I see you touched on this later on so I'll comment below.
I'm not sure what decks are fun to play against, though of course fun is very subjective. I have fun if I'm winning, but close games feel like a coin flip due to the nature of Hearthstone and card games. I'm also not sure "fun to play against" is necessarily used by the designers for balance.
That's true. I recognize that. I guess for me, winning is not enough. I have to do it "My Way". Thing is, I don't mind losing if it's a "good" game, but the designers are not obligated to create a game that meets my specific standards of satisfaction.
What is the Stone Boar quest?
I'm sorry, this was a typo. I believe it was Dean that was talking about the Stone Boar TEST, where, during the design stage if someone started using Stone Boar to exploit a mechanic, then it was probably too dangers to include in the game. Stone Boar was like the canary in the cage--if people were using and abusing it (due to it's low cost), then they needed to be careful with it.
I can't imagine them actually sitting down with Stone Boar and playtesting the quest, or, if they did and it was OK, then there is a serious disconnect between what the designers think is "OK" and what the players do.
I was wondering if you felt the same way about heavy auctioneer decks and quest mage decks. Quest mage is even worse about interactivity to me, with 4+ ice blocks and a strategy involving surviving as long as possible without the enemy able to do anything until you get the cards that let you win.
To be honest, I haven't lost to Quest Mage so I don't know how it works. I imagine they tried to create a "D-Shift" kind of deck (from Shadowverse), but the combo in that game takes about 8-9 turns to complete. I don't like Freeze Mage, though, and if Quest Mage works like that then I don't know that it's good for the game.
I guess that comes down to a discussion of whether there is a place for Combo decks in Hearthstone. Personally, I don't like them, whether it's Freeze Mage, Leeroy → Faceless, etc.
You don't present much of an argument for #4 and #5. Why do you feel the Priest cards are dumb? Because they can swing a game too quickly?
How many games have you played against them? I find this very hard to believe anywhere below rank 20 just because of how many mediocre players there are, and how many of them will try to play Quest Rogue. I've been taking notes on the games I play so I can see how many I play against which classes, for example. And what deck(s) do you play? There are at least 5 that have decent to great chances of beating Quest Rogue, if I recall correctly.
I think the Inner Fire / Divine Spirit "combo" is not much better, but I can live with it as you're usually required to keep a minion on the board for multiple turns before you can fully buff it (not always).
Those are the only two cards I have an issue with in Priest. Priest, especially recently, has always been a gimmick class (outside of Dragon Priest) with strong deathrattles and card burgling effects. I like that gimmicky mechanic and the Control playstyle. I think them taking steps to (re)enable old archtypes like Silence Priest is nice, but I don't like how you can go from almost no board to a OTK just from a DS, DS, IF.
Pirate Warrior, at least my impression of it, isn't much better, but at least they're as honest as say...face hunter.
I still think charge is a dumb mechanic that doesn't make much sense in a game like Hearthstone (as opposed to Eternity or Magic).
As for beating Quest Rogue, I think I beat it once at Rank 14-ish when Murloc Paladin. People say the answer to beating QR is just to play aggressive decks (read, aggro), so my two choices are: play an aggro deck (which I don't like doing), or lose while Quest Rogues play with themselves (which isn't fun either).
*edit* After consideration, I don't think there are many Charge minions in Un'Goro, so the designers may be dialing it back.
Good. I think handling it more like Shadowverse (where there are two charge mechanics, one that allows face attacks and one that only allows for creature attacks) is a bit more fair, but some of the most busted / hated cards in Shadowverse also have face charge.
Sorry, I think I was just tilting and getting frustrated that the deck archtypes I like to play don't seem to be adequately represented at this time. Meta is still early, and there's probably lots to choose from, but frustrating to see so many people on ladder just go for the low-reaching fruit of Quest Rogue, Pirate Warrior, Taunt Warrior (of which I have different issues with).
edit: Don't get me wrong. I just crafted two Primordial Glyphs to try the more aggressive Secret Mage / Medievh Mage that someone posted earlier. I don't know if I'll like it, but I would have MUCH rather spent that dust on something like Shaku, Shera-chan, or some Vile-something Killer Plants.
Technically Charged Devilsaur, the 8-mana 7/7 that has a battlecry preventing it from hitting face the first turn it comes out.
The charge mechanic, when done like this, is fine...I think.
Problem is, there are still cards with "real" charge, so these new cards just get treated as garbage.