Support NeoGAF

[Haunted]

So Overwatch just added a Profile screen where you can view tons of relevant stats like wins, kills, time played, etc. etc. both overall and broken out by hero. All of this is viewable by yourself and others on your friends list. The game is in closed beta and won't be released for another few months.

Hearthstone has been out nearly 2 years and all we get are total ranked wins, total arena wins and largely irrelevant class levels, viewable only by yourself.

Team 5 plz.

Clearly some design lead on the Overwatch team doesn't have the same aversion to stats as the Hearthstone leads. Real Shane, I hate that decision to not surface any relevant stats. I've used a stat tracker for a while and liked it, but I wasn't happy to run a third party software every time I run Hearthstone to get access to something that really just should be shown in game in the first place, it's a hassle.

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

That's interesting because mid range hunter was the deck I was most interested in. Still, the only non-adventure legendaries I have are Justicar and Antonidas, I don't think I've ever seen Justicar Hunter so I assume it's not great.

 

[irfaanator]

the only hunter legendary you need is savannah highmane.

then webspinners for 2 more. and then ram wrangler for the 5th one.

ez game.

ez game ez life

 

[Zoggy]

I don't think I've ever seen Justicar Hunter so I assume it's not great.

make it viable, man. be a pioneer.

Spoiler

don't, it sucks

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Wow Justicar doesn't even make Hunter do 4 damage, that's trash.

 

[Officerrob]

Wow Justicar doesn't even make Hunter do 4 damage, that's trash.

For good reason

 

[Zoggy]

salt time...

fuck savage roar. i want it to get nerfed into the ground.

no, forget, i don't even want it to get nerfed. blizzard should delete that card from the library and also remove any wins they got using it from their record.

and ban druids for 6 months

 

[Haunted]

:lol :lol :lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BfnpjsVKwg

It's Fel Reaver all over again!

 

[bjaelke]

salt time...

fuck savage roar. i want it to get nerfed into the ground.

no, forget, i don't even want it to get nerfed. blizzard should delete that card from the library and also remove any wins they got using it from their record.

and ban druids for 6 months

Standard can't come soon enough

 

[FeD.nL]

I was just thinking the March 9th announcement is 2 days before the old release date of the Warcraft film. Would it be possible that the new set is going to be based around Warcraft 1 content? They obviously could not delay the Hearthstone content when the film was delayed and I have to assume the date for this announcement was probably set in stone a good while ago.

And for the first standard set it would be fun to go back to the roots of Warcraft as well as making new players excited for the film, since Blizzard has a pretty big hand in it.

 

[FiveSix4Three]

Standard can't come soon enough

I was playing that Reno list last night. Pretty fun.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Y'all taking about Implosion makes me think that even if it were a 3-mana, "deal 2 damage to a minion and summon 2 Imps" it'd still see some play. Like, rolling a 3 or 4 is just gravy.

 

[IceMarker]

I hope Inspire decks become a competitive thing in Standard.

 

[Xanathus]

Thanks Blizz for announcing standard so early, now I know not to spend any gold on your garbage packs. 10215 gold and counting.

 

[ViviOggi]

Thanks Blizz for announcing standard so early, now I know not to spend any gold on your garbage packs. 10215 gold and counting.

On the flipside arena rewards are the worst they've ever been. I have all classic cards except for a few terrible legendaries and while I'm missing some epics and legendaries from the other sets TGT is worthless and GvG soon will be, so every pack is 40 dust.

 

[Karsticles]

Wow Justicar doesn't even make Hunter do 4 damage, that's trash.

Honestly, the Hunter buff is the most reasonable one. They should all be a 50% change instead of 100% change. Once a Warrior drops this card, it's basically GG for my Zoolock deck. I just can't produce a sustained 4 damage per turn while dealing with whatever creatures he drops as well. I think the idea of buffed hero powers is cool, but I dislike the fact that it's a flat skill increase without a counter and no mana increase. That's pretty damn good.

Y'all taking about Implosion makes me think that even if it were a 3-mana, "deal 2 damage to a minion and summon 2 Imps" it'd still see some play. Like, rolling a 3 or 4 is just gravy.

I think I would still use it, but I'd really rather 4 mana and 3 damage/imps.

 

[SonicXtreme]

Implosion just shouldn't summon past health hit. Rolling a four on a one health minion and filling the board is my only problem with it. Even if you roll a four on a leper it should spawn one so people have to think twice before dropping it and getting mad value almost all the time. A very mindless card in zoo decks as it is because of that

 

[Apathy]

Honestly, the Hunter buff is the most reasonable one. They should all be a 50% change instead of 100% change. Once a Warrior drops this card, it's basically GG for my Zoolock deck. I just can't produce a sustained 4 damage per turn while dealing with whatever creatures he drops as well. I think the idea of buffed hero powers is cool, but I dislike the fact that it's a flat skill increase without a counter and no mana increase. That's pretty damn good.


I think I would still use it, but I'd really rather 4 mana and 3 damage/imps.

Both warriors and priest essentially healing for 4 each turn once trueheart is played is just nuts. Healing for 4 also means really really sticky minions for priests that can trade very well

 

[Karsticles]

Implosion just shouldn't summon past health hit. Rolling a four on a one health minion and filling the board is my only problem with it. Even if you roll a four on a leper it should spawn one so people have to think twice before dropping it and getting mad value almost all the time. A very mindless card in zoo decks as it is because of that

Hmmm. As an Imp-plosion user, I usually try to avoid using it on low health creatures because I feel like it's a waste of damage. Kind of like using Shadow Word: Death on a Reckless Rocketeer when you have a 2/1 on the board to take care of it.

That said, if it were 3 damage/imps for 4 mana consistently, I would be fine with this limitation. I know I am irked when I have nothing but a 2/1 on the board and turn 4 is used to kill my minion and spawn 4 imps to deal with, so that seems like a fair limitation of the card.

 

[ZealousD]

Y'all taking about Implosion makes me think that even if it were a 3-mana, "deal 2 damage to a minion and summon 2 Imps" it'd still see some play. Like, rolling a 3 or 4 is just gravy.

2 damage 2 imps would be an OP 2 mana card but a below average 3 mana card.

3 damage 3 imps is balanced at 4 mana.

4 damage 4 imps is balanced at 6 mana.

 

[Tarazet]

Hmmm. As an Imp-plosion user, I usually try to avoid using it on low health creatures because I feel like it's a waste of damage. Kind of like using Shadow Word: Death on a Reckless Rocketeer when you have a 2/1 on the board to take care of it.

That said, if it were 3 damage/imps for 4 mana consistently, I would be fine with this limitation. I know I am irked when I have nothing but a 2/1 on the board and turn 4 is used to kill my minion and spawn 4 imps to deal with, so that seems like a fair limitation of the card.

It shouldn't summon imps based on overkill, but rather actual health removed. IMO.

 

[Karsticles]

It shouldn't summon imps based on overkill, but rather actual health removed. IMO.

I agree with you, if it isn't clear.

I usually use Imp-plosion to help burn down a big target like Deathlord (RIP) anyway, so I am fine with the limitation. It's my only direct damage card, so I personally don't find it useful to blow on X/1 creatures too often unless I have Juggler on the screen already.

 

[ViviOggi]

CW isn't even favored vs Zoo, it's even at best and clearly in favor of Zoo if the player understands the matchup and prioritizes building the stickiest possible board over going for maximum face damage.

Justicar only matters once you're starting to stabilize and by that point the Zoo player is almost out of the game already. All it means is a shorter window to topdick lethal.

 

[Intrigue]

Implosion just shouldn't summon past health hit. Rolling a four on a one health minion and filling the board is my only problem with it. Even if you roll a four on a leper it should spawn one so people have to think twice before dropping it and getting mad value almost all the time. A very mindless card in zoo decks as it is because of that

Agreed

 

[Owzers]

the wait for standard is brutal, every bad match only makes you want it more.

 

[Haunted]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

 

[Ridli]

So my question is, for a new(er) player, who doesn't want to spend real money, is it possible to play well?, how would someone recommend a player like this to play the game?

Failing the not spending money thing, if someone were to invest some real money into it, what would be the best bang for buck.

Aggro and zoo decks (hunter warlock shaman) are the most effective budget decks. Sure they can benefit from a few select rares/epics and adventure cards, but they work. The unfortunate thing is they can be countered, and sometimes you will just run into continuous anti-aggro and feel like you can't win anything. It sucks, but it happens. Just take a break for the day and try again later.

The silver lining is that your matches should be short, and if you aggressively reroll for quests tailored for your archetype you can make steady gold progress each day.

If you do decide to spend actual money, adventures are more likely to give you playable high value cards than random packs. League is generally recommended, since Naxx is being phased out. BRM is also fine, but only truly neccessary for very specific decks.

 

[Owzers]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

probably....but i need some hope. It's probably just going to be a ton of freeze mages and aggro shamans/hunters and then people asking Blizzard to fix it.

 

[Apathy]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

And again, we don't know what new cards we're getting, that week also determine what standard will be like. We can't be so happy about the changes yet.

 

[Dre]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

Especially since Face Shaman only loses Crackle and that's hardly a dealbreaker.

 

[ViviOggi]

If True face decks get out of hand you can consistently counter them with the current tools, assuming there will be new neutral heals to make up for the loss of Healbot.

You can't do that with tempolords as they gain board and health advantage by default and with Life Tap and cards like Drake, Lore, Divine Favor, Conjurer and MC even your theoretically card advantage doesn't mean shit.

 

[Intrigue]

Especially since Face Shaman only loses Crackle and that's hardly a dealbreaker.

Face hunter doesn't lose much either.


Hopefully some changes coming across the board.

Druid combo needs to be re-balanced.

Flamewaker is another card needing a fix, but maybe with removal of flamecannon/unstable portal it wont be as bad. Depending on what they print tho.

 

[Celegus]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

Well yeah, but it will at least be a slightly different flavor of BS.

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Flamewaker is another card needing a fix, but maybe with removal of flamecannon/unstable portal it wont be as bad. Depending on what they print tho.

I dunno, I feel like tempo mage already loses enough for Flamewaker to be okay, scientist's gone too. I think it'll depend on what new tools mage gets in the next expansion.

 

[danowat]

Aggro and zoo decks (hunter warlock shaman) are the most effective budget decks. Sure they can benefit from a few select rares/epics and adventure cards, but they work. The unfortunate thing is they can be countered, and sometimes you will just run into continuous anti-aggro and feel like you can't win anything. It sucks, but it happens. Just take a break for the day and try again later.

The silver lining is that your matches should be short, and if you aggressively reroll for quests tailored for your archetype you can make steady gold progress each day.

If you do decide to spend actual money, adventures are more likely to give you playable high value cards than random packs. League is generally recommended, since Naxx is being phased out. BRM is also fine, but only truly neccessary for very specific decks.

Thank you!

 

[Tagyhag]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

Definitely not, we'll still have shitty Reno decks for example.

But! It'll be a lot better than what we have now, that's not even debatable.

And if they end up making good nerfs? Even better.

Yes there will still be decks that everyone can agree on that will either be really strong or unfair, but it won't be to the degree that we have now.

 

[Pooya]

I can see doomhammer getting nerfed actually. make doomhammer cost 7 with no overload. It won't be viable in a face deck then. Similar to gorehowl then. It's quite ridiculous now. People like to mock shaman class but there are a lot of absurd cards in there, it's just that there were never a consistent deck with them. With new cards any time it can become very broken.

They are removing finishers from the game one by one, miracle rogue gone, warsong gone, now druid combo is going away. Alex potentially changed. Shaman is the only class after those with a lot of burst finisher in standard.

 

[accel]

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

I also think so. It'll just be different decks. (But I am fine with it, etc.)

 

[usp84]

Druid says "My Greetings" in turn 7 and proceeds to get me to 1 HP.Top deck Reno Jackson

"I Greet You" ..... Conceeds.Yeah get rekt

 

[Tarazet]

I can see doomhammer getting nerfed actually. make doomhammer cost 7 with no overload. It won't be viable in a face deck then. Similar to gorehowl then. It's quite ridiculous now. People like to mock shaman class but there are a lot of absurd cards in there, it's just that there were never a consistent deck with them. With new cards any time it can become very broken.

Doomhammer is the most awkward card in an already awkward library for Shaman. Yes it's a lot of damage, but you're extremely likely to overload on turn 4. If you don't, and you play Doomhammer on curve, next turn you have 4 mana, didn't play a minion the last turn, and have to deal with Sylvanas or Thaurissan. If you use Doomhammer + Rockbiter on turn 6 it locks you out of Dr. Boom the next turn. It's a great card, but the overload mechanic makes it hard to play it early enough to maximize its potential.

 

[Owzers]

Is any aggro shaman worrying about not being able to play dr boom on curve though?

 

[Intrigue]

I can see doomhammer getting nerfed actually. make doomhammer cost 7 with no overload. It won't be viable in a face deck then. Similar to gorehowl then. It's quite ridiculous now. People like to mock shaman class but there are a lot of absurd cards in there, it's just that there were never a consistent deck with them. With new cards any time it can become very broken.

They are removing finishers from the game one by one, miracle rogue gone, warsong gone, now druid combo is going away. Alex potentially changed. Shaman is the only class after those with a lot of burst finisher in standard.

I think doomhammer is ok, the problem is you can rockbiter the weapon.

Nothing better than getting nailed for 16 on turn 5 by a weapon.

 

[LyleLanley]

Alexstraza Mage has to be the most used deck right? I feel like everyone I play is using literally the exact same set of cards.

 

[Dahbomb]

Honestly, the Hunter buff is the most reasonable one. They should all be a 50% change instead of 100% change. Once a Warrior drops this card, it's basically GG for my Zoolock deck. I just can't produce a sustained 4 damage per turn while dealing with whatever creatures he drops as well. I think the idea of buffed hero powers is cool, but I dislike the fact that it's a flat skill increase without a counter and no mana increase. That's pretty damn good.

Zoolock crushes Warrior with or without Justicar. They need 3 armor ups with Justicar to make it worth using over Shield Maiden in matches that finish within 10 turns.

The cost to that hero power was that they played a 6 mana 6/3 garbage minion. If they were getting rushed down up to that point then that is a play that loses them the game.

Right now that is, after the format switch it might reverse roles.

Standard won't be the paradise people are making it out to be.

Bullshit decks are gonna bullshit, you'll see.

Agreed but playing HS without dealing with garbage RNG cards like Unstable Portal, Shredder, Dr Boom, Implosion, Crackle every other game would make it much better.

 

[Intrigue]

Alexstraza Mage has to be the most used deck right? I feel like everyone I play is using literally the exact same set of cards.

I see way more tempo mages

8/12 games yesterday was against mage 6 of those were tempo.

 

[LyleLanley]

I see way more tempo mages

8/12 games yesterday was against mage 6 of those were tempo.

Maybe it's because I'm trying out a new deck and I'm back in the minor leagues but I'd say about 30% of the people I play now use the exact same Alexstraza deck.

 

[bjaelke]

Today's Tavern Brawl Is: ..Decks assemble.

:/

 

[Nirolak]

New interview: http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/10/h...and-why-we-still-shouldnt-expect-new-classes/

Probably the most notable thing that they haven't said before is that they're still interested in making cards with the power level of Dr. Boom, but they just want to make sure they're Paladin-specific going forward.

GamesBeat: Was there ever any thought about nerfing Dr. Boom or something like that? Or was Standard something you had in the back of your mind that would eventually solve that problem?

Brode: Nerfing is — it can do some good things, and it can do some harm. What I think is dangerous is to imagine that we could just make Hearthstone balanced if we just nerfed this one tier of cards. No matter what, there will be a best card. There will be a best deck. If we nerf Dr. Boom, some other card will be the best card. Then we nerf that one and we end up in a cycle. It creates a lot of churn and disruption in the environment.

Now, you may want more shakeup in the metagame. But I think it’s better to do that as part of the cadence of content releases than a cycle of always nerfing what’s best every two weeks. Dr. Boom is very powerful. Maybe it’s unfortunate that it was a neutral card that sees play in so many decks. But I don’t think it’s the kind of card we should be nerfing.

GamesBeat: Maybe those really powerful cards are going to be more class-specific down the line? We saw that already in The Grand Tournament.

Brode: Yeah, I think so.

 

[FeD.nL]

I really wonder what are going to be the 'holy grails' out of the basic set moving forward. I mean the 4/5 for 4 statline has basically been untouched, especially with GvG rotating out. And frostbolt for example is still in every mage deck, will they ever print a better frostbolt or is that going to be a staple for Hearthstone mages till the end times, same with fireball? Like I know it's nice for new people to have these tools but it also limits design space in a way.

We've seen them print a better Bloodfen raptor with Huge toad. I really wonder if they are going to touch these staple class cards (that are not necessarily OP) from the basic set moving forward (Truesilver/Backstab/Frostbolt etc).

 

[Professor Lich]

New interview: http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/10/h...and-why-we-still-shouldnt-expect-new-classes/

Probably the most notable thing that they haven't said before is that they're still interested in making cards with the power level of Dr. Boom, but they just want to make sure they're Paladin-specific going forward.

At least they're honest about it!