Easy, random, and quick. Basically most games end by turn 6, so if you happen to get that weekly quest needing tavern brawl wins, this would be the easiest 1750xp in your life.
A welcome change, though a bit late. A little strange that they suddenly decided to destroy bonecrusher with a 2 mana nerf. I mean, honestly the best deathrattles often cost more than 6 anyway, so why the nerf? Unless you somehow got the rush passive, deathrattle hunter isn't really all that powerful. That hp nerf to me would have been more than adequate.
Nowadays, if I see someone using that special skin from level 50, I tend to think my opponent must be someone extraordinarily skilled. The coin and golden cards/portraits don't do much to me, since everyone from diamond 5 onwards would probably have it anyway.
Similarly I hope my opponent doesn't soil his pants when he faces me using that lvl 50 Anduin portrait.
Oh yeah, that whole white/colored thing is always a bit awkward when your story is set in a world of anthropomorphic animals. I always assume, when they're talking about colored people, they literally mean color, and not just black. As in all the darker shades of the fur. I think there's even a hint at that in silent hell, when blacksad finds sebastian.
Get to the last page where Blacksad found Sebastian. There's two toilets, one labeled white and the other colored. Obviously we're in post reconstruction America, but I really wonder if those animals would stare blankly at those toilets trying to figure out which is the right toilet to use from time to time.
- Its already been recommended here, but I thought I'd add it in just to show how many times I've actually read this series. Its hardboiled detective fiction stuffed with anthropomorphic animals, but don't let the furry labels put you off. In fact, to be real, the illustrations are so human like that there's barely anything animal about it. From the second tome onwards, all pretense of animal people is reduce to a paper-thin consistency, with very human-related themes that somewhat would never work with anthro animals, not that anyone would ever make an issue of it.
But as far as illustrations, story, and entertainment goes, this one's really up there for being both unique, and daring at the same time. Outside of kiddy comics, I've not come across another comic that features anthro animals that so well polished and not blatantly pandering to certain groups at the same time.
Ahh! I see, you're a gentleman of culture as well!
What's your favourite entry in the series? Mine's either Arctic Nation or A Silent Hell. Because of its subject matter and grey-ish colorpalette, Arctic Nation just has an awesome atmosphere that feels so serious and, well, cold. Silent Hell is pretty much the opposite of that imo. It feels so vibrant and almost wild, and the setting is also very interesting. New Orleans' jazz culture in the 50s, hell yeah!
Best one's probably Silent hell. Artwork was at its peak, a good detective story well told (though you have to have half your brain turned off if you couldn't guess whos the villain here), and the characters were interesting enough to make me want to go through it multiple times just so I didn't miss anything by mistake. And besides, its got Weekly in it so that's always a plus.
Arctic nation is good, but from this book onwards I think Juanjo just basically started treating his subject matter like humans rather than animals. The story is also rather weird, trying to tie this religious-white supremacy idealogy within a group of animals, which quite frankly is a ridiculous concept since most animals are by nature multicolored. So the whole setup is conveniently filled with naturally white and black animals, while never addressing whether someone like Weekly could ever be either colored or white. Nice end though.
My favorite is obviously Silent hell, but I remain somewhat in awe over the first book. It had a different tone and design. Most characters retain some of their animal-ness, like how Blacksad had claws and his head was properly cat-like. Makes me wonder what eventually made him turn away from this design.
Its been some years since the last book Amarillo, and since I can't read french, I can't tell if its cancelled or simply put on hold. Probably a good bet that its cancelled, since the art in Amarillo feels a little rushed, as though Juanjo simply lost his passion. Im still hoping there would be a few books left, but after waiting somewhere around 5 years, that hope is slowly coming to a halt.
Did you manage to play that video game though? I've been thinking about getting it, if only because that's another Blacksad story I've yet to actually read.
Undertaker by Ralph Meyer and Xavier Dorison - No, not that one. Undertaker is a European comic about an fictional person in the occupation of an undertaker. Yes, you read correctly, its about a guy burying the dead. So what makes this a good read, apart from the fact that the art is excellent? Well, obviously this undertaker used to be a big shot sharpshooter who's now an outlaw, so he figured he get some peace and quiet by shaving his face and take on a job no fool would ever want. If you want to skip to the good parts, just read the Shadow of Hippocrates arc. Worth your while, really.
Sword Master by Xavier Dorison and Joell Parnotte - Excellent art, drab title. But the story is really not half bad if you like seeing lots of blood spilling from melee weapons. In fact, every important figure in this story tends to either die or get injured so much that it sometimes make one wonder if their flesh is made of hand-carved mahogany.
The Goddamned by Jason Aaron and R.M Guera - If you ever grown up in a ghetto and wonder aloud why God continue to allow mankind to suffer so much, here's a comic book that won't answer those questions but will seriously make you believe it could have been a lot worse. Basically this is a retelling of the B.C. years in such a way that will be immediately considered racist to our paleo ancestors. But in a way, its both intriguing, and entertaining in a mysterious sort of way.
Lobo: Fragtastic Voyage by Alan Grant and Hermann Mejia - Its a one issue about anti-hero, merc for hire, all around bastard Lobo being hired along to remove a blood clot from an alien. Yeah, I think I'll just leave it at that. Artwork is superb, and the writing actually kept me laughing to the end.
Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido - Its already been recommended here, but I thought I'd add it in just to show how many times I've actually read this series. Its hardboiled detective fiction stuffed with anthropomorphic animals, but don't let the furry labels put you off. In fact, to be real, the illustrations are so human-like that there's barely anything animal about it. From the second tome onwards, all pretense of animal people is reduced to a paper-thin consistency, with very human-related themes that somewhat would never work with anthro animals, not that anyone would ever make an issue of it.
But as far as illustrations, story, and entertainment goes, this one's really up there for being both unique, and daring at the same time. Outside of kiddy comics, I've not come across another comic that features anthro animals that so well polished and not blatantly pandering to certain groups at the same time.
Oh. I almost forgot. Here's one last one, to pander to our obviously hearthstone playing audience;
Boomlabs by Mark Evanier, Ludo Lullabi and Konstantin Turovec - One of the most pleasant short comics I've ever read. Do I need to give a review or an introduction? Go read it. Its free from blizz (at least I think it is), so enjoy it because I don't think we'll ever be getting another one.
This is actually one of the weirdest, and honestly scariest, deals I've seen in a while. Using algorithms to basically offer up deals based on the consumer's spending habits. Would've been nice to let us choose, because after the midset I'm feeling like 20 bucks is a little steep. That 10 for 10 and a legendary deal seems fair enough right now.
Also, its only been 1 week since the launch of the midset and here's another offer? And since we know from datamining that another one will be up for sale during the CNY holidays, that's yet another bundle coming right after this one. Why not spaced it out? Its not like there was any other offer up for grabs since last December.
Its clear which card back is best for me. May I present to you the card back Ive been using since its availability: candle king
Perhaps one of the most difficult card backs to ever get in hearthstone history. Win with all 9 classes in the K&C dungeon run, and anyone that has ever attempted it can attest to the greatness that is this tear-inducing beast of a cardback.
In standard those Imprisoned Phoenixes can never truly make an OTK deck tier 1-2 simply because Cult Neophyte exist. If it turns out that freeze mage is turning up everywhere again, all it takes is to slot one of these bad girls in and suddenly your OTK is now limited to 20 damage. And since freeze mage doesnt pressure with minions, its nearly impossible to kill without slotting in pyroblast and praying.
In wild it gets worse with the best card in the game Loatheb being so good.
I dont have much experience in wild, but I think the current auctioneer build for mozaki is perhaps the better OTK deck out there, at least in standard. At times it can seem impossible to stop, and since in wild we can have two ice blocks, it may well be impossible without secret eaters.
But of course in wild, is there any reason not to just play quest mage to fill your OTK quota for the day?
I'm actually surprised no one has posted anything about the playing dragon maly druid with Resizing Pouch to get more Moonfires or Lightning Blooms. Fairly difficult to pilot, but that's more or less because its a largely aggro meta right now.
Its funny how the higher you go the more linear the experience tends to be. I mean, Ive been seeing nothing but Stelinas all day anything past 3-0.
In any case, my take on duels is that it needs something like a ranked system, not the same rewards and leveling up system like arena. Let's say that you can lose as many times as you want but you'll only progress (i.e. offered buckets/treasures, etc.) when you win, up to 12 wins. So while its theoretically possible to end the run at a 12-100 ratio, its still going to vary the experience as you climb upwards since no one has wager their 150 gold for anything.
At the moment, duels isn't really all that fun for me. Its true that both sides are theoretically doing broken things, but it seems like if you've been offered bs passives/treasures that does not gel with your deck you might as well just concede. And the top seems to be composed of the same hellish combinations so you're pretty much screwed on the whims of rng buckets alone. I remember a warlock run I had that was offered useless treasures/passive. Ended up choosing that passive that granted 1/1 on whenever I play a discover card. Try and guess how many times I actually managed to proct that before I got my arse handed to me.
The best way to handle this is as some others have stated; just change it so it only attack each minion once, like how Deathwing, Mad Aspect is handled.
I think this is a horrible idea, it only works for DW because it is a friggin 12/12, you would need a big minion for Hysteria to clear anything. With this change, it would probably end up being something along the lines of Betrayal power level, which i guess is whatever, but still.
Its more balanced this way anyway. Its already going to full clear the board in most cases, so having a small chink for others to play around would be ideal. Let's not forget that played correctly, this is often just going to be a 3 mana clear the board, and that's pretty insane considering that most 3 mana clears only do 2 damage.
Betrayal is bad not because of its effect, but because it guarantees to leaves something on board, and rogues have no need of it. Hysteria, even with the proposed change, would be leaps and bounds over it in just about any scenario.
Seems like they really wanted to end it the story with Anduin victorious as king, so the story basically went from a little boy with a bell hammer to great king in all of one mission.
And now after 6 years we finally have a male rogue skin, its just a tiny little detail that its actually for the priest class instead.
Has there been any intentional cheating ever aired on stream? Not that this is a phenomenon that's unknown to the devs.
that depends what you call cheating. the described phenomenon is even used by sjow, who is one of the largest bg-streamers, live on stream.
I'm surprised that they would actually do something like this in a way that can be recorded forever. I know its not really their fault that the game has a loophole in it, but its kinda scummy either way. It basically gives the player an insurmountable advantage with the infinite gold and khadgar combo.
I guess if the entire high legend, for lack of a better term, is doing it, then it makes no sense not to. But it does make the game less playable to those that just want to play normally. I thought BG was supposed to be a more casual laid back experience.
A nice change to see them getting rid of this interaction so fast.
Probably change either how immune works (cant be targeted by spells) or change hysteria to something more like how Deathwing, Mad Aspect works. I can't see them ever nerfing both the farmer and the speaker directly.
These requirements are all the more baffling since duels is supposed to supplement standard play. Ironically playing in standard is actually cheaper than duels itself because of paywalling.
And it does impact the game more than most people think. Since its paywalled, there's already very few players and thanks to the bs MMR system there, I've actually have to queue 5 minutes to get a game after going on a 4 game win streak. Lord knows how much longer it will take if by chance I get to 11-0 wins.
The best way to handle this is as some others have stated; just change it so it only attack each minion once, like how Deathwing, Mad Aspect is handled.
You can still have your tiller combo, its just that the conditions have gotten a hell lot bigger, and its no longer possible to OTK from 30 anymore without two hysterias and mana reduction.
Either way, I expect team5 to sleep on this for like a few months before getting out the nerf bat. They've said it before, wild isn't on the radar like standard is. If I'm not mistaken it took a hell lot of time before the SN1P-SN4P combo was nerfed too.
Well, if you've got the bundle then why not try Envoy Rustwix in place of tickatus. The only reason why you'd run Tickatus is to win the long game, and since rustwix gives tons of value it might be a decent replacement.
Unfortunately that would also mean you're essentially playing at a disadvantage in the mirror match.
Dont let all the weapon hate fool you. Weapon rogue is legit, very tight. You're mostly only going to lose because of healing. Even in many cases if they kill your weapon you're still going to just win from there on. Nitroboost Poison doing lots of work.
Been seeing lots of aggro dhunter too. Felfire Deadeye and Felsaber feel strong, but Ive got games where I left deadeye on board and no snowballing happen. Its just your typical aggro dhunter, but with these two you're probably going to win in most aggro mirrors.
Will be trying shaman and more priest maybe tomorrow. Aggro shaman looks good from what I've seen.
Just occurred to me that this is perhaps one of the best time for warrior to shine.
Easy, random, and quick. Basically most games end by turn 6, so if you happen to get that weekly quest needing tavern brawl wins, this would be the easiest 1750xp in your life.
A welcome change, though a bit late. A little strange that they suddenly decided to destroy bonecrusher with a 2 mana nerf. I mean, honestly the best deathrattles often cost more than 6 anyway, so why the nerf? Unless you somehow got the rush passive, deathrattle hunter isn't really all that powerful. That hp nerf to me would have been more than adequate.
Nowadays, if I see someone using that special skin from level 50, I tend to think my opponent must be someone extraordinarily skilled. The coin and golden cards/portraits don't do much to me, since everyone from diamond 5 onwards would probably have it anyway.
Similarly I hope my opponent doesn't soil his pants when he faces me using that lvl 50 Anduin portrait.
Get to the last page where Blacksad found Sebastian. There's two toilets, one labeled white and the other colored. Obviously we're in post reconstruction America, but I really wonder if those animals would stare blankly at those toilets trying to figure out which is the right toilet to use from time to time.
Best one's probably Silent hell. Artwork was at its peak, a good detective story well told (though you have to have half your brain turned off if you couldn't guess whos the villain here), and the characters were interesting enough to make me want to go through it multiple times just so I didn't miss anything by mistake. And besides, its got Weekly in it so that's always a plus.
Arctic nation is good, but from this book onwards I think Juanjo just basically started treating his subject matter like humans rather than animals. The story is also rather weird, trying to tie this religious-white supremacy idealogy within a group of animals, which quite frankly is a ridiculous concept since most animals are by nature multicolored. So the whole setup is conveniently filled with naturally white and black animals, while never addressing whether someone like Weekly could ever be either colored or white. Nice end though.
My favorite is obviously Silent hell, but I remain somewhat in awe over the first book. It had a different tone and design. Most characters retain some of their animal-ness, like how Blacksad had claws and his head was properly cat-like. Makes me wonder what eventually made him turn away from this design.
Its been some years since the last book Amarillo, and since I can't read french, I can't tell if its cancelled or simply put on hold. Probably a good bet that its cancelled, since the art in Amarillo feels a little rushed, as though Juanjo simply lost his passion. Im still hoping there would be a few books left, but after waiting somewhere around 5 years, that hope is slowly coming to a halt.
Did you manage to play that video game though? I've been thinking about getting it, if only because that's another Blacksad story I've yet to actually read.
Recommendations:
Undertaker by Ralph Meyer and Xavier Dorison
- No, not that one. Undertaker is a European comic about an fictional person in the occupation of an undertaker. Yes, you read correctly, its about a guy burying the dead. So what makes this a good read, apart from the fact that the art is excellent? Well, obviously this undertaker used to be a big shot sharpshooter who's now an outlaw, so he figured he get some peace and quiet by shaving his face and take on a job no fool would ever want. If you want to skip to the good parts, just read the Shadow of Hippocrates arc. Worth your while, really.
Sword Master by Xavier Dorison and Joell Parnotte
- Excellent art, drab title. But the story is really not half bad if you like seeing lots of blood spilling from melee weapons. In fact, every important figure in this story tends to either die or get injured so much that it sometimes make one wonder if their flesh is made of hand-carved mahogany.
The Goddamned by Jason Aaron and R.M Guera
- If you ever grown up in a ghetto and wonder aloud why God continue to allow mankind to suffer so much, here's a comic book that won't answer those questions but will seriously make you believe it could have been a lot worse. Basically this is a retelling of the B.C. years in such a way that will be immediately considered racist to our paleo ancestors. But in a way, its both intriguing, and entertaining in a mysterious sort of way.
Lobo: Fragtastic Voyage by Alan Grant and Hermann Mejia
- Its a one issue about anti-hero, merc for hire, all around bastard Lobo being hired along to remove a blood clot from an alien. Yeah, I think I'll just leave it at that. Artwork is superb, and the writing actually kept me laughing to the end.
Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
- Its already been recommended here, but I thought I'd add it in just to show how many times I've actually read this series. Its hardboiled detective fiction stuffed with anthropomorphic animals, but don't let the furry labels put you off. In fact, to be real, the illustrations are so human-like that there's barely anything animal about it. From the second tome onwards, all pretense of animal people is reduced to a paper-thin consistency, with very human-related themes that somewhat would never work with anthro animals, not that anyone would ever make an issue of it.
But as far as illustrations, story, and entertainment goes, this one's really up there for being both unique, and daring at the same time. Outside of kiddy comics, I've not come across another comic that features anthro animals that so well polished and not blatantly pandering to certain groups at the same time.
Oh. I almost forgot. Here's one last one, to pander to our obviously hearthstone playing audience;
Boomlabs by Mark Evanier, Ludo Lullabi and Konstantin Turovec
- One of the most pleasant short comics I've ever read. Do I need to give a review or an introduction? Go read it. Its free from blizz (at least I think it is), so enjoy it because I don't think we'll ever be getting another one.
This is actually one of the weirdest, and honestly scariest, deals I've seen in a while. Using algorithms to basically offer up deals based on the consumer's spending habits. Would've been nice to let us choose, because after the midset I'm feeling like 20 bucks is a little steep. That 10 for 10 and a legendary deal seems fair enough right now.
Also, its only been 1 week since the launch of the midset and here's another offer? And since we know from datamining that another one will be up for sale during the CNY holidays, that's yet another bundle coming right after this one. Why not spaced it out? Its not like there was any other offer up for grabs since last December.
Its clear which card back is best for me. May I present to you the card back Ive been using since its availability: candle king
Perhaps one of the most difficult card backs to ever get in hearthstone history. Win with all 9 classes in the K&C dungeon run, and anyone that has ever attempted it can attest to the greatness that is this tear-inducing beast of a cardback.
In standard those Imprisoned Phoenixes can never truly make an OTK deck tier 1-2 simply because Cult Neophyte exist. If it turns out that freeze mage is turning up everywhere again, all it takes is to slot one of these bad girls in and suddenly your OTK is now limited to 20 damage. And since freeze mage doesnt pressure with minions, its nearly impossible to kill without slotting in pyroblast and praying.
In wild it gets worse with the best card in the game Loatheb being so good.
I dont have much experience in wild, but I think the current auctioneer build for mozaki is perhaps the better OTK deck out there, at least in standard. At times it can seem impossible to stop, and since in wild we can have two ice blocks, it may well be impossible without secret eaters.
But of course in wild, is there any reason not to just play quest mage to fill your OTK quota for the day?
I'm actually surprised no one has posted anything about the playing dragon maly druid with Resizing Pouch to get more Moonfires or Lightning Blooms. Fairly difficult to pilot, but that's more or less because its a largely aggro meta right now.
Its funny how the higher you go the more linear the experience tends to be. I mean, Ive been seeing nothing but Stelinas all day anything past 3-0.
In any case, my take on duels is that it needs something like a ranked system, not the same rewards and leveling up system like arena. Let's say that you can lose as many times as you want but you'll only progress (i.e. offered buckets/treasures, etc.) when you win, up to 12 wins. So while its theoretically possible to end the run at a 12-100 ratio, its still going to vary the experience as you climb upwards since no one has wager their 150 gold for anything.
At the moment, duels isn't really all that fun for me. Its true that both sides are theoretically doing broken things, but it seems like if you've been offered bs passives/treasures that does not gel with your deck you might as well just concede. And the top seems to be composed of the same hellish combinations so you're pretty much screwed on the whims of rng buckets alone. I remember a warlock run I had that was offered useless treasures/passive. Ended up choosing that passive that granted 1/1 on whenever I play a discover card. Try and guess how many times I actually managed to proct that before I got my arse handed to me.
Its more balanced this way anyway. Its already going to full clear the board in most cases, so having a small chink for others to play around would be ideal. Let's not forget that played correctly, this is often just going to be a 3 mana clear the board, and that's pretty insane considering that most 3 mana clears only do 2 damage.
Betrayal is bad not because of its effect, but because it guarantees to leaves something on board, and rogues have no need of it. Hysteria, even with the proposed change, would be leaps and bounds over it in just about any scenario.
Seems like they really wanted to end it the story with Anduin victorious as king, so the story basically went from a little boy with a bell hammer to great king in all of one mission.
And now after 6 years we finally have a male rogue skin, its just a tiny little detail that its actually for the priest class instead.
I'm surprised that they would actually do something like this in a way that can be recorded forever. I know its not really their fault that the game has a loophole in it, but its kinda scummy either way. It basically gives the player an insurmountable advantage with the infinite gold and khadgar combo.
I guess if the entire high legend, for lack of a better term, is doing it, then it makes no sense not to. But it does make the game less playable to those that just want to play normally. I thought BG was supposed to be a more casual laid back experience.
A nice change to see them getting rid of this interaction so fast.
Probably change either how immune works (cant be targeted by spells) or change hysteria to something more like how Deathwing, Mad Aspect works. I can't see them ever nerfing both the farmer and the speaker directly.
These requirements are all the more baffling since duels is supposed to supplement standard play. Ironically playing in standard is actually cheaper than duels itself because of paywalling.
And it does impact the game more than most people think. Since its paywalled, there's already very few players and thanks to the bs MMR system there, I've actually have to queue 5 minutes to get a game after going on a 4 game win streak. Lord knows how much longer it will take if by chance I get to 11-0 wins.
Has there been any intentional cheating ever aired on stream? Not that this is a phenomenon that's unknown to the devs.
The best way to handle this is as some others have stated; just change it so it only attack each minion once, like how Deathwing, Mad Aspect is handled.
You can still have your tiller combo, its just that the conditions have gotten a hell lot bigger, and its no longer possible to OTK from 30 anymore without two hysterias and mana reduction.
Either way, I expect team5 to sleep on this for like a few months before getting out the nerf bat. They've said it before, wild isn't on the radar like standard is. If I'm not mistaken it took a hell lot of time before the SN1P-SN4P combo was nerfed too.
Well, if you've got the bundle then why not try Envoy Rustwix in place of tickatus. The only reason why you'd run Tickatus is to win the long game, and since rustwix gives tons of value it might be a decent replacement.
Unfortunately that would also mean you're essentially playing at a disadvantage in the mirror match.
After a few hours of game, here's my take;
Dont let all the weapon hate fool you. Weapon rogue is legit, very tight. You're mostly only going to lose because of healing. Even in many cases if they kill your weapon you're still going to just win from there on. Nitroboost Poison doing lots of work.
Been seeing lots of aggro dhunter too. Felfire Deadeye and Felsaber feel strong, but Ive got games where I left deadeye on board and no snowballing happen. Its just your typical aggro dhunter, but with these two you're probably going to win in most aggro mirrors.
Will be trying shaman and more priest maybe tomorrow. Aggro shaman looks good from what I've seen.
Just occurred to me that this is perhaps one of the best time for warrior to shine.