Just a note. In the past two or three months I have noticed a cycle (at least in wild): at the end and the beginning of each season/ month, players will choose more aggressive decks since they want to climb fast.
...
in the middle of the months, the meta is more combo oriented.
This is not a new trend. In the past it may not have been as noticeable in Wild though because most of Wild was just Big Priest and fast decks to counter Big Priest. But now you can face off against a wider variety in the format. For example, I just played three games against Warlocks in a row and none of them were the same deck. First it was a Cube Lock, then a Discard Lock, then I was surprised to meet a Reno Dragon Lock! If I had kept playing I probably would have been matched up with a Mechathun Lock next. :)
But yeah, the try-hards definitely come out in both formats at the beginning and end of each month looking for fast wins with aggro decks.
Nice one :)
Last night I had three matches against Warlock as well, ALL were ZooLock! This is when I changed my deck a little to be more control oriented and ranked from Diamond 5 to 4 with a 4-0 win rate (before the changes I lost more than I won).
I dont think dhunters are currently a problem. If nothing else its at least predictable.
Other decks like highlander mage barely win without some rng involved (via The Amazing Reno, in which is probably the single most high rolling card in the game). Still others are even worse like galakrond priest, which effectively have no win condition other than grabbing yours. And druid probably seals the deal with ramp AND swarming cards that more or less means you either remove their board or die the next turn.
Between dhunters and the decks named above, I'd think dhunters are the lesser of the two evils. The number of times I'd just lose my game because of a reno highroll, or thoughtsteal highroll, or just plain destroyed because my opponent has effectively 4 mana ramp over mine, I'd sleep better knowing that dhunters at very least played genuinely good cards rather than rng themselves a win out of nowhere.
I played several games with Anivia and Swim's versions seems much better than others I'm seeing recently. It takes ages to reach 10 mana, though. I often miss some ramp. :)
One giant issue with DH is simply its class identity: Agressive facetanking, card draw
Warlock also has card draw out the butt but in exchange all of warlock's class cards are weaker than other classes' counterparts. Demon Hunter cards on the other hand are stronger than other class cards. Good cards with an easy way to get them is simply bad design.
Look at priest, a class that has strong (but situational) answers to everything but is completly bereft of any meaningful carddraw, leaving a lot up to random generation.
This is nothing new, dont surrender for a small possibility your opponent will BM and throw or DC etc. It is just matter of your mind-set and time spent.
Some ppl can get tilted staying in a match like that, or by the opponent's actions. Or that win might not be worth spending another 10+ minutes in the game when you know you are most likely going to lose. Depends on the deck you play etc.
I get what ur saying, but it is not something that isnt just common sense and everyone has to decide for themselves if it is worth it in their current game or not. I wouldnt call it a hard rule or anything.
What if L2 Jinx were given something like “Last Breath: Draw 2”? That way she would refill your hand after you were forced to dump it, and your opponent can’t totally destroy you by destroying your Jinx when you have an empty hand.
Honestly, the fact that L1 Jinx only has 3 HP disgusts me. Seriously: let's compare her apples-to-apples with Yasuo:
At L1, both are 4 mana, 4 attack with quick-attack
L1 Yasuo has a constant passive skill; L1 Jinx is vanilla--essentially a Academy Prodigy with +1/+2 until you level her up
Yasuo can level up even when not on board; Jinx needs to be on board
An L2 Yasuo combo'ed with Yone or Mina is usually lethal, often even when near full nexus health. An L2 Jinx combo'ed with a Get Excited! top deck (because if it was already in your hand, you had to dump it to level Jinx) represents 7 nexus damage.
Jinx is weaker in almost every conceivable way. But the real kick to the teeth is: to level up Jinx AND to get the subsequent rockets, you need to dump your hand--and dumping your hand makes you very vulnerable. You can't keep Deny / Fury of the North / Barrier backup to protect Jinx; you can't pull a Glimpse Beyond / Single Combat / Noxian Fervor to milk some value out of Jinx before she dies. And after she dies, you're totally out-of-gas. She's inherently a high-risk / medium-reward proposition...and I would even be OK with that, except for the fact L1 Yasuo originally had that same 4/3 quick-attack stat line and they decided HE needed to be buffed to 4/4 as he "hasn’t quite had the durability needed to be able to fully utilize him as a build-around". Ever since that change, Yasuo has been a constant mainstay of the meta while Jinx is relegated to meme-y decks like Draven/Discard and TF/Casino.
I believe eventually they will give Jinx and additional HP to match Yasuo's stats, but the fact it it taking them this long to figure that out just infuriates me .
Accidentally hit Legend for the second time ever by playing Highlander Hunter.
This was much more satisfying way to hit legend instead of using Demon Hunter.
Hunter has always been my favorite class, and I have been playing Highlander Hunter long before it became cool in SoU. Hitting legend with a T2 deck made me feel like it was actually my knowledge of the deck and the meta that got me to legend, instead of just pushing the broken DH aggro train.
Had some fantastic matches, won unfavored matches by playing my mulligan's right and knowing what my outs for those matches were. Had a few epic close matches too that were some of the best games played all expansion.
Final boss was a mirror match, that I drew really badly, yet I still was able to squeak out the win by knowing when to apply the pressure.
Just feels good to hit legend with my favorite class instead of with the predetermined king of the meta.
I forced myself to play several games of HS after awhile, only to confirm this game is the absolute garbage.
5-4, I even defeated 3 Demon Hunters, but in other games: evolve into Kayn, Restless Mummy, into 0 mana Galakrond... the Box into nuts... Every single game is a circus. When even winning feels terrible and empty, you know something is really screwed up.
I always see people talking about how difficult it is to balance a class, but certain cards like Skull of Guldan and Aldrachi Warblades were very clearly too strong in their prenerf versions. 5 Mana draw 3 with a slight upside was already established as quite powerful (like Nourish) so it should have been very easy for Blizzard to make Skull of Guldan reduce the cost of the cards by something like 1 or 2 instead. Literally anyone who looks at Skull of Guldan versus cards like Sprint and Far Sight, even without prior knowledge of HS, can see that the numbers don’t match up.
I think the reason that Blizzard printed cards that were so clearly OP is because they designed the cards when the DH hero power was 2 Mana gain +1 Attack. Then when they changed the Hero Power they didn’t adjust the cards as well. Class cards are balanced around the power level of the Hero Power, that’s why Warlock tends to have worse cards than other classes. DH’s cards are balanced as if they have the worst Hero Power, while at the same time they have one of the best Hero Powers.
1) Never Surrender any games until Platinum. 2) Keep your ego in check. If your opponent has not surrender, always assume they have have an out.
My latest ranked game is an important example of both of these, players will do some incredible stupid things whether by ego or they oversee a solution. These will net you free wins.
My opponent has 4 health left and I have 13 health left. This Braum/Vlad had my Kninkou Elusives against a wall with 6 units on the field, one with overwhelm, a braum, and 4 other unites. Braum pulled my elusive unit leaving me just an Shadow Assassin to block with. The five units on the board is dealing 17 damage (3 atk Overwhelm, 4 atk, 4 atk, 3 atk, 3 atk). With the units on the field he can kill me as is. Instead of letting it go, he decides to gloat. He drops his last two 2 braum's on the 3 atk overwhelm buffing him instead of holding them. He then spams Braum emote for the duration of the timer. I will his buffed overwhelm and block a 4 atk unit. He Darius emotes me and emotes the entire time he has priority. I drop my elusive unit in hand and we both have zero cards. I top deck a buff to swing for lethal and my opponent draws a brick.
The opponent adds me as a friend and proceeds to spam some inappropriate comments and blocks me.
This is why you don't surrender in lower ranks. Not sure if the same applies in higher ranks as I doubt people make these silly mistakes in higher elo. Maybe a Master Tier player can confirm.
We'll see how it plays out over the coming expansions, but I wouldn't be surprised if DH becomes the cockroachiest cockroach class because it is designed to be good or great at what I consider all the primary mechanics of the game:
strong minions (both big and small);
high tempo;
single target removal (big and small);
AoE (big and small);
face damage;
healing/taunt;
and card draw.
All of their weaknesses are secondary mechanics that usually provide less reliable alternatives to primary ones (e.g. card generation instead of card draw, buffs instead of independently strong minions, or stall/freeze instead of removal).
Meanwhile every other class either has major weaknesses in the primary mechanics (e.g. rogue's lack of healing/taunt and AoE), or they are mediocre at most of them (e.g. shaman having tools for most situations, but they're normally worse than the versions in other classes), which is usually what keeps them from becoming too dominant.
That is not to say a particular DH deck has no counters, but that if a counter arises it is relatively easy for them to swap in strong class cards to improve the match-up, whereas other classes have to settle on using weaker neutral cards or decide to just accept it will always be a tough match-up.
Maybe I'm wrong and some of what I call secondary mechanics are more important than I think, so that DH's weaknesses will seriously hinder the class one day. If so then great! Otherwise it is not difficult for Blizzard to change the class identity a bit, especially when the class gets enough cards to branch out into doing other, more janky things.
There have been some crazy shifts in the tier list since the season of fortune began, with really out of the box decks like Anivia, and Poros creeping into tier 2. I would say at this point that we have effectively hit balance perfection in legends of runterra and you can officially play whatever you want.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
Nice one :)
Last night I had three matches against Warlock as well, ALL were ZooLock! This is when I changed my deck a little to be more control oriented and ranked from Diamond 5 to 4 with a 4-0 win rate (before the changes I lost more than I won).
Huge Tier List Upset = Play What You Want
Yep it's very strong I just dropped the spider boys I feel pretty good dealing with aggro most of the time anyway
Deck ID Not Found
Brawl Haul - Burning Down the Opponent with Chandra, Heart of Fire (Bonus M21 Giveaway)
Congratulations to Thraxus and Jimothy for winning codes! Check your messages on the site!
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
I dont think dhunters are currently a problem. If nothing else its at least predictable.
Other decks like highlander mage barely win without some rng involved (via The Amazing Reno, in which is probably the single most high rolling card in the game). Still others are even worse like galakrond priest, which effectively have no win condition other than grabbing yours. And druid probably seals the deal with ramp AND swarming cards that more or less means you either remove their board or die the next turn.
Between dhunters and the decks named above, I'd think dhunters are the lesser of the two evils. The number of times I'd just lose my game because of a reno highroll, or thoughtsteal highroll, or just plain destroyed because my opponent has effectively 4 mana ramp over mine, I'd sleep better knowing that dhunters at very least played genuinely good cards rather than rng themselves a win out of nowhere.
Huge Tier List Upset = Play What You Want
I played several games with Anivia and Swim's versions seems much better than others I'm seeing recently. It takes ages to reach 10 mana, though. I often miss some ramp. :)
Kael'thas and the Blood Elves - Traversing Azeroth
What?
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
One giant issue with DH is simply its class identity: Agressive facetanking, card draw
Warlock also has card draw out the butt but in exchange all of warlock's class cards are weaker than other classes' counterparts. Demon Hunter cards on the other hand are stronger than other class cards. Good cards with an easy way to get them is simply bad design.
Look at priest, a class that has strong (but situational) answers to everything but is completly bereft of any meaningful carddraw, leaving a lot up to random generation.
Unites that say things that make no sense.
This. It isn't a contradiction at all.
Two Simple Rules For New Players
This is nothing new, dont surrender for a small possibility your opponent will BM and throw or DC etc. It is just matter of your mind-set and time spent.
Some ppl can get tilted staying in a match like that, or by the opponent's actions. Or that win might not be worth spending another 10+ minutes in the game when you know you are most likely going to lose. Depends on the deck you play etc.
I get what ur saying, but it is not something that isnt just common sense and everyone has to decide for themselves if it is worth it in their current game or not. I wouldnt call it a hard rule or anything.
List of Runeterra Daily Quests
I was so certain Easy Mark would be a new quest, but at least I got another as well.
Jinx level up buff.
What if L2 Jinx were given something like “Last Breath: Draw 2”? That way she would refill your hand after you were forced to dump it, and your opponent can’t totally destroy you by destroying your Jinx when you have an empty hand.
Jinx level up buff.
Honestly, the fact that L1 Jinx only has 3 HP disgusts me. Seriously: let's compare her apples-to-apples with Yasuo:
Jinx is weaker in almost every conceivable way. But the real kick to the teeth is: to level up Jinx AND to get the subsequent rockets, you need to dump your hand--and dumping your hand makes you very vulnerable. You can't keep Deny / Fury of the North / Barrier backup to protect Jinx; you can't pull a Glimpse Beyond / Single Combat / Noxian Fervor to milk some value out of Jinx before she dies. And after she dies, you're totally out-of-gas. She's inherently a high-risk / medium-reward proposition...and I would even be OK with that, except for the fact L1 Yasuo originally had that same 4/3 quick-attack stat line and they decided HE needed to be buffed to 4/4 as he "hasn’t quite had the durability needed to be able to fully utilize him as a build-around". Ever since that change, Yasuo has been a constant mainstay of the meta while Jinx is relegated to meme-y decks like Draven/Discard and TF/Casino.
I believe eventually they will give Jinx and additional HP to match Yasuo's stats, but the fact it it taking them this long to figure that out just infuriates me .
Huge Tier List Upset = Play What You Want
Yep, that is arguable the better way to play the archetype now, less tempo focused with more of an endgame.
Huge Tier List Upset = Play What You Want
Yeah im playing what i call BIG Pirates (Sej + GP) with The Tuskraider.
The deck work by nabing your opponent in the early game and finish em with double stats units. Love the theme!
The Pepper Thread - Share Some Good Vibes!
Accidentally hit Legend for the second time ever by playing Highlander Hunter.
This was much more satisfying way to hit legend instead of using Demon Hunter.
Hunter has always been my favorite class, and I have been playing Highlander Hunter long before it became cool in SoU. Hitting legend with a T2 deck made me feel like it was actually my knowledge of the deck and the meta that got me to legend, instead of just pushing the broken DH aggro train.
Had some fantastic matches, won unfavored matches by playing my mulligan's right and knowing what my outs for those matches were. Had a few epic close matches too that were some of the best games played all expansion.
Final boss was a mirror match, that I drew really badly, yet I still was able to squeak out the win by knowing when to apply the pressure.
Just feels good to hit legend with my favorite class instead of with the predetermined king of the meta.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
I forced myself to play several games of HS after awhile, only to confirm this game is the absolute garbage.
5-4, I even defeated 3 Demon Hunters, but in other games: evolve into Kayn, Restless Mummy, into 0 mana Galakrond... the Box into nuts... Every single game is a circus. When even winning feels terrible and empty, you know something is really screwed up.
This turn-5 Druid game (4 hp left) wasn't even the worst one: https://ibb.co/3TwgcMD
I was stupid not to concede after he played ramp on curve.
Fuck this shit, I'm not gonna be masochist anymore.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
I always see people talking about how difficult it is to balance a class, but certain cards like Skull of Guldan and Aldrachi Warblades were very clearly too strong in their prenerf versions. 5 Mana draw 3 with a slight upside was already established as quite powerful (like Nourish) so it should have been very easy for Blizzard to make Skull of Guldan reduce the cost of the cards by something like 1 or 2 instead. Literally anyone who looks at Skull of Guldan versus cards like Sprint and Far Sight, even without prior knowledge of HS, can see that the numbers don’t match up.
I think the reason that Blizzard printed cards that were so clearly OP is because they designed the cards when the DH hero power was 2 Mana gain +1 Attack. Then when they changed the Hero Power they didn’t adjust the cards as well. Class cards are balanced around the power level of the Hero Power, that’s why Warlock tends to have worse cards than other classes. DH’s cards are balanced as if they have the worst Hero Power, while at the same time they have one of the best Hero Powers.
Fan Community Spotlight - Pokeniner's "Return to Gadgetzan's Streets"
Perhaps the other Murloc cards may come back in his next set if it appears to be Murloc themed?
Fan Community Spotlight - Pokeniner's "Return to Gadgetzan's Streets"
Those Murloc cards are great. Fishy Deal made me laugh. Laugh out loud.
Taking a Look at the Evolution of Hearthstone's Pirate Warrior Through the Years
These tribe collectible "quests" can come back too. Would make a nice addition to feel more like collecting is a game goal too.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
The majority of the HS players all the years: We want an additional class!
Me all the time: You think you want it, but you don't! Blizz can`t even balance nine clases, one additional class would it make even worse.
Blizz releases DH -> community is crying about the bad balancing.
Me: I was right all along.
Two Simple Rules For New Players
1) Never Surrender any games until Platinum.
2) Keep your ego in check. If your opponent has not surrender, always assume they have have an out.
My latest ranked game is an important example of both of these, players will do some incredible stupid things whether by ego or they oversee a solution. These will net you free wins.
My opponent has 4 health left and I have 13 health left. This Braum/Vlad had my Kninkou Elusives against a wall with 6 units on the field, one with overwhelm, a braum, and 4 other unites. Braum pulled my elusive unit leaving me just an Shadow Assassin to block with. The five units on the board is dealing 17 damage (3 atk Overwhelm, 4 atk, 4 atk, 3 atk, 3 atk). With the units on the field he can kill me as is. Instead of letting it go, he decides to gloat. He drops his last two 2 braum's on the 3 atk overwhelm buffing him instead of holding them. He then spams Braum emote for the duration of the timer. I will his buffed overwhelm and block a 4 atk unit. He Darius emotes me and emotes the entire time he has priority. I drop my elusive unit in hand and we both have zero cards. I top deck a buff to swing for lethal and my opponent draws a brick.
The opponent adds me as a friend and proceeds to spam some inappropriate comments and blocks me.
This is why you don't surrender in lower ranks. Not sure if the same applies in higher ranks as I doubt people make these silly mistakes in higher elo. Maybe a Master Tier player can confirm.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous
We'll see how it plays out over the coming expansions, but I wouldn't be surprised if DH becomes the cockroachiest cockroach class because it is designed to be good or great at what I consider all the primary mechanics of the game:
All of their weaknesses are secondary mechanics that usually provide less reliable alternatives to primary ones (e.g. card generation instead of card draw, buffs instead of independently strong minions, or stall/freeze instead of removal).
Meanwhile every other class either has major weaknesses in the primary mechanics (e.g. rogue's lack of healing/taunt and AoE), or they are mediocre at most of them (e.g. shaman having tools for most situations, but they're normally worse than the versions in other classes), which is usually what keeps them from becoming too dominant.
That is not to say a particular DH deck has no counters, but that if a counter arises it is relatively easy for them to swap in strong class cards to improve the match-up, whereas other classes have to settle on using weaker neutral cards or decide to just accept it will always be a tough match-up.
Maybe I'm wrong and some of what I call secondary mechanics are more important than I think, so that DH's weaknesses will seriously hinder the class one day. If so then great! Otherwise it is not difficult for Blizzard to change the class identity a bit, especially when the class gets enough cards to branch out into doing other, more janky things.
Huge Tier List Upset = Play What You Want
There have been some crazy shifts in the tier list since the season of fortune began, with really out of the box decks like Anivia, and Poros creeping into tier 2. I would say at this point that we have effectively hit balance perfection in legends of runterra and you can officially play whatever you want.
https://www.swimstrim.com/runeterra/decks-and-meta
Let's open it up to hear what you guys are playing right now.
I'm a big fan of treasure Nautilus it's gotten me good results against both control and aggro matchups
Deck ID Not Found
Jinx level up buff.
I always play Jinx for her draw ability and see the rocket as a bonus (a very good bonus though).