Seems decent, but I don't know how much it will be played. If a card requires you to build your deck in a certain way or make a specific play, it should bring more to the table then just stats. And a beefy 1-drop is very good, but not with additional requirements.
Edit: I just learned that WilmerHale, the outside firm they’re contracting with, is known for helping companies fight unionization. That certainly puts a disturbing spin on this issue.
My original comment:
Thank you. Those are very good points. I had interpreted this all as a good sign - yes, I’m cynical about anything a large corporation does, but this is the rare situation where morality, laws, and profit motive line up pretty well. I saw this as the first step in a process that I could expect to go well. But you’re right - it can definitely be read as the CEO staking out a position that doesn’t go as far as it should.
I will make two points about what you said:
1) Just because a group of employees made demands, the company doesn’t have to agree immediately. It’s ok for them to stake out different public positions, and then work towards a compromise. And though I like every one of the demands made by the employee group, you generally ask for more than you expect to get. It’s not necessarily a travesty if Blizzard gives in to most but not all of the demands.
2) As others have pointed out in this thread, the reference to changing characters and in-game items is probably because some things in WoW are directly named after abusers. That’s a good change. I don’t think that this is an excuse to censor artwork or anything. I just don’t see that being a successful PR gambit.
Doesn't specify minions, so....better not be at lower health than your minions.
I do wonder how it targets though. if the first blast kills the target, will the second one seek out a new one? I would hope so, but who knows with the janky stuff in this game.
I would imagine the second target would be chosen after the first damage has been resolved. Otherwise the text would be completely meaningless with the exception of spell damage shenanigans.
I think it was DestroyerR who first used a fixed system of categories for their feedback posts in the discussion threads and maybe that's a good idea to help people rate cards a bit more objectively. I'd suggest a 5 star rating in three categories for every submitted card: Flavor, Balance and Execution (= no spelling mistakes, no watermark issues, ...). The average of these ratings would result in the voting person's overall rating for that card (there are arguments for and against showing that overall rating to the voter, but I don't want to go too far down this road without knowing if it's technically possible and what y'all think about the general idea). This idea should also reduce the number of ties since the final rating of a card would be the average of an average.
I like the idea, and we talked about it a little bit before. I don't know jack about the coding part, so whether or not it's possible is not up to me, but I assume it could be doable. You just need a second and third "star system" in place, and name them to fit the categories.
From a personal angle, it should eliminate situations where I receive an all-1-vote; which, frankly, I don't think I should ever earn, because at the very least my cards are well executed and without mistakes. At least give me a 2!...Does that make me selfish for saying that? lol :/
I'm not sold on this whole "draw-a-bunch-of-cards" demon hunter deck blizzard is trying to push. This card seems fine as long as you can reduce it to 3-4 mana, but I don't think it will be played over other cards that fit your deck better. Maybe in some kind of big demon hunter deck? But other than that it likely won't be played.
There's a difference between getting rid of sexualization ad absurdum to the point of bordering NSFW (as seen with the removal of Succubus and Keeper of Secrets for instance) and the bizarre censoring of something as mild as Lady Anacondra's slight cleavage.
I'm fine with the former when it's part of bringing artwork in line with the family friendly standard of the game. I'm also fine with stuff like the Jaina "nerf" which ultimately ended up looking much better from an aesthetic point of view.
I am very much against ideological censorship by out of touch attention seekers who are so unhappy with themselves that they project their insecurity on everything and achieve absolutely nothing by enforcing their puritanical standards on extremely tame examples of mild fanservice. Fictional women do not need someone to advocate for them. They are not real. If you want to make an argument for realism, that has no place in the larger WoW universe, seeing how even the male characters run around in stupidly elaborate armor while being built like a fridge (but of course the parallel issue of male character being just as unrealistically stylized and/or sexualized as female characters rarely gets brought up).
Seems bad. You are paying one mana to get a 1 mana discount, and you are spending a card to draw a card. The net effect is 0, which is fine because you can still cycle through your deck, but the fact that it doesn't do anything until your next turn makes it too slow.
Seems to be about the same power as Eye Beam except it gets bigger with outcast instead of smaller. It probably won't be played as often as Eye Beam but it is still a strong card.
I dont think that this card will be played as a big payoff card to win the game, but honestly more of a catchup card. Eye Beam, Felscream Blast, and Chaos Leech are mostly just removing midgame and small minions. You call also gain alot of attack with Fury (Rank 1) and Chaos Strike, but i dont think thats how the card should be played. Maybe I'm wrong, but I see it more as a way to deal with a N'Zoth, God of the Deep than win the game.
If you draw two additional cards each turn it is a Fiery War Axe. If you draw three additional cards each turn then it is slightly better than Truesilver Champion. And if you draw four additional cards each turn you are going to go into fatigue way too fast and die.
Definitely agree with a lot of the analysis, just one thing you forgot to mention. According to Bobby, they will be hiring a third party firm, it's call WilmerHale:
I have asked the law firm WilmerHale to conduct a review of our policies and procedures to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace. This work will begin immediately. The WilmerHale team will be led by Stephanie Avakian, who is a member of the management team at WilmerHale and was most recently the Director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement.
Love this idea a lot, particularly when you add the Hero Power to the mix. One question, if you can spend 1 armor, does the HP always deal 4 or do you have a Choose One style interface?
I assume the "instead" means you always deal 4 damage: if you have the Armor, the game will spend it. Should encourage you to Trade for more Armor :)
A neutral Hero card will obviously cost you some points, but the effect is very interesting and creative. I don't feel much flavor to be honest since Stormwind features only one Mech and I don't understand why trading it makes it better and cheaper at the same time.
The way I see it, the Cost goes down because the Mech is depreciating in value - like a car - while the increased Armor is from all the add-ons people have attached to him over time. A gun-arm here, a jetpack there, etc.
That's my excuse, anyway: it's really about the gameplay. The Armor goes up to offset its lack of a Battlecry and to encourage you to Trade; the Cost goes down so the investment remains the same, and I thought that would be neat.
I could keep tinkering with it, or drop it altogether if people aren't satisfied. Edit: Here it is in Warrior form:
Good luck redrawing it in Warrior, though, especially if you Trade multiple times :(
but still, a low stat dragon is not impressive, if they didn't retain the stats now that would be something.
The thing is, the most impressive thing is usually in their card text. Just imagine a 2 mana 2/3 with [Hearthstone Card (Alexstrasza, the Lifebinder) Not Found]'s battlecry, or [Hearthstone Card (Ysera, the Dreamer) Not Found]'s. Plenty of dragons have an effect like that that can swing the game.
In theory, it would be amazing to have in aggro decks to fill your hand back up. In reality, there are more silence cards to be played so the pay off will be minimal
In theory, it would be amazing to have in aggro decks to fill your hand back up. In reality, there are more silence cards to be played so the pay off will be minimal
3 to get a 2/3 body that replaces itself with something in your hand. Zola was thought to be a meme card and was played like crazy. Who knows what future may bring with this
New Demon Hunter Minion - Metamorfin
Seems decent, but I don't know how much it will be played. If a card requires you to build your deck in a certain way or make a specific play, it should bring more to the table then just stats. And a beefy 1-drop is very good, but not with additional requirements.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Calls Original Response Tone Deaf, Responds to Lawsuit
Edit: I just learned that WilmerHale, the outside firm they’re contracting with, is known for helping companies fight unionization. That certainly puts a disturbing spin on this issue.
My original comment:
Thank you. Those are very good points. I had interpreted this all as a good sign - yes, I’m cynical about anything a large corporation does, but this is the rare situation where morality, laws, and profit motive line up pretty well. I saw this as the first step in a process that I could expect to go well. But you’re right - it can definitely be read as the CEO staking out a position that doesn’t go as far as it should.
I will make two points about what you said:
1) Just because a group of employees made demands, the company doesn’t have to agree immediately. It’s ok for them to stake out different public positions, and then work towards a compromise. And though I like every one of the demands made by the employee group, you generally ask for more than you expect to get. It’s not necessarily a travesty if Blizzard gives in to most but not all of the demands.
2) As others have pointed out in this thread, the reference to changing characters and in-game items is probably because some things in WoW are directly named after abusers. That’s a good change. I don’t think that this is an excuse to censor artwork or anything. I just don’t see that being a successful PR gambit.
New Demon Hunter Spell - Fel Barrage
I would imagine the second target would be chosen after the first damage has been resolved. Otherwise the text would be completely meaningless with the exception of spell damage shenanigans.
New Druid Minion - Vibrant Squirrel
Looks slow for a token druid but it's sooo kawaiii.
WCDC Season 4 Suggestions
I like the idea, and we talked about it a little bit before. I don't know jack about the coding part, so whether or not it's possible is not up to me, but I assume it could be doable. You just need a second and third "star system" in place, and name them to fit the categories.
From a personal angle, it should eliminate situations where I receive an all-1-vote; which, frankly, I don't think I should ever earn, because at the very least my cards are well executed and without mistakes. At least give me a 2!...Does that make me selfish for saying that? lol :/
New Demon Hunter Minion - Irebound Brute
I'm not sold on this whole "draw-a-bunch-of-cards" demon hunter deck blizzard is trying to push. This card seems fine as long as you can reduce it to 3-4 mana, but I don't think it will be played over other cards that fit your deck better. Maybe in some kind of big demon hunter deck? But other than that it likely won't be played.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Calls Original Response Tone Deaf, Responds to Lawsuit
There's a difference between getting rid of sexualization ad absurdum to the point of bordering NSFW (as seen with the removal of Succubus and Keeper of Secrets for instance) and the bizarre censoring of something as mild as Lady Anacondra's slight cleavage.
I'm fine with the former when it's part of bringing artwork in line with the family friendly standard of the game. I'm also fine with stuff like the Jaina "nerf" which ultimately ended up looking much better from an aesthetic point of view.
I am very much against ideological censorship by out of touch attention seekers who are so unhappy with themselves that they project their insecurity on everything and achieve absolutely nothing by enforcing their puritanical standards on extremely tame examples of mild fanservice. Fictional women do not need someone to advocate for them. They are not real. If you want to make an argument for realism, that has no place in the larger WoW universe, seeing how even the male characters run around in stupidly elaborate armor while being built like a fridge (but of course the parallel issue of male character being just as unrealistically stylized and/or sexualized as female characters rarely gets brought up).
New Demon Hunter Spell - Sigil of Alacrity
Seems bad. You are paying one mana to get a 1 mana discount, and you are spending a card to draw a card. The net effect is 0, which is fine because you can still cycle through your deck, but the fact that it doesn't do anything until your next turn makes it too slow.
New Demon Hunter Spell - Chaos Leech
Seems to be about the same power as Eye Beam except it gets bigger with outcast instead of smaller. It probably won't be played as often as Eye Beam but it is still a strong card.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Jace Darkweaver
I dont think that this card will be played as a big payoff card to win the game, but honestly more of a catchup card. Eye Beam, Felscream Blast, and Chaos Leech are mostly just removing midgame and small minions. You call also gain alot of attack with Fury (Rank 1) and Chaos Strike, but i dont think thats how the card should be played. Maybe I'm wrong, but I see it more as a way to deal with a N'Zoth, God of the Deep than win the game.
New Demon Hunter Weapon - Lion's Frenzy
If you draw two additional cards each turn it is a Fiery War Axe. If you draw three additional cards each turn then it is slightly better than Truesilver Champion. And if you draw four additional cards each turn you are going to go into fatigue way too fast and die.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Calls Original Response Tone Deaf, Responds to Lawsuit
Definitely agree with a lot of the analysis, just one thing you forgot to mention. According to Bobby, they will be hiring a third party firm, it's call WilmerHale:
The Best Deals Anywhere - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I assume the "instead" means you always deal 4 damage: if you have the Armor, the game will spend it. Should encourage you to Trade for more Armor :)
New Demon Hunter Minion - Felgorger
It's a tutor that also cheats mana and has a body attached. What's to dislike?
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Calls Original Response Tone Deaf, Responds to Lawsuit
That's exactly what I thought, since it has 0 to do with the demands of the employees. Such a dirty move.
The Best Deals Anywhere - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
The way I see it, the Cost goes down because the Mech is depreciating in value - like a car - while the increased Armor is from all the add-ons people have attached to him over time. A gun-arm here, a jetpack there, etc.
That's my excuse, anyway: it's really about the gameplay. The Armor goes up to offset its lack of a Battlecry and to encourage you to Trade; the Cost goes down so the investment remains the same, and I thought that would be neat.
I could keep tinkering with it, or drop it altogether if people aren't satisfied. Edit: Here it is in Warrior form:
Good luck redrawing it in Warrior, though, especially if you Trade multiple times :(
New Neutral Minion - Lady Prestor
The thing is, the most impressive thing is usually in their card text. Just imagine a 2 mana 2/3 with [Hearthstone Card (Alexstrasza, the Lifebinder) Not Found]'s battlecry, or [Hearthstone Card (Ysera, the Dreamer) Not Found]'s. Plenty of dragons have an effect like that that can swing the game.
New Neutral Minion - Goldshire Gnoll
IF you are playing a control deck, it still wouldn't make the cut because you'd want a taunt instead of a rush minion.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Calls Original Response Tone Deaf, Responds to Lawsuit
There is a chance that it is trying to turn a particular percentage of the players against the employees.
They may be hoping that the ones that were upset by the "Jaina nerf" or boo'd this question with start defending them.
Goldshire Gnoll
IF you are playing a control deck, it still wouldn't make the cut because you'd want a taunt instead of a rush minion.
New Neutral Minion - Stockades Prisoner
This will be a common place in any aggro or Rogue deck. Just like Hunter's damn demon
Stockades Prisoner
This will be a common place in any aggro or Rogue deck. Just like Hunter's damn demon
New Neutral Minion - Enthusiastic Banker
In theory, it would be amazing to have in aggro decks to fill your hand back up. In reality, there are more silence cards to be played so the pay off will be minimal
Enthusiastic Banker
In theory, it would be amazing to have in aggro decks to fill your hand back up. In reality, there are more silence cards to be played so the pay off will be minimal
New Neutral Minion - Nobleman
3 to get a 2/3 body that replaces itself with something in your hand. Zola was thought to be a meme card and was played like crazy. Who knows what future may bring with this