I believe locations' effects should be ones that wouldn't quite be worth spending a card on as a single-cast spell/battlecry, and I think this fits that nicely. I'm also very happy with the flavor.
It's supposed to make adding silences to your deck more worthwhile.
My first idea was "Destroy a Silenced minion". I kind of wanted it to be a 1-Cost, but I decided to add the initial silence for flexibility and to keep it useful outside of its intended archetype, so it probably needs to stay at 2 Mana. I do like that the silence can still target friendly minions to give players some more deck options. Let me know what you think on that though.
Sire Denathrius being free just straight-up saved me 1600 dust. Glad for that. That would've been a day-one craft.
This might be the first pass I try to hold some quests for, because getting Murlocula for free is worth. Though I still have no idea what to take out for it -- but it absolutely has to be broken. Anyway, I don't want to draw it, and 4 ranks at the start of the pass should be, at worst, several Battlegrounds games.
If I seem like I'm slow in this comp at responding to anything, that's because I got Covid! (or so I think) I can't say that exactly having fun by any means.
I am already aware that Haunted Grove is on the weak side at the moment, but I can't be asked to change it the moment since I'm not feeling great.
Draenor and Outland depict how this planet once governed by elements (kind of controlable) got corrupted by the Burning Legion, suffering from Fel waves that transformed the Draenei into the Broken and turned the orcs green. To reflect this, Draenor would use the Lightning Bolt animation and Outland the one from Felfire Potion (without the vial dropping, of course).
It's not a mind blowing effect, but think the legendary status is justified by its high total durability and its sustained control capabilities. I don't know, it would feel a bit weird to have a whole freaking planet not be legendary lol
Walls of Orgrimmar is probably the better card anyways, but it kinda breaks the mold of what locations are supposed to do: they usually cannot be attacked, yet this one's function is just to take hits. I could see Blizzard printing it, though.
I don't have a token card for the Nightmare right now, but it's not important if people don't like it. The flavor of the location should be pretty straight-forward: being overwhelmed by your fears made manifest.
Feel like it's unfair to classify Mankrik and Drek'thar as meme legendaries, but yeah, it's better this way even though it makes paying for the pass less attractive. Wish Theodar was the other diamond leggy.
Its nice of them to actually give out Sire Denathrius for free, instead of Murloc Holmes. In the past, it was always the good legendary being diamond while everyone gets stuck with the meme legendary for free.
And mercifully, the golden epic out on display is not a good one, so I dont have to torture myself crafting it for standard, like I did for School Teacher. Still, I'd have prefer they just remove it from the pack pool and give us the non-golden card by default because it truly sucks to get one of these from packs.
Looks like mercs is getting some powercreep. Health over 90 for selected mercs? And the total damage that can be dished out by anacondra is nuts. Speaking of which, the buff to both guff and anacondra might be positive for pvp, but I feel it completely breaks pve. Now malfurion/guff/anacondra might as well be the new nature bros. Deal extraordinary damage per turn, summon a 15/15, heal for 18 by default, and have a merc that can heal for 15 at any time.
I actually miscounted, it's 10 skins, but it'S still less than the last pass where we got one for each class and then an extra one for Druid and Shaman.
Here it's just the 10 classes and done...
Also, can't wait to use that Kael'thas skin which is just gonna be a crappier knock off of the one they just released and who, for reasons unknown, will still use default frame and hero power because copying assets is hard apparently.
I did not compare as closely (yet) when it comes to skins count, so taking your word for it. Personally I'd rather take another Epic card over a skin I may never end up using, but then cosmetics might have a great value to somebody else.
Tell you the truth, I'm surprised there's been any change at all. So used to Blizz generally just copy-pasting these reward tiers as they were. I've added a relevant note about it for what it's worth, as it creates a certain dilemma for anyone thinking about opening their expansion packs outright.
And it's still the dumbest decision they've made and it will continue to keep Mercs irrelevant and unprofitable.
PvP is the entire endgame. there is nothing else and yet it so unbelievably screwed up that you can play only a fraction of the available mercs. Play. Not suceed with. Just play. You can't even get a single kill with a non-meta party most of the times before you get completely outscaled. It doesn't even matter how much they buff other mercs for PvE, that mode has 0 replayability unless you just really enjoy pressing the same buttons over and over again.
You wouldn't even need to to crazy nerfs to fix PvP, just some numbers here and there and all of a sudden it's gonna be way more diverse while PvE remains virtually unchanged because it's all about treasures anyways....but no, gotta stay on the sinking ship while refusing to plug any holes because they're just part of the experience I guess
You do get the reward, so it's definitely worth it. Maybe they referred to other updates, sometimes the Season ends without announcement and it's hard to prepare for a refunded run.
I've never tried to get refunds for Duels before, can anyone confirm if in addition to the new ticket, we get rewards according to the number of wins? Other sites say it only works in Arena
Dopplegangsters were so poorly done, it seemed emblematic of how Mercenaries was not a properly supported game mode. I appreciate small balance updates as that data comes out over time but it seems crazy that this common encounter ran rampant for so long.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Findley was calved-off to a post-track pack for non-Tavern-Pass-Buyers, this would be an absolutely perfect patch for Nature players. As it stands, it’s still very good.
Anacondra has felt like she was missing a third of her kit the whole time; her numbers never looked right. This is a massive change to not only PvP (where she goes from just sad to suddenly possibly viable) but a gargantuan change to PvE where Nature had a hard time with Fighters. This is likely going to be utterly nuts due to Nature’s Bite already being the most-sought treasure; now it’ll spawn additional minions even as it spams out extra damage and Malf heals. Multiple characters with Nature’s Bite guarantees a full board of characters every round. Actually, with just two such characters and Chi-Ji with the right equipment, the vipers will constantly go up in Health (and therefore attack). Just heal your characters over and over and let inflatable immortal snakes beat the crap out of your enemies.
Mak’Gora will likely be taken as a slight downgrade by some, but at least it no longer feels bad to max out Garrosh.
The lack of a red Holy Damager has been irritating for some time and the excessive blues in that comp is another source of irritation. Like with Anacondra, this feels a like a should-have-always-been change.
Mass-buffing underplayed characters seems like a sloppy patch when ability changes are called for. For example, Kurtrus is still bad. Still, it’s literally better than nothing and might be the remedy for a few of them (but I doubt it).
The Onyxia Fire damage issue was legit confusing: glad it turns out that I wasn’t taking crazy pills and that the text was simply wrong.
It isn’t 100% clear what the Findley Discover ability does (it seems like it needs something more than it indicates lest it be rendered worthless due to the action economy loss) and it isn’t clear that the Reno Deathrattle is a wording or functional change, so we’ll have to wait to evaluate that.
Location, Location, Location - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Border looks like it's druid or rogue location, but it's actually neutral. Are neutral locations allowed?
Location, Location, Location - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I believe locations' effects should be ones that wouldn't quite be worth spending a card on as a single-cast spell/battlecry, and I think this fits that nicely. I'm also very happy with the flavor.
It's supposed to make adding silences to your deck more worthwhile.
My first idea was "Destroy a Silenced minion". I kind of wanted it to be a 1-Cost, but I decided to add the initial silence for flexibility and to keep it useful outside of its intended archetype, so it probably needs to stay at 2 Mana. I do like that the silence can still target friendly minions to give players some more deck options. Let me know what you think on that though.
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
Sire Denathrius being free just straight-up saved me 1600 dust. Glad for that. That would've been a day-one craft.
This might be the first pass I try to hold some quests for, because getting Murlocula for free is worth. Though I still have no idea what to take out for it -- but it absolutely has to be broken. Anyway, I don't want to draw it, and 4 ranks at the start of the pass should be, at worst, several Battlegrounds games.
Location, Location, Location - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
If I seem like I'm slow in this comp at responding to anything, that's because I got Covid! (or so I think) I can't say that exactly having fun by any means.
I am already aware that Haunted Grove is on the weak side at the moment, but I can't be asked to change it the moment since I'm not feeling great.
New Neutral Minion - Invitation Courier
It's not the most obvious synergy, but it will work on any class with Sketchy Stranger
New Shaman Weapon - Carving Chisel
Very useful totem shaman support, I hope the archetype will see some play
Location, Location, Location - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I decided to go for lore locations this week.
Draenor and Outland depict how this planet once governed by elements (kind of controlable) got corrupted by the Burning Legion, suffering from Fel waves that transformed the Draenei into the Broken and turned the orcs green. To reflect this, Draenor would use the Lightning Bolt animation and Outland the one from Felfire Potion (without the vial dropping, of course).
It's not a mind blowing effect, but think the legendary status is justified by its high total durability and its sustained control capabilities. I don't know, it would feel a bit weird to have a whole freaking planet not be legendary lol
Walls of Orgrimmar is probably the better card anyways, but it kinda breaks the mold of what locations are supposed to do: they usually cannot be attacked, yet this one's function is just to take hits. I could see Blizzard printing it, though.
Location, Location, Location - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I don't have a token card for the Nightmare right now, but it's not important if people don't like it. The flavor of the location should be pretty straight-forward: being overwhelmed by your fears made manifest.
Just My Card Type - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Congratulations to Wailor! I had a good feeling about that one :)
New Shaman Minion - Gigantotem
I hope totem shaman will see some play, but I think it will be on a next expansion because there is not much totem support in standard right now
Location, Location, Location - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Competition Theme: Location, Location, Location
So, where we dropping boys?
BloodMefist has us designing Locations ahead of the new expansion launch - we had to do it sometime, and what better time than now?
As always, I can be reached through Discord or here on the site via PM if you have any issues to report.
Competition Phases
Here are the phases of this card design competition
Discussion Thread Rules
No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
Feel like it's unfair to classify Mankrik and Drek'thar as meme legendaries, but yeah, it's better this way even though it makes paying for the pass less attractive. Wish Theodar was the other diamond leggy.
New Shaman Spell - Criminal Lineup
I think the combo with Gigantotemwill be a very powerful one, just better than the Naga Giant one
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
Its nice of them to actually give out Sire Denathrius for free, instead of Murloc Holmes. In the past, it was always the good legendary being diamond while everyone gets stuck with the meme legendary for free.
And mercifully, the golden epic out on display is not a good one, so I dont have to torture myself crafting it for standard, like I did for School Teacher. Still, I'd have prefer they just remove it from the pack pool and give us the non-golden card by default because it truly sucks to get one of these from packs.
Hearthstone Mercenaries Updates for Patch 24.0 - C’Thun Special Event, Sir Finley Joins the Action, Balance Changes, & Various Fixes
Looks like mercs is getting some powercreep. Health over 90 for selected mercs? And the total damage that can be dished out by anacondra is nuts. Speaking of which, the buff to both guff and anacondra might be positive for pvp, but I feel it completely breaks pve. Now malfurion/guff/anacondra might as well be the new nature bros. Deal extraordinary damage per turn, summon a 15/15, heal for 18 by default, and have a merc that can heal for 15 at any time.
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
I actually miscounted, it's 10 skins, but it'S still less than the last pass where we got one for each class and then an extra one for Druid and Shaman.
Here it's just the 10 classes and done...
Also, can't wait to use that Kael'thas skin which is just gonna be a crappier knock off of the one they just released and who, for reasons unknown, will still use default frame and hero power because copying assets is hard apparently.
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
I did not compare as closely (yet) when it comes to skins count, so taking your word for it. Personally I'd rather take another Epic card over a skin I may never end up using, but then cosmetics might have a great value to somebody else.
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
Tell you the truth, I'm surprised there's been any change at all. So used to Blizz generally just copy-pasting these reward tiers as they were. I've added a relevant note about it for what it's worth, as it creates a certain dilemma for anyone thinking about opening their expansion packs outright.
Hearthstone Patch 24.0 Battlegrounds Updates - Free Emotes, Heistbaron Togwaggle Hero, & More
And it's still the dumbest decision they've made and it will continue to keep Mercs irrelevant and unprofitable.
PvP is the entire endgame. there is nothing else and yet it so unbelievably screwed up that you can play only a fraction of the available mercs. Play. Not suceed with. Just play. You can't even get a single kill with a non-meta party most of the times before you get completely outscaled. It doesn't even matter how much they buff other mercs for PvE, that mode has 0 replayability unless you just really enjoy pressing the same buttons over and over again.
You wouldn't even need to to crazy nerfs to fix PvP, just some numbers here and there and all of a sudden it's gonna be way more diverse while PvE remains virtually unchanged because it's all about treasures anyways....but no, gotta stay on the sinking ship while refusing to plug any holes because they're just part of the experience I guess
Hearthstone Duels in Patch 24.0 - Witchwood Set and Darius Crowley, Added Treasures & Balance Changes, New Season, No More Unlock Requirements
You do get the reward, so it's definitely worth it. Maybe they referred to other updates, sometimes the Season ends without announcement and it's hard to prepare for a refunded run.
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
So last pass gave us 12 regular skins total...this one only 9?
That being despite the fact they still haven't bothered to give any of these new frames and animations or even just reuse the already existing ones...
Hearthstone's Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track Detailed - Diamond Cards, New Coins, Tavern Pass Benefits, & More
So all we get compared to old tracks is 2 extra epics on paid track?
Hearthstone Duels in Patch 24.0 - Witchwood Set and Darius Crowley, Added Treasures & Balance Changes, New Season, No More Unlock Requirements
Hearthstone Mercenaries Updates for Patch 24.0 - C’Thun Special Event, Sir Finley Joins the Action, Balance Changes, & Various Fixes
Dopplegangsters were so poorly done, it seemed emblematic of how Mercenaries was not a properly supported game mode. I appreciate small balance updates as that data comes out over time but it seems crazy that this common encounter ran rampant for so long.
Better late than never, I guess!
Hearthstone Mercenaries Updates for Patch 24.0 - C’Thun Special Event, Sir Finley Joins the Action, Balance Changes, & Various Fixes
If it wasn’t for the fact that Findley was calved-off to a post-track pack for non-Tavern-Pass-Buyers, this would be an absolutely perfect patch for Nature players. As it stands, it’s still very good.
Anacondra has felt like she was missing a third of her kit the whole time; her numbers never looked right. This is a massive change to not only PvP (where she goes from just sad to suddenly possibly viable) but a gargantuan change to PvE where Nature had a hard time with Fighters. This is likely going to be utterly nuts due to Nature’s Bite already being the most-sought treasure; now it’ll spawn additional minions even as it spams out extra damage and Malf heals. Multiple characters with Nature’s Bite guarantees a full board of characters every round. Actually, with just two such characters and Chi-Ji with the right equipment, the vipers will constantly go up in Health (and therefore attack). Just heal your characters over and over and let inflatable immortal snakes beat the crap out of your enemies.
Mak’Gora will likely be taken as a slight downgrade by some, but at least it no longer feels bad to max out Garrosh.
The lack of a red Holy Damager has been irritating for some time and the excessive blues in that comp is another source of irritation. Like with Anacondra, this feels a like a should-have-always-been change.
Mass-buffing underplayed characters seems like a sloppy patch when ability changes are called for. For example, Kurtrus is still bad. Still, it’s literally better than nothing and might be the remedy for a few of them (but I doubt it).
The Onyxia Fire damage issue was legit confusing: glad it turns out that I wasn’t taking crazy pills and that the text was simply wrong.
It isn’t 100% clear what the Findley Discover ability does (it seems like it needs something more than it indicates lest it be rendered worthless due to the action economy loss) and it isn’t clear that the Reno Deathrattle is a wording or functional change, so we’ll have to wait to evaluate that.