Hearthpwn

dang first vote. 100 percent playable boys.

Let me first say that Hearthstone has the potential to be a great game. There are a lot of matches where I get through a match and, win or lose, I'm able to say "That was a good, fun game!" But lately that just hasn't been the case very often. I am a person who has loved Hearthstone for a long time, and I used to play game after game. But anymore, when I log on to play, I usually end up logging out after a few games because of a result of the poor and frankly lazy cards that have been released time and time again by Blizzard. Between the completely unhealthy power level of Shaman crowding out all other decks (much more so than past top tier decks) and the ridiculous amount of strong RNG swing cards, I just don't have fun on ladder anymore.

This post in particular mostly came from the salt of a game where I felt like I was making so many decisions to stay in a game, only to have it constantly ripped away from me from the likes of Barnes, lucky Shaman hero power rolls, and Ragnaros snipes. The guy added me after the game and said "good game, it was exciting." But he and I both know it was only exciting because there were so many times he was against the ropes, only to be saved by complete luck. It was exciting for him because he just played the lottery and ended up winning mega millions. To him it was exciting, but to me it felt like every single strategic desion I had made that game completely went by the wayside because he dropped a yeti that dealt 8 damage, or he got a taunt totem to keep him alive.

Now obviously not every game is won and lost on several rng swing turns, and that game had a lot of misfortune, which will happen. We have all been on both sides of those games. ..but there are so many random effects in the game right now that it is almost certain that there will be at least a few moments in the game where massive swing turns will happen based on a randomly generated spell, minion, portal, what have you. And it is frustrating to feel like everything you are doing hardly matters when shaman can randomly roll a spell power totem or a clutch heal totem to give them a massive swing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I love Hearthstone- but right not even I can't play the game for much more than a few games before I get frustrated at the amount of swing turns from luck and Shamans swarming the ladder for free ranks. If someone came in as a new player into this game right now, they would have that kind of thing happen once or twice, feel the same frustration I felt, and log out and never pick the game back up. And if that happens for too long then the game will slowly die out. We need a dramatic shift in the meta and in the way Blizzard develops cards if this game is going to survive, as right now the game balance and card quality is at an all time low. Otherwise they might as well consider moving on to a different project, because I'm afraid that the health of the game is severely at risk.

i wouldn't craft another legendary as soon as the nerfs go through, as it is possible that the meta could develop to show that Yogg is actually still good enough. I would hold back at least a couple of weeks and do some research on some of the meta reports such as vicious syndicate or meta snapshot to make your decision! Especially if your goal is to play the malygos druid style. While I assume some sort of token/spell druid will still exist, it is possible that it isn't as good without yogg, and not worth investing the dust in. So you may not want to craft any druid cards. Same with deathrattle decks. The prominent deathrattle deck right now would be some sort of N'zoth warrior or paladin. Those decks are $$$$$ to craft, and aren't really that strong right now in comparison to other control warriors and paladins, so I wouldn't waste your time there either.

tl;dr be patient and see how the meta shakes out. if you are really patient, wait for the next expansion, probably coming in a month or two. there may be good cards to craft there!

It's no secret: Shaman is too strong.

At first the issue was with cards Tunnel Trogg and Doomhammer+Rockbiter. While I agree that the amount of snowball and burst these cards give is obscene, I don't know if that was the root of the cause. At that time the aggro deck was annoying, but not unbearable by any stretch.

Then came the 4 mana 7/7 controversy. While the card is certainly strong and can be frustrating when you don't have an immediate answer, that card isn't even currently seeing play right now in many Shaman lists, which indicates that this isn't the issue.

Now the main source of controversy is the Tuskarr RNG instawins, and the huge strength and power creep of malestorm portal and spirit claws, both of which have largely pushed doomhammer completely out of midrange deck and using only one in aggro. While I agree that these are certainly pushing shaman into top tier territory, I don't think it is the worst abuser.

However, The REAL issue I believe is Thing from Below combined with the already efficient minions Shaman has. Being able to drop a 0-3 mana 5/5 taunt for doing nothing except for playing some of the strongest tempo cards in hearthstone such as totem golem and tuskarr is so back breaking. This card alone basically makes most midrange and aggressive decks straight up lose to Shaman, as once they pay 0-3 mana for a Thing from Below, you lose so much tempo that it makes the game borderline unwinnable because there is no efficient counter to it:

1- You can't try to out tempo shaman with minions once it drops, because the value for the mana is the best in the game. It is difficult enough to keep up with Shaman with all the other high value minions and swing cards, but once this drops it is impossible to keep up.
2- You can't ignore it and try to all in going face or try to hit other priority cards like thunderbluff, like you would be able to with cards such as Giants, because of the taunt. You have no choice but to deal with the Thing from Below.
3- Removal cards designed to remove big threats for a tempo gain like hex, fireball, execute, deadly shot, etc. aren't even effective because you STILL lose tempo on removing it because they most likely played it for less mana than the cost of the removal. Even in control decks that are designed to make big swings from their efficient removal can't overcome the huge tempo loss of the card.

There is really just no way to deal with it, and even though it doesn't feel as bad losing to as a high roll Tuskarr, I would say it is more likely the reason you lose so much to Shaman.

Forbidden ritual is strong because of its ability to refill the board. I don't see why summoning 3 minions for better than vanilla value wouldn't be at least be used in some zoo lists. Maybe even Renolock to try to compete on board.

Exactly what we need- stronger one drops. The one we have are already so weak kappa

Quote from LordMaarg >>

Illidan the Betrayer

Battlecry: cast Backstab on all minions.

"Nice druid, okay a pretty good match up"

*turn 1 coin innervate Violet teacher, turn 2 innervate wrath hero power killing my turn 1 and 2 minions, turn 3 raven idol, power of the wild. 11 used mana by turn 3*

"okay, no big deal, happens sometimes. Let's try again. .... okay Druid again, still an easy match up."

*turn 1 coin innervate innervate Dark Arrakoa*

"................................WHY IS INNERVATE ALLOWED TO EXIST BUT ANCIENT OF LORE GOT NERFED INTO THE GROUND?!"

Most legendaries are actually below average or bad. If you flip through them, you will see a bunch them that just never see play, like King Krush, Millhouse Manastorm, Wilfred Fizzelbang, etc. Do don't feel like you're incredibly far behind when you look at all of them, because you only really need a few of them to play a lot of good decks. 

....that being said, most of them have very unique effects. And Some of them are very strong, and good in the late game, and it's tough to compete with some of their value without them. So I do understand your pain. I went through that stage of not having any. Everyone who has played Hearthstone has gone through that stage, and it is frustrating. But don't worry it won't last too long! :) .... So, I've made a quick guide of classes that don't require legendaries/legendaries you can craft that will make several deck lists playable. Maybe look up some deck lists and see what you can do!

Druid: Beast Druid: not too bad in the meta, and doesn't require too many cards. The only legendary it uses is Fandral, and it's not that necessary.

C'Thun Druid: this does use one legendary, Twin Emperor Vek'Lor, and that cards value is nuts. But you can still play this deck without it. 

Hunter: Midrange Hunter: this is probably one of the best starting decks. Most the cards are rares and under, and if you don't have a card you can generally replace it pretty easy. Legendaries are optional, but the two most used are the "essential legendaries" that you will want to craft ASAP- Sylvannas and Ragnaros. Look to play this one.

Mage: Tempo Mage: you can find budget versions of tempo Mage online and make it work. A lot of the cards are cheap, and the only card I can think of that you would need to have from an adventure is flamewaker. Ragnaros can be used as a finisher in this deck, and sometimes Archmage Antonidas.

Paladin: Aggro Paladin: most the cards in this deck is pretty cheap. The only legendary that is used is Leeroy, and he isn't always used. Replace him with a charge minion.

Priest: there aren't many good priest decks out there, and none of them are cheap, so.... Yeah. You can probably find some budget control priests out there though.

Rogue: Rogue is a pretty weird class to play. A lot of their decks require a lot of game knowledge and specific combos. That being said, you could try death rattle rogue, though it isn't very good. You could also try Miracle Rogue without legendaries, but it is a hard deck to play and weakened without a few of the legendaries. Probably just dodge this class for now.

Shaman: Aggro/Midrange Shaman: these are both pretty solid choices, as neither requires any legendaries, and I don't even think any epics. So they are easy to come up with and pretty straight forward to play. There are two variants of midrange- totem and standard. Totem requires totem synergy cards, so you may want to lean the standard route, as it has more neutral cards and they are generally more replacable.

Warrior: most warrior decks require at least a few legendaries, because warrior focuses so much on high value cards. Sad but true. You could see if you have the parts for pirate Warrior though- it is a pretty straightforward aggro deck.

 Warlock: Zoolock: this deck is another go to for new players, as it is cheap, easy to play, and cards are mostly replacable. You can definitely find a budget version around. The only legendaries that are used are Leeroy and Gormok, and they are far from necessary for the deck. Dark Peddler is definitely really good in the deck, but replacable.

tl;dr focus on Midrange Hunter, Tempo Mage, Midrange Shaman, Aggro Shaman, and/or Zoolock, and maybe C'Thun Druid and Aggro Paladin to a lesser extent. These are all solid decks that will help you learn and understand the game, and have cards which can be replaced without losing too much.. When it comes to what to do with your dust, focus on saving for a few strong legendaries that are versatile (i.e. Sylvannas, Rag, among a few others). Adventures are good to look into as well (especially league of explorers) as they have a lot of good cards, including guaranteed Legendaires.

Wild: Dr. Boom always wins. lol.

Standard/Wild: Malkorok is best for tempo (except dr. lel), because it generally provides a lot of stats for 7 mana, and allows you to get ahead of your opponent. Heck you have a 3 or 4 out of 16 chance to just win the game from a big weapon, similar to how unstable portal worked in the day for tempo mage.  The battlecry doesn't matter that much in tempo warrior, since your goal playing Varian Wrynn is to get way ahead on board- enough to hopefully end the game. It can also be used in control warrior for a high value 7 drop if you aren't as fatigue oriented.

Gorehowl is really good for control in standard. Allows you to deal with a lot of threats. Maybe a bit slow in wild though, idk what the meta is there.

Baron Geddon: Probably the best for control warrior. The ability to simultaneously clear a board and develop a threat is really important for the control warrior archetype.

Fix Spectate win bug PLS

We got nothing compensation. At least game works.

FREE PACKS BLIZZ...

My Anaconda don't want none unless you got stats, hun.

IMO I think the ratings for Raza the Chained and Wickerflame Burnbristle should be reversed. To be fair though Raza's effects is so hard to judge now because we haven't seen it before like this. Personally I think Wickerflame will be a sleeper hit; Taunt+DS is a powerful combo, and in addition you get LIfelink, even though Paladins really don't need more healing. Obviously the card has good synergy with the Goons and other buffs, I think it will still be playable without them just as a good anti-aggro card.

So to please a 1% niche they make a card we already have.

I can't believe someone thinks this supposed "niche" will be happy about this card. They get nothing new. What's there to be excited about? I call BS on that explanation.

>0.5% of Rogue players play bounce rogue

>99.5% of Rogue players play other Rogue decks

"Man, we should print a terrible card for 0.5% of rogue players so they can have fun losing all of their games!"

The next time blizzard does this shit, nobody vote.