This is, what Hearthstone is these days. Big spells, gigantic minions and fat damage! But not after a hard fight at the end of an epic battle! No! What about an OTk after 3-4 rounds? For one to feel mighty, the other to feel conscious ... My mothertounge is german, so plz be patient and polite.
1. Manacheating This seems to be the worst problem, resulting in very early OTKs and very often you find yourself helpless after a few rounds because of that combo of your enemy. It should not be possible to have a full board of high mana minions at turn 4 or 5. It should not be possible to cast a 10 mana spell at turn 4-5 ... ZERO mana minions and spells are a no-go!
2. Quests, Questline, Nagas ... So many mechanics you can't counter. In a good designed game, every card, every action can be countered. How many times did you find yourself in a situation where you knew exactly what was coming next and what your opponent was going to do, but all you could do was sitting there helpless, watching your enemy play while you couldn't even react appropriate.
3. Endless card generation Too many mechanics to get more cards than you were starting with. What makes it worse is the combination with 1. - endless generation of zero cost minions and spells. To top this: cards like Zephyris, discover a card to destroy everything your opponent worked hard for some rounds. We need to get rid of mechanics like "discover", "dredge", "copy", ... And we need to get rid of cards which generate cards from other classes (except rouge). And at least we need to get rid of the endless amount of actions per round. A limit of 5? 10 actions maximum would be nice. Nothing is worse than watching your opponent play card after card long after the rope burnt out, without any interaction of yours.
No matter what you play (Standard, Duels, Wild) - most games don't last until 10 mana. This isn't the Hearthstone I loved for years!
No matter what you play (Standard, Duels, Wild) - most games don't last until 10 mana. This isn't the Hearthstone I loved for years!
Good news! We got what you're looking for!
It's called "Classic"...
Now seriously: I understand what you're saying. But Mana-Cheating has always been one of the main drivers for successful decks. Regarding the quests (or more specifically: the Questlines): Some of them (Like Hunter and Warrior) are really frustrating to play against - but on the other hand, you know what you're up to from Turn 1. So if your deck is in principal suited to win against those - you know what to do!
I personally don't have a problem with "dredge" or "discover". I think they are great mechanics to create more flexibility for your deck-designs.
But the lacking interaction really is a problem - especially in wild with all those options for crazy combo-decks. It's just that I wouldn't know of any way to "repair" this. Wild (which is the only mode I play) is what it is, because you can use all cards. Keeping that balanced is hard - even if Blizz tried seriously (which we know they don't).
So yeah! You're not the first and you won't be the last to feel about HS that way.
Oder unter uns "Muttersprachlern": Ist zwar blöd - aber ist jetzt halt so...
These morons need to impose a minimum mana cost for spells, increase the health of heroes to at least 45, and remove rush and charge minions from the game or increase their cost by at least 2 in most cases.
Problem solved.
But no, these "designers" are making shit decisions every step they take.
Mana cheating is not a recent addition to Hearthstone. 2 cost Wild Growth, Innervate for 2 mana, Preparation for 3 mana, 2 cost Mountain Giant, 0 cost Molten Giant, etc. These were all basic cards available from release day.
However discounts can become a problem when their downside doesn't matter anymore. For example Innervate gives you a tempo advantage but costs you a card, which means less total value in your deck and a need to play card draw (and lose tempo) sooner. However these are no longer downsides if total deck value is irrelevant or if card draw is too accessible, which are both true for most classes nowadays.
Mechanics that can't be countered is indeed a problem, at least when those mechanics are game-winning. Nagas for example are not game-winning, they're just slightly stronger battlecry effects with a restriction, not much different from having to hold a dragon in hand or having to target a beast. Quests are game-winning, which means that the only real counter is to simply not play a long game.
Card generation is not a problem. It always comes at the cost of tempo, putting you at a disadvantage against more aggressive decks.
These morons need to impose a minimum mana cost for spells, increase the health of heroes to at least 45, and remove rush and charge minions from the game or increase their cost by at least 2 in most cases.
Problem solved.
But no, these "designers" are making shit decisions every step they take.
Good for you that you'd never need to defend those "easy" adjustments you're proposing there. "Problem solved"? Laughable.
@Xssx I do see a problem in that "Bigger! Faster!! Stronger!"-mentality too though. But the devs aknowledged that and said they want to slow down the power level this year. Imo the problematic cards of the meta are mostly cards from the Barrens/Stormwind/Alterac sets, specifically heroes and questlines. Guff, for example, enables cards like Kazakusan. In "Dragon Priest" or "Control Warrior" Kazakusan is not really a problem, but just a delayed finisher for the late game (as he should be).
If you want to play a card game where you can counter your opponent, play Magic the Gathering. There you can play cards on your opponents turn as much as you want to. Hearthstone was never a game of countering your opponent, but reacting to what your opponent left you with - with very rare exceptions, like Dirty Rat.
I know that mana cheating was always part of the game (I played handlock around old rank 2-5 in classic), but it was limited to some classes and there were only few cards or combos. Nowadays every class has access to seemingly endless options of mana cheating, resulting in games, where you got beaten at 3 or 4 mana, and I mean really beaten down to 0 hp.
I never was a fan of that stone paper scissors principle, because I want to be competative with my deck against any class. I mean playing black in chess isn't auto-defeat though white has a small advantage. I don't want to play a counter deck against hordes of pirate warriors and quest hunters, which leaves me with no chance aganinst all other decks.
Wild and Duels are my hunting ground and achieved legend in wild and 12 wins in duels with various chars, but the problem in wild and duels is even bigger than in standard. The solution is not only to ban several cards, but also to implement new (counter-)cards just for wild or duels to balance it.
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Bigger! Faster!! Stronger!!! Enormous!!!! Immense!!!!! Colossal!!!!!!!!
This is, what Hearthstone is these days. Big spells, gigantic minions and fat damage!
But not after a hard fight at the end of an epic battle! No! What about an OTk after 3-4 rounds? For one to feel mighty, the other to feel conscious ...
My mothertounge is german, so plz be patient and polite.
1. Manacheating
This seems to be the worst problem, resulting in very early OTKs and very often you find yourself helpless after a few rounds because of that combo of your enemy.
It should not be possible to have a full board of high mana minions at turn 4 or 5. It should not be possible to cast a 10 mana spell at turn 4-5 ...
ZERO mana minions and spells are a no-go!
2. Quests, Questline, Nagas ...
So many mechanics you can't counter.
In a good designed game, every card, every action can be countered. How many times did you find yourself in a situation where you knew exactly what was coming next and what your opponent was going to do, but all you could do was sitting there helpless, watching your enemy play while you couldn't even react appropriate.
3. Endless card generation
Too many mechanics to get more cards than you were starting with.
What makes it worse is the combination with 1. - endless generation of zero cost minions and spells.
To top this: cards like Zephyris, discover a card to destroy everything your opponent worked hard for some rounds.
We need to get rid of mechanics like "discover", "dredge", "copy", ...
And we need to get rid of cards which generate cards from other classes (except rouge).
And at least we need to get rid of the endless amount of actions per round. A limit of 5? 10 actions maximum would be nice. Nothing is worse than watching your opponent play card after card long after the rope burnt out, without any interaction of yours.
No matter what you play (Standard, Duels, Wild) - most games don't last until 10 mana. This isn't the Hearthstone I loved for years!
Good news! We got what you're looking for!
It's called "Classic"...
Now seriously: I understand what you're saying. But Mana-Cheating has always been one of the main drivers for successful decks. Regarding the quests (or more specifically: the Questlines): Some of them (Like Hunter and Warrior) are really frustrating to play against - but on the other hand, you know what you're up to from Turn 1. So if your deck is in principal suited to win against those - you know what to do!
I personally don't have a problem with "dredge" or "discover". I think they are great mechanics to create more flexibility for your deck-designs.
But the lacking interaction really is a problem - especially in wild with all those options for crazy combo-decks. It's just that I wouldn't know of any way to "repair" this. Wild (which is the only mode I play) is what it is, because you can use all cards. Keeping that balanced is hard - even if Blizz tried seriously (which we know they don't).
So yeah! You're not the first and you won't be the last to feel about HS that way.
Oder unter uns "Muttersprachlern": Ist zwar blöd - aber ist jetzt halt so...
These morons need to impose a minimum mana cost for spells, increase the health of heroes to at least 45, and remove rush and charge minions from the game or increase their cost by at least 2 in most cases.
Problem solved.
But no, these "designers" are making shit decisions every step they take.
Mana cheating is not a recent addition to Hearthstone. 2 cost Wild Growth, Innervate for 2 mana, Preparation for 3 mana, 2 cost Mountain Giant, 0 cost Molten Giant, etc. These were all basic cards available from release day.
However discounts can become a problem when their downside doesn't matter anymore. For example Innervate gives you a tempo advantage but costs you a card, which means less total value in your deck and a need to play card draw (and lose tempo) sooner. However these are no longer downsides if total deck value is irrelevant or if card draw is too accessible, which are both true for most classes nowadays.
Mechanics that can't be countered is indeed a problem, at least when those mechanics are game-winning. Nagas for example are not game-winning, they're just slightly stronger battlecry effects with a restriction, not much different from having to hold a dragon in hand or having to target a beast. Quests are game-winning, which means that the only real counter is to simply not play a long game.
Card generation is not a problem. It always comes at the cost of tempo, putting you at a disadvantage against more aggressive decks.
Good for you that you'd never need to defend those "easy" adjustments you're proposing there.
"Problem solved"? Laughable.
@Xssx I do see a problem in that "Bigger! Faster!! Stronger!"-mentality too though. But the devs aknowledged that and said they want to slow down the power level this year.
Imo the problematic cards of the meta are mostly cards from the Barrens/Stormwind/Alterac sets, specifically heroes and questlines. Guff, for example, enables cards like Kazakusan. In "Dragon Priest" or "Control Warrior" Kazakusan is not really a problem, but just a delayed finisher for the late game (as he should be).
If you want to play a card game where you can counter your opponent, play Magic the Gathering. There you can play cards on your opponents turn as much as you want to.
Hearthstone was never a game of countering your opponent, but reacting to what your opponent left you with - with very rare exceptions, like Dirty Rat.
I know that mana cheating was always part of the game (I played handlock around old rank 2-5 in classic), but it was limited to some classes and there were only few cards or combos. Nowadays every class has access to seemingly endless options of mana cheating, resulting in games, where you got beaten at 3 or 4 mana, and I mean really beaten down to 0 hp.
I never was a fan of that stone paper scissors principle, because I want to be competative with my deck against any class. I mean playing black in chess isn't auto-defeat though white has a small advantage.
I don't want to play a counter deck against hordes of pirate warriors and quest hunters, which leaves me with no chance aganinst all other decks.
Wild and Duels are my hunting ground and achieved legend in wild and 12 wins in duels with various chars, but the problem in wild and duels is even bigger than in standard. The solution is not only to ban several cards, but also to implement new (counter-)cards just for wild or duels to balance it.