I already chimed in on this in a separate thread on the topic yesterday, but to add a few more points. Aside from being pretty spineless in how they just kow-tow to these senseless and unwarranted demands (yo, how about China stops being stuck in the 1700s in terms of puritan views, just a few miles east of them they got the Japanese merrily fawning over schoolgirls showing panties in every game they make...from one extreme to another in Asia it seems).
It's not just that, though, it's, above all, completely arbitrary and with no sense of logic. They censored these cards...and the rest of the cards are ok? Sanguine Reveller? Master of Disguise? Blood Warriors? Whirlwind? All of the skeleton-showing cards like Holy Smite? Apparently peeling the skin off of someone with magic is fine, but a bit of blood from eviscerating someone is not. The line that is being drawn is completely random. So not only is Blizz spinelessly kow-towing, they're doing it lazily and half-assedly too...to the point that they might as well not do it at all cause censoring 8 out of like 50 cards that could fit the description doesn't make the game any more "China-friendly" than it was before.
It's like they rushed to show they're at least doing something, while not taking the time to do it properly, or not thinking through the consequences of what they'd have to do if they start bowing down to China like this. China is not a fan of dead bodies and skeletons. They have their special Skeleton Knight art. But yet there is like a dozen skeleton minions or zombie minions in the game that nobody in China has apparently given a damn about for years. But The Skeleton Knight? Oh that was too much! (If that is the case then Shadowverse probably doesn't even exist in China, seeing as one of the classes is literally all about skeletons and zombies).
So what is it exactly? Is Blizz going to do the barest, laziest minimum like they are now and hope the Chinese are going to just wave it off, or are they actually planning to change Kel'Thuzad's art, redraw Happy Ghoul and Flesheating Ghoul, rename Corpse Taker and Meat Wagon, paint happy ponies on all the Lich King cards (including Arfus)...and essentially just remove and repaint the entire Scourge faction out of the game? they obviously can't take this China-friendly approach all the way, so why in the name of fuck are they even meddling with this in the first place?
They could certainly add more sexualised men, but that's a quick way to get their rating changed. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how they've hung on to a PEGI rating of 7 (as in, suitable for ages 7+) with everything in the game. Even the ESRB has it at Teen.
This is far from overkill. Really, it's weird that they changed so few cards - as many people have pointed out, there's far worse offenders for both Boobs and Blood. At a guess, we maybe haven't seen the last of these kinds of art changes; they're just waiting for new art to come down the pipeline.
I doubt they will actually change anything further after announcing the set and releasing a huge patch. They are probably hoping that they they can mitigate people's frustration with Conjurer's Calling and Mountain Giant by giving us new options in Saviors of Uldum. We know at the very least Priest has Plague of Death now.
Atleast the Secret Keeper, Harpy and Queen of Pain look better. I am okay with Evis and the bite change as the first one hasn't changed to much and the latter isn't terrible. Deadly Shot and Headcrack look meh to me.
I think Bite, Deadly Shot, and Headcrack got changed to shittier art the change to eviscerate is so minor it doesn't really matter and the rest of the cards have better art now than the old art. I don't really care if the art on the cards becomes less sexualized or becomes censored or whatever. The card still functions the same and as an adult if I want to see art like that I can go find it. I don't need it in the game.
I get modern opinion. I get dealing with gratuitous sexuality. But sheesh, talk about overkill.
Maybe I'm the weird one. I'd figure that if boobs and butts are a big deal.. just add more bare chested dudes and guy butts. Don't kill the Succubus. Make an Incubus.
Done is done. And ultimately it really doesn't matter much. It certainly doesn't change the game. Just.. this strikes me as silly.
I highly doubt the art changes had anything to do with China or even censorship at all. Secretkeeper, Queen of Pain, and Windfury Harpy are still pretty skimpy (Secretkeeper and QoP even more so now). It's probably because of art evolution. Hearthstone has gotten progressively cartoonier over the years, and a lot of the borrowed TCG art really didn't fit that. They want to keep the world consistent, and literal sex demons don't fit that anymore. I mean, why hit Mistress of Pain with some... LEG! ... and not Silver Hand Regent's extremely visible nipples - they wanted to remove succubi from the game because of the connotations.
For the record, traditionally it's the West that gets censored nudity and outfits and relatively uncensored violence, while the rest of the world inverts that. China certainly has no problem with skimpy video game gals. This is a blanket change, not a market appeal.
Also, this has been said to death but I really love the new art. It's so much more dynamic for the most part. The only weaker ones are Headcrack (doesn't even look like the same card) and Deadly Shot (it's cute that they changed it to the ballista firing the same bolt from the old art, but it looks a little flat).
I'm considering overloads OoC might face, should there be more threads and ofc I don't wish to delete a thread while a conversation is going on. It's like silencing someone by shooting the head, I'm not like that. I simply suggested that if a thread isn't active for a long time, like a year, I thought it would be erased to speed up OoC. Since Chimera mentioned threads have little impact, I'm not concerned like I used to.
Why people tend to forget that Wardruid Loti is still in standard and becomes an insane 3 mana 4/6 Taunt Rush Poisonous Stealth Spelldamage +1 Beast...
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
I already chimed in on this in a separate thread on the topic yesterday, but to add a few more points. Aside from being pretty spineless in how they just kow-tow to these senseless and unwarranted demands (yo, how about China stops being stuck in the 1700s in terms of puritan views, just a few miles east of them they got the Japanese merrily fawning over schoolgirls showing panties in every game they make...from one extreme to another in Asia it seems).
It's not just that, though, it's, above all, completely arbitrary and with no sense of logic. They censored these cards...and the rest of the cards are ok? Sanguine Reveller? Master of Disguise? Blood Warriors? Whirlwind? All of the skeleton-showing cards like Holy Smite? Apparently peeling the skin off of someone with magic is fine, but a bit of blood from eviscerating someone is not. The line that is being drawn is completely random. So not only is Blizz spinelessly kow-towing, they're doing it lazily and half-assedly too...to the point that they might as well not do it at all cause censoring 8 out of like 50 cards that could fit the description doesn't make the game any more "China-friendly" than it was before.
It's like they rushed to show they're at least doing something, while not taking the time to do it properly, or not thinking through the consequences of what they'd have to do if they start bowing down to China like this. China is not a fan of dead bodies and skeletons. They have their special Skeleton Knight art. But yet there is like a dozen skeleton minions or zombie minions in the game that nobody in China has apparently given a damn about for years. But The Skeleton Knight? Oh that was too much! (If that is the case then Shadowverse probably doesn't even exist in China, seeing as one of the classes is literally all about skeletons and zombies).
So what is it exactly? Is Blizz going to do the barest, laziest minimum like they are now and hope the Chinese are going to just wave it off, or are they actually planning to change Kel'Thuzad's art, redraw Happy Ghoul and Flesheating Ghoul, rename Corpse Taker and Meat Wagon, paint happy ponies on all the Lich King cards (including Arfus)...and essentially just remove and repaint the entire Scourge faction out of the game? they obviously can't take this China-friendly approach all the way, so why in the name of fuck are they even meddling with this in the first place?
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
They could certainly add more sexualised men, but that's a quick way to get their rating changed. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how they've hung on to a PEGI rating of 7 (as in, suitable for ages 7+) with everything in the game. Even the ESRB has it at Teen.
This is far from overkill. Really, it's weird that they changed so few cards - as many people have pointed out, there's far worse offenders for both Boobs and Blood. At a guess, we maybe haven't seen the last of these kinds of art changes; they're just waiting for new art to come down the pipeline.
Krapgar
I doubt they will actually change anything further after announcing the set and releasing a huge patch. They are probably hoping that they they can mitigate people's frustration with Conjurer's Calling and Mountain Giant by giving us new options in Saviors of Uldum. We know at the very least Priest has Plague of Death now.
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
Atleast the Secret Keeper, Harpy and Queen of Pain look better. I am okay with Evis and the bite change as the first one hasn't changed to much and the latter isn't terrible. Deadly Shot and Headcrack look meh to me.
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
The old Secretkeeper had such a twisted and deformed pose, I never liked her.
The new one looks dope!
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
I can't stand the PC culture. These cards are art and they're what the artist wanted then to be so I say leave them alone.
New lackey from Uldum?
I would say that it will have LoE mechanic so it could be "Battlecry: Discover a 1-cost (or 2-cost) minion."
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
I think Bite, Deadly Shot, and Headcrack got changed to shittier art the change to eviscerate is so minor it doesn't really matter and the rest of the cards have better art now than the old art. I don't really care if the art on the cards becomes less sexualized or becomes censored or whatever. The card still functions the same and as an adult if I want to see art like that I can go find it. I don't need it in the game.
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
Woo! Pilfer buffed!
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
I get modern opinion. I get dealing with gratuitous sexuality. But sheesh, talk about overkill.
Maybe I'm the weird one. I'd figure that if boobs and butts are a big deal.. just add more bare chested dudes and guy butts. Don't kill the Succubus. Make an Incubus.
Done is done. And ultimately it really doesn't matter much. It certainly doesn't change the game. Just.. this strikes me as silly.
Untapped Potential
Yeah, not to mention that best druid legendary is actually Flobbidinous Floop
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
The only real loss in terms of art quality is Headcrack. Truth be told, the old art was actually wasted on an underused cards.
The others may be less sexy now, but are equally good, or even clearly better than the old ones.
As for the reasons, they sound obviously silly, but heh, welcome back Puritanism I guess...
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
I highly doubt the art changes had anything to do with China or even censorship at all. Secretkeeper, Queen of Pain, and Windfury Harpy are still pretty skimpy (Secretkeeper and QoP even more so now). It's probably because of art evolution. Hearthstone has gotten progressively cartoonier over the years, and a lot of the borrowed TCG art really didn't fit that. They want to keep the world consistent, and literal sex demons don't fit that anymore. I mean, why hit Mistress of Pain with some... LEG! ... and not Silver Hand Regent's extremely visible nipples - they wanted to remove succubi from the game because of the connotations.
For the record, traditionally it's the West that gets censored nudity and outfits and relatively uncensored violence, while the rest of the world inverts that. China certainly has no problem with skimpy video game gals. This is a blanket change, not a market appeal.
Also, this has been said to death but I really love the new art. It's so much more dynamic for the most part. The only weaker ones are Headcrack (doesn't even look like the same card) and Deadly Shot (it's cute that they changed it to the ballista firing the same bolt from the old art, but it looks a little flat).
Let Us Delete/Erase Threads
I'm considering overloads OoC might face, should there be more threads and ofc I don't wish to delete a thread while a conversation is going on. It's like silencing someone by shooting the head, I'm not like that. I simply suggested that if a thread isn't active for a long time, like a year, I thought it would be erased to speed up OoC. Since Chimera mentioned threads have little impact, I'm not concerned like I used to.
Untapped Potential
Why people tend to forget that Wardruid Loti is still in standard and becomes an insane 3 mana 4/6 Taunt Rush Poisonous Stealth Spelldamage +1 Beast...
Supreme Archaeology
The ingenious plan to draw ALL THE CARDS!!! Mwahahahahaha... oh well
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
I really love the Tavern Brawl change! Some of the better brawls ended too soon.
Restless Mummy
Hm Rush package of 5 cards with Militia Commander and Zilliax on top, might actually make double Town Crier viable
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
And I’m getting confused why the new arrow art is shooting to the left instead of to the right like the old art. Just why!?
Questing Explorer
This seems nice... compensate that quest kills one of your mulligan slots...
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
Agreed. They could have at least put a well endowed succubus riding on the ballista bolt.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron
kinda cool but no 7/5...
The Uldum Pre-Order Patch - New Fire Festival Quest Details, Card Art Censorship, Card Changes, and More!
"Downtime for Tavern Brawls has been reduced to 1 hour per week." - technology has arrived, boys :D we needed to wait only 5 years :)
I never understood why it needed to end on monday. I even missed few brawls because of that, but now i'm happy :D
Plague of Death
Deathiest Death!
Jar Dealer
Well kinda interesting with Magic Carpet