I played for a few hours today, but the game didn't do it for me. I have a lot of time and money invested into both HS and MtGA and I enjoy playing each of them for different reasons. I still wanted to try LoR to see what all the hype was about.
I've been playing Magic for 10 years in all sorts of different formats and started playing Hearthstone shortly after the Beta. In my opinion, LoR felt more like a copycat game than it's own product. I'm sure many people with disagree with that statement, and that's fine. Not all games will appeal to all people. With that said, I'm not going to delete it. I will give it another try, maybe in a few days, and see if I overlooked something about the game that would interest me.
Personally I hope the game succeeds for two reasons. Some people don't enjoy HS or Magic (or any other card game out there) and this could be the game that works for them. The other reason is to give HS and Arena a kick in the butt. I feel like they could use some competition. There have been a lot of cards games that were supposed to be the next "HS killer" and none succeeded. Don't get me wrong, I don't want HS to die or anything. However, some worthwhile competition certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to help push all three games to their full potential.
If an idiot like me can pilot Embiggen Druid to 14-6 through 20 something is wrong...lol Never made legend. Highest I've been is level 2. I'm at 7 now having been stuck at 10 for a few months. I'm a pretty mediocre player with flashes of brilliance few and far between my moments of stupidity. Having said all that...Love this deck
I understand the frustration of playing against Convincing Infiltrator, but to me it doesn't happen all that often. Yesterday I played 3 games against 3 different decks (Highlander Mage, Holy Wrath Paladin and Secret Highlander Hunter); all games were fun and different.
During the Doom in the Tomb event I played Malygos Shaman as an answer to N'Zoth decks. If you Hex the first minion they want to resurrect, you slow them down enough that they'll likely be dead before they can threaten you. And with Spirit of the Frog, finding Hex is not hard.
So if the resurrection mechanic bothers you so much, you can play Hex or Polymorph or even Tinkmaster Overspark. Not only do these take a good minion out of the resurrection pool, they also put a bad minion (a Beast!) back in. It might be difficult to build a good Mage deck that is not Highlander, but Shaman has so many good cards that it must be possible to build a deck that can afford to run two copies of Hex, or one copy you can tutor with the shrine.
I'm going to treat this as a first impressions thread. My background is that I played MTG from Revised/Dark until Weatherlight. I stopped playing in 1997 and didn't realize that it was more popular than ever until 2010 (I am old). I've played Hearthstone since shortly before GvG, and I've gone from being a pure F2P player to paying for most pre-orders (I am old, but I have income!)
I tried MTG: Arena last year. I got mana screwed half a dozen times and straight up didn't bother with it again. In this day in age the mulligan penalty and land system feel woefully outdated. And the game is as complex as ever, and it felt very difficult to keep track of synergies/strategies.
Runeterra truly is combining the best from Magic and Hearthstone. I've played about 5 hours today, and the game gets so much right. I'm really starting to love the alternating card-playing. At first it always felt best to slam a minion (ally?) because they're not affected by summoning sickness. But many times you're giving your opponent a chance to respond to your current board that you didn't need to give them before getting in a good attack. There's some great depth here, and everything from the spell mana pool to the spell stack to combat to various minion abilities is just fantastic. There are some powerful synergies, but so far at least nothing has felt unfair, and I've been able to follow what my opponent's been doing even with cards I've never seen before. That's huge.
The UI is not as good as Hearthstone, but what is. This is the next best one I've dealt with from a handful of other games I've tried (MTG:A, ESL, Shadowverse). It's hard to pinpoint exactly what needs to improve. Yes, the collection manager, but I don't have great suggestions. Yes, the board - I sometimes have a hard time seeing cards in my own hand and especially my opponents when they have known cards. Yes, the rewards system, which is confusing albeit generous from what I can tell. And the one thing that every other Hearthstone imitator has struggled with is unique and instantly-identifiable card art. I really agree with the above that it's hard to tell regions apart. It's sometimes hard to tell Champions apart from normal units. The spells do look very unique. Some of this will take some getting used to, but I wonder if there are improvements that can be made.
So far though, I think this is the best Hearthstone competitor to come along in forever. I look forward to playing it more.
Besides, if you keep losing to ice block into Reno then why not just add some secret tech to get through that ice block the turn before they can drop reno.
Yeah, Cleric of Scales shows 3 cards in your deck then draws you one, a bit like Tracking. While Shadow Visions will generate a new copy keeping the spell in your deck for you to draw.
You're welcome! Glad you're having fun with it :). It really does feel like the old school Wall Druid with Hadronox haha Res priest is probably one of the worst matchups but that's just the way it goes. Fortunately, there aren't too many of them on ladder
they just always get ice block into reno into perfect kazakus spell into perfect random spells into just kill me now please...can't even go to casual to try and get away from it they're literally everywhere.
I have been playing for about 2 hours and I am having a hard time understanding the attack/defending and what goes towards damaging the nexus
For example:
I have a 5/5 and I am attacking a 2/3
My 5 attack will beat the opposing players 3 defense with +2 spare.
Does the +2 above the opposing player's card not deal damage to nexus?
To confirm with the scenario above. Is the only way to deal damage to the enemy nexus requires you to have more cards on the field than the opposing team so the "extra" cards attack the nexus directly with the attack/defense only localized to the opposing card?
So you're saying it takes the best part of Hearthstone and MtG, with the benefit of it being F2P friendly. The only downside is the UI is a little clunky.
Sarcasm aside, I don't actually enjoy the game as much as I thought I would. Something about the interaction and the combat mechanic feels very outlandish, but the new mechanics are very interesting. The game also feels a lot more draw dependent, if your opponent hits their powerful cards first and you can't find yours, you're likely to lose in a few turns. It's not as crushing as Magic (what with mana screwing and flooding), but it still feels bad. I will still give it a chance though, because while I don't want Hearthstone to get completely overtaken by this game, I do want some form of competition so that Blizzard is actually incentivised to do something.
I had the opportunity to play Legends of Runeterra today, I only got through the tutorial and a handful of games with a deck I built myself. I didn't play very much, but I am going to share my opinion regardless.
Pros
The gameplay was pretty fun, it was a nice mix of Hearthstone and Magic: the Gathering. The game moved pretty fast, and there wasn't a whole lot to keep track of on the board. But it was also very strategic and complex with the "instant speed" spells and the way attacking/blocking worked. I think it will be very popular amongst people who thinks that there isn't enough strategy in Hearthstone, but also aren't invested enough to play Magic:Arena.
The game also seems very F2P friendly. When I first started I only had 20 cards from each region, so I couldn't really do much to build a deck. But I got rewards pretty fast. After just about every single game I played I got some cards. I am sure the rewards will slow down after I have played for some time, but Riot games seem to be very friendly to F2P players from what I have heard, and I don't imagine that Legends of Runeterra will be any exception.
One thing about the game that struck me as odd, and I am not quite sure yet if this is a pro or a con, is that you don't have an avatar or anything to represent yourself. All you get to see of your opponent is their username, and the champions they are using in the beginning of combat. I kind of like it because different skins really just feels like a way for the company to make some money by feeding into all of our inner collectors, and social features such as emotes or a chat system really just feels like a super convenient way to BM your opponent.
Cons
One big thing that I really don't like about the game is that there is almost zero indication on a card as to which region it belongs to. There is a tiny symbol in the center of the bottom of the card, but that is it. No colored border or anything this both makes it hard to associate a cad to a region, but it also makes it hard to associate a region with the cards. Regions already have their own colors, so why not try and decorate the cards with their region, so that at first glance players can know exactly what region a card belongs to.
Another thing that bugs me is how the cards are worded, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what a card does. I don't like how the card texts are in first person, I guess they were trying to make the cards feel more alive or something? But it makes it weird to read. I would prefer something more professional sounding, so instead of saying "Level Up: I have damaged the enemy nexus" it would say "When this unit damages the enemy nexus Level Up".
Another thing that could use some small improvements is the UI, not just in the home menu and when flipping about your collection, but also when playing the game. One thing that Hearthstone does better than any other digital card game out there is their super friendly, easy to use, animated, colorful, and lively user interface. This is one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, the game is so popular. It is simple and easy to navigate, you can go to your collection from just about anywhere, and all of the game modes are in the very center of the screen. Legends of Runeterra's UI isn't nearly as easy, to start a game you first have to select a deck, and only then can you see the "start a match" screen, and you can change the mode you are playing on with tiny buttons there.
Also during the game everything feels a little cramped. Your hand, mana, and board were kind of smushed into one end of the screen to make room for the HUGE combat area. The mana being off to the side is okay, but I do think it would make things a little easier to keep track of if they got rid of the combat board and gave more room for your units on the field. You could see which creatures are attack with a large orange arrow or something along those lines like there is in MTG:A, or perhaps you could simple 'fade' the none-attacking creatures, or you could do something to make the attacking creatures visible without having to devote so much space to it.
Summary
I think it is a very fun game with a lot of potential. The gameplay is great and they hit just the right middle point in terms of complexity. But there are a couple of "quality of life" things that could make the game so much more appealing. Things like a easier way to identify the region of a card, or a smoother UI, it is things like this that can change a boring game into an addictive one. I hope that the game receives updates to the interface and graphics so that it can play a lot smoother and be more attractive overall.
The new Taunt Druid looks annoying to deal with, but it's not entirely oppressive. I've lost the two games I played against it, though I was playing Galakrond Warrior and I managed to get them below 10 health before running out of steam. It'll suffer from some super aggro decks based on what I've seen.
3 Brawls in a row ... Now this bug ... Not to mentioned that its been months since you can't reply to your contact list on Mobile without crashing the app ... Quality assurance & control lately ...
yeah and dont forget the little bugs like the pink thing thats here for a while and also having 2 set f of nerfs where almost all new shamaan cards get nerfd is saying that they really dont test or dont understtand things
My first impressions playing LoR
I played for a few hours today, but the game didn't do it for me. I have a lot of time and money invested into both HS and MtGA and I enjoy playing each of them for different reasons. I still wanted to try LoR to see what all the hype was about.
I've been playing Magic for 10 years in all sorts of different formats and started playing Hearthstone shortly after the Beta. In my opinion, LoR felt more like a copycat game than it's own product. I'm sure many people with disagree with that statement, and that's fine. Not all games will appeal to all people. With that said, I'm not going to delete it. I will give it another try, maybe in a few days, and see if I overlooked something about the game that would interest me.
Personally I hope the game succeeds for two reasons. Some people don't enjoy HS or Magic (or any other card game out there) and this could be the game that works for them. The other reason is to give HS and Arena a kick in the butt. I feel like they could use some competition. There have been a lot of cards games that were supposed to be the next "HS killer" and none succeeded. Don't get me wrong, I don't want HS to die or anything. However, some worthwhile competition certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to help push all three games to their full potential.
Standard is awful right now
If an idiot like me can pilot Embiggen Druid to 14-6 through 20 something is wrong...lol Never made legend. Highest I've been is level 2. I'm at 7 now having been stuck at 10 for a few months. I'm a pretty mediocre player with flashes of brilliance few and far between my moments of stupidity. Having said all that...Love this deck
Infinite Turn Exploit
I really want to play this but I really don't want to get TOS'd. Either way, you are an absolute genius.
Bomb Warrior in 2020?
Been trying your deck, only change i made was -1 Elekk (had only 1, didnt want to craft) +1 updrage, and -1 brawl +1 plague of wrath.
Had a crazy match vs quest res priest, shuffled like 12 bombs in, and won with no more cards left in deck and in hand with the last bomb draw :D
My first impressions playing LoR
The first few days were pretty fun for me too,but after that the game felt really repetetiv to me.
Once I played againt everey strategie each game felt very similiar to the game before, due the lack of rng.
I actually think that rng is a good thing,it prevents games from becoming too repetetiv too quickly.
Standard is awful right now
I understand the frustration of playing against Convincing Infiltrator, but to me it doesn't happen all that often. Yesterday I played 3 games against 3 different decks (Highlander Mage, Holy Wrath Paladin and Secret Highlander Hunter); all games were fun and different.
During the Doom in the Tomb event I played Malygos Shaman as an answer to N'Zoth decks. If you Hex the first minion they want to resurrect, you slow them down enough that they'll likely be dead before they can threaten you. And with Spirit of the Frog, finding Hex is not hard.
So if the resurrection mechanic bothers you so much, you can play Hex or Polymorph or even Tinkmaster Overspark. Not only do these take a good minion out of the resurrection pool, they also put a bad minion (a Beast!) back in. It might be difficult to build a good Mage deck that is not Highlander, but Shaman has so many good cards that it must be possible to build a deck that can afford to run two copies of Hex, or one copy you can tutor with the shrine.
My first impressions playing LoR
I'm going to treat this as a first impressions thread. My background is that I played MTG from Revised/Dark until Weatherlight. I stopped playing in 1997 and didn't realize that it was more popular than ever until 2010 (I am old). I've played Hearthstone since shortly before GvG, and I've gone from being a pure F2P player to paying for most pre-orders (I am old, but I have income!)
I tried MTG: Arena last year. I got mana screwed half a dozen times and straight up didn't bother with it again. In this day in age the mulligan penalty and land system feel woefully outdated. And the game is as complex as ever, and it felt very difficult to keep track of synergies/strategies.
Runeterra truly is combining the best from Magic and Hearthstone. I've played about 5 hours today, and the game gets so much right. I'm really starting to love the alternating card-playing. At first it always felt best to slam a minion (ally?) because they're not affected by summoning sickness. But many times you're giving your opponent a chance to respond to your current board that you didn't need to give them before getting in a good attack. There's some great depth here, and everything from the spell mana pool to the spell stack to combat to various minion abilities is just fantastic. There are some powerful synergies, but so far at least nothing has felt unfair, and I've been able to follow what my opponent's been doing even with cards I've never seen before. That's huge.
The UI is not as good as Hearthstone, but what is. This is the next best one I've dealt with from a handful of other games I've tried (MTG:A, ESL, Shadowverse). It's hard to pinpoint exactly what needs to improve. Yes, the collection manager, but I don't have great suggestions. Yes, the board - I sometimes have a hard time seeing cards in my own hand and especially my opponents when they have known cards. Yes, the rewards system, which is confusing albeit generous from what I can tell. And the one thing that every other Hearthstone imitator has struggled with is unique and instantly-identifiable card art. I really agree with the above that it's hard to tell regions apart. It's sometimes hard to tell Champions apart from normal units. The spells do look very unique. Some of this will take some getting used to, but I wonder if there are improvements that can be made.
So far though, I think this is the best Hearthstone competitor to come along in forever. I look forward to playing it more.
Anybody else sick of reno mage in wild?
Eh, I don't mind the deck as much as secret mage.
Besides, if you keep losing to ice block into Reno then why not just add some secret tech to get through that ice block the turn before they can drop reno.
Standard is awful right now
OP whines about oppressive decks that even monkeys could play in standard...
...And then starts playing secret mage in wild.
It's been a while since I've read something this ironic.
The Galakrond's Awakening Hearthstone Adventure Week 2 Cards - Clash at Wyrmrest
Yeah, Cleric of Scales shows 3 cards in your deck then draws you one, a bit like Tracking. While Shadow Visions will generate a new copy keeping the spell in your deck for you to draw.
New Wall Druid [Galakrond's Awakening]
You're welcome! Glad you're having fun with it :). It really does feel like the old school Wall Druid with Hadronox haha
Res priest is probably one of the worst matchups but that's just the way it goes. Fortunately, there aren't too many of them on ladder
Explain Nexus Damage PLZ
Excess damage does not carry over to the nexus unless the attacking creature has Overwhelm such as Captain Farron
Its the same concept as MTG and their keyword trample
Anybody else sick of reno mage in wild?
they just always get ice block into reno into perfect kazakus spell into perfect random spells into just kill me now please...can't even go to casual to try and get away from it they're literally everywhere.
Explain Nexus Damage PLZ
Hi,
I have been playing for about 2 hours and I am having a hard time understanding the attack/defending and what goes towards damaging the nexus
For example:
I have a 5/5 and I am attacking a 2/3
My 5 attack will beat the opposing players 3 defense with +2 spare.
Does the +2 above the opposing player's card not deal damage to nexus?
To confirm with the scenario above. Is the only way to deal damage to the enemy nexus requires you to have more cards on the field than the opposing team so the "extra" cards attack the nexus directly with the attack/defense only localized to the opposing card?
Standard is awful right now
yea if your idea of variety is reno mage, secret mage or handbuff mech paladin
New Wall Druid [Galakrond's Awakening]
Don't like the meta? Don't play it. I will be enjoying this meta as the best one since WotOG.
My first impressions playing LoR
So you're saying it takes the best part of Hearthstone and MtG, with the benefit of it being F2P friendly. The only downside is the UI is a little clunky.
Sarcasm aside, I don't actually enjoy the game as much as I thought I would. Something about the interaction and the combat mechanic feels very outlandish, but the new mechanics are very interesting. The game also feels a lot more draw dependent, if your opponent hits their powerful cards first and you can't find yours, you're likely to lose in a few turns. It's not as crushing as Magic (what with mana screwing and flooding), but it still feels bad. I will still give it a chance though, because while I don't want Hearthstone to get completely overtaken by this game, I do want some form of competition so that Blizzard is actually incentivised to do something.
Legends of Runeterra Meta Decks - The Best Runeterra Community Decks
Well here is what I managed day 1, after opening Lux and Braum in Prologue =)
2020 Beast Hunter
Wait I am confused, this isn't a druid deck, right?
My first impressions playing LoR
I had the opportunity to play Legends of Runeterra today, I only got through the tutorial and a handful of games with a deck I built myself. I didn't play very much, but I am going to share my opinion regardless.
Pros
The gameplay was pretty fun, it was a nice mix of Hearthstone and Magic: the Gathering. The game moved pretty fast, and there wasn't a whole lot to keep track of on the board. But it was also very strategic and complex with the "instant speed" spells and the way attacking/blocking worked. I think it will be very popular amongst people who thinks that there isn't enough strategy in Hearthstone, but also aren't invested enough to play Magic:Arena.
The game also seems very F2P friendly. When I first started I only had 20 cards from each region, so I couldn't really do much to build a deck. But I got rewards pretty fast. After just about every single game I played I got some cards. I am sure the rewards will slow down after I have played for some time, but Riot games seem to be very friendly to F2P players from what I have heard, and I don't imagine that Legends of Runeterra will be any exception.
One thing about the game that struck me as odd, and I am not quite sure yet if this is a pro or a con, is that you don't have an avatar or anything to represent yourself. All you get to see of your opponent is their username, and the champions they are using in the beginning of combat. I kind of like it because different skins really just feels like a way for the company to make some money by feeding into all of our inner collectors, and social features such as emotes or a chat system really just feels like a super convenient way to BM your opponent.
Cons
One big thing that I really don't like about the game is that there is almost zero indication on a card as to which region it belongs to. There is a tiny symbol in the center of the bottom of the card, but that is it. No colored border or anything this both makes it hard to associate a cad to a region, but it also makes it hard to associate a region with the cards. Regions already have their own colors, so why not try and decorate the cards with their region, so that at first glance players can know exactly what region a card belongs to.
Another thing that bugs me is how the cards are worded, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what a card does. I don't like how the card texts are in first person, I guess they were trying to make the cards feel more alive or something? But it makes it weird to read. I would prefer something more professional sounding, so instead of saying "Level Up: I have damaged the enemy nexus" it would say "When this unit damages the enemy nexus Level Up".
Another thing that could use some small improvements is the UI, not just in the home menu and when flipping about your collection, but also when playing the game. One thing that Hearthstone does better than any other digital card game out there is their super friendly, easy to use, animated, colorful, and lively user interface. This is one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, the game is so popular. It is simple and easy to navigate, you can go to your collection from just about anywhere, and all of the game modes are in the very center of the screen. Legends of Runeterra's UI isn't nearly as easy, to start a game you first have to select a deck, and only then can you see the "start a match" screen, and you can change the mode you are playing on with tiny buttons there.
Also during the game everything feels a little cramped. Your hand, mana, and board were kind of smushed into one end of the screen to make room for the HUGE combat area. The mana being off to the side is okay, but I do think it would make things a little easier to keep track of if they got rid of the combat board and gave more room for your units on the field. You could see which creatures are attack with a large orange arrow or something along those lines like there is in MTG:A, or perhaps you could simple 'fade' the none-attacking creatures, or you could do something to make the attacking creatures visible without having to devote so much space to it.
Summary
I think it is a very fun game with a lot of potential. The gameplay is great and they hit just the right middle point in terms of complexity. But there are a couple of "quality of life" things that could make the game so much more appealing. Things like a easier way to identify the region of a card, or a smoother UI, it is things like this that can change a boring game into an addictive one. I hope that the game receives updates to the interface and graphics so that it can play a lot smoother and be more attractive overall.
Standard is awful right now
The new Taunt Druid looks annoying to deal with, but it's not entirely oppressive. I've lost the two games I played against it, though I was playing Galakrond Warrior and I managed to get them below 10 health before running out of steam. It'll suffer from some super aggro decks based on what I've seen.
2020 Beast Hunter
nice deck
LoR Friend Request List
my id + NLbouncyknight EUW
Standard is awful right now
Just tried piloting the Taunt Druid. It seems oppressive playing it.
Winged Guardian is such as strong card in that deck. As is, a 6/8 body is such a pain to remove with elusive and reborn.
Now if you drew well, not only can you drop it early with ramp (Breath of Dreams, Wild Growth), you can also have insane value with Predatory Instincts, Witching Hour. If you're really lucky, combo the latter with Archmage Vargoth.
unreleased are discoverable
yeah and dont forget the little bugs like the pink thing thats here for a while
and also having 2 set f of nerfs where almost all new shamaan cards get nerfd is saying that they really dont test or dont understtand things