Its all fun and games until you reach game 4 and suddenly minions start dropping like crazy and your OTK is substantially less consistent. Besides which Ive actually been seeing priest play other stuff like dragons. Probably because like I said, mind tether is good for the first few games and get much weaker as the game progresses.
Enough with the piggybacking. Just create their own servers and interface blizz. I haven't touched battlegrounds in a while now and having to stare at that game icon everyday wont make me want to click it.
-shadow priest - Perpetual Flame wrecks this deck -Token druid - Perpetual Flame wrecks this deck -Cntrl priest - watch game 2 bankyugi vs shaxy (https://youtu.be/m2765caPeFg?t=880), and this is the deck he chose to counter quest shaman after losing game 1. I dont think I need elaborate any further. Basically if you think control priest can outvalue quest shaman youre not doing yourself any favors. -quest warrior - Quest warrior suck in standard. Nuff said. -Seed lock/seed handlock - Correct, as I pointed out. -Miracle rogue - Miracle rogue has a chance. But there's so much that can go wrong in that game.
On D4-legend. Quest shaman has three bad matchups. All of them warlock. I've been doing well against it with fel dhunter, but like miracle rogue so many things can go wrong its not even a joke.
As for shaman being 'giga trash' for a long time, that's correct. But that should never be a reason for any deck to get a free pass.
Gameplay is very pokemon-esque. You have 3 mercs, your opponent has the same amount of mercs, you choose attacks and then all the attacks comes out turn after turn, determined by a single stat, which in this case is the number on the tech chosen. And like pokemon, you collect mercs to be utilized as you see fit, which with its own set of stats.
First impression is fine I guess. It isn't flashy; the graphics is predictably (since its likely built on the hearthstone engine) very close to hearthstone's. The game board or field looks very empty, not helped by the fact that the merc icons are very small, which unfortunately makes it look like six ants fighting on a blank piece of paper. I don't understand why they didn't just fill the field with knick-knacks that react with each attack, to both increase the impact of each attacks and having every end game look like a nuclear holocaust. That would look cool, if nothing else.
Im still confused slightly about how the gameplay progresses outside of battle. Looks to me like there's some sort of 'develop your village' kind of gameplay which will require coins, which is earned through gameplay (presumably). You will likely get a basic set of stuff to start with, and if you grind your arse off on this game, you'll receive the familiar end of month chest which will give you more stuff. Outside of that, its all via gameplay...or off your credit card.
Speaking of monetization, which the video skillfully avoids talking about at length. There's three bundles up on offer currently, each costing a great deal of real life cash. Im assuming that this is a pack of mercs to be used immediately on purchase so anyone who swipes his or her credit card gets an early advantage in battle on top of a likely exclusive merc. So all in all, the money will roll out from exclusive mercs, and likely coin purchases. (just a side note: I like how the diablo on offer showcases the classic d2 character, and then the website showcases the d3 character instead.)
Until the game comes out, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The monetization is annoying but not unexpected, and since its a largely single player game I'm willing to overlook the very, very expensive (50 bucks, and thats one of three pre-orders) offering and say that if the gameplay is good and there's no overt pay-to-win bs with the exclusive mercs then blizz can market those stuff for all I care. Im not spending a cent until Im 100% sure the game is legit fun because if the showcase is anything to go by, it doesn't look all that impressive.
Maybe its specifically designed by team5 to wean players off wild so they go back to standard. Curious to know if that's what preventing them from nerfing wild more often.
Handlock is one of the few counters to quest shaman so weakening it too drastically will almost certainly result in shamanstone yet again, not that it isn't everywhere in diamond 5 and above anyway.
Speaking of shamanstone, its actually strange to me how no one is talking about quest shaman and how powerful the deck actually is, both in early game highrolls and late game value. In fact, you can reliably get it done by turn 7. Aggro cant beat it, and control sure as hell cant neither. Even decks that counter it takes it all the way to the end. And yet there's not even a hint of discussion or outrage anywhere.
If its going to offer up epic cards for all five cards per pack, I'd expect it to be quite expensive or very limited in offering. With the guaranteed in rares and commons, its usually only the epic cards that most people will even care to buy a pack for because unlike legendaries they are substantially easier to get per pack. There's also the fact that most decks can't function well without its epic cards but legendaries are more easily substituted (most times anyway).
If I were to guess, its going to be the same price as a golden pack. And probably still too expensive for all but whales and the occasional porpoise.
Its nice to know that this particular issue may be resolved. Because its kinda dumb to restrict people from playing whatever classes they like in duels, since its a largely constructed format, at least in the first few games anyway.
I wouldn't be too worried about the variety we will be seeing if everyone can choose what class they want from duels. The fact is that the top end is and will always be composed of the best classes anyway and in casuals most people will just concede turn one to reroll the class dice. Either way, duels is generally less impactful than ranked, so I remain optimistic that people will occasionally play bad classes for fun if nothing else.
Im amazed that these builds actually reached 12 wins without either captured flag or meek mastery. The entire top end of duels is filled with nothing but these builds.
The only true difference between the old system and new system is just the amount of grinding it takes to reach 'rank 5', where you get the best monthly rewards outside of legend. Either way you're still required to have a win rate higher than 55% to get back because while the star bonuses is based on MMR, the floor is always 5 ranks below where you started (diamond 10 grants 8 stars, your star bonus ends on rank 5 plat). Fool around too much and you'll lose your advantage in the next month. Also 'rank 5' is by no means the end goal; for those wishing to progress further they can still do so because reaching high legend is the real grind that separates a pro and us layman.
Your gripe, at least what seems to me, is on the match making difference between points 1 and 2 but I would argue that point 1 is the better experience between of the two. Being matched with someone on comparable MMR means Im facing someone I should be facing. Point 2 allows for the possibility of facing a tougher opponent but it also works vice versa. And since there's always a greater pool of lower skilled players you're often more likely to face someone weaker rather than better, because theoretically better players would easily have grinded upwards anyway.
Every game matters only as much as the player wants it to matter; if you want higher stakes play a more skill testing deck like quest dhunter and grind yourself back up. If you want a more easier ride, just play easier decks like handlock or quest shaman.
I should also mention that the old system allows for legend tier players to play off against much weaker opponents and that's never a good thing in terms of overall experience. I remember back when I was in rank 20 with a limited collection, going against golden heroes with full collections. I wasn't trilled at the opportunity to face a better opponent; it was such a one sided battle that it reminded me why the game is often perceived as pay-to-win.
How does the new matchmaking system guarantee a 50% win rate? Besides which, if the system adjusts to your relative skill level, isn't this a good thing?
I know theres a section of people that thinks the star bonuses past diamond 10 is a downer because it somehow kills the supposed skill required to reach legend, but that's why there's always high legend. If progression is your motivation, just try and reach triple digits, a substantially harder challenge than merely reaching legend.
When they nerfed Guardian Animals they clearly didn't compensate hunter for it. Dual class cards power level are always unequal between the two classes, can't just ignore them simply because its OP on one end and not the other.
As far as buffing priest cards? Im not exactly sure priest needs a buff. They're doing fine with shadow priest.
Lol, yeah. Kinda blanked on that. Literally corner themselves on that one. Unless of course that they're brave enough to assume that no one will play tamsin just to raise dead twice.
The one most obvious change would be to Flesh Giant, up to 10 mana. It may seem small, but flesh giants are dropping on turn 5 now, and that means quite a lot.
The second is less obvious. Don't really think d6 warlock are really doing much, haven't really seem many of them up in legend. Stealer of Souls may actually get away with this, though with so much hate surrounding it it wouldn't really surprise me if it does get upped to 5 mana.
Other candidates for speculation:
- Blood Shard Bristleback: Its so powerful in stabilization that aggro decks just can't beat handlock. Upping the mana cost from 3 to 4 might make it less likely to come out immediately after its activated with Soul Rend or Backfire
- Runed Mithril Rod: Its a thaurissan that activates twice. Im skeptical because its a weapon so it can easily be oozed, but since games dont tend to last very long a lot of players aren't playing much weapon tech at the moment. Team5 might actually nerf this to 4 mana though I really don't think it'll happen.
- Crystallizer: A bane to everything in wild right now apparently. Up to 2 or 3 mana? Don't hold your breath
- Soul Rend: Its funny how this one card does so much for 4 mana. Trim down the deck and activate both bristleback and scavenger, deals 5 damage AoE, and since warlock doesn't really suffer from fatigue anymore its just basically pushing you further to your quest win condition. Maybe nerf to 5 mana?
- Raise Dead: 0 mana play another big minion, move further up your quest completion, reduce your giant's cost by 1. This card has been on the nerf waiting list for a long time. Might be time to pull the trigger, up to 1 mana. Wandmakers aren't good in warlock, so this is hardly a silent buff.
I might be crazy in saying this, but I like the meta. It is very simple. You see your opponents class and you know what to mulligan for. It might just be because I am playing Quest WL.
Yes, it is. And that's somewhat a problem, since diversity is supposedly the target. The meta has gotten to such an extent that its linear, and that's never a good thing if you're seeking to have fun other than winning.
We're witnessing a repeat of the pre-nerfed crystal caverns rogue meta again, where there's quest rogue on one side and hyper aggro on the other. Quest decks are too consistent honestly. Even if the meta is fine, I still hope that there's more space for different decks to exist, and that cannot be done if there's a constant air of inevitability while playing.
Well, the small gift window and me having actual work to do means I'll be missing out, which sucks honestly. Especially since I'll likely to watching this thing later anyway, which prompts me to ask: if the gift window is so small, the reward being fairly big (2 stormwind packs), and the fact that it's likely to piss at least one segment of the world because of timezone differences, why not just give us the packs? Or at least broaden the gift window so the whole world could have a go at it instead of asking its audience to frantically turn on the tube just to ignore it.
At least mercenaries is something new. Let's see if the gameplay hold up, because if it doesn't its likely to end up like the innumerable dungeon adventures that currently sit lifeless on the sidelines of single player, given that there's likely no rewards other than the usual one cardback for finishing it.
The pop divine shield achievement seems to trigger when you draw or have a divine shield minion in hand rather than how it should work, which is played on board and having its divine shield popped. Anyone can confirm this?
If that's the case, its as easy as playing rogue or some high draw class and filling the entire deck with divine shield minion.
Currently, and quite rarely enough, the best decks are also quite cheap dustwise. You can get one of the best handlock or questlock deck right now in standard for as little as 5k dust and if you have the rares and commons its just the legendary and 2x Flesh Giants and you're good. Even quest hunter, quest shaman or face hunter can be easily gotten with just about 5k dust or less. Elemental shaman is practically free, all things considered, since the most expensive card there is Lilypad Lurker, which is completely optional in my opinion.
Just asking, since your daughter is back after 2 years, doesn't she get like a free deck or something? Could've just chosen the warlock quest deck and get The Demon Seed for free and be duking it out to at least gold level in 10 days before month end.
Not that Im defending blizzard for what the meta is currently, but fact is that the best deck is quite cheap compared to what we're seeing the barrens, where good decks are 2 legendaries minimum of which without is basically a tier 4 deck.
Major patch = Major bugs.
At least hearthstone hearthstone the game is still playable. Moving on.
Its all fun and games until you reach game 4 and suddenly minions start dropping like crazy and your OTK is substantially less consistent. Besides which Ive actually been seeing priest play other stuff like dragons. Probably because like I said, mind tether is good for the first few games and get much weaker as the game progresses.
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Play hearthstone to play hearthstone
Enough with the piggybacking. Just create their own servers and interface blizz. I haven't touched battlegrounds in a while now and having to stare at that game icon everyday wont make me want to click it.
-shadow priest - Perpetual Flame wrecks this deck
-Token druid - Perpetual Flame wrecks this deck
-Cntrl priest - watch game 2 bankyugi vs shaxy (https://youtu.be/m2765caPeFg?t=880), and this is the deck he chose to counter quest shaman after losing game 1. I dont think I need elaborate any further. Basically if you think control priest can outvalue quest shaman youre not doing yourself any favors.
-quest warrior - Quest warrior suck in standard. Nuff said.
-Seed lock/seed handlock - Correct, as I pointed out.
-Miracle rogue - Miracle rogue has a chance. But there's so much that can go wrong in that game.
How bout some real stats: https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-205/
On D4-legend. Quest shaman has three bad matchups. All of them warlock. I've been doing well against it with fel dhunter, but like miracle rogue so many things can go wrong its not even a joke.
As for shaman being 'giga trash' for a long time, that's correct. But that should never be a reason for any deck to get a free pass.
Gameplay is very pokemon-esque. You have 3 mercs, your opponent has the same amount of mercs, you choose attacks and then all the attacks comes out turn after turn, determined by a single stat, which in this case is the number on the tech chosen. And like pokemon, you collect mercs to be utilized as you see fit, which with its own set of stats.
First impression is fine I guess. It isn't flashy; the graphics is predictably (since its likely built on the hearthstone engine) very close to hearthstone's. The game board or field looks very empty, not helped by the fact that the merc icons are very small, which unfortunately makes it look like six ants fighting on a blank piece of paper. I don't understand why they didn't just fill the field with knick-knacks that react with each attack, to both increase the impact of each attacks and having every end game look like a nuclear holocaust. That would look cool, if nothing else.
Im still confused slightly about how the gameplay progresses outside of battle. Looks to me like there's some sort of 'develop your village' kind of gameplay which will require coins, which is earned through gameplay (presumably). You will likely get a basic set of stuff to start with, and if you grind your arse off on this game, you'll receive the familiar end of month chest which will give you more stuff. Outside of that, its all via gameplay...or off your credit card.
Speaking of monetization, which the video skillfully avoids talking about at length. There's three bundles up on offer currently, each costing a great deal of real life cash. Im assuming that this is a pack of mercs to be used immediately on purchase so anyone who swipes his or her credit card gets an early advantage in battle on top of a likely exclusive merc. So all in all, the money will roll out from exclusive mercs, and likely coin purchases. (just a side note: I like how the diablo on offer showcases the classic d2 character, and then the website showcases the d3 character instead.)
Until the game comes out, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The monetization is annoying but not unexpected, and since its a largely single player game I'm willing to overlook the very, very expensive (50 bucks, and thats one of three pre-orders) offering and say that if the gameplay is good and there's no overt pay-to-win bs with the exclusive mercs then blizz can market those stuff for all I care. Im not spending a cent until Im 100% sure the game is legit fun because if the showcase is anything to go by, it doesn't look all that impressive.
Maybe its specifically designed by team5 to wean players off wild so they go back to standard. Curious to know if that's what preventing them from nerfing wild more often.
Handlock is one of the few counters to quest shaman so weakening it too drastically will almost certainly result in shamanstone yet again, not that it isn't everywhere in diamond 5 and above anyway.
Speaking of shamanstone, its actually strange to me how no one is talking about quest shaman and how powerful the deck actually is, both in early game highrolls and late game value. In fact, you can reliably get it done by turn 7. Aggro cant beat it, and control sure as hell cant neither. Even decks that counter it takes it all the way to the end. And yet there's not even a hint of discussion or outrage anywhere.
If its going to offer up epic cards for all five cards per pack, I'd expect it to be quite expensive or very limited in offering. With the guaranteed in rares and commons, its usually only the epic cards that most people will even care to buy a pack for because unlike legendaries they are substantially easier to get per pack. There's also the fact that most decks can't function well without its epic cards but legendaries are more easily substituted (most times anyway).
If I were to guess, its going to be the same price as a golden pack. And probably still too expensive for all but whales and the occasional porpoise.
Its nice to know that this particular issue may be resolved. Because its kinda dumb to restrict people from playing whatever classes they like in duels, since its a largely constructed format, at least in the first few games anyway.
I wouldn't be too worried about the variety we will be seeing if everyone can choose what class they want from duels. The fact is that the top end is and will always be composed of the best classes anyway and in casuals most people will just concede turn one to reroll the class dice. Either way, duels is generally less impactful than ranked, so I remain optimistic that people will occasionally play bad classes for fun if nothing else.
Im amazed that these builds actually reached 12 wins without either captured flag or meek mastery. The entire top end of duels is filled with nothing but these builds.
The only true difference between the old system and new system is just the amount of grinding it takes to reach 'rank 5', where you get the best monthly rewards outside of legend. Either way you're still required to have a win rate higher than 55% to get back because while the star bonuses is based on MMR, the floor is always 5 ranks below where you started (diamond 10 grants 8 stars, your star bonus ends on rank 5 plat). Fool around too much and you'll lose your advantage in the next month. Also 'rank 5' is by no means the end goal; for those wishing to progress further they can still do so because reaching high legend is the real grind that separates a pro and us layman.
Your gripe, at least what seems to me, is on the match making difference between points 1 and 2 but I would argue that point 1 is the better experience between of the two. Being matched with someone on comparable MMR means Im facing someone I should be facing. Point 2 allows for the possibility of facing a tougher opponent but it also works vice versa. And since there's always a greater pool of lower skilled players you're often more likely to face someone weaker rather than better, because theoretically better players would easily have grinded upwards anyway.
Every game matters only as much as the player wants it to matter; if you want higher stakes play a more skill testing deck like quest dhunter and grind yourself back up. If you want a more easier ride, just play easier decks like handlock or quest shaman.
I should also mention that the old system allows for legend tier players to play off against much weaker opponents and that's never a good thing in terms of overall experience. I remember back when I was in rank 20 with a limited collection, going against golden heroes with full collections. I wasn't trilled at the opportunity to face a better opponent; it was such a one sided battle that it reminded me why the game is often perceived as pay-to-win.
How does the new matchmaking system guarantee a 50% win rate? Besides which, if the system adjusts to your relative skill level, isn't this a good thing?
I know theres a section of people that thinks the star bonuses past diamond 10 is a downer because it somehow kills the supposed skill required to reach legend, but that's why there's always high legend. If progression is your motivation, just try and reach triple digits, a substantially harder challenge than merely reaching legend.
@Fluxflashor
"The random card back feature is currently on the backlog."
I think the intended message is that the random hero/coin feature is currently on backlog. We already have the random card back feature.
When they nerfed Guardian Animals they clearly didn't compensate hunter for it. Dual class cards power level are always unequal between the two classes, can't just ignore them simply because its OP on one end and not the other.
As far as buffing priest cards? Im not exactly sure priest needs a buff. They're doing fine with shadow priest.
Lol, yeah. Kinda blanked on that. Literally corner themselves on that one. Unless of course that they're brave enough to assume that no one will play tamsin just to raise dead twice.
The one most obvious change would be to Flesh Giant, up to 10 mana. It may seem small, but flesh giants are dropping on turn 5 now, and that means quite a lot.
The second is less obvious. Don't really think d6 warlock are really doing much, haven't really seem many of them up in legend. Stealer of Souls may actually get away with this, though with so much hate surrounding it it wouldn't really surprise me if it does get upped to 5 mana.
Other candidates for speculation:
- Blood Shard Bristleback: Its so powerful in stabilization that aggro decks just can't beat handlock. Upping the mana cost from 3 to 4 might make it less likely to come out immediately after its activated with Soul Rend or Backfire
- Runed Mithril Rod: Its a thaurissan that activates twice. Im skeptical because its a weapon so it can easily be oozed, but since games dont tend to last very long a lot of players aren't playing much weapon tech at the moment. Team5 might actually nerf this to 4 mana though I really don't think it'll happen.
- Crystallizer: A bane to everything in wild right now apparently. Up to 2 or 3 mana? Don't hold your breath
- Soul Rend: Its funny how this one card does so much for 4 mana. Trim down the deck and activate both bristleback and scavenger, deals 5 damage AoE, and since warlock doesn't really suffer from fatigue anymore its just basically pushing you further to your quest win condition. Maybe nerf to 5 mana?
- Raise Dead: 0 mana play another big minion, move further up your quest completion, reduce your giant's cost by 1. This card has been on the nerf waiting list for a long time. Might be time to pull the trigger, up to 1 mana. Wandmakers aren't good in warlock, so this is hardly a silent buff.
Yes, it is. And that's somewhat a problem, since diversity is supposedly the target. The meta has gotten to such an extent that its linear, and that's never a good thing if you're seeking to have fun other than winning.
We're witnessing a repeat of the pre-nerfed crystal caverns rogue meta again, where there's quest rogue on one side and hyper aggro on the other. Quest decks are too consistent honestly. Even if the meta is fine, I still hope that there's more space for different decks to exist, and that cannot be done if there's a constant air of inevitability while playing.
Well, the small gift window and me having actual work to do means I'll be missing out, which sucks honestly. Especially since I'll likely to watching this thing later anyway, which prompts me to ask: if the gift window is so small, the reward being fairly big (2 stormwind packs), and the fact that it's likely to piss at least one segment of the world because of timezone differences, why not just give us the packs? Or at least broaden the gift window so the whole world could have a go at it instead of asking its audience to frantically turn on the tube just to ignore it.
At least mercenaries is something new. Let's see if the gameplay hold up, because if it doesn't its likely to end up like the innumerable dungeon adventures that currently sit lifeless on the sidelines of single player, given that there's likely no rewards other than the usual one cardback for finishing it.
The pop divine shield achievement seems to trigger when you draw or have a divine shield minion in hand rather than how it should work, which is played on board and having its divine shield popped. Anyone can confirm this?
If that's the case, its as easy as playing rogue or some high draw class and filling the entire deck with divine shield minion.
Currently, and quite rarely enough, the best decks are also quite cheap dustwise. You can get one of the best handlock or questlock deck right now in standard for as little as 5k dust and if you have the rares and commons its just the legendary and 2x Flesh Giants and you're good. Even quest hunter, quest shaman or face hunter can be easily gotten with just about 5k dust or less. Elemental shaman is practically free, all things considered, since the most expensive card there is Lilypad Lurker, which is completely optional in my opinion.
Just asking, since your daughter is back after 2 years, doesn't she get like a free deck or something? Could've just chosen the warlock quest deck and get The Demon Seed for free and be duking it out to at least gold level in 10 days before month end.
Not that Im defending blizzard for what the meta is currently, but fact is that the best deck is quite cheap compared to what we're seeing the barrens, where good decks are 2 legendaries minimum of which without is basically a tier 4 deck.