Because you then have to justify to the finance department how you basically gave away packs for nothing, at least nothing to blizz. When it comes to corporations, its never about making money, its about making all the money they can.
A brief look at the rewards track says it all. Standard packs, not alterac packs. And the recent deals was 10 AV packs + 10 standard packs. Why? Because though the price is the same, the justifications are not: standard packs are valued lower than AV packs, so blizz thinks its 'fairer' that way, even though they'd lose nothing offering 20 AV packs instead.
Its a bug. Of course that interaction was unintended. It'll always put those imps on top of your deck, so if you can draw the same turn its just free 3/3s.
But dhunters being so shit in duels its hardly noteworthy. Fact is that even with this bug its still not going to carry you high up the ladder. Still, funny though.
Infinite arcane discovers from your deck. So in the first few games youre almost always getting something you've placed into your deck deliberately. At the late game, its gets more muddled, but its usually still better than topdecking answers.
Also because of the 2 mana discount, your brewmaster costs 0. That's very nearly a shadowstep in a deck that plays plenty of battlecries.
Im not surprised that they eventually folded GMs. From the start there were problems relating to relegation, how some can be relegated and promoted back within weeks, and the fact that it breeds a form of complacency. Some GMs simply weren't trying, having reached the goal and guaranteed money for a few weeks. Not to mention that ever since GMs were started we've seen plenty of big names just retiring from hearthstone. Not a nice view at all.
I was hoping they'd just bring back those one shot tournaments like trinity series (which was great, because for once we're listening to the players, not casters), or a tournament with different rules. Sadly unlike the old days, there just aren't enough interest around that someone other than blizz would arrange it. I still miss seatstory back in the 2016s.
Probably wouldn't, because team5 doesn't work on wild balance. So either it'll expose wild as horribly imbalanced, or the decks will continue to be the same bar a few changes here and there for 4 months.
The significant part of my argument is that mutanus is already performing that feat, and since voljin is 2 mana less one would think that it'll be the preferred disruption option compared to that 7 mana murloc. But in reality, we see mutanus being in many decks and yet voljin is not.
And that's largely because voljin requires a minion on board to work and that's precisely what most OTK decks would play around, especially if voljin is meta. So moving its mana cost wouldn't really accomplish much in terms of disruption; its being beaten in terms of viability by a card that's 2 cost bigger as I write this.
Nerfs and buffs are applied with a goal in mind. In my opinion, buffing voljin to 4 or 3 even would neither slow the meta down, nor will it make control decks viable. Even big decks wouldn't play voljin because of the interaction with vanndar, and the fact that most big decks don't play small minions so there's no target for it to work.
All four of these are more than capable of winning upwards to legend. Owlock isn't really much of a problem if you tech and mulligan for Rustrot Viper, and maintain tempo.
If you're looking for decklist that will produce results, just use hsreplay. If you're looking for a deck that plays plenty of AV cards, shaman would be it.
What OTK is assembled before turn 5 that its necessary to make voljin available a turn earlier? Mutanus is actually doing wonders now, and at 7 mana its acceptable without being too tilting to go up against.
Most big decks would want to play vanndar instead, so that buff to 4 wouldn't make voljin playable in those decks.
- TbFF has, in my opinion, poor characters, poor development and is tainted by an incredibly shitty ending. Rikkar, from rumble run, is a blank character of unknown origin (the very definition of a nobody) but it works because the story is about him rising to the top. Arrana on the other hand is the sister of a known character, with a defined character and arc (Far as I know, she starts wanting to escape from her sister's shadow) but by the end we're left scratching out heads as to what has actually been accomplished here. It doesn't help that the story keeps piling on the bs that she becomes completely unrelatable. She's basically Rey from starwars; a character which experiences hardship only in theory but not in action. Its like a 10 yr old's self-insert fanfiction ideal which is sympathetic to its creator but not to anyone else.
Oh and the shitty ending? Illidan being beaten both in power and angst. By someone who literally became a demon hunter yesterday.
Wasn't her story primarily about finding solid friends in her own way and as far away from her sister's influence as possible, and hence finding herself in the process? Beating Illidan through the power of friendship (yuck :P) obviously shouldn't happen, but as much as I hate the trope, at least it was different from the usual DH story (i.e. every DH except Aranna) of "the Legion did me wrong and I have the emotional range of an angry potato so I guess I'll join Illidan". Man I wish DH had an once of diversity; it's frustratingly narrow in every respect.
--------------------------
Otherwise, I broadly agree with the order OP used, though I would include most of the Dungeon Run-esque modes, even if you're only going to state there's not much story there for some of them. I would also personally promote Blackrock a bit though since I very much enjoyed the process of Nefarian and his dragon homies beginning to realise we weren't just there for Ragnaros.
That reminds me, what on earth happened in the Mercenaries (game mode) story? In particular, why did Lady Prestor hire us to take out her brother? I understand why Valeera would want him removed, but Onyxia? Hmm. Maybe it was all just an alternative perspective on the exact same events as the Blackrock adventure? It would certainly explain why Nefarian was surprised when we started taking out dragons...
If the story was about Arrana finding herself, I can think of plenty of other things, other than going into outland and being a dhunter. I mean, the very reason why she's in outland to begin with is suspect, and the fact that illidan took her in despite her having little to no motivation to defeat the legion is also another plothole. There is a reason why most dhunters are angsty and always on about the legion - most of them have tragic backgrounds relating to demons. Arrana might as well have slipped on a banana skin dropped by a littering imp. That forms a better motivation than what we're stuck with.
Also, Im no lore specialist, but Im pretty sure fighting one another until you dropped your eyes and sprout horns isn't how one becomes a demon hunter.
As for mercs, well beats me. Far as I know the entire story is about helping kazakus and prestor with the naaru shards. As to why we have to go through so many bounties to do that? Not a freaking clue. Does it even have a story? I mean, we're basically beating up boss after boss, but with no dialogue anywhere to go through. Feels a lot like the early megaman games where bosses are beaten because the final boss wouldn't show up otherwise.
Should've stated that Im commenting on standard. Far as Im concerned whenever nerfs are mentioned, its nearly never about wild.
Also, Im commenting on the worlds list. As we can see, all but one brought garrote rogue and this has been going on for a while, and having experienced it myself I think I can say definitively it is one of the most skill testing decks, probably in the right hands its just unbeatable without disruption.
If we want to see more interactive decks in tournaments, then we need to address garrote rogue.
It really shouldn't come as surprising that the worlds list work out this way, and honestly its really because of one deck: garrote rogue. One of the most skill testing deck in hearthstone history, and currently one of the best deck out there if you know how to play.
Alignment druid and OTK dhunter are not very good decks, falling easily to tempo decks, and are very much dependent on draw rng much like most OTK decks. I dont deny they are both very annoying to face at times, but the only reason why they are even in tournament lists, or prevalent in high legend is because they counter garrote rogue, being the only two decks capable of disrupting garrote rogue fairly consistently.
So what can be done? Just nerf garrote rogue via either Efficient Octo-bot (who has somehow dodged nerf after nerf for the last two expansions) or Field Contact. Or just remove Garrote itself.
Other nerfs to consider;
- Ive never had a problem with quest warrior, but if we have to do something about this class, just revert the buffs made to the pirates in stormwind, especially to Bloodsail Deckhand.
- Once again Im asking blizz to just nerf the shit out of Lightning Bloom or get rid of it entirely. Seems like druid just need to scam to wins in every expansion. It'll also have a small impact to shaman, but very small, because shaman actually plays for tempo now.
- Irondeep Trogg is one of those cards that counters these non-interactive decks in theory. Unfortunately it also locks most decks out too. A small mana nerf to 2 should change all this.
- Nerfing Runed Mithril Rod will go a long way in affecting all warlock OTKs.
- If we have to, just nerf Celestial Alignment to 8. I dont think its a problem deck, but at the same time I can't see why druid would want to play ramp into big things when they can just alignment, disrupt your opponent's ability to play whilst suffering none of it themselves. Since this is a barrens card, this shit is going to be here for another year, imagine that.
- Set both quest rewards for warlock and dhunter to 7 mana. That should more or less deal with these decks.
As for buffs, Im not sure. Im actually doing decently with most AV decks that I dont think any of it needs a buff. The only deck so far thats 100% trash is big spell mage, but Im not sure I want this to be buffed. Mage has this uncanny ability to scam wins out with random rng and the last thing I need is more of this. Besides, I think if the meta changes, Irondeep Trogg gets nerfed, and we see less OTK decks, big spell mage can succeed, if only in tier 2-3. That's fine with me.
You might as well buy the pass now if you intend to do so anyway. The extra xp is not retroactive if Im not mistaken, which means you dont get that increase from all the games played before you bought the pass.
Planning to reach 50 this week to see if the free legendary is any good, and to get that splendid (dragon) portrait for mage. Dawngrasp isn't really all that great for me to be honest.
So far the games been fun for me too. Played all sorts of decks to some success, in comparison with stormwind where matchups determine whether you'll get destroyed within seconds. Almost make me feel that Irondeep Trogg was purposefully added to this expansion just to make sure quest decks can't possibly survive. No quest mages so far, a massive plus, because if I ever see another one of that shit again, I might need to down an entire bottle of aspirin to avoid a stroke.
Based on my overall enjoyment, the gameplay, and how the story unfolds, here's my own list.
Best in my opinion is Monster Hunt from witchwood, mostly because I think the final battle with Hagatha is engaging, with some nice touches. Its one of those few ones I play more than once, its just that good to me.
Second best would be Rumble Run from Rastakhans. The storyline is as simple as it gets, but it works because its an underdog story, where you're fully in sync with the protagonist because you play as him, lose as him, and ultimately triumph as him. So the gameplay naturally ties along with the storyline, which I like.
Third would be Dalaran Heist. This one is purely because I like the theme, I like the focus on the villains, and I like the music. As far as the story in Rise of Shadows is concerned, its pretty great. A group of misfits attempts to steal an entire city and succeeded despite all odds, in a cartoony, totally non-serious fashion. No pretense, just fun.
Surprised to see Trial by felfire and Galakrond's awakening in anyone's list at all. I enjoyed these two the least.
- TbFF has, in my opinion, poor characters, poor development and is tainted by an incredibly shitty ending. Rikkar, from rumble run, is a blank character of unknown origin (the very definition of a nobody) but it works because the story is about him rising to the top. Arrana on the other hand is the sister of a known character, with a defined character and arc (Far as I know, she starts wanting to escape from her sister's shadow) but by the end we're left scratching out heads as to what has actually been accomplished here. It doesn't help that the story keeps piling on the bs that she becomes completely unrelatable. She's basically Rey from starwars; a character which experiences hardship only in theory but not in action. Its like a 10 yr old's self-insert fanfiction ideal which is sympathetic to its creator but not to anyone else.
Oh and the shitty ending? Illidan being beaten both in power and angst. By someone who literally became a demon hunter yesterday.
- GA suffered because its the supposed payoff to the events in RoS and SoU. And the payoff had two endings, and a contrivance in the storyline where everything (from conquering dalaran, to whatever happened in Uldum) its all to revive Galakrond, who loses in both endings, which is quite absurd because both Rafaam and the league of explorers have absolutely no leverage (no convenient artifact, etc.) that would allow them to win, so the question is simply: Why? Can't Rafaam just destroy the world with or without Galakrond?
The two endings bit is also there just for want of a better story, because I cannot for the life of me understand why can't they just have one linear story where we play as characters from both sides depending on who would ultimately win.
Book of Mercs is still a work in progress, but honestly if it ended in stormwind I might have just placed it on top over the rest. The Cariel-Tamsin storyline was not merely engaging, it was one of the few times I thought team5 manned up with some actual mature, consequential storylines for once instead of the goofy tones or childish storytelling. And then they ruined it for me by bringing back tamsin as a lich. But Im willing to put that aside if they end this whole story nicely and tie the Tamsin storyline down (which Im skeptical, but fine we'll see where they're going with this).
Its amazing to me how much these third party software are doing - for free to the consumer - whilst a company like blizz sit on their hands on a simple request like this.
Its not that simple honestly. Most paladin decks play Animated Broomstick nowadays, and if youre starting 2nd you're be wise to mull the entire hand for it. After that it's usually whether they have Noble Mount or not. If not, you still have a fighting chance. Otherwise, its broom or doom.
Unsurprising as you said. But for the last few days I had more fun than the better half of the entire stormwind expansion. There is some issues currently in standard that I can see being a potential problem;
- Shaman has way too many freeze effects. Snowfall Guardian is a mulligan keep against even aggro tempo classes, for obvious reasons. This alone doesn't make it a problem because it freezes your board too. But combined with Brilliant Macaw, you're locking down your opponent's board for 4 turns. I still dont see them nerfing anything other than Windchill (maybe from 1 mana to 2) but we're really missing Living Dragonbreath right now.
It gets ridiculous at times. In shaman mirrors you're basically playing 'who laughs first' with snowfall guardian.
- Warlock needs something done about either Runed Mithril Rod (again) or Dreadlich Tamsin. There's been a lot of talk about how warlock heals back 20 health etc. but the crux of the matter is that warlock draws too well, and the weapon is too busted if you dont have viper in hand.
- Irondeep Trogg is one of the most ridiculous 1 drops ever made. Ive seen opponents literally locked out of spells because I casted Noble Mount on this thing. Its just crazy. Entire decks are made with the sole purpose of sticking this down and buffing it. Nerfing this to either 2, dropping its health to 1, or giving it the chain gang nerf might be the solution here.
Irondeep Trogg is likely the worst offender here. Some decks just cant play without this thing snowballing from turn 1. I do applaud the fact that Ive seen many skillful plays by players trying to get around this card. So there's that.
For that achievement that requires you to play snowfall graveyard and spammy archanist, you can try Ataturk's method: just play a deck with 1x spammy archanist and 2x kobold illusionist. Backstab the kobold and have the archanist kill it over and over. Finishes both achievement with 2 games (Spammy only blows 30 times max, whatever the conditions). No need to grind heavy for this one.
Just interested if anyone has a list that more or less completes multiple achievements at once.
This works brilliantly. I think the deathrattle proc'ed about 60 times times in a single game - seemed like it would go on forever, but it did eventually resolve rather than break the game with an infinite battlecry.
EDIT: I should mention that I tried this twos ways - killing the Kobold Illusionist before dropping Spammy Arcanist (to spawn 1/1s that Spammy would kill for sure), and setting up the board to have the battlecry kill the original Kobold Illusionist (by ensuring there was a 1-Health and 2-Health minion on board to chain into the Illusionist). The former didn't work (which surprised me, since the chaining works fine otherwise), but the latter did twice. So, there's some amount of setup required to get Spammy to kill a played version of the Illusionist, but it worked like a charm otherwise.
Tried it and can confirm that it works as well.
You only really need to drop the illusionist to 1, because on death it'll just continue the chain from there. A handy backstab works wonders in this regard. Just need to make sure that illusionist is the one that gets summoned.
Afterwards I checked my achievement and found....6 points of progress. So what happened? Obviously it counted something but clearly not anything involving Divine Spirit. It also can't be any of the regular health buffs since Will gives +3 health which would have left me with an odd number of progress. It similarly can't just be the buff applied by Bless itself because that would just be 4 points of progress.
Does anybody have ideas what is happening here and how to properly exploit it?
Beats me. Tried it multiple times without any ticks and I just gave up and call it a bug, one of numerous bugs currently existing.
Casted bless on Northshire Cleric and got nothing. Casted it after a health buff, also nothing. Then casted it on opponent's minion for 1 additional attack, still nothing. At this point it might be that the achievement is either bugged, or it requires very specific cards/conditions for it to register at all. The fact that you got 6 ticks is amazing, but I cant replicate it (though I didn't use it on Dirty Rat, but that's taking loads of piss if that's the trigger)
Played on wild. I shudder to think if this will only works in standard.
Because you then have to justify to the finance department how you basically gave away packs for nothing, at least nothing to blizz. When it comes to corporations, its never about making money, its about making all the money they can.
A brief look at the rewards track says it all. Standard packs, not alterac packs. And the recent deals was 10 AV packs + 10 standard packs. Why? Because though the price is the same, the justifications are not: standard packs are valued lower than AV packs, so blizz thinks its 'fairer' that way, even though they'd lose nothing offering 20 AV packs instead.
Its a bug. Of course that interaction was unintended. It'll always put those imps on top of your deck, so if you can draw the same turn its just free 3/3s.
But dhunters being so shit in duels its hardly noteworthy. Fact is that even with this bug its still not going to carry you high up the ladder. Still, funny though.
Infinite arcane discovers from your deck. So in the first few games youre almost always getting something you've placed into your deck deliberately. At the late game, its gets more muddled, but its usually still better than topdecking answers.
Also because of the 2 mana discount, your brewmaster costs 0. That's very nearly a shadowstep in a deck that plays plenty of battlecries.
Im not surprised that they eventually folded GMs. From the start there were problems relating to relegation, how some can be relegated and promoted back within weeks, and the fact that it breeds a form of complacency. Some GMs simply weren't trying, having reached the goal and guaranteed money for a few weeks. Not to mention that ever since GMs were started we've seen plenty of big names just retiring from hearthstone. Not a nice view at all.
I was hoping they'd just bring back those one shot tournaments like trinity series (which was great, because for once we're listening to the players, not casters), or a tournament with different rules. Sadly unlike the old days, there just aren't enough interest around that someone other than blizz would arrange it. I still miss seatstory back in the 2016s.
Probably wouldn't, because team5 doesn't work on wild balance. So either it'll expose wild as horribly imbalanced, or the decks will continue to be the same bar a few changes here and there for 4 months.
The significant part of my argument is that mutanus is already performing that feat, and since voljin is 2 mana less one would think that it'll be the preferred disruption option compared to that 7 mana murloc. But in reality, we see mutanus being in many decks and yet voljin is not.
And that's largely because voljin requires a minion on board to work and that's precisely what most OTK decks would play around, especially if voljin is meta. So moving its mana cost wouldn't really accomplish much in terms of disruption; its being beaten in terms of viability by a card that's 2 cost bigger as I write this.
Nerfs and buffs are applied with a goal in mind. In my opinion, buffing voljin to 4 or 3 even would neither slow the meta down, nor will it make control decks viable. Even big decks wouldn't play voljin because of the interaction with vanndar, and the fact that most big decks don't play small minions so there's no target for it to work.
Deathrattle Demon Hunter
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Libram Paladin
AAECAZ8FBoTBA5PQA/voA5HsA9n5A+CLBAz9uAPquQPruQPsuQPKwQOVzQPA0QPM6wPw9gON+APhpAT5pAQA
Big Beast Hunter
AAECAR8GtrsDj+MDp40E25EE4Z8E2qMEDJLNA5PRA4f9A6mNBKuNBPaPBNeSBKmfBOOfBOSfBNejBOWkBAA=
Freeze Shaman
AAECAaoIBpzOA8f5A4b6A6SBBMKRBMORBAzbuAPgzAOq3gPW9QPTgASogQSxkQS5kQT5kQSVkgTckgTblAQA
All four of these are more than capable of winning upwards to legend. Owlock isn't really much of a problem if you tech and mulligan for Rustrot Viper, and maintain tempo.
If you're looking for decklist that will produce results, just use hsreplay. If you're looking for a deck that plays plenty of AV cards, shaman would be it.
What OTK is assembled before turn 5 that its necessary to make voljin available a turn earlier? Mutanus is actually doing wonders now, and at 7 mana its acceptable without being too tilting to go up against.
Most big decks would want to play vanndar instead, so that buff to 4 wouldn't make voljin playable in those decks.
To be pedantic, since 1 is the smallest number before 0 which is nonexistent, I used the word 'small'.
Obviously a 1 mana nerf is impactful, Im not trying to downplay that at all.
If the story was about Arrana finding herself, I can think of plenty of other things, other than going into outland and being a dhunter. I mean, the very reason why she's in outland to begin with is suspect, and the fact that illidan took her in despite her having little to no motivation to defeat the legion is also another plothole. There is a reason why most dhunters are angsty and always on about the legion - most of them have tragic backgrounds relating to demons. Arrana might as well have slipped on a banana skin dropped by a littering imp. That forms a better motivation than what we're stuck with.
Also, Im no lore specialist, but Im pretty sure fighting one another until you dropped your eyes and sprout horns isn't how one becomes a demon hunter.
As for mercs, well beats me. Far as I know the entire story is about helping kazakus and prestor with the naaru shards. As to why we have to go through so many bounties to do that? Not a freaking clue. Does it even have a story? I mean, we're basically beating up boss after boss, but with no dialogue anywhere to go through. Feels a lot like the early megaman games where bosses are beaten because the final boss wouldn't show up otherwise.
Should've stated that Im commenting on standard. Far as Im concerned whenever nerfs are mentioned, its nearly never about wild.
Also, Im commenting on the worlds list. As we can see, all but one brought garrote rogue and this has been going on for a while, and having experienced it myself I think I can say definitively it is one of the most skill testing decks, probably in the right hands its just unbeatable without disruption.
If we want to see more interactive decks in tournaments, then we need to address garrote rogue.
It really shouldn't come as surprising that the worlds list work out this way, and honestly its really because of one deck: garrote rogue. One of the most skill testing deck in hearthstone history, and currently one of the best deck out there if you know how to play.
Alignment druid and OTK dhunter are not very good decks, falling easily to tempo decks, and are very much dependent on draw rng much like most OTK decks. I dont deny they are both very annoying to face at times, but the only reason why they are even in tournament lists, or prevalent in high legend is because they counter garrote rogue, being the only two decks capable of disrupting garrote rogue fairly consistently.
So what can be done? Just nerf garrote rogue via either Efficient Octo-bot (who has somehow dodged nerf after nerf for the last two expansions) or Field Contact. Or just remove Garrote itself.
Other nerfs to consider;
- Ive never had a problem with quest warrior, but if we have to do something about this class, just revert the buffs made to the pirates in stormwind, especially to Bloodsail Deckhand.
- Once again Im asking blizz to just nerf the shit out of Lightning Bloom or get rid of it entirely. Seems like druid just need to scam to wins in every expansion. It'll also have a small impact to shaman, but very small, because shaman actually plays for tempo now.
- Irondeep Trogg is one of those cards that counters these non-interactive decks in theory. Unfortunately it also locks most decks out too. A small mana nerf to 2 should change all this.
- Nerfing Runed Mithril Rod will go a long way in affecting all warlock OTKs.
- If we have to, just nerf Celestial Alignment to 8. I dont think its a problem deck, but at the same time I can't see why druid would want to play ramp into big things when they can just alignment, disrupt your opponent's ability to play whilst suffering none of it themselves. Since this is a barrens card, this shit is going to be here for another year, imagine that.
- Set both quest rewards for warlock and dhunter to 7 mana. That should more or less deal with these decks.
As for buffs, Im not sure. Im actually doing decently with most AV decks that I dont think any of it needs a buff. The only deck so far thats 100% trash is big spell mage, but Im not sure I want this to be buffed. Mage has this uncanny ability to scam wins out with random rng and the last thing I need is more of this. Besides, I think if the meta changes, Irondeep Trogg gets nerfed, and we see less OTK decks, big spell mage can succeed, if only in tier 2-3. That's fine with me.
You might as well buy the pass now if you intend to do so anyway. The extra xp is not retroactive if Im not mistaken, which means you dont get that increase from all the games played before you bought the pass.
Planning to reach 50 this week to see if the free legendary is any good, and to get that splendid (dragon) portrait for mage. Dawngrasp isn't really all that great for me to be honest.
So far the games been fun for me too. Played all sorts of decks to some success, in comparison with stormwind where matchups determine whether you'll get destroyed within seconds. Almost make me feel that Irondeep Trogg was purposefully added to this expansion just to make sure quest decks can't possibly survive. No quest mages so far, a massive plus, because if I ever see another one of that shit again, I might need to down an entire bottle of aspirin to avoid a stroke.
Based on my overall enjoyment, the gameplay, and how the story unfolds, here's my own list.
Best in my opinion is Monster Hunt from witchwood, mostly because I think the final battle with Hagatha is engaging, with some nice touches. Its one of those few ones I play more than once, its just that good to me.
Second best would be Rumble Run from Rastakhans. The storyline is as simple as it gets, but it works because its an underdog story, where you're fully in sync with the protagonist because you play as him, lose as him, and ultimately triumph as him. So the gameplay naturally ties along with the storyline, which I like.
Third would be Dalaran Heist. This one is purely because I like the theme, I like the focus on the villains, and I like the music. As far as the story in Rise of Shadows is concerned, its pretty great. A group of misfits attempts to steal an entire city and succeeded despite all odds, in a cartoony, totally non-serious fashion. No pretense, just fun.
Surprised to see Trial by felfire and Galakrond's awakening in anyone's list at all. I enjoyed these two the least.
- TbFF has, in my opinion, poor characters, poor development and is tainted by an incredibly shitty ending. Rikkar, from rumble run, is a blank character of unknown origin (the very definition of a nobody) but it works because the story is about him rising to the top. Arrana on the other hand is the sister of a known character, with a defined character and arc (Far as I know, she starts wanting to escape from her sister's shadow) but by the end we're left scratching out heads as to what has actually been accomplished here. It doesn't help that the story keeps piling on the bs that she becomes completely unrelatable. She's basically Rey from starwars; a character which experiences hardship only in theory but not in action. Its like a 10 yr old's self-insert fanfiction ideal which is sympathetic to its creator but not to anyone else.
Oh and the shitty ending? Illidan being beaten both in power and angst. By someone who literally became a demon hunter yesterday.
- GA suffered because its the supposed payoff to the events in RoS and SoU. And the payoff had two endings, and a contrivance in the storyline where everything (from conquering dalaran, to whatever happened in Uldum) its all to revive Galakrond, who loses in both endings, which is quite absurd because both Rafaam and the league of explorers have absolutely no leverage (no convenient artifact, etc.) that would allow them to win, so the question is simply: Why? Can't Rafaam just destroy the world with or without Galakrond?
The two endings bit is also there just for want of a better story, because I cannot for the life of me understand why can't they just have one linear story where we play as characters from both sides depending on who would ultimately win.
Book of Mercs is still a work in progress, but honestly if it ended in stormwind I might have just placed it on top over the rest. The Cariel-Tamsin storyline was not merely engaging, it was one of the few times I thought team5 manned up with some actual mature, consequential storylines for once instead of the goofy tones or childish storytelling. And then they ruined it for me by bringing back tamsin as a lich. But Im willing to put that aside if they end this whole story nicely and tie the Tamsin storyline down (which Im skeptical, but fine we'll see where they're going with this).
Its amazing to me how much these third party software are doing - for free to the consumer - whilst a company like blizz sit on their hands on a simple request like this.
Its not that simple honestly. Most paladin decks play Animated Broomstick nowadays, and if youre starting 2nd you're be wise to mull the entire hand for it. After that it's usually whether they have Noble Mount or not. If not, you still have a fighting chance. Otherwise, its broom or doom.
Unsurprising as you said. But for the last few days I had more fun than the better half of the entire stormwind expansion. There is some issues currently in standard that I can see being a potential problem;
- Shaman has way too many freeze effects. Snowfall Guardian is a mulligan keep against even aggro tempo classes, for obvious reasons. This alone doesn't make it a problem because it freezes your board too. But combined with Brilliant Macaw, you're locking down your opponent's board for 4 turns. I still dont see them nerfing anything other than Windchill (maybe from 1 mana to 2) but we're really missing Living Dragonbreath right now.
It gets ridiculous at times. In shaman mirrors you're basically playing 'who laughs first' with snowfall guardian.
- Warlock needs something done about either Runed Mithril Rod (again) or Dreadlich Tamsin. There's been a lot of talk about how warlock heals back 20 health etc. but the crux of the matter is that warlock draws too well, and the weapon is too busted if you dont have viper in hand.
- Irondeep Trogg is one of the most ridiculous 1 drops ever made. Ive seen opponents literally locked out of spells because I casted Noble Mount on this thing. Its just crazy. Entire decks are made with the sole purpose of sticking this down and buffing it. Nerfing this to either 2, dropping its health to 1, or giving it the chain gang nerf might be the solution here.
Irondeep Trogg is likely the worst offender here. Some decks just cant play without this thing snowballing from turn 1. I do applaud the fact that Ive seen many skillful plays by players trying to get around this card. So there's that.
For that achievement that requires you to play snowfall graveyard and spammy archanist, you can try Ataturk's method: just play a deck with 1x spammy archanist and 2x kobold illusionist. Backstab the kobold and have the archanist kill it over and over. Finishes both achievement with 2 games (Spammy only blows 30 times max, whatever the conditions). No need to grind heavy for this one.
Just interested if anyone has a list that more or less completes multiple achievements at once.
Tried it and can confirm that it works as well.
You only really need to drop the illusionist to 1, because on death it'll just continue the chain from there. A handy backstab works wonders in this regard. Just need to make sure that illusionist is the one that gets summoned.
Beats me. Tried it multiple times without any ticks and I just gave up and call it a bug, one of numerous bugs currently existing.
Casted bless on Northshire Cleric and got nothing. Casted it after a health buff, also nothing. Then casted it on opponent's minion for 1 additional attack, still nothing. At this point it might be that the achievement is either bugged, or it requires very specific cards/conditions for it to register at all. The fact that you got 6 ticks is amazing, but I cant replicate it (though I didn't use it on Dirty Rat, but that's taking loads of piss if that's the trigger)
Played on wild. I shudder to think if this will only works in standard.