I pledged for the Deluxe set and probably will receive it in around half a year from now. The artwork is gorgeous & hilarious and the gameplay sounds super fun. It's also playable with up to 6 players! Last but not least you can get expansions like The Snekromancers or Bard snakes and various quality upgrades for some extra money. Looks omega awesome!
The third Skelly statue is something I'd really like to unlock as well but I heavily doubt I'll ever manage to do 32 heat. Maybe I'll check out some youtube videos to get a better feeling of what it takes to do this.
Well, I'm a stubborn person when it comes to gaming. Made it to the last boss'es final stage during my first session which was encouraging (despite the direct jump from 16 to 32 heat lol). Then came the weekend and a 4 hours + monster session during which I stood no chance at all until the very last run somewhere around midnight. Suddenly everything clicked: all the right boons, all the high rarity, boom, 32 heat done. Big oof.
Since that's something I'm pretty proud of and I did it with a build of my own instead of popular stuff from the internet (tried Merciful End a few times but couldn't get far with it), I'll add some details here:
Mirror:
Increased chance of epic boons instead of Duos and Legendaries made a huge difference. You'll see why when I tell you about my build.
Pact:
Increased enemy movement and attack speed took some experimentation. I've trained a few runs at 40% and then toggled it down to 20% again for the successful final run.
Time limit and number of additional enemies are tightly interwoven for me. I'm generally capable of doing the 5 minute time limit, but not with additional enemies. So I settled for +20% and 7 minutes. Ironically, on that final perfect run I had lots of time left in the end (more than 7 minutes actually if I remember correctly).
I've tried deactivating the first few mirror boons but that didn't go well. Instead I've decided to praise Yogg and go with one less option for every choice, my reasoning being that with enough reps I was bound to get lucky at some point. Worked out, took quite some time though.
Build:
Zagreus Fists - defense is not my strength so I'm glad for the additional evasion chance. Fast button smashing on the offense is fun.
Zeus on Attack, additional chain lightning.
Don't even remember the Special, I usually take whatever here... Aphrodite is always nice, might have been Zeus as well.
Same for the Cast. I like Demeter's laser beams but in general I just shoot whatever I have for the bonus from the mirror and focus on Attack.
Artemis Call - my favorite by far because of the high damage output. I think I also managed to secure the boon that fills your call-meter faster.
Athena Dash - I usually take this one or Poseidon's (which is great in the Sartyr tunnels). The final run seems to prove that Athena is actually superior.
Hammer: more reach and damage on Attack helped keep some distance.
Hermes speed up and immunity after dash is something I always take.
Artemis increased chance of crit damage on every attack
As you can see, I don't need any Duos or legendaries for this and starting out with all the key boons on epic was enough to do the job.
Now what? I still have to grind out the last few trinkets for the platinum trophy. I'll do that without any heat though, I want to enjoy the different weapons now and discover some boon combos I haven't used yet. The one competitive thing left would be to beat the final boss with the extra sequence. So far I've tried once and failed miserably. That was with Merciful End though, so maybe I just need to rebuild my favorite stuff to do it. When all that is done I'll still enjoy the game for its own sake and grind some ressources for all the cool cosmetics and stuff I can buy in the hall. One of my favorite games of all time for sure!
Got kissed by Yogg and pulled some insanely lucky boons in Hades 1 this weekend, beating the game on 16 heat for the first time. Now I only have to level all the trinkets to max to earn my first ever Platinum trophy 😍 The third Skelly statue is something I'd really like to unlock as well but I heavily doubt I'll ever manage to do 32 heat. Maybe I'll check out some youtube videos to get a better feeling of what it takes to do this.
Other than that only Hearthstone. Wild legend is in the bag as of Saturday, I still don't like the current meta game. Standard is more fun at the moment, starships are pretty cool :-)
I got pretty lucky when it comes to legendaries, only had to craft 1 of them so far (8 hands). Epics were another story and the preorder signature probably won't see use or even get dusted. All in all very happy with the haul as well as with the expansion so far. They've hit the right spot regarding the power level this time imho.
Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galuye starts like a crime solving mystery but quickly goes philosophical, questioning the nature of reality itself. Unfortunately the protagonist takes quite a bit to catch up with that twist. It was very interesting to see how the author imagined the future to look like though. 3/5 stars
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin is a slow paced, moving story that takes a close look at what sex and gender mean to us as individuals and as a society. I found lots of warmth on that frozen planet called Winter. 4/5 stars
I've got to say I'm concerned about Wild. If Treasure Distributor is killed, the meta will slow down even more - a process that has started with the nerf to Secret Passage. The result will not be an utopia of "reasonable" aggro decks, some midrange stuff and control being viable. Instead, we'll find ourselves in a hellscape made of Reno tech piles and turbo combo. We're already seeing the light version of this with decks like Charge Druid (thankfully, this will probably die tonight), Spell Damage Druid, QL Demon Hunter (sometimes with Il'gynoth), Warsong Warrior (super underrated deck) and Reno Priest/Shaman. Those will all get better when aggro gets toned down. And it doesn't help that Seedlock will receive a new toy upon expansion release either. So yeah, I hope you guys are right and they only shave off 1 HP from Distributor.
As a hyper-engaged player I really dislike these, especially the Tavern Brawl reward pack. I usually hord Standard packs from day 2 of an expansion until the release of the next one, sometimes getting up to 50 of those. That's a huge head start into the new set for free. Getting a pack from the current expansion might be of the same value on the surface, but now the timing is fucked. Late in an expansion cycle these packs are almost worthless for me as I typically already have all the cards I really want by then.
I do like the idea of trying new stuff and being able to get something out of it at the same time... but then I happen to have preordered this time and I'm bad at Arena so those tickets are probably better used in this special Brawl anyway. If the rewards are good and I can build something competitive with my pack openings, I will consider spending gold as well. Rewarding 1 pack per win would be an interesting idea for example.
All that said, it does feel bad for F2P players. Risking their hard earned gold with this is a tall order and they will probably be severely handicapped without a base collection of new cards.
Decided to skip The Blacktongue Thief for the moment and read The Moon is a harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein instead. The language initially turned me off a bit, as the whole book is written the way the protagonist is speaking. Other than that it was a great read, focusing mostly on politics similar to the Ender’s Shadow series by Orson Scott Card. Exciting till the very end, if partly a little predictable. Enjoyable, easy lecture. Last month I got a little bonus at work and I used part of it to treat me with a few sci-fi books. I’ll report back on each of them!
DK is almost dead in Wild. I have recently had some success with Even Rainbow DK (got 11x in August and day 1 legend in September), but if you look at meta reports, there usually isn't a single DK deck to be found on them. The card base just isn't big enough yet to create the hyper synergies you need to survive in Wild sadly. Your only shot is to create something that is good at targetting meta decks (like Even DK is very good at beating board based Aggro [Shadow Priest and Pirate DH]).
Interesting article, thanks for that. I'm leaning towards wanting more double-Runed cards and it would totally make sense to introduce these in the last set of the year. The number of cards for the class can stay the same that way - you dish out a few double-Runed cards and flesh out the decks with the cards from the earlier expansions of the year.
Like, first you build up a collection of single-Runed filler cards that add up to competitve rainbow decks for the time being, then you finish the cycle with double-Runed cards that allow you to branch off into multiple directions. Does that make sense?
Gotta say I like the creativity of option 2 as well! That would probably make the whole system too complicated though. I mean, try to explain that to a new player.
Taking away the whole system would be sad and mean a loss of tons of flavor. Let's hope the devs find a better way to address this!
I can't help myself feeling like this is the beginning of the end. There's a very big increase in expensive cosmetics this year and while I really enjoy some of them (I've spent more €€ in 2024 already than any other year before), that does smell like a last desperate cash grab before the game dies. I really hope I'm wrong.
I'm sorry but I have yet to see a card from this mini set that sparks excitement. Feels like all we get is either boring pack fillers or game breakers. Kinda sad.
Ooooh I've been curious about that one, there haven't been many reports or tests about it when I last looked for them. Is there any game you can compare to it? Most importantly: How would you rate the difficultiy? I've heard some people say it's as hard as a Soulslike which would be an instant no from me as I don't enjoy that kind of game. The devs themselves say it's way easier afaik. Then there are some other people who say the first few hours are easy mode but then it gets very hard pretty quickly. I'd be very happy to read about your experience in detail if you're willing to share it!
On my end a lot of touching grass has happened in August. Nevertheless, there are a few gaming news:
Got some mentoring for Hades and managed to escape with 4 different weapons so far (the shield and the gun are missing). Still enjoying the vibes, having fun exploring new builds and following the story line :-)
Used good old Pirate Rogue to get to Wild legend in Hearthstone this month, then climbed from around 900 all the way to 383 with Even Rainbow DK which i'm very proud of :-)) If i find the time, I'll post the deck here and write a guide.
Doomkin will hopefully get nuked to 8 Mana or get a completely new effect
I'd like to see Secret Passage bumped to 2 Mana, that seems the easiest solution to the problem at hand without nuking the card
Fingers crossed they finally see the light and revert Sorcerer's Apprentice back to 2 Mana and add the "(but not less than 1 Mana)" to her effect
Wildpaw Gnoll could easily have its cost doubled to 10 imo. For all I care make it a Thiefing Giant by setting its cost to 20 and its stats to 8/8.
The big question is how these changes will effect the meta. I expect Pack Rogue to die but I'm not sure what might come up to be the next top dog. Board based aggro still looks strong with Shadow Priest, Pirate Rogue, Pirate Demon Hunter. Reno Priest, Reno Druid, Reno Paladin will try to keep them in check. I recently saw a friend climb to top 100 with Frog Shaman. Magmarager had a winrate of 75% with Warsong Warrior. Last but not least I managed to get to rank 383 with Even Rainbow DK. There's a lot going on in Wild right now and I really like that.
The buffs look interesting, let's hope they aren't only Mana discounts. Hunter desperately needs something meaningful to do. Big Warrior is a huge gamble imo because that deck should never be competitive, you only want it to be good enough to not be completely miserable. You don't want a Big Priest era in Standard. Thief Rogue will stay trash no matter how much you tune it, but I hope the buffs will help people have some more fun with it. Not sure about Big Spell Mage honestly, that one has a dangerous feeling for me... if it gets too good, we'll end up with one of these oppressive decks that you have very little agency against. Between a buffed DJ Manastorm, King Tide, The Galactic Projection Orb, Sunset Volley and Tsunami something might be coming together. Finally big hopes for Ci'Cigi to have her effect changed to a Battlecry!
Honestly I've never understood why one would want to get a PS Pro. The difference between the base model and the Pro is usually not that big and you know you're already halfway to the next gen.
At least Sony seems to know how to do their business: Releasing the thing in November is a clever move as they can profit from the Christmas hype (if there are enough units available). I wish Nintendo would do the same. Sigh.
I'd also like to share a game in development: Quest Snakes
Quest Snakes | Strategic Medieval Party Card Game by Real Fake Games — Kickstarter
I pledged for the Deluxe set and probably will receive it in around half a year from now. The artwork is gorgeous & hilarious and the gameplay sounds super fun. It's also playable with up to 6 players! Last but not least you can get expansions like The Snekromancers or Bard snakes and various quality upgrades for some extra money. Looks omega awesome!
Well, I'm a stubborn person when it comes to gaming. Made it to the last boss'es final stage during my first session which was encouraging (despite the direct jump from 16 to 32 heat lol). Then came the weekend and a 4 hours + monster session during which I stood no chance at all until the very last run somewhere around midnight. Suddenly everything clicked: all the right boons, all the high rarity, boom, 32 heat done. Big oof.
Since that's something I'm pretty proud of and I did it with a build of my own instead of popular stuff from the internet (tried Merciful End a few times but couldn't get far with it), I'll add some details here:
Mirror:
Pact:
Build:
Now what? I still have to grind out the last few trinkets for the platinum trophy. I'll do that without any heat though, I want to enjoy the different weapons now and discover some boon combos I haven't used yet. The one competitive thing left would be to beat the final boss with the extra sequence. So far I've tried once and failed miserably. That was with Merciful End though, so maybe I just need to rebuild my favorite stuff to do it. When all that is done I'll still enjoy the game for its own sake and grind some ressources for all the cool cosmetics and stuff I can buy in the hall. One of my favorite games of all time for sure!
Especially considering they've just exchanged a few gold drops with packs on the reward track...
In other words: They didn't have anything else to show. I was really hoping for some quality of life updates.
I wish! Unfortunately I'll have to wait a little longer because I'm a PS5 gamer, I don't have a PC I could play on. Probably better for my wallet :D
I've heard the currently released Hades 2 version is already bigger than Hades 1?! Did you enjoy it so far?
Got kissed by Yogg and pulled some insanely lucky boons in Hades 1 this weekend, beating the game on 16 heat for the first time. Now I only have to level all the trinkets to max to earn my first ever Platinum trophy 😍 The third Skelly statue is something I'd really like to unlock as well but I heavily doubt I'll ever manage to do 32 heat. Maybe I'll check out some youtube videos to get a better feeling of what it takes to do this.
Other than that only Hearthstone. Wild legend is in the bag as of Saturday, I still don't like the current meta game. Standard is more fun at the moment, starships are pretty cool :-)
I got pretty lucky when it comes to legendaries, only had to craft 1 of them so far (8 hands). Epics were another story and the preorder signature probably won't see use or even get dusted. All in all very happy with the haul as well as with the expansion so far. They've hit the right spot regarding the power level this time imho.
Quick update:
I've got to say I'm concerned about Wild. If Treasure Distributor is killed, the meta will slow down even more - a process that has started with the nerf to Secret Passage. The result will not be an utopia of "reasonable" aggro decks, some midrange stuff and control being viable. Instead, we'll find ourselves in a hellscape made of Reno tech piles and turbo combo. We're already seeing the light version of this with decks like Charge Druid (thankfully, this will probably die tonight), Spell Damage Druid, QL Demon Hunter (sometimes with Il'gynoth), Warsong Warrior (super underrated deck) and Reno Priest/Shaman. Those will all get better when aggro gets toned down. And it doesn't help that Seedlock will receive a new toy upon expansion release either. So yeah, I hope you guys are right and they only shave off 1 HP from Distributor.
As a hyper-engaged player I really dislike these, especially the Tavern Brawl reward pack. I usually hord Standard packs from day 2 of an expansion until the release of the next one, sometimes getting up to 50 of those. That's a huge head start into the new set for free. Getting a pack from the current expansion might be of the same value on the surface, but now the timing is fucked. Late in an expansion cycle these packs are almost worthless for me as I typically already have all the cards I really want by then.
I do like the idea of trying new stuff and being able to get something out of it at the same time... but then I happen to have preordered this time and I'm bad at Arena so those tickets are probably better used in this special Brawl anyway. If the rewards are good and I can build something competitive with my pack openings, I will consider spending gold as well. Rewarding 1 pack per win would be an interesting idea for example.
All that said, it does feel bad for F2P players. Risking their hard earned gold with this is a tall order and they will probably be severely handicapped without a base collection of new cards.
Got another one :)
Decided to skip The Blacktongue Thief for the moment and read The Moon is a harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein instead. The language initially turned me off a bit, as the whole book is written the way the protagonist is speaking. Other than that it was a great read, focusing mostly on politics similar to the Ender’s Shadow series by Orson Scott Card. Exciting till the very end, if partly a little predictable. Enjoyable, easy lecture.
Last month I got a little bonus at work and I used part of it to treat me with a few sci-fi books. I’ll report back on each of them!
DK is almost dead in Wild. I have recently had some success with Even Rainbow DK (got 11x in August and day 1 legend in September), but if you look at meta reports, there usually isn't a single DK deck to be found on them. The card base just isn't big enough yet to create the hyper synergies you need to survive in Wild sadly. Your only shot is to create something that is good at targetting meta decks (like Even DK is very good at beating board based Aggro [Shadow Priest and Pirate DH]).
Interesting article, thanks for that. I'm leaning towards wanting more double-Runed cards and it would totally make sense to introduce these in the last set of the year. The number of cards for the class can stay the same that way - you dish out a few double-Runed cards and flesh out the decks with the cards from the earlier expansions of the year.
Like, first you build up a collection of single-Runed filler cards that add up to competitve rainbow decks for the time being, then you finish the cycle with double-Runed cards that allow you to branch off into multiple directions. Does that make sense?
Gotta say I like the creativity of option 2 as well! That would probably make the whole system too complicated though. I mean, try to explain that to a new player.
Taking away the whole system would be sad and mean a loss of tons of flavor. Let's hope the devs find a better way to address this!
I can't help myself feeling like this is the beginning of the end. There's a very big increase in expensive cosmetics this year and while I really enjoy some of them (I've spent more €€ in 2024 already than any other year before), that does smell like a last desperate cash grab before the game dies. I really hope I'm wrong.
I'm sorry but I have yet to see a card from this mini set that sparks excitement. Feels like all we get is either boring pack fillers or game breakers. Kinda sad.
Ooooh I've been curious about that one, there haven't been many reports or tests about it when I last looked for them. Is there any game you can compare to it? Most importantly: How would you rate the difficultiy? I've heard some people say it's as hard as a Soulslike which would be an instant no from me as I don't enjoy that kind of game. The devs themselves say it's way easier afaik. Then there are some other people who say the first few hours are easy mode but then it gets very hard pretty quickly. I'd be very happy to read about your experience in detail if you're willing to share it!
On my end a lot of touching grass has happened in August. Nevertheless, there are a few gaming news:
I like the overall approach here. Most of the nerfs seem kinda easy to predict:
The big question is how these changes will effect the meta. I expect Pack Rogue to die but I'm not sure what might come up to be the next top dog. Board based aggro still looks strong with Shadow Priest, Pirate Rogue, Pirate Demon Hunter. Reno Priest, Reno Druid, Reno Paladin will try to keep them in check. I recently saw a friend climb to top 100 with Frog Shaman. Magmarager had a winrate of 75% with Warsong Warrior. Last but not least I managed to get to rank 383 with Even Rainbow DK. There's a lot going on in Wild right now and I really like that.
The buffs look interesting, let's hope they aren't only Mana discounts. Hunter desperately needs something meaningful to do. Big Warrior is a huge gamble imo because that deck should never be competitive, you only want it to be good enough to not be completely miserable. You don't want a Big Priest era in Standard. Thief Rogue will stay trash no matter how much you tune it, but I hope the buffs will help people have some more fun with it. Not sure about Big Spell Mage honestly, that one has a dangerous feeling for me... if it gets too good, we'll end up with one of these oppressive decks that you have very little agency against. Between a buffed DJ Manastorm, King Tide, The Galactic Projection Orb, Sunset Volley and Tsunami something might be coming together. Finally big hopes for Ci'Cigi to have her effect changed to a Battlecry!
Honestly I've never understood why one would want to get a PS Pro. The difference between the base model and the Pro is usually not that big and you know you're already halfway to the next gen.
At least Sony seems to know how to do their business: Releasing the thing in November is a clever move as they can profit from the Christmas hype (if there are enough units available). I wish Nintendo would do the same. Sigh.