post. (feedback appreciated)
The sole problem with the lack of creativity is the accesibility of netdecks. I remember when I first started actively playing. I played C'thun Priest and C'thun Warrior. I had NO CLUE that there are decks online you can actually just copypaste and voila! I never escaped rank 15 with those decks, true- but I remember enjoying every game and LOVING every victory because that was solely mine.
People would still in due time figure out the strongest cards, but nearly every deck would have something unique to it and that alone would make every encounter exciting.
Nowadays when I see Tyrande I know they won't play shit for the first 4 turns, play Infiltrator, and Psychopomp after Infiltrator dies and there goes any fun one could hope to have in that duel.
I think Blizzard should try at least once (maybe next expansion) not to invite streamers (especially ones who play standard only first week and then switch to battlegrounds and TFT and similar) to theorycrafting streams so that we can experiment for ourselves instead of letting them do it for us.
Expansion has just been released and playerbase even doesn't know what 60% of new cards are doing, so they just trying to play around stuff they are familiar to. Give people some time.
I think beyond the limitation of what people are familiar with and what streamers are playing. I think the volume of review videos pre-release cripple people's creativity. They completely discount the value of any card based off the worst case. Quite a few cards that i saw labeled as trash have played rather well.
Years ago solid deck was worth around 5k dust, now cost of average deck can easily exceed 10k (with some exceptions obviously). Nobody wants to spend tons of dust on useless, bad or meme cards (I did that in last expansion, spending 15k dust on Plot Twist Quests Warlock and I still regret that...), so most people just wait until meta stabilizes. Only players with wide collection (mostly pros and streamers) are willing to experiment, the rest just copy their ideas and it's hard to blame them really (as a F2P I do exactly the same... most of the time). This is even more painful if you didn't get anything decent from packs and you have to craft everything by yourself (I've got 2 legendaries from 80 packs! Or rather one, because the other one was guaranteed by "the rule of first 10 packs").
There is no creativity in this game. When Blizzard releases an expansion they have play tested everything. This means they have a pretty good idea of what will be strong and what will suck. Sometimes they get it wrong and hand out nerfs (and even buffs on the rare occassion). Demon Hunter being the most recent example.
As a community all we do is work out what blizzard already knows. We 'create' decks based on the limitations put on us by Blizzard. An example would be stealth/secret rogue. Give it time and the community will work out the optimum 30 cards for this archetype. Then it will get played and blizzard will monitor how it performs. If it is stronger than expected then Blizzard will nerf it. This process happens every single expansion. Nothing is by coincidence. No one ever creates a truly unique deck. It has already been created and play tested by Blizzard before release.
Another observation is that as time goes by, tier 1 decks are becoming more and more expensive to construct (a general rule of thumb). This isnt an accident. It's a free to play game and Blizzard needs to make money.
I'm playing a Dragon priest deck, at Diamond 5-4 is it the best deck no, and its not tuned 100%. But I'm enjoying playing it, yes it does have a Mass Ress & Catrine Muerte, but none of the Quest or Albatros things.
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Playing spell mage, and having both success and fun.
People have no creativity any more and this for a long time.
Also due to this site.
COPY PASTA NETDECK AND PRETEND TO BE PRO
The problem is that people play what streamers play, so how creative the meta is in the first week is pretty dependent on how creative streamers are. Some streamers (Brian Kibler for example) are very creative with decks like Highlander Priest the problem is just that deck is insanely expensive so not everyone can afford it.
The problem with creativity in Hearthstone is that Blizzard forces certain archetype decks that are build around specific mechanics. This has been going on for a few expansions already:
Some people managed to create unique versions of these archetype decks but the basics we're always the same...
I have been having some fun. Playing around with Highlander Quest Warrior (Feels Pretty dang good, especially post DH Nerfs), Taunt Quest Warrior a bit (would probably play better without Quest and I don't have Armegadillo) and Quest Council Handlock (Tons of fun, ruins DH and Rez priest but, pretty much 50% winrate overall)
Will likely be posting either the Highlander Warrior or CouncilLock as my first deck post. (feedback appreciated)
The sole problem with the lack of creativity is the accesibility of netdecks. I remember when I first started actively playing. I played C'thun Priest and C'thun Warrior. I had NO CLUE that there are decks online you can actually just copypaste and voila! I never escaped rank 15 with those decks, true- but I remember enjoying every game and LOVING every victory because that was solely mine.
People would still in due time figure out the strongest cards, but nearly every deck would have something unique to it and that alone would make every encounter exciting.
Nowadays when I see Tyrande I know they won't play shit for the first 4 turns, play Infiltrator, and Psychopomp after Infiltrator dies and there goes any fun one could hope to have in that duel.
I think Blizzard should try at least once (maybe next expansion) not to invite streamers (especially ones who play standard only first week and then switch to battlegrounds and TFT and similar) to theorycrafting streams so that we can experiment for ourselves instead of letting them do it for us.
Expansion has just been released and playerbase even doesn't know what 60% of new cards are doing, so they just trying to play around stuff they are familiar to. Give people some time.
Since when was there ever any creativity in Standard since the release of this game?
How often do you see players not playing 'meta' in any game's ranked or competitive mode?
Do you have a list?
I think beyond the limitation of what people are familiar with and what streamers are playing. I think the volume of review videos pre-release cripple people's creativity. They completely discount the value of any card based off the worst case. Quite a few cards that i saw labeled as trash have played rather well.
I have only been playing a homebrew handlock deck. I mean it's not super creative, but you wont see anything exactly like it.
And tbh it's not very strong. But that's ok, I'm not pushing for legend or anything.
Galavant Animation
Years ago solid deck was worth around 5k dust, now cost of average deck can easily exceed 10k (with some exceptions obviously). Nobody wants to spend tons of dust on useless, bad or meme cards (I did that in last expansion, spending 15k dust on Plot Twist Quests Warlock and I still regret that...), so most people just wait until meta stabilizes. Only players with wide collection (mostly pros and streamers) are willing to experiment, the rest just copy their ideas and it's hard to blame them really (as a F2P I do exactly the same... most of the time). This is even more painful if you didn't get anything decent from packs and you have to craft everything by yourself (I've got 2 legendaries from 80 packs! Or rather one, because the other one was guaranteed by "the rule of first 10 packs").
Heres some quick thoughts.
There is no creativity in this game. When Blizzard releases an expansion they have play tested everything. This means they have a pretty good idea of what will be strong and what will suck. Sometimes they get it wrong and hand out nerfs (and even buffs on the rare occassion). Demon Hunter being the most recent example.
As a community all we do is work out what blizzard already knows. We 'create' decks based on the limitations put on us by Blizzard. An example would be stealth/secret rogue. Give it time and the community will work out the optimum 30 cards for this archetype. Then it will get played and blizzard will monitor how it performs. If it is stronger than expected then Blizzard will nerf it. This process happens every single expansion. Nothing is by coincidence. No one ever creates a truly unique deck. It has already been created and play tested by Blizzard before release.
Another observation is that as time goes by, tier 1 decks are becoming more and more expensive to construct (a general rule of thumb). This isnt an accident. It's a free to play game and Blizzard needs to make money.
You forgot token spell druid
I'm playing a Dragon priest deck, at Diamond 5-4 is it the best deck no, and its not tuned 100%. But I'm enjoying playing it, yes it does have a Mass Ress & Catrine Muerte, but none of the Quest or Albatros things.