Thanks for your help! I've read an article about Demon Hunter being a good class for casual players who just want to have some fun, so it looks like I can choose between Legion and Battle for Azeroth if I want to play that class. So if I got your info correctly, the easiest thing to do is get the free trial version of retail, isn't it?
I'm not sure if they sell Legion separately anymore, as buying the latest expansion automatically gets you the content of every previous expansion. But yes they were not a playable class until Legion. And I've also understood that it's a strong class. Furthermore, that's one of the classes which can't be played in the free version as the level cap (20) is much lower than what Demon Hunters start from (lvl 98 if I'm reading Wowhead correctly). For a full story leveling, Death Knights and Demon Hunters are not an option (maybe some other class as well if I forget something).
I haven't really played WoW apart from Classic, but here are some of my opinions/understanding of things:
You can download and play a limited starter version of the current WoW (often referred as retail) for free. There's a level cap (used to be 20, that's how you get Liadrin portrait in Hearthstone) and a gold cap (used to be 10g), but it allows you to play "the real deal". The early storyline for human characters used to be better than all other options, not sure if they've changed it now.
WoW Classic can be downloaded for free and played with monthly subscription fee, whereas retail requires to buy the latest expansion (Battle for Azeroth) AND pay the sub.
WoW Classic is a bit more grindy, I've understood. XP gain is slower (again, my understanding) and killing stuff is less trivial (if you can kill stuff one by one, do so).
Another key decision that you might now realize yet is the RP (roleplay) vs PVP (player vs player) server choice. In the latter, people of the opposite faction can (and will) kill you without asking whereas in RP that's not possible. Oh how many times I regretted choosing PVP server...those are not places for walking around and just exploring.
There's a lot more classes and races to choose from in retail, and I don't have a good enough understanding which might suit you out of those. Some of them might be behind a level cap as well. Another big difference is that retail will ask you to specialize within your class, for example Arcane/Frost/Fire Mage, whereas in Classic you will build up talent trees which essentially lead to specialization but are much more flexible.
For Classic, since you would like to play non-caster damage dealers (melee DPS) and as Horde, you are left with Druid, Rogue, Shaman, and Warrior. My understanding is that since Druid does a little bit of everything, it's not especially good at anything. The other three are quite popular. As Shaman, you might be expected to heal sometimes and as Warrior to act as a tank. I don't have any deeper analysis of them though, haven't played those classes.
I was wondering the same, especially since not only can she sometimes just win games on the spot, the 0-Cost Dragons could also be very useful when trying to get that OTK combo assembled.
Yeah I've had the same bug a handful of times now. The trades offered to me haven't been that good in those so I think I may have skipped them all. But it's definitely annoying nevertheless.
My advice to newer players is to concentrate on expeditions and ranked. I'm a bit biased since I really enjoy expeditions but you aren't restricted by your card collection there and you can sometimes get some crazy combos going. One of my latest runs even inspired me to build a deck (once I get the cards for it, that is).
Ranked is (or at least used to be) better for newer players as the low ranks are likely to consist of other new players, while Normal has all sorts of players. I played a lot of my very own build of Demacia/Freljord there when I started until I kept losing and began to realize how badly build that deck was. If you don't have a clear vision on what to build, you can start by modifying the pre-built started decks to suit your style/needs. I personally tend to get ideas (i.e. directly copy decklists) when I play against other decks.
Blizzard moved all its esports to YouTube, likely getting a good amount of Google money for the move. We had an article about it when the move was announced but that was months ago so easy to not remember.
Update of the Grandmasters' situation after the group stage for the final day regarding the Division split:
Asia-Pacific
Already guaranteed a spot in Division A: Surrender, glory, kin0531, Ryvius, posesi, Flurry, Alutemu.
Already guaranteed to be left out: Staz, Tom60229, Tyler, Shaxy, SamuelTsao, FroStee, DawN.
blitzchung has a simple task: win the semifinal and you're in.
If the above doesn't happen, che0nsu takes the spot.
Europe
Already guaranteed a spot in Division A: Swidz, Jarla, SilverName, BoarControl, Bunnyhoppor, Hunterace.
Already guaranteed to be left out: Thijs, Casie, Kolento, Rdu, Zhym, Viper.
Seiko needs a win from his semifinal to qualify, but the win would guarantee a spot.
Bozzzton guarantees a spot with a semifinal victory as well, but also gets a spot if Seiko doesn't win his semifinal.
Felkeine qualifies for certain if Seiko doesn't win his semifinal. If both Bozzzton and Seiko win their semifinals, he's destined to Division B. If Seiko wins and Bozzzton doesn't, it's tiebreaker time.
1st tiebreaker (your best finish): both Felkeine and Bozzzton would have top 4 as their best.
2nd tiebreaker: (2nd best finish): again same, both got last in their respective group stages in top 8.
3rd tiebreaker: (3rd best finish): you guessed it, both were in bottom 4 of the Swiss as their worst performance, getting only one point with a 1-6 win-loss record. HOWEVER, Bozzzton finished 15th while Felkeine was 16th. Does that count in Blizzard's papers? If it does, Bozzzton is already qualified before Sunday's games, but I'm not sure if it does.
Apparently tiebreakers work very differently than what I thought: Felkeine will get a spot unless both Seiko and Bozzzton win.
Americas
Already guaranteed a spot in Division A: Gallon, bloodyface, Eddie, languagehacker, justsaiyan, Empanizado.
Already guaranteed to be left out: Zalae, Firebat, ETC, PapaJason, muzzy, Fr0zen.
Purple needs to win his semifinal but if he does, he gets a guaranteed spot.
Nalguidan and Monsanto get a guaranteed spot if they win their respective semifinals, but at least one of them could get a spot anyway (tiebreaker time).
If Nalguidan wins, PNC is destined for Division B regardless of the outcome of the other semifinal. If that doesn't happen, he joins the tiebreaker tussle with Nalguidan and Monsanto (if Monsanto doesn't win either).
This tiebreaker war is even more complex than the one in EU as I still don't know what counts for Blizzard.
All three (or two if Monsanto wins) would have top 4 as their best so that's equal for sure.
PNC and Monsanto both have a third place finish in group stage while Nalguidan has a fourth place finish; if that counts (they still got equal amount of points) Nalguidan needs to win his semifinal to qualify.
Monsanto finished 15th in Swiss as his worst performance, while PNC was 16th. If this counts, PNC needs Nalguidan to lose AND Monsanto to win their respective semifinals in order to qualify.
If none of this helps, the players will play through an additional mini-tournament to figure out the last spot(s).
Now I'm quite confident about my maths here since the casters have been telling the same stuff over the weekend than what I wrote in my last post. It's nice to see that there are still something to fight for in all regions until the last day.
I've definitely been on the receiving end of a near-perfect Yasuo curves from my opponent, and you can feel quite helpless at those matches. But as people above are saying, if they don't draw Yasuo/some other key minions like Fae Bladetwirler early enough or they get easily removed, the deck's gameplan just unfolds. Don't feel too discouraged if they get lucky, it happens.
For those who are curious how things look for the Grandmasters after the Swiss portion regarding the Division split:
Asia-Pacific
Already guaranteed a spot in Division A: Surrender, glory, kin0531, Ryvius, posesi, Flurry.
Already guaranteed to be left out: Staz, Tom60229, Tyler, Shaxy, SamuelTsao.
FroStee and blitzchung need a place in the final to have any chance.
DawN needs at least a semifinal spot.
If the two above don't happen, che0nsu takes the spot.
Alutemu can guarantee a place by advancing to semifinals, but he will also take a place unless either FroStee or blitzchung win and DawN is the runner-up.
Europe
Already guaranteed a spot in Division A: Swidz, Jarla, SilverName, BoarControl, Bunnyhoppor, Hunterace.
Already guaranteed to be left out: Thijs, Casie, Kolento, Rdu.
Felkeine's situation is complex, he's going to be close to making it until the very end.
Pavel needs to win, and Viper, Bozzzton, and Seiko need to get eliminated before Sunday.
Zhym needs the above but with Pavel not winning.
Viper, Bozzzton and Seiko need to advance from group phase.
If only one does, he gets a spot.
If two or three them do, it's tiebreaker time with Felkeine.
Reaching the final means a guaranteed spot for any of the trio without tiebreaker nonsense.
Americas
Already guaranteed a spot in Division A: Gallon, bloodyface, Eddie, languagehacker, justsaiyan.
Already guaranteed to be left out: Zalae, Firebat, ETC, PapaJason.
Purple needs a place in the final, possibly even to win.
Muzzy, Monsanto and Nalguidan need to advance from their groups, and even that might not be enough (tiebreaker stuff).
Reaching the final would guarantee a spot.
Empanizado, Fr0zen and PNC must hope that the aforementioned quartet can't do what they need to.
Empanizado might already be guaranteed a spot thanks to his Week 1 victory (and therefore superior tiebreaker) but I'm too lazy to think through all the possible iterations. At least he's very close.
PNC advancing from his group would guarantee a spot.
I hope I mentioned every player there. Also, since the maths behind this has been made by me, there's a solid chance for horrible mistakes. The guaranteed "not-making-it"s should be correct, and I'm also confident of the guaranteed "made-it"s.
Agreed. I hope it sounds as good in-game as it did there, although it definitely won't be having the background music that definitely helped him to sound even cooler.
"Your Star Bonus is based on your MMR, so that you still get one if you skip a month (or don't reach your expected rank during that month). However, there is also a MINIMUM Star Bonus that you'll get at each rank, so you know what to expect each month if you are playing actively."
That's a huge relief, thanks. You too, @AngryShuckie.
Was this in one of the Q&A's that I missed?
It was just one of the 1000 random tweets Celestalon made during the reveal period. I'm not sure if we ever included that quote to any post either.
The name is a cute word play but I don't understand the cost. Since it says create, I'm assuming you're getting the cards in your hand, no? If I'm wrong and it autocasts the Poro Snax, then it might be playable in a poro deck (which might not be playable in the meta). If not, it's just horribly slow.
"Your Star Bonus is based on your MMR, so that you still get one if you skip a month (or don't reach your expected rank during that month). However, there is also a MINIMUM Star Bonus that you'll get at each rank, so you know what to expect each month if you are playing actively."
I'm also not going to craft anything right away, but I'm interested to try out Deep/Toss Maokai/Nautilus decks down the line. I'm just a bit afraid they won't be very good as the amount of new direct Nexus damage related cards was quite high. That won't stop me from having fun against AI though.
This is one of the most interesting cards of the expansion for me. I'm not sure if it will be any good, nor am I even sure if I like it or not, but it's very interesting. I'm guessing the minion could still be Obliterated but there's currently no card that could do it for units that have over 4 Power, I believe.
the unit can also be recalled or hit with purify and datain
I later realized the recalling as well (because surely the can't be anything Ionia can't deal with :P) but yeah the other two work as well. So I'd imagine it's not that playable then, although quite matchup dependent. And I already had started thinking about undying Fioras and stuff...
This is one of the most interesting cards of the expansion for me. I'm not sure if it will be any good, nor am I even sure if I like it or not, but it's very interesting. I'm guessing the minion could still be Obliterated but there's currently no card that could do it for units that have over 4 Power, I believe.
You can also qualify for the Masters tour via open cup qualifiers.
Winning the open cup qualifies you a spot in the masters tour
Achieving top 16 in multiple cups qualifies you as well I think.
I think you still need to get to top 8 (five times) instead of 16 but otherwise correct. That gets you a place at Masters Tour, and performing well there could get you a spot at Grandmasters. Winning Masters Tour pretty much guarantees a spot, but you don't necessarily have to win to qualify, especially in the new system where there are 3 relegations from each region every season. Be a top 3 prize money earner from these tours and the spot is yours.
Your wish has been granted. It does have a very different playstyle and win condition than other Deathrattle Rogues.
I'm not sure if they sell Legion separately anymore, as buying the latest expansion automatically gets you the content of every previous expansion. But yes they were not a playable class until Legion. And I've also understood that it's a strong class. Furthermore, that's one of the classes which can't be played in the free version as the level cap (20) is much lower than what Demon Hunters start from (lvl 98 if I'm reading Wowhead correctly). For a full story leveling, Death Knights and Demon Hunters are not an option (maybe some other class as well if I forget something).
I haven't really played WoW apart from Classic, but here are some of my opinions/understanding of things:
There's a lot more classes and races to choose from in retail, and I don't have a good enough understanding which might suit you out of those. Some of them might be behind a level cap as well. Another big difference is that retail will ask you to specialize within your class, for example Arcane/Frost/Fire Mage, whereas in Classic you will build up talent trees which essentially lead to specialization but are much more flexible.
For Classic, since you would like to play non-caster damage dealers (melee DPS) and as Horde, you are left with Druid, Rogue, Shaman, and Warrior. My understanding is that since Druid does a little bit of everything, it's not especially good at anything. The other three are quite popular. As Shaman, you might be expected to heal sometimes and as Warrior to act as a tank. I don't have any deeper analysis of them though, haven't played those classes.
I was wondering the same, especially since not only can she sometimes just win games on the spot, the 0-Cost Dragons could also be very useful when trying to get that OTK combo assembled.
Congrats on the 7 wins!
Yeah I've had the same bug a handful of times now. The trades offered to me haven't been that good in those so I think I may have skipped them all. But it's definitely annoying nevertheless.
My advice to newer players is to concentrate on expeditions and ranked. I'm a bit biased since I really enjoy expeditions but you aren't restricted by your card collection there and you can sometimes get some crazy combos going. One of my latest runs even inspired me to build a deck (once I get the cards for it, that is).
Ranked is (or at least used to be) better for newer players as the low ranks are likely to consist of other new players, while Normal has all sorts of players. I played a lot of my very own build of Demacia/Freljord there when I started until I kept losing and began to realize how badly build that deck was. If you don't have a clear vision on what to build, you can start by modifying the pre-built started decks to suit your style/needs. I personally tend to get ideas (i.e. directly copy decklists) when I play against other decks.
Blizzard moved all its esports to YouTube, likely getting a good amount of Google money for the move. We had an article about it when the move was announced but that was months ago so easy to not remember.
Update of the Grandmasters' situation after the group stage for the final day regarding the Division split:
Now I'm quite confident about my maths here since the casters have been telling the same stuff over the weekend than what I wrote in my last post. It's nice to see that there are still something to fight for in all regions until the last day.
I've definitely been on the receiving end of a near-perfect Yasuo curves from my opponent, and you can feel quite helpless at those matches. But as people above are saying, if they don't draw Yasuo/some other key minions like Fae Bladetwirler early enough or they get easily removed, the deck's gameplan just unfolds. Don't feel too discouraged if they get lucky, it happens.
They should be exact copies as far as I know so it's at least a graphic bug if nothing else.
For those who are curious how things look for the Grandmasters after the Swiss portion regarding the Division split:
I hope I mentioned every player there. Also, since the maths behind this has been made by me, there's a solid chance for horrible mistakes. The guaranteed "not-making-it"s should be correct, and I'm also confident of the guaranteed "made-it"s.
Agreed. I hope it sounds as good in-game as it did there, although it definitely won't be having the background music that definitely helped him to sound even cooler.
It was just one of the 1000 random tweets Celestalon made during the reveal period. I'm not sure if we ever included that quote to any post either.
The name is a cute word play but I don't understand the cost. Since it says create, I'm assuming you're getting the cards in your hand, no? If I'm wrong and it autocasts the Poro Snax, then it might be playable in a poro deck (which might not be playable in the meta). If not, it's just horribly slow.
From Celestalon/Chadd Nervig:
"Your Star Bonus is based on your MMR, so that you still get one if you skip a month (or don't reach your expected rank during that month). However, there is also a MINIMUM Star Bonus that you'll get at each rank, so you know what to expect each month if you are playing actively."
I'm also not going to craft anything right away, but I'm interested to try out Deep/Toss Maokai/Nautilus decks down the line. I'm just a bit afraid they won't be very good as the amount of new direct Nexus damage related cards was quite high. That won't stop me from having fun against AI though.
I later realized the recalling as well (because surely the can't be anything Ionia can't deal with :P) but yeah the other two work as well. So I'd imagine it's not that playable then, although quite matchup dependent. And I already had started thinking about undying Fioras and stuff...
This is one of the most interesting cards of the expansion for me. I'm not sure if it will be any good, nor am I even sure if I like it or not, but it's very interesting. I'm guessing the minion could still be Obliterated but there's currently no card that could do it for units that have over 4 Power, I believe.
I think you still need to get to top 8 (five times) instead of 16 but otherwise correct. That gets you a place at Masters Tour, and performing well there could get you a spot at Grandmasters. Winning Masters Tour pretty much guarantees a spot, but you don't necessarily have to win to qualify, especially in the new system where there are 3 relegations from each region every season. Be a top 3 prize money earner from these tours and the spot is yours.
It's Immobile, there will be another collectible card with it as well. But Riot didn't count that as a new keyword in patch notes either.