The alternate art is cool and I like the Kul Tiran background, but she looks more like a black dragon in human form than a Fire Mage IMO :P. I can see why they went with the chosen art.
I suppose because Hunter wouldn't play it at 8 Mana, while Druid's ramp means it's not terribly bothered by waiting one extra turn. Still a powerful card.
Cool! They should create some fun games. To me, the most important thing is that they're starting with clean slates. "Activision bad" is a fine stance, but Bungie has not dramatically improved Destiny 2 after over a year of separation (and I know Blizzard can't just split from Activision like Bungie did). Is that because the base product is too... tainted by those evil publisher, financially-minded design decisions? Maybe. Yet Luke Smith and the boys are committed to D2 for the next 2+ years, so they must think they can turn it into the game they want it to be. Also, the spirit of Old Blizzard is stronger in Dreamshot, given who's working there and the sheer number of Blizzard vets. The point is, while having no evil publisher pressure must be a great feeling, some "bad" games exist because the devs have good intentions/ideas but poor implementation. Still, I want to be optimistic, so I'll be keeping a close eye on Dreamhaven.
I'd love the chance to play a version of BGs where each minion deals 1 (and tokens deal 0). I hope they don't just throw it into the abyss if the internal feedback is too conflicted to implement it in the live game. A test server would be useful in this particular situation.
I like the idea of being rewarded for just playing. Obviously, any company that does a Battle Pass has to incentivize people to grind for it, so I'll understand if there are some unique - hopefully only cosmetic - rewards that some people might feel compelled to chase, even if they don't have the time or requisite interest in the game. I think a good compromise is that all gameplay-related rewards are in the free track, while those same rewards are obtained faster in the paid track and cosmetic stuff fills the higher tiers of that track. Also, hopefully, it wouldn't take anywhere near the full 4 months to complete the pass. More like 2 months, at most, if you play 1-2 hours a day. I'd also like to see the Tavern Pass rolled into this such that picking a third/fourth hero becomes a reward on the free track which, again, is obtained sooner if you buy the paid track. This reward would probably have to be very early, given how important more hero choices is.
Demon Hunters have exceptional vision due to the sacrifice of their organic eyes, so being able to see their opponent's hand makes sense (though the WoW ability, Spectral Sight, is already a card). As for forcibly shuffling cards back into their deck? Eh, there's no lore basis for that. Demon Hunters have powerful control/disruption abilities, but mostly against demons. That's just a "Hearthstone DHs need something different" thing. Similarly, the flavor of Glide would make sense... if it only affected the Demon Hunter, not their opponent. DH is probably the worst option for a new HS class; in WoW, it's the least fleshed out in terms of abilities, designed to be a fast, simple, and brutal class. The HS devs will have to A) Come up with a lot of new stuff and B) Finesse DH's relatively few abilities into HS, where they won't always match up nicely.
Extremely minor gripe: I like the card's effect, but not its name. Combustion is a Fire Mage buff that shrouds them in flames, so I'd expect a card like Combustion to have a Spell Damage element or, even more specifically, to buff Mage spells that involve fire (too specific to be playable, I'm sure). But even if this card doesn't turn out to be good, I like cards that make us think about positioning. I also like that it only costs 3, so Mage can flexibly remove 1+ minions before Fireball/Polymorph.
I'm genuinely curious. If Priest had more options to damage itself (which it might be getting; still lots of cards to be revealed, and Shadow magic isn't very good for your health/sanity...), would you like the design more? That way, both classes could both damage and heal to some extent.
I can understand what you mean by "gaining and losing life are very different things", but I'd actually feel like the design would be lazier if it was only one or the other. To me, one of the signs of good design is something that has flexibility and facilitates creativity/player choice, yet is specific/limited enough to not be used in every deck ever (though this card might be used in every deck ever, I think it's quite good).
I'm no art expert, but in my opinion, the art style for HS has stayed consistent and most cards have, at the very least, interesting art. So thanks, Ben, and thanks to the other artists that stay true to HS's style.
I will stress again how annoying it is that they did this brawl NOW and not 2 months ago..
It could be the BEST brawl.. if they did it.. you know.. on the first week or before release at least that way you get a geniune first experience of full decks before you go to craft stuff..
or maybe bring back whizbang? I never played that card but I really think they should incorporate either whizbang itself or a whizbang mechanic as a permanent feature I don't see why they let him rotate.. people really liked playing that card..
Yeah, it'd be nice if they'd done it earlier and I get what you're saying about Whizbang. But imagine if it WAS earlier and people crafted Libram Paladin cards based on this Brawl... let's just agree HS could still use some work when it comes to allowing experimentation and deckbuilding mistakes without feeling like you have to spend a lot of money.
"We’ve disabled 2-4 player Battlegrounds Parties for players above 10,000 rating."
Our favorite Canadian vegan salt lord is happy.
I really don't know what the new game mode is gonna be. I hope it's some kind of pack-opening format.
Po-gone!
The alternate art is cool and I like the Kul Tiran background, but she looks more like a black dragon in human form than a Fire Mage IMO :P. I can see why they went with the chosen art.
I suppose because Hunter wouldn't play it at 8 Mana, while Druid's ramp means it's not terribly bothered by waiting one extra turn. Still a powerful card.
Cool! They should create some fun games. To me, the most important thing is that they're starting with clean slates. "Activision bad" is a fine stance, but Bungie has not dramatically improved Destiny 2 after over a year of separation (and I know Blizzard can't just split from Activision like Bungie did). Is that because the base product is too... tainted by those evil publisher, financially-minded design decisions? Maybe. Yet Luke Smith and the boys are committed to D2 for the next 2+ years, so they must think they can turn it into the game they want it to be. Also, the spirit of Old Blizzard is stronger in Dreamshot, given who's working there and the sheer number of Blizzard vets. The point is, while having no evil publisher pressure must be a great feeling, some "bad" games exist because the devs have good intentions/ideas but poor implementation. Still, I want to be optimistic, so I'll be keeping a close eye on Dreamhaven.
I'd love the chance to play a version of BGs where each minion deals 1 (and tokens deal 0). I hope they don't just throw it into the abyss if the internal feedback is too conflicted to implement it in the live game. A test server would be useful in this particular situation.
Bannin' the Cannon. Woo!
Huh. I've heard that the card is broken. Didn't think people meant it literally.
I like the idea of being rewarded for just playing. Obviously, any company that does a Battle Pass has to incentivize people to grind for it, so I'll understand if there are some unique - hopefully only cosmetic - rewards that some people might feel compelled to chase, even if they don't have the time or requisite interest in the game. I think a good compromise is that all gameplay-related rewards are in the free track, while those same rewards are obtained faster in the paid track and cosmetic stuff fills the higher tiers of that track. Also, hopefully, it wouldn't take anywhere near the full 4 months to complete the pass. More like 2 months, at most, if you play 1-2 hours a day. I'd also like to see the Tavern Pass rolled into this such that picking a third/fourth hero becomes a reward on the free track which, again, is obtained sooner if you buy the paid track. This reward would probably have to be very early, given how important more hero choices is.
I guess we'll see what happens.
Lorekeeper Polkelt
4 Mana | 4 Attack | 5 Health
[b]Battlecry:[/b] Avalon must eat a shoe.
Demon Hunters have exceptional vision due to the sacrifice of their organic eyes, so being able to see their opponent's hand makes sense (though the WoW ability, Spectral Sight, is already a card). As for forcibly shuffling cards back into their deck? Eh, there's no lore basis for that. Demon Hunters have powerful control/disruption abilities, but mostly against demons. That's just a "Hearthstone DHs need something different" thing. Similarly, the flavor of Glide would make sense... if it only affected the Demon Hunter, not their opponent. DH is probably the worst option for a new HS class; in WoW, it's the least fleshed out in terms of abilities, designed to be a fast, simple, and brutal class. The HS devs will have to A) Come up with a lot of new stuff and B) Finesse DH's relatively few abilities into HS, where they won't always match up nicely.
I like the final version we got, with one minor change - I prefer the version with the ribcage in the background, not the swirly bones.
Looking at the way it's balanced, I'd think it's "whenever", not a one-time effect. After all, it's not a Battlecry.
The Zoo is back in town. (Did it ever truly leave?)
Extremely minor gripe: I like the card's effect, but not its name. Combustion is a Fire Mage buff that shrouds them in flames, so I'd expect a card like Combustion to have a Spell Damage element or, even more specifically, to buff Mage spells that involve fire (too specific to be playable, I'm sure). But even if this card doesn't turn out to be good, I like cards that make us think about positioning. I also like that it only costs 3, so Mage can flexibly remove 1+ minions before Fireball/Polymorph.
I'm genuinely curious. If Priest had more options to damage itself (which it might be getting; still lots of cards to be revealed, and Shadow magic isn't very good for your health/sanity...), would you like the design more? That way, both classes could both damage and heal to some extent.
I can understand what you mean by "gaining and losing life are very different things", but I'd actually feel like the design would be lazier if it was only one or the other. To me, one of the signs of good design is something that has flexibility and facilitates creativity/player choice, yet is specific/limited enough to not be used in every deck ever (though this card might be used in every deck ever, I think it's quite good).
Kel'Thuzad into ASSASSINATE to summon your enemy's best minion! Woo!!!
(I'm glad they made it 5 Mana).
I'm no art expert, but in my opinion, the art style for HS has stayed consistent and most cards have, at the very least, interesting art. So thanks, Ben, and thanks to the other artists that stay true to HS's style.
Yeah, it'd be nice if they'd done it earlier and I get what you're saying about Whizbang. But imagine if it WAS earlier and people crafted Libram Paladin cards based on this Brawl... let's just agree HS could still use some work when it comes to allowing experimentation and deckbuilding mistakes without feeling like you have to spend a lot of money.