As I said, I've played a lot of discard aggro. You don't play Augmented Experimenter because you're behind on board and already lost. You play him to tempo your way to lethal. Remove a pesky guy that was in your way, draw into discard + Vision, draw into Get Excited! (either the actual thing or a second Jinx) ... it's your last gasp to find a way to win before the opponent stabilizes for good.
The current versions of discard aggro have no time to wait for value from University. It's waaaaaay too slow. And it's utterly useless without Jinx on board.
Edit - I don't think it actually matters much at this point, because the meta has caught up to discard aggro. When I started it, I was winning about 80% of my games. Now, I'm actually losing more than I win. It's not a good deck anymore at the moment.
Ohh i can see this in my Cthun Rogue deck, rogue can draw shuffled cards with ease, and can abuse the battlecry multiple times (via SS or Tog Scheme). The problem will be.. well.. surviving as rogue can't actually heal.
The real question is; should we expect to be able to view our friends' profiles and recent opponent's ? Having access to recent opponent's profile might be a bit too much to ask for blizzard but I really hope it happens.
The fact that we don't see it does not actually mean that the game doesn't keep track of such things. They have all the data from the beginnig, so should be a simple query in their DB. We'll see.
Soooo... About these 35 cards added "later" Now free to players (and most players) who accumulate gold all expansion and buy all of it in packs at launch suddenly after 2 months don't have the cards they need anymore? Very "for the players" of you. In my opinion these 35 mid-expansion cards should either be free or much easier to obtain than "buy more packs and craft because otherwise you only spend once every expansion and that's not enough money for this small indie company"
I'd say, expect the new Mini Set to be released in Jan-Feb, then the New Game Mode will be announced/released in March. (Or they do one big announcement of the two during BlizzCon online in Feb, yea, they'll probably do that... :D)
All true but remember they will iterate on it, adding, removing and balancing treasures and hero powers. And there is a casual mode, so it's not like you have to pay gold to get rekt by someone's crazy OP deck. The way you get access to the hero powers and treasures is alarming though and seems unwise on their part. Maybe they thought it would feel great for players that are able to get more stuff, but it will feel really bad for the ones that are locked out and have to craft a legendary or several epics to get the thing they want. A lot of those people might just not get into Duels as a result which could greatly hamper its success. They should rethink this...unless we're missing something and the two examples they gave are outliers.
I also share the sentiment towards Blizzard's inaction, so I believe this change is coming too late. However, even if a change is coming late, I don't think that should invalidate the improvement. What matters to me is that they are making strides towards meaningful and significant changes to the game, and yes they could have been faster about it. With that said, they can't go back in time and implement these desperately-needed adjustments a few years ago, so the most they can do now is improve, regardless of how long it took.
I think it is important to hold them accountable and properly chastise them for their lethargy, and expressing that is valid. I just also find it exhausting to listen to people bitterly holding their past inaction over their head when improvements are being made now and irreverence for changes made in the present. It gives me the impression of someone that will never be pleased, regardless of whether you listen to them or not, because you didn't listen to them before. You're forever irredeemable in their eyes. Again, that's just my perspective, and I see the validity in holding people accountable for inaction; a balance of expecting more and appreciating improvement is key, to me.
I wouldn't call Team 5 lazy for implementing this improvement after 6 years. It all comes down to planned priorities within the team, their goals and deadlines. You might find that this new achievement system has been in the works for +- 4 years (an example) and there's always been numerous set backs that has delayed this improvement. I find it's completely fine to chastise them ONLY IF:
1) They've received feedback about an achievements system among other things for 5+ years but don't act on the feedback
2) The Team accepted the feedback and planned to work on an achievements system but never felt it was a high enough priority because they wanted to develop other features first. Hence not thinking achievements were important till now
The 30 Epics one is really what gets ya. Like...what? That's insane. I think we should wait and see. They may have put their foot in their mouth with that example and it's not nearly as bad as that overall. But even one treasure locked behind something like that is horrible....unless it's a really memey treasure or something. Wait and see.
Yeah I think I would mainly want to play Duels casual and occasionally up the stakes with Heroic when I feel like it. It's nice that we have the option.
Being underwhelmed by a PvP Dungeon Run makes no sense to me. It's a great idea. The dungeon run format is still fun for me and I still do a run here and there. But we're all mostly over doing the same ones with the same bosses. But now every boss will be another player, and they'll get harder as you get more wins just like dungeon runs because you'll be playing against decks that are winning more, just like arena. They're using existing systems to give us a new game mode. Why not? It's not mind blowing maybe but it'll be different and it'll be fun. And they're introducing yet another new game mode next expansion so this isn't the lone great hope for new modes.
Having to pay for it like arena with rewards is slightly annoying. That at least has the slight upside of giving it stakes but the RNG swings from which treasures you were offered and which your opponents were offered are likely to be huge and feel quite unfair (when you get rekd) for something you have to spend gold on. But if the opponent rolls you with an OP treasure that only someone who has both copies of every Epic card in a certain set can get...that's going to feel really bad and make people not want to play this. That's the part that worries me.
(EDIT: There's a free Casual Mode. That's awesome. Something this inconsistent needs to have a casual mode. Sometimes you want to compete and go for 7+ wins but a lot of times with this I think I'll just want to get into a run to have some relaxed fun and see what kind of crazy stuff happens. There are times when I'm looking for that kind of experience and would like to play arena but can't be bothered to deal with gold stakes so...I just don't play arena much. I'm really glad we have the casual option. Unfortunately even casual mode will feel bad for people who are locked out from various hero powers and treasures, but not nearly as bad.)
I'm fine with the starter deck (15 singleton cards) coming from my own collection. I'm glad they're rotating what sets you can choose from. That keeps it fresh. I guess I'm glad some of the sets will be Wild. There would probably be too little variety otherwise. That does suck for people that don't have Wild collections but I don't see a way around it if we're using our own collections. Locking all Wild cards out seems like a waste.
So everything seems great about this except for what kind of amounts to discrimination based on what cards you have. Not to be too woke or anything but it feels bad when you can never get a hero power or treasure because you don't have a certain legendary or all epic cards in a set. But we'll have to see. Maybe they just shot themselves in the foot with those two examples and it's not as bad as that indicates.
Based on earlier reports, I have confidence the reward track will be on par with or better than the existing rewards system. The only cosmetic I *really* want is the coin; any chance the tavern pass is purchasable with gold?
Love the art. Y'Shaarj is my favorite old god from WoW. Never get to see him in that world (yet), so the more zoomed out art this time is great.
Card wise, it does depend on corrupt mechanic. However I don't think it's as codependent as people say. Yes it'll be great if corrupt is good. But even if not a zero Mana elephant (that 4/4 rush*) would be great. Plus maybe a spell or two. Already a decent card with just that elephant. I'm certain he'll see a good amount of play.
*Fleethoof Pearltusk and it's and 8/8 rush when corrupt. A 10/10 with free 8/8 rush sounds like a great card to me never mind anything else. Almost sounds like a certain mushroom prime who I won't try to spell on my phone, ha.
What do you think about the Monuments of power expansion?
@TheTrifarianGeneral -
As I said, I've played a lot of discard aggro. You don't play Augmented Experimenter because you're behind on board and already lost. You play him to tempo your way to lethal. Remove a pesky guy that was in your way, draw into discard + Vision, draw into Get Excited! (either the actual thing or a second Jinx) ... it's your last gasp to find a way to win before the opponent stabilizes for good.
The current versions of discard aggro have no time to wait for value from University. It's waaaaaay too slow. And it's utterly useless without Jinx on board.
Edit - I don't think it actually matters much at this point, because the meta has caught up to discard aggro. When I started it, I was winning about 80% of my games. Now, I'm actually losing more than I win. It's not a good deck anymore at the moment.
New Neutral Minion - C'Thun, the Shattered
Ohh i can see this in my Cthun Rogue deck, rogue can draw shuffled cards with ease, and can abuse the battlecry multiple times (via SS or Tog Scheme). The problem will be.. well.. surviving as rogue can't actually heal.
The First Pre-Order Card Back to Return to Availability is the C'Thun Card Back, Yogg-Saron Card Back Also Returning
At least a week which should be enough time to gather the gold if you are starting from scratch =)
Star Spring Soraka Trundle
I love hearing things like this! Did you continue to have success with it, or did you start hitting rough matchups?
Hearthstone's Achievements - Everything You Need to Know
The real question is; should we expect to be able to view our friends' profiles and recent opponent's ? Having access to recent opponent's profile might be a bit too much to ask for blizzard but I really hope it happens.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (The Resurrection Attempt)
Ok. Hints inside the spoiler.
So 1+2 or 4 line refers to answer.
Hearthstone's Achievements - Everything You Need to Know
The fact that we don't see it does not actually mean that the game doesn't keep track of such things. They have all the data from the beginnig, so should be a simple query in their DB. We'll see.
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
Finally get to use those 7 Arena... urm I mean Tavern Tickets I've been stacking up, yay! :D
The Hearthstone Fall Reveal - New Expansion, Game Mode, Systems, and More! Live Recap
Soooo... About these 35 cards added "later"
Now free to players (and most players) who accumulate gold all expansion and buy all of it in packs at launch suddenly after 2 months don't have the cards they need anymore? Very "for the players" of you. In my opinion these 35 mid-expansion cards should either be free or much easier to obtain than "buy more packs and craft because otherwise you only spend once every expansion and that's not enough money for this small indie company"
Hearthstone's Year of the Phoenix Phase 3 Brings Another New Mode to the Game
I'd say, expect the new Mini Set to be released in Jan-Feb, then the New Game Mode will be announced/released in March. (Or they do one big announcement of the two during BlizzCon online in Feb, yea, they'll probably do that... :D)
Hearthstone new years always start in April!
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
The "cherry" is concerning but keep in mind this isn't the only new game mode coming. Another one will come out next expansion.
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
To each their own.
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
All true but remember they will iterate on it, adding, removing and balancing treasures and hero powers. And there is a casual mode, so it's not like you have to pay gold to get rekt by someone's crazy OP deck. The way you get access to the hero powers and treasures is alarming though and seems unwise on their part. Maybe they thought it would feel great for players that are able to get more stuff, but it will feel really bad for the ones that are locked out and have to craft a legendary or several epics to get the thing they want. A lot of those people might just not get into Duels as a result which could greatly hamper its success. They should rethink this...unless we're missing something and the two examples they gave are outliers.
New Neutral Minion - C'Thun, the Shattered
He is added to your Deck, not hand. I believe that was specified on stream.
Hearthstone's Achievements - Everything You Need to Know
I wouldn't call Team 5 lazy for implementing this improvement after 6 years. It all comes down to planned priorities within the team, their goals and deadlines. You might find that this new achievement system has been in the works for +- 4 years (an example) and there's always been numerous set backs that has delayed this improvement. I find it's completely fine to chastise them ONLY IF:
1) They've received feedback about an achievements system among other things for 5+ years but don't act on the feedback
2) The Team accepted the feedback and planned to work on an achievements system but never felt it was a high enough priority because they wanted to develop other features first. Hence not thinking achievements were important till now
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
The 30 Epics one is really what gets ya. Like...what? That's insane. I think we should wait and see. They may have put their foot in their mouth with that example and it's not nearly as bad as that overall. But even one treasure locked behind something like that is horrible....unless it's a really memey treasure or something. Wait and see.
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
Yeah I think I would mainly want to play Duels casual and occasionally up the stakes with Heroic when I feel like it. It's nice that we have the option.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (The Resurrection Attempt)
Do the first two lines actually give a hint or are they just filler?
Introducing a New Game Mode: Hearthstone Duels!
Being underwhelmed by a PvP Dungeon Run makes no sense to me. It's a great idea. The dungeon run format is still fun for me and I still do a run here and there. But we're all mostly over doing the same ones with the same bosses. But now every boss will be another player, and they'll get harder as you get more wins just like dungeon runs because you'll be playing against decks that are winning more, just like arena. They're using existing systems to give us a new game mode. Why not? It's not mind blowing maybe but it'll be different and it'll be fun. And they're introducing yet another new game mode next expansion so this isn't the lone great hope for new modes.
Having to pay for it like arena with rewards is slightly annoying. That at least has the slight upside of giving it stakes but the RNG swings from which treasures you were offered and which your opponents were offered are likely to be huge and feel quite unfair (when you get rekd) for something you have to spend gold on. But if the opponent rolls you with an OP treasure that only someone who has both copies of every Epic card in a certain set can get...that's going to feel really bad and make people not want to play this. That's the part that worries me.
(EDIT: There's a free Casual Mode. That's awesome. Something this inconsistent needs to have a casual mode. Sometimes you want to compete and go for 7+ wins but a lot of times with this I think I'll just want to get into a run to have some relaxed fun and see what kind of crazy stuff happens. There are times when I'm looking for that kind of experience and would like to play arena but can't be bothered to deal with gold stakes so...I just don't play arena much. I'm really glad we have the casual option. Unfortunately even casual mode will feel bad for people who are locked out from various hero powers and treasures, but not nearly as bad.)
I'm fine with the starter deck (15 singleton cards) coming from my own collection. I'm glad they're rotating what sets you can choose from. That keeps it fresh. I guess I'm glad some of the sets will be Wild. There would probably be too little variety otherwise. That does suck for people that don't have Wild collections but I don't see a way around it if we're using our own collections. Locking all Wild cards out seems like a waste.
So everything seems great about this except for what kind of amounts to discrimination based on what cards you have. Not to be too woke or anything but it feels bad when you can never get a hero power or treasure because you don't have a certain legendary or all epic cards in a set. But we'll have to see. Maybe they just shot themselves in the foot with those two examples and it's not as bad as that indicates.
The First Pre-Order Card Back to Return to Availability is the C'Thun Card Back, Yogg-Saron Card Back Also Returning
I've always thought the roving Eye to be one of the neater card backs, so take my 500 gold no problem.
The Hearthstone Fall Reveal - New Expansion, Game Mode, Systems, and More! Live Recap
I will craft Yogg on Day #1. All Hail RNG!
Dude, you forgot to put shield slams for the combo, or at least a emperor thaurisan
Hearthstone's Progression System - Everything You Need to Know
Based on earlier reports, I have confidence the reward track will be on par with or better than the existing rewards system. The only cosmetic I *really* want is the coin; any chance the tavern pass is purchasable with gold?
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (The Resurrection Attempt)
Not even close
New Neutral Minion - Y'Shaarj, the Defiler
Love the art. Y'Shaarj is my favorite old god from WoW. Never get to see him in that world (yet), so the more zoomed out art this time is great.
Card wise, it does depend on corrupt mechanic. However I don't think it's as codependent as people say. Yes it'll be great if corrupt is good. But even if not a zero Mana elephant (that 4/4 rush*) would be great. Plus maybe a spell or two. Already a decent card with just that elephant. I'm certain he'll see a good amount of play.
*Fleethoof Pearltusk and it's and 8/8 rush when corrupt. A 10/10 with free 8/8 rush sounds like a great card to me never mind anything else. Almost sounds like a certain mushroom prime who I won't try to spell on my phone, ha.