If you look at it, the Evergreen set only contains a few keywords: charge, poisonous, taunt, overload, battlecry, deathrattle, windfury, divine shield (I hope I didn't forget any).
It is ok to not include keywords that are used once in all the history of the game (Magnetic, Overkill, Adapt, Echo, Recruit, obviously Invoke and probably Reborn), but with time the Devs have chosen new mechanics to use set after set: I'm talking about Discover (widely used since the first expansions), Lifesteal (introduced in Knights of the Frozen Throne and used in every expansion since then) and Rush (same reasoning of Lifesteal, since Witchwood).
Yes, in the whole Evergreen set there isn't a single Discover card, while in some cases 1/4 of the cards of some expansions can somehow do it (Rise of Shadow's "created by" meta for example).
I'm really sensible to newbies' game experience (in the past I struggled a lot between rank 21 and 18 before grasping how to be good at the game, so I won't forget any time soon what hell that rank belt is), but I don't think concepts like "heal for the damage it deals" or "choose one from three and add it to your hand" should be that difficult to get. To be honest, Overload looks like a trickier concept for someone that doesn't know the game.
Adding lifesteal to Holy Fire makes it a much better card and you shouldn't worsen Penance just for the sake of consistency. Capping the amount of healing means that you cripple yourself from improving it with Spell Damage (I don't know when you started playing the game, but Bloodmage Thalnos + Spirit Lash was one hell of an aggro killer), which is not irrelevant as you might think.
In other words, right now every expansion has Discover, Lifesteal and Rush: if you want to start the game you'll eventually get in touch with them after at worst 2-3 games. While I can understand people's doubts for Rush, I really don't see reasons for not adding the other two to the Evergreen set except the will of not improving it.
I've been trying to make an elemental deck work - this is the closest I've found so far so nice deck building. only thing i'm hesitant about is the Learn Draconic quest, Flamestrike, and blizzard. The side quest doesnt pack much of a punch - it's best benefit is as an activator for quest support cards as you often don't play high cost spells untill late game. I'm thinking of taking them out and replacing with other 1 cost spells, possibly Kadgar (works with conj, new elemental, and Chenvalaa) possibly another elemental or Antonidus to help close games.
This all looks great! I really like this new priest set better than the old one. But I do have some notes though.
I don't like Meeting of Minds. Not because it is overpowered, but simply because it is too complicated for a basic card. We have never had to look at more than 4 cards at once before, so having a basic card that wants to loot at between two and ten cards just seems like too much. I don't think you need to make it weaker, the power level is fine, but you should make it simpler because it is a basic card.
I also don't like Mass Hysteria in the classic set for the same reason I don't like Meeting of Minds, it just feels too unique to be a classic card. We don't see a lot of forced attacks, so having something like this is just weird. Also, it does feel a bit too powerful. Priest does need a reliable board clear in the basic/classic set so that they don't need to get a new one each expansion, but it shouldn't be so good that no other expansion card can beat it. What priest needs is something like flamestrike in mage. It is not a very powerful board clear, but it is always there if there is nothing else. There should never be a card in the basic/classic set that will always be better than other expansion cards. I think something like Lightbomb would have been better, and even then I would make it cost 7 and also make it a rare to compensate. Priest needs a good board clear in their classic set, not an amazing one.
I would also take lifesteal out of the basic/classic set. You are okay with changing Holy Fire to have lifesteal, so why not just change Penance to say "restore 3 health to your hero" instead? That way, both of those cards are in line with the rest of the basic/classic set. Instead you changed both of them to be out of place. Why?
One more thing, I would give priest a different classic legendary. Again, I am not concerned with it being over power or too weak, but it just feels really out of place with the other classic legendarys. Every other class gets a big finisher as their classic legendary, but priest just has another niche tool to keep their minions alive. I would change him to instead help you finish off your opponent and close out the game, not prolong it.
TLDR: Meeting of Minds is too complicated to be a basic card. Mass Hysteria is too unique and so it feels out of place in the classic set, also it is too strong. Lifesteal shouldn't be in the basic/classic set. And priests classic legendary should be a strong finisher and not a way to prolong the game.
You’re right. A goal like “20 Arena wins” would be trivial for a good player but a huge task for an average player. Maybe they could follow Runeterra’s lead and give a bonus for your first Arena run or two every week. Or give an extra reward for your best run each week.
Whatever the answer is, I hope Blizzard figures it out! (Along with a tournament mode and monthly subscription, of course...)
Its not actually unusual or impossible to get mechathun to 7 mana so the combo can still be done even with an increase in mana cost for Bloodbloom. Bloodbloom have an additional problem in Darkest Hour decks. I think team5 have actually highlighted this to be a problem before, but as with wild cards it usually gets pushed way down the priority lists.
As have been highlighted by others, there's plenty of other combo breaker tech cards in wild. If you're seeing lots of combo decks in ranked, then tech in some cards to deal with it in your deck.
Honestly, I think that Mecha'thun as a card and concept are acceptable.
The issue is mostly with cards like Plague of Flames and Bloodbloom not costing a whole lot of mana. ~dats just me doe~
Making Bloodbloom cost a lot of mana makes no sense. The deck would cease to work at that point as you know longer have an actual means to pull off the combo
If you're playing control or highlander decks, you should be able to squeeze at least one of these two in; I run both in a Frost Lich Jaina highlander deck that usually has the last laugh against Mechathun locks:
I remember this being posted two weeks ago or so in a specific thread and I also see that Shadow included some changes suggested by the community (Meeting of Minds being 3 mana instead of 2, the Barrier concept being reworked in order to affect only friendly minions and not your hero as well,...).
I agree with both the idea of a Priest core set's overhaul and the choices made by our fellow user: I think most of them are really on point and the flavor aspect is really strong and well built; however, I'm quite skeptical about whether a change like this will happen or not. I better explain myself on this point: I'm almost certain that next April we'll see some consistent changes in the Evergreen set. There are cards that have seen play or have created problems for too long (Divine SpiritInner Fire, Malygos, Leeroy Jenkins, Stonetusk Boar,...) or that have never seen play until now and they're unlikely going to be played in the future due to powercreep (Savagery, Lightwell, Kidnapper, Arcane Golem, Nat Pagle, The Beast, Felguard,...).
Everything looks fine until you take a look at Team 5's policy for changing the core set: up until now, the only "new" cards that have seen (very little) play are Brightwing, Pilfer and Tome of Intellect. Stuff like [Hearthstone Card (Barrons stablehand) Not Found] or Righteousness (I won't talk about Radiance cause that was one of the dirties blows I've ever seen since Purify) are underwhelming at best and no one sane will include them in a deck.
Ok, they dilute the Discover and RNG pool, ok Arena is also a thing, ok we can't (and I wholeheartedly agree on this one) have just good cards, but it is quite clear to me that T5 doesn't really want to introduce good cards (not broken or staple, just good) in the Evergreen set. The reason is simple: if you have bad cards, you need to buy better ones. And I can get behind it, since selling packs is their job. But for all the reasons I just explained I think Shadow's set is too good to be taken in consideration for a serious overhaul. Is it kind of sad? Yes, it is. Do I hope to be wrong about this? Hell yeah: please Team 5 prove me wrong, PLEASE.
Tl;dr - Shadow's set is cool but too good; up until now HoF cards have been replaced with bad to terrible stuff and unfortunately I don't see his idea being taken seriously by the Devs.
As far as I know (from last week) you will continue your expedition and it won't count in 3 expeditions per week count.
I haven't tested it myself, but this would've been my assumption, too - that the expedition counts for the week it started in, not the one it ended in.
Its a good argument, though fishing from someone's hand I would argue is less rng than deck and therefore more powerful. I'm just having flashbacks to times where getting specific hero cards, or legendaries from [Hearthstone Card (drakonoid operative) Not Found] can totally ruin someone's day.
Also, it means all cards introduced have to now be balanced with priest cards in future expansions.
If blizzard came to you and said they could only do one of these ideas, but you could pick, what would you pick?
I think “Your Table” and “Play” would be best for the whole Hearthstone community. Allows players with limited collections to go into Formats like Pauper and still be on an even playing field.
Personally I’d really like for my other concept, Explorer, to be implemented since it changes often enough to keep the game feeling fresh.
As far as I know (from last week) you will continue your expedition and it won't count in 3 expeditions per week count. I plan on doing same this week (need to finish trial run to max out chest and then will just wait with next trial for tomorrow's chest).
If you're playing control or highlander decks, you should be able to squeeze at least one of these two in; I run both in a Frost Lich Jaina highlander deck that usually has the last laugh against Mechathun locks:
I like this card set a lot. About battlemedic, I think it is s very fair card, stats like this doesn't matter anyways because of some high value minions in the past, like Savannah Highmane and Sylvanas Windrunner. Good card.
And another thing, one card I don't like is prosper in peace, my own work would be "Draw a card for each friendly minion you control with 3 Health or more ", I just wanted to make a little bit better, just my preference.
The rest looks okay, Alonsus Faol looks quite intimidating, but if I recall it, legendary cards in the classic sets were very powerful, so it seems perfectly fine to me.
The thing about Shadow Madness is that it is one of the best defensive tech cards, aside from silence, when deathrattles are in vogue.
Most deathrattles such as Mechanical Whelp are usually 3 or less attack.
Also, some of the reborn minions share the same trait.
Got some serious plays and a few ragequits from Shadow Madness during the Uldum Meta, N'Zoth return and briefly when Deathrattle Rogue was the it in Standard in the opening weeks of the current meta.
Thoughtsteal ... it's more for spell priest (gah, that was a long time ago), Highlander or memes. But ... I've seen it bite me (against other priests) and others with the stuff it can dig up. Probably seen those happen more often than Lightwarden snowballs.
I really don't see Battle Medic as an issue. Injured Tol'vir is better in almost every conceivable way, for example, save being dropped on Turn 2 with no Circle of Healing - and even then, Taunt is arguably better than the extra Health depending on your opponent. When cards like Divine Spirit/Inner Fire exist, sure I'd be more wary, but I dropped them for a reason.
Meeting of Minds deliberately looks at the whole hand, because I want that to be an option available to Priest. I think at (3) the card is pretty bad as is, so giving you that extra bit of scouting feels warranted.
Soul Survivor is deliberately a weaker Ancient of War. Basic vs Epic and Priest vs Druid was my logic for that. In an expansion I'd for sure push the power level on it, but a Basic set is something different.
I don't see Power Word: Barrier or Barrier Priest as an issue now that they can't hit your face. Compare the first to Conceal, which costs (5) less for losing the powerful interaction with Taunt minions; the second to Master of Disguise. Note that both of those cards also prevent targeted destruction or damage, while you can still use a variety of removal even with the Barrier in place.
This is very interesting, because I've had other people say Alonsus Faol was too weak! I must admit that I don't think it's an issue if Arena-fair gameplay finds this to be a 'bomb'. You can make it appear very infrequently, or ban it from Arena if you must, but I don't see that as a reason to kill it as a Constructed card.
Holy Guardian actually was a Rare, before I'd decided on including Mass Hysteria. I wanted to keep the rarities the same - to avoid any issues with dust compensation, were this to actually happen - so I just bumped it up a rarity. I could always swap it with Barrier Priest, I guess.
I'm with you there. It always bothered me that Hearthstone didn't have a borderless-window video mode, but in hindsight, this led me to play it windowed and thus always have my computer's clock in sight. Of course, an (optional) in-game clock would be the ideal solution.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
If you look at it, the Evergreen set only contains a few keywords: charge, poisonous, taunt, overload, battlecry, deathrattle, windfury, divine shield (I hope I didn't forget any).
It is ok to not include keywords that are used once in all the history of the game (Magnetic, Overkill, Adapt, Echo, Recruit, obviously Invoke and probably Reborn), but with time the Devs have chosen new mechanics to use set after set: I'm talking about Discover (widely used since the first expansions), Lifesteal (introduced in Knights of the Frozen Throne and used in every expansion since then) and Rush (same reasoning of Lifesteal, since Witchwood).
Yes, in the whole Evergreen set there isn't a single Discover card, while in some cases 1/4 of the cards of some expansions can somehow do it (Rise of Shadow's "created by" meta for example).
I'm really sensible to newbies' game experience (in the past I struggled a lot between rank 21 and 18 before grasping how to be good at the game, so I won't forget any time soon what hell that rank belt is), but I don't think concepts like "heal for the damage it deals" or "choose one from three and add it to your hand" should be that difficult to get. To be honest, Overload looks like a trickier concept for someone that doesn't know the game.
Adding lifesteal to Holy Fire makes it a much better card and you shouldn't worsen Penance just for the sake of consistency. Capping the amount of healing means that you cripple yourself from improving it with Spell Damage (I don't know when you started playing the game, but Bloodmage Thalnos + Spirit Lash was one hell of an aggro killer), which is not irrelevant as you might think.
In other words, right now every expansion has Discover, Lifesteal and Rush: if you want to start the game you'll eventually get in touch with them after at worst 2-3 games. While I can understand people's doubts for Rush, I really don't see reasons for not adding the other two to the Evergreen set except the will of not improving it.
Triple Quest Mage
I've been trying to make an elemental deck work - this is the closest I've found so far so nice deck building. only thing i'm hesitant about is the Learn Draconic quest, Flamestrike, and blizzard. The side quest doesnt pack much of a punch - it's best benefit is as an activator for quest support cards as you often don't play high cost spells untill late game. I'm thinking of taking them out and replacing with other 1 cost spells, possibly Kadgar (works with conj, new elemental, and Chenvalaa) possibly another elemental or Antonidus to help close games.
Great fun though! Lets Make Mage Great Again.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
This all looks great! I really like this new priest set better than the old one. But I do have some notes though.
I don't like Meeting of Minds. Not because it is overpowered, but simply because it is too complicated for a basic card. We have never had to look at more than 4 cards at once before, so having a basic card that wants to loot at between two and ten cards just seems like too much. I don't think you need to make it weaker, the power level is fine, but you should make it simpler because it is a basic card.
I also don't like Mass Hysteria in the classic set for the same reason I don't like Meeting of Minds, it just feels too unique to be a classic card. We don't see a lot of forced attacks, so having something like this is just weird. Also, it does feel a bit too powerful. Priest does need a reliable board clear in the basic/classic set so that they don't need to get a new one each expansion, but it shouldn't be so good that no other expansion card can beat it. What priest needs is something like flamestrike in mage. It is not a very powerful board clear, but it is always there if there is nothing else. There should never be a card in the basic/classic set that will always be better than other expansion cards. I think something like Lightbomb would have been better, and even then I would make it cost 7 and also make it a rare to compensate. Priest needs a good board clear in their classic set, not an amazing one.
I would also take lifesteal out of the basic/classic set. You are okay with changing Holy Fire to have lifesteal, so why not just change Penance to say "restore 3 health to your hero" instead? That way, both of those cards are in line with the rest of the basic/classic set. Instead you changed both of them to be out of place. Why?
One more thing, I would give priest a different classic legendary. Again, I am not concerned with it being over power or too weak, but it just feels really out of place with the other classic legendarys. Every other class gets a big finisher as their classic legendary, but priest just has another niche tool to keep their minions alive. I would change him to instead help you finish off your opponent and close out the game, not prolong it.
TLDR: Meeting of Minds is too complicated to be a basic card. Mass Hysteria is too unique and so it feels out of place in the classic set, also it is too strong. Lifesteal shouldn't be in the basic/classic set. And priests classic legendary should be a strong finisher and not a way to prolong the game.
Mechathunlock needs a nerf
This deck is really powerful, but not unbeatable. See above. You can also mill them with Coldlight Oracle.
I think Quest Reno Mage is much more problematic.
Daily rewards too powerful compared to normal play
I'm pretty sure they said they want to incentivize daily play, rather than grinding. Which completely fits the current system.
And indeed as some other user pointed out, from my limited playtime and guides I have checked, the model seems extremely f2p-friendly.
Hearthstone's February 2020 Season Begins - Get The Desert Bloom Card Back!
You’re right. A goal like “20 Arena wins” would be trivial for a good player but a huge task for an average player. Maybe they could follow Runeterra’s lead and give a bonus for your first Arena run or two every week. Or give an extra reward for your best run each week.
Whatever the answer is, I hope Blizzard figures it out! (Along with a tournament mode and monthly subscription, of course...)
Tables, A Way To Play Hearthstone With Your Own Rules.
I think they are great ideas, and I have an idea how to overcome the lack of people for some mode.
Imagine you could see a live counter as to how many people are now live playing each mode and how many are in queue.
Then you could get an idea of the possible wait time and decide if you really want to queue into that.
This is like an improved version of the current estimate you see AFTER you queue.
Mechathunlock needs a nerf
Its not actually unusual or impossible to get mechathun to 7 mana so the combo can still be done even with an increase in mana cost for Bloodbloom. Bloodbloom have an additional problem in Darkest Hour decks. I think team5 have actually highlighted this to be a problem before, but as with wild cards it usually gets pushed way down the priority lists.
As have been highlighted by others, there's plenty of other combo breaker tech cards in wild. If you're seeing lots of combo decks in ranked, then tech in some cards to deal with it in your deck.
Mechathunlock needs a nerf
Making Bloodbloom cost a lot of mana makes no sense. The deck would cease to work at that point as you know longer have an actual means to pull off the combo
Mechathunlock needs a nerf
100% agreed. If someone thinks that a deck is so OP, then they have no excuse not to tech against.
Last season I played so much with that deck and felt that everyone was well prepared against my combo.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
I remember this being posted two weeks ago or so in a specific thread and I also see that Shadow included some changes suggested by the community (Meeting of Minds being 3 mana instead of 2, the Barrier concept being reworked in order to affect only friendly minions and not your hero as well,...).
I agree with both the idea of a Priest core set's overhaul and the choices made by our fellow user: I think most of them are really on point and the flavor aspect is really strong and well built; however, I'm quite skeptical about whether a change like this will happen or not.
I better explain myself on this point: I'm almost certain that next April we'll see some consistent changes in the Evergreen set. There are cards that have seen play or have created problems for too long (Divine Spirit Inner Fire, Malygos, Leeroy Jenkins, Stonetusk Boar,...) or that have never seen play until now and they're unlikely going to be played in the future due to powercreep (Savagery, Lightwell, Kidnapper, Arcane Golem, Nat Pagle, The Beast, Felguard,...).
Everything looks fine until you take a look at Team 5's policy for changing the core set: up until now, the only "new" cards that have seen (very little) play are Brightwing, Pilfer and Tome of Intellect. Stuff like [Hearthstone Card (Barrons stablehand) Not Found] or Righteousness (I won't talk about Radiance cause that was one of the dirties blows I've ever seen since Purify) are underwhelming at best and no one sane will include them in a deck.
Ok, they dilute the Discover and RNG pool, ok Arena is also a thing, ok we can't (and I wholeheartedly agree on this one) have just good cards, but it is quite clear to me that T5 doesn't really want to introduce good cards (not broken or staple, just good) in the Evergreen set. The reason is simple: if you have bad cards, you need to buy better ones. And I can get behind it, since selling packs is their job. But for all the reasons I just explained I think Shadow's set is too good to be taken in consideration for a serious overhaul. Is it kind of sad? Yes, it is. Do I hope to be wrong about this? Hell yeah: please Team 5 prove me wrong, PLEASE.
Tl;dr - Shadow's set is cool but too good; up until now HoF cards have been replaced with bad to terrible stuff and unfortunately I don't see his idea being taken seriously by the Devs.
Daily rewards too powerful compared to normal play
I'm easily maxing the vault for the second week in a row.
If anything? Runeterra's model is too generous.
An Expedition question
I haven't tested it myself, but this would've been my assumption, too - that the expedition counts for the week it started in, not the one it ended in.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
"The technology is not here yet" cit. /s
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
they can simply replicate the hand UI. Its not impossible, but these are things to think about in the design phase I guess.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
Its a good argument, though fishing from someone's hand I would argue is less rng than deck and therefore more powerful. I'm just having flashbacks to times where getting specific hero cards, or legendaries from [Hearthstone Card (drakonoid operative) Not Found] can totally ruin someone's day.
Also, it means all cards introduced have to now be balanced with priest cards in future expansions.
Tables, A Way To Play Hearthstone With Your Own Rules.
I think “Your Table” and “Play” would be best for the whole Hearthstone community. Allows players with limited collections to go into Formats like Pauper and still be on an even playing field.
Personally I’d really like for my other concept, Explorer, to be implemented since it changes often enough to keep the game feeling fresh.
An Expedition question
As far as I know (from last week) you will continue your expedition and it won't count in 3 expeditions per week count.
I plan on doing same this week (need to finish trial run to max out chest and then will just wait with next trial for tomorrow's chest).
Mechathunlock needs a nerf
If you're playing control or highlander decks, you should be able to squeeze at least one of these two in; I run both in a Frost Lich Jaina highlander deck that usually has the last laugh against Mechathun locks:
Unseen Saboteur/Brann Bronzebeard combo, timed right, is usually a win against a Mechathun lock. Especially if it sets off Cataclysm or Bloodbloom.
Plague of Flames is vulnerable to Skulking Geist.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
I'm not sure Hearthstone can display enough cards to make Meeting of Minds work. It would have to be 3 or 4 cards that are in the opponent's hand.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
I like this card set a lot. About battlemedic, I think it is s very fair card, stats like this doesn't matter anyways because of some high value minions in the past, like Savannah Highmane and Sylvanas Windrunner. Good card.
And another thing, one card I don't like is prosper in peace, my own work would be "Draw a card for each friendly minion you control with 3 Health or more ", I just wanted to make a little bit better, just my preference.
The rest looks okay, Alonsus Faol looks quite intimidating, but if I recall it, legendary cards in the classic sets were very powerful, so it seems perfectly fine to me.
Great rework, I want to give this new set a try!
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
The thing about Shadow Madness is that it is one of the best defensive tech cards, aside from silence, when deathrattles are in vogue.
Most deathrattles such as Mechanical Whelp are usually 3 or less attack.
Also, some of the reborn minions share the same trait.
Got some serious plays and a few ragequits from Shadow Madness during the Uldum Meta, N'Zoth return and briefly when Deathrattle Rogue was the it in Standard in the opening weeks of the current meta.
Thoughtsteal ... it's more for spell priest (gah, that was a long time ago), Highlander or memes. But ... I've seen it bite me (against other priests) and others with the stuff it can dig up. Probably seen those happen more often than Lightwarden snowballs.
Fan Community Spotlight - ShadowsOfSense's Core Priest Set
Thanks for the in-depth thoughts!
Daily rewards too powerful compared to normal play
If you feel the game is a grind and don't enjoy playing.. Maybe you should not be playing.
missing the in game clock
I'm with you there. It always bothered me that Hearthstone didn't have a borderless-window video mode, but in hindsight, this led me to play it windowed and thus always have my computer's clock in sight. Of course, an (optional) in-game clock would be the ideal solution.