My personal bet would be that they change it to "Replace your hand with a copy of your opponents until the end of your next turn". Keeps the flavor, retains a mostly similar effect, but without the salt of dumping your opponents hand.
Tavish's playstyle is "mind games", creating a mini-game within the game itself for your opponent. They can hurt Tavish to prevent Aimed Shot from being as effective, but then they risk setting off a Trap. For someone who wants to mess with their enemies in PvP, this could be a really fun character; I just...don't care to do that. No idea how it'll work out in PvE, as well.
All-in-all, I have very little to say about Tavish *shrugs*
people have to realize that when you make a game that revolves around conditional statements there are bound to be issues at some point. Logic only works one way. And , or , if and only if, if then, not...ect,,,, When you put hundreds of these conditions into a game you will end up with circular logic or "busted" mechanics sooner or later.
Wild quest warlock is broken not because of the quest but because apparently armor counts as life and you can play a zero mana card and resurrect only the minions you want to resurrect . A card that makes hero power cost nothing and has no constraints when you have to use that effect also contribute to the issue.
These cards existed well before the tamsin quest. Why would blizzard change these cards now to effectively change the way only one particular deck uses them? This would make no sense. Trying to come up with a design for the warlock quest card that doesn't render the card useless in standard and simultaneously not having an absurd power level in wild isn't that easy because you are dealing with two entirely different bags of conditions.
Blizzard will ban the quest from wild until they figure out the best way to change it for both modes without having to change to many other things.
I don't know what they are nerfing in DH.....I don't even think dh is even consistent enough to warrant nerfs.
Shaman has way to many consistent answers for everything.....
Hunter is pretty consistent what are they buffing? Whatever they do buff it will be to promote another archetype besides spells or face.
One thing i know for certain is that I'll have a nice pile of dust to add to my mountain!
Sylvanas won't be winning any Speed competitions at her base level, that's for sure. I think Sylvanas has some interesting pieces, but as a whole her package is lacking. It all falls on Reclaimed Souls, which requires allies to die for her to start ramping her Attack. This can obviously be paired with summoning-Mercs, but it's still rather slow, and it's not like you want to let your actual Mercs die just so Sylvanas can get better. To me, that would just be unacceptable. Banshee Bolt doesn't risk her Health when she inflicts damage, so that's great, and For the Queen increases her Role coverage by turning enemies against each other (as in, she can inflict double damage to Protectors or Fighters by turning a Caster or Protector on them, respectively), and that's cool. However, they're not enough to turn my opinion.
All-in-all, if you replaced Reclaimed Souls with something else, I would be on board. As it is, she's just not what I want in a character.
Scabbs may lack in utility or disruption, but his damage output has some flexibility to it. The varying Speed of Wicked Stab could be the key to setting up combos, and the Stealth from Shadow Blade will always be appreciated. Honing Rod provides a means for him to ramp, as well, so he can compete with the other Fighters.
All-in-all, Scabbs is a neat character. He's basically focused on damage, with just a hint of survivability that could make him appealing.
Saurfang is another Orc character focused on - you guessed it - Orc synergy. At least he can spawn his own Orcs, and his buff is an AoE effect. They have to be damaged, though, which is kind of annoying; could be seen as a counter to AoE damage effects, although you've got Whirlwind if necessary. He's pretty straightforward: spawn some Orcs, make sure they're damaged, then buff buff buff.
All-in-all, I think Saurfang is too narrow in his usage, but what he does he does well so there ya go. I just wish the Orcs weren't so self-contained.
Rokara's ramp and damage are directly tied to the existence of Orcs in your team, so that narrows her usage considerably. Offensive Rally provides nothing but stats, which I believe is simply not worth it: you need some kind of utility or disruption, or at least a sheer output of damage to make up for a lacking ability, but this does not do that. Later on, the damage people can inflict will outpace the Health buff, even if the Attack buff will be nice for certain characters.
All-in-all, I think Rokara's lack of flexibility will make her obsolete after you start piecing together better Mercs.
It's hard to evaluate Rexxar when we don't know what the Animal Companions look like: one can assume they are the same minions from the spell Animal Companion, but who knows for certain. That said, Rexxar could easily find himself being the lynchpin of Beast comps, with Mama Bear's Claws buffing all the units you summon. He seems to lack much utility or disruption, but, again, those Animals could be the source of his strength.
All-in-all, Rexxar has a "wait and see" situation going on.
Rathorian is an odd duck. Blitzing Legion's random damage starts out higher than his Attack, but eventually they switch places. He can ramp via the weirdly-phrased Fel Command, but the Cooldown means he can't improve as quickly as other Fighters like Illidan or Samuro. And his summon is arguably better than he is when he gets it at level 5 lol. I can see a home for him in Fel or Demon packages, but he might be replaced when something better comes along. Rathorian is a Rare, though, so I guess that's to be expected.
All-in-all, Rathorian could be okay, but his kit is a bit all over the place.
From what I read and heard, Mercenaries gacha is not as predatory as other standard gachas (which preys on people's gambling tendencies and/or desire to compete). It follows the existing pack rules of pity timers and duplicate protection. These sort of "guarantees" do not exist in other gachas.
I got "trapped" in a gacha game when I took a break from HS 2 years ago (HS is so cheap compared to that one). So, I tend to avoid gacha games like the plague. This doesn't look so bad. Which gives me hope for the mode.
Wait what? I never saw that. How does (did?) that even work?
I know that leapfrogger was broken because it was all people were trying to build towards. I'm glad that beasts once again have to highroll for Goldrinn to have an end game wincondition.
Old Murk-Eye is a summoning character, and there are some who like that sort of thing. I hate Murlocs, though, so...yeah. Murk-Eye does play to the tribe well, spawning an army that can be used to overwhelm specific targets with Finvasion. That said, only three Murloc Mercs currently exist, so they are completely one-note in their team-comp. Mutanus and Morgl desperately need Murk-Eye to function, and if it falls in battle you're screwed.
All-in-all, I don't see myself using any of them, let alone Murk-Eye.
Devouring Attack's Deathblow is really cool. That's the only positive thing I can think of for this character. You need other Murlocs to utilize Devour, and that will *kill* them. That means, ideally, that you will only eat Murloc summons from Old Murk-eye, 'cause why would you kill off another Merc? You'd be putting all of your eggs in one basket. If it nets you a desperation-win then great, but you could be losing them for the rest of the run.
All-in-all, Murlocs are stupid. You need a specific team-comp for Mutanus to function best, and he could be detrimental to the health of the comp itself.
Serpent's Bite has a play on "poison damage", and that's neat. However, waiting until the end of the turn could be problematic: the enemy will be able to act, for one thing, possibly inflicting damage or healing itself out of lethal range. The other two abilities are Beast-related, but the Nightmare Viper seems *way* too slow to be useful. I'm sure its stats will improve with each tier, but still. You're supposed to heal the Viper with Mend Beast to ramp up its Health (and thus its Attack), but that means you're devoting all of your time to improving the Viper instead of defending yourself more directly. This just seems too grindy for my taste.
All-in-all, Anacondra just isn't my thing, but for someone who likes summoner characters she could be good.
There aren't too many Beasts for Krush to ramp from on the current roster, but at least he can generate more of his own. I particularly like Apex Predator's ability to repeat: this could be the payoff for AoEs bringing down everyone equally, ending the fight in a single ability. Even if it doesn't, one proc of the Deathblow could be significant. He is completely lacking in utility, though: he just Attacks, buffs and Attacks, and summons someone who can Attack.
All-in-all, Krush doesn't appear to have a lot of nuance, but maybe he doesn't need it. He does his job, and that's all you can ask for, right?
Illidan's damage output seems very impressive, provided he is given time to ramp up. He is hard-countered by abilities like Xyrella's Blinding Luminance, but hopefully not many of those exist in PvE. His equipment seems very good in that I can't find one that is distinctly better than the rest; taking less damage with Demon Shroud is great, but so too can the double-strike of the Warglaives or the enhanced ramp of Razor Fist. It really comes down to what your personal preference is, which is how it should be.
All-in-all, Illidan looks good, and I'm sure I can find a place for him on my roster.
Diablo seems super good to me. Doom Charge can significantly undermine an enemy's ability to act in a timely manner, opening them up for damage from Fire Stomp or to be nuked by an Apocalypse combo. Combine Diablo with other characters who can slow to maximize your Fire Stomp output, like The Lich King or Cairne Bloodhoof. AoEs aren't that great in this game, in my opinion, because focus-firing will be more efficient and effective, but Fire Stomp's output could be to the point where that no longer matters, and even then his other abilities could make up for this.
there's probably a chance you can get the codes though....
I remember they had that Khadgar promo once for firefighters in South Korea and you could find khadgar hero skin codes for dirt cheap (like 1$) on eBay because of it.
Samuro is...interesting. He has a good mix of survivability and damage, with the power to ramp up via Double Strike. He needs Sash of Illusion if he wants to make the most of Mirror Image, though, because it doesn't seem to copy his Attack buffs otherwise. Timing will be critical with Whirling Blade, so you don't waste the Immunity; even then, your opponent will know it's on Cooldown and thus you've left yourself open to attack afterward. Might be a moot point at that time, if Double Strike destroys them.
All-in-all, Samuro seems a bit finnicky, but for a free Rare Merc he can get the job done.
We have to look at the conditions to gaining it first. Because if its a specific code gained from purchasing something, whats stopping anyone from just buying the item via net? And if its region specific, this can be overcome with a vpn, I think.
Of course, at the end of the day its just a card back. So while it certainly sucks, I'm sure its far from the top of anyone's priority list. Team5 will likely make it available at some point to everyone.
Maybe a little bit of both? True Gacha games tend always have the "newer" thing be better than older things. So as long as we don't see "newest mercenary has overpowered abilities, equipment, skills" then I think limiting synergies is a good thing to encourage different comps, strengths, and weaknesses.
Blinding Luminance seems bonkers: you can completely negate Attack-based characters with this one ability (and even more so with the associated equipment). It has good Speed, and it inflicts some damage to boot. Xyrella's usage will live and die based on how good Blinding Luminance can be. Flash Heal is a strong single-target heal, but it is completely lacking in all other aspects; basically every-other healer has more utility or damage, while this does not. Honestly, her "power budget" is completely focused on Blinding Luminance and Atonement, so I understand why Flash Heal is so...boring. Speaking of Atonement, I think pairing her with Diablo will be great: Apocalypse guarantees double damage, and Atonement is extremely powerful at a base level.
All-in-all, I really like Xyrella, but that's almost entirely based around Blinding Luminance. I think it's just that good, and she's a free Rare.
Hearthstone Gets Constructed Balance Changes Next Tuesday - Warlock Card Ban, Priest Card Redesign, 5 Nerfs, 7 Buffs
My personal bet would be that they change it to "Replace your hand with a copy of your opponents until the end of your next turn". Keeps the flavor, retains a mostly similar effect, but without the salt of dumping your opponents hand.
Tavish Stormpike
Tavish's playstyle is "mind games", creating a mini-game within the game itself for your opponent. They can hurt Tavish to prevent Aimed Shot from being as effective, but then they risk setting off a Trap. For someone who wants to mess with their enemies in PvP, this could be a really fun character; I just...don't care to do that. No idea how it'll work out in PvE, as well.
All-in-all, I have very little to say about Tavish *shrugs*
Hearthstone Gets Constructed Balance Changes Next Tuesday - Warlock Card Ban, Priest Card Redesign, 5 Nerfs, 7 Buffs
people have to realize that when you make a game that revolves around conditional statements there are bound to be issues at some point. Logic only works one way. And , or , if and only if, if then, not...ect,,,, When you put hundreds of these conditions into a game you will end up with circular logic or "busted" mechanics sooner or later.
Wild quest warlock is broken not because of the quest but because apparently armor counts as life and you can play a zero mana card and resurrect only the minions you want to resurrect . A card that makes hero power cost nothing and has no constraints when you have to use that effect also contribute to the issue.
These cards existed well before the tamsin quest. Why would blizzard change these cards now to effectively change the way only one particular deck uses them? This would make no sense. Trying to come up with a design for the warlock quest card that doesn't render the card useless in standard and simultaneously not having an absurd power level in wild isn't that easy because you are dealing with two entirely different bags of conditions.
Blizzard will ban the quest from wild until they figure out the best way to change it for both modes without having to change to many other things.
I don't know what they are nerfing in DH.....I don't even think dh is even consistent enough to warrant nerfs.
Shaman has way to many consistent answers for everything.....
Hunter is pretty consistent what are they buffing? Whatever they do buff it will be to promote another archetype besides spells or face.
One thing i know for certain is that I'll have a nice pile of dust to add to my mountain!
Sylvanas Windrunner
Sylvanas won't be winning any Speed competitions at her base level, that's for sure. I think Sylvanas has some interesting pieces, but as a whole her package is lacking. It all falls on Reclaimed Souls, which requires allies to die for her to start ramping her Attack. This can obviously be paired with summoning-Mercs, but it's still rather slow, and it's not like you want to let your actual Mercs die just so Sylvanas can get better. To me, that would just be unacceptable. Banshee Bolt doesn't risk her Health when she inflicts damage, so that's great, and For the Queen increases her Role coverage by turning enemies against each other (as in, she can inflict double damage to Protectors or Fighters by turning a Caster or Protector on them, respectively), and that's cool. However, they're not enough to turn my opinion.
All-in-all, if you replaced Reclaimed Souls with something else, I would be on board. As it is, she's just not what I want in a character.
It Looks Like Hearthstone Battlegrounds' Heroes Are Getting Halloween Skins!
That fish is almost reason enough by itself to buy this bundle lol
Scabbs Cutterbutter
Scabbs may lack in utility or disruption, but his damage output has some flexibility to it. The varying Speed of Wicked Stab could be the key to setting up combos, and the Stealth from Shadow Blade will always be appreciated. Honing Rod provides a means for him to ramp, as well, so he can compete with the other Fighters.
All-in-all, Scabbs is a neat character. He's basically focused on damage, with just a hint of survivability that could make him appealing.
Saurfang
Saurfang is another Orc character focused on - you guessed it - Orc synergy. At least he can spawn his own Orcs, and his buff is an AoE effect. They have to be damaged, though, which is kind of annoying; could be seen as a counter to AoE damage effects, although you've got Whirlwind if necessary. He's pretty straightforward: spawn some Orcs, make sure they're damaged, then buff buff buff.
All-in-all, I think Saurfang is too narrow in his usage, but what he does he does well so there ya go. I just wish the Orcs weren't so self-contained.
Rokara
Rokara's ramp and damage are directly tied to the existence of Orcs in your team, so that narrows her usage considerably. Offensive Rally provides nothing but stats, which I believe is simply not worth it: you need some kind of utility or disruption, or at least a sheer output of damage to make up for a lacking ability, but this does not do that. Later on, the damage people can inflict will outpace the Health buff, even if the Attack buff will be nice for certain characters.
All-in-all, I think Rokara's lack of flexibility will make her obsolete after you start piecing together better Mercs.
Rexxar
It's hard to evaluate Rexxar when we don't know what the Animal Companions look like: one can assume they are the same minions from the spell Animal Companion, but who knows for certain. That said, Rexxar could easily find himself being the lynchpin of Beast comps, with Mama Bear's Claws buffing all the units you summon. He seems to lack much utility or disruption, but, again, those Animals could be the source of his strength.
All-in-all, Rexxar has a "wait and see" situation going on.
Rathorian
Rathorian is an odd duck. Blitzing Legion's random damage starts out higher than his Attack, but eventually they switch places. He can ramp via the weirdly-phrased Fel Command, but the Cooldown means he can't improve as quickly as other Fighters like Illidan or Samuro. And his summon is arguably better than he is when he gets it at level 5 lol. I can see a home for him in Fel or Demon packages, but he might be replaced when something better comes along. Rathorian is a Rare, though, so I guess that's to be expected.
All-in-all, Rathorian could be okay, but his kit is a bit all over the place.
Hearthstone Gets Many New Mercenaries Card Keywords - What Are Deathblow, Bleed, Root, Spell Combo, and Critical Damage?
From what I read and heard, Mercenaries gacha is not as predatory as other standard gachas (which preys on people's gambling tendencies and/or desire to compete). It follows the existing pack rules of pity timers and duplicate protection. These sort of "guarantees" do not exist in other gachas.
I got "trapped" in a gacha game when I took a break from HS 2 years ago (HS is so cheap compared to that one). So, I tend to avoid gacha games like the plague. This doesn't look so bad. Which gives me hope for the mode.
Datamined Changes Coming in Hearthstone's Next Battlegrounds Update - Leapfrogger Nerfed
Wait what? I never saw that. How does (did?) that even work?
I know that leapfrogger was broken because it was all people were trying to build towards. I'm glad that beasts once again have to highroll for Goldrinn to have an end game wincondition.
Old Murk-Eye
Old Murk-Eye is a summoning character, and there are some who like that sort of thing. I hate Murlocs, though, so...yeah. Murk-Eye does play to the tribe well, spawning an army that can be used to overwhelm specific targets with Finvasion. That said, only three Murloc Mercs currently exist, so they are completely one-note in their team-comp. Mutanus and Morgl desperately need Murk-Eye to function, and if it falls in battle you're screwed.
All-in-all, I don't see myself using any of them, let alone Murk-Eye.
Mutanus
Devouring Attack's Deathblow is really cool. That's the only positive thing I can think of for this character. You need other Murlocs to utilize Devour, and that will *kill* them. That means, ideally, that you will only eat Murloc summons from Old Murk-eye, 'cause why would you kill off another Merc? You'd be putting all of your eggs in one basket. If it nets you a desperation-win then great, but you could be losing them for the rest of the run.
All-in-all, Murlocs are stupid. You need a specific team-comp for Mutanus to function best, and he could be detrimental to the health of the comp itself.
Lady Anacondra
Serpent's Bite has a play on "poison damage", and that's neat. However, waiting until the end of the turn could be problematic: the enemy will be able to act, for one thing, possibly inflicting damage or healing itself out of lethal range. The other two abilities are Beast-related, but the Nightmare Viper seems *way* too slow to be useful. I'm sure its stats will improve with each tier, but still. You're supposed to heal the Viper with Mend Beast to ramp up its Health (and thus its Attack), but that means you're devoting all of your time to improving the Viper instead of defending yourself more directly. This just seems too grindy for my taste.
All-in-all, Anacondra just isn't my thing, but for someone who likes summoner characters she could be good.
King Krush
There aren't too many Beasts for Krush to ramp from on the current roster, but at least he can generate more of his own. I particularly like Apex Predator's ability to repeat: this could be the payoff for AoEs bringing down everyone equally, ending the fight in a single ability. Even if it doesn't, one proc of the Deathblow could be significant. He is completely lacking in utility, though: he just Attacks, buffs and Attacks, and summons someone who can Attack.
All-in-all, Krush doesn't appear to have a lot of nuance, but maybe he doesn't need it. He does his job, and that's all you can ask for, right?
Illidan Stormrage
Illidan's damage output seems very impressive, provided he is given time to ramp up. He is hard-countered by abilities like Xyrella's Blinding Luminance, but hopefully not many of those exist in PvE. His equipment seems very good in that I can't find one that is distinctly better than the rest; taking less damage with Demon Shroud is great, but so too can the double-strike of the Warglaives or the enhanced ramp of Razor Fist. It really comes down to what your personal preference is, which is how it should be.
All-in-all, Illidan looks good, and I'm sure I can find a place for him on my roster.
Diablo
Diablo seems super good to me. Doom Charge can significantly undermine an enemy's ability to act in a timely manner, opening them up for damage from Fire Stomp or to be nuked by an Apocalypse combo. Combine Diablo with other characters who can slow to maximize your Fire Stomp output, like The Lich King or Cairne Bloodhoof. AoEs aren't that great in this game, in my opinion, because focus-firing will be more efficient and effective, but Fire Stomp's output could be to the point where that no longer matters, and even then his other abilities could make up for this.
All-in-all, Diablo is my favorite Fighter.
A New Card Back is Coming to Hearthstone, But "Moonlight Might" is Only Available in South Korea
there's probably a chance you can get the codes though....
I remember they had that Khadgar promo once for firefighters in South Korea and you could find khadgar hero skin codes for dirt cheap (like 1$) on eBay because of it.
Blademaster Samuro
Samuro is...interesting. He has a good mix of survivability and damage, with the power to ramp up via Double Strike. He needs Sash of Illusion if he wants to make the most of Mirror Image, though, because it doesn't seem to copy his Attack buffs otherwise. Timing will be critical with Whirling Blade, so you don't waste the Immunity; even then, your opponent will know it's on Cooldown and thus you've left yourself open to attack afterward. Might be a moot point at that time, if Double Strike destroys them.
All-in-all, Samuro seems a bit finnicky, but for a free Rare Merc he can get the job done.
A New Card Back is Coming to Hearthstone, But "Moonlight Might" is Only Available in South Korea
We have to look at the conditions to gaining it first. Because if its a specific code gained from purchasing something, whats stopping anyone from just buying the item via net? And if its region specific, this can be overcome with a vpn, I think.
Of course, at the end of the day its just a card back. So while it certainly sucks, I'm sure its far from the top of anyone's priority list. Team5 will likely make it available at some point to everyone.
Blink Fox
It seems odd to have all these heroes, even the fact they are allowing cross-IP heroes (like Diablo), yet we have.....a random Blink Fox as a hero.
Datamined Changes Coming in Hearthstone's Next Battlegrounds Update - Leapfrogger Nerfed
The change to Macaw is that it can no longer pick itself; otherwise its functionality should remain the same.
Antonidas
Maybe a little bit of both? True Gacha games tend always have the "newer" thing be better than older things. So as long as we don't see "newest mercenary has overpowered abilities, equipment, skills" then I think limiting synergies is a good thing to encourage different comps, strengths, and weaknesses.
Xyrella
Blinding Luminance seems bonkers: you can completely negate Attack-based characters with this one ability (and even more so with the associated equipment). It has good Speed, and it inflicts some damage to boot. Xyrella's usage will live and die based on how good Blinding Luminance can be. Flash Heal is a strong single-target heal, but it is completely lacking in all other aspects; basically every-other healer has more utility or damage, while this does not. Honestly, her "power budget" is completely focused on Blinding Luminance and Atonement, so I understand why Flash Heal is so...boring. Speaking of Atonement, I think pairing her with Diablo will be great: Apocalypse guarantees double damage, and Atonement is extremely powerful at a base level.
All-in-all, I really like Xyrella, but that's almost entirely based around Blinding Luminance. I think it's just that good, and she's a free Rare.