Hearthpwn

Two eyes for an eye!

I have "Showdown at Blackrock Mountain". Apparently it's the name for the weekly brawl

They mishandled the announcement. That's why some people on the Internet are all the rage about the prices and whatnot.

Now, I couldn't care less about cosmetic stuff. What I care about is the game experience. Let's say I'm offered to get a new hero skin for free - I'd likely ask if it's possible to get 7 packs instead. Packs are all about game experience, cosmetics is not.

The problem is, Hearthstone as a game feels a bit stale at the moment. I've been playing it for about a year, and it hasn't changed all that much. We've got 2 adventures and an expansion worth of total 180 cards... and, well, that's it. No new game modes, no radical changes to the existing ones, no new card mechanics that would feel different, and a somewhat slow pacing of releasing the new content.

So, a huge announcement is what I've been waiting for. I mean, HUGE. And I get a $10 hero skin instead. Of course I'd hate it - which I do - because it feels like I'm being ignored. It's not even about the price.

Back to the game experience, if they've announced anything that has to do with it along with some cosmetic additions, I'd be a much much happier customer. And I definitely wouldn't bother to rant on the forums.

go wisps deck

I really cannot fathom why shaman has so many built-in RNG. Your hero power is random. Your AoE is random. Your best burst/removal spell is random. Now, your new best class minion is random too!

This uncalled for randomness is one of the issues that turned people off playing shaman. I mean, it's not the kind of RNG people are having fun with, like these gimmick Randuin decks or whatever. Seeing your Lightning Storms rolling for 2 all day long is frustrating.

Quote from Multiloquent »

So then if they have no other cards, except Basic Set and BRM then Rend Blackhand becomes their ultimate equalizer. Now they can head into Ranked and when their opponent summons Ragnaros the Firelord, now little TImmy finally won't Insta-Lose, he summons his Rend Blackhand and now has established dominance.

Speaking of basic cards, Polymorph does the same job so much better. 

I never really get why all the "GvG sucks" discussions are about RNG or Dr. Boom. Well, Boom is somewhat too strong indeed, but that's not the point.

The point is, IMO there are 2 major game design issues that are often overlooked thanks to the RNG whine. First, I don't like the way tribes handled at all, they feel too forced (why rogues would need that pirate guy? why shamans would play murloc decks? generally, why try to fix the tribes that suck - now all of them but mechs do - by printing lackluster cards?) and too lazy (because of the tribal decks' swarm nature). Second, there is not enough support for combo decks. Well, instead of getting support they are being nerfed into near oblivion (hello miracle and freeze mage), which is in no way vital for the game as combo decks offer completely different playstyles. 

I believe the undertaker nerf to be a matter of time. This card on its own makes a deathrattle-aggro archetype viable for every single class in the game, creating a somewhat unhealthy environment where on the bad days you face one and the same deck ad nauseam regardless of different hero portraits. Leeroy was nerfed with the same reasoning, not OP, just too good for a number of different decks.

Thoughts on new cards:

Shielded Minibot is great if you manage to drop it on turn 2. However, I've never seen him in the opening hand :<

Micro Machine can win you games on its own if unanswered. Use Blessing of Kings on it, GG.

Ship's Cannon is basically a River Croc 99% of the time. I'd say it was the weakest card in the deck.

I used Scarlet Purifier's battlecry only once, killing off a Zombie Chow. Most of the time it was a vanilla 4/3.

Imo Piloted Sky Golem is the second best neutral epic in arena, surpassed only by Sea Giant. It goes 2-for-1 easily even if the pilot is a shabby 3/3.

Also, Humility was surprisingly good. Once it hit Fel Reaver, and the Reaver burned like 12 cards or so. It was hilarious watching my opponent trying their best to get rid of it.

All the new class legendaries either open up the space for new archetypes to be created, or just have some flashy unique effect. Well, all but this piece of crap.

Anti-aggro, huh? Explosive Sheep + ping does the same thing for 4 mana, except that I have control over the effect and don't scream to the opp "Hey, I've just drawn a War Golem, prepare your BGH". 

An awesome class legendary could return mages to constructed play while not further improving their performance in the arena. I resisted to believe the leak for that reason, and now it's official. Sadness.

It's bad against aggro - it does nothing if you keep it in the starting hand, and it's miserable in a late-game topdecking scenario (you'll probably lose or win then anyway). Generally, you'd like to draw it on turn 2-3 and drop it as a 5/7 body on turn 5, a situation you'll see once in 20 games or so. Even then the card is vastly inferior to other popular 5-drop options like Loatheb or Sludge Belcher. 

It's bad against rogue because Sap. Ugh, is it ever not bad?

Maybe it can be used in a token deck alongside Muster for Battle, Imp Masters and some deathrattle guys. I doubt if this kind of deck is able to perform on competitive level though.

An iteration of Far Sight, nice. Lets keep our fingers crossed that hunters will also get their Kidnapper