Making a deck and seeing how well it does against other decks, experimenting with different classes and archetypes, discovering a play style and cards that you enjoy is what makes TCG fun.
No. There, right off the bat, it's unquestionably incontrovertibly objectively false that what you just described is what makes TCGs fun. Not just because you conveniently mixed a boatload of crap that has no relation to each other (making a deck and experimenting with different archetypes, for instance) but because it's a pretty obvious fact that for the vast majority of players on ladder (i.e. not the minuscule whining minority that argues here or on reddit) the thing that is most fun...is winning. Simple as that. Winning has nothing to do with experimenting with different classes and archetypes or playstyles, let alone deck building. So there you go, your first commandment is already hogwash, off to a good start.
So what's the point in playing hearthstone then?
Having fun.
I've been playing from open beta and every new meta I've tried to make my own decks, even if they were bad I tried to enjoy the building and experimenting part of the game to it's fullest. However, as more and more websites relating to HS sprouted and netdecking became more relevant, the huge aspect of experimenting and figuring stuff out on your own is completely dead. Playing against the exact same decks over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... Just killed any point in me trying to make something
How is this anyone else's issue exactly?
Can someone please answer me - "Is it fun to just copy decks from a website?",
No more fun than copying and pasting anything else is.
"Is it fun not to put any thought in the cards that are in *your* deck?"
Not really, I look at a deck and think "is this good enough?" or "my meta pocket is such and such, should I drop this card and put tech x in?". Not putting thought in what cards are in a deck isn't fun or unfun, it's just what it is.
, "Is it fun to play the same exact deck for more than a couple of years?". It can't be, right?
Ah, see, this is where you really show how far up your backside your head is. Spoilers for you, there are in fact players who love playing the same archetype and even the same deck for as long as it's playable. Why do you think reno priest has always been on ladder from standard to wild for how many years now?
I played for a year and change with a maly druid deck that was the very first deck I could afford to build for wild, and I built that deck specifically because I loved playing it. I was tired of it after a while and there are people who get tired of playing the same deck after like 5 games, even with winning scores, but there are plenty of players who have that deck and will jam it until it's not viable anymore. And I'm pretty certain they like it so, effectively, it's fun for them. Welcome to mother Earth, where people with opinions different from your own actually reside.
Well...A good example is secret mage. Really wish they would stop printing cards that support the archetype.
I wish the same, but Iksar loves the archetype, what can you do.
And if you say - "Well, uhm the deck changed over the years" or "There are stronger decks out there",
It has (exponentially, even, the change from Aluneth to Sayge made the deck much more board-centric and less focused on damage from hand than it was before) and there are.
then you are a moron.
Keep shoving your head up that hole, lad.
For how long secret mage remains as one of the most popular decks in wild?
Presumably for a very long time as it's incredibly finely tuned, teching against it is almost counterproductive and it has almost no real counterplay to speak of, other than odd warrior, which is a mid-garbage deck that loses regularly to the other tier 1 decks.
And as for the other part, the deck just replaced cards for better cards that do more or less the exact same thing. What's the difference between 1 card that can draw 4-6 cards and has a cost of 6 mana, and 2 secrets that cost 0 or 3 mana and can draw you 6 cards?
Oh mate, I don't know, please tell me, not all of us are students of the game like you.
The funny thing is people don't even know why secret mage doesn't run the weapon or the minion anymore.
Ha, those imbeciles.
And again, for those of you that say that the secrets are just better - go back to netdecking.
Hmm...before rigged faire game was printed, secret mage was low tier 2, if that and after it was printed it shot up to tier 1 and it's stayed there ever since...can't possibly be because the secret is better and lackey into RFG on turn 1 has something like a +20% spike in WR% for secret mages. Nah, I'll go back to netdecking, that's fine by me.
The answer is tempo, reliability, disruption, counterplay and symbiosis with other cards.
Oh there you go, if you had the answer all along why all the non-sequitur nonsense earlier? Why, you're such a tease.
Hope I don't need to digest and explain every part further, since this thread will become too long.
Not like any of us asked you to drone on with your silly inconsequential points in any way, shape or form, matey.
Now back to the main topic. I just can't imagine that someone actually finds it fun to copy a deck and then play only that one deck for more than a year.
I pity you, must be borderline sociopathic to have no empathy and no imagination to speak of. Please see a therapist if this condition persists.
What's the point in playing then?
To win games. I know, I know, imaging having fun by winning in a competitive game, but what can you do, lowly peasants are like that, they don't appreciate the high IQ and good taste needed to invest one's time in the superior art of deck building.
Why not let someone else play the game or let the computer play for you as well,
Well, bots do just that actually.
since you already undermine half of the game already.
See, comparing deck building to being "half of the game" is a concept that, unlike you, I can understand but, simultaneously, I find hilariously stupid. I would also bet just about anything that the vast majority of the player base doesn't even remotely see it that way. And newsbreak for you, what the majority thinks is fairly important in many situations in life. In case the news hadn't yet delivered to your mansion, that is.
I know this is salty and all.
Also extremely conceited, pig-headed, arrogant and factually incorrect. Amongst other things.
And everyone finds pleasure in different things.
Well, if you knew that from the start why did you go on that idiotic tirade then?
But I'm just really tired of playing and seeing more or less the exact same decks and loosing to the exact same stuff for years. Every time I play against a unique deck I stop caring about winning or loosing. I just try to figure out what their deck is and what are they trying to do with it.
That sucks but it's your bloody problem, lad. I personally can empathise with you being tired of seeing the same decks over and over again, but, frankly put, I don't give a thimbful of jizz about it. It's a self-created problem that has several solutions:
Solution the First: you stop playing. There's no one holding you on the keyboard and making you press that battlenet icon. If the game is so painful to you, wtf do you keep playing it in the first place. Sunken cost fallacy? Good old memories? No other hobbies?
Solution the Second: you change the way you see things. This is obviously not easy (well, not as easy as just uninstalling hearthstone, at any rate) but changing the way you think is clearly doable. Realise that most people you meet on ladder are there to have their fun and they don't give a fuck about your fun, and rightly so. Most people netdeck, come to grips with it and find enjoyment in something else that isn't just trying to find somebody else running horridly unoptimal decks.
Solution the Third: since you clearly play wild...de-rank. I played at diamond until idk, September or thereabout, when life events and playing other games made me so bored and annoyed with hearthstone that I couldn't be arsed. I ended up not playing or playing just for achievements for so long that I ended up with a 2x multiplier and that was it. I've been climbing again the past months since I have finally fun with the game again and I can say, from my own experience as well as spectating other friends who are at those ranks, that on EU there are a lot of people in the lower ranks that bring their old decks or even people who, as you put it, homebrew their decks. There's a reason why I saw fewer of them from Plat upwards, but while there are some kingsbane rogues, secret mages, reno decks & co., you can find a veritable trove of homebrewers at silver/gold ranks, assuming your mmr belongs to those ranks. If your presumably massive ego can take the hit of playing at these ranks, your mental health will be much better for it.
Nowadays, I'll be lucky to play against even 1 unique deck in a week. And the most hilarious part is, that people copy the strongest decks and play casual as well. The only thought that crosses my mind in such situations is what kind of clown am I playing against?
This is just a personal hypothesis, but I'd wager you're playing against someone who can't deal with the massive anxiety and stress that ladder gives them and yet they like winning or trying good decks and so they do so in the only place that gives them a challenge while not having to deal with the stress of actually laddering with said deck and not burying their ego by playing against the innkeeper. I know Iksar had mentioned a ladder with just AI opponents, I wonder how it'd actually fare in the game.
Naturally, there are also just people who want to win and think that casual will (correctly) give them an easier time than ladder. Maybe they've had a big loss streak or maybe they just like griefing on the casual players, that's always a possibility.
Anyway, yeah, the fact that you couldn't understand something had already been demonstrated in excruciating detail in the previous parts of your post but there you go, another piece of reality for you to chew on.
---
The final point I'd like to make is that if you're actually good at this whole deckbuilding thing, then you will be virtually unrecognisable from a netdecker. The reason is obvious, and it's that there is usually one optimal way to build a deck and that most decks have a vast number of core cards within, which makes """deckbuilding""" basically amount to "swap 3 cards from this list someone used in high legend". Would you play secret mage without either weapon or Sayge? Of course not. Arcanologist? Mad scientist? Explosive runes? Kabal lackey? RFG, prince, valet? No, you'd be stupid to not put those cards in. So, in the end, what's left? Rinse and repeat for literally every archetype you can find. If you want to build a control mage, you'd be silly not to have ice block. And if it's a control deck, reno is priceless. And if reno's in then might as well put all other highlander cards. You want to build an elemental mage deck? We all already know the best cards and you'll have to skew the deck in order to accomodate for dk Jaina, because if you don't, the deck will be absolutely horrible.
There are very few people who can actually build their own decks that work and aren't only a "one time combo after 60 tries haha streamer special" type of thing. And even then, if the deck is veritably good, it'll go from being "homebrew" to meta and then it'll be normalised. Want an example? Handbuff paladin. Before last expansion, there was basically a guy playing it on high NA legend in wild. The deck wasn't bad by any means and the extent to which he "homebrew" it was limited (because this was basically mech handbuff without mechs, so a lof ot the cards were already core) and yet when it became clear how strong it was with the new expansion, a lot of people started playing it and it became meta and standardised. The only homebrew decks that aren't meta are bad ones and if you play bad decks you really should stop complaining about other people not doing the same just to satisfy your illogical wish for unoptimal """originality""". Cheers, hope you find some happiness within or without this game.
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kind of okay with the idea... similar to TCGs wherein you have to prove / show to your opponent that the card you tutored is indeed the one mentioned in the card played
"Search your library / deck for X card and show it to your opponent, afterwards, shuffle the deck"
somewhat gives you an idea that a said card is in hand and gives you a chance to play around it (as you said) but I don't think blizz will implement such mechanics...
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What card/s do you think would do good in this meta (talking about Standard here)? These cards are not necessarily bad cards but these are cards that would have done good to make a difference in today's meta. Examples are:
From Classic:
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Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the only neutral giant left in Standard is Clockwork Giant
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What if Deck of Lunacy worked like Zayle, Shadow Cloak or Whizbang the Wonderful wherein it gives you a deck instead composed of random spells that cost three less?
For those unfamiliar how the two aforementioned cards work, when you use either of the two to create a deck, it is the only card in the deck as it uses pre-made decks. In this case however, it could read like "At the start of the game, shuffle 30 random spells to your deck and then transform them into one that costs three more. It keeps its original cost."
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Technically you only played one Moontouched Amulet. Y'Shaarj, the Defiler reads for each corrupted card you've played...
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points have been said here. honestly. I spend some money for this game to at least show support. Based on experience (and I've been a player since Season 1 mind you) it's a lot cheaper right now.
Before the duplicate protection:
- I would spend about $100 (getting the pre-purchase and packs) and not have a complete collection and far from completion at that
Before the achievement system:
- I would accumulate just a few gold before the expansion releases (2000g at the most because I can't be dedicated as I want to be due to my occupation). That assumes I have a near complete or complete collection.
After both:
- Complete collection at just $100
- Already at 1000 gold and still a few levels before reaching 50
****
Anyway, supporting what you call "greedy" company because like what others said, it's a similar to MtG for me. Anyway, $100 is similar to me buying an expansion in WoW plus subscription for 4 months (WoW might be more expensive, don't know... don't play). Bottomline - they're a business.
Now if you cannot even respect our stand or opinion on that matter, it's your problem, not ours. From what I see, you're asking for an explanation but at the same time expecting a specific answer that suits your arguments.
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Lightning Bloom to "Refresh two mana crystals" still with the Overload (2) that way the insane combos (I'm guessing it was intended for such) can still exist but not ramp much.
Argent Braggart to 3 mana
Sorcerer's Apprentice will read "Cards cannot be reduced to less than one (1)"
Hand of A'dal to "+2/+1"
Kael'thas Sunstrider to third spell costs (1)
Secret Passage to cost 2 or 3 or reduce amount of cards to 4
Or probably bring old cards back that were considered "problematic"
Spellbreaker
Or rotate some older expansions here and there similar to that event we had last year.
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Reno Priest vs Renolock:
Used Brann and Kazakus to discover two 1-mana potion that deals 3 damage + (any other effect) and combining it with a Malygos (all discounted) do deal lethal:
https://hsreplay.net/replay/MkWFJutbnVSRP8Pr6htzJK
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