Well Toast is now affiliated with Offline TV and stays at a house the people involved share. He mainly does League-related content now if I remember correctly.
With Risen Mists coming out, I was trying to brainstorm how to build around Mistwraiths...which made me realize I didn't know exactly how some things worked out, so I jumped into the client to test them out. Here are my observations in case anyone is interested:
The aforementioned also work on Wraithcaller (assuming you hit allegiance). In other words, its allegiance acts like a conditional "when summoned". I don't know if all allegiances work like that; I have a vague memory of it not working for a different card.
For both L2 Kalista and The Harrowing, it will not factor in the buff when calculating what is "strongest"--in other words, Mistwraith is just a 2/2 in the rez pool even though it instantly increases when it hits the battlefield. However if either of these effects pulls a 4/3 Wraithcaller--which is obviously a much more achievable target--that will in turn summon a new non-ephemeral Mistwraith similar to how The Rekindler works.
If you run out of board space--e.g., The Harrowing created an ephemeral Wraithcaller in your 6th slot, so there's no room for the Mistwraith it summons--your Mistwraith is obliterated, but its brief presence does seem to "count" towards your global buff.
In summary: if you want to make a concerted effort to embiggen your wraiths, I think you are looking to focus on Wraithcallers.
This is just another question that can only be answered by someone from the dev team. All else is speculation, and a pretty impossible one at that. Its just not possible to somehow gauge a formula at something that can be from equal percentage to discover, to slightly skewed towards class cards.
Another way of seeing this is to consider from what position we were to have came to the current formula. Class cards were 4x more likely than neutrals in the past. If the change is then to configure the formula in such a way to sneak class cards into the equation by means of a 50-50 coin toss, then team5 might well have just never changed the formula in the first place.
Best to simply take their word for it. Ultimately even if discover effects were still skewed towards class cards, I dont see how they can profit by keeping that information from us.
The biggest problem with Faces of the Old Ones isn't the weak body, it's that Behold is kind of impossible for these early game synergies. I didn't feel like doing the actual math with a hyper-geometric calculator, so I put together a little simulator that tries to play Faces of the Old Ones on curve by hard-mulliganing for it and a Behold trigger, then drawing a couple of cards naturally.
Even without worrying about the trigger, you already have kind of meh odds of getting this out on curve - something like 55%. If you want proc the effect most of the time you play it on curve, you'll need something like nine or ten 8-cost or higher cards in your deck. Even the Corina Control decks - perhaps the only really successful true control deck in LoR - never really ran more than six cards that would fit that bill. And at only six triggers, you're looking at getting this ramp on curve in only about 44% of games. Now add in the fact that this ramp is too slow to get that 8-drop out much earlier than expected, and too vulnerable to even make sure you maintain your mana advantage, and you've got a really awful card.
Maybe Riot gamed this all out and knows what they're doing with this archetype, but right now it seems crazy weak, with Faces of the Old Ones as the weakest card in the bunch.
So back in the day I enjoyed Toast's content before he started losing interest in HS and was only doing it for a source of income. However, I just saw a Toast video pop up in my YT about toast being on some dating show and thought it was pretty random. So for any Toast fans out there, what does he even do nowadays on YT?
For a period of time, on the season reset every month Blizzard would send an email with statistics about your most played class, the class with the highest winrate, your most frequent opponents, your best and worst matchups, etc and sometimes some silly ones too. They were fun little things but largely inconsequential, and they had discontinued them for a long time. I think you need to opt into emails from Blizzard to see them, otherwise you can't. The most recent one I have is from before Saviour of Uldum.
Hmm...we really only have one more space for a champion, don't we. I thought we had two left, for ASol and Soraka together, but I miscounted (stupid Nocturne). It's got to be Soraka, though...right? They've been showcasing Soraka cards throughout the week D:
which one champion are you talking about ?
It has been revealed that Targon has 3 champions right now and Nocturne is in Shadow Isles. 4th will be Aurelion Sol, no doubt but isn't it like there will be 6 champions per region after this expansion will be released ?
I mean, Aren't there still 2 rooms for Targon after Aurelion Sol reveal ? There is already 5 champions per region right now. I don't think they leave it like 4 champion for Targon tbh because with this exp. all regions have (4) + (1) + 1 (Ex. for ionia Zed/Yasuo/Karma/Shen + Lee Sin + Lulu) champions and forgive me if there are any official announcement about this, I just didn't catch news this time around and just speculating with what we have in the game right now.
or, Are you just talking about reveals ? If that so, There is only P&Z champion which will be revealed.
Edit: Oh wait, Just read the Set Guide rn and learnt that There will be 3 expansions in 3 months. Wow, I really missed the huge news. And I also realised that Demacia and Bilgewater also didn't get any reveals yet with P&Z got only one. mmm, that feels like empty to me. I didn't like the way they decide how to release this time.
don't worry, I won't be offended and I know this is just worse face hunter version but I really want to try Vectus with Toxic Reinforcements and such.
Btw, I'm aware of that big mana costs might screw these kind of decks, I just built it before expansion is released and with the hype of new cards such as Lorekeeper Polkelt etc. If I will get Vectus, I will probably try it in a more refined version of this deck.
I just wanted to know if Vectus might be like Dr. Boom in a deck like this.
I never had much luck with The Undying, it is RNG to draw them early enough and then it takes time for them to become big enough that your opponent needs to start blocking them. Vulnerable does help with this tho. It is definitely an interesting archetype, but not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance :)
Phase 1: Decide you want to build a Daybreak deck around Leona.
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Play Morning Light with Leona and a bunch of other daybreak units on board, giving them all +2/+2 plus all their individual daybreak effects while simultaneously stunning the opposing board. Then swing in for lethal.
Battlegrounds is also a huge disappointment because of the utter rubbish decision of hiding pretty valuable game options after a paywall. I think that is the most bullshit blizzard tried so far with Hearthstone. When it comes to the gameplay, it's a mixed bag. If you don't give Blizzard the 2500g to get the full hero pool you will always be at a small disadvantage compared to those that buy the pass. Matches last a very short time and are very reliant on luck if you want to actually get in top 4. The rewards are also laughable. For a game mode a lot more pricey than Arena it definitely doesn't give you anything to compensate for that if you actually decide to grind for the required gold to have a fair footing against the other people that bought the perks.
That's interesting you say that...I feel like I'm catching on to BG pretty quickly, even with the disadvantage of only getting 2 heroes to choose from. I feel like I"m close to getting above a 50% WR (top 4). It seems like...luck plays a huge part at first glance but there's a lot of nuance to when to level/roll/hero power with different heroes that I have a lot to learn and improve upon still.
Having said all that, it's a very refreshing change of pace to ladder!
I've always been skeptical of the "random" in Hearthstone, as we already know they've weighted that random a number of time. . . whether it's with discover, or random minion/spell generation, I've always wondered how it was programmed. The idea of multi-step things like Step One : Rarity, step two, Class, Step Three : Card has occurred to me, considering the frequency of certain cards over time (back in the day, i haven't followed as closely lately). Certainly that ups your chances of pulling Legendaries from certain cards, if you only have to clear a 1 in 4 bar on step one.
I cannot give you a real answer to this as I don't know how the program exactly resolves the discovery choices (and to my knowledge Blizzard has never said how they are doing it exactly). I would like to point out a couple of issues though:
Your conclusion (or the videos) seems to be flawed; if this would be actually resolved like you describe in the last sentence (which I don't think) the probability of getting Rotnest Drake would actually be even higher (e.g. if the first card option is the other class dragon the second option would not be 25% but already 50% as there are no duplicates offered)
Having said this based on my experience of discovery results I am pretty sure that this does not work as you described (can't give you any proof though)
But hey I'm not a statistics expert, so feel free to proof me wrong. Besides even an expert (outside Blizzard) might not be able to answer this properly without the knowledge how this is exactly resolved by the program. I guess there are multiple options.
I agree with you that the video's conclusion doesn't jive with my experience, but admittedly I haven't paid much attention to patterns in Discover cards and wanted to ask y'all.
As you said, if (my understanding of) the argument in the video was correct then you'd be guaranteed Rotnest if you got Veranus as an option already. They brought this up as a way of explaining why Astromancer Solarian is so often discovered by Mages. Again, this didn't sound right to me but I've never looked into it.
To me, I can sadly say that Heartstone feels more and more like a chore to play. I actually really like the new legendary cards they introduced and it seems to be going into a much healthier meta but I think that until they rotate out the extremely stupid amount of random generation cards/ discover I will never be able to actually say I have fun with the game.
To be more clear: I get that discover and even random effects are fun to play sometimes and can actually help the meta feel more fresh I find myself more often than not unable to figure out most of my opponent's cards when I am playing the game. I remember how around the time kobolds and catacombs came out every single game felt winnable if you knew your deck's strengths and you were smart enough to figure out the resources in your opponents hand. Nowadays, no matter how hard I try to figure out what to do every single turn can get ruined because of a random board clear from a randomly generated lackey from a randomly generated beast. Whenever that happens it drains me of all of my enjoyment from the game and just feels like an utter waste of time to even try to think about the cards you are playing and it becomes a competition about who can pull more cards out of their ass.
Thankfully the hearthstone team actually addressed that some time ago and said that this is probably the most value generation there will ever be in standard.
Battlegrounds is also a huge disappointment because of the utter rubbish decision of hiding pretty valuable game options after a paywall. I think that is the most bullshit blizzard tried so far with Hearthstone. When it comes to the gameplay, it's a mixed bag. If you don't give Blizzard the 2500g to get the full hero pool you will always be at a small disadvantage compared to those that buy the pass. Matches last a very short time and are very reliant on luck if you want to actually get in top 4. The rewards are also laughable. For a game mode a lot more pricey than Arena it definitely doesn't give you anything to compensate for that if you actually decide to grind for the required gold to have a fair footing against the other people that bought the perks.
Arena is alright, I don't play it much since I am free to play and I can't afford the 150 g requirement always but I have tried it a bit and I enjoyed it maybe even more than standard since it makes me feel a lot more fulfilled for being decent at the game.
Overall: I think hearthstone is definitely getting better. Last expansion when they launched DH and made rogue generate all the lackeys in the world I was the closest to giving up on the game forever but nowdays things are starting to get a bit more enjoyable again with even legendary cards like Rattlegore being playable. I think that you should probably come back and give it a try now if you really itch to give it a go but I would actually recommend coming back when the next rotation happens since I think that will make things feel a hell of a lot better. Who knows, maybe Galakrond will get the Genn and Baku treatment and we will have a lot less random into the game .
I actually really the synergy with L2 Nocturne: you can play the spell at any time for a free nightfall activation, then after he levels drop the 2x Daring Poro such that all allies have fearsome while all enemies have -2/-0. I just don't know if that's a strong enough combo to carry an entire deck--especially if you lose access to the Targon nightfall units.
What do you guys think are the safe/must craft legendaries? For example, is DQ Alexstraza still good post-nerf?
Surprisingly, there's nothing really safe / must currently. Arguably, we have only a few legendaries that are staple across several decks and are they even safe long-term? Actually, the power of current legendaries is big, but many are for one deck only, or they play important support / supplementary roles. I'll try to list the most prominent legendaries for each class:
DH:Altruis the Outcast is free. Kayn Sunfury is very prominent, but both current archetypes can still win a lot without him. Soulciologist Malicia is quite important, but she constructs only one deck with unpredictable future.
Druid:Ysera, Unleashed, but she's of no use if you don't supplement her with other stuff like Speaker Gidra or Forest Warden Omu... which are support or niche cards. And if Blizzard gets suddenly tired of ramp Druid, Ysera could easily be forgotten.
Hunter:Zixor, Apex Predator is a top legendary, but every time the meta becomes too fast Highlander Hunter may decrease in power. The same is with Dinotamer Brann. Actually, the most useful Hunter card across the board is Dragonbane. This one you can jam in Face Hunter and the card generally has a very high drawn win-rate in any deck.
Mage: When I look at Mage legendaries they are all good, but used here and there in various archetypes. Still Astromancer Solarian seems the most useful and his power is proven by now. Jandice Barov is another thumbs up, especially because she's played in Rogue as well, in the most decks there. Good pile of stats and tempo, but can easily be cut in some future metas. Highlander Mage play many different legendaries, but currently Bomb Warrior is keeping it at bay a bit. The Amazing Reno is a crucial card there (+ in fringe archetype Spell Mage). The thing about Highlander Mage is that you need 70% of Mage legendaries regardless of the power. Ras Frostwhisper is fine there and in Cyclone Mage, but the future is still uncertain.
Paladin: ...is the major example how his legendaries don't define archetypes, but only supplement them. If you cut one of these: Murgur Murgurgle, High Abbess Alura or Lady Liadrin; it wouldn't be the worst deck ever. Of course, including most of those raises the overall power of a Paladin deck. And the question is how much power you want. If you go for Liadrin, why not get Alura, too? Why stop halfway?
Priest: ...is full of ugly garbage. But to operate as Priest you need to include all that garbage. In the end, it's all about stealing good cards from other classes. Soul Mirror and Murozond the Infinite stand out from the rest. If they nuke Galakrond, the Unspeakable in future, which I sincerely hope, these cards can become useless.
Rogue:Flik Skyshiv and Heistbaron Togwaggle were staple for the whole year, until now. Galakrond Rogue is currently shit, so these cards see much less play. Flik is still fine, tho. As said before, Jandice Barov is commonly played in most decks. Infiltrator Lilian and Shadowjeweler Hanar are great cards but it's impossible to proclaim them as -the must- or safe.
Shaman: ...is garbage.
Warlock:Kanrethad Ebonlocke is the only noticeable legendary here, and not staple, nor insanely powerful.
Warrior:Ancharrr; this one is really staple and will be unless they change pirate tags on some cards. ...If you play Bomb Warrior, no way doing it without Blastmaster Boom. Bomb Warrior is very strong but so easily counterable by meta. Deathwing, Mad Aspect - a great card for any Warrior, but of course, replaceable. Lord Barov, a great addition to Warrior decks, but not deck defining. You can without it, but you'll lose several win-rate percentages, for sure.
Neutrals:Zephrys the Great, this annoying dude is a top power card. Still played, although the power of highlander decks decreased noticeably. Kronx Dragonhoof - the major support for Galakrond decks, but only Priest Galakrond is still standing, still untouched. Siamat staple in slow and highlander decks for a long time, much less now, tho. Dragonqueen Alexstrasza was nerfed and now only sees play in Highlander Mage. Not staple anymore, I'm afraid.
Of course, there are many other legendaries which see play, but these are in the spotlight, right now. And... craft decks not cards.
DQ Alex is a difficult one to call. It's still playable, without question, but rotates next rotation. It's not as good as Zephrs, so I'd craft that before Alex if you haven't already got it.
If you play/enjoy wild, obviously rotation is less of an issue, and it's still played in any highlander wild decks, most obviously Priest, which is T1 at the moment I believe. It's good, but not gamebreaking.
As for which ones to craft, thats difficult, as I'm not aware of any "universal" legendaries in the current rotation, that appear in most decks the way Zilliax did. The closest is Siamat, but his playrate seems to have dropped off a cliff.
What decks are you looking at?
Control or midrange decks preferably. So far I've tried (what I could make of) Spells Mage, Res Priest, and Galakrond Quest Shaman.
People have an uncanny tendency to fail at predicting how good/bad certain cards will be. The only exceptions are cards that are absurdly overpowered and get nerfed within 2 weeks of release, or so blatantly underpowered that they are never used in a deck and maybe get buffed at some point later.
So maybe this card isn't the Dumpster fire it appears to be. It's half the cost of Wyrding Stones, and it can block a spider or two at the very least, or absorb a burn spell that might have otherwise hit the nexus. Played on curve, and assuming it lives, you can cast Catalyst of Aeons on the very next turn (turn 3, which is a pretty good investment). That bumps you up to 6 mana the following turn, when your opponent has only 4.
Except its not any more. They lowered the cost of Wyrding Stones a few patches back, and they still haven't found a spot other than super-ambitious Warmother's decks. Here, you're paying 1 less mana for -0/-2 stats and the possibility the effect doesn't occur, and now it instantly dies to Fleetfeather Tracker, Sapling, and keg + AoE. The one thing I can think of is perhaps if you triple down on ramp then there's a like an escape velocity factor where you can stabilize that much faster; otherwise it just seems almost always inferior to Stones.
DQ Alex is a difficult one to call. It's still playable, without question, but rotates next rotation. It's not as good as Zephrs, so I'd craft that before Alex if you haven't already got it.
If you play/enjoy wild, obviously rotation is less of an issue, and it's still played in any highlander wild decks, most obviously Priest, which is T1 at the moment I believe. It's good, but not gamebreaking.
As for which ones to craft, thats difficult, as I'm not aware of any "universal" legendaries in the current rotation, that appear in most decks the way Zilliax did. The closest is Siamat, but his playrate seems to have dropped off a cliff.
Discover Effect: What are the probabilities?
I will say that discovers have a probability of 100% to screw me over.
Diana is the Newest Legends of Runeterra Targon Champion Coming in Call of the Mountain (5 New Cards Revealed!)
Maybe we will get lucky and see them bringing some Bilgewater champions down in power then. Namely Miss Fortune.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (The Resurrection Attempt)
Wait WTF why did you guys skip me
Disguised Toast
Well Toast is now affiliated with Offline TV and stays at a house the people involved share. He mainly does League-related content now if I remember correctly.
Disguised Toast
He abandoned Hearthstone, signed an exclusivity deal with Facebook, and moved in to a house with other big-name streamers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OfflineTV
Mistwraiths
With Risen Mists coming out, I was trying to brainstorm how to build around Mistwraiths...which made me realize I didn't know exactly how some things worked out, so I jumped into the client to test them out. Here are my observations in case anyone is interested:
In summary: if you want to make a concerted effort to embiggen your wraiths, I think you are looking to focus on Wraithcallers.
Discover Effect: What are the probabilities?
This is just another question that can only be answered by someone from the dev team. All else is speculation, and a pretty impossible one at that. Its just not possible to somehow gauge a formula at something that can be from equal percentage to discover, to slightly skewed towards class cards.
Another way of seeing this is to consider from what position we were to have came to the current formula. Class cards were 4x more likely than neutrals in the past. If the change is then to configure the formula in such a way to sneak class cards into the equation by means of a 50-50 coin toss, then team5 might well have just never changed the formula in the first place.
Best to simply take their word for it. Ultimately even if discover effects were still skewed towards class cards, I dont see how they can profit by keeping that information from us.
New Freljord Card - Faces of the Old Ones
The biggest problem with Faces of the Old Ones isn't the weak body, it's that Behold is kind of impossible for these early game synergies. I didn't feel like doing the actual math with a hyper-geometric calculator, so I put together a little simulator that tries to play Faces of the Old Ones on curve by hard-mulliganing for it and a Behold trigger, then drawing a couple of cards naturally.
Even without worrying about the trigger, you already have kind of meh odds of getting this out on curve - something like 55%. If you want proc the effect most of the time you play it on curve, you'll need something like nine or ten 8-cost or higher cards in your deck. Even the Corina Control decks - perhaps the only really successful true control deck in LoR - never really ran more than six cards that would fit that bill. And at only six triggers, you're looking at getting this ramp on curve in only about 44% of games. Now add in the fact that this ramp is too slow to get that 8-drop out much earlier than expected, and too vulnerable to even make sure you maintain your mana advantage, and you've got a really awful card.
Maybe Riot gamed this all out and knows what they're doing with this archetype, but right now it seems crazy weak, with Faces of the Old Ones as the weakest card in the bunch.
Disguised Toast
So back in the day I enjoyed Toast's content before he started losing interest in HS and was only doing it for a source of income. However, I just saw a Toast video pop up in my YT about toast being on some dating show and thought it was pretty random. So for any Toast fans out there, what does he even do nowadays on YT?
Miss the Hearthstone Monthly Stats Newsletter? It Will Return in the Future
For a period of time, on the season reset every month Blizzard would send an email with statistics about your most played class, the class with the highest winrate, your most frequent opponents, your best and worst matchups, etc and sometimes some silly ones too. They were fun little things but largely inconsequential, and they had discontinued them for a long time. I think you need to opt into emails from Blizzard to see them, otherwise you can't. The most recent one I have is from before Saviour of Uldum.
Diana is the Newest Legends of Runeterra Targon Champion Coming in Call of the Mountain (5 New Cards Revealed!)
which one champion are you talking about ?
It has been revealed that Targon has 3 champions right now and Nocturne is in Shadow Isles. 4th will be Aurelion Sol, no doubt but isn't it like there will be 6 champions per region after this expansion will be released ?
I mean, Aren't there still 2 rooms for Targon after Aurelion Sol reveal ? There is already 5 champions per region right now. I don't think they leave it like 4 champion for Targon tbh because with this exp. all regions have (4) + (1) + 1 (Ex. for ionia Zed/Yasuo/Karma/Shen + Lee Sin + Lulu) champions and forgive me if there are any official announcement about this, I just didn't catch news this time around and just speculating with what we have in the game right now.
or, Are you just talking about reveals ? If that so, There is only P&Z champion which will be revealed.
Edit: Oh wait, Just read the Set Guide rn and learnt that There will be 3 expansions in 3 months. Wow, I really missed the huge news. And I also realised that Demacia and Bilgewater also didn't get any reveals yet with P&Z got only one. mmm, that feels like empty to me. I didn't like the way they decide how to release this time.
7 Off-Meta Decks Using Unpopular Scholomance Legendaries
don't worry, I won't be offended and I know this is just worse face hunter version but I really want to try Vectus with Toxic Reinforcements and such.
Btw, I'm aware of that big mana costs might screw these kind of decks, I just built it before expansion is released and with the hype of new cards such as Lorekeeper Polkelt etc. If I will get Vectus, I will probably try it in a more refined version of this deck.
I just wanted to know if Vectus might be like Dr. Boom in a deck like this.
Get Bloody, Get Paid! A Guide to Runeterra's Championless Undying - Deck Spotlight
I never had much luck with The Undying, it is RNG to draw them early enough and then it takes time for them to become big enough that your opponent needs to start blocking them. Vulnerable does help with this tho. It is definitely an interesting archetype, but not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance :)
New Targon Spell - Morning Light
Phase 1: Decide you want to build a Daybreak deck around Leona.
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Play Morning Light with Leona and a bunch of other daybreak units on board, giving them all +2/+2 plus all their individual daybreak effects while simultaneously stunning the opposing board. Then swing in for lethal.
Tell me about the current state of Hearthstone - Good time to return?
That's interesting you say that...I feel like I'm catching on to BG pretty quickly, even with the disadvantage of only getting 2 heroes to choose from. I feel like I"m close to getting above a 50% WR (top 4). It seems like...luck plays a huge part at first glance but there's a lot of nuance to when to level/roll/hero power with different heroes that I have a lot to learn and improve upon still.
Having said all that, it's a very refreshing change of pace to ladder!
Discover Effect: What are the probabilities?
I've always been skeptical of the "random" in Hearthstone, as we already know they've weighted that random a number of time. . . whether it's with discover, or random minion/spell generation, I've always wondered how it was programmed. The idea of multi-step things like Step One : Rarity, step two, Class, Step Three : Card has occurred to me, considering the frequency of certain cards over time (back in the day, i haven't followed as closely lately). Certainly that ups your chances of pulling Legendaries from certain cards, if you only have to clear a 1 in 4 bar on step one.
Discover Effect: What are the probabilities?
I agree with you that the video's conclusion doesn't jive with my experience, but admittedly I haven't paid much attention to patterns in Discover cards and wanted to ask y'all.
As you said, if (my understanding of) the argument in the video was correct then you'd be guaranteed Rotnest if you got Veranus as an option already. They brought this up as a way of explaining why Astromancer Solarian is so often discovered by Mages. Again, this didn't sound right to me but I've never looked into it.
Tell me about the current state of Hearthstone - Good time to return?
To me, I can sadly say that Heartstone feels more and more like a chore to play. I actually really like the new legendary cards they introduced and it seems to be going into a much healthier meta but I think that until they rotate out the extremely stupid amount of random generation cards/ discover I will never be able to actually say I have fun with the game.
To be more clear: I get that discover and even random effects are fun to play sometimes and can actually help the meta feel more fresh I find myself more often than not unable to figure out most of my opponent's cards when I am playing the game. I remember how around the time kobolds and catacombs came out every single game felt winnable if you knew your deck's strengths and you were smart enough to figure out the resources in your opponents hand. Nowadays, no matter how hard I try to figure out what to do every single turn can get ruined because of a random board clear from a randomly generated lackey from a randomly generated beast. Whenever that happens it drains me of all of my enjoyment from the game and just feels like an utter waste of time to even try to think about the cards you are playing and it becomes a competition about who can pull more cards out of their ass.
Thankfully the hearthstone team actually addressed that some time ago and said that this is probably the most value generation there will ever be in standard.
Battlegrounds is also a huge disappointment because of the utter rubbish decision of hiding pretty valuable game options after a paywall. I think that is the most bullshit blizzard tried so far with Hearthstone. When it comes to the gameplay, it's a mixed bag. If you don't give Blizzard the 2500g to get the full hero pool you will always be at a small disadvantage compared to those that buy the pass. Matches last a very short time and are very reliant on luck if you want to actually get in top 4. The rewards are also laughable. For a game mode a lot more pricey than Arena it definitely doesn't give you anything to compensate for that if you actually decide to grind for the required gold to have a fair footing against the other people that bought the perks.
Arena is alright, I don't play it much since I am free to play and I can't afford the 150 g requirement always but I have tried it a bit and I enjoyed it maybe even more than standard since it makes me feel a lot more fulfilled for being decent at the game.
Overall: I think hearthstone is definitely getting better. Last expansion when they launched DH and made rogue generate all the lackeys in the world I was the closest to giving up on the game forever but nowdays things are starting to get a bit more enjoyable again with even legendary cards like Rattlegore being playable. I think that you should probably come back and give it a try now if you really itch to give it a go but I would actually recommend coming back when the next rotation happens since I think that will make things feel a hell of a lot better. Who knows, maybe Galakrond will get the Genn and Baku treatment and we will have a lot less random into the game .
New Piltover & Zaun Spell - Poro Cannon
I actually really the synergy with L2 Nocturne: you can play the spell at any time for a free nightfall activation, then after he levels drop the 2x Daring Poro such that all allies have fearsome while all enemies have -2/-0. I just don't know if that's a strong enough combo to carry an entire deck--especially if you lose access to the Targon nightfall units.
Diana is the Newest Legends of Runeterra Targon Champion Coming in Call of the Mountain (5 New Cards Revealed!)
Wow, I love [Hearthstone Card (Diana) Not Found].
I just like sneaky cards that seem to be small, but turn out to be game changing :)
Tell me about the current state of Hearthstone - Good time to return?
Surprisingly, there's nothing really safe / must currently. Arguably, we have only a few legendaries that are staple across several decks and are they even safe long-term? Actually, the power of current legendaries is big, but many are for one deck only, or they play important support / supplementary roles. I'll try to list the most prominent legendaries for each class:
DH: Altruis the Outcast is free. Kayn Sunfury is very prominent, but both current archetypes can still win a lot without him. Soulciologist Malicia is quite important, but she constructs only one deck with unpredictable future.
Druid: Ysera, Unleashed, but she's of no use if you don't supplement her with other stuff like Speaker Gidra or Forest Warden Omu... which are support or niche cards. And if Blizzard gets suddenly tired of ramp Druid, Ysera could easily be forgotten.
Hunter: Zixor, Apex Predator is a top legendary, but every time the meta becomes too fast Highlander Hunter may decrease in power. The same is with Dinotamer Brann. Actually, the most useful Hunter card across the board is Dragonbane. This one you can jam in Face Hunter and the card generally has a very high drawn win-rate in any deck.
Mage: When I look at Mage legendaries they are all good, but used here and there in various archetypes. Still Astromancer Solarian seems the most useful and his power is proven by now. Jandice Barov is another thumbs up, especially because she's played in Rogue as well, in the most decks there. Good pile of stats and tempo, but can easily be cut in some future metas. Highlander Mage play many different legendaries, but currently Bomb Warrior is keeping it at bay a bit. The Amazing Reno is a crucial card there (+ in fringe archetype Spell Mage). The thing about Highlander Mage is that you need 70% of Mage legendaries regardless of the power. Ras Frostwhisper is fine there and in Cyclone Mage, but the future is still uncertain.
Paladin: ...is the major example how his legendaries don't define archetypes, but only supplement them. If you cut one of these: Murgur Murgurgle, High Abbess Alura or Lady Liadrin; it wouldn't be the worst deck ever. Of course, including most of those raises the overall power of a Paladin deck. And the question is how much power you want. If you go for Liadrin, why not get Alura, too? Why stop halfway?
Priest: ...is full of ugly garbage. But to operate as Priest you need to include all that garbage. In the end, it's all about stealing good cards from other classes. Soul Mirror and Murozond the Infinite stand out from the rest. If they nuke Galakrond, the Unspeakable in future, which I sincerely hope, these cards can become useless.
Rogue: Flik Skyshiv and Heistbaron Togwaggle were staple for the whole year, until now. Galakrond Rogue is currently shit, so these cards see much less play. Flik is still fine, tho. As said before, Jandice Barov is commonly played in most decks. Infiltrator Lilian and Shadowjeweler Hanar are great cards but it's impossible to proclaim them as -the must- or safe.
Shaman: ...is garbage.
Warlock: Kanrethad Ebonlocke is the only noticeable legendary here, and not staple, nor insanely powerful.
Warrior: Ancharrr; this one is really staple and will be unless they change pirate tags on some cards. ...If you play Bomb Warrior, no way doing it without Blastmaster Boom. Bomb Warrior is very strong but so easily counterable by meta. Deathwing, Mad Aspect - a great card for any Warrior, but of course, replaceable. Lord Barov, a great addition to Warrior decks, but not deck defining. You can without it, but you'll lose several win-rate percentages, for sure.
Neutrals: Zephrys the Great, this annoying dude is a top power card. Still played, although the power of highlander decks decreased noticeably. Kronx Dragonhoof - the major support for Galakrond decks, but only Priest Galakrond is still standing, still untouched. Siamat staple in slow and highlander decks for a long time, much less now, tho. Dragonqueen Alexstrasza was nerfed and now only sees play in Highlander Mage. Not staple anymore, I'm afraid.
Of course, there are many other legendaries which see play, but these are in the spotlight, right now. And... craft decks not cards.
Tell me about the current state of Hearthstone - Good time to return?
Control or midrange decks preferably. So far I've tried (what I could make of) Spells Mage, Res Priest, and Galakrond Quest Shaman.
New Targon Spell - Hush
People have an uncanny tendency to fail at predicting how good/bad certain cards will be. The only exceptions are cards that are absurdly overpowered and get nerfed within 2 weeks of release, or so blatantly underpowered that they are never used in a deck and maybe get buffed at some point later.
New Freljord Card - Faces of the Old Ones
Except its not any more. They lowered the cost of Wyrding Stones a few patches back, and they still haven't found a spot other than super-ambitious Warmother's decks. Here, you're paying 1 less mana for -0/-2 stats and the possibility the effect doesn't occur, and now it instantly dies to Fleetfeather Tracker, Sapling, and keg + AoE. The one thing I can think of is perhaps if you triple down on ramp then there's a like an escape velocity factor where you can stabilize that much faster; otherwise it just seems almost always inferior to Stones.
Tell me about the current state of Hearthstone - Good time to return?
DQ Alex is a difficult one to call. It's still playable, without question, but rotates next rotation. It's not as good as Zephrs, so I'd craft that before Alex if you haven't already got it.
If you play/enjoy wild, obviously rotation is less of an issue, and it's still played in any highlander wild decks, most obviously Priest, which is T1 at the moment I believe. It's good, but not gamebreaking.
As for which ones to craft, thats difficult, as I'm not aware of any "universal" legendaries in the current rotation, that appear in most decks the way Zilliax did. The closest is Siamat, but his playrate seems to have dropped off a cliff.
What decks are you looking at?