Hearthpwn

I was kind of thinking that the lack of new ones is an acknowledgment that the totem system simply isn't working. You have Ey'sor and Totemic Reflection and Totem Goliath currently in standard and yet totem decks simply still aren't viable. Part of the problem with Shaman since the game's inception has been that they're the only class with a random hero power. When you can't depend on what's coming out of that hero power and when its theme is largely to produce 0/2 minions (as opposed to the more versatile 1/1s that Paladin produces, for example), then the design window is narrow. How would you produce cards in theme that were viable minions? The only other totems currently in Standard are Trick, which is even more random and, thus, not viable; Mana Tide, which is way too vulnerable to ever be a reliable source of draw (Shaman's other major problem, which is why one of the key cards for the new Frost Shaman is Wind Chill and why Dungeoneer is a required card in all current Shaman decks); and Goliath, which is still overcosted for what it does, even after the buff. My thought was that Ey'Sor was actually the last gasp on the current design and that a redesign of both hero power and the totem system is in the offing, similar to the change given to Priest a while back (and Priest is still struggling with consistency, which speaks to the initial design flaws for both classes.) That's probably part of why Shaman is getting an actual Frost archetype in the new set, rather than the facsimile that they tried with Knights. Gotta have something to do while a whole segment of the class identity has been ignored and is being redesigned.

JFC. I will never understand why they persist in putting in spells that damage or impede all minions in a class whose hero power is... to create minions. This in the same vein as Totem Cruncher, except that it can actually affect opposing minions. It's basically another attempt at Cryostasis: Do a good thing, but only if you also potentially do a bad thing. 

JFC. It's not even a "failed archetype." It was never an archetype in the first place. Six of 10 cards from Knights were mechanically "Freeze"-themed. The only card that didn't use the mechanic but had that element was Snowfury Giant, which was yet another poor attempt to use Overload as a central function for Shaman. The only Freeze card that saw any use at all was Brrrloc, because Shaman Murloc decks were still a mild thing then. The rest of them were complete wastes of time and dust because they included stuff like Cryostasis (buff your minion but make it useless for a turn) and Ice Breaker (freeze a really dangerous minion but use your face to remove it.) If they're trying to revive that awful approach, Shaman may end up just like it did post-Knights, which was using only cards from other sets.

I think they're playing the long con, which is that they're upping the power of aggro against the Questline combos, so that there will be even more aggro in the environment and, thus, open the door for control decks to come back in. That's in an ideal world. But I think the problem with that approach is that it only increases the polarity of the matchups: Aggro > Quests > Control > Aggro. That's the way the rock-paper-scissors is supposed to work. But when it's taken to this degree, it basically means that you should concede, rather than just accept that it's a bad matchup. It genuinely makes it into a roshambo situation (paper ALWAYS beats rock, etc.), rather than just making it more difficult. They've been here a couple times before and I remember Iksar speaking about trying to avoid that kind of extreme polarity in the future, but I guess it was more important to him to get everyone playing Quests and turns HS into a 5-turn game. Or something.

That last point is the biggest problem. I only play four classes because of the expense (Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warlock) because those were my favorites in WoW and I STILL can't get a complete set of what I want without spending too much money. Add in the combo/no minions allowed feeling of Stormwind and this is the most discouraged I've ever felt in the first couple weeks of an expansion. Been playing since the closed beta, but I think I've finally opted out for good. It's just not worth it for me anymore.

Genn and Baku lasted without changes for an entire year and so radically distorted the available design space that they got rid of them entirely a year later, not two weeks. Many other cards were changed BECAUSE of Genn and Baku and they ended up buffing a bunch of cards in a subsequent expansion (Rumble) because they had been so overshadowed by Genn and Baku and that effect would have continued into the following year. This change to the watch posts isn't anything like that, but I'm betting that they were nerfed to prevent the meta from becoming watch post-dominated in the same fashion.

This card is a fundamental misunderstanding of human psychology. They just changed Tracking because, while it's a great card, many players were reluctant to use it for fear of the "bad beat." People will always remember the one time that Tracking destroyed two crucial cards in their deck, as opposed to the other nine times when it got them a good card that they might not have otherwise drawn (and got rid of two other cards that weren't important to the game in front of them.) It's human nature to always remember that one time when something was a disaster, as opposed to all of the other times when things went right. In poker, it's routine that people remember the bad beats, as opposed to the regular wins.

Soul Rend is a "bad beat" card. No one will want to play it because of the risk of destroying key elements of your deck. It's the same reason that Warlock discard has never been a viable mechanic. Sticking with our Tracking example, that at least allows you the choice of what to lose. Discard was random up until the last year ( highest-cost, lowest-cost, etc.) which is when it became somewhat workable with Hand of Gul'dan and Wicked Whispers. This is a totally random effect again which is the LAST THING YOU WANT as a control player, who tend to value each card in their deck moreso than aggro players. If you're facing a board full of Chillwind Yetis that require this much damage to remove, something has already gone wrong and you'll be even less likely to want to destroy a significant part of your deck in order to correct it. I don't see the point in producing this card, unless they're still on the Ben Brode model of producing "fun" cards that won't see play like Purify.

One assumes that said "small fortune" is exactly what they're targeting, given the number of regular streamers (aka Blizzard's primary advertisers (for free!)) that have recently been citing the main problem of growing the game's audience, which is the ridiculous cost. It's why I got out after having started in the open Beta.

My suspicion remains that this is all still just a redirect on how damn expensive the game is. Outside of other factors, like how demoralizing losses feel compared to other games and how deeply flawed I feel that Shaman class is, I don't play anymore primarily because I simply can't justify the cost. Among the rants from various streamers about the new rewards track, many of them mentioned that you're paying over $100(US) for a pre-release and STILL only getting 1/4 to 1/3 of the cards basically required to play the new decks. And THEN you're paying more to get the bonus XP in the underwhelming rewards system that still doesn't bring it up to the level of the previous much-criticized system. That cash outflow is the problem, which has very little to do with how much gold you're earning. No game is worth spending several hundred dollars a year on and STILL not having a "complete" game. You can spend $180/year on WoW and have access to anything you want, as long as you have the time to spend. Technically, that's the same for HS... if you spend 3 or 4 times more AND you're still not guaranteed to get everything you want without spending even MORE money.

When you look at it in those terms, all this furor over the reward system is really misplaced.

I'm annoyed with this card. Not because I think it's not a neat card or anything but once again, it's an entirely situational priest legendary that isn't proactive and depends on your opponent playing good cards instead of just being good on it's own. 

I think you choose the minions, actually, which makes it WAY better. It doesn’t say “random”. 

 So in a vacuum, this is obviously just a good card. It's a crazy amount of both value and tempo. However, the rest of the set will need to mend the meta of its "game's over by turn 6" state in order for this, and by extension control paladin, to have any hope. 

What I love about this card is it has heavy "the way Hearthstone should be" vibes. A great fight-for-board card that rewards you for its cost. These are the kind of cards we need more of. Not ridiculous solitaire-driven strategies that encourage a gameplan of "my combo races my opponent's" that we've had. 

I wish we had at least some form of control meta back, the game actively punishes playing minions and has win from hand/mana cheat mechanics up the wazoo. I appreciate balance changes but at the current rate, a full overhaul is needed. Improve the UI and Improve the dust system whilst you're at it, it's rediculous that you can pay £60 for an expansion and only have 50% of the collection...

With fear of sounding cheesy, i hope you can find a way to stand united in this tough time and emerge into a better world on the other side of all this. When the rot of the corporation has been burned away.

Good, handle it the right way. Every workplace should be a comfortable place to be for everyone.

I also really care about their games, if Blizzard collapses on itself because of this, then we won't get anything from them again, so I sure hope they can settle things.

There ya go, dual opinion. Am I right? Am I wrong? Let the up/downvotes decide!

That's a great answer. I hope these words are actually followed by the actions. If it is, this may be a great moment for Blizzard team to unite together and build even greater games and communities

This, this is a professional and respectful response not like that Alex senior game designer. If this is the case then by all means do whatever it takes to make that environment the best it can be. Hopefully this is a turning point for the best 🙏 

Props to them for taking a moment to handle this the right way, even if the HS team (hopefully) isn't directly involved in this whole debacle. 

Also, f* off to anyone who is currently raging over having to wait an extra day or so. It at least seems like the community over here is far, far better than the few comments I read on that mmo-champion thread the mods linked to. Bunch of hard-core neckbeards over there.