I also hated theorycrafting streams some time ago, but since then I've realized the following:
They provide some guidance w.r.t. what decks to try or to expect to face on the first few days of the expansion. Many people would feel a bit lost otherwise
They don't even come close to 'figuring out' the post-expansion meta, especially as they built sub-optimal decks with which they face other sub-optimal decks. For me this is the most important. In two days the meta will be as new and as fresh as it would have been in the absence of any theorycrafting streams
Who is getting lost? As I stated, part of the fun is blind, wacky Deck building on opening day. Nobody knowing what’s going to work=fair play, and I think most people can theoryocraft well enough based on reveals alone.
Your second point reinforces my first. Let people play the stupid, terrible, fun home brews for a few days, things will take shape quickly enough anyways.
Some people are so naive… blizzard is a multi billion corp, they have shareholders and $$ in mind, nothing more. Streamers, early access, free packs when you watch for two hours and all the other sh*t is just marketing.
Streamers’ full time job is streaming and promoting games. People need to stop thinking that streamers are the average Joe who plays the game as the player at home and start seeing them as blizzard “employees” nothing more nothing less.
Lol show me one point of reference where anyone thinks a streamer, who averages thousands of viewers, are just an “average joe.”
I think 99% of people realize that they aren’t the average player.
Agreed. Fuck streamers. Stupid how they get special perks and rest of us get the dick. They can still stream, why lock us out?
The instant response you’ll find from most is “it’s good publicity for the game.”
It isn’t. People are already hyped from the previews. If anything, I could easily entertain an argument that people would actually be (slightly) less hyped after seeing someone else already play the cards.
A huge part of the hype is playing the new cards, and I feel like watching someone else do it dilutes the hype a bit.
To add to this: From a purely in-game-economics standpoint, it's even negative value for Blizzard because there are fewer impulsive crafts early in the expansion and people mostly craft what they have already seen to work. And unless that fails spectacularly, which doesn't happen too often, this means that people waste fewer dust on bad cards, which reduces Blizzard's value.
However, it seems to create enough revenue for them to continue them doing it. It's also not the worst time for streamers tbh.
As much as I don't like these streams because they destroy the hype to me, I have to say that there wasn't much that surprised me, at least not this time. My hype has gone when I understood the Hunter questline.
Yeah I don’t understand how the hunter questline is going live. It’s going to be the first deck I try for the sole reason of I need to confirm that it’s actually as broken as it seems.
I can’t really imagine it not being the best card in the entire set, but I could of course be wrong. I imagine the deck is just going to be something like all the control/damage spells and secrets, with all the spell discovering/generating minions like scorp and wandmaker.
I don’t see a world where it’s not beyond busted, though maybe something like Paladin can keep it in check. We will see, but it seems like just about the safest craft of the set
So for WoW, a Public Test Realm, is bad? So they should just NOT let people bug test stuff and just let the bugs go live and scramble to fix them after. Makes perfect sense.
You haven’t played wow at all if you think they take any feedback to heart anyways. Every single patch is a buggy mess, regardless of feedback.
Agreed. Fuck streamers. Stupid how they get special perks and rest of us get the dick. They can still stream, why lock us out?
The instant response you’ll find from most is “it’s good publicity for the game.”
It isn’t. People are already hyped from the previews. If anything, I could easily entertain an argument that people would actually be (slightly) less hyped after seeing someone else already play the cards.
A huge part of the hype is playing the new cards, and I feel like watching someone else do it dilutes the hype a bit.
Early access. The damn early access to everything.
In WoW, they let people get early access to raids/patch content via the PTR.
In hearthstone, it’s the theoryocrafting streams/play testing.
This rant was sparked by Hearthpwn’s most recent entry of “United in storm wind crazy combos.”
All the YouTube videos already with people playing several decks from the new expansion.
Just let everyone enjoy the free fall together out the gate. Let people all play at the same time and enjoy theoryocrafting decks together.
I have been very vocal about it being 100% acceptable to netdeck the best decks, especially when climbing the rated ladder. But what’s beyond unfun is when people already have deck codes/ideas at the ready the SECOND the expansion drops.
Theoryocrafting based on information (card reveals) is acceptable, as it cannot be directly playtested. But Jesus, stop letting players, generally above average players, get a run at the cards before anyone else can.
Who is getting lost? As I stated, part of the fun is blind, wacky Deck building on opening day. Nobody knowing what’s going to work=fair play, and I think most people can theoryocraft well enough based on reveals alone.
Your second point reinforces my first. Let people play the stupid, terrible, fun home brews for a few days, things will take shape quickly enough anyways.
Lol show me one point of reference where anyone thinks a streamer, who averages thousands of viewers, are just an “average joe.”
I think 99% of people realize that they aren’t the average player.
Yeah I don’t understand how the hunter questline is going live. It’s going to be the first deck I try for the sole reason of I need to confirm that it’s actually as broken as it seems.
I can’t really imagine it not being the best card in the entire set, but I could of course be wrong. I imagine the deck is just going to be something like all the control/damage spells and secrets, with all the spell discovering/generating minions like scorp and wandmaker.
I don’t see a world where it’s not beyond busted, though maybe something like Paladin can keep it in check. We will see, but it seems like just about the safest craft of the set
You haven’t played wow at all if you think they take any feedback to heart anyways. Every single patch is a buggy mess, regardless of feedback.
Me, a single person, or even just a minority of people, not watching a stream does not remedy the launch day-net deck issue. Read.
The instant response you’ll find from most is “it’s good publicity for the game.”
It isn’t. People are already hyped from the previews. If anything, I could easily entertain an argument that people would actually be (slightly) less hyped after seeing someone else already play the cards.
A huge part of the hype is playing the new cards, and I feel like watching someone else do it dilutes the hype a bit.
Early access. The damn early access to everything.
In WoW, they let people get early access to raids/patch content via the PTR.
In hearthstone, it’s the theoryocrafting streams/play testing.
This rant was sparked by Hearthpwn’s most recent entry of “United in storm wind crazy combos.”
All the YouTube videos already with people playing several decks from the new expansion.
Just let everyone enjoy the free fall together out the gate. Let people all play at the same time and enjoy theoryocrafting decks together.
I have been very vocal about it being 100% acceptable to netdeck the best decks, especially when climbing the rated ladder. But what’s beyond unfun is when people already have deck codes/ideas at the ready the SECOND the expansion drops.
Theoryocrafting based on information (card reveals) is acceptable, as it cannot be directly playtested. But Jesus, stop letting players, generally above average players, get a run at the cards before anyone else can.