Hearthpwn

10 matches played. All matches won or lost by turn 8. 

Mage, Shaman and Warrior seem incredibly strong.

Most decks I've encountered are filled to the brim with epic and legendary cards (the push to pay to win is becoming more and more prevalent with each expansion release). 

The number of cards I've seen which employ RNG to generate an effect or card seems to have increased.

Overall, really disappointed. There are no decisions to make anymore. I either win very easily or lose before I even get a chance to play a card. Game over I think. The whole game is now just another autobattler. 

Quote from SchrodingersCat >>

Played 1 match this evening. EU standard Rank 18 vs Tip the scales paladin.

Holy shit.

That deck is the embodiment of brain dead auto play which currently plagues the game. Play prismatic lens. Play tip the scales - summon 7 murlocs. Play the same combo and summon another 7 for a total of 14. That’s 14 cards that the game plays for you. Then to make it even more hilarious the deck has Zephyr which is played as a win condition/last chance saloon.  

Between decks like this and the evolve shaman epidemic Blizzard is so clearly taking the piss.

Since I posted this 2 days ago 7 out of 9 matchups have been against tip the scales murloc.

It’s a small sample but throw in the number of shaman evolve matchups from other posts and the majority of players are consistently playing dumbass autopilot decks. Which by no coincidence is the direction the game is currently pursuing.

We who like to think are in the minority! 

Played 1 match this evening. EU standard Rank 18 vs Tip the scales paladin.

Holy shit.

That deck is the embodiment of brain dead auto play which currently plagues the game. Play prismatic lens. Play tip the scales - summon 7 murlocs. Play the same combo and summon another 7 for a total of 14. That’s 14 cards that the game plays for you. Then to make it even more hilarious the deck has Zephyr which is played as a win condition/last chance saloon.  

Between decks like this and the evolve shaman epidemic Blizzard is so clearly taking the piss.

Hadn't played in a while but came back to try out the battlegrounds. In short, two games for my free packs was enough. What a turd sandwich that mode is.

Also played three games on standard ladder rank 20-15. 

Deathrattle quest priest

Deathrattle quest priest 

Highlander mage

Three slow, boring, predictable decks that require negligible brain activity.

Unless the next expansion somehow turns this game into something less on an autoplay battler it will be time to say farewell. 

The last few expansions have been really mediocre (in my opinion) generating some of the most stale ladder seasons I’ve experienced. Aside from the half okay solo content I’ve only been playing to complete my daily quests. I see no reason to pre-order when the game has been so bad. 

Then there’s Dropping £75 on a digital card game which has had little innovation since its release. Just take the recent re-release of old cards into the game...plus £75 buys you 2-3 new full priced games and you’re not even guaranteed any legendary cards etc. 

So it’s a definite no from me.

Also, a lot of people here have apparently already preordered. That’s definitely their own decision. But in my opinion, it doesn’t actually help the game. Blizzard have been pushing some really poor content over the last few expansions and people blindly buying into another 130+ card push expansion just gives Blizzard licence to carry on with the drip feed of content. Why would they want to innovate when they can get away with pushing batches of 130+ cards every four months? Oh but they have battlegrounds now! Other developers have forced their hand - they would not have bothered had other developers not been successful with the format. 

Played two matches in casual to complete quests. These were against highland hunter and mech hunter.

My experience was, as always, consistent with where Hearthstone is right now. An oversimplified card game which is far more concerned with generating revenue rather than delivering a good experience. I'm sure the netdeck masses don't mind paying hard earned cash to pilot tier 1 decks against each other. But for the rest of us it's fast becoming a chore. I'm one of the many players who have been here since the beginning and despair at the current state of the game. The only reason I still play is because of the time investment. Sad times. 

If the next expansion doesn't deliver I honestly think it's time to say goodbye. 

How to counter the current autoplay meta:

Uninstall game.

Win.

You can't lose if you don't feed the AI. 

Free arena ticket...I guess it could be fun.

30 cards picked. No removal/aoe of any kind. Majority of selections were picking the best of a bad bunch. 

First game over by turn 8 with a mage/rogue combo who had an answer to every one of my plays (which were on curve but just bad cards). 

Second match against priest/mage who again laughed off my early board with various deathrattle mech minions. I had no removal and therefore no chance.

Not going to play the third match. The free ticket has reminded me why I never play arena. Why anyone would pay to play it with gold or money is beyond comprehension. I feel ripped off having wasted time playing with the free ticket! 

Only played one match today. Rank 18 EU standard vs control warrior with all the Hallows end trimmings - Emperor Thaurissan, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord and of course Archivist Elysiana! Because if you're going to make an incredibly sad and boring deck you might as well do it properly.

Played six matches on EU ladder with a nonsense meme shaman deck.

Quest rogue. Quest rogue. Quest shaman. Quest rogue. Quest rogue. Quest rogue.

Variety.

After a 2 week hiatus: Quest rogue, Quest druid, Quest Paladin, Quest Mage. 

3 out of 4 wins. Lost to the druid as it's the popular netdeck Elise/Chef Nomi win condition. Knew it was coming but didn't have the card I needed in my hand. 

Didn't really have any fun as I knew exactly what was contained in each deck (All 4 decks are netdecks which have been played to death this expansion). 

There truly is no hope for this game in player vs player. Each expansion is the same. Release new cards...wait until the community works out which decks are best (which the Hearthstone Team has designed so nothing is technically original)...netdeck...netdeck...netdeck.

I have some hope that they can do more with the single player stuff (and even co-op) but player vs player is just downright boring.

The Trump comment was an example to demonstrate a point. For example, the entire world is laughing at the US and what the Trump presidency is doing to the US. But some Americans truly believe that he is doing a great job, maybe the best job ever. They are not living in objective reality and not willing to listen to facts.

Has someone out there done an analysis on Hearthstones matchmaking system? 

I ask simply because in my opinion it's clearly designed in a certain way. For example, If I win a match I'm almost guaranteed to lose the next match. If by some chance I win two matches in a row I am usually paired against a tier 1 deck which is on curve. This has now happened so many times that it cannot simply be by chance. Also from reading comments on this thread I am clearly not alone.

My next observation follows on from this. If I design a really random deck it appears that the the matchmaking system really struggles to match me against decks. What happens is that I end up playing against all manner of decks which is actually pretty interesting and I usually progress quite well. However, if I choose for example, quest shaman (similar to the template in deck creation) I get a lot of unfavourable matchups against hunters, rogues and warriors and my progression is halted. When I create quest warlock, I almost always get unfavourable matchups against mages and warriors. 

A lot of decks here get posted with the 'I reached legend with this deck'. Now from my points above I believe that this is because these people play these decks before they become popularised. This in turn means that the matchmaking system has insufficient data to 'matchmake' that deck to balance it out at a specific win rate. Once these decks inevitably get played to death by the net decking community the system has the data it needs to balance out its matchmaking. That is why most people see their progression slow down with most of these decks.

I wrote this here because to many people it will sound like a salty rant (usually the same people who think Donald Trump is doing a great job as president). But I am honestly interested in the statistical nature of it because from my small sample the matchmaking is not random. It follows a very specific pattern. 

It seems that decision making has been taken out this game entirely. There were some decks in the past that required thought and deck understanding to really make them shine. However, the game has slowly transcended into a plague of faceroll decks which require you not to think but to instead spend a great deal of money. Every deck (more or less) requires pivotal legendaries in order to maximise your chances of winning. Additionally, these decks also tend to play themselves since the legendaries (and epic and rares) do the leg work for the player i.e. Dr Boom, lunas pocket galaxy etc. In the past you could get away with not having all the cards for a specific deck but due to power creep it’s simply no longer feasible. For example, leeroy can be replaced with a similar charge minion with 1 less damage. But how do you replace Dr Boom, Shudderwock, prismatic lens, lich Jaina, and so on. 

Additionally, It just dawned on me that in order for someone new to game to be competitive you would need to spend a ridiculous amount of money to be able to play the best decks. How does blizzard justify that? 

New cards - same old story.

Mindless decks prevalent (Paladin reborn quest plus mechs is just embarrassing) and Control warrior is now more powerful. 

A few new OP cards (which will in turn largely determine the new meta) will dictate the next 3-4 months of play. Nerfs will not happen or be too slow to influence the game before the next expansion.

Same thing happens every expansion.

From a Blizzard Activision viewpoint: As long as the kids keep buying packs with real money who gives a shit.