We sent out a tweet and Facebook post 40 minutes before this article was published and so it was unaccessible. That was my fault since I did the scheduling on this article and for that, I apologize!
This is likely the last deploy of January 2020! I've split up our larger end-of-January site update into today's update and one that will arrive on Monday, February 3 (need Friday and the weekend to go over more major systems).
New Features
Forums
The great forum overhaul of 2020 has arrived.
Forum listing is no longer super simple, using a more table-like format.
You now see recent threads for each forum section.
Total replies and thread counts are also available. (Mobile these are hidden)
We'll bring back the "backgrounds" to make each forum look a little prettier in the future.
Dev Note: Originally, the goal was to keep the forum homepage very simple. This was ultimately a failure because it is more difficult to see how active each of the forums are. Attempts were made early on to display more information in the old format, but it was really ugly.
Sticky threads now appear more like normal threads
Dev Note: The original goal with stickies was to make them look different and more simple so that they didn't take away from the conversations below. This sort of worked but only in theory. In practice, our stickies are places where discussion is actively happening and this may have hurt it. To compensate a bit, padding has been reduced on stickies so they take up less vertical space on the view.
The latest comments areas now display avatars.
Dev Note: Sorry, this should have happened much sooner <3
Threads with more than 1 page now display pagination!
You'll see a maximum of 6 pages for each thread. The first 5 and then the last one.
Profiles
Member profile pages now display articles.
You'll see this page on any community member that has written front-page articles.
Legends of Runeterra
Decks now have archetypes!
You can search for decks based on their archetype.
Archetypes can be assigned on deck creation or editing. They are not currently mandatory though we highly recommend using them.
We still have to write the content for them, so don't expect much!
These also now display on card pages when a card is flagged with that keyword.
Changes
Legends of Runeterra
Region filter on deck listing now does an AND search instead of OR.
It is now infinitely easier to find decks from a combination of regions.
Bug Fixes
Legends of Runeterra
Fixed an issue where decks were sorting by the worst ones first (Runeterra Portal and deck listing)
Fixed an issue where the Runeterra card page displayed keywords that it shouldn't have.
General
Fixed an issue where post counts were wrongly calculated on the site.
Known Issues
There is a caching problem for forums with subforums. At times the forum listing will display a blank spot where "latest post" is. This will be corrected in a future deploy. This has been resolved.
The game has a lot of problems and I've been happy to see them get addressed, but it still makes me sad that it took them so long to stop being afraid of updating the game.
Some people got really lucky on their first vault and that's okay - this is the first vault of hundreds. Over time, everyone should be on a similar playing field with all the people that get to the same level of vault consistently having close to the same amount of rewards.
Getting random upgrades is a feel-good feature and it is important to have them in games. The rates are also high enough that it doesn't feel impossible to get upgrades, unlike Hearthstone which requires you to open a crazy amount of content to get something so vital to gameplay (Legendaries).
Now, I do think it would be interesting if they made it a bit more consistent and if you had earned three diamond chests, one would always contain an epic capsule. It would be a good reward for putting in all the extra time required to go from 10-13, though the diamond chests themselves already give a nice boost over the platinum ones.
Yeah, honestly, I wish they'd just give us gold. I understand there are problems with that, such as us being able to buy packs from new expansions easier instead of spending money, but if we look at Legends of Runeterra and how right they are doing things to make the game F2P, Hearthstone needs to "get learnt".
Blizzard is going to have to really dedicate themselves this year to revamp the economy in Hearthstone because if they wait too long, I know people that won't come back. Last year was a damn incredible year for the game with them, for the first time ever, being on the ball and releasing plenty of content between sets. It took them years to get to that point though and for many, it was too late to get people back into the game.
We're off to a good start this year with 35 cards being released for $20 (this is INSANE value) or a relatively small amount of gold, though I do worry they do this at least once more this year for another $20 so it has effectively added $40 to the overall price of the game per year. I hope we see better deals on expansions or a change in card drop-rates / crafting costs.
My assumption is that due to all the sets being combined into one pool, all legendaries from those sets that you have are removed from the pool. When the pool of unobtained legendaries is empty, you have a chance of getting any legendary since dupes are now allowed.
There should be equal odds of getting any legendary that you do not own. If you disenchant a card and it becomes the only legendary you are missing from the combined sets, the pity timer would give you that legendary back. It can be a good way to chase a particular golden legendary, assuming the game actually gives you a golden legendary in a pack.
So far I've quite enjoyed the Runeterra draft format and I've enjoyed various ones out of Magic, but Hearthstone's Arena has never had a large appeal to me so I definitely understand the non-enjoyment factor :D
The XP potential out of Expeditions is so crazy though, it almost feels forced.
No plans on covering the game for the foreseeable future. It just isn't worth the core resources when we're still on the smaller side of things.
We sent out a tweet and Facebook post 40 minutes before this article was published and so it was unaccessible. That was my fault since I did the scheduling on this article and for that, I apologize!
Sad to see another old member of the Hearthstone team go.
This is likely the last deploy of January 2020! I've split up our larger end-of-January site update into today's update and one that will arrive on Monday, February 3 (need Friday and the weekend to go over more major systems).
New Features
Forums
The great forum overhaul of 2020 has arrived.
Profiles
Legends of Runeterra
Hearthstone
Changes
Legends of Runeterra
Bug Fixes
Legends of Runeterra
General
Known Issues
If any of my advice was ever considered by Team 5, this game would have been in a better place years ago lol
SIGN ME UP!
Hah, if only it was newfound =(
The game has a lot of problems and I've been happy to see them get addressed, but it still makes me sad that it took them so long to stop being afraid of updating the game.
I don't think it's that big of an issue.
Some people got really lucky on their first vault and that's okay - this is the first vault of hundreds. Over time, everyone should be on a similar playing field with all the people that get to the same level of vault consistently having close to the same amount of rewards.
Getting random upgrades is a feel-good feature and it is important to have them in games. The rates are also high enough that it doesn't feel impossible to get upgrades, unlike Hearthstone which requires you to open a crazy amount of content to get something so vital to gameplay (Legendaries).
Now, I do think it would be interesting if they made it a bit more consistent and if you had earned three diamond chests, one would always contain an epic capsule. It would be a good reward for putting in all the extra time required to go from 10-13, though the diamond chests themselves already give a nice boost over the platinum ones.
BuT tHe NeW pLaYeR eXpErIeNcE ~ ~ ~
Yeah, honestly, I wish they'd just give us gold. I understand there are problems with that, such as us being able to buy packs from new expansions easier instead of spending money, but if we look at Legends of Runeterra and how right they are doing things to make the game F2P, Hearthstone needs to "get learnt".
Blizzard is going to have to really dedicate themselves this year to revamp the economy in Hearthstone because if they wait too long, I know people that won't come back. Last year was a damn incredible year for the game with them, for the first time ever, being on the ball and releasing plenty of content between sets. It took them years to get to that point though and for many, it was too late to get people back into the game.
We're off to a good start this year with 35 cards being released for $20 (this is INSANE value) or a relatively small amount of gold, though I do worry they do this at least once more this year for another $20 so it has effectively added $40 to the overall price of the game per year. I hope we see better deals on expansions or a change in card drop-rates / crafting costs.
TL;DR: Blizzard, your Tavern Brawl rewards suck.
Great write-up!
It is funny you bring this up, frenzy. This is actually available on the development copy of the site and it'll roll out in the next update.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.
Stop having good ideas. That isn't allowed in Hearthstone!
For real though, Classic packs are boring.
Sorry, I should have included this in the post.
The offer expires on February 11, so you've got about 2 weeks to get it.
Receiving a legendary card through a promo has always not touched the pity timer, so the assumption here is the same.
This pack should not reset any pity timers since it is a unique pack from the rest and packs have always been unique on the timers
This is the only way.
I gotta say though, I love the idea of themed boosters and would love to see these become available in other ways.
My assumption is that due to all the sets being combined into one pool, all legendaries from those sets that you have are removed from the pool. When the pool of unobtained legendaries is empty, you have a chance of getting any legendary since dupes are now allowed.
There should be equal odds of getting any legendary that you do not own. If you disenchant a card and it becomes the only legendary you are missing from the combined sets, the pity timer would give you that legendary back. It can be a good way to chase a particular golden legendary, assuming the game actually gives you a golden legendary in a pack.
I've updated the article with the Upgrade RNG chances
Nothing on season rewards yet. The current season lasts all of Beta so I wouldn't expect to hear anything until beta is about to end.
RIP. I caught that before it went live and reverted it somehow. Thanks!
Noooooo!
So far I've quite enjoyed the Runeterra draft format and I've enjoyed various ones out of Magic, but Hearthstone's Arena has never had a large appeal to me so I definitely understand the non-enjoyment factor :D
The XP potential out of Expeditions is so crazy though, it almost feels forced.