7
Today's lesson: If you're going to post a false claim -- it's probably not in your best interest to do so to the guy who's posted results and decklists for all 8 weeks of Grandmasters.
Sillyness aside, it was nice to see the meta shift with each set of nerfs and the mini-set release. Hopefully Blizz continues to make adjustments to keep things fresh. The rotating format made things interesting from week to week as well.
12
This is, to put it mildly, poppycock. These are the decks for Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 Week 1, which was 9 weeks ago (as opposed to 4 months):
NoHandsGamer:
Control Priest, with Spellweaver Malygos and C'thun
Watchpost Rogue (Remember Watchposts? They got nerfed. Good times)
Libram Paladin, with Taelan Fordring and Penflingers (Remember Penflingers? They got nerfed. Good times)
Spell Mage, with double Flamestrike, and only 1 Ring Toss and 1 Combustion, and 1 Cone of Cold?!
Thijs:
Control Warlock (Remember Warlocks? People thought they were good once upon a time. Good times)
Watchpost Rogue (see above)
Libram Paladin (With KAzakus in the list, even though there's a great risk of having him be disabled due to Libram Discounts. People thought this was a good idea at that point. THIS DECK HELPED WIN THIS WEEK)
Spell Mage (Thijs version runs actual secrets instead of Ring Toss, bless him)
Alutemu:
Watchpost Rogue (again, see above)
Control Priest (With Ysera as it's only win condition and relying on spell generation otherwise. It also runs a natural Shadow Word : Death. People did this back then. AND WON.)
Libram Paladin (see above)
Spell Mage (Double Flamestrike and a natural ICe Barrier. No Ring Toss in the deck. At all.)
https://www.hearthpwn.com/news/8169-grandmasters-2021-week-1-results-decklists
So, total count of the winners:
3x Spell Mage
3x Libram Paladin
3x Watchpost Rogue
2x Control Priest
1x Control Warlock
This Week's Winners:
3x Miracle Rogue
2x Rush Warrior
2x Control Priest
2x OTK Demon Hunter
1x Token Druid
1x Face Hunter
1x Spell Mage
And even the most the same deck, Spell Mage, saw crucial differences in how the deck is built. (also, only 1 Spell Mage this week that actually won, compared to Week 1 Spell Mage (that was with Deck of Lunacy at 2 mana. Remember that? It got nerfed. Good times)
10
The concept of aggro going all in and running out of resources and control being on the back foot all game until finally stabilizing is outdated and boring. Even MtG has moved away from it.
The more cards players draw, the more choices they will have to make, making the game potentially much more dynamic.
As a tradeoff, most control decks now have access to either early counterplay, absurd amounts of healing or both.
The biggest downside of taking the game into overdrive like that is that balancing cards is now harder than ever and any slight imbalance can snowball out of control.
21
You can also say under most cards "this thing dies to Twisting nether".
39
This is a SEVEN MANA combo that removes ONE SINGLE MINION. In what world is this problematic?
5
What do you want changed?
Ideally, I would like them to tweak the dust economy to make it better for players. At the very least, I'd them to be plain and just say that they have no intention of changing it without adding all the other bs like the free deck and free core set to make it seem like they've done stuff for us when they really haven't. The only really great thing they've gotten right was duplicate protection, though honestly I think that should have been in place from launch. The new rewards track is also pretty good now that they fixed it after the initial backlash.
8
During today's Q&A, some of the developers were asked if there were any plans to change how the dust economy works. Game Director Ben Lee's answer to this question has pissed me off and I need to rant about it. If you're tired of negativity don't read, I just really need to get this off my chest.
The first part of Lee's response was to mention the meta-viable deck that were given to returning players. In fact, it seems all he focused on was new or returning players, and didn't give a thought to long-time players. For example, I don't know much about those decks that were given out, as I (like many players) didn't get one. However, I can't imagine they're actually that great since the Hearthstone team is constantly making balance changes (which is a healthy thing for the game but still poses problems) that shake up the meta. How long will those meta-relevant decks be relevant at all? If you got evolve shaman a few weeks ago I'm sure you'd be pretty pissed now.
The second thing Lee mentioned was the generosity of the core set that would be given to all players. But this is misleading because the core set is not a gift, it is compensation. It's compensation for the removal of the basic and classic sets as we knew them. Sets that we were promised would permanent. I'm not saying that rotating them isn't the right move, on the contrary, I think it's a great idea that will be healthy for the game, but I refuse to let them act like proper compensation is a gift of generosity.
Lee concluded with saying that the dust economy (which hasn't changed since the game launched, would not be changed. What bull.
7
I see Hearthstone as a CCG, not a video game. Coming from an MtG background, HS is incredibly cheap. I don’t get what all the fuss is about.
go play MtG then
where you collect cards and not hearthstone where you craft cards on an account that you don't own
140 euro for 1 deck will never be cheap, especially when the games progressively pushes out new cards designed to replace the old ones every year in order for you to buy cards for a new deck
5
Quote from DrDynamite1 >>Honestly I don't know how do you expect anyone to read your wall of text titled as "zeddy is bad".
I don't care about what he did before, because this doesn't change the fact that he's spitting facts. Before anyone replies to this, just start with the average amount of days you need to level up from level 49 to 50 only with weekly and daily quests and whether you think this is okay or not
If you think that's a 'wall of text' then it just says more about you to be honest. Maybe next time the OP can write it in size 20 font and include mots of nice, big pictures for the kids.
The fact you think he is 'spitting facts' (come on, grow up) suggests you aren't bothered about actual facts, you just want to hear more of what feels good to you.
This whole uproar is laughable. It really is. I get the small bundle each expansion (and haven't even always got that), I've bought the large bundle one time. I have around 5/6k gold each expansion and I'm smart with dusting, nerfs and Hall of fame.
I have 28k dust currently and a few k in reserve. I craft the cards I need for any decks I want to play on a whim and can't think the last time I couldn't play something I wanted to.
I keep seeing tears about how much the entire expansion costs. If you're obsessing over having every single card in every expansion then you're causing your own issue. I have probably got anywhere from about 50-90% of each expansion since witch wood. Some expansions have more cards I want to use, others have less. I couldn't get less about a good quarter of the legendaries etc. You're talking about the absolute finished article in collecting everything and expecting it to be a low outlay.
Essentially, your ignorance and stupidity are causing you your own problems. This game is a TON better than it was when I started playing. Better questing, levels to track and work towards, multiple game modes, brawl doesn't have the days between being open that it used to, more expansions every year, solo content, more portraits, better monthly rewards (much better), a new class. Like, it's not even close. Sure, the cost may go up a bit to support it all, that's how things work but I'm fine with it.
These modes, new classes, more frequent balances, more expansions, more portraits and card backs, all of it, it costs more. Up until around the end of last year, this game really struggled to hold my attention between expansions. I would play for around half the length, with a burst initially and then in bits across the remaining time but now of I don't fancy playing ladder, I can jump into duels or even BG which isn't really my cup of tea but I'll have a blast here and there. Announcing the mid set expansions was more brilliant news to me. Will it increase the cost? Yes. Do I care? Absolutely not, I fully expect it to but I would rather that than no new content for months at a time.
If I ever feel this game is too expensive to play or I stop enjoying it, I will simply leave and find better things to do with my time and stop putting money into it. It really is that simple. I've done it with many other games in the past and I've no doubt I'll do it plenty more in the coming years.
angry hearthstone defender guy, you crack me up.
37
Just admit that you wrote this to tell us that you have a Master of Accountancy and a Juris Doctorate licenses
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1
Soul DH is stronger and in way more needs of a nerf than Aggro. If anything, the problem could be Voracious Reader not the deck/strategy per se.
3
Good nerfs.
Passage could be frustrating, but it was alright when a lot of other stuff was super powerful too. Darkglare, for example, can be really toxic, specially the new Pen Flinger version. Acolyte had too much health for the swingness it can provide.
The only glaring missing thing is that Druid didn't get anything nerfed. If you're going to nerf both aggro decks of the meta, bringing Druid down a notch as well would seem reasonable to balance it out.
And hopefully they are keeping an eye on Turtle Mage.
"Buff" on Willow won't do anything, IMO.
1
Secret Passage is fine, specially in the sense it enables different Rogue archetypes that aren't draw 0 mana cards and spam lackey RNG bullshit.
The deck is still very unfavourable against Guardian Druid, Face Hunter, Soul Demon Hunter and Cyclone Mage.
Paladin, Warrior, Priest can all adjust to it pretty well too.
People were crying about Paladin and Druid nerfs, some time passed, deck adjustments were made (Kael nerf barely did anything to the archetype, btw) and turns out huge nerfs to them weren't needed, though comprehensibly Druid can still feel total bullshit.
1
Meta still being solved, but if anyone wants an early reference, here it is. It's not mine, a friend of a guy I know screenshoted it:
1
The deck is overtuned in the sense it's the deck warping the whole meta.
You said you went 1-14. Because everyone has to play something that is able to deal with something as Guardian Animals or Kael as early as turn 4. Everything else gets shafted so extremely hard it's not even funny.
And even then, the highroll is so high that even with the meta hate the deck can win by doing really stupid stuff.
2
They never stream the Swiss rounds.
They will stream on Youtube the top 8 starting Friday or Saturday.
4
Druid is problematic, in the sense the matches are so feast or famine. They ramp and get the Kael going, as early as turn 4, with Guardians, Overflows and Survival and it's game over no matter what you're playing. In others they sit by turn 10 doing nothing. Or are pretty much dead against DH, Rogue, Warlock or Paladin on turn 4 and doing nothing but hero power.
Paladin is too linear, and historically while these decks can be strong, they drop a lot in power once people understand how it plays, he power plays and the matchup. The higher you go in Legend, you see less and less Paladins. The gameplay of the deck for some can get boring really fast.
Druid/Paladin are the current boogeymans due to being more popular, but IMO, Priest and Rogue is where the real power actually is. Maybe Mage. Warlock already looks really good, though it needs reifnement.
1
The only thing that can kill Hearthstone is Hearthstone itself. And this might finally do it.
Basically you're capped at 3,9k gold, and still only acquirable by hitting the weekly EXP cap over 4 months. By comparison, a 60g quest + 40g from 12 wins gives you 100g a day, 3k a month and hardly requires excessive grinding.
Then you get 32 packs (also over 4 months), but basically half are from older expansions. Imagine coming into Scholomance and getting 14 packs from Rise of Shadows. Or thinking they have the same value currently.
I get the big pre-order bundle, and also buy a thing here and there, and that still looks atrocious. Combining gold with the pre-order I can have a very good experience in deck/style diversity, still not everything, but most of what I want. The pass would cut more than half of what I can get with gold and certainly reduce a lot of my option.
Not to mention depending how they do the premium pass, it's yet another thing to spend money on.
About people complaining about other people complaining... really, in another thread there's a very good answer to why you should already make yourself vocal against this new system. Basically:
I get why you have it - you don't want to flip out about something that hasn't happened yet - but it's the wrong attitude. Your focus is on the wrong thing and it will cost you. You don't want to react to this after it's a reality. Trust me. You need to react now, and react harshly.
Do you know why they're asking about this Battle Pass system? Because it's something they're clearly eyeing if not something they're already implementing. They're asking about it because they want to do it or are already doing. If this idea isn't squashed in its infancy, it will grow into something capable of dealing major damage. Possibly irreversible damage.
Don't wait until it's a disaster. Do something now.
To put that into an analogy, imagine your partner came to you one night and said, "You know, I've been thinking about cheating on you. How do you think you'd react to that?" If you started to get upset, that would be an understandable reaction. If the response to you being upset was, "I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like they cheated on you yet. They were just asking about it, geez," I doubt that would do much to calm you down. You don't want to react after the problem exists. You want to stop it from happening.
Again, the reason the question is being asked is because they are already thinking about massively slashing F2P rewards and they want to see how much they can get away with. The earlier and more viciously you fight against the idea, the better for everyone. Saying that this is just about getting feedback missed the mark out how downright dangerous this is to even be thinking about as far as we're concerned.
"Sure, but maybe they'll tweak the numbers", you think, "Maybe they scrap the system altogether". Maybe they will. But remember: they were thinking about whether players would tolerate a HUGE reduction in the F2P economy. They're trying to figure out how much they can get away with. They are thinking about whether they can do so and make you pay extra for the privilege of getting fucked with a special Battle Pass.
Say no now. Say no hard. Say no often.
1
You really didn't read and understand what I posted.
It's literally addressed to the fools in this thread saying "It's just a survey", "more F2P whining", "no point in discussing something now because it's not even out".
Imagine waiting until this shit is just right out of the gates to start discussing and saying how we don't approve it. Even if we followed the advice of these fools asking for that, they would just come with "Experiment 3,9k over 4 months first before saying how bad it is!"
1
People thinking the weapon is a worse Truesilver... shaking my head.
Lapidary is insane. Warglaives into Glaivebound was 11 damage over 2 turns, and that was starting from turn 5 into turn 6, now no longer possible with Warglaives at 6.
New weapon + Lapidary is 13 damage for less mana, a whole turn earlier (turn 4 into 5) and not requiring an attack on the same turn. That also gives a buff that stacks with weapons, Twin Slice and even with Zeph/Doomhammer shenanigans over a game (contrary to Glaivebound).
Freezing also often screwed Glaivebound's battlecry. Lapidary doesn't have this problem as well. Heck, it even works in other archetypes because it can combo with stuff like Blade Dance too. Glaivebound doesn't have this much versatility.
Only advantage of Glaivebound is going over taunts and not procing stuff like Ice Barrier. And I guess not face tanking, but it's not like between Soul Fragments, Eye Beam, lifesteal weapon (another great pairing with Lapidary) that DH is lacking healing.