Yes, actually! So I guess I wasn't the only one. I've added the screenshot to the article now (near the top, below the Gryphon card back), if that's what you got. I was relieved to see the packs afterwards (but couldn't quite make out which epic card the game gave me for D5 rank), thought this was actually the result of me not relogging once the clock hit 00:00, just moving back to the main screen from the Mercenaries mode.
Added some smaller updates here and there, plus a section with Task Guides and their associated links. All tasks are now available as well. If you don't look at your Mercenaries Mailbox at all, it's worth noting they've decided to showcase Leeroy's Diamond Portrait animation there.
But I also recall somebody else on the team (Avalon?) reporting at one point that guaranteed pity timer Legendary wasn't happening as expected. I don't recall any clear-cut statements from devs on the subject, really.
They were, but apparently didn't manage to do so completely. We might have to be stuck with it until another major patch (for the Core set) pre-expansion...
I mean, that's probably true with how many missteps they've had so far, a lot of people got a rather poor impression of Mercs. The PvE playerbase as a whole might be on the more casual side and we don't get to hear from them as much. But Duels shows us it's possible to change the initial bad perception, at least.
Sharing where you personally stand and whether you (would) play something or not and why is fair, I'd think.
The patch isn't yet live (we should have a notification up and posted once the server side has been updated), this was just the patch notes being released a day earlier to let us know what to expect.
As you can see, posting within an hour wasn't nearly long enough to judge. ;) These things tend to pick up steam as they go. But also as Suchti points out, there is often little to no correlation. We've had articles with barely any comments get a huge amount of views, and vice versa. It's weird sometimes. But there is definitely still a lot of interest for these limited events in Mercs, everything about the Chi-Ji one is pretty much a fine indicator. Plus they can be fun, this alone has reinvigorated my interest in the PvE aspect of the mode after I got bored of typical bounties super quickly.
There is the usual Blizzard's forum thread for the patch. As is often the case, not everything picked up by or reported by the community even makes it there. I haven't had the time yet to go through all issues and fixes for an usual compilation here yet, sorry! So much going on.
Thanks! I was actually hoping to get it out earlier like with the previous MT, but with all the patch and expansion stuff also taking place... not nearly enough hours in the day. They couldn't have had a more unfortunate timing with these delays.
Hmm. Sounds like one of the more obscure interactions they might not've tested for. From what you describe it either shouldn't trigger the Secret if the countered thing was the only card played in that turn, or give you the countered thing if Plagarize goes off.
Yes, pretty much so. I've talked about it at length in our most recent meta/decks update, as we went back to more polarization and coin flip matchups on ladder. Haven't had a chance to play much after the changes to Kazakusan and SI:7 Smuggler, although I don't expect those to really change the field much. Will be very surprised if they are not doing any further balance changes by mid-March (Wildheart Guff somehow still being 5 mana, for one), unless they really decide to say "screw it, we are holding the fort as is until the rotation".
I swear these notifications like to fail me especially during the busy weeks. And so my late-ish thank you for the kind words! Perhaps I ought to ask for more constructive criticism at this point, can't have everything be as stellar. ;)
I also wouldn't dream to compete with Swizard and FrostyFeet when it comes to the Wild playground, I feel safer on the Standard grounds!
Yep, there is also that fact (if you recall what the patch notes first stated) we were not supposed to get all 10 tasks available all at once. The final 2 would've only unlocked today if everything went according to the original schedule. Although that would still leave more than a week of "blank Toki space" for the fastest crowd. If they wanted to play around that, they probably should've gone with "1 special task daily" implementation.
Chi-Ji is meant to be that alternative Toki for the event duration. ;) They just didn't quite think about how people who might rush through the event in the first few days might react to seeing a blank space for the remainder of it.
Yeah, sadly the Mercs packs as they currently are (with no pity timers) can mean somebody finds their Legendary in 5 packs, and another will need 40 if unlucky. They aren't nearly as valuable or worthwhile as Constructed ones, despite similar pricing. The only upside here is that we can get them for free from tasks 16-18 for all Mercs, and a few from PvP.
Actually this is the first and only season for 2022 when Grandmasters follow the similar pattern as in the past, except this time it's only 4 weeks long (rather than 8 weeks), including playoffs. So it's really more of a proper - if short - final season than actual season 1.
At the end of this run, only 12 GMs will "survive the bloodbath" for Season 2 (4 top players from each region), and all the remaining 36 will become essentially eliminated from this competition. Then Season 2 will be just these 12 victorious GMs plus 4 top players from Masters Tour points competing for a Worlds Championship spot.
And yep, we're going to see how this Trio format works in week 2.
Yes, actually! So I guess I wasn't the only one. I've added the screenshot to the article now (near the top, below the Gryphon card back), if that's what you got. I was relieved to see the packs afterwards (but couldn't quite make out which epic card the game gave me for D5 rank), thought this was actually the result of me not relogging once the clock hit 00:00, just moving back to the main screen from the Mercenaries mode.
#Update
Added some smaller updates here and there, plus a section with Task Guides and their associated links. All tasks are now available as well. If you don't look at your Mercenaries Mailbox at all, it's worth noting they've decided to showcase Leeroy's Diamond Portrait animation there.
There definitely were for the Masters Tour.
My Phoenix packs timers went like this:
EU - 68 packs; Legend - (8,27,46).
Ame - 67 packs; Legend - (40,49).
But I also recall somebody else on the team (Avalon?) reporting at one point that guaranteed pity timer Legendary wasn't happening as expected. I don't recall any clear-cut statements from devs on the subject, really.
They were, but apparently didn't manage to do so completely. We might have to be stuck with it until another major patch (for the Core set) pre-expansion...
Aaaand sounds like the changes might've been implemented just right afterwards!
I mean, that's probably true with how many missteps they've had so far, a lot of people got a rather poor impression of Mercs. The PvE playerbase as a whole might be on the more casual side and we don't get to hear from them as much. But Duels shows us it's possible to change the initial bad perception, at least.
Sharing where you personally stand and whether you (would) play something or not and why is fair, I'd think.
The patch isn't yet live (we should have a notification up and posted once the server side has been updated), this was just the patch notes being released a day earlier to let us know what to expect.
As you can see, posting within an hour wasn't nearly long enough to judge. ;) These things tend to pick up steam as they go. But also as Suchti points out, there is often little to no correlation. We've had articles with barely any comments get a huge amount of views, and vice versa. It's weird sometimes.
But there is definitely still a lot of interest for these limited events in Mercs, everything about the Chi-Ji one is pretty much a fine indicator. Plus they can be fun, this alone has reinvigorated my interest in the PvE aspect of the mode after I got bored of typical bounties super quickly.
My guess would be they might be afraid of their content being even more easily datamined should they do that.
There is the usual Blizzard's forum thread for the patch. As is often the case, not everything picked up by or reported by the community even makes it there. I haven't had the time yet to go through all issues and fixes for an usual compilation here yet, sorry! So much going on.
Thanks! I was actually hoping to get it out earlier like with the previous MT, but with all the patch and expansion stuff also taking place... not nearly enough hours in the day. They couldn't have had a more unfortunate timing with these delays.
Hmm. Sounds like one of the more obscure interactions they might not've tested for. From what you describe it either shouldn't trigger the Secret if the countered thing was the only card played in that turn, or give you the countered thing if Plagarize goes off.
If only!
Yes, pretty much so. I've talked about it at length in our most recent meta/decks update, as we went back to more polarization and coin flip matchups on ladder. Haven't had a chance to play much after the changes to Kazakusan and SI:7 Smuggler, although I don't expect those to really change the field much.
Will be very surprised if they are not doing any further balance changes by mid-March (Wildheart Guff somehow still being 5 mana, for one), unless they really decide to say "screw it, we are holding the fort as is until the rotation".
I swear these notifications like to fail me especially during the busy weeks. And so my late-ish thank you for the kind words! Perhaps I ought to ask for more constructive criticism at this point, can't have everything be as stellar. ;)
I also wouldn't dream to compete with Swizard and FrostyFeet when it comes to the Wild playground, I feel safer on the Standard grounds!
Yep, there is also that fact (if you recall what the patch notes first stated) we were not supposed to get all 10 tasks available all at once. The final 2 would've only unlocked today if everything went according to the original schedule. Although that would still leave more than a week of "blank Toki space" for the fastest crowd. If they wanted to play around that, they probably should've gone with "1 special task daily" implementation.
Chi-Ji is meant to be that alternative Toki for the event duration. ;) They just didn't quite think about how people who might rush through the event in the first few days might react to seeing a blank space for the remainder of it.
Yeah, sadly the Mercs packs as they currently are (with no pity timers) can mean somebody finds their Legendary in 5 packs, and another will need 40 if unlucky. They aren't nearly as valuable or worthwhile as Constructed ones, despite similar pricing. The only upside here is that we can get them for free from tasks 16-18 for all Mercs, and a few from PvP.
Actually this is the first and only season for 2022 when Grandmasters follow the similar pattern as in the past, except this time it's only 4 weeks long (rather than 8 weeks), including playoffs. So it's really more of a proper - if short - final season than actual season 1.
At the end of this run, only 12 GMs will "survive the bloodbath" for Season 2 (4 top players from each region), and all the remaining 36 will become essentially eliminated from this competition. Then Season 2 will be just these 12 victorious GMs plus 4 top players from Masters Tour points competing for a Worlds Championship spot.
And yep, we're going to see how this Trio format works in week 2.