As much as I sympathize with the rerolling bs that is currently in the system (like play 50 corrupt cards, 4 wins in arena, probably some of the worst designed quests I've seen) I have to say that its not that hard to complete most of them within the week, especially if you're going to finish up the 7 ranked wins anyway.
Also, mercifully, weeklies can be completed with friends (except the arena and battlegrounds, of course), making it a near triviality, taking up only time.
The ones you probably want are 5 wins in tavern brawl/BG/duels, 50 hero powers, 500 mana, or anything that can be suitably done while playing on ranked or involve tavern brawls. Even that bs 10 old gods quest can be reasonably done, provided you've a good friend.
Just stick with what you have and don't get tempted to keep switching decks between losses. If you're comfortable with your deck choice, and have learnt sufficiently how it works, it shouldn't be difficult to get an above 55% winrate, especially given that the meta is currently filled with dhunters of all types, which pure pally should be favorable against.
Don't get too flustered. I reached legend last month with priest, having grinded from diamond 5 with only 4 days remaining. And in between I've slipped from diamond 2 to 4. Even if you start slipping, just keep at it and eventually you'll get there. Just dont give up on the dream.
Just wanted to point out that there's still the midexpansion and very likely there would be a bundle for 20 bucks offering darkmoon packs during that time.
I would probably hold back, given that unlike scholomance, only a few darkmoon cards are actually being played right now. Unless this offers the old gods straight up, it'll probably be better to pass.
Firstly, can't really see the argument where control decks are shunned because its inherently designed as a mobile game, where its audience have the attention span of a puppy on coke. Its the same flawed argument that aggro decks requires neither skill nor thought. If anything, aggro decks are even harder to play on mobile, since there's just more stuff to click on. An average control deck, in the same vein as control warrior, plays 1-2 cards per turn or just hero power. It is in fact even less skill testing for control when going up against an aggro deck, since there's really just very little you can do in the first few turns.
Now, let's tackle the meaty issue of why aggro decks are currently on the top, if it really is just too good, and if there's any other slower decks around;
- As have been highlighted by meisterz39, its still too early to judge the meta because aggro decks tend to be easier to build, more consistent, and most players are currently playing unoptimized builds, mostly trying out the 4 old gods in all varieties and shapes. Its still only week 2 after all. If we look at the Scholomance meta, week 1-2 are mostly filled with stealth rogues, weapon rogues, pure pally and face hunter. The meta ended with soul dhunter and libram pally on top, with highlander hunter, galakrond rogue, and bomb warrior on its heels; nearly all of them midrange/control decks.
- If you've been watching the pros in tournaments in the previous meta, none of the top players opted for aggro decks. And the reasoning is simple; its too predictable. Played at high level, we see secret rogue and control spell priest on the list, with only a small amount of highlander hunters in the mix. I won't be too surprised if none of the current aggro decks (bar highlander hunter) survive past the 6th week in this meta, as far as high legend is concerned
- There are slower decks around. I'm still playing my old scholomance control spell priest with only a small amount of darkmoon cards and I'm doing better than would be suggested by the stats (priest is currently at bottom tier of the list). I might experiment further with cthun later. But bottom line is that you can still play slower decks provided you build your deck to face up aggro decks.
I would certainly be keeping note, since I've been swindled off 2 days worth of quests for the past 2 weeks.
Its good that they would be doing something to compensate players, but I'm more than a little skeptical how they can accurately identify all the victims of this bug. I guess I'll be finding that out next week.
If the compensation will come in the form of xp, I hope its explicit how much is being given back, instead of it just sneakily update your reward track without telling you.
But if a bug is determined to be real, I expect Blizzard will respond appropriately. Folks will recall that when Gadgetzan came out, there was a massive bug with pack open that favored Tri-Class cards, and thanks to the lack of duplicate protection, people missed out on a ton of new cards. Blizzard resolved that and gave people new packs to make up for the mistake.
Now that you mention it, it can really be that the legendary received in the reward track is taken by the system as the first legendary gained, thereby removing the 1 legend every first 10 pack guarantee.
Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see them owning up to this or give out compensation, much like the maligned missed dailies and weeklies quest debacle. Sucks that every time they ride high on the good side of the community it all comes crashing down the mountain made from their own poor decisions and miscommunications.
Until there's like video proof of it it will always be speculative at best.
I think its likely a bug, along with the deluge of bugs that has only been increasing ever since battlegrounds was added, made worst in the past week by the new progression system.
Can't see why blizz would actively remove it. Most players will never reach the 40 pack timer to get their legendary, so its mostly going to upset whales, and we all know that's the last thing blizz needs on their plate right now. Besides which, its something that can be demonstrated, so hiding it would be near impossible. So if they can't hide it, and its not really affecting the majority of the playerbase, and its not going to make them more money, there's just no reason to believe this as anything other than an unintentional bug.
The most I lost is probably bits of my sanity. Hearthstone used to be that game I pay attention to once a while, or when I get some real juicy ideas for decks, and new expansions tend to be exciting. Now we're a week into the new expansion and all I've been able to think about is the numerous bugs, arguments over the new system (perfectly reasonable ones, I may add), and min-maxing xp gains.
It used to be that I would log in, flip the bs low roll quests, then systematically complete them as they fill up. Now, not only have I to actually flip them twice (like getting that 4 wins in arena is probably the worst of the worst) there's just this lingering bugbear near my ear that's telling me that I'm putting way more effort for less rewards.
Just played a few aggro decks, and man does it feel painful even when you win, since the game barely lasts 7 mins at most. 42 xp gained, even when I won. Since queuing time doesn't count in xp calc, it's actually objectively worse to play 2 hours of aggro compared to playing a 2 hour control match. Of course, it works both ways too. When you face an aggro player it spits at your face twice to suffer both the unkind emoting and the poor xp gained now.
The bugs, lord have mercy. Playing or suffering a yogg disconnects the game apparently. Losing dailies (happened to me twice) and weeklies. Xp gain not registering until you restart HS. Reward track goes AWOL at times. Not being able to flip quests (I actually abstained a day from playing because of that bs 800xp quest of which I was prevented from rerolling that fking day). I'm sure there's more to be had that I've not suffered yet.
Really hope they not only fix the bugs, but also give us something back for what has happened over the past week. Or at least have some sort of weekly blog or something, just so we know they are not only equally concerned but also committed to its playerbase.
Here's one on top of my wishlist. Please slot in the damn interface showing how much xp Im gaining per match. I swear sometimes the game cheats you off your xp.
To be honest, if the idea is to play silence solely because of Libram of Wisdom and Rattlegore, its really not worth it. Paladin's midrange superiority ensures that even Spellbreaker will likely not affect the board much and they have 2 copies + Lady Liadrin anyway, while any warrior deck that plays rattlegore would still be happy knowing you've wasted 1 whole turn trying to deal with it, especially since rattlegore is mostly played in control decks accompanied by the silas or ETC combo nowadays.
Are we really going to hold on to a tech card all day waiting for 1 libram of wisdom and a 9 mana card? The only other minions that's intrinsically weak to silence are edwins and questing adventurers. There's also the matter that spellbreaker sucks in nearly every other game anyway. The only reason why they were deemed too good was because aggro decks were using them to break through taunts without losing too much tempo, and aggro decks have no reason to fear either librams or rattlegore.
Happened to me twice within 2 weeks. Interesting that they didn't let me reroll one of my bs 800xp quest as well, so I guess what happened was that the server just decided not to progress my day. Probably what happened with the weeklies to some as well.
Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever get compensated for this. There's just no way to track all those players that got screwed, so they'll have to either compensate everyone, or just pray that the victims aren't angry whales or simply a numerical minority.
Your only chance is perhaps against another priest with the same idea. Playing as priest is perhaps the best way to do it since you can also heal them up. Once you do that, it will be pretty obvious what you're trying to do. At that point you really got to just pray your opponent's not a dick and screw your achievement.
Okay, so there's some progress. That's good. I don't think its useful to reiterate the problems of the reward track, so I'm not going to do that. I'm not fully happy, but I'm more than willing to wait until the end of the darkmoon expansion before I make any decisions.
So let's also bring up a few other things that I wish blizz will address;
- Please for the love of god make it explicit how much xp is being gained per game. If the idea is to obscure this from the playerbase in hopes they won't nickel and dime each session, its clear that some will, and when its demonstrated in forums, it will not reflect well on blizz's part. Just give us an interface that shows how much xp is being gained, if only for the increased transparency.
- There should be a button to confirm all those achievements achieved. I don't get why the achievement points and xp don't just get automatically collected, instead of relying on us to click every single one of them to get the 'rewards'.
- While we're on the subject of achievements. Please have a button to turn off the alerts. I don't know why, but having my game or pack openings spoiled for me is getting on my nerves.
- Why tavern brawls don't contribute to quest completions is beyond me. If I were a new player, have few or any cards in my collection, tavern brawls would be the number 1 place I go to complete my quests. This was the case in the old system, and I can't fathom why its not in the new one.
More than ever we need better communication between the hearthstone team and its community. If we're going to make this work, it will take a lot more than a few band-aids solutions; it will take trust and transparency. Would be nice if blizz live up to their own legacy instead of gaffe after gaffe after gaffe. If nothing else, it would make me feel a lot better giving you my hard earned cash if I don't feel like a chump doing so.
Yeah, its corrupt cards you need to play, not corrupted cards.
Lots of swearing were made when I first found that it wasnt updating after like 3 games. Because why the hell would anyone play one of these cards without value.
I do. But I simply don't share your optimism. And I can't say why I, or anyone else should. After all, if we're all just happy sitting on our hands while the farm is burning then we wouldn't have responses from blizz like we have now.
The problem is not just for f2p 'gold farmers' as you would call them. Many of us are used to just finishing off our daily quests, and have a decent time playing hearthstone. And we still have problems having a reasonable amount of cards to have fun with. And now here's something new that give us less while demanding more effort from our side.
The only thing that is assured right now is that we got another promise from the top that they will be doing something about the progression track (i.e. changing 6 packs to 1350 gold at the tail end)
As for the season events boost, that's neither new nor concrete. The boost can be as high as doubling xp to as low as giving us previous expansion packs (its not like this was never done before). Also, if it takes a booster granted solely on their discretion to get me on par with what I had before, that's not progress. That's taking away my left shoe, wrapping it up nice and presented to me as a birthday gift.
You're right on one thing. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes if this assurance falls short yet again.
Its sad that more and more players are turning away. I would probably stay on just to see how much gold I would end up at the end of the expansion before I start making any decisions.
I have absolutely no doubt I would not save up the same 8k gold by April 2021, what with this system as well as the midexpansion almost certainly ensuring that more resources are needed just to breakeven. But if at the end I end up not having enough cards, or my dust reserves are too drained (and I'm a fairly responsible and conservative crafter), then it might well be impossible to keep up even if I want to.
The entire letter from Ben might as well be shorted to: "We're going to change the last 6 packs to 1350 gold. Happy? Now can we please put all the torches and pitchforks down."
The lack of communication was obvious. It took all the way to start of Darkmoon to even so much acknowledge it. This is a good start, but more transparency and communication is needed.
Don't put too much weight in what was said about the bonus xp on seasonal events. This part might as well not exist in his letter. Its almost certainly inserted there just to put a more positive spin as we read on. Bonuses during seasonal events are hardly new, and have been dwindling in recent expansions, from the extremely generous double gold about 2 years back to the recent norm of just straight up packs (and frequently from previous expansions as well). Since we don't know when it will happen, or how generous it would be, its might as well just be described and treated as a 'maybe', and only if we behave and finish up all our vegetables.
The usual 6 packs via legendary quests at the start of the expansion is apparently no longer a thing. So that's yet another convention taken down in the name of progression.
The changes, though welcomed (like who the hell wants a YotDragon pack at level 47 when it will likely rotate in about a few weeks time), will hardly soothe anything until the numbers are crunched again. My take is that it will likely still be short by about 800-1000 gold compared to the old system, and the midexpansion will likely take a chomp at the wallet as well. Wouldn't surprise me if that the total gold I would be able to bring to the next expansion after Darkmoon would be around 5k gold, if that.
I'm not entirely sure, but that's a story of incompetence, bugs, and bafflement for another day.
As much as I sympathize with the rerolling bs that is currently in the system (like play 50 corrupt cards, 4 wins in arena, probably some of the worst designed quests I've seen) I have to say that its not that hard to complete most of them within the week, especially if you're going to finish up the 7 ranked wins anyway.
Also, mercifully, weeklies can be completed with friends (except the arena and battlegrounds, of course), making it a near triviality, taking up only time.
The ones you probably want are 5 wins in tavern brawl/BG/duels, 50 hero powers, 500 mana, or anything that can be suitably done while playing on ranked or involve tavern brawls. Even that bs 10 old gods quest can be reasonably done, provided you've a good friend.
Just stick with what you have and don't get tempted to keep switching decks between losses. If you're comfortable with your deck choice, and have learnt sufficiently how it works, it shouldn't be difficult to get an above 55% winrate, especially given that the meta is currently filled with dhunters of all types, which pure pally should be favorable against.
Don't get too flustered. I reached legend last month with priest, having grinded from diamond 5 with only 4 days remaining. And in between I've slipped from diamond 2 to 4. Even if you start slipping, just keep at it and eventually you'll get there. Just dont give up on the dream.
Just wanted to point out that there's still the midexpansion and very likely there would be a bundle for 20 bucks offering darkmoon packs during that time.
I would probably hold back, given that unlike scholomance, only a few darkmoon cards are actually being played right now. Unless this offers the old gods straight up, it'll probably be better to pass.
Firstly, can't really see the argument where control decks are shunned because its inherently designed as a mobile game, where its audience have the attention span of a puppy on coke. Its the same flawed argument that aggro decks requires neither skill nor thought. If anything, aggro decks are even harder to play on mobile, since there's just more stuff to click on. An average control deck, in the same vein as control warrior, plays 1-2 cards per turn or just hero power. It is in fact even less skill testing for control when going up against an aggro deck, since there's really just very little you can do in the first few turns.
Now, let's tackle the meaty issue of why aggro decks are currently on the top, if it really is just too good, and if there's any other slower decks around;
- As have been highlighted by meisterz39, its still too early to judge the meta because aggro decks tend to be easier to build, more consistent, and most players are currently playing unoptimized builds, mostly trying out the 4 old gods in all varieties and shapes. Its still only week 2 after all. If we look at the Scholomance meta, week 1-2 are mostly filled with stealth rogues, weapon rogues, pure pally and face hunter. The meta ended with soul dhunter and libram pally on top, with highlander hunter, galakrond rogue, and bomb warrior on its heels; nearly all of them midrange/control decks.
- If you've been watching the pros in tournaments in the previous meta, none of the top players opted for aggro decks. And the reasoning is simple; its too predictable. Played at high level, we see secret rogue and control spell priest on the list, with only a small amount of highlander hunters in the mix. I won't be too surprised if none of the current aggro decks (bar highlander hunter) survive past the 6th week in this meta, as far as high legend is concerned
- There are slower decks around. I'm still playing my old scholomance control spell priest with only a small amount of darkmoon cards and I'm doing better than would be suggested by the stats (priest is currently at bottom tier of the list). I might experiment further with cthun later. But bottom line is that you can still play slower decks provided you build your deck to face up aggro decks.
I would certainly be keeping note, since I've been swindled off 2 days worth of quests for the past 2 weeks.
Its good that they would be doing something to compensate players, but I'm more than a little skeptical how they can accurately identify all the victims of this bug. I guess I'll be finding that out next week.
If the compensation will come in the form of xp, I hope its explicit how much is being given back, instead of it just sneakily update your reward track without telling you.
Now that you mention it, it can really be that the legendary received in the reward track is taken by the system as the first legendary gained, thereby removing the 1 legend every first 10 pack guarantee.
Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see them owning up to this or give out compensation, much like the maligned missed dailies and weeklies quest debacle. Sucks that every time they ride high on the good side of the community it all comes crashing down the mountain made from their own poor decisions and miscommunications.
Until there's like video proof of it it will always be speculative at best.
I think its likely a bug, along with the deluge of bugs that has only been increasing ever since battlegrounds was added, made worst in the past week by the new progression system.
Can't see why blizz would actively remove it. Most players will never reach the 40 pack timer to get their legendary, so its mostly going to upset whales, and we all know that's the last thing blizz needs on their plate right now. Besides which, its something that can be demonstrated, so hiding it would be near impossible. So if they can't hide it, and its not really affecting the majority of the playerbase, and its not going to make them more money, there's just no reason to believe this as anything other than an unintentional bug.
The most I lost is probably bits of my sanity. Hearthstone used to be that game I pay attention to once a while, or when I get some real juicy ideas for decks, and new expansions tend to be exciting. Now we're a week into the new expansion and all I've been able to think about is the numerous bugs, arguments over the new system (perfectly reasonable ones, I may add), and min-maxing xp gains.
It used to be that I would log in, flip the bs low roll quests, then systematically complete them as they fill up. Now, not only have I to actually flip them twice (like getting that 4 wins in arena is probably the worst of the worst) there's just this lingering bugbear near my ear that's telling me that I'm putting way more effort for less rewards.
Just played a few aggro decks, and man does it feel painful even when you win, since the game barely lasts 7 mins at most. 42 xp gained, even when I won. Since queuing time doesn't count in xp calc, it's actually objectively worse to play 2 hours of aggro compared to playing a 2 hour control match. Of course, it works both ways too. When you face an aggro player it spits at your face twice to suffer both the unkind emoting and the poor xp gained now.
The bugs, lord have mercy. Playing or suffering a yogg disconnects the game apparently. Losing dailies (happened to me twice) and weeklies. Xp gain not registering until you restart HS. Reward track goes AWOL at times. Not being able to flip quests (I actually abstained a day from playing because of that bs 800xp quest of which I was prevented from rerolling that fking day). I'm sure there's more to be had that I've not suffered yet.
Really hope they not only fix the bugs, but also give us something back for what has happened over the past week. Or at least have some sort of weekly blog or something, just so we know they are not only equally concerned but also committed to its playerbase.
Here's one on top of my wishlist. Please slot in the damn interface showing how much xp Im gaining per match. I swear sometimes the game cheats you off your xp.
To be honest, if the idea is to play silence solely because of Libram of Wisdom and Rattlegore, its really not worth it. Paladin's midrange superiority ensures that even Spellbreaker will likely not affect the board much and they have 2 copies + Lady Liadrin anyway, while any warrior deck that plays rattlegore would still be happy knowing you've wasted 1 whole turn trying to deal with it, especially since rattlegore is mostly played in control decks accompanied by the silas or ETC combo nowadays.
Are we really going to hold on to a tech card all day waiting for 1 libram of wisdom and a 9 mana card? The only other minions that's intrinsically weak to silence are edwins and questing adventurers. There's also the matter that spellbreaker sucks in nearly every other game anyway. The only reason why they were deemed too good was because aggro decks were using them to break through taunts without losing too much tempo, and aggro decks have no reason to fear either librams or rattlegore.
Happened to me twice within 2 weeks. Interesting that they didn't let me reroll one of my bs 800xp quest as well, so I guess what happened was that the server just decided not to progress my day. Probably what happened with the weeklies to some as well.
Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever get compensated for this. There's just no way to track all those players that got screwed, so they'll have to either compensate everyone, or just pray that the victims aren't angry whales or simply a numerical minority.
Your only chance is perhaps against another priest with the same idea. Playing as priest is perhaps the best way to do it since you can also heal them up. Once you do that, it will be pretty obvious what you're trying to do. At that point you really got to just pray your opponent's not a dick and screw your achievement.
Okay, so there's some progress. That's good. I don't think its useful to reiterate the problems of the reward track, so I'm not going to do that. I'm not fully happy, but I'm more than willing to wait until the end of the darkmoon expansion before I make any decisions.
So let's also bring up a few other things that I wish blizz will address;
- Please for the love of god make it explicit how much xp is being gained per game. If the idea is to obscure this from the playerbase in hopes they won't nickel and dime each session, its clear that some will, and when its demonstrated in forums, it will not reflect well on blizz's part. Just give us an interface that shows how much xp is being gained, if only for the increased transparency.
- There should be a button to confirm all those achievements achieved. I don't get why the achievement points and xp don't just get automatically collected, instead of relying on us to click every single one of them to get the 'rewards'.
- While we're on the subject of achievements. Please have a button to turn off the alerts. I don't know why, but having my game or pack openings spoiled for me is getting on my nerves.
- Why tavern brawls don't contribute to quest completions is beyond me. If I were a new player, have few or any cards in my collection, tavern brawls would be the number 1 place I go to complete my quests. This was the case in the old system, and I can't fathom why its not in the new one.
More than ever we need better communication between the hearthstone team and its community. If we're going to make this work, it will take a lot more than a few band-aids solutions; it will take trust and transparency. Would be nice if blizz live up to their own legacy instead of gaffe after gaffe after gaffe. If nothing else, it would make me feel a lot better giving you my hard earned cash if I don't feel like a chump doing so.
I wonder how cruel it would be if they just play along and just when you're about to finish up your achievement goals he just concedes.
Okay, so looks like lots of guys aren't that keen on this card.
I was wondering whether I should craft Yogg, anyone can spare me a hint?
Yeah, its corrupt cards you need to play, not corrupted cards.
Lots of swearing were made when I first found that it wasnt updating after like 3 games. Because why the hell would anyone play one of these cards without value.
I do. But I simply don't share your optimism. And I can't say why I, or anyone else should. After all, if we're all just happy sitting on our hands while the farm is burning then we wouldn't have responses from blizz like we have now.
The problem is not just for f2p 'gold farmers' as you would call them. Many of us are used to just finishing off our daily quests, and have a decent time playing hearthstone. And we still have problems having a reasonable amount of cards to have fun with. And now here's something new that give us less while demanding more effort from our side.
The only thing that is assured right now is that we got another promise from the top that they will be doing something about the progression track (i.e. changing 6 packs to 1350 gold at the tail end)
As for the season events boost, that's neither new nor concrete. The boost can be as high as doubling xp to as low as giving us previous expansion packs (its not like this was never done before). Also, if it takes a booster granted solely on their discretion to get me on par with what I had before, that's not progress. That's taking away my left shoe, wrapping it up nice and presented to me as a birthday gift.
You're right on one thing. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes if this assurance falls short yet again.
Its sad that more and more players are turning away. I would probably stay on just to see how much gold I would end up at the end of the expansion before I start making any decisions.
I have absolutely no doubt I would not save up the same 8k gold by April 2021, what with this system as well as the midexpansion almost certainly ensuring that more resources are needed just to breakeven. But if at the end I end up not having enough cards, or my dust reserves are too drained (and I'm a fairly responsible and conservative crafter), then it might well be impossible to keep up even if I want to.
The entire letter from Ben might as well be shorted to: "We're going to change the last 6 packs to 1350 gold. Happy? Now can we please put all the torches and pitchforks down."
The lack of communication was obvious. It took all the way to start of Darkmoon to even so much acknowledge it. This is a good start, but more transparency and communication is needed.
Don't put too much weight in what was said about the bonus xp on seasonal events. This part might as well not exist in his letter. Its almost certainly inserted there just to put a more positive spin as we read on. Bonuses during seasonal events are hardly new, and have been dwindling in recent expansions, from the extremely generous double gold about 2 years back to the recent norm of just straight up packs (and frequently from previous expansions as well). Since we don't know when it will happen, or how generous it would be, its might as well just be described and treated as a 'maybe', and only if we behave and finish up all our vegetables.
The usual 6 packs via legendary quests at the start of the expansion is apparently no longer a thing. So that's yet another convention taken down in the name of progression.
The changes, though welcomed (like who the hell wants a YotDragon pack at level 47 when it will likely rotate in about a few weeks time), will hardly soothe anything until the numbers are crunched again. My take is that it will likely still be short by about 800-1000 gold compared to the old system, and the midexpansion will likely take a chomp at the wallet as well. Wouldn't surprise me if that the total gold I would be able to bring to the next expansion after Darkmoon would be around 5k gold, if that.