Hearthpwn

Quote from zynessa >>

 I'm not sure why you guys are bringing up legend so much. Most people aren't legend, and HS as a game has never been balanced around legend either, not primarily. If something is fine in Legend but feels miserable for everyone else, it gets hit. It really is that simple. The goal of nerfs is not game balance per se, but fun for the core playerbase. Sometimes, they're the same thing. Sometimes, they're not. 

 I'm not certain if this is true, but it does make sense. I think the reason people keep bringing up legend, if I had to speculate, is that people may think that how a deck plays in legend is a better representation of its actual power level relative to how well it does at lower ranks, and thus that play in legend is a more reliable instrument for the purpose of determining whether nerfs are needed.  

High legend is dominated by freeze shaman, with some pirate warrior, quest hunter, mechathun warlock, alignment druid, and ignite mage mixed in. I also have played a game or two against shadow priest, owltk, and even aggro druid. So for me there has been a fair degree of variety, although for the most part I am queuing into freeze shaman.

Quote from Andrei2007 >>

Never heard about this software that helps skip animations. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't. But your opponent played 20 cards in the turn he killed you. You don't need a cheat engine to do that. Played way more cards than that in a turn (40+ personally). Also, that's wild for you. It's not a diverse format, it's a format where only the most degenerate card combos of all time survive.

Your animations got delayed because you didn't click the cards. I can assure you your opponent didn't skip his alotted time, your game just had to catch up with all animations.

 I can assure you that it does exist, and there is a particularly easy way to know if it's being employed, at least insofar as ignite mage is concerned. The way the ignite animation works with the archetype is that the card is shuffled back into ones deck and then redrawn via sanctum chandler, which necessarily takes several seconds. There is no way around this. After said animation is completed, only then one can aim the spell at its target (generally the opponents face), so if the animation is observed than there should be at least a 4 second gap between each use of the spell as it is necessarily shuffled, redrawn, and subsequently aimed once again at a target. If the animation is canceled, there will be no gap between each utilization of the spell and the rate at which one's opponent aims it at them will be constricted only by their capacity to aim it at their target. So, if you are on the receiving end of this, you will effectively see an arrow being spammed at your face, indicating that the spells shuffle and redraw animation is not in effect and that it is instantly reappearing in your opponents hand. I have had the opportunity to observe this several times, as I previously mentioned, when i matched up against the current rank 1 wild player in NA, and I've seen it several other times as well. All of which is to say, animation canceling is most certainly real and an issue that needs to be addressed. 

Quote from Cornelis1983 >>

Blizzard decided the rules of the game like adding animations and adding a rope. If these decisions are good or bad is a matter of opinion and to quote madseason: "opinions are like butts, everyone has one". 

But that doesn't change the fact of the decisions made by those who created their own game. And one of them is you have to wait for animations most of the time. And if in a way you managed to skip those animations by hacking the client, it is cheating. 

That is my opinion and also the opinion of Blizzard who already has banned many players for it. Not only in hearthstone but also in WoW where complete guilds have been (temporarily) banned. One of the famous examples is the AQ40 raid where people also hacked the client in order to take a huge shortcut to C'thun and skip all the mandatory bosses. 

 I tend to agree, animation canceling via client hacking is cheating. And according to this statement released by Blizzard itself (https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/legal/cd5930c0-2784-420c-a23d-1e0d6ff8599b/anti-cheating-agreement), "the use of ‘unauthorized third party programs’ for hacking, cheating, botting and/or changing or facilitating gameplay [is] a gross and serious violation of the Battle.net End User License Agreement (‘EULA’)". But a policy doesn't effectively do or mean anything if it isn't enforced, and in my experience Blizzard hasn't taken any action to ban individuals that are actively hacking their clients and canceling animations. xHoLyCraBx, for example, is infamous for doing this and has ostensibly been reported many times by many people, including myself. He is the rank 1 player in Wild in NA and animation canceling with ignite mage has contributed immensely to that position. I lost several matches to him just this month in which he blatantly cheated and duly reported him. And yet his account is still active and he's still rank 1 on the leaderboard. So Blizzard may not be quite as fastidious in this area as you think, at least so far as HS is concerned.

 An understandable sentiment. With that said, I think everyone has room to improve regardless of what deck they're playing, and not everyone may want to play pwarr. 

Quote from Tcuceltics99 >>

I’ve always been horrible at arena any possible help improving my gameplay there

 Unfortunately I don't think I would be much help there, as I've barely ever played any arena and the most wins I've gotten in a row is 10. It's possible that I might even make things worse, lol

 I don't know that anyone needs coaching necessarily, but it certainly doesn't hurt and I'm happy to help anyone that wants it

Hey all,

Haven't seen a thread in this vein for awhile so figured I'd toss my hat in the ring, so to speak. I'm offering free coaching for anyone on the forums or anyone that comes across this thread that wants to rank up or just improve their gameplay. I am a consistent multiple format high legend player with several triple legend finishes and I have experience with a wide variety of archetypes. I also have prior experience coaching a player from silver to diamond within a few weeks. My coaching and general style of play are primarily focused on clean and efficient gameplay that is founded on solid fundamentals, which I've found to be quite conducive to consistent and favorable outcomes over the course of matches and play sessions. As for the coaching itself, typically we will just jump into games on ladder and I'll spectate as you play and offer advice as needed. I will also provide a quick recap after matches and provide more overarching stylistic direction (if necessary) that should enable you to improve how you play on a more comprehensive level. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please let me know on this thread and I'll message you about setting up potential times for when we can work together. Thanks :)   

Hey all,

I've noticed that particularly recently the game has run worse for me than it ever has in recent memory. I've notably lost 6 matches in roughly 6 hours of play bc HS disconnected and then refused to reconnect me despite multiple restarts and my internet functioning at full capacity. So I guess what I'm asking is, has anyone else been having issues in this vein? And if so, have you managed to find any fix? 

Quote from Lyfe >>

Quote from Sevasmios >>

 I echo this sentiment. HS nowadays feels like an optimal curve race in which whoever curves out better cards each turn (i.e. wins the draw RNG coinflip) quite simply wins the game.

 It has always been the case. Moreso in "vanilla" HS

 Perhaps to a certain extent that is true, but rarely (if ever) in my experience to the degree that it is the case today. Although I have noticed that it is very much like that in classic. Certainly it hasn't been like this in more midrange/control oriented metas for obvious reasons: midrange and control decks don't need to curve out a better card than their opponent every turn in order to win a match.

Quote from Plahtica >>

We need massive amounts of nerfs for wild so it can be fun again. 

I've played only 15 matches this season in wild. 6 were pirate warrior, 4 were questline hunter and some mages and shaman sneaked in surprisingly.

Edit: I've actually won all 10 with even giantlock but it's simply not fun

 I echo this sentiment. HS nowadays feels like an optimal curve race in which whoever curves out better cards each turn (i.e. wins the draw RNG coinflip) quite simply wins the game. I have observed this effect in standard and wild, and while it is particularly noticeable with pirate warrior, I feel that it applies to the vast majority of meta decks to greater or lesser degrees. It is perhaps less obvious with decks that win via otk like ignite mage or even warlock, but the premise of advancing towards a singular win condition by simply drawing cards and removing threats does feel similar in that it is equally undemanding from a skill perspective and quite frankly boring to play against. For me, it feels like we've arrived at a juncture wherein the archetypes that comprise the meta are so well optimized that there is virtually no room for error and that consequently the outcome of matchups is becoming more and more heavily predicated on luck as opposed to actual skill. Quite simply, whoever draws better cards almost ways wins, as outplay potential has become greatly diminished.

Hey Desy, I unfortunately am not from Greece, I just really liked the combination of the Greek word sevasmos and the Spanish word mio and the meaning the combination of the words implies. Thanks for getting back, and I do believe Hearthpwn would certainly qualify as a global crossroads/community, but I also believe a significant proportion of the sites population if not the majority are based in North America although it is entirely possible that I am mistaken. With that said, it makes complete sense that, as a European, you would want to test out your relatively new tournament format in Europe. I just think you might receive more interest if you decided to host in NA as well, and doing so would be more inclusive for the Hearthpwn community as a whole. And once again I do appreciate you taking the time to write back. Best of luck with the tournaments, I certainly know I would happily sign up if you do end up bringing them to NA :)

Respectfully, and apologies for interrupting your thread, but wouldn't it make sense to at least host this in NA as well? Considering how presumably many if not most of the people that frequent this site are based in the US or Canada, it seems odd that you host exclusively in Europe.

Strange that you're still queing into sweats at 3500 since I do recall queuing into some relatively off meta decks at around 600 in the early summer of this year, but its possible that everyone is just queing pwarr or odd quest hunter bc thats what everyone does now. Unfortunately I think it may just be impossible to escape sweaty tier 1 netdeckers now, even in casual. Sad, particularly in wild, but that's HS for you.

Quote from MrBurger >>

That's kinda what card backs do, but I guess titles could also be implemented, because they are easier to do than card backs, so they could be awarded for more various things. As for me I don't realy need them.

 I agree to a certain extent, I guess I just feel that cardbacks somehow feel less rewarding/relevant than titles would. I think part of that is down to how there are so many cardbacks now (primarily due to a new cardback being created and given to virtually everyone each month) that it is difficult to know what each one actually means/was awarded for and that consequently their significance is greatly diminished and far more difficult to appreciate. Frankly, speaking for myself, if my opponent isn't using the legend cardback, a high eSports finish cardback, or a collegiate eSports cardback, I typically have no idea what their cardback was awarded for and presume that it's a random monthly one. In this sense, I think titles would clarify what the player that is using said title has achieved and furnish that achievement with additional weight and prestige in the process.