Hearthpwn

You've converted me.  I was lost in the sea as well.  I was even in favor of the possibility that Genn and Baku are put in the Hall of Fame as special inclusions at the upcoming Year of the ____ expansion.

I 100% agree - Genn/Baku have highlighted an issue, but are not an issue themselves.  

I like JLC776's idea of limiting the Wild card pool.  I was actually thinking of something along those lines (but way more punishing) - in Wild, you cannot use cards from Standard-legal expansions.  So, right now, Wild would not be able to use Journey through Rumble.  Everything else is free to use.

Then, Wild players would only get the new toys after Standard is done playing with them.  It'll never happen, but just an idea.

I feel like there was some bashing going on early, giving it comparisons to The Grand Tournament and such, but I've been enjoying it more than Boomsday.  

Of this current standard, I think I still have Frozen Throne at the top, followed by Un'goro, and those were released last year.  This year's expansions will probably shine brighter when the 2017 expansions leave standard in April.

Quote from ShadowsOfSense >>

Points 1 and 4 both seem viable options, and I see no reason not to do them. I worry that Blizzard would screw up which Classic cards to move to the Basic set, but that shouldn't be a reason not to attempt this.

Points 2 and 3 though, are just too massive a shift in design to be viable. Both fundamentally change how the game would be played, and all current cards would need to be viewed under a new lens to see if they become broken in this new system. That's a lot of balancing work to do. Theoretically, they could just push these changes live and ask the players to figure out which cards are broken, but I imagine that would not go over well with people, so they'd need to do it internally, which is both a huge amount of work and not something they've been traditionally the best at.

 Wow, thank you for replying!  I think we all have fear that Blizzard doesn't know how to drive the car at this point, we just hope.

I did back off entirely on the mana expansion (Druids op, heavy card drawing classes also op, aggro suffers).  Would you agree that HS needs a Public Test Server, so that we as players CAN actually solve these issues and present data?  There's such a large community out there now that there can't possibly be a shortage of players willing to provide feedback.

Quote from Stock_speaketh >>

So, basically, Hearthstone: The Gathering. I mean, I would play that, for sure, but I think cards are just not balanced for that. This woulf make cool tawern Brawl tho. Or maybe just another mode.

So you caught on to that lol!  I don't think it's a secret that a lot of HS players have roots in other similar card games.  And I do agree - there seem to be some very strange decisions with card balance.  They've admitted they design more for fun and not so much for balance.

On review, I also don't know about the mana expansion.  I think my initial thought was that with more mana, the games may speed up a little bit, as more cards could theoretically be played in later turns.  However, it would significantly reward classes with powerful card draw and does nothing to bolster decks that already play out their hands before 10 mana.  

(before I start: please be gentle, and know that this is simply a wish list of mine that has been in my head, and I wanted to put it into words).

To Blizzard/Team 5,

I've been an avid Hearthstone player since October 2014, and I do enjoy the time I've invested.  A plethora of changes have been made and every change seems to be to increase the health and longevity of the game.  I'm also a Heroes of the Storm player (perhaps not for long...) and I was pleased when that game essentially went into a version 2.0 a year ago, and I would like to see Hearthstone undergo a similar change (my hope is that the base for HS is so much greater than Heroes that such a change would not be catastrophic).

With that said, here are some changes that I would like to see (with the note that I'm sure plenty of others have already suggested these changes in the past, present, and will do so in the future):

1. Move some cards from the Classic set to the Basic Set; keep Basic evergreen; then, move the Classic set into the Hall of Fame.  Right now, you have the ability to nerf cards, which is powerful.  However, with such a large card database, and many other expansions to come, it's time to consider giving the Classic set a proper retirement.  The hope is that Standard will become even more diverse, as the prototypical cards found in every deck will no longer be available except in Wild.  I haven't researched which cards to move, but I'm sure there are several candidates, keeping in mind to move cards into Basic that respect the identity of the class.  With this move, I would also consider reverting some cards to their pre-nerf status only for mana cost, not for card text.

2. Adjust the deckbuilding rules for Constructed play.  This is the one knob that hasn't changed since the start of the game, and while limitations breed creativity, options bring a diverse play pattern.  Those changes are: deck minimum of 30 cards, maximum 40 cards; continue to limit 1 legendary, 2 epic and rare class cards, but allow 3 common/basic cards.  The first complaint may be that mill decks will no longer become viable, but the mill decks in HS are based on excessive card draw.  There are very few actual mill cards printed (Gnomeferatu).  Arena deckbuilding remains the same at 30 cards, which is expected for a Limited environment.

3. Increase the maximum mana crystals for each player.  Players still receive one mana crystal at the start of the turn, until they reach 10.  Then, every two turns after, that player receives another mana crystal until they reach 20 (the new maximum).  It is expected that only Druids would reach this maximum based on their cards that generate mana.  Speaking of Druids, this should not eliminate card draw based on maximum mana crystals.  Therefore, at 10 mana, any card that would generate another permanent mana crystal would become a Choose One card, where the player can choose to gain the mana crystal, or receive the Excess Mana card, and then draw.  Special note: Biology Project would always give mana crystals to the opponent; the player that plays the card gets the Choose One choice.

4. The Standard Brawliseum (and even a Wild Brawliseum) should be always available.  Feel free to call it something else if you like, but the idea of being able to play in a competitive format at any time with a gold cost is absolutely what I want to see!  Now, maybe this is what will be borne out of the soon-to-come Tournament Mode.  If so, awesome.  If not, this is truly worth consideration.  You can open it as you do on Wednesday, and close it on Sunday.  5 days per week.  Feel free to expand it if you want, by allowing us to enter with three decks, and at each matchup, the players ban two of the decks.  Or, Conquest - best 2 out of 3, with one ban.

With these changes, my general hope is that the game thrives much longer.  If none of the changes can be made permanent, then as a partial prize, it would be nice to see a Tavern Brawl rotate in with these changes, just to see how they would hold up.  Until then, I'll continue to play and enjoy as I have.

Yes, the dark side.  And I want to thank you for posting this deck.  Although it is one of (if not) the most broken deck in HS history, it helped me achieve something that took me 4 long years.  I reached legend.  Before today, the highest I had reached was rank 2...which I had done for the FIRST time!  I've been a long-time rank 7-8 player, but this year I put in more effort, and reached 5 consistently after the new floors and ladder reset were implemented.  Today, I also have to give thanks to Darkxswarm, because they faced this deck 5 times (lost once, insta-concede 3 times, and on the penultimate match, they took pity on me to concede after compiling Exodia mage).  Again, I know this is a degenerate deck, but it pushed me over the hump.  Thank you once again.

Some quite radical changes.  1) new deck-building rules: up to 1 Legend, 2 Epic, 3 Rare, 4 Common/Basic, and up to 40-card decks (but you can keep Arena at 30).  2) does the mana have to stop at 10?  Perhaps after reaching 10, every two turns you gain an additional mana crystal.  3) The ability to choose a different hero power for your deck (as long as it's in line with that class' identity).  The variant doesn't have to cost 2 mana, either.  Or even a passive hero power.

Adding more cards is one thing, but providing variations to the basic game keeps it from being stale.  If no mechanic changes, then at least some welcomed cosmetic changes.  All that said, I trust Blizzard to do what they will to keep the game sustainable.  Especially if it's making them money.

I feel like Hearthstone has to undergo a massive change, like Hearthstone 2.0 (similar to Heroes of the Storm 2.0).  Once it does, and understands that it will lose some tens of millions of players to other games that are released, the future will be safe.  It will make a 10 year anniversary.

If anything, this shows that Blizzard is keeping an eye on the Wild format (which I play 90% of the time).  Bonemare nerf, yes.  Raza nerf, YES!  Patches nerf, sure!  Corridor Creeper - 4/4 would've been fine, or even 4/3.  A 2/5, I just don't get it, but I'm excited to see the changes.