Man, to deserve a full thread opened just to stick one up on a group of people on the internet who has apparently been harsh on blizz's new toy. Its like these guys spat into your cup of coffee one day and you swore to never let them get away with it.
I personally thought that many were pulling their hairs off their head over something that's only distantly related to hearthstone proper, when in reality is mostly a pve game, but given how mercs were announced, you can't really blame them for their skepticism. There's always the chance that blizz caught on to the negative press (I mean its up on pcgamer too, its hardly just random guys shouting on the internet) and then tweaked it before unveiling. Either way, if mercs is up for a nice start, that's good for everyone; no need to rub it up anyone's noses.
I'm going to guess the text change to Monstrous Macaw is in case it gets a deathrattle buff to exclude it from triggering itself in that case. Would I be in the right ballpark?
It's still very rough around the edges and there's probably a bunch of minions that can be replaced or improved upon. I'm actually considering Circus Medic for healing + lategame burst.
Secret Mages had had up to 80% winrates in Wild for over two years in a row before the Quest Warlock archetype appeared, and nobody ever cared.
And I strongly disagree that Warlock is currently broken. I had a pretty decent winrate versus them with my current Prismatic Murloc Paladin while climbing to Legend during the last week.
There are Mercs where positioning matters: Tirion, for example, can provide Divine Shield to adjacent allies. Bru'kan zaps adjacent enemies with chain lightning, so positioning can matter defensively, as well, if you're playing PvP. We even saw it in Trump's video, when the Caster Air-Elemental boss blasted both of his Protectors and killed them simultaneously because they were adjacent to each other.
You also should consider that, in Heroic, strategy will matter even more as the stakes go up. It's just like Pokemon or any PvE strategy game, really: starting out there won't be many choices for characters or movesets, but with time and energy you can expand your roster and really dive into the meat of the game.
Man, to deserve a full thread opened just to stick one up on a group of people on the internet who has apparently been harsh on blizz's new toy. Its like these guys spat into your cup of coffee one day and you swore to never let them get away with it.
I personally thought that many were pulling their hairs off their head over something that's only distantly related to hearthstone proper, when in reality is mostly a pve game, but given how mercs were announced, you can't really blame them for their skepticism. There's always the chance that blizz caught on to the negative press (I mean its up on pcgamer too, its hardly just random guys shouting on the internet) and then tweaked it before unveiling. Either way, if mercs is up for a nice start, that's good for everyone; no need to rub it up anyone's noses.
It seems Trump got his hands on an early access account so he could demonstrate the early stages of Mercenaries to the benighted masses eager fans. And OH BOY are the haters getting shut down bit by bit as new information trickles out.
As I predicted, they had to allow new players to build a village without having a huge pile of gold saved up; otherwise, you just wouldn't be able to play. That's exactly how it works -- all the basic buildings are free. That's right -- FREE. No need to tap into your precious gold reserves and cannibalize your Hearthstone card pack fund, you stupid overreacting babies precious darlings.
You get enough coins to upgrade some abilities before you even finish the tutorial. You also get some packs from bonus quests just for doing the first few bounties (which are extremely fast and easy), so all starting players will be well on their way to a nice robust collection.
I'm sure haters are still gonna hate (because reasons), but those reasons just aren't going to hold any water anymore.
Your opinion places you in a TINY minority of players who like Warlock being utterly broken in Wild. To not acknowledge this is really myopic. Blizzard doesn't design the game with you alone in mind - they have to try to please the maximum number of players.
Crafting a whole deck golden is on you. They were always going to change things, and you simply didn't plan well for the future.
Same here. Knowing that we don't have many Mercs or any items to choose at the start (grind needed for everything) - it can get boring pretty quickly. So the only differences at the start will be different encountered enemies, that's it.
Although I have to admit - we don't know, how fast we can grind other Mercs and stuff. If grind is fast - then my concern isn't worth much.
If the grind is painfully slow, well... I can only say for myself there - I will get bored before I grind enough stuff to have fun.
So far I am disappointed, I expected more, especially gameplay-wise. For example - more tactical choices (positioning matters?), different game board (maybe with hex fields?) - so that moving, positioning and other gameplay choices matter even more.
Seeing how the buffs targetted Beast Hunter specifically and they said the kept them subtle in anticipation of the mini set I have high hopes (since Wailing Caverns was a complete disappointment in that regard)
The thing that surprised me the most is how aggressively pinging face is actually quite a legitimate win strategy, especially if you keep your opponent busy with Neophytes and Watchposts.
Cornnelius Roame isn't actually bad in this meta, it's just that most decks don't actually need him or can't use him due to deckbuilding restrictions (Quest Shaman would really appreciate him, but due to the overload shenanigans it's hard to actuallly get him out on the field). He's not essential to the deck anyways, but provides critical mass for card draw
Azalina Soulthief saw play in some hyper aggro decks that wanted an option for late game reload, so I imagine the new Mindrender Illucia will still be viable for that narrow purpose in highly aggressive Shadow Priest decks. Given the low card draw Priest has that might be good, but it's still a shame that the card no longer offers any disruption potential for slower control decks. Combo disruption seems like a great expression of the Control Shadow Priest archetype, so I hope we'll see more (and more focused) attempts at that in the future.
so... ilucia gives you a copy of your opponent's hand, but do you still have your deck? so if you use your opponent's draw cards, do you draw cards from your deck? and do these cards remain in your hand when the effect of ilucia ends?
She is indeed loyal to the Wrynn family - just Anduin at this point - as well as being his personal spy and genuinely being his BFF (there's a chapter in Before the Storm which describes her as Anduin's most trusted friend). She is also proud to be a blood elf, which would naturally push her towards the Horde.
Despite all that, she does retain independence from the factions, and often serves as a messenger between them as she's welcome in both. This was most clear at the end of BfA and start of Shadowlands where she was present at both Horde and Alliance meetings. She even said "It saddens me that the Alliance and Horde can only seem to set aside their differences in the face of total annihilation. If we do prevail against N'Zoth, will you yet again turn your blades on each other?" Note she uses 'we' in the first clause of the second sentence, but 'you' in the second clause. I.e. she's in the fight against N'Zoth, but distances herself when it comes to the faction war(s).
So yeah, she's neutral. She has friends on both sides and I don't think she has ever been shown to do anything antagonistic to either faction. Will she help the Alliance? Absolutely. Will she help the Alliance defeat the Horde? Probably not.
--------------------------
After 6+ years of being a rogue main in Hearthstone I thought it was time I learned Valeera's lore fully. Hence why I know all this stuff, and also why I'd be annoyed if she's actually not going to be usable when Mercs. releases.
I'm not deeply familiar with WOW lore. Is Valeera REALLY neutral, being BFF with Alliance king? I know she claims that her allegiance is with Wrynns and not with Alliance, but doesn't it make her de-facto Alliance supporter?
I think warlock in particular is destined to dominate an untouched Wild mode because the class is built on getting massive upsides alongside big downsides. Over time cards get added to turn those downsides into upsides, and Wild reaches a critical mass where decks are filled with cards that essentially have 2 major upsides with no downside. No other class really has that, and certainly not on the same scale. That's why warlock gets hit so much more often than anyone else in Wild.
Leaving it alone is fine if you like playing warlock, and indeed against warlock, but for everyone else it sucks. Your stance of wanting Wild to be completely untouched is perfectly valid, but until they decide to split Wild into curated and untouched versions, they need to at least try to ensure a reasonable class diversity. Unfortunately for warlock, that means it's probably going get hit over and over again until the end of time.
Well considering datamines show that the miniset is most likely going to be Deadmines (see article on main page), i'm guessing were going to see a new Edwin VanCleef or another Vanessa VanCleef. My guess is on Edwin VanCleef, because Vanessa VanCleef is already in the core set. To be honest, im not sure what edwins effect could be because there is so much potential. He would of course be a rogue card, but he could be a tech card, Find the Imposter support card, or a stealth Rogue card. (reminiscing of him having stealth in beta) Also he could push Pirate Rogue*, in a similar way as Wailing Caverns pushed Freeze Mage. Of course this is all based on the theory that the mini set actually is deadmines. If it is not deadmines, then it will probably be Stockades. Which i bet will push elemental shaman or elemental mage some more (thought that one of the bosses there was an elemental?) And we will get another Hogger.
Either way i expect a questline support card this set, similarly to Sky Gen'ral Kragg. But with how powerful questlines already are, i'm scared about any kind of questline support.. Actually if it the mini set isn't deadmines, but actually stockades: In b4 Hogger reprint: "If you played a quest this game, summon 2 2/2 gnolls with taunt". But still, any questline support is still scary.
*I didnt play much WoW but doesnt the deadmines dungeon end on a giant ship in the middle of a cave? Actually on Edwin VanCleefs art is a ship on the background, so i think i recall this correctly?
Trump's f2p early access shreds haters' concerns
nicely said.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Gets a Massive Patch Tomorrow - Datamined Leapfrogger Nerfed Confirmed
I'm going to guess the text change to Monstrous Macaw is in case it gets a deathrattle buff to exclude it from triggering itself in that case. Would I be in the right ballpark?
Trump's f2p early access shreds haters' concerns
Hey man, im just hyped that the new game seems cool, tho i reckon the boards are a bit dull but i guess i can understand that
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
Deck ID Not Found
It's still very rough around the edges and there's probably a bunch of minions that can be replaced or improved upon. I'm actually considering Circus Medic for healing + lategame burst.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
Care to share list?
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
Secret Mages had had up to 80% winrates in Wild for over two years in a row before the Quest Warlock archetype appeared, and nobody ever cared.
And I strongly disagree that Warlock is currently broken. I had a pretty decent winrate versus them with my current Prismatic Murloc Paladin while climbing to Legend during the last week.
Early Access Look at Hearthstone Mercenaries Gameplay - First 2 Tutorials, Upgraded Account, Party Building, & More From Slysssa
There are Mercs where positioning matters: Tirion, for example, can provide Divine Shield to adjacent allies. Bru'kan zaps adjacent enemies with chain lightning, so positioning can matter defensively, as well, if you're playing PvP. We even saw it in Trump's video, when the Caster Air-Elemental boss blasted both of his Protectors and killed them simultaneously because they were adjacent to each other.
You also should consider that, in Heroic, strategy will matter even more as the stakes go up. It's just like Pokemon or any PvE strategy game, really: starting out there won't be many choices for characters or movesets, but with time and energy you can expand your roster and really dive into the meat of the game.
Trump's f2p early access shreds haters' concerns
Man, to deserve a full thread opened just to stick one up on a group of people on the internet who has apparently been harsh on blizz's new toy. Its like these guys spat into your cup of coffee one day and you swore to never let them get away with it.
I personally thought that many were pulling their hairs off their head over something that's only distantly related to hearthstone proper, when in reality is mostly a pve game, but given how mercs were announced, you can't really blame them for their skepticism. There's always the chance that blizz caught on to the negative press (I mean its up on pcgamer too, its hardly just random guys shouting on the internet) and then tweaked it before unveiling. Either way, if mercs is up for a nice start, that's good for everyone; no need to rub it up anyone's noses.
Trump's f2p early access shreds haters' concerns
It seems Trump got his hands on an early access account so he could demonstrate the early stages of Mercenaries to the benighted masses eager fans. And OH BOY are the haters getting shut down bit by bit as new information trickles out.
As I predicted, they had to allow new players to build a village without having a huge pile of gold saved up; otherwise, you just wouldn't be able to play. That's exactly how it works -- all the basic buildings are free. That's right -- FREE. No need to tap into your precious gold reserves and cannibalize your Hearthstone card pack fund, you stupid overreacting babies precious darlings.
You get enough coins to upgrade some abilities before you even finish the tutorial. You also get some packs from bonus quests just for doing the first few bounties (which are extremely fast and easy), so all starting players will be well on their way to a nice robust collection.
I'm sure haters are still gonna hate (because reasons), but those reasons just aren't going to hold any water anymore.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
well, sheep, F rip to my Even mage in wild xD
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
Your opinion places you in a TINY minority of players who like Warlock being utterly broken in Wild. To not acknowledge this is really myopic. Blizzard doesn't design the game with you alone in mind - they have to try to please the maximum number of players.
Crafting a whole deck golden is on you. They were always going to change things, and you simply didn't plan well for the future.
Standard and Wild Balance Updates Arrive on Tuesday - Mindrender Illucia No Longer Swaps Decks or Cards, The Demon Seed Banned in Wild
This was never the case though, unless you only played Combo decks and Illucia always got part of your puzzle pieces since in can also miss this
Early Access Look at Hearthstone Mercenaries Gameplay - First 2 Tutorials, Upgraded Account, Party Building, & More From Slysssa
Same here. Knowing that we don't have many Mercs or any items to choose at the start (grind needed for everything) - it can get boring pretty quickly. So the only differences at the start will be different encountered enemies, that's it.
Although I have to admit - we don't know, how fast we can grind other Mercs and stuff. If grind is fast - then my concern isn't worth much.
If the grind is painfully slow, well... I can only say for myself there - I will get bored before I grind enough stuff to have fun.
So far I am disappointed, I expected more, especially gameplay-wise. For example - more tactical choices (positioning matters?), different game board (maybe with hex fields?) - so that moving, positioning and other gameplay choices matter even more.
Miniset speculation
Seeing how the buffs targetted Beast Hunter specifically and they said the kept them subtle in anticipation of the mini set I have high hopes (since Wailing Caverns was a complete disappointment in that regard)
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
Ironically enough, it'S actually Warlock who was killing the format.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
The thing that surprised me the most is how aggressively pinging face is actually quite a legitimate win strategy, especially if you keep your opponent busy with Neophytes and Watchposts.
Cornnelius Roame isn't actually bad in this meta, it's just that most decks don't actually need him or can't use him due to deckbuilding restrictions (Quest Shaman would really appreciate him, but due to the overload shenanigans it's hard to actuallly get him out on the field). He's not essential to the deck anyways, but provides critical mass for card draw
Standard and Wild Balance Updates Arrive on Tuesday - Mindrender Illucia No Longer Swaps Decks or Cards, The Demon Seed Banned in Wild
Azalina Soulthief saw play in some hyper aggro decks that wanted an option for late game reload, so I imagine the new Mindrender Illucia will still be viable for that narrow purpose in highly aggressive Shadow Priest decks. Given the low card draw Priest has that might be good, but it's still a shame that the card no longer offers any disruption potential for slower control decks. Combo disruption seems like a great expression of the Control Shadow Priest archetype, so I hope we'll see more (and more focused) attempts at that in the future.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
so... ilucia gives you a copy of your opponent's hand, but do you still have your deck? so if you use your opponent's draw cards, do you draw cards from your deck? and do these cards remain in your hand when the effect of ilucia ends?Blizzard Answers Frequently Asked Mercenaries Questions, Confirms 153 Mercenary Packs Available Through Campfire Tasks at Launch
Hm, I think that earlier they said that PvP doesn't grant xp to your party.
Blizzard Answers Frequently Asked Mercenaries Questions, Confirms 153 Mercenary Packs Available Through Campfire Tasks at Launch
She is indeed loyal to the Wrynn family - just Anduin at this point - as well as being his personal spy and genuinely being his BFF (there's a chapter in Before the Storm which describes her as Anduin's most trusted friend). She is also proud to be a blood elf, which would naturally push her towards the Horde.
Despite all that, she does retain independence from the factions, and often serves as a messenger between them as she's welcome in both. This was most clear at the end of BfA and start of Shadowlands where she was present at both Horde and Alliance meetings. She even said "It saddens me that the Alliance and Horde can only seem to set aside their differences in the face of total annihilation. If we do prevail against N'Zoth, will you yet again turn your blades on each other?" Note she uses 'we' in the first clause of the second sentence, but 'you' in the second clause. I.e. she's in the fight against N'Zoth, but distances herself when it comes to the faction war(s).
So yeah, she's neutral. She has friends on both sides and I don't think she has ever been shown to do anything antagonistic to either faction. Will she help the Alliance? Absolutely. Will she help the Alliance defeat the Horde? Probably not.
--------------------------
After 6+ years of being a rogue main in Hearthstone I thought it was time I learned Valeera's lore fully. Hence why I know all this stuff, and also why I'd be annoyed if she's actually not going to be usable when Mercs. releases.
Standard and Wild Balance Updates Arrive on Tuesday - Mindrender Illucia No Longer Swaps Decks or Cards, The Demon Seed Banned in Wild
cards are not balanced aroudn duels though, so if a card needs abuff n standard/wild but not in duels it will still get it
Blizzard Answers Frequently Asked Mercenaries Questions, Confirms 153 Mercenary Packs Available Through Campfire Tasks at Launch
I'm not deeply familiar with WOW lore. Is Valeera REALLY neutral, being BFF with Alliance king? I know she claims that her allegiance is with Wrynns and not with Alliance, but doesn't it make her de-facto Alliance supporter?
Sorry for off-topic.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's Stormwind Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, and Redesign Patch Arriving Tuesday
I think warlock in particular is destined to dominate an untouched Wild mode because the class is built on getting massive upsides alongside big downsides. Over time cards get added to turn those downsides into upsides, and Wild reaches a critical mass where decks are filled with cards that essentially have 2 major upsides with no downside. No other class really has that, and certainly not on the same scale. That's why warlock gets hit so much more often than anyone else in Wild.
Leaving it alone is fine if you like playing warlock, and indeed against warlock, but for everyone else it sucks. Your stance of wanting Wild to be completely untouched is perfectly valid, but until they decide to split Wild into curated and untouched versions, they need to at least try to ensure a reasonable class diversity. Unfortunately for warlock, that means it's probably going get hit over and over again until the end of time.
Miniset speculation
Well considering datamines show that the miniset is most likely going to be Deadmines (see article on main page), i'm guessing were going to see a new Edwin VanCleef or another Vanessa VanCleef. My guess is on Edwin VanCleef, because Vanessa VanCleef is already in the core set. To be honest, im not sure what edwins effect could be because there is so much potential. He would of course be a rogue card, but he could be a tech card, Find the Imposter support card, or a stealth Rogue card. (reminiscing of him having stealth in beta) Also he could push Pirate Rogue*, in a similar way as Wailing Caverns pushed Freeze Mage. Of course this is all based on the theory that the mini set actually is deadmines. If it is not deadmines, then it will probably be Stockades. Which i bet will push elemental shaman or elemental mage some more (thought that one of the bosses there was an elemental?) And we will get another Hogger.
Either way i expect a questline support card this set, similarly to Sky Gen'ral Kragg. But with how powerful questlines already are, i'm scared about any kind of questline support.. Actually if it the mini set isn't deadmines, but actually stockades: In b4 Hogger reprint: "If you played a quest this game, summon 2 2/2 gnolls with taunt". But still, any questline support is still scary.
*I didnt play much WoW but doesnt the deadmines dungeon end on a giant ship in the middle of a cave? Actually on Edwin VanCleefs art is a ship on the background, so i think i recall this correctly?
Standard and Wild Balance Updates Arrive on Tuesday - Mindrender Illucia No Longer Swaps Decks or Cards, The Demon Seed Banned in Wild
Buff to Cargo Guard? It is already really annoying to play against in duels with this bomb-shuffling hero power.