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[charlequin]

They should introduce mounts and feature the white raptor from back in the OG days.

I had a friend who was smart enough not to trade his in back when the original "swap your epic mounts" option showed up and he was getting wide-eyed compliments on it for years afterwards, lol.

I don't feel like this has been the case in Hearthstone, though. All the cards I mentioned, plus the huge Shaman push in WOTOG, all have created bad results.

I think the stuff that causes problems naturally shows up as looking more "pushed" because it's getting more attention, but there's a lot of other cards that are beneficial for the game overall that fall in the category. Just looking at the Classic set, cards like Thalnos, Sylvanas, Azure Drake, or VanCleef are all pretty clearly pushed and haven't generally speaking been negatives for the game. Pushing individual cards is one of the most effective ways to create interesting archetypes.

Twenty years of MTG/CCG balancing does not relate to Hearthstone whatsoever.

Eh, game design is game design. Pretty much 100% of the design lessons Blizzard has learned about Hearthstone in its lifespan (up to and including the current questions about weapon efficiency) are related to issues that MTG design ran into previously (and in a lot of cases it was ex-MTG designers who came in and pushed Blizzard to fix them!)

The point of buffs should be to help new players have a fighting chance against people with better collections.

This is a kind of illusory benefit. People who have random old buffed cards lying around already are the people with larger collections. You can get an equally good effect by just printing new cards at Common and Rare, i.e. the realm where even very casual players can easily craft them.

I do think they need to both release content more often and tweak balance more often, but I don't blame them for trying to figure out the best approach for both carefully before rolling it out. With frequent balance changes especially I think they've (correctly) identified that nerfing is worse than rotating in a lot of ways, so it's worth it to some degree to take the time and produce an all-encompassing philosophy they can work with in the future.

 

[squidyj]

Yes except they'll never be the priority over the other 99%.

Like, you don't have a survey on what players care about.

Catering your game to people who don't really care about it, who barely play and don't spend any money isn't a valid strategy.

 

[Blizzard]

It somehow still boggles my mind every time I face some rank 20 player with 5+ legendaries in a deck. How can you play so long / invest so much money and still not at least win to 19 or something?

 

[bjaelke]

It somehow still boggles my mind every time I face some rank 20 player with 5+ legendaries in a deck. How can you play so long / invest so much money and still not at least win to 19 or something?

Ladder anxiety, it is only the 6th day of the season, portrait farming, casuals, smurf accounts clearing out quests. Plenty of reasons to roll out all the legendaries at rank 20.

 

[charlequin]

And I agree with Kripp about one-drops. When a one-mana card like Tunnel Trogg requires that you have an immediate (usually two-mana) answer or you lose, that sucks. And even if you answer it with that two-mana card, they gain tempo because you spent two mana dealing with a one-mana play. This is why he (correctly) says that removal *should* be cheaper than the minions they deal with. Otherwise, you're never properly punished for playing the minion when, at worst, you still gain tempo if it's removed.

Yeah, this is all entirely correct. There's a reason (here I go with this again) that one-drops in MTG are typically shitty. The problematic one-drops are particularly bad here since they so often have 3 health and so are particularly difficult to get off the board quickly.

 

[Blizzard]

Also a dragon priest just pulled Alexstrasza from a Netherspite Historian. Discover cards make me so sad.

 

[butts]

Playing anything off-meta right now is like repeatedly punching yourself in the dick. Even at rank 18 right now.

 

[Jadax]

Playing anything off-meta right now is like repeatedly punching yourself in the dick. Even at rank 18 right now.

That can be both good and bad...if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[charlequin]

Also a dragon priest just pulled Alexstrasza from a Netherspite Historian. Discover cards make me so sad.

Discover is the single best mechanic in Hearthstone, dude. Keeps variance between individual games high without dumb RNG mechanics and rewards good strategic thinking. (Also innately cuts towards midrange and control decks.)

FWIW, Alex isn't usually at the top of my pick list off Netherspite in most scenarios.

 

[Blizzard]

Discover is the single best mechanic in Hearthstone, dude. Keeps variance between individual games high without dumb RNG mechanics and rewards good strategic thinking. (Also innately cuts towards midrange and control decks.)

FWIW, Alex isn't usually at the top of my pick list off Netherspite in most scenarios.

It provides a lot of RNG in the cards it chooses, while also providing even better cards than pure random selection.

I detest playing against priests which makes me dislike it even more.

 

[Johnlenham]

It provides a lot of RNG in the cards it chooses, while also providing even better cards than pure random selection.

I detest playing against priests which makes me dislike it even more.

so much this. I hate how they can seemingly just wipe everything off the board with poxy 2 mana or something cards

 

[bjaelke]

The WoW token system is now live on NA.

http://www.wowhead.com/news=259982/wow-token-to-battle-net-balance-now-live-on-us-realms

 

[wiibomb]

The WoW token system is now live on NA.

http://www.wowhead.com/news=259982/wow-token-to-battle-net-balance-now-live-on-us-realms

what is that?

 

[Fersis]

what is that?

I dunno... but when in doubt blame the meta.
THIS META WONT STAND MAN!

 

[bjaelke]

what is that?

"an electronic balance players can use to purchase Blizzard Entertainment games and services."

It lets you buy Hearthstone packs and other games/services available in the Battle.net client.

 

[HunRevan]

I am having this issue "game completed and recorded" and I have to restart after that since yesterday on EU server. Anyone has this problem as well? No, its not my connection.

 

[The Lamonster]

Someone link me to the hottest, most winningest deck right now. Shaman, right?

 

[ZealousD]

"an electronic balance players can use to purchase Blizzard Entertainment games and services."

It lets you buy Hearthstone packs and other games/services available in the Battle.net client.

More specifically, WoW tokens are a measure to curb both illegal gold farming and gold inflation in WoW. The tokens are a virtual currency that can be exchanged for in-game gold or a real-money equivalent that can be used to buy other online Blizzard services. So you can essentially buy gold for real-money legally now, and the exchange rate between real-money and gold is player driven on the auction house, which curbs gold inflation.

Extra Credits explains the anti-inflation element here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumZLwFXJqE

 

[gutshot]

So you can effectively now grind for gold in WoW and use it to buy Hearthstone packs?

 

[ZealousD]

So you can effectively now grind for gold in WoW and use it to buy Hearthstone packs?

Yes.

But because the exchange rate will essentially be player-driven, you'll essentially be earning the real-money equivalent on a Chinese gold farmer's salary.

 

[Nirolak]

Yeah, this is all entirely correct. There's a reason (here I go with this again) that one-drops in MTG are typically shitty. The problematic one-drops are particularly bad here since they so often have 3 health and so are particularly difficult to get off the board quickly.

Blizzard's sentiment on this has been that they still want powerful one drops to support archetypes, but that they want to ensure they don't scale well into the late game.

They compared a card like Mistress of Mixtures (a card that favors control against aggro) as a success, whereas cards like Mana Wyrm and Tunnel Trogg are way too powerful as the game goes on, because they scale infinitely.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Yeah, this is all entirely correct. There's a reason (here I go with this again) that one-drops in MTG are typically shitty. The problematic one-drops are particularly bad here since they so often have 3 health and so are particularly difficult to get off the board quickly.

If by typically you just mean limited fodder then sure but I'd argue MTG can more than compete in busted 1 drops. They usually don't scale as insanely as they do in Hearthstone but then they get haste (charge ) or flying (don't care for no taunt) and you can run 4 of each. Which at 60 cards makes them more consistent turn 1 plays than in hearthstone.

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Make the extra Wrym/Trogg damage valid for that turn only?

 

[ZealousD]

Blizzard's sentiment on this has been that they still want powerful one drops to support archetypes, but that they want to ensure they don't scale well into the late game.

They compared a card like Mistress of Mixtures (a card that favors control against aggro) as a success, whereas cards like Mana Wyrm and Tunnel Trogg are way too powerful as the game goes on, because they scale infinitely.

Cards like post-nerf Undertaker and Lowly Squire scale infinitely, but they aren't too powerful because they don't scale too quickly and their butt isn't too big.

 

[Tagyhag]

Wait why are some people saying it's a leaked adventure? I thought the next big thing is an expansion.

I mean if your interpretation is that it "messes with [their] game's cash flow" then maybe you don't really know why they don't do it?

Buffing old cards doesn't actually make many people happy in reality. You make random older cards suddenly meta-dominating top-tier cards and you irritate people who already dusted them when they were shitty, you fail to promote any new content to excite more casual players, and if you screw up you wind up having to take the same card you buffed and re-nerf it, which looks bad. It's not that it costs them a lot of money, it's just that it's just as much work to do as making new cards but with less benefit for everyone. There's zero incentive except to pander to the idea that they need to make symbolic gestures towards not wanting to make money.

I'm not saying make Magma Rager a 5/5 3 drop, but it'd be nice if cards that we all know will never see the light of day in any deck suddenly became playable again.

I don't think Hearthstone's current model is viable for sustaining new players. Eventually they might go the WoW route and cater solely to their core players?

 

[Miletius]

Wouldn't surprise me if Un'Goro released around March. There is a huge questline in it that is a Zelda tribute so it would be kinda synergistic to release it then.

I liked Un'Goro also. It's kinda like the area you go right before the plaguelands (which, in my mind, was always the end game in 1.0). So there's a lot of nostalgia in it for me.

 

[Pooya]

that title might sound like an adventure but I don't think would start standard year without an expansion. You need a lot more class cards than 2-3 in one adventure to make meaningful changes. It's probably an expansion.

 

[wiibomb]

Wait why are some people saying it's a leaked adventure? I thought the next big thing is an expansion.

Hearthstone schedule has always been Expansion -> Adventure -> Expansion.

I'm expecting an Adventure. (I hope it is)

 

[Johnlenham]

turn 4 odd fkin 12/12 van cleef just knocked me back to 20 ffs. How can breaking out of these few ranks be so god damn hard.

 

[Nirolak]

Hearthstone schedule has always been Expansion -> Adventure -> Expansion.

I'm expecting an Adventure. (I hope it is)

They implied they were switching to Expansion -> Adventure -> Expansion as the yearly cadence, and then recently implied they'd doing even more frequent content than that, but still starting each rotation with an expansion.

Cards like post-nerf Undertaker and Lowly Squire scale infinitely, but they aren't too powerful because they don't scale too quickly and their butt isn't too big.

They basically want 1 drops, when played late, to be less strong, even if they're quite strong on Turn 1. Similarly, even if you played it on Turn 1, they don't want that 1 drop to still be majorly threatening on Turn 4.

 

[BananasWithGuns]

They implied they were switching to Expansion -> Adventure -> Expansion as the yearly cadence, and then recently implied they'd doing even more frequent content than that, but still starting each rotation with an expansion.

I was not aware of that last bit. Are we possibly looking at 4 content releases a year?

 

[Yaboosh]

I was not aware of that last bit. Are we possibly looking at 4 content releases a year?

They are so vague and non committal it is hard to say what they are actually going to do.

I wouldn't be surprised to see small monthly releases of cards in addition to the expansions and adventures.

 

[Sheroking]

This is the earliest I've hit Rank 5 in a season.

Reno Monkey Priest. Who knew?

 

[charlequin]

I was not aware of that last bit. Are we possibly looking at 4 content releases a year?

More like 6, probably. 3 -> 4 doesn't really change things much, while moving all the way to bimonthly content drops is a pretty big deal for keeping the meta dynamic even if most of them are smaller.

 

[Dahbomb]

More like 6, probably. 3 -> 4 doesn't really change things much, while moving all the way to bimonthly content drops is a pretty big deal for keeping the meta dynamic even if most of them are smaller.

If this is how it will be in 2017 then that will be extremely palatable.

 

[Drkirby]

Why are people suddenly expecting more frequent content releases? Their plan stated last year was 1 every 4 months, with only a single adventure per year (Since Adventures actually take them more time to create than an expansion)

 

[wiibomb]

I just know that given the HS economy, more content just means the game would be crippling for me. It is extremely difficult right now to get cards in this game, more content means it would be even more difficult to get things than it is already now without mindlessly throwing money at the game.

I'm personally not very eager for more content because of this...

 

[fertygo]

oops

 

[thepotatoman]

Just thinking if they ever do a tournament mode, they should do two entry tiers. A casual one at 150 gold for arena like rewards, and a hardcore one at 300 gold with a larger and more top heavy reward system. I wouldn't want 1000 gold making impossible to play more than once a month.

I'd also love special deckbuilder tournaments, where there's like a set time when everyone has to queue up, and no one knows the special deckbuilding rule until like 30 minutes in advance. Or maybe just giving all players a collection randomized on a per bracket basis, but all the players in that same bracket have the same cards to build decks from.

 

[Blizzard]

That sounds like a mini-brawl and it would be fun. That's one annoying thing about Arena, people get different sets than you.

Speaking of Arena, it feels like 10+ Arena runs since I've had Mage as an option. It's getting ludicrous at this point. Maybe I should start writing down statistics for the classes I'm offered.

 

[scarlet]

Tournament mode is good idea. But have no idea how it would works with more then 10k people playing(?) and cheaper entry fee.

Tavern hero brawl is the closest we have to tournament mode.

 

[thepotatoman]

Tournament mode is good idea. But have no idea how it would works with more then 10k people playing(?) and cheaper entry fee.

Tavern hero brawl is the closest we have to tournament mode.

You matchmake into a smaller bracket. Something between 8 and 32 players i guess.

If you do 32 player brackets you might need to do like Starcraft 2 and give it a 6 hour timer between tournament times, so everyones matchmaking at the same time and you're not waiting an hour to find 32 players to start a game. But I bet hearthstone is popular enough to get away with DOTA length matchmaking for 8 players at any time of day if they wanted.

Having to play potentially 6 best of three matches might be too much time commitment to have 32 player brackets anyway.

8 seems good. That's probably like a 2-3 hour commitment.


EDIT: Eh, thinking about it more, I guess Arena but with best of 3s is all you need.

 

[Tagyhag]

Kripp is transcending into a new plane of salt.

I think if he loses one more match he'll quit for the night.

 

[Lyng]

Shaman is such a broken class.
Even their control deck is stronger then most others. Its beyond stupid.

Cant believe their jade cards got printed. The amount of clueless designers in team5 is staggering.

Edit: and then after that you meet a pirate warrior. The amount of spells etc it takes to remove aggro minions is too much.
Man they are clueless.

Two in a row. completely outplayed them and made them empty their hand by turn 3 removing everything. But me now drawing reno made me loose.
Thats so effing insane.
Aggro can win even when top dicking due to the insane power of their low mana cards. Its such a huge design flaw.

How the hell did this go so sideways. Its been getting worse with every expansion.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

Tournament mode is good idea. But have no idea how it would works with more then 10k people playing(?) and cheaper entry fee.

Tavern hero brawl is the closest we have to tournament mode.

If game freak can do it for Pokemon TCG online its ridiculous that Blizzard cannot find a way to implement it, same for replays which are in the new Yugioh mobile game.

Team 5 is just all around incompetent.

 

[charlequin]

Team 5 is just all around incompetent.

Yes, I'm certain that, as with Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Starcraft, Blizzard created Hearthstone entirely accidentally and propelled it to being the most popular game of its ilk entirely through incoherent, random keyboard-mashing.

 

[The Lamonster]

I finally unlocked the recruit-a-friend murloc.

Took a little over an hour of cheesing it with an alt account.

 

[Lyng]

Yes, I'm certain that, as with Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Starcraft, Blizzard created Hearthstone entirely accidentally and propelled it to being the most popular game of its ilk entirely through incoherent, random keyboard-mashing.

While the polish and overall game is very solid, the balancing etc since quiet abit below the high standard of the other teams.

 

[charlequin]

It provides a lot of RNG in the cards it chooses, while also providing even better cards than pure random selection.

I mean, that's the point. A game like Hearthstone has a Scylla and Charybdis problem to deal with: if there's no variance the games become boring, while if there's too much variance the element of skill vanishes. Discover is a great mechanic because it actually helps on both sides: it gives players access to semi-unpredictable sets of cards they don't usually run (which makes games play out differently) but it does so in a way where its efficacy is heavily modulated by the skill and tactical decision-making of the player doing it.

If by typically you just mean limited fodder then sure but I'd argue MTG can more than compete in busted 1 drops.

To be clear, my point was that the reason average 1-drops in MTG aren't constructed viable, are typically bad ideas in limited, etc. is because of experience with how scary really good one-drops are.

While the polish and overall game is very solid, the balancing etc since quiet abit below the high standard of the other teams.

This is what everyone who complains about Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo says too.

 

[BeauRoger]

Kripp is transcending into a new plane of salt.

I think if he loses one more match he'll quit for the night.

I kind of understand him though since he usually is much better than the people he faces, so losing for him mostly comes down to unfavorable rng.