Hearthpwn

There's nothing there that suggests it's a new hero.  The symbol just marks that this is about hearthstone. 

The mage portal business caught my eye though.  If i didn't know that this wasn't a new adventure, I'd bet that we'd see another chapter with one of the portals he sees going to 'a place he'd never seen before'.  

Otherise, I suspect that this is just an ice breaker.  Get us to read it but not put any clues yet.  There will be other chapters and those will have teasers.  

One thing about blizzard, when they have a new idea they want to hint at, they tend to be like that child bouncing around going "I know a secret, but I can't tell you." followed by a hole truck full of hints that lead you to know what it is quickly because they really really want to tell it to you.

(i.e. the 'subtle' hints at the mechanical theme of the expansion pack)

Note that this isn't a critique.  You don't have to leave your hints in a riddle that requires 5000 people 24 hours to figure out.  

But yeah, I think this is just to get us to notice.  The actual hints will come later.  As to what it is, I doubt it's the mechanical theme since we already have a ton of info there.  

JUST thought this up.  What if this is a hint of Observer mode!?   The portals let you see 'far off locations' which also means that those on the other side get to see the inn.  It's just a matter of keeping the portal open and pointing it at the table. B oom.  Now everyone from all over the world can watch the game.  

Quote from Trollbert »

Quote from GunsNMuffins »

If all classes had the same ability, why would anyone need to play each class?
Mage can't heal? Hunter can't heal? Warlock does the opposite of healing? Rogue can't heal? Warrior can only armour up?

IMO, you're 100% wrong, GGNORE

In all fairness here, mages and warriors can get armor which is better than healing since it can go over the maximum health pool.  Warlocks also have a decent amount of healing with the right cards in the right deck.  Had a friend who ran a demon deck that had 2x Siphon Soul, 2x Life Drain, and 2x Sacrificial pact.  He healed more than my priest that game  :P  (And the son of a bitch Sacrificial Pact'd all my nice stolen demons I took from him)

Not saying that the OP is right, but other "non healing" classes have actual ways to boost their life outside of neutral minions.  

Agreed on the warrior.  Warrior is technically the tankiest of them all due to how strong armor is vs healing. 

Mage, though.  Honestly, that secret isn't THAT great.  Yes, it adds health, but it doesn't do anything else, which is, essentually, a loss of a critically needed card.  

Also warlock can heal but..really shouldn't indulge in it.  Trying to make warlock into a healer with Sac pact and life drain is like trying to fix shaman healing with Priestest of Elune and Alex.  You can do it. You shouldn't do it.

As far as shamans go, though, yes they can't heal much for anything, but let's not confuse 'balance' with 'equality'.  Shaman's lack of heal is art of the balance for shamans.  The class has great removals, a strong board presence and incredible burst from multiple angles.  Their lack of card draw and healing is meant to be their weak point.  They suck at it.  They are meant to suck at it.  They'd be too strong if you 'fixed' those weaknesses.  

Also I'd argue that shaman's weakness to hunter and priest (those ARE the classes they fall apart against) aren't so much due to healing so much as due to their playstyle.  They play a slower, minion based style that hunter can exploit and provide far too many targets for priest to abuse.  If their Overload mechanic gave them + health I'd still peg those classes as having an edge on shaman.

You can typically tell a bot from a regular player due to the playstyle.  Bots will have a rhythm: every card played and moved at the same interval.  Most also don't show the arrows due to how they operate.  Stuff like that.  

They also tend to not be AS thoughtful as a human.  People talk so much about how 'smarter' computers are, but honestly they are just relentless in their thought process.  A.I. is one of the hardest things to program and, while master programers could make a bot that, say, could calculate every move in this game and situation to make the 'best' move well.... if you can break into every home in the world and steal everything in it without fear of being caught you wouldn't be in my home stealing my 5 year old $100 PC: you'd be stealing from mansions.  

Bots are 'valuable' not because they make the best plays but because they never get tired.  24 hours on a 30% win rate gives you more than 2 hours on a 60% win rate.  

So f you've been losing regularly, it probably wasn't to bots.  It's probably due to a mix of bad drafts and harder competition.  I know I used to be a 0-2 runner and now 5 wins seems to be the low average.  I also seem to be getting better luck in drafts.  

And by 'luck' I MEAN luck.  A 12 win paladin with 2 Tirions on my EU account.  My Asian account is at 9-1 now with 3 evis, a solid curve and Rag/BK/Deathwing (though, as usual, DW has proven useless).  This, combined with a better knowledge of how to draft to curve rather than just 'the best cards' along with a better undertanding of trading between tempo, card advantage, and health means I'm no longer a source of free wins.  Many are in my shows now.

4 damage not great?  That's the sweet spot.  Kills most normal creatures and keeps it out of range of Priest removal. 

Not a nerf. Just a text correction.

If they were able to exploit 3 of a card, why WOULD they triple frostbolt and not fireball or $(#)$#( Pyro?  Typically, when I see someone cheat they don't go soft to hide it.  You'll see 5 Rags on the board and them spamming taunt.

And if it exists.. sort of odd that you didn't see it again.  Once a map hack shows up in SC, it tends to spread pretty fast.

I'm thinking it's based on what you fear and the meta.  The current rage/fear is on unbuffed cards or cards that don't live long enough to make a silence worthwhile.  While rush is a big issue, what gives me the shivers are Paladins and Priests, thus Spellbreaker.  Besides, afterwards there's a 4/3 on the board.  I never like dealing with a threat then not being able to follow up on it with a threat.