Maybe, but the spell only with zuljin and the legendary weapon is more intresting.
Less a fan of either of those builds - I do like the control decks I build to have AoEs, so deathrattle control is more my speed (ghoul/arrow and sheep/play as wipes). More fun than either odd or spell, IMO :P Baku will probably end up faster and a bit more midrange, I suspect, which gives it significantly more game in Wild where the meta's stupidly fast most games.
Number 1 with miles away from the rest is a hunter. Raza plus Anduin was 2 cards 13 mana combo and is still one of the best wild decks. This quest is easy to achieve with 2 rapid fires and 2 other spells, but I am not sure if the hunter has the tools to survive the early game, if it goes for spell hunter, but probably it will bring hunter from the worst class to a decent one.
Wild has the tools - part of the issue is that it lacks effective CA and often uses multiple cards for boardwipes. In STD? Eh. Arcane shot, tracking, even good old pyro, heavily telegraphed secrets, overwhelm, even tame beast early if needed. Feels like something's going to come together, though obv, lacking in CA. Quick isn't going to proc often, lock and load is a meme, tracking is great but not enough alone, and you're probably not going to be beast heavy. That does limit the control possibilities, probably be midrangeish with HP spam to close out, I suspect.
I really dislike this one. To complete it quickly you need a lot of cards in your decks you would not want otherwise with any current decktype. And the rewards don't seem very exciting. The final reward is just a one time thing compared to the other often gamechanging ones.
Rogue
Not a big rogue player but this seems pretty underwhelming. Possibly even weaker than druid. But then again.. rogue has the tendency to create surprisingly strong decks out of mediocre looking cards so .. who knows.
The thing you forget is that both of these classes have ways to return or copy the minion, so a more powerful one time effect might even be better. Honestly, mark of the spineshell makes gruff so much better, as you can play him three times over a game, which is a lot of direct damage attack.
For rogue, if they want to, they have all sorts of bounce they could use on their reward. Is it worth it? Maybe, maybe not. But it's a lot faster to get value out of it.
I like to think most of the new quests as tech cards that you put in an existing archetype deck and just provide that little extra something against unfavourable match ups.
1) Priest. I am looking forward in trying the priest one the most.It's a win condition against control decks.I assume it works best in some kind of tempo deck that struggles to find wins against control decks.
2)Druid. Druid one is i think the most obvious tech card.5 mana 8/8 taunt with a battlecry is super good.You dont have to make a deck around it.Just play the druid deck of your choice and if you happen to complete the quest is a bonus.Think people will be surprised of how good it actually is.
3)Hunter.Again a tech card.Put it in an existing archetype it will almost always complete at some point and then you get that sweet little extra reach with the 0 mana hero power.
4)Paladin.Ok this one is not a tech card,i admit.It brings back the dudes.It should be fine,good matchups bad matchups etc.
5)Warlock. It can be used as a tech card where if you happen to complete it is a nice little reach while getting some heal on the way there or it can be used as a super aggro deck that mills you and wins the game by fatigue yourself.I think i like the tech card choice more.
6)Mage. Again tech card.Put it in an existing archetype and if it happens to complete you get a nice 5 mana drop and have that juicy +3 spell damage.Problem is i dont think mage was lacking reach.I could be wrong though.
7)Shaman.Tech card once more.I assume it is meant to give some reach in some kind of tempo shaman.
8)Rogue. Well maybe not obvious tech card since you need to add the SI7 cards to your deck but looks like it improves tempo rogue.I like the SI 7 cards nothing too broken.But then again tempo rogue has always been strong.
9)DH .Not a tech card. This one is complicated.Maybe it becomes broken when next expansion hits.I dont like it as it is.Miracle DH could be fun though who knows till we try it.
Personal opinion after watching some streamers play all the quests. Numbers don't represent ranking cuz I just split into tiers and comments from what I've seen.
Very Strong - fit the gameplan. naturally complete itself. high synergy. consistent.
Warrior - Very strong quest line/reward. Fit naturally and progress naturally. High synergy deck. You're doing what you want to do anyway and still get rewards. Never run out of steam before or after the quest. Need a lot of fine tune to optimize to perform against various archetypes. Feels competitive enough unless meta heavily favors slow decks. The problem is the board of the deck itself can be countered effectively just like every warrior deck right now.
Warlock - Self mill is already decent in term of synergies. I've seen some refined versions of self mill handlock control hybrid (no portal minion-don't need it). Warlocks gain a lot of extremely efficient tools to heal (minion that heal equals to handsize), boardclear (6mana 3/2 board clear equals to handsize) on top of existing clears/soul fragments. The quest always finish itself regardless of your action by endgame. I literally never see any quest rogues win against warlocks in every streamers I've watched so far. Definitely competitive.
Solid - very strong reward with few limitations, inconsistencies. can potentially be metabreaking if polished/flaws fixed.
Hunter - Basically Raza Priest but a bit overrated IMO. While the rewards are all good, easy to complete quest and deck looks smooth to play, it runs out of steam pretty fast after you completed the quest and went ham with spell/hero power combo. If the opponent doesn't die after a few turns, deck doesn't provide enough value in the long run. Unlike original Raza that refreshes ping for every card, this only refreshes for spells, limiting its potency a bit. Sentiment may change if deck is more refined since the reward has so much potential.
Shaman- Bit tricky to complete, but reward is definitely strong for the deck that aims to win by combo/OTK. But the deck doesn't seem to be that strong in other aspects. It requires careful planning and sometimes unable to follow the intended gameplan due to the needs to respond to opponent's board. My observation sample size is low so my conclusion probably doesn't reflect true potential.
Niche - quests with restricted/niche gameplan or rewards are insufficient by themselves. need quite a lot of works to fine tune.
Druid- Despite the consensus' sentiment of disappointment, the quest line and reward from what I've seen so far is surprisingly beyond expectations. Currently, most streamers' quest druid decks feel unrefined since there are few non-support/inconsequential cards in the decks. But even then, the quest doesn't seem to be far-fetched to do (most streamers finish it within reasonable turns) and can also be game-winning. The deck does have some support cards like Wickerclaw. After watching quite some games, the on-curve plays already stack up a lot of damage and progress the quest simultaneously that by the turn of quest completion, the reward can actually kills opponent consistently, especially against heal-less rogues who almost always die to solar eclipse>pounce>guff 14 damage on turn 7. The deck seems to need a lot of polish and need more directional push towards an archetype since currently streamers are not really sure what archetype to make for this quest to fit in. So in the end it can really be powerful or not see play at all.
Priest- Reward is the definition of game-winning but the requirements are difficult to follow in most cases. It's extremely rare to see any streamer actually finish it and play the reward since most of the time the game is over long before the quest completion. Either by priest dying before even completing tier2 or already winning by stabilize the board. Even against other control decks, it's still difficult to have time to play 5,6,7,8 cost cards (you'll die to handlock strong cheap minions, for example). Practically the reward seems usable only against control warriors or mirrors.
Demon Hunter- Actually quite difficult to finish since the deck will need quite a few support cards so it feels a bit unnatural to complete. And the reward is not game-winning by itself since it's just tool to reduce the cost of the combo pieces which are your win condition. And you'll probably not get much value since you already draw most of your deck. Need more observations of the quest DH.
Mage- One of the most difficult to complete since the deck have to run multiple types of spells. Heavily depends on draw (adding card draws reduce slots for said spells, making the deck a bit vulnerable to inconsistency. The spells of different schools don't quite synergize each other very well. So far it feels like it only works in spell mage. But recurring problem of mages is the survivability against fast decks. There might be more supports in the future or if the meta is slow enough, the quest may work excellently because the new card Ignite prevents mage from fatigue and synergize very well with quest reward. Still need more observation of this deck.
Rogue - Quest rewards are okay but not game-winning by themselves. It can potentially be very strong if combined with bounce cards. The requirements are not very easy but not that detrimental since SI cards are decent for tempo and complement/blend with normal plays very smoothly. Deck absolutely needs another win condition though. It has potential if refined.
About DH questline, don't forget that questlines counts your draw at the first turn, so the first part is actually the easiest to complete, but I agree that if DH has drawn almost half of the deck to complete all questlines, probably the combo is already in the hand, so the final discount won't matter at all, unless you get relevant discounts at the first two questlines, and I think it's worth testing because of that and Sigil of Alacrity to support
Paladin final questline reward is already good enough even if you don't play dude paladin in standard, and remember that First Day of School singlehandedly completes one part of questline
I mean, I reiterate, I'm no warrior main, but this looks pretty solid to me. I just whipped this together, I'm sure better players can do it better than me. You've got draw, damage, armour/healing and once that quest reward is online, it's free stuff every turn.
Perhaps I overestimate, but I'm feeling this one at the top. Hunter is right behind it, though.
1/ Hunter: this quest is win condition, Hard to imagine it not work when even the processing reward already huge value (0 mana hero power), I expected this will be tier 2 deck at least
2/ Shaman: also a win condition ( or at least could create new archetype)
3/ Warlock: this probably the hardest quest so at first i dont really rated it but after watch Regis play it, i'm convinced this could be a new archetype. The reward is insane at late game
4. Mage: similar to warlock quest (hard work but big reward)
5/ Warrior: honestly, i dont know. Like we have so many pirate warrior version through hs history but most of them are aggressive while aggro definitely wont use this quest so a mid-tier place probably the safest bet.
6/ Paladin: while this infinity better the Marsh Queen (hunter queen in ungoro), it still has same issue: you can put too much 1 cost card it you deck because they will hurt you late game. Also if you just want to upgrade the dude, there are much better options.
7/ Priest: look very similar to the current cthun priest, you definitely build a slow deck for it but it either you already won (and dont need it) or you die before can use it
8/ Demon Hunter: uhm, the effect is strong but only apply for half of you deck so not worth it.
9/ Rogue: parasitic card like this need more support to be good and sadly, there aren't enough of SI: 7. The reward also doesn't look exciting
10/ Druid: the processing reward is bad and also the final reward so yeah, its just bad.
These are RegisKilbin early predictions after playtesting for a couple days
1) Hunter
2) Shaman
3) Druid
4) Warlock
5) Priest
6) Rogue
7) Paladin
8) Warrior :(
9) Mage
10) Demonhunter
So apparently in actual gameplay, Druid provides such an incredible Health discrepancy, that it ends up being one of the strongest ones, despite being so boring, which makes total sense for me.
After watching some of the theorycrafting streams I am even more convinced that the Hunter questline is bait. Hunter doesn't have enough draw (or even enough spells) to support it and by the time they complete all 3 steps they will probably sit with an empty hand (and board)
After watching some of the theorycrafting streams I am even more convinced that the Hunter questline is bait. Hunter doesn't have enough draw (or even enough spells) to support it and by the time they complete all 3 steps they will probably sit with an empty hand (and board)
I think it's meant more to give Hunter some control options, rather than be a win condition in of itself. (They have like 8 spells that do damage btw, most of them viable, so finishing the quest isn't necessarily a problem in of itself)
The requirement for finishing it is so simple. But I think it'd be hard to like burn someone out the way Raza-Anduin used to. Where you just dropped your whole hand with Velen and Mind Blast to win a game.
They've purposefully not given Hunter a spell like Mind Blast and there's no Velen.
But I imagine you're right there'll be some people building it like a Raza-Anduin deck and discovering... you can't just win the game by repeatedly hero powering your opponent. It helps a lot, but not on it's own.
These are RegisKilbin early predictions after playtesting for a couple days
1) Hunter
2) Shaman
3) Druid
4) Warlock
5) Priest
6) Rogue
7) Paladin
8) Warrior :(
9) Mage
10) Demonhunter
So apparently in actual gameplay, Druid provides such an incredible Health discrepancy, that it ends up being one of the strongest ones, despite being so boring, which makes total sense for me.
I dunno if I trust his instincts necessarily... I feel like the mage questline is still really misjudged as some sort of weird control-style deck, with lots of late game cards when it's really more like a miracle mage deck.
After watching some of the theorycrafting streams I am even more convinced that the Hunter questline is bait. Hunter doesn't have enough draw (or even enough spells) to support it and by the time they complete all 3 steps they will probably sit with an empty hand (and board)
I suspect that it won't work as well in a control shell as people like me hope (particularly in STD). I think that it'll see play as extra reach, though, in a more midrange list; there's a decent amount of good spells already. Explosive trap should work (though knowing blizz it might not); quick shot is obviously an autoinclude. Piercing is a minion-only fireball with trample, again pretty autoinclude. I'd expect a midrange list to run overwhelm as well. That's 8 direct damage spells; a bit light for the full thing, but you're probably happy with a zero-cost HP anyway. The last stage is just gravy, IMO.
1) Hunter: I think some cards revolving around this questline will get nerfed because you can theoretically finish it as early as t4 (though your hand is pretty empty then). I am sure that there will be a spell-heavy hunter list with Barack, Kolkar Pack Runner, and potentially Mankrik and some 1-drops + a lot of cheap spells and Piercing Shot. This is by far the best quest imo.
2) Shaman: I also agree with Regis here in that shaman got the 2nd best quest. I will try to make it work in a control-heavy shell, if I happen to open it, but it's probably just another tool to create more burst damage, which is sad and boring at the same time.
I see a gap to other quests that is probably around 1 tier level.
3) Druid: Since I expect an aggro hunter/shaman meta with some questlines sprinkled in, this is the best counter among questlines. You can build token + questline or focus a little more on the questline and get a ton of armor as anti-aggro tool. This questline also has enough burst to keep slower questline decks in check. Overall a good meta call and a nice compromise imo. I will say, though, that this quest would be at rank 10 for me in terms of fun, and also power level if the meta, as I expect it, wasn't open for it. Imo not even a safe craft because of meta-instability.
4) Rogue: This one is close to druid, but probably weaker to aggro. It's not a flashy questline for sure and the SI:7 cards aren't premium either, but the tempo of this quest and the fact that you can Shadowstep the quest reward several times makes this interesting. The current rogue decks also have quite a good shell to add the SI:7 package into, so I wouldn't be shocked if this goes tier 2.
5) Warlock: This would have been at least 2 positions higher, if not for the top 2 questlines being scary burst decks. The card is insane in a vacuum, but I have a feeling that the meta will not be too open for warlock. Maybe there is enough healing but it's questionable to me.
6) Paladin: I really don't want this to be good, and Against All Odds will rek you more than once, but this quest should still create a tier 2 list. I am not particularly interested in playing it myself and I don't think that the reward is that broken, but it can get dangerous.
7) Mage: I have quite some hopes for this one, but that's probably just me as a spell-slinging, aggro-hating noob. In reality, this might even be the worst questline, but I just don't want to see it, especially now that we have a lot of fire spell burst potential. It might be possible that mage is just stronger as a normal burn spell mage now, which worries me for this questline.
8) Warrior: And then we end on the last tier 2 quest. This card will see quite a lot of play, but in CONTROL warrior. It seems like that's not on anyone's list yet, but control warrior can easily play a few weapons and a good amount of pirates. It can win rather quickly with the questline or by stalling out against aggro. Definitely a meta call, but very interesting at a baseline.
9) Priest: Welcome to tier 3! Yes, control priest can work without the questline and it might add the questline just to beat control mirrors, but it's a -1 in your opening hand against aggro and playing some mana costs will be more difficult than people think. You will need a ton of discovery and mana manipulation or reduce the quality of your control deck by quite a lot. And the reward is...winning after turn 10 in a rather fast-paced meta with other questlines that can kill you much faster and aggro decks running around on ladder. Not very appealing.
10) Demon hunter: I don't really know what to make out of this one. I could see this breaking something somewhere but I just can't see it right now. I played a decent chunk of OTK dh and I have no idea how this card will ever make it into that list because you will constantly draw into dead hands full of card draw or dead hand full of removal that you won't need. The discounts usually don't matter anyway in that deck and playing the questline reward does nothing for you in terms of tempo or stalling. I wonder if there is a free cycling deck with a lot of card draw that costs 0 after you play the questline reward, but I doubt that such a deck is there yet.
It's surprisingly easy to finish, and once it's done, the game is over fast.
The only one I haven't seen any footage of is the Mage Questline, and it's the one I'm the most worried about. I suspect it will not be great until the third expansion, in which I'm guessing Arcane spells will be the focus.
I have seen Thijs playing it together with new Toni and that deck was pretty... hot! Killed people on t8 when Toni came down. Also finished the quest at t7, if I am not mistaken now. The class definitely has enough strong arcane spells already.
My biggest worry with the mage questline is that you better just play the deck without it.
Just watched that long 6 hours Stream from Kilbin, the other day...and indeed the Warrior Quest is simply.... too slow :(
It's done on average 1-2 turn(s) later than Shaman, Hunter, Pala...hell even Druid...and even then The Juggernaut requires further Turns to really snowball out of control. It is good against Value Control Decks such as Priest...but I actually (boldly? maybe not boldly) predict this won't replace Rush Warrior. The animation is absolutely fantastic though, and its a shame but I'am going to hold back on crafting this Golden, although it pains me, because it is by far the best looking Animation (along with Shaman one)
Meanwhile, absolutely disgusting is (as expected) the Shaman one, impressed me even more than Hunter, due to the fact just how fast it gets completed, seemed the fastest one out of all of em. Well...it's either between Shaman or Hunter I guess. But the really frightening part is how you can just use it as a Finisher at Turn 5, as you have already chopped down the Opponent with Doomhammer, and need little extra Burst to win the game at that point. It's just absolutely ridicolous.
Other good Quests seem to be Warlock, Druid and Paladin, all definetly making it into Meta, and look quite reliable and fool proof.
Warlock one, certainly sexy as fuck, didn't expect this Negate-Fatique mechanic to work so reliably - but it does !
Hunter... we'll see...could be overhyped, due to the lack of cheap Spells. But didn't seem that absurd like Shaman tbh.
It's surprisingly easy to finish, and once it's done, the game is over fast.
The only one I haven't seen any footage of is the Mage Questline, and it's the one I'm the most worried about. I suspect it will not be great until the third expansion, in which I'm guessing Arcane spells will be the focus.
Isn't Arcane the easiest one to finish?
You have Shooting Star, Arcane Intellect, Cram Session, Primordial Studies all of which are great with spell damage-style cards... half of which potentially get you more spells to play.
I think after the new set Frost is probably the hardest one to finish overall. But you still have Brain Freeze, Flurry and Cone of Cold anyway.
It's surprisingly easy to finish, and once it's done, the game is over fast.
The only one I haven't seen any footage of is the Mage Questline, and it's the one I'm the most worried about. I suspect it will not be great until the third expansion, in which I'm guessing Arcane spells will be the focus.
Isn't Arcane the easiest one to finish?
You have Shooting Star, Arcane Intellect, Cram Session, Primordial Studies all of which are great with spell damage-style cards... half of which potentially get you more spells to play.
I think after the new set Frost is probably the hardest one to finish overall. But you still have Brain Freeze, Flurry and Cone of Cold anyway.
And you even forgot the strongest Arcane spell mage has access to... 2 mana: -26 mana^^
If the quests can be completed fast, they tend to push for Aggro decks..... especially for Shaman and Hunter class
If Warrior quest is fast, aggro Pirate Warrior will come back and mess the meta again.... it will dominate Wild horribly... Same situation for Mage quest, if it can be completed easily..... Spell Flamewaker Mage in Wild will tear down the meta.....
Warlock, Druid, Paladin, Rogue quests can at least help build more mid-range/control decks.
DH quest is supposed to push for fast aggro decks, it might see play more in Wild than in Standard due to resources for cheaper cards.
Only Priest quest is towards building Control decks
Warlock questline isn't trash tier and that's all I care about, one of my favorite cards of all time and it opens up a ton of possibilities for a ton of forgotten unplayable cards that heavily damage your own hero with very little upside. Interestingly, lots of warlock cards are my favorite ones even though it's not my favorite class.
And I always knew the druid questline was underrated. Face damage that generates more face damage can only be good. And the huge armor gain means aggro vs aggro is always in your favor.
It's good that the paladin one is playable because I was getting tired of playing odd paladin, I love the archetype but there's not infinite variations when it comes to deck building, memeing around with control cards in the deck was rarely a good idea.
Now everyone needs to keep in mind that pre-release meta and end of cycle meta are vastly different, the current ranking of questlines won't last for very long.
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Less a fan of either of those builds - I do like the control decks I build to have AoEs, so deathrattle control is more my speed (ghoul/arrow and sheep/play as wipes). More fun than either odd or spell, IMO :P Baku will probably end up faster and a bit more midrange, I suspect, which gives it significantly more game in Wild where the meta's stupidly fast most games.
Wild has the tools - part of the issue is that it lacks effective CA and often uses multiple cards for boardwipes. In STD? Eh. Arcane shot, tracking, even good old pyro, heavily telegraphed secrets, overwhelm, even tame beast early if needed. Feels like something's going to come together, though obv, lacking in CA. Quick isn't going to proc often, lock and load is a meme, tracking is great but not enough alone, and you're probably not going to be beast heavy. That does limit the control possibilities, probably be midrangeish with HP spam to close out, I suspect.
The thing you forget is that both of these classes have ways to return or copy the minion, so a more powerful one time effect might even be better. Honestly, mark of the spineshell makes gruff so much better, as you can play him three times over a game, which is a lot of direct damage attack.
For rogue, if they want to, they have all sorts of bounce they could use on their reward. Is it worth it? Maybe, maybe not. But it's a lot faster to get value out of it.
I like to think most of the new quests as tech cards that you put in an existing archetype deck and just provide that little extra something against unfavourable match ups.
1) Priest. I am looking forward in trying the priest one the most.It's a win condition against control decks.I assume it works best in some kind of tempo deck that struggles to find wins against control decks.
2)Druid. Druid one is i think the most obvious tech card.5 mana 8/8 taunt with a battlecry is super good.You dont have to make a deck around it.Just play the druid deck of your choice and if you happen to complete the quest is a bonus.Think people will be surprised of how good it actually is.
3)Hunter.Again a tech card.Put it in an existing archetype it will almost always complete at some point and then you get that sweet little extra reach with the 0 mana hero power.
4)Paladin.Ok this one is not a tech card,i admit.It brings back the dudes.It should be fine,good matchups bad matchups etc.
5)Warlock. It can be used as a tech card where if you happen to complete it is a nice little reach while getting some heal on the way there or it can be used as a super aggro deck that mills you and wins the game by fatigue yourself.I think i like the tech card choice more.
6)Mage. Again tech card.Put it in an existing archetype and if it happens to complete you get a nice 5 mana drop and have that juicy +3 spell damage.Problem is i dont think mage was lacking reach.I could be wrong though.
7)Shaman.Tech card once more.I assume it is meant to give some reach in some kind of tempo shaman.
8)Rogue. Well maybe not obvious tech card since you need to add the SI7 cards to your deck but looks like it improves tempo rogue.I like the SI 7 cards nothing too broken.But then again tempo rogue has always been strong.
9)DH .Not a tech card. This one is complicated.Maybe it becomes broken when next expansion hits.I dont like it as it is.Miracle DH could be fun though who knows till we try it.
Warrior - Very strong quest line/reward. Fit naturally and progress naturally. High synergy deck. You're doing what you want to do anyway and still get rewards. Never run out of steam before or after the quest. Need a lot of fine tune to optimize to perform against various archetypes. Feels competitive enough unless meta heavily favors slow decks. The problem is the board of the deck itself can be countered effectively just like every warrior deck right now.
Warlock - Self mill is already decent in term of synergies. I've seen some refined versions of self mill handlock control hybrid (no portal minion-don't need it). Warlocks gain a lot of extremely efficient tools to heal (minion that heal equals to handsize), boardclear (6mana 3/2 board clear equals to handsize) on top of existing clears/soul fragments. The quest always finish itself regardless of your action by endgame. I literally never see any quest rogues win against warlocks in every streamers I've watched so far. Definitely competitive.Shaman- Bit tricky to complete, but reward is definitely strong for the deck that aims to win by combo/OTK. But the deck doesn't seem to be that strong in other aspects. It requires careful planning and sometimes unable to follow the intended gameplan due to the needs to respond to opponent's board. My observation sample size is low so my conclusion probably doesn't reflect true potential.
Niche - quests with restricted/niche gameplan or rewards are insufficient by themselves. need quite a lot of works to fine tune.
Druid- Despite the consensus' sentiment of disappointment, the quest line and reward from what I've seen so far is surprisingly beyond expectations. Currently, most streamers' quest druid decks feel unrefined since there are few non-support/inconsequential cards in the decks. But even then, the quest doesn't seem to be far-fetched to do (most streamers finish it within reasonable turns) and can also be game-winning. The deck does have some support cards like Wickerclaw. After watching quite some games, the on-curve plays already stack up a lot of damage and progress the quest simultaneously that by the turn of quest completion, the reward can actually kills opponent consistently, especially against heal-less rogues who almost always die to solar eclipse>pounce>guff 14 damage on turn 7. The deck seems to need a lot of polish and need more directional push towards an archetype since currently streamers are not really sure what archetype to make for this quest to fit in. So in the end it can really be powerful or not see play at all.
Priest - Reward is the definition of game-winning but the requirements are difficult to follow in most cases. It's extremely rare to see any streamer actually finish it and play the reward since most of the time the game is over long before the quest completion. Either by priest dying before even completing tier2 or already winning by stabilize the board. Even against other control decks, it's still difficult to have time to play 5,6,7,8 cost cards (you'll die to handlock strong cheap minions, for example). Practically the reward seems usable only against control warriors or mirrors.
Mage- One of the most difficult to complete since the deck have to run multiple types of spells. Heavily depends on draw (adding card draws reduce slots for said spells, making the deck a bit vulnerable to inconsistency. The spells of different schools don't quite synergize each other very well. So far it feels like it only works in spell mage. But recurring problem of mages is the survivability against fast decks. There might be more supports in the future or if the meta is slow enough, the quest may work excellently because the new card Ignite prevents mage from fatigue and synergize very well with quest reward. Still need more observation of this deck.
Rogue - Quest rewards are okay but not game-winning by themselves. It can potentially be very strong if combined with bounce cards. The requirements are not very easy but not that detrimental since SI cards are decent for tempo and complement/blend with normal plays very smoothly. Deck absolutely needs another win condition though. It has potential if refined.
About DH questline, don't forget that questlines counts your draw at the first turn, so the first part is actually the easiest to complete, but I agree that if DH has drawn almost half of the deck to complete all questlines, probably the combo is already in the hand, so the final discount won't matter at all, unless you get relevant discounts at the first two questlines, and I think it's worth testing because of that and Sigil of Alacrity to support
Paladin final questline reward is already good enough even if you don't play dude paladin in standard, and remember that First Day of School singlehandedly completes one part of questline
I don't even like warrior that much, but I'm excited to try this one out. I honestly feel like their questline is really strong.
You just play some pirates and then suddenly you have an infinite generator. Get yourself a few solid late game cards, and this happens.
I mean, I reiterate, I'm no warrior main, but this looks pretty solid to me. I just whipped this together, I'm sure better players can do it better than me. You've got draw, damage, armour/healing and once that quest reward is online, it's free stuff every turn.
Perhaps I overestimate, but I'm feeling this one at the top. Hunter is right behind it, though.
1/ Hunter: this quest is win condition, Hard to imagine it not work when even the processing reward already huge value (0 mana hero power), I expected this will be tier 2 deck at least
2/ Shaman: also a win condition ( or at least could create new archetype)
3/ Warlock: this probably the hardest quest so at first i dont really rated it but after watch Regis play it, i'm convinced this could be a new archetype. The reward is insane at late game
4. Mage: similar to warlock quest (hard work but big reward)
5/ Warrior: honestly, i dont know. Like we have so many pirate warrior version through hs history but most of them are aggressive while aggro definitely wont use this quest so a mid-tier place probably the safest bet.
6/ Paladin: while this infinity better the Marsh Queen (hunter queen in ungoro), it still has same issue: you can put too much 1 cost card it you deck because they will hurt you late game. Also if you just want to upgrade the dude, there are much better options.
7/ Priest: look very similar to the current cthun priest, you definitely build a slow deck for it but it either you already won (and dont need it) or you die before can use it
8/ Demon Hunter: uhm, the effect is strong but only apply for half of you deck so not worth it.
9/ Rogue: parasitic card like this need more support to be good and sadly, there aren't enough of SI: 7. The reward also doesn't look exciting
10/ Druid: the processing reward is bad and also the final reward so yeah, its just bad.
These are RegisKilbin early predictions after playtesting for a couple days
1) Hunter
2) Shaman
3) Druid
4) Warlock
5) Priest
6) Rogue
7) Paladin
8) Warrior :(
9) Mage
10) Demonhunter
So apparently in actual gameplay, Druid provides such an incredible Health discrepancy, that it ends up being one of the strongest ones, despite being so boring, which makes total sense for me.
After watching some of the theorycrafting streams I am even more convinced that the Hunter questline is bait. Hunter doesn't have enough draw (or even enough spells) to support it and by the time they complete all 3 steps they will probably sit with an empty hand (and board)
I think it's meant more to give Hunter some control options, rather than be a win condition in of itself. (They have like 8 spells that do damage btw, most of them viable, so finishing the quest isn't necessarily a problem in of itself)
The requirement for finishing it is so simple. But I think it'd be hard to like burn someone out the way Raza-Anduin used to. Where you just dropped your whole hand with Velen and Mind Blast to win a game.
They've purposefully not given Hunter a spell like Mind Blast and there's no Velen.
But I imagine you're right there'll be some people building it like a Raza-Anduin deck and discovering... you can't just win the game by repeatedly hero powering your opponent. It helps a lot, but not on it's own.
I dunno if I trust his instincts necessarily... I feel like the mage questline is still really misjudged as some sort of weird control-style deck, with lots of late game cards when it's really more like a miracle mage deck.
I suspect that it won't work as well in a control shell as people like me hope (particularly in STD). I think that it'll see play as extra reach, though, in a more midrange list; there's a decent amount of good spells already. Explosive trap should work (though knowing blizz it might not); quick shot is obviously an autoinclude. Piercing is a minion-only fireball with trample, again pretty autoinclude. I'd expect a midrange list to run overwhelm as well. That's 8 direct damage spells; a bit light for the full thing, but you're probably happy with a zero-cost HP anyway. The last stage is just gravy, IMO.
I am just going through these for fun:
1) Hunter: I think some cards revolving around this questline will get nerfed because you can theoretically finish it as early as t4 (though your hand is pretty empty then). I am sure that there will be a spell-heavy hunter list with Barack, Kolkar Pack Runner, and potentially Mankrik and some 1-drops + a lot of cheap spells and Piercing Shot. This is by far the best quest imo.
2) Shaman: I also agree with Regis here in that shaman got the 2nd best quest. I will try to make it work in a control-heavy shell, if I happen to open it, but it's probably just another tool to create more burst damage, which is sad and boring at the same time.
I see a gap to other quests that is probably around 1 tier level.
3) Druid: Since I expect an aggro hunter/shaman meta with some questlines sprinkled in, this is the best counter among questlines. You can build token + questline or focus a little more on the questline and get a ton of armor as anti-aggro tool. This questline also has enough burst to keep slower questline decks in check. Overall a good meta call and a nice compromise imo. I will say, though, that this quest would be at rank 10 for me in terms of fun, and also power level if the meta, as I expect it, wasn't open for it. Imo not even a safe craft because of meta-instability.
4) Rogue: This one is close to druid, but probably weaker to aggro. It's not a flashy questline for sure and the SI:7 cards aren't premium either, but the tempo of this quest and the fact that you can Shadowstep the quest reward several times makes this interesting. The current rogue decks also have quite a good shell to add the SI:7 package into, so I wouldn't be shocked if this goes tier 2.
5) Warlock: This would have been at least 2 positions higher, if not for the top 2 questlines being scary burst decks. The card is insane in a vacuum, but I have a feeling that the meta will not be too open for warlock. Maybe there is enough healing but it's questionable to me.
6) Paladin: I really don't want this to be good, and Against All Odds will rek you more than once, but this quest should still create a tier 2 list. I am not particularly interested in playing it myself and I don't think that the reward is that broken, but it can get dangerous.
7) Mage: I have quite some hopes for this one, but that's probably just me as a spell-slinging, aggro-hating noob. In reality, this might even be the worst questline, but I just don't want to see it, especially now that we have a lot of fire spell burst potential. It might be possible that mage is just stronger as a normal burn spell mage now, which worries me for this questline.
8) Warrior: And then we end on the last tier 2 quest. This card will see quite a lot of play, but in CONTROL warrior. It seems like that's not on anyone's list yet, but control warrior can easily play a few weapons and a good amount of pirates. It can win rather quickly with the questline or by stalling out against aggro. Definitely a meta call, but very interesting at a baseline.
9) Priest: Welcome to tier 3! Yes, control priest can work without the questline and it might add the questline just to beat control mirrors, but it's a -1 in your opening hand against aggro and playing some mana costs will be more difficult than people think. You will need a ton of discovery and mana manipulation or reduce the quality of your control deck by quite a lot. And the reward is...winning after turn 10 in a rather fast-paced meta with other questlines that can kill you much faster and aggro decks running around on ladder. Not very appealing.
10) Demon hunter: I don't really know what to make out of this one. I could see this breaking something somewhere but I just can't see it right now. I played a decent chunk of OTK dh and I have no idea how this card will ever make it into that list because you will constantly draw into dead hands full of card draw or dead hand full of removal that you won't need. The discounts usually don't matter anyway in that deck and playing the questline reward does nothing for you in terms of tempo or stalling. I wonder if there is a free cycling deck with a lot of card draw that costs 0 after you play the questline reward, but I doubt that such a deck is there yet.
The Warlock Questline is definitely not weak.
It's surprisingly easy to finish, and once it's done, the game is over fast.
The only one I haven't seen any footage of is the Mage Questline, and it's the one I'm the most worried about. I suspect it will not be great until the third expansion, in which I'm guessing Arcane spells will be the focus.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
I have seen Thijs playing it together with new Toni and that deck was pretty... hot! Killed people on t8 when Toni came down. Also finished the quest at t7, if I am not mistaken now. The class definitely has enough strong arcane spells already.
My biggest worry with the mage questline is that you better just play the deck without it.
Just watched that long 6 hours Stream from Kilbin, the other day...and indeed the Warrior Quest is simply.... too slow :(
It's done on average 1-2 turn(s) later than Shaman, Hunter, Pala...hell even Druid...and even then The Juggernaut requires further Turns to really snowball out of control. It is good against Value Control Decks such as Priest...but I actually (boldly? maybe not boldly) predict this won't replace Rush Warrior. The animation is absolutely fantastic though, and its a shame but I'am going to hold back on crafting this Golden, although it pains me, because it is by far the best looking Animation (along with Shaman one)
Meanwhile, absolutely disgusting is (as expected) the Shaman one, impressed me even more than Hunter, due to the fact just how fast it gets completed, seemed the fastest one out of all of em. Well...it's either between Shaman or Hunter I guess. But the really frightening part is how you can just use it as a Finisher at Turn 5, as you have already chopped down the Opponent with Doomhammer, and need little extra Burst to win the game at that point. It's just absolutely ridicolous.
Other good Quests seem to be Warlock, Druid and Paladin, all definetly making it into Meta, and look quite reliable and fool proof.
Warlock one, certainly sexy as fuck, didn't expect this Negate-Fatique mechanic to work so reliably - but it does !
Hunter... we'll see...could be overhyped, due to the lack of cheap Spells. But didn't seem that absurd like Shaman tbh.
Isn't Arcane the easiest one to finish?
You have Shooting Star, Arcane Intellect, Cram Session, Primordial Studies all of which are great with spell damage-style cards... half of which potentially get you more spells to play.
I think after the new set Frost is probably the hardest one to finish overall. But you still have Brain Freeze, Flurry and Cone of Cold anyway.
And you even forgot the strongest Arcane spell mage has access to... 2 mana: -26 mana^^
If the quests can be completed fast, they tend to push for Aggro decks..... especially for Shaman and Hunter class
If Warrior quest is fast, aggro Pirate Warrior will come back and mess the meta again.... it will dominate Wild horribly...
Same situation for Mage quest, if it can be completed easily..... Spell Flamewaker Mage in Wild will tear down the meta.....
Warlock, Druid, Paladin, Rogue quests can at least help build more mid-range/control decks.
DH quest is supposed to push for fast aggro decks, it might see play more in Wild than in Standard due to resources for cheaper cards.
Only Priest quest is towards building Control decks
Warlock questline isn't trash tier and that's all I care about, one of my favorite cards of all time and it opens up a ton of possibilities for a ton of forgotten unplayable cards that heavily damage your own hero with very little upside. Interestingly, lots of warlock cards are my favorite ones even though it's not my favorite class.
And I always knew the druid questline was underrated. Face damage that generates more face damage can only be good. And the huge armor gain means aggro vs aggro is always in your favor.
It's good that the paladin one is playable because I was getting tired of playing odd paladin, I love the archetype but there's not infinite variations when it comes to deck building, memeing around with control cards in the deck was rarely a good idea.
Now everyone needs to keep in mind that pre-release meta and end of cycle meta are vastly different, the current ranking of questlines won't last for very long.