I understand your point, and again, only meant that as constructive, from a reader's point of view. I know they messed up bad, and I think some poking is understandable, but I guess I'd never heard ya make such a blatant call out in a write up before, where those things are often left in comments. I know it's one thing to open yourself to be called an idiot, but another to be the one to send that jab yourself. With that, I respect your response, and the hard work you do. I'd definitely be upset if I put this much time into my passion and someone else dropped the ball so poorly and kinda ruined it for me and everyone else. I'm not looking for you to file away the edge that you have, as indicative of your passion, to please others or soften yourself or your creative decisions, but for some reason that comment just kinda stood out to me a bit and I thought I'd bring it up. Hell, maybe it's a bit of stir craziness naggin' at me or something and I'm catching things that poke at me more than they may have otherwise.
That all said, again, thanks for the response, and I really do think it's amazing what you and your team do here. I'm definitely excited for more of your coverage and the community discussions, sounds like there's a ton of great news comin' up soon!
Constructive criticism: I think the jab at Polygon staff "Wow, what idiots!!" is a little excessive. I always dig this site and your constant great content, but to jab so harshly at what is likely a single person who clearly knows they made a mistake, just seems a little petty. I follow a handful of sites, including Polygon, and while they don't focus on Hearthstone, they're usually pretty accurate when they write something up on the game and are obvious fans. I'm not trying to sound like I'm policing the internet, and it's important to have thick skin when floating around web pages, but just wanted to drop off a comment to say that maybe hold back some of the harshness on a fellow gaming journalist, ESPECIALLY if you're going to essentially copy that same material into your own write-up. Again, just constructive criticism, golden rule type stuff, ya know?
It really is random, and I love/hate it. I was playing as a Reborn Pally against a mage who dropped Mass Dispel, Blizzard, Plague of Death, Mass Dispel and Plague of Death in a row. I had to laugh and couldn't even be mad, I was clearly not meant to win that game.
I tried it out in a Highlander Mage and he popped Tracking to discard my Zephrys, then Flark Boom Zooka'd my Alex and some other minions onto an empty board.
Great write up! I'm an all-over-the-place Hearthstone fan, from solo to Arena and everything in between, and it's nice to have some great insight on a mode I enjoy, thanks!
I posted a general comment on the card to note flavor, but wanted to share that while I agree that the name sounds odd, the actual weapons, per Warcraft lore, are the famous weapons attributed to the flying Wildhammer Dwarves, who are generally classless, but I'd argue skew hunter, if only from their wild natures and deep bonds with their gryphon beasts.
To those wondering, per lore, Stormhammers were wielded by the Wildhammer Dwarves, notoriously fierce rulers of the sky, riding upon their trusted Gryphons, beasts whom they shared a deep bond. They used the sacred weapons, but didn't have a shamanistic connection with the elements embued in them, and when throwing them, they were known to return to the user. While they aren't necessarily tied to any class, one could argue that their wild natures, ranged DPS, bonds with beasts and friendships with elves could skew them hunter. Falstad (as seen in Warcraft lore and Heroes of the Storm) is a great example of one of these characters, famously leading a team to free the dragon queen herself, Alexstrasza, though they also battled dragons and dragon-riders as well, meaning they have a connection, both positive and negative, with dragons.
Can't say the card is a perfect capture for flavor, but the ties are there, for sure.
Just played as Brann and he seems pretty strong. Even dropping a Murloc on turn one and buffing the token to a 2/2 is pretty effective, and it gets crazy from there. I played pretty well, but made some sloppy plays experimenting with Battlecries and board space, and still walked out in first place with 28 health. That's obviously not a large enough sample size, one match, but I can definitely see some potential, given that you can buff minions that are typically harder to buff, as a passive. With the frequent Battlecry mental gymnastics players tend to do, I'm curious (and wary) at what some of the outcomes might look like.
The problem I have with the Mind Blast rotation is that it has often been an implied part of class identity as part of the Shadow Priest identity. From artwork to damage, it's Shadow Priest, though it may not fit the "reverse healing as damage" technical wording of some of the other cards. Looking at it from a lore and identity standpoint though, it's a skill directly from the Shadow Priest specialization in World of Warcraft. It IS Priest. There may be other reasons to rotate it out, but saying it's not part of class identity is a little frustrating, especially when there are several other cards constantly rotating in and out (and classic/basic) that support the Shadow Priest class identity. Maybe reword it or introduce a proper Shadow card to better represent the specialization, but tossing it out and claiming class identity is a tough sell. That being said, I'm still excited for the other changes and additions.
Queued up as Priest vs. Priest and it was awwwwfuuul. Pretty much a control match without a win condition, waiting for someone to draw a decent minion so the other could kill it. Might try the brawl again a little later, but need time to clean the taste out...plus, hard to justify the time when Heist is still fantastic.
Nerub'ar Weblord was doing pretty great work of PogoRogues. If you manage to go 2nd with Coin, it's a complete shutout from the start.
I understand your point, and again, only meant that as constructive, from a reader's point of view. I know they messed up bad, and I think some poking is understandable, but I guess I'd never heard ya make such a blatant call out in a write up before, where those things are often left in comments. I know it's one thing to open yourself to be called an idiot, but another to be the one to send that jab yourself. With that, I respect your response, and the hard work you do. I'd definitely be upset if I put this much time into my passion and someone else dropped the ball so poorly and kinda ruined it for me and everyone else. I'm not looking for you to file away the edge that you have, as indicative of your passion, to please others or soften yourself or your creative decisions, but for some reason that comment just kinda stood out to me a bit and I thought I'd bring it up. Hell, maybe it's a bit of stir craziness naggin' at me or something and I'm catching things that poke at me more than they may have otherwise.
That all said, again, thanks for the response, and I really do think it's amazing what you and your team do here. I'm definitely excited for more of your coverage and the community discussions, sounds like there's a ton of great news comin' up soon!
Constructive criticism: I think the jab at Polygon staff "Wow, what idiots!!" is a little excessive. I always dig this site and your constant great content, but to jab so harshly at what is likely a single person who clearly knows they made a mistake, just seems a little petty. I follow a handful of sites, including Polygon, and while they don't focus on Hearthstone, they're usually pretty accurate when they write something up on the game and are obvious fans. I'm not trying to sound like I'm policing the internet, and it's important to have thick skin when floating around web pages, but just wanted to drop off a comment to say that maybe hold back some of the harshness on a fellow gaming journalist, ESPECIALLY if you're going to essentially copy that same material into your own write-up. Again, just constructive criticism, golden rule type stuff, ya know?
It really is random, and I love/hate it. I was playing as a Reborn Pally against a mage who dropped Mass Dispel, Blizzard, Plague of Death, Mass Dispel and Plague of Death in a row. I had to laugh and couldn't even be mad, I was clearly not meant to win that game.
I tried it out in a Highlander Mage and he popped Tracking to discard my Zephrys, then Flark Boom Zooka'd my Alex and some other minions onto an empty board.
RNGesus giveth and taketh, for sure.
Well, a hearty "thanks for fightin' the good fight" to you all! It doesn't go unseen. :D
Great write up! I'm an all-over-the-place Hearthstone fan, from solo to Arena and everything in between, and it's nice to have some great insight on a mode I enjoy, thanks!
I posted a general comment on the card to note flavor, but wanted to share that while I agree that the name sounds odd, the actual weapons, per Warcraft lore, are the famous weapons attributed to the flying Wildhammer Dwarves, who are generally classless, but I'd argue skew hunter, if only from their wild natures and deep bonds with their gryphon beasts.
To those wondering, per lore, Stormhammers were wielded by the Wildhammer Dwarves, notoriously fierce rulers of the sky, riding upon their trusted Gryphons, beasts whom they shared a deep bond. They used the sacred weapons, but didn't have a shamanistic connection with the elements embued in them, and when throwing them, they were known to return to the user. While they aren't necessarily tied to any class, one could argue that their wild natures, ranged DPS, bonds with beasts and friendships with elves could skew them hunter. Falstad (as seen in Warcraft lore and Heroes of the Storm) is a great example of one of these characters, famously leading a team to free the dragon queen herself, Alexstrasza, though they also battled dragons and dragon-riders as well, meaning they have a connection, both positive and negative, with dragons.
Can't say the card is a perfect capture for flavor, but the ties are there, for sure.
Just played as Brann and he seems pretty strong. Even dropping a Murloc on turn one and buffing the token to a 2/2 is pretty effective, and it gets crazy from there. I played pretty well, but made some sloppy plays experimenting with Battlecries and board space, and still walked out in first place with 28 health. That's obviously not a large enough sample size, one match, but I can definitely see some potential, given that you can buff minions that are typically harder to buff, as a passive. With the frequent Battlecry mental gymnastics players tend to do, I'm curious (and wary) at what some of the outcomes might look like.
The problem I have with the Mind Blast rotation is that it has often been an implied part of class identity as part of the Shadow Priest identity. From artwork to damage, it's Shadow Priest, though it may not fit the "reverse healing as damage" technical wording of some of the other cards. Looking at it from a lore and identity standpoint though, it's a skill directly from the Shadow Priest specialization in World of Warcraft. It IS Priest. There may be other reasons to rotate it out, but saying it's not part of class identity is a little frustrating, especially when there are several other cards constantly rotating in and out (and classic/basic) that support the Shadow Priest class identity. Maybe reword it or introduce a proper Shadow card to better represent the specialization, but tossing it out and claiming class identity is a tough sell. That being said, I'm still excited for the other changes and additions.
Spirit of the Shark is a brutal addition to any C'thun or Jade build (or both, if you make room!) in Rogue.
Queued up as Priest vs. Priest and it was awwwwfuuul. Pretty much a control match without a win condition, waiting for someone to draw a decent minion so the other could kill it. Might try the brawl again a little later, but need time to clean the taste out...plus, hard to justify the time when Heist is still fantastic.
Excited to see where this goes, congratulations on the new journey!