Hearthpwn

I was looking at Legends of Runeterra - it looks decent. The art is nice.

All these fantasy card games and just about everyone looks white (just like Hearthstone). I don't play Magic anymore (too expensive), but Wizards does a very good job of diversifying their cast. Lots of black, white, Asian, Central American, etc. aspects, which lend themselves to the fantasy element very well.

In WoW, the Asians are literally Pandas - ugh! You'd think with their huge player base, including in Asia, they'd try to throw in some Asian-looking characters outside of walking, talking panda bears.

With the Scholomance, Blizzard threw in a few black characters, so I guess there's progress there. I thought Blizzard would stick to representing blacks using the trolls, but it looks like Blizzard is finally coming around... albeit very slowly - it looks like Darkmoon Faire is populated by white humans (in addition to the other fantasy races).

If you thought the hate for Priest was over the top, just wait until Warlocks get their hands on this card.

I like these sorts of cards myself. Two Gnomeferatu and one of these in Wild, plus throw in Brann Bronzebeard and Control and Combo decks are going to crumble.

I think you are right, however the card implies that the minion will get destroyed and a 4/4 student will appear. Even if there is no minion left to destroy, the trigger will still mean a 4/4 is created. The text on the card could (but probably won't) be clearer.

Are there any instances of them actually buffing cards? Not just to previous levels, but past original levels?

I think we can all expect Demon Hunter to be broken good until the next season. Hearthstone just gave birth and their baby needs to be nurtured so that it can become big and strong. We all just have to accept it and deal with the spoiled brat.

Does the "Forsaken Lilian" have stealth? Not sure if that's even possible since the token attacks, but if it does have stealth, it'd be pretty solid.

What exactly does the "Class Popularity" graph on the lower right-hand side of the home page mean? Currently, it shows Priest at over 25% - certainly it does not indicate that over a quarter of all players are playing Priest, right? Is it just tracking discussion around classes?

Quote from Demon723 >>

Usually around this time Blizzard would have dropped some huge balance changes to shake up the meta, but we’ve gotten nothing. Yes the decks you can play are varied, however the decks are still the same, with the occasional switch of one or two cards. 

Highlander Hunter (which has been a Tier one deck for months now), Spell/Dragon Druid, Gally/Stealth Rogue, Highlander/No minion mage, Tempo DH, Rez Priest, Pirate Warrior. Im even seeing quest warlock come back (but its not like thats a new deck, people just realized you can use busted Malygos). Im sure im missing a deck or 2 but the point still stands. I love the diversity but when the same decks have existed for months and have barely even moved in Tiers, thats a problem and leads for a very stale and boring climb & experience 

Why do people list Rez Priest as Tier One? It's not. I get that it's a chore to play against, but the deck stinks. It's Tier 4 and the people who play it will lose, and take a long time doing it.

I do agree with the sentiment of this post.  The meta is boring and DH is way too dominant. Egg Warrior, Enrage Warrior, and Bomb Warrior can consistently beat it, but those decks are Tier 2 and Tier 3 and awful against most of everything else.

The only thing that brings Tempo DH down is the fact that so many people play it, including "bad" players and those that are experimenting with doing something "new". 

Quote from thebitterfig >>

I wonder if there's a misdiagnosed problem.  My sense is that in a lot of earlier metagames, forcing Murlocs often didn't work, because you'd die first.  These days, it seems like more Murloc-forcers are able to survive into the late game.

So is it that Murlocs are too strong (they were always very strong if they got everything together!), but maybe the problem is that the midgame isn't as punishing.  The stuff that used to kill Murloc players before they had Poison/Divine Shield active might be too weak.

 It's hard to tell exactly what it is that makes Murlocs to strong. Even with Holy Mackerel being removed, they are somehow better than ever.  The one saving grace is that sometimes they are not included in the game.

I'm fine with the poison/divine shield combo of the late game, there should just be other ways around it than having a huge minion with divine shield.

Quote from Zukuu >>

Games without Murloc as a tribe have been the most diverse and fun recently.

And Murloc isn't strictly all that high-roll anymore. You don't need big-stated murlocs to win anymore, divine shield + poison and a bit of stats is enough. I've won multiple times without Brann even. The past 50 games have been AT LEAST 90-100 Murlocs in the top 4, if not more with Murlocs presumably winning like 40-45 of those games. It's nuts.

 

 I agree. A few players often go for Murlocs when they are available, meaning the ones with bad luck (i.e. no good murlocs) quickly fall behind. But that one murloc player that manages to survive very often wins the whole thing. If they get ahold of a Brann, then it's usually a done deal. I lose to murlocs more than any other tribe.

If you're not the one playing Murlocs, it's pretty common to get second place against someone who is, and it's pretty frustrating knowing your minions are in for an unfair fight.

I think the main culprit is Poison/Divine Shield, and I think there should be at least one other way to trump it, beyond Unstable Ghoul or your own Divine Shield minions. Here are my suggestions:

Fight fire with fire: Perhaps Poison should be introduced into another minion type like Beasts (which have historically had poison minions), or a neutral minion?

Equip that weapon: Maybe there could be a fragile minion with a Supercollider effect?

My pet mongoose: Would a minion with Immunity to poison be unwarranted? It makes sense there would be some Beasts or Mechs that would shrug off the key word.

Battlegrounds is a fun and different mode to help pass the time between expansions for me, and I think it's in a great spot. The game can always be improved and without removing the Poison key word, I think there are other options that could solve what I think is problem with the format.

Quote from CodyCandy >>

In my opinion, tempo DH is dead now. Meta is going to be god awful now.... 

Quote from 1xbenx1 >>

This nerf directly impacts the top 3 of the top 5 highest w/r cards in the deck (and arguably 4 - Itself, Altruis, Battlefiend, and Sayter). DH is going to need to go back to the drawing board.

 So far, so good. DH is STILL obnoxious. It's only real "weakness" are warrior decks, as has always been the case, although the percentages aren't too far from even. I think the awful Libram Paladin puts up a FAIR fight against it, as well.

When do you think DH will see it's power level drop?

Right now, every class has its moments; some expansions see a boon of archetypes and high tier decks, while other expansions offer very little, which results in some classes barely being relevant for a couple of expansions. I can't imagine Blizzard will let DH suffer so soon, meaning Standard will be the same old slog it has been for the past few weeks with every other opponent playing DH.

Obviously, Blizzard is pushing Demon Hunter very hard. I would imagine at a minimum, the next expansion will see another wave of OP cards (developers will probably expand on the "Big Demon Hunter" archetype they alluded to during the build up the Ashes of Outland release, but said wouldn't be viable, I'm guessing). But maybe after that DH will come down to earth.

You all don't think this will last the entire Year of the Phoenix, do you?

Quote from Dinosaur69X >>

When do you think that killing an enemy minion for 0 mana and heals you 5 is correct?

 Right now, and before DH was released, Sacrificial Pact was not good enough to include in a deck. Maybe in Wild Highlander?

Even with Zephrys before the nerf, DH had not big problems with Highlander decks. They were developed with Sac Pact in mind. So now it's gone and DH was barely downgraded and is more oppressive than ever.

A basic subscription to Netflix is $8.99/month and HSReplay wants $5 for their premium service. Outside of the streamers, why would someone subscribe to that? It is quite steep considering the rest of the world is trying to nickel and dime you as well.