The change to Lilypad Lurker is a very nice buff...
... for Jandice Barov and Apexis Blast.
15
Hi, beta player here and more recently a double Legend rank player. I wanted to share my opinion on buffs/nerfs, particularly because people like to see this but also to explain my game philosophy.
Let's look at what we know so far. The sources can be found in the article about the nerfs/buffs on the front page:
5 nerfs: 2 neutral (1 murloc), 3 class cards
10 buffs: archetypes that are not as strong as they hoped, with a hint that demon hunter will improve. Caravans not touched.
My opinion about the nerfs:
Prize Vendor - we all know what the murloc nerf will be. Can be a powerful tech card against decks that hold large hands, in burning 1 or 2 key pieces from them. So it will be efficient against Warlock, which will most likely dodge all nerfs and dominate the meta. But to keep the flavor of classes like Shaman and Priest not having access to card draw, my suggested nerf is to chance the text to: "your opponent draws a card". Still very efficient against Warlock or Demon Hunter Otk, while reducing the availability of neutral card draw.
Waste Warden - with the addition of the Quillboar tribe, clearly this card has spiked in power level, being able to hit more targets with no downside. My suggested nerf is: "2 attack instead of 3 attack". This way there are downsides to playing it, as it can no longer trade easily into other minions.
Flamestrike - back to 4 damage. Everyone knows mage is a problem now, and the Flamestrike buff is clearly the main culprit. It is oppressive in arena, so arena players deserve to get the chance to make meaningful development of 5 health minions once again.
Invigorating Sermon - cost increased to 5. This way Paladin cannot cheat stats as early as turn 4, giving decks like rush warrior a chance to wait with their own buffs until turn 5 and then make meaningful trades on board. Paladin has dominated the meta since the start of the expansion and I would like to see this card toned down, as it feels oppressive to get punished for letting your opponent develop a board before turn 4.
Doomhammer - windfury removed. Doomhammer Shaman is the only deck that sees a bit of play in standard right now and is the main cause of making the other Shaman archetypes viable. Additionally, it heavily limits design space for attack buffs, and makes other weapons an afterthought. This can be the catalyst of a lot of experimentation in other shaman archetypes.
So these are the nerfs, and we all kinda expect them, but let's talk about the more exciting stuff: the buffs! While after a round of nerfs a lot of players feel like not playing anymore because of the wet noodle feeling (playing with weak cards), buffs can create a lot of exciting new decks. So here is my take: every class will receive one buff on their worst performing archetype. And here is what I would like to see:
Sigil of Silence - Also draws a card for each silenced minion. At this point, Silence Demon Hunter feels like it lost something in Consume Magic. Playing a delayed mass dispell is simply not good enough, and with the card draw the archetype can shine once again. Moreover, the opponent will be able to decide how many cards he will give you, giving them counterplay to burn key cards in your deck.
Razormane Battleguard - 2 mana 2/3 down to 1 mana 1/3. Taunt Druid was very hyped early on, but proved to be just too slow to compete. Accelerating their development by one turn can allow them to seriously contend for the board, while giving meaningful interaction for the newly buffed Sigil of Silence.
Lock and Load - down to 0 mana. They probably were very proud to bring the card back at one mana, creating a fun Miracle Hunter archetype. Unfortunately the card sees no play, and it would not surprise me to see a hail merry from them: "guys this is literally the last thing we can do to improve this card". Some people also suggested it generating spells as an alternative but I prefer the 0 mana spice instead. We cannot only rely on one card (Kolkar Pack Runner) to jam spells at our opponent.
Wyrm Weaver - 4 mana 3/5 to 3 mana 2/4. Once again, despite the initial reduction in cost from 5 to 4, internal data shows that people tend to not include minions in their mage decks, which in turn makes Refreshing Spring Water oppressive. Competing for the 4 cost slot with Kazakus, Golem Shaper also is a problem, so this can hopefully convince more people to include minions in their mage decks - basically kills 2 birds with one stone.
Lothraxion the Redeemed - 5 mana 5/5 down to 1 mana 1/3. Silver Hand Recruit Paladin, despite being one of the oldest and most beloved archetypes, does not work at the moment. The problem with this card is that turn 5 is often a bit too late to give your men bubbles, so an earlier approach can turn memes into dreams. Some of my friends (also legend players) have suggested it to always start in your hand, but I think that would be a bit too strong.
Shadowed Spirit - 3 damage up to 4 damage. People hate playing against Priest. But why? Are they strong? No. Are they powerful? Also no. The problem is that they have no aggressive archetype. And this card alone, with one extra damage, can produce a lot of copies of it and slowly but surely drain down their opponents. If you cannot convince people to stop playing Priest, at least you can convince a percentage of them to play an aggressive archetype.
Swinetusk Shank - Let me explain myself. I am aware this card is quite strong at the moment so why should it be buffed? The answer is simple: you cannot have Acidic Swamp Ooze annihilate an entire archetype on its own. So my suggestion is that on deathrattle, this weapon shuffles back into the deck while keeping all enchantments. Why is it not broken after this change? Because there is already a card that does this, for 1 mana, and it is was never that strong. We need to teach people to stop playing the Ooze and I hope the dev team sees that.
Boggspine Knuckles - Back to 4 attack. The fact that we can no longer play a 0 cost pirate on the same turn makes it more fair and balanced, and now it can answer common minions like Mankrik, Efficient Octo-bot and Luckysoul Hoarder. With the nerf to Doomhammer, it's time for different Shaman weapons to shine, and it's time to be able to punish people for playing 4 health minions.
Shadow Council - +2/+2 changed to +2/+3. Random Demon Warlock was never the deck we wanted it to be, despite the uptick in general quality of demons. With this change, the minions are healthier and are going to take part in many more meaningful trades, while keeping their attack in check, so they don't kill the opponent too fast. It's time to have an interesting Warlock deck once again!
Outrider's Axe - +1 durability. "We initially made it a 3/2". That is funny, not even as a 3/3 is it seeing play right now. But people can be wrong, and that includes the game devs (I kinda felt that it is not very strong though). With another point of durability, it also stops Warriors from jamming only minions in their deck, plus the buff cards, then calling it a day. Time to make compromises to have different meaningful lines of action during your games.
So these are my opinions. I think I am speaking for most of us when I say I want to see these changes, and I personally cannot wait for the announcement (soon maybe?). I am not saying I got these right but I am hoping for at least 11/12 correct guesses. Too da loo.
2
i dont see the mage nerf
1
I do still play but I don’t care about mmr so I have fun the way it’s intended.... the mode is nothing more than a casino with no rewards apart from a number that doesn’t mean anything! Nothing at all...
I play against rafaam round 2? I just sell my entire board... Ragnaros that needs 2 more kills? Sell board, no kills from me! King Mukla an option? Just pick and wait until I’m dead - no hero power, no minions. Tess? Whoops empty board! Bigglesworth? Guess who sold the entire board and conceded...!
the entire mode is designed to piss players off without any rewards, so I’m doing just that
6
I can't be the only one who thinks this deck is completely insane, an otk on turn 4-5 shouldn't be possible, doesn't matter if the deck has low winrate or isn't as good, Tickatus is not that good and people cry about it all the time because it's unfun and frustrating, im sure dying on turn 5 with your oponnent spamming infinite 0 mana spells is really fun isn't it? My last match i had 38 HP (hero + board) and the fucker killed me easily on turn 5, i faced this deck 6 times in total (i know it's not much) and in all of them the oponnent had the combo on turn 4-6, am i really unlocky or this shit is that consistent? This deck makes me auto concede against mage because this thing existing makes me really mad and angry with the world...
Pls don't come in the comments to say i'm crying (or do i don't care) because i know, i'm crying (not literally,but almost) and pissed as fuck because of this deck, who never got really mad because of a game don't judge me!
7
Such a shame this card is not Shaman, it would have shaped up Freeze Shaman archetype with Moorabi and also very good with Shudderwock
2
Has anyone else finished 8 after not being able to get good minions? It's happening more often now.
Thanks,
XD
14
Listing even the ones that no one will miss or that have a virtual replacement (under a different name) in Core.
7
Thoughts after reading everything over.
- They reverted or partially reverted some infamous and as history has shown - some very poor nerfs. Equality had half its nerf reverted and now costs 3 and may be actually usable again. Big Game Hunter had half its nerf reverted and might be a tech card again. Blade Flurry remains garbage though.
- Almost every card with charge has been removed or changed to rush.
-Demon Hunter: The new 8 cost 8 damage to face card seems spicy. Might be even better than Inner Demon since you get to attack a minion as well. All the other cards made it over except Satyr Overseer. Despite their crusade to remove charge from the game, the new legendary has charge....
-Druid: Of staple used cards, Swipe and Savage Roar did not make it over. Keeper of the Grove didn't either, in their quest to make silence difficult. Druid of the Claw got a hefty buff/nerf, Cenarius was also buffed and might be decent now. The new card seems ok.
- Hunter: Animal Companion is no longer a core Hunter card. Shocking. Kill Command and Unleash the Hounds are also gone for good. Looks like a concerted effort to tone down face Hunter strategies. Of the five original secrets, only three come over. New card seems decent. Doesn't appear any cards were buffed or nerfed in the transition.
-Mage: Antonidus is gone, and replaced with a new legendary whose power level seems suspect. Arcanologist is probably the most important addition as the power level of this card was insane. Babbling Book ensures casino mage will never die. Cone of Cold was buffed, but Frost Bolt and Frost Nova and Blizzard were cut making freeze mage archetypes all but dead in standard! Pyroblast is also notably cut, as is Polymorph. Snap Freeze, Ethereal Conjurer and Coldarra Drake get slight buffs. I question the addition of Coldarra Drake as it produced game breaking effects under certain fringe combinations.
-Paladin: Avenge is back! As well as a new secret which seems pretty damn good. The most important part is most of the bad secrets did not come over which is doubly important as it makes things that randomly generate a secret for you produce far better results on average now that garbage like Repentence and Eye for an Eye are out of the pool. Pursuit of Justice might be crazily powerful, we'll have to see. Warhorse Trainer, Argent Protector, and Guardian of Kings got stat buffs, though Guardian of Kings still seems unplyable. Holy Light was changed to a giant self heal. Paladin seems like it lost the least important cards and kept the most important cards out of all the classes here.
-Priest: Lots of changes again to Priest. Northshire's replacement appears to be a mana wyrm that scales with healing instead. A new card that is a cheap silence replaces the existing Silence for some reason. It seems they really wanted to nerf Priest silence capabilities. The vaunted Shadowform was buffed to 2 mana. Lightspawn was buffed/nerfed. The new minion seems oddly aggressive for Priest. The Shadow Visions replacement notably does not discover a copy of the spell so no stupid combo potential. Notable omissions are Mind Control, Cabal Shadow Priest, Mass Dispel, and their newly buffed Thoughtsteal and Shadow Madness.
-Rogue: Original Van Cleef has been replaced with a new Van Cleef who seems ok. Swashburgler returns to be the eternal turn 1 play. Assassinate and Sprint have received crazy buffs. (Walk the Plank power crept Assassinate, and now it power creeps it back!?) Assassin's Blade gets a modest buff. Tomb Pillager is a nice addition. Eviserate and Sap are notably removed.
-Shaman: The new 1 cost 3/2 minion is hugely important for Shaman to not suck in the future. The buffs to Lightning Storm and Feral Spirit are also very nice. Draenei Totemcarver, Fire Elemental, Earth Elemental, and Alakir also were buffed a bit. Bloodlust is notably gone, as is Far Sight and Lava Burst. Earth Shock is also gone, as part of the trend of removing silence. Shaman probably comes out the best or near the best with this set change as it removed a ton of terrible Shaman cards while retaining and buffing most good ones. It cannot be understated how removing all the terrible cards improves the class as you will no longer get these worthless spells from other card generation effects.
-Warlock: The new 0 cost card is an interesting zoo tool. Void Terror got a minor buff as did Siphon Soul. Felhound was changed to discard lowest cost cards, which is probably good. Felsoul Jailer might be very good, we'll have to see. Fel Lord seems weirdly at odds with itself. Jaraxxus got a 5 armor bonus which is huge. Soulfire was notably omitted. Warlock also lost a lot of bad cards from its pool with this set change, even if it didn't get a lot of help with existing cards.
-Warrior: New 1 drop seems crazy good. Warrior also gets an equivalent of Hunter's Pack which could be decent value. Warsong Commander has been radically changed to given every minion you summon (not play, SUMMON) rush, which seems ridiculously strong given ETC is still in standard! There's a new bland vanilla rush card added. The popular Shieldmaiden returns. Notable staples lost are Shield Block and Battle Rage. Warrior seems to keep most of its core capabilities with this set.
-Neutral: Right off the bat, note that Baron Rivendare is back and will thus always be a factor in the game. (Brann thankfully did not show up) Auctioneer escapes removal from Standard yet again, unfortunately. Stonetusk Boar and Bluegill Warrior has had charge changed to rush and gotten +1 attack as compensation, but this destroys numerous combo potentials. Every other card with charge has been removed.
Notable returns are Explosive Sheep and Nerubian Egg. Sunreaver Spy shows up which could be good news for Paladin and Hunter, but mostly Paladin. Raid Leader and Gurubashi Berserker got a 1 health buff. Baron Geddon got a 2 health buff. Arcane Devourer got a FOUR health buff. Flesheating Ghoul, Cairne, and Defender of Argus got a 1 attack buff. Stormwind Champion is now a 7/7. High Inquisitor Whitemane got -1/-1 but costs 1 less mana.
The five big dragons got changed into completely different cards, of seemingly variable usefulness. The importance of Malygos and Alexstraza's effects being out of the game cannot be understated. Nozdormu is HILARIOUS now.
All giants are now out of Standard except Clockwork Giant, the worst one. There's really a massive amount of cuts from the neutral section, almost too many if you ask me.
In the end, although touted as a set of ~230 cards, it's replacing over 370 cards. There's a huge loss in functionality for numerous classes, the effects of which remain to be seen. This is going to be a massive shift in the game. I sure hope they tested it.
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Hi Guys,
The Thunder King hero portrait with its card back for 1500 Gold or 10 Euro/USD, and the Thrall card back are available in the in-game shop.
Click on the buttons to change the PopCard background.
Click on the button to hide or unhide popcard elements.
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lol, just imagine this forum if these went live :)
1
Juan Joya Borja aka "El Risitas" has passed away aged 65.
He died on Wednesday in hospital.
R.I.P.
in memoriam - some of "his" best Hearthstone memes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4evuVWIJq0I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQB_p8etL00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa2U1EKfzrc
1
Frog - the best expansion ever!
3
also there is old Medivh Hero for 1500g in the shop....
...too bad I bought new packs, ....all of them... :/
1
try: Overlay > General > Reset Positions : RESET
or > Move/Resize objects: UNLOCK OVERLAY (to set it manually)
14
While Zentimo + Chain Lightning (Rank 2) isn't bad at all I can't wait for Ice Fishing => Firemancer Flurgl + Toxfin board clear - thin your deck and wipe whole board - the best board clear combo Shaman has since Elemental Destruction + Lava Shock era. And you can put these 3 cards in almost any deck.
13
What about Sylvanas hero for 1500 gold in shop?
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Diremuck Tinyfin
1
Bru'kan - nature spells needed otherwise does nothing
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actually it will be played in highlander shaman: Ice Fishing with only these two in deck is the best board clear on demand shaman ever had
Wild approves this!