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  • the level 50 reward - portraits

    Staff

    Most likely you will be able to get all of them eventually, picking up one each month expansion cycle. If they add new ones in the future, that is another question.

  • Blizzard Responds to the Hearthstone Rewards Track - Less XP Required, Gold Bonus Next Week, More XP Gains

    I'm doing my best to trust that Blizzard is working on this in earnest. It doesn't feel quite like the old system, but I mean it shouldn't because it's a completely different pacing and structure.

    I keep reminding myself that the rewards track is supposed to last most of the expansion for most players, so I think once they do some more tweaks to gold and follow through with this XP adjustment, we'll be in a pretty good place.

    Our community hates any change that doesn't offer straight up comically over-sized virtual bags of gold, and that's fine, whatever. The reaction to this rewards track has definitely landed solidly in the territory of hysteria for many players on Reddit and Twitter. It's not that the points aren't often valid, but that they're presented with such insane hatred. You can dislike the new system rewards and not send death threats over this game.

    I personally think some of the biggest changes needed are QoL, many brought up by players like Zeddy. Some I think would be helpful in acclimating us to the new pace of rewards while we wait on better and more fair-feeling reward totals are:

    • Show XP progress after every match.
      • Just like seeing your progress toward 10 gold in the old system, seeing that bar creep up 80-130xp (random numbers, btw I don't have any data for the amount per average match in any given mode) would go a long way in reminding players that they are working towards a goal. Visual representation is important.
    • Redistribute XP requirements for levels.
      • The first 15-20 levels felt like I would get to level 50 in a week, then I hit what felt like a brick wall! The required XP for leveling up shouldn't ramp up so drastically that we feel like we're on the highway, one minute zooming at 70mph and then slowing to a 5mph crawl due to traffic. Later levels should require more xp, that's how pretty much all successful XP structures work in games using XP to gain something (power, rewards, anything). What it shouldn't feel like is a rocket to the bottom of a daunting hill. Shift that XP down a bit and pace the track better!
    • Don't tie achievements that carry XP to the expensive half of collection
      • F2P players shouldn't have to own specific cards to get XP. That's a sort of paywall conjoined with a time sink. If they're already going to spend time trying to, say, get lethal with Oh My Yogg!, why reward the players who can for sure afford to own the card either through pack or dust volume.
    • Make the achievement points matter outside of bragging rights
      • I'm not sure how to handle this but I have at least 1 or 2 ideas:
        • One way would be to create tiers on the rewards track that are unlocked as players gain achievement points. Higher tiers would allow for extra gold and XP, giving all players motivation for reaching for those weirder and higher value achievements.
        • A second way would be to have the set amount of total achievement points act as a currency that you can add to thru completing achievements. The points currency would allow players to buy packs, skins, adventures, etc. Once it is spent, the points are gone until the rewards track starts again with new achievements and a new expansion. When the new expansion comes, your achievement points refresh back to what you had at the beginning plus anything earn before the refresh. 
          • To simplify: let's say you have 9500 achievement points as of today. You earn another 500 before April. You now have 10,000 points to spend (whatever that's worth). If you spend it all, you have 0 points available until April. In April, you get your 10,000 points back and can earn more with the new expansion. 
      • Doing something with achievement points would really help the perception of the rewards track. Maybe you even allow players to spend achievement points on XP for the track!

    Do I expect Blizzard to give out gold hand over fist? No. They built this to make money otherwise they'd have shut it down long ago. Do I expect them to streamline how it feels to players? Yes, to a point. At some point, Blizzard will say as nicely as they can "Get used to it" and stop making changes because the community will NEVER be satisfied. We got so used to a distant Blizzard that rarely responded to player requests that this new, more responsive Blizzard that nerfs fairly frequently and has promised to continually work on the free rewards the game offers isn't even noted because we're so used to bleating at them over every perceived offense.

    Ok I'm done. Send in the "UM ACTUALLY" responses.

  • 5 Fun Standard Off-Meta Decks For Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

    Staff Pro

    That's been fixed! Thanks

  • C'Thun Druid

    You really don't need Overgrowth. Although it is incredibly strong, this is not the right deck for it with only 2x cards that cost (7) or more.
    As recommended, you should add copies of Nature Studies instead.

    I also recommend dropping Kiri, Chosen of Elune in favour of Solar Eclipse, as Kiri on turn 4 is a bad play against many agro decks and you already have 2xcopies of Lunar Eclipse. Playing Solar Eclipse followed by Moontouched Amulet is a lifesaver against agro decks.

    Other suggestions would be removing 1x copy of Mo'arg Artificer in favour of Faire Arborist for extra draw and board presence and potentially even taking out [Hearthstone Card (Bog Beam) Not Found] or a copy of Swipe to include [Hearthstone Card (BEEEES!) Not Found] (the extra one-drops help) and at least one copy of Umbral Owl.


    DO NOT remove your copies of Wrath or Moontouched Amulet. Draw and armour is what this deck is about.

  • 5 Fun Standard Off-Meta Decks For Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

    Menagerie Paladin is showing the Tempo Priest list.  Otherwise, excited to try these decks (or at least the ones I can afford)!

  • 5 Fun Standard Off-Meta Decks For Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

    Not exactly the best moment to have fun on ladder. We all have to hope that, once Worlds are over, the devs will gift us with a quick nerf patch.

  • the level 50 reward - portraits

    While I've seen nothing about whether they'll swap them each cycle, I expect they'll have no reason to swap them for a while (since there are enough portraits to cover a couple of years for everyone). Perhaps they'll add some next year, but I wouldn't expect removals.

  • 5 Fun Standard Off-Meta Decks For Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

    Even trying to meme at rank floors, 70% of my matches are against aggro DH or Face Hunter :(

  • Blizzard Responds to the Hearthstone Rewards Track - Less XP Required, Gold Bonus Next Week, More XP Gains

    I believe we will see balance changes with the reward track fix patch, it is only not announced yet

  • the level 50 reward - portraits

    hi guys,

     

    as my understanding goes, if one reaches level 50 in the rewards track, i get to choose one of the 10 hero portraits. will the others be available still next expansion or will they swap them each cycle?

    do we have information about this?

    thanks!

     

  • Blizzard Rolls Out Compensation for Heroic Duels and Questline Experience Bugs

    "Hurt"? Really?

    Let's say "very mildly inconvenienced" at worst.

  • In The Swing Of Things - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

    As promised:

    Show Spoiler

    fungusABao - I don't really get The Orb of Eternity, so I would stay away from that one. The Card of Legend is amusing, but is it worth using? Random Legendaries are less effective versus a deck you constructed yourself, unless you're in YOLO mode because the deck isn't working.

    FieselFitz - Old art isn't against the rules, per se, but it is pretty obvious and people will notice the discrepancy. Most of us just Google and use what we can find, with the hope that it looks close to Hearthstone's visual design.

    DestroyerR - Xal'atath bros :) Potential bias aside, I like this card. The flavor is on-point, given the sentience of the weapon, and it requires smart deck building and planning to mitigate the chances that things go off-script. Plus you can always use non-target spells like Spirit Lash to reap the benefits of the Spell Damage.

    DavnanKillder -

    • Silence + Subdue + 2 damage seems like a lot for one weapon. Also "Defense" should be "Health".
    • I like Vengeful Axe. If fits well with the Warrior's damaged theme lately. At the moment, I'd go with this one.
    • Remove the Lifesteal from Midnight's Scythe and I like the card. Reduce the Cost to 3 to compensate. With High Priestess Jeklik already providing healing to the Discardlock in the same set, there's no need to go overboard with the Lifesteal.

    Nirast - I think I still like The Harvester the most: it just has perfect flavor, and gives Treant Druid some extra punch.

    anchorm4n - Balanced Blade seems really similar to Gorehowl. What benefit does the Durability-stacking have, versus just saying "loses Attack instead of Durability" like Gorehowl? It's still going to end up a 0/X weapon eventually. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the card. The first Staff of Souls is cool, but way too wordy. There's unfortunately no way around that, though, so it just might be too much for its own good. The second SoS is definitely strong, but I guess it gets my vote by default.

    Demonxz95 - As I noted in Discord, I like Everlast more.

    BloodMefist - Infusion Hammer is pretty straight-forward; I like it well enough. I think Xal'atoh has potential, creating an infinite cycle of Corrupt -> Play -> Get it back -> Corrupt, etc., but at 7-mana it's way too expensive for that. You would need to constantly have access to cards that cost 8+, then follow them up with a 7-mana one-swing weapon. Maybe if it cost, like, 4-mana, it would be better, and adjusted accordingly. You'd need to remove Gorehowl at that point, though.

    Hordaki - A 2-mana Shaman weapon connected to Overloading seems too similar to Likkim, in my opinion. It's not exactly the same, of course, but their intended gameplay pattern is essentially the same.

    Pokeniner - A recurring "possession" weapon is cool, but it boils down to "gain +2 Attack this turn", which the DH already has in Chaos Strike, among other things. It also clogs up their weapon slot when they'd rather use other weapons with effects like Flamereaper or the Lifesteal from Aldrachi Warblades. I just don't think it's worth it :(

    Wailor - Mirror Mace is cool, although I wouldn't be a fan of the Priest wielding a Rogue weapon or a Warrior weapon; that's just weird. I think it makes more sense for the Shaman, plus I like the art for that one more.

  • In The Swing Of Things - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

    Staff
    Quote From FieselFitz
    Show Spoiler
    Quote From Demonxz95
    Quote From FieselFitz

    Here's my first Idea.

    Not realy satisfied with the Name tough … 

    The art is already taken by Aluneth.

    But not only that, it's a Legendary weapon which did not exist until K&C and for a class that doesn't use weapons (which also didn't exist until K&C), so you should change the watermark.

    Oh ok ... never knew it wasn't allowed to use old arts - i mean the primer even gets you to an art gallery full of old art from Hearthstone cards ... and is every art used in every competition new ?  or at least not from Hearthstone?

    Sure Mage does not have lot`s of Weapons but still got some :) - i decided to go with the Whisper of the Old Gods Watermark because of the Yogg Theme from the Weapon.

    Guess i have to think of something else.

    It is generally frowned upon to use card from existing (collectible) cards when designing a custom card. Using art from PVE content can sometimes pass, but if you want to be sure, avoid that too.

    Especially in competitions like ours, where the goal is to kinda create a card that could exist in the game, it wouldnt make sense if two cards shared the same art :)

  • Blizzard Responds to the Hearthstone Rewards Track - Less XP Required, Gold Bonus Next Week, More XP Gains

    I want Gallywix as a Rogue hero, and I want him to have dialogue for the alt coins. 

    that way earning them gives you something fun for your character to say 

  • In The Swing Of Things - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

    Staff

    Did someone say "Big Shaman support"?

    Man, I don't think I've ever made this many cards for a comp. I really want a card where the 1 Durability matters, and I think this is it. Yeah, it's on the expensive side, and will probably rarely get as big as Doomhammer, but you also get a 1-mana large minion.

    Edit: Idea that popped to mind after seeing DavnanKillder's Banishing Blade:

    Feedback: 

    Show Spoiler

    DavnanKillder - Banishing Blade is cool, but the Silence is irrelevant unless the minion has Deathrattle, since you'd trade anyway. Could be Paladin.

    Vengeful Axe is a simple design, but it works.

    Midnight's Scythe is also a great design, but since Warlocks don't use weapons, I wouldn't go with it, or I'd make it Legendary.


    DestroyerR - Soooo, random targets? Unless it won't target badly (like Shadow Word: Death your own stuff). Interesting idea, I like that you can break it whenever.


    FieselFitz - Try to find different art, since that's already in the game. Preferably something round, so you can call it "Wheel of Yogg-Saron"


    fungusABao - The Card of Legend is [Hearthstone Card (The Golden Monkey) Not Found] for 1 mana. Orb of eternity is just gonna get you killed. Also, you should give them classes.


    linkblade91 - I really like this version. Works pretty well.

  • Achievement Tips/Strategies Sharing

    Other good thing to know is when you´re fishing for the Not So Lonely achievement, that the temporary buffs on the Redeemed Pariah like Abusive Sergeant don´t work, because you will lose the buff at the end of the turn, BUT if you manage to end the game with buffed Redeemed Pariah to 10 or more attack with any buffing source, by winning or with conceding on your turn, you will get the achievement done. Costed me lots or nerves and time to figure it out and finally achieve it. Hope it helps someone else too :)

  • In The Swing Of Things - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

    How's this for an update to Xal'atath? Using the second wording so you cannot rely on minion trading for Durability, and it's a dual-class card to bring the Warlock into the mix with their combination theme. Would go really well with the three non-Legendary Priest/Warlock cards from Scholomance: Raise Dead, Brittlebone Destroyer, and Flesh Giant.

    Feedback incoming.

  • In The Swing Of Things - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

    Feedback (feel free to contest if you think it’s wrong):

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    Nirast

    Show Spoiler

    TH — -1 star for aesthetics (losing, not loosing. Also, the whole effect really should be written as something like “after you attack, destroy a friendly Treant to not lose Durability”), so 4/5

    SotL — -1(?) star for idea (feels a little forced to have the first effect jammed in as an incentive to attack), so 4(5?)/5

    WC — -1 star for aesthetics (weapon, not Weapon. And doesn’t really have any business being a Warrior card), so 4/5

    DC — -1 star for idea (Battlecry effect feels unnecessary, second effect is just “if you attacked a minion), -1 star for balance (probably busted in any dragon deck, even non dragon decks thanks to the battlecry), -1 star for aesthetics (Discover, not Driscover), so 2/5

    SoO — -1 star for aesthetics (text is cramped, effect has nothing to do with flavor), -1 star for idea (The effect seems to not really achieve anything), -1 for balance (5 Mana for random minions), so 2/5

    SC — -1 star for balance (for hunter it’s strictly worse than 3 Mana deal 4 damage, which is pretty meh already for hunter), -1 star for aesthetics (really shouldn’t be a hunter card) so /5

    linkblade91

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    Xal (Version 2 is better) — 5/5 [totally not biased [Xal’atath bros :^) [but seriously, nice]]]

    EDIT: I think the dual class one is too good with warlocks array of self damage, so 4/5 on that on

    Demonxz95

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    EL — -2 stars for critical fail on balance (you can never equip another weapon again, any weapon buff lasts only 1 attack if it doesn’t give Durability, 1-damage attacks isn’t worth it), so 3/5

    WF — -1 star for aesthetics (I really like the fact you wanted to do different arts for the stages, but just changing the shade feels bad. Also, those are very clearly NOT worsen fangs), -1 star for idea (just a bit too boring for my taste), so 3/

    Wailor

    Show Spoiler

    MM (1st one) — -1 star for aesthetics (don’t really see it being a priest card, better to make it Paladin only and MDF watermark), so 4/5

     

    Pokeniner

    Show Spoiler

    PB — -1 star for aesthetics (hero, not Hero), -1 star for balance (2 is too expensive considering you keep replaying this, I’d say 1) so /5

    Hordaki

    Show Spoiler

    SC — 5/5

    BloodMefist

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    IH — 5/5

    Xal — -1 star for aesthetics (that a WoW screenshot?), -1 star for balance (I think the non-corrupted version of this is too good at generating value, just the Corrupt effect would be interesting), so 3/5

    anchorm4n

    Show Spoiler

    BB — -1 star for aesthetics (I agree, Art needs changing), -2 star for critical fail on idea (just Gorehowl effect if you think about it), so 3/5

    SoS(V1) — -1 star for aesthetics (it’s REALLY wordy), -1 star for idea (bit too complex for my taste), so 3/5

    SoS(V2) — -2 stars for critical fail on balance (that’s a loooooot of gas which you can use right when your turn starts), so 3/5

    Saving my progress so one accident doesn’t erase everything, I’m still writing

     

    Also, about your feedback @anchor4n: it shows a purple aura around your targeting spells, you now play them as non target spells and the A.I. targets whoever it would on a single player match. Would it be better to just straight up write “Hearthstone AI”? I feel like it would detract from the flavor a little bit, but idk

  • Group Therapy! Need to blow off some steam? Mega salty? Here's the place!

    I´ve never posted here, because I´m normally very calm and possitive person, but today I´m just pissed and need to went a bit. I´m trying to do this stupid achievement with 10/10 Redeemed Pariah for a loong time now. Just today I thought I finally might get lucky. I´ve managed to play two Redeemed Pariahs in Casual Duels, traded one and tried to buff the other. I didn´t attack with it for three rounds and opponent Warrior seemed to understand and let it live. I was like YAY finally I´ll get the achievement done! I was ready to concede the next turn when I´d get him to 10. But no. My opponent suddenly changed his mind when my Redeemed Pariah was just about 9 attack and he killed it. No words. What´s wrong with you people?

    Rant over :)

  • In The Swing Of Things - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

    Pro

    Feedback

    Show Spoiler

    fungusABao: A neutral weapon will probably cost you some points since they aren't a thing in HS right now. That said, The Card of Legend looks cool, but I don't get how The Orb of Eternity is supposed to work. Either it's super easy to break or not at all without weapon removal. I don't like both of these options, but maybe I don't understand the mechanic correctly. 

    FieselFitz: Yeah, we do usually use fresh art, taking up something that has already been printed will cost you lots of points. Try artstation.com and use very abstract search patterns. I recently noticed that you get lots of cool stuff if you look for "elemental", "dagger" or something similar. I still like the effect, although a Zuljin in Mage might end up OP. 

    DestroyerR: Even with your explanation I don't understand how the HS A. I. would choose a target. Maybe the "perfect" one, like with Zeph? The flavor is certainly there with Xal'atath being sentient but maybe you need to adjust the wording so the effect becomes more clear.

    DavnanKillder: Midnight's Scythe is my favorite even if Warlock isn't a weapons class. You should add a comma after "card". 

    Nirast: Nice idea, but… Demon Hunter has access to so much attack buff right now that giving them another 4 hits with a guarantee to strike face even through taunts will probably cost you votes. Personally I even refrained from making a DH card for this competition at all (the idea was to make it a 1/1 that gains +1/+1 for each Soil Fragment in your deck). DH needs a nerf and people won't like more support for them until some kind of fix has been implemented. Worgen's Claw is nice but would be better at 3 Mana imho. 

    Demon: It's a cool idea but I'm having trouble identifying a Worgen in the art. Everything else is fine.

    BloodMefist: I prefer Infusion Hammer. Cool idea and very nice art! 

    Hordaki: Really nice, I like it! 

    Pokeniner: The general idea is not bad, but paying 2 mana for 2 attack isn't good enough imho. 

    Wailor: The idea is great, but the execution is tough. Here's why: I prefer the Scholomance art, but I understand your reasoning about the flavor which puts it in Darkmoon. On top of that, it has enough burgle flavor to feel awkward in anything but Priest and Rogue. I'd probably go with a Scholomance Priest card because art carries you farther than puns imho.

    linkblade: For your intended use, it would be essential to use the second version. It's a very cool idea, the only thing I can contribute is to suggest to make it a Warlock/Priest dual class card. That would fit both class identies and compliment the colouring. 

    . 

  • Demon Hunter with a 2-mana hero power?

    I do not think so, the Cram session deck building requirement is very steep and it does not really fit into mage archetypes. While Acrobatics is plain powercreep on other class cards and is not played because DH have even more ridiculous card draws, mostly generating tempo while drawing cards. Like Silence and draw a card. Cast 4/1 and gain 4 attack and draw a card. Draw 3 cards and reduce their cost to 0.

    People love to cry "powercreep" when powerful cards are released, but strictly speaking I don't think it's valid for comparisons either a) between class and neutral cards or b) between basic and non-basic cards (particularly when you're looking across classes). For instance, you'd never hear anyone complain about how Subdue is a powercreeped Hunter's Mark, or how Combustion is a powercreeped Shadow Bolt, or how both Time Rip and Malevolent Strike are powercreeped Assassinate's. This is for a couple of reasons.

    First, the basic set is designed to express the basic strengths/weaknesses of the class, but many of the cards are intentionally weaker to avoid having them crowd out expansion cards. (This was a common problem with cards like pre-nerf Innervate - it showed up too often in Druid decks because it was better than even expansion ramp tools meant to fit that same slot in the deck.) Second, classes have different baselines for their strengths and weaknesses, so seeing cards which look like powercreep across classes (as with your [Hearthstone Card (Arcane Insight) Not Found] example) often just reflects proper adjustments for the different baselines each class has. Demon Hunter is way better at card draw than Mage, which finds itself at the nexus of drawing and generating resources. As such, we'd expect Demon Hunter to get more out of an equivalent cost, particularly when one is an expansion card and the other isn't.

    Regarding the high power Demon Hunter cards you've outlined, you're being a bit unfair about what these DH cards do. Consume Magic doesn't always draw a card, sometimes it's just a worse Silence. Stiltstepper doesn't always grant +4 attack, it requires you to play whatever you topdeck get the attack buff. Skull of Gul'dan doesn't inherently reduce costs, and even when it does it reduces by 3, not to 0.

    These may seem like arbitrary distinctions when, in practice, these cards usually function as you've described. But that's really the core problem - these "max value" interactions are too common because they all have the same basic build-around requirement (namely, to run a low curve Demon Hunter deck). By contrast, you basically never see a good higher curve Demon Hunter deck. So, the biggest issue is that the best cards in Demon Hunter all push a single archetype because they all have pretty similar requirements to maximize their value.

  • Blizzard Responds to the Hearthstone Rewards Track - Less XP Required, Gold Bonus Next Week, More XP Gains

    Do you seriously belive that the balance team is responsible for the economy?

  • Blizzard Responds to the Hearthstone Rewards Track - Less XP Required, Gold Bonus Next Week, More XP Gains

    they won´t do any balance changes until the world championship is over, so we should only get some news that after 14 Dez

  • Blizzard Responds to the Hearthstone Rewards Track - Less XP Required, Gold Bonus Next Week, More XP Gains

    yeah I had that bug once or twice already too

    fortunately you just need to restart the game and its fine

  • Am I missing something?

    Sorry for the post I got it. I was thinking the card was Wandmaker. You can close it.