I can second the recommendation of The Girl With All The Gifts, it's a very original take on the zombie genre with a very cool ending. I think they even made a movie based on the book but I haven't seen that one yet.
I've finished The Demon Cycle by Brett which I can't recommend enough. Rarely a series managed to increase in complexity so much without it feeling forced like this one did. Next in line is The Name of the Wind which has been waiting for its turn for far too long already.
For my fellow Sci-Fi lovers: Don't miss out on Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars!
Man I swear this series has eaten away at least half of my dust over the last 6 months. Now I'll have to find and dust 4 trash legendaries again to recraft Rhok'delar. Who needs dust anyway. /s
I'd like to merge two of the ideas mentioned above. I see where BasilAnguis is coming from when they ask for meta decks. Even as a player who reaches Legend in wild whenever I really commit to it, it's not easy to stay up to date with all the top tier lists. Then again, while your usual deck guides are great work, they don't offer much for experienced players other than the lists themselves. What would really help me improve my game would be not only showcasing a meta deck like you already do, but combining this with HuntardHuntard's suggestion of a detailed look into a replay. Which card(s) did you mulligan and why? Which cards to play, when to Hero Power, do you go tall or wide, do you hold back resources or commit fully, maybe even a little insight into hand reading. I know that's a lot of work but well you were asking what we'd like to see :P
One of the best aspects of Hearthstone is that the game is easy to learn, it's nested in a firm set of rules. Over time, Blizzard has slowly but steadily eroded some of those though:
- Genn & Baku and the Highlander cards completely altered our perception of deckbuilding
- Dual class cards mingled stuff that was strictly seperated
- Silas Darkmoon allows you to influence the board state
- Quest(line)s always start in your hand
- Sigils and the Alterac cards with an ongoing effect trigger on future turns
- there are several tech cards that negate or hinder key effects of your opponent's cards (like Counterspell and Loatheb, Nerub'ar Weblord and Boompistol Bully, various forms of Silence and so on and so forth)
I guess designs like those are necessary to keep the game fresh and exciting, but the range of possibilities is finite and it makes me wonder what comes up next. Decks with 40 cards? A new card type? The long discussed graveyard? 15 Mana cards for Druid?
Whatever it may be, it feels like the devs have raised their speed when it comes to introducing new stuff that breaks the formerly known rules. Wildheart Guff, Curse of Agony and the ongoing effect cards were all new stuff introduced in the last expansion. While I'm all in for exciting cards and interesting design, they long term alter the game as we know it and sometimes limit design space in a significant way.
Personally, I'd like to see more cards that reward catering to deckbuilding restrictions like Genn & Baku, the Highlander cards and Darkbishop Benedictus. They are challenging but also very rewarding and we haven't fully explored much of the possibilities yet. On the other hand, I'm skeptical about increasing ressources like Mana Crystals, hand space and life total because it speeds up the power creep significantly. Maybe I'm just nostalgic but I like that I more or less know what to expect from a game of Hearthstone.
All that said, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about the slow but steady eroding of the red lines in HS. Which rule do you want to see broken next? What new design makes you feel concerned?
I second the reduction of finalist spots proposal. There shouldn't be a fixed number of spots but a percentage of the initial number of participants.
Almost all competitions lately have been getting around 12 entries, and 8 finalist spots. That's... just eliminating the bottom 4. It's too little, the "finalist" stage feels more like "semi finals". I'd argue to keep it to 25% of initial entries, to really make it about the top brass since that's what the finalist stage is about.
Or, we could ditch the finalist stage entirely. I'm not sure why it exists honestly, the number of voters is always so so much lower than the initial 2 stages. It only lasts 1 day and so many of would be voters forget, dont know about it, are locked out of it as pointed above, or dont care enough to vote another time if their entries didnt make it.
I agree with all of the above.
Sorry for not participating much in the last few competitions... life got in the way and I felt a little burnt out of ideas. Did my best to cast my votes though so there's that. Thanks again to Shadows and everybody else who was part of organizing the competitions, you're doing an amazing job!
Very refreshing meta so far for me. Pirate Warrior is still a common matchup, Hunter looks dead. Other than that, Control Druid is still popular as well as Mecha'Thun Warlock, Even Warlock (with and without Reno), different builds of Battlecry Shaman and Res Priest. Shadow Priest turned up again to take advantage of unrefined lists but I don't expect them to stay for long with Druid being that popular and Warrior a tough matchup.
Personally, Big Paladin has done well for me. Might try Tax Pally next and then there was a chinese player who claims that Odd Rogue might make a comeback. Couldn't be happier about not seing a single Ignite Mage since the nerfs went live.
Congrats to linkblade91 and Wailor! Looks like you folks didn't like my Tears of Salt very much :D
On a serious note, that finalists vote was ridiculous. Again. I'm still of the opinion that making the vote more complicated (= make voters rate categories) might help to avoid people spamming 1 or 2 star ratings.
Congrats! That 1.000 wins Warlock portrait is siiiiick!
Can't deny a little grin when I saw those numbers though. Do you keep playing until you have a round number of wins every time? That would certainly mess with my sleep schedule :D
Very hard to say honestly. Wild doesn't feel so bad right now imho with the exception of APM Mage. They could do something about the mechanic if Ignite or just deliver the long overdue nerf to Sorcerer's Apprentice. I'd welcome something creative as well: let's try and make SA and Ice Block legendarys! Maybe Hunter and Warrior get their questlines nerfed to 3 ticks for each stage, that might slow them down enough for other decks to breath.
Other than that, I'm convinced Defias Cannoneer is completely OP and will get nerfed one day.
Very nice! I just joined you during my lunch break with an aggro version of Swizard's Beast Druid (link). I got lucky and faced three Pirate Warriors in a row, they are my best matchup. One of the few times I made it at the first try as well :)
Nice to see the thread alive and kickin!
I can second the recommendation of The Girl With All The Gifts, it's a very original take on the zombie genre with a very cool ending. I think they even made a movie based on the book but I haven't seen that one yet.
I've finished The Demon Cycle by Brett which I can't recommend enough. Rarely a series managed to increase in complexity so much without it feeling forced like this one did. Next in line is The Name of the Wind which has been waiting for its turn for far too long already.
For my fellow Sci-Fi lovers: Don't miss out on Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars!
Man I swear this series has eaten away at least half of my dust over the last 6 months. Now I'll have to find and dust 4 trash legendaries again to recraft Rhok'delar. Who needs dust anyway. /s
I'd like to merge two of the ideas mentioned above. I see where BasilAnguis is coming from when they ask for meta decks. Even as a player who reaches Legend in wild whenever I really commit to it, it's not easy to stay up to date with all the top tier lists. Then again, while your usual deck guides are great work, they don't offer much for experienced players other than the lists themselves. What would really help me improve my game would be not only showcasing a meta deck like you already do, but combining this with HuntardHuntard's suggestion of a detailed look into a replay. Which card(s) did you mulligan and why? Which cards to play, when to Hero Power, do you go tall or wide, do you hold back resources or commit fully, maybe even a little insight into hand reading. I know that's a lot of work but well you were asking what we'd like to see :P
I'm game on EU :)
Thanks for the additions! I was just giving examples, no claim for totality ;-)
One of the best aspects of Hearthstone is that the game is easy to learn, it's nested in a firm set of rules. Over time, Blizzard has slowly but steadily eroded some of those though:
- Ice Block negates lethal
- Amara, Warden of Hope raises your life total beyond 30
- Valdris Felgorge allows you to hold more than 10 cards
- Tickatus and Gnomeferatu destroy cards, Rin, the First Disciple even your opponent's whole deck
- Wildheart Guff allows you to gain more than 10 Mana Crystals
- Blastcrystal Potion destroys Mana Crystals
- Genn & Baku and the Highlander cards completely altered our perception of deckbuilding
- Dual class cards mingled stuff that was strictly seperated
- Silas Darkmoon allows you to influence the board state
- Quest(line)s always start in your hand
- Sigils and the Alterac cards with an ongoing effect trigger on future turns
- there are several tech cards that negate or hinder key effects of your opponent's cards (like Counterspell and Loatheb, Nerub'ar Weblord and Boompistol Bully, various forms of Silence and so on and so forth)
I guess designs like those are necessary to keep the game fresh and exciting, but the range of possibilities is finite and it makes me wonder what comes up next. Decks with 40 cards? A new card type? The long discussed graveyard? 15 Mana cards for Druid?
Whatever it may be, it feels like the devs have raised their speed when it comes to introducing new stuff that breaks the formerly known rules. Wildheart Guff, Curse of Agony and the ongoing effect cards were all new stuff introduced in the last expansion. While I'm all in for exciting cards and interesting design, they long term alter the game as we know it and sometimes limit design space in a significant way.
Personally, I'd like to see more cards that reward catering to deckbuilding restrictions like Genn & Baku, the Highlander cards and Darkbishop Benedictus. They are challenging but also very rewarding and we haven't fully explored much of the possibilities yet. On the other hand, I'm skeptical about increasing ressources like Mana Crystals, hand space and life total because it speeds up the power creep significantly. Maybe I'm just nostalgic but I like that I more or less know what to expect from a game of Hearthstone.
All that said, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about the slow but steady eroding of the red lines in HS. Which rule do you want to see broken next? What new design makes you feel concerned?
I agree with all of the above.
Sorry for not participating much in the last few competitions... life got in the way and I felt a little burnt out of ideas. Did my best to cast my votes though so there's that. Thanks again to Shadows and everybody else who was part of organizing the competitions, you're doing an amazing job!
I got legend with almost that exact same list in September, October and December (didn't play on November). You can now apologise to Swizard.
Very refreshing meta so far for me. Pirate Warrior is still a common matchup, Hunter looks dead. Other than that, Control Druid is still popular as well as Mecha'Thun Warlock, Even Warlock (with and without Reno), different builds of Battlecry Shaman and Res Priest. Shadow Priest turned up again to take advantage of unrefined lists but I don't expect them to stay for long with Druid being that popular and Warrior a tough matchup.
Personally, Big Paladin has done well for me. Might try Tax Pally next and then there was a chinese player who claims that Odd Rogue might make a comeback. Couldn't be happier about not seing a single Ignite Mage since the nerfs went live.
Congrats to linkblade91 and Wailor! Looks like you folks didn't like my Tears of Salt very much :D
On a serious note, that finalists vote was ridiculous. Again. I'm still of the opinion that making the vote more complicated (= make voters rate categories) might help to avoid people spamming 1 or 2 star ratings.
Congrats! That 1.000 wins Warlock portrait is siiiiick!
Can't deny a little grin when I saw those numbers though. Do you keep playing until you have a round number of wins every time? That would certainly mess with my sleep schedule :D
Thanks for the spotlight! I'm really proud of this one since it is the first time I got to legend with a deck that's about 50% my own creation :D
Very impressive work, thanks for the article!
Very hard to say honestly. Wild doesn't feel so bad right now imho with the exception of APM Mage. They could do something about the mechanic if Ignite or just deliver the long overdue nerf to Sorcerer's Apprentice. I'd welcome something creative as well: let's try and make SA and Ice Block legendarys! Maybe Hunter and Warrior get their questlines nerfed to 3 ticks for each stage, that might slow them down enough for other decks to breath.
Other than that, I'm convinced Defias Cannoneer is completely OP and will get nerfed one day.
Very nice! I just joined you during my lunch break with an aggro version of Swizard's Beast Druid (link). I got lucky and faced three Pirate Warriors in a row, they are my best matchup. One of the few times I made it at the first try as well :)
Those are really cool NALDOL (nicely animated little dots of light).
Congrats! Enjoy your cardback :)
That's right! Back to you again R :)
Those cards are all support for the one you're looking for. The biggest hint is probably in the first line.
Right class, wrong card.