Losing a Merc is simply too big a penalty in PvE when you're running anything less than the most optimized comps. PvE needs another penalty besides just "1/6th of your team is now gone."
Further, PvE is far too static with not enough variation between matches in a run -- if I just defeated a comp when I had fewer treasures, why send me up against it again? There needs to be variation, possibly through difficulty escalation or minor enemy lineup changes, as the run progresses.
And treasures range from the actually disadvantageous to the perfect with lots of trash inbetween. Serious rebalancing is needed.
Why craft legendaries from the mini set? When you're interested in multiple legendaries from the set, it's more efficient to buy the full set with gold: 2000 gold vs 3200+ dust, while they are roughly 1:1 in value.
I have about 40K unused dust, so I can craft whatever I want with no regret .... Gold is kept for next expansion :)
Thanks for the comp and video! I tried to mirror the video exactly and use the trick of casting the freeze on Psychus to bypass N'Zoth's immunity. Unfortunately my mercs didn't do quite enough damage to finish off Psychus, so that got frozen and N'Zoth sent all my mercs to the bench.
I had to improvise and put Yrel into play, as she had acquired a reward ability that deals repeat damage for each Holy spell used. That turned out to be the right move, as there was enough damage in it (probably helped by earlier buffs from Velen) to finish off the new spawns plus N'Zoth in a single turn.
Why craft legendaries from the mini set? When you're interested in multiple legendaries from the set, it's more efficient to buy the full set with gold: 2000 gold vs 3200+ dust, while they are roughly 1:1 in value.
I've always liked big shaman highrolls, while this kills the turn 1/2 Ancestor's Call I hope it can still be playable if there are less Quest Warrior around
Four sets a year puts a sour taste in my mouth, I wasn't a fan of mini-sets when they were announced mainly because they feel like an EA (the company not early access) game. Now with 4 sets a year we revolve back to my age old argument of "What percentage of these cards are actually useful, and why aren't there more ways to play with my cards that doesn't involve Wild?"
There's an easy way to figure out the Legendary situation...... make the Legendaries worth getting. If they're good or above average players will gravitate towards buying packs to get them or get the dust required to craft them.
Players don't need a full collection to enjoy the game, but a collection is worthless when their Standard cards go to the infinite power void that is Wild.
I'm gonna disagree with you on that last paragraph because I wouldn't call it "Shifting", but rather adding onto their monetization.
I'm all for one Legendary per Class in an expansion, it'll be an easy way to define the class during that expansion cycle.
Unless the gameplay is overhauled, Im not optimistic that it would be.
PvE is too much about efficiency. Play fire comp and destroy everything, and when that's not good enough then move to holy, or nature bros. Stuff like beasts, nagas, pirates, old gods, all these aren't bad themselves against the creeps and then the boss or dopplegangsters completely destroys them.
And then there's composition. Lose something like voljin or geddon in their respective comps to creeps and where do you go from there?
All this can be avoided simply by allowing us to switch out mercs, or at least removing retaliation damage, because whenever you're running attackers there's always the common situation where your merc literally kills himself because the whole pve game is seemingly balanced around casters.
I think they are able to balance the F2P experience with the reward track accordingly.
What worries me more, is the P2P experience tbh! Right now, prepurchase bundles correlate to 20€/month. A 4th bundle would be a significant increase in yearly cost for players that want to collect these unique skins and care about a full collection. Sure, you can allways miss out on one and would have enough ressources anyways (i think you can even do that right now) but knowing myself, that's not what's gonna happen. We're basically put in front of a dilemma - miss out on stuff or pay more...
The financial aspect aside, more cards surely are cool from a gameplay standpoint. Even though i have my concerns that pre expansion excitement will be lowered a lot when they occure so often. The last few patches were short allready and i haven't had the time to really understand the meta.
Which is exactly why he said they'd make some "significant rewards track changes" to increase the rate of gold acquisition if they moved to 4 sets a year.
Dean has previously stated that if they go to 4 expansions, the mini-sets are gone.
I think 4 sets per year could work pretty well since they can do a lot more variety with the extra set. Mini-sets are currently just building on the set that it comes out with, so let's throw in another whole new theme of fun instead. I think it would give the game more staying power.
Though, with that said, they need to figure out the legendary situation.
~25 legendary cards in each set, we'd be getting 100 legendary cards in a year, whereas now its ~87 with the 25 from a main set and then 4 from the mini-set. The big problem Hearthstone has with their design now is that each class always gets 2 legendary cards, and you have to also have some legendary cards that are neutral. The problem only gets worse once the next class shows up within the next couple of years.
I'm not saying people need full collections to enjoy the game, but it is very unfortunate that players would be even more limited in what they could obtain - assuming nothing changes.
I like to think that Blizzard has been doing a decent job over the past couple of years and shifting a large amount of their monetization over to cosmetics, so it might make sense to look again at the base pack system. Maybe Legendary cards become a bit easier to obtain (pity timer to 30?), maybe their dust cost gets reduced a chunk, or maybe we just go back to having 1 legendary for each class in each expansion. Hell, fewer class legendaries might break the game less too.
If we are talking mid average, players who reach lv.200 each expansion would have 80 packs + 2K gold for miniset for the next one, and that's barely enough to get you around 4-6 legendaries. This is a 4 months worth of XP.
If we're having 4 expansions, it would be 3 months total XP, netting around 55 packs + 2K miniset per expansions. And that's sucks. 3-4 legends if you're lucky. Plus if that happens, I won't be playing anymore. Free is fun when you can at least be competitive, with those numbers above. It won't happen.
Man, I even checked earlier today to see if there was going to be an AMA. I didn't realize I need to check every 90 minutes if I don't want to miss it.
If they move to 4 expansions a year, I’m quitting. I’m a whale but goddamn I can’t imagine doing a preorder, then a mini-set, then a preorder, then a mini-set, then a preorder, then a mini-set, then a preorder, and then another mini-set to end the year. There are enough cards that never see play so why is it even a thought to add more
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Losing a Merc is simply too big a penalty in PvE when you're running anything less than the most optimized comps. PvE needs another penalty besides just "1/6th of your team is now gone."
Further, PvE is far too static with not enough variation between matches in a run -- if I just defeated a comp when I had fewer treasures, why send me up against it again? There needs to be variation, possibly through difficulty escalation or minor enemy lineup changes, as the run progresses.
And treasures range from the actually disadvantageous to the perfect with lots of trash inbetween. Serious rebalancing is needed.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Recent Balance Changes - Control Warrior and Fel DH Hit, Big Shaman Bites the Dust
I have about 40K unused dust, so I can craft whatever I want with no regret .... Gold is kept for next expansion :)
Maximum Occupancy: 14 - Paladin Throne of the Tides Achievement
Are you aware there aren't even 30 cards in this deck?
How to Complete Y'Shaarj Mercenaries Event Task 8 "You're a Kid Now" - Tips & Parties Inside
Thanks for the comp and video! I tried to mirror the video exactly and use the trick of casting the freeze on Psychus to bypass N'Zoth's immunity. Unfortunately my mercs didn't do quite enough damage to finish off Psychus, so that got frozen and N'Zoth sent all my mercs to the bench.
I had to improvise and put Yrel into play, as she had acquired a reward ability that deals repeat damage for each Holy spell used. That turned out to be the right move, as there was enough damage in it (probably helped by earlier buffs from Velen) to finish off the new spawns plus N'Zoth in a single turn.
Weekend of Wild Hearthstone Decks - Quest Hunter, Thief Rogue, Highlander Taunt Warrior, & More
Some of this look really fun! Couldn't have asked for anything better for this weekend!
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Recent Balance Changes - Control Warrior and Fel DH Hit, Big Shaman Bites the Dust
Why craft legendaries from the mini set? When you're interested in multiple legendaries from the set, it's more efficient to buy the full set with gold: 2000 gold vs 3200+ dust, while they are roughly 1:1 in value.
86% Winrate? Curse Warlock Is EVEN More CRAZY & Powerful! Throne of the Tides Mini-Set | Hearthstone
Awesome, that sounds like a good time!
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Recent Balance Changes - Control Warrior and Fel DH Hit, Big Shaman Bites the Dust
Neptulon the Tidehunter and Ozumat
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Recent Balance Changes - Control Warrior and Fel DH Hit, Big Shaman Bites the Dust
I've always liked big shaman highrolls, while this kills the turn 1/2 Ancestor's Call I hope it can still be playable if there are less Quest Warrior around
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
I believe Dean is genuine when he says that, but Blizzard has other ideas.
Four sets a year puts a sour taste in my mouth, I wasn't a fan of mini-sets when they were announced mainly because they feel like an EA (the company not early access) game. Now with 4 sets a year we revolve back to my age old argument of "What percentage of these cards are actually useful, and why aren't there more ways to play with my cards that doesn't involve Wild?"
There's an easy way to figure out the Legendary situation...... make the Legendaries worth getting. If they're good or above average players will gravitate towards buying packs to get them or get the dust required to craft them.
Players don't need a full collection to enjoy the game, but a collection is worthless when their Standard cards go to the infinite power void that is Wild.
I'm gonna disagree with you on that last paragraph because I wouldn't call it "Shifting", but rather adding onto their monetization.
I'm all for one Legendary per Class in an expansion, it'll be an easy way to define the class during that expansion cycle.
Edit: Here’s what I said to Dean about it.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Recent Balance Changes - Control Warrior and Fel DH Hit, Big Shaman Bites the Dust
What cards did you craft? Ancestor's Call?
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Recent Balance Changes - Control Warrior and Fel DH Hit, Big Shaman Bites the Dust
Lightning Bloom is of no use now. Pity I just crafted a couple of Big Shaman cards :(
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Unless the gameplay is overhauled, Im not optimistic that it would be.
PvE is too much about efficiency. Play fire comp and destroy everything, and when that's not good enough then move to holy, or nature bros. Stuff like beasts, nagas, pirates, old gods, all these aren't bad themselves against the creeps and then the boss or dopplegangsters completely destroys them.
And then there's composition. Lose something like voljin or geddon in their respective comps to creeps and where do you go from there?
All this can be avoided simply by allowing us to switch out mercs, or at least removing retaliation damage, because whenever you're running attackers there's always the common situation where your merc literally kills himself because the whole pve game is seemingly balanced around casters.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
I think they are able to balance the F2P experience with the reward track accordingly.
What worries me more, is the P2P experience tbh! Right now, prepurchase bundles correlate to 20€/month.
A 4th bundle would be a significant increase in yearly cost for players that want to collect these unique skins and care about a full collection.
Sure, you can allways miss out on one and would have enough ressources anyways (i think you can even do that right now) but knowing myself, that's not what's gonna happen. We're basically put in front of a dilemma - miss out on stuff or pay more...
The financial aspect aside, more cards surely are cool from a gameplay standpoint. Even though i have my concerns that pre expansion excitement will be lowered a lot when they occure so often. The last few patches were short allready and i haven't had the time to really understand the meta.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
That's a hard thing to swallow for merc players. The PvE endgame better be extremely deep, fun and full of content when it launches.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
4 expansions means no miniset? correct?
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Which is exactly why he said they'd make some "significant rewards track changes" to increase the rate of gold acquisition if they moved to 4 sets a year.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Dean has previously stated that if they go to 4 expansions, the mini-sets are gone.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Dean has previously stated that if they go to 4 expansions, the mini-sets are gone.
I think 4 sets per year could work pretty well since they can do a lot more variety with the extra set. Mini-sets are currently just building on the set that it comes out with, so let's throw in another whole new theme of fun instead. I think it would give the game more staying power.
Though, with that said, they need to figure out the legendary situation.
~25 legendary cards in each set, we'd be getting 100 legendary cards in a year, whereas now its ~87 with the 25 from a main set and then 4 from the mini-set. The big problem Hearthstone has with their design now is that each class always gets 2 legendary cards, and you have to also have some legendary cards that are neutral. The problem only gets worse once the next class shows up within the next couple of years.
I'm not saying people need full collections to enjoy the game, but it is very unfortunate that players would be even more limited in what they could obtain - assuming nothing changes.
I like to think that Blizzard has been doing a decent job over the past couple of years and shifting a large amount of their monetization over to cosmetics, so it might make sense to look again at the base pack system. Maybe Legendary cards become a bit easier to obtain (pity timer to 30?), maybe their dust cost gets reduced a chunk, or maybe we just go back to having 1 legendary for each class in each expansion. Hell, fewer class legendaries might break the game less too.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
If we are talking mid average, players who reach lv.200 each expansion would have 80 packs + 2K gold for miniset for the next one, and that's barely enough to get you around 4-6 legendaries. This is a 4 months worth of XP.
If we're having 4 expansions, it would be 3 months total XP, netting around 55 packs + 2K miniset per expansions. And that's sucks. 3-4 legends if you're lucky. Plus if that happens, I won't be playing anymore. Free is fun when you can at least be competitive, with those numbers above. It won't happen.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Man, I even checked earlier today to see if there was going to be an AMA. I didn't realize I need to check every 90 minutes if I don't want to miss it.
Rewards Track: Current progress 5.0
Wow prince charming ;), do you ever sleep?
I just hit lvl 107, without the pass. Just the daily, weekly and mercs. If i only had time to do the achievements haha
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
4 expansions is just too much, unless they take the minisets out.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
Yay Mercs content drops, but RIP anything big changing (from reading this).
Still enjoying the new task system, at least.
Also, yea, keep to 3 expansions a year, please.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #44 - Alternate Art, Dr. Boom, Dungeon Run, Tough Weapon Designs, & More
If they move to 4 expansions a year, I’m quitting. I’m a whale but goddamn I can’t imagine doing a preorder, then a mini-set, then a preorder, then a mini-set, then a preorder, then a mini-set, then a preorder, and then another mini-set to end the year. There are enough cards that never see play so why is it even a thought to add more