I wonder if next weekend could be a cyclone quest mage counter special? Then again, that might have to be a cross feature with the custom card design competition :P
Anyone else notice, that minus the first time rewards, you actually get less out of the rewards than before? I hit legend last month, 4 packs, 7 rares and 1 epic, ended up netting me less than 400 dust. Just the golden epic from the old system gave more than what I received at the end of this month.
I feel we've been duped. They made it "feel" like we are getting more rewards, but really, unless you're F2P and need the cards for your collection, you now get less at the end of the month than before.
The honeymoon of the new ladder is over, and I'm now seeing what we were really given, and I am not impressed.
Unless one of the future updates for this year includes a change to crafting costs, the ladder/reward change was pretty pointless.
My 12 packs were disappointing as play on NA, EU and Asia (1 epic, 14 rares, 1 golden common)
My normal non shiny epic/rare rewards weren't impressive either.
All in all much less dust value than 3 golden epics I'd normally get. But in fairness better for newer players looking to fill out commons/rares of latest expac (which not many of us need now) and pity timer advancement I guess.
I also object to the golden glow around them when you open the little bundles or see them in the ladder rewards page. They are not golden and dust for a pittance.
Once the first time rewards are claimed then things are a lot less rewarding.
And not a fan of not being able to see opponents rank until lose star bonus. Though I appreciate the idea is you always play the same skill level of players wherever you are on ladder I'd still like to know where on ladder my opponent is.
So then "first time" rewards means first time getting that rank ever. I thought it meant the first time hitting that rank this month and that was why everybody went back to bronze 10 each month.
I actually find Tempostorm meta report quite helpful (for wild at least), but perhaps you are right in that it's not reliable at all.
But I think in this situation the overwhelming power of this deck, and it's effect in the meta for all who play wild, can't be missed by any player or any meta report (including Team 5's internal one).
Is quest mage still a problem even? It's even weaker against aggro now and keeps reno priest in check.
Yes. It is. Last month, across 3 regions, filtered for wild.
Sure some were secret mage, and a few reno, but vast majority were this mostly uninteractive deck that has just been named Tier S (God Tier) by tempostorn a few days ago.
It's worst matchup (Darkest Hour Warlock) got removed, not that that deck was fun to play against either.
A new balance patch has hit the Hearthstone meta, bringing several changes to the Wild format! The nerf to Bloodbloom has all but killed off Darkest Hour Warlock completely. However, the nerf to Open the Waygate hasn’t quite had the same intended effect on the meta. That is no fault of the nerf to Open the Waygate itself. The card has been hit. There’s no denying that. However, the continued nerfs to Demon Hunter and the removal of Darkest Hour Warlock from the format have given the extra room needed for Quest Mage to breathe and effectively offset the nerf to Open the Waygate, given that the core powerhouses of the archetype—Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mana Cyclone, and Flamewaker—remain completely unscathed.
With its only reasonable counter now out of commision, Quest Mage now ascends to Tier S status. What does this mean for the future of the format? For now, it means that there has been a rift in the meta. The high Legend ranks of the Wild format have been warped and consumed by Quest Mage
...............snip.....................
Aggressive strategies have been able to bring it to Quest Mage . . . however, despite their best efforts, no archetype is putting up more than a 45% win rate in the matchup.
(bold my emphasis)
There will be lots of people who play this deck and love it - I assume it's fun to play it rather than face it. I can't blame them.
But hopefully most such players will appreciate such a dominating deck that's >50% (>55%?) winrate against everything except a mirror isn't good for the format long term.
By all means have crazy broken OP stuff in Wild. But every deck must have a counter to stop any one deck getting way out of hand.
I made legend for the first time ever and have been playing since beta (being a father of three kinda prevents legend grinds).
With the new system and the virus keeping me at home, had plenty of time to get there this month. Saved the deck that I made legend with and started crafting the deck in gold (a thing I had said I would do if i ever got to legend).
Also is nice to finally have that box checked and now don't have to feel like I have to grind to get there again.
Grats - and with the new rewards you picked the right month to do it! (unlike me!)
Also my friend your post will inspire others - like you say this new system is potentially easier to reach the hallowed echelon of Legend so if you used to get Rank 5 on the old system, Legend is now calling your name!!!
Congrats OP :) I personaly like these "Legend first time" posts, because I ´ve never been there and it gives me a bit of hope :P I´m happy for you, don´t let anyone let you down by saying it doesn´t mean anything, be proud :D
For even a slightly above average player (or average player with busted deck?) it's definitely doable as long as you have the time, and a bit of luck on your side doesn't hurt either.
But no rush - took me 3 years to get there, and I never actually tried until this year. Even if you never do as long as you enjoy the game it doesn't matter what rank you are.
I think this one time you are allowed to brag. And I can't talk I did exactly the same thing last month when I got Legend for the first time!
And last month I thought, great now I definitely will get golden epic next season as will start at rank 4 - won't need to climb. Blizzard had other ideas :) :)
And this time you get a free Legendary! Hope it was better than mine when I made Legend this month (The Beast)
Enjoy the feeling and if you took a screenshot keep it somewhere safe !!!
For those interested in climbing with budget decks, I'd recommend checking out Old Guardian who often spends his time working on viable decks, and makes good videos on them.
there's some discussion as to whether a stream muted via the web player counts as watching it. I don't know the answer but many browsers including Firefox and Chrome allow a specific tab to be muted.
I'd recommend that method unless you are really watching it and can put up with the commentary.
I agree except for wild players the nerf to Open the Waygate will really hurt the very popular non-interactive Mage deck that can kill you by turn 5/6. Will be much much harder to complete the quest now.
Great article as always!
I wonder if next weekend could be a cyclone quest mage counter special? Then again, that might have to be a cross feature with the custom card design competition :P
My 12 packs were disappointing as play on NA, EU and Asia (1 epic, 14 rares, 1 golden common)
My normal non shiny epic/rare rewards weren't impressive either.
All in all much less dust value than 3 golden epics I'd normally get. But in fairness better for newer players looking to fill out commons/rares of latest expac (which not many of us need now) and pity timer advancement I guess.
I also object to the golden glow around them when you open the little bundles or see them in the ladder rewards page. They are not golden and dust for a pittance.
Once the first time rewards are claimed then things are a lot less rewarding.
And not a fan of not being able to see opponents rank until lose star bonus. Though I appreciate the idea is you always play the same skill level of players wherever you are on ladder I'd still like to know where on ladder my opponent is.
I much prefer your way :)
I actually find Tempostorm meta report quite helpful (for wild at least), but perhaps you are right in that it's not reliable at all.
But I think in this situation the overwhelming power of this deck, and it's effect in the meta for all who play wild, can't be missed by any player or any meta report (including Team 5's internal one).
Yes. It is. Last month, across 3 regions, filtered for wild.
Sure some were secret mage, and a few reno, but vast majority were this mostly uninteractive deck that has just been named Tier S (God Tier) by tempostorn a few days ago.
It's worst matchup (Darkest Hour Warlock) got removed, not that that deck was fun to play against either.
(bold my emphasis)
There will be lots of people who play this deck and love it - I assume it's fun to play it rather than face it. I can't blame them.
But hopefully most such players will appreciate such a dominating deck that's >50% (>55%?) winrate against everything except a mirror isn't good for the format long term.
By all means have crazy broken OP stuff in Wild. But every deck must have a counter to stop any one deck getting way out of hand.
Grats - and with the new rewards you picked the right month to do it! (unlike me!)
Grats to you too then mate :)
Also my friend your post will inspire others - like you say this new system is potentially easier to reach the hallowed echelon of Legend so if you used to get Rank 5 on the old system, Legend is now calling your name!!!
For even a slightly above average player (or average player with busted deck?) it's definitely doable as long as you have the time, and a bit of luck on your side doesn't hurt either.
But no rush - took me 3 years to get there, and I never actually tried until this year. Even if you never do as long as you enjoy the game it doesn't matter what rank you are.
Congrats mate!
I think this one time you are allowed to brag. And I can't talk I did exactly the same thing last month when I got Legend for the first time!
And last month I thought, great now I definitely will get golden epic next season as will start at rank 4 - won't need to climb. Blizzard had other ideas :) :)
And this time you get a free Legendary! Hope it was better than mine when I made Legend this month (The Beast)
Enjoy the feeling and if you took a screenshot keep it somewhere safe !!!
For those interested in climbing with budget decks, I'd recommend checking out Old Guardian who often spends his time working on viable decks, and makes good videos on them.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZscEtlQIxbiEroFuICGICA
I was joking there but it was probably misleading :) Passively lurking is what I always do too :)
there's some discussion as to whether a stream muted via the web player counts as watching it. I don't know the answer but many browsers including Firefox and Chrome allow a specific tab to be muted.
I'd recommend that method unless you are really watching it and can put up with the commentary.
Well done on doing an article to remind everyone - the window to get your packs is smaller than we've seen before :)
Get passively lurking watching!
Did mine on NA, EU and Asia - full dust. Checked again and still full dust for me.
Agreed. Unless you are playing a very fast deck the quest nerf makes little difference. I'm not sure if even 10 spells would have been enough.
Hopefully though faster decks will lower the winrate of this annoying mostly uninteractive deck causing it to slip from tier 1. We'll see.
I agree except for wild players the nerf to Open the Waygate will really hurt the very popular non-interactive Mage deck that can kill you by turn 5/6. Will be much much harder to complete the quest now.
Oh wait. It won't. Does very little in fact!
I agree. That nerf does little to weaken the broken Wild deck that is very unpleasant to play against.
I'm sure many will enjoy this but when I was reading Blizzard's post my inner voice was saying....
It's time for the Outland Inn-vitational! Don't care.
Taking place on April 21, from Don't care.Don't care.
The Outland Inn-vitational will use a new format we’re calling Demon Hunter Duel-fest, where both teams Don't care.Don't care.Don't care.Don't care.
Here is how Demon Hunter Don't care.
With $100,000 in prizing on theDon't care.Don't care.Don't care.
All participants will stream their own perspective Don't care.Don't care.Don't care.Don't care.
We're kicking off the Outland Inn-vitational with Twitch Drops I CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
New article out since you posted this:
https://outof.cards/hearthstone/1176-playing-ashes-of-outland-on-a-budget-check-out-these-5-decks-you-must-try
Great timing assuming lack of expensive cards is a limitation for you which seems likely if you are new :)