Hearthpwn

I could see some small nerfs to Paladin being enough, especially if there’s also some mage nerfs. 

I’m thinking maybe Aldor Attendant goes back to two mana which would slow the deck’s value down quite a bit. Or you could limit how much individual librams can be discounted, but I think that’s less likely. Also the secret weapon going to two durability would be nice.

Would also love to see Animated Broomstick and Pen Flinger nerfed just because they are in every deck.

Surprised more people don't have Animated Broomstick in their cross hairs. It creates huge board swings and I wouldn't mind it moving to 2 mana. 

Would also like to see Pen Flinger nerfed. Maybe it returns to hand at end of turn or let it only target minions.

I think the game would feel fresher without these two neutrals in so many decks

Quote from CapnCrunchy >>

Grats!  I left HS in 2017, came back 4 weeks ago and hit D4 in Jan - trying to improve in Feb but not looking spectacular atm lol.

Again, grats.  Imho is significant - still alot of people playing this game, #4100 looks pretty good from here.

 

 Thanks. The early/mid ranks are a lot less grindy then they used to be due to the new star bonus at the start of season. It gets you to the tough games at your MMR a lot faster, rather then being like a high school bully invading the kiddy pool. Felt kinda bad in the old system getting sent back to rank 14-16 and you’d match up against a new player with a bad deck.

Well I finally made the push for legend. #HumbleBrag I've been close plenty of times before, but between work and other games, I never committed to it. Until now! Realized two nights ago that in the course of completing my dailies, I was already at Diamond 4 with half the month left, so why not go for it. For anyone curious, most of the games earlier in the season were with Zoolock, but the last several dozen games were with my version of Ramp Paladin/Murloc Paladin (whatever you wanna call it). I don't track my games so I couldn't tell you what my W/L rate was or how many games it was overall. The most time was definitely spent jumping between rank 1 and 2 though.

Overall I had a lot of fun and Just wanted to pat myself on the back, although I know it's not the biggest accomplishment by any means.

Maybe I’m the only one, but this is my favorite brawl. Outside of any poisonous cheese, you can play Tickatus with some board clears. As long as you are confident in your positioning then the game should go long and you’ll fatigue them. At that point even if they take the board you can just block with your own pieces.

Quote from Shadowrisen >>

@ RevenantSC

So, I was trying to remember when someone in the community managed to start throwing hyperbolic stuff around and it caught on to the point where Blizzard just sort of pooh-pooh'ed the hysterics rather than fixed things.  I remember two big times when that happened.  The first was back in late Wings of Liberty where the zerg meta had departed from ling-bane-muta and gone fully to ling-infestor (often skipping bane altogether) into ultralisk with full upgrades, into corrupter if necessary.  Someone like QXC I think, made this post on Team Liquid that basically said there was no hope for anyone playing Terran or Protoss, and it got hundreds of replies and turned into this whole thing.  Then, the next major tournament happens, and . . . shit, I forget the Korean guy who pioneered that sentry-immortal-prism 8gate all-in that showed up out of nowhere . . . anyway, some Korean Protoss won it, and at the event, some Blizzard hack specifically referenced the post and said something like "guess that's settled" and there was nothing done till Heart of the Swarm.

The second time was even more embarassing in terms of who was "leading" the community.  Avilo gets voted onto the American team for that tournament that was fan-selected (forget which organization ran it), and he actually convinces the tourney staff to call a draw on a super-late-game TvZ where he is hiding in the corner of the map and only taking a couple of damage from corruptors every minute or so, but the zerg still has resources and is slowly but surely winning what was going to be a painfully long, but clearly winnable game.  That game was illustrating the issue with mass Ravens and ultra late-game TvX.  Technically, that did get addressed, but I believe it would have been dealt with sooner and more effectively if Avilo hadn't been throwing gas on the fire.

 I don't remember that specific PvZ, but going by the era and style I'd guess MC or Parting. Both were known for cheese and timing attacks (and Parting still is).

As far as Avilo goes, I remember getting a kick out of all his drama. He talked some big shit, but was actually alright at the game. I remember for a while he held the record for the most nukes launched in a single WCS game.

In general I don't fault Blizzard too much for balance over the years, outside of Brood Lord/Infester which lasted way too long imo. It's a delicate tight rope to walk. If you balance too often then you might deprive the community of the chance to find an innovative solution, but take too long and you might lose players and viewers (especially considering that SC2 is more of a spectator e-sport then HS is). I think SC2 is in a better spot now then ever though, outside of there being no more new content. I wouldn't mind some light nerfs to Zerg though. Protoss is getting dicked on at the pro level, out side of a few exceptions like Zest, Parting and Neeb. Astrea has been up and coming though so maybe he can bust a move. I play Terran btw.

Quote from Shadowrisen >>

@Koko

I think that's a perfectly reasonable approach to the whole thing.  I guess I just want to emphasize that we can pick better opinion leaders. 

Because, imagine for a sec, if someone who really is in Activision's PR team starts wasting time by gaslighting on these videos.  I've seen it a lot of times in Starcraft's community, where someone who has a following will make some outlandish claim about game balance (analogous to Zeddy's ridiculous numbers on cost), and the balance team will respond by pointing out the outlandishness of the claim.

The only trouble is, there actually was a huge balance problem, and because the team felt it was enough to answer the easily-disprovable claim and stop there, the actual issue never got addressed.  Likewise, the more people go off the deep end about legitimate problems in Hearthstone, the easier it is for Team 5 to only respond to the BS, and never address the more reasonable stuff.

Hey long time StarCraft player here, so just curious what specific balance and gaslighting issue you are referring to. Brood Lord/Infester? The Void Ray nerf/buff saga? Reapers? General Zerg dominance in the pro scene for the last few years? 

On the topic at hand, I agree with you on most points. Diversity feels shallow when it's only skin deep. What we actually want is diversity of thought. I also have a natural distrust of anyone who claims that they are the "voice of the people" or "the savior of the meek", or any similar political grandstanding. Which is the vibe I've gotten from Zeddy's videos. If someone claims that they have all the answers and speak on behalf of others, they are often just smelling their own farts.

Congratz! Now do it with every class :P

Quote from Sherman1986 >>

Quote from RevenantSC >>

I agree OP, it’s annoying when one of the 4 slots is taken up by stuff like 80 g quest, wen you are instead looking for a discussion.

Shut up, RevenantSC! You only play shaman (yeah, I perfectly remember the "exodus" years ago from the Battle.net forums :P), stop acting as if you care about anything else! XD

Note: Yeah, I'm just joking, don't get mad... XD

 Lol I’ve got a (albeit old) warrior deck in my signature. Besides I played Shaman way before it was good :P

It’s funny though how often my old shaman escapades come up in conversation. I became friends with a guy in another card game community (Faeria), who recognized my username from the old battle.net forums about 4 years after they were shut down. It’s a small world.

I agree OP, it’s annoying when one of the 4 slots is taken up by stuff like 80 g quest, wen you are instead looking for a discussion.

StarCraft is the best craft

What the hell are you talking about? The competitors include 2 world champions (Firebat and Tom), big casting personalities (Brian Kibler), long time competitos (RDU, ShtanUdachi, etc) and streaming personalities (Purple, Thijs, Kripp, Trump, etc). And there's a good spread of players from each major region to boot! Off the top of my head the only other person I would like to see there is Zalae. If you read between the line, we will likely have Raven, Sottle, TJ and Admirable casting with Frodan hosting. Should be a fun event. I think you are just looking for an excuse to complain.

Yeah the combo is Mecha'thun and Plague of Flames with one discount. Or you can run Bloodbloom, Cataclysm, Mechathun, requiring one more card and one more discount, but destroying your hand. The point is that the deck can win against faster decks by clearing their board and playing demons, but if its against a slower deck then you can kill off Mecha'thun instead. Once you have your combo, but your deck isn't empty yet, you can play Soularium to turbo draw into your remaining cards and combo a few turns earlier. If you're in a slow matchup, like Control Warrior, 2500 Armor Druid or a Reno deck, the Mecha'thun is a great way to win.

Yeah I find Wild a lot of fun and I bounce between both formats depending on which I'm enjoying more or am less frustrated by at the time. In terms of investment into the game Wild is a better deal because you're not constantly shelling out cash to stay competitive since the meta game develops slower in Wild. Having to dust you cards at each rotation for 1/4 value, then dust again next year at 1/4 value is gross.

Feels like an insane card. You get to play a 6 drop on turn 5, then your opponent has to deal with a 3/5 and a 6 drop or else they are horribly behind and you get to play a 7 drop on turn 6. Especially insane in druid where you can play this with oaken summons, increasing your consistency and allowing you to convert your temporary mana into permanent mana ramp with the likes of nourish.

Incremental advantages like this really add up.