Shame, I'm sorry to see someone leave but I do believe in the "put your money where your mouth is" thing. So you do you! Me I guess I'm a little different.
Corridor Sleeper being in the pre-order never bothered me. It was only early access for a week (month?). As long as they keep the free legendary at announcement it changes up the meta and gives people something new to mess with until release.
Harth Stonebrew I never realized his golden version was tied to a bundle. Strange but again I have the card I don't car about cosmetics so much.
Diamon Cards as I said I don't care about cosmetics, however, wtf! Why are these $40+? When I look at cosmetics like that I go, nope and just never check the shop again. At least in snap I can hoard gold and buy or two that I enjoy. and if there is one I REALLY want I can spend a couple bucks to get it. Diamonds in HS are just crazy priced. I can't believe anyone is buying them, but then again they must be to keep that price. That's sad. I want games to make money so they can make more content. I'm all for pre-orders and bundles and battle passes. Heck I play Smite as well, another game with a lot of Skins. But I'm not buying anything else but a skin every few months, if that. (you can't judge me for buying the TNMT skins!). I look at that and it cost me about 1 Diamond card to get 5ish skins I think it was (it's been a while). Hell in Hearthstone I bought the 3kingdoms bundle, 4 hero skins, for less than 1 diamond card. I am sure diamonds are more expensive to make but 4 to 1 seems obsurd. Anyway moving on...
Duels never really got into it. Though removing modes is not a good sign. Even if I didn't play/enjoy it I can't frame this in any positive light.
Weeklies I saw something about them changing. I really didn't notice a difference. I usually blast these out in a day or 2 either way.
Players, as you can see i don't fit in with the other players often. I play a lot of games were players do nothing but bash it so I've always been less impacted by player sentiment. Blizzard over all has had a lot of game issues and monitization problems recently. Diablo Immortal being the biggest heap on that pile. It wasn't even a bad game, at least what I played, but that monitization was monsterous. I play a lot of games with cash shops and I've never been that off put by one EVER. Horse armor was better than that crap. It does feel like Hearthstone is heading that way with just Diamond cards alone. However I've seen some positive changes in D4 and Wow Discovery has been doing some fun stuff with the IP.
Maybe my rose colored glasses keep me from seeing Blizzard as the monster it's become. Maybe I'm so used to these preditory cash shops that $40 a skin isn't so insane. Maybe i'm just so desperate for a card game I can play with friends and family from home that I stick around. I don't know. As a former MTG player seeing $70 decks for Fallout or LotR was a shock. Is this really our path?
For those of you that take your wallets and run, I respect that. Truly I do. If this path ever changes it is you dear fallen that I will be greatful. For now though I'll just be shaking my head and trying to enjoy what time I have left in this world gaming. This is my one joy and I am not ready to put it behind me yet.
Edit: Just adding I am MOSTLY F2P in hearthstone and have been since the start. I've bought a few Battlepasses for expansion themes I was really into and I did get the 3Kingdoms skins as I said (damn you Dynasty warriors!!). Otherwise I'ver never pre-orderd or otherwise spent money. 10 years I'd estimate it's about $5-10 per year if I spread it out over my time since Beta. Just last year I crafted my final card for Classic to get my Diamon Rag! Have no other sets even near completion but never felt I was short of cards or dust to play most of what I wanted each set.
Lorewalker Cho I used back in Mean Streets in my handbuff paladin. It only had a few spells to maximize the handbuffs and Cho, once buffed, was annoying to remove without a spell, so you usually got something back. Fun times!
Old Murk-Eye was kind of another Hogger. In Vanilla he wasn't elite but had a long patrol path on a beach. Him and his posse would sneak up on people making for some memorable deaths or sprints away from him while hearing that classic murloc battlecry. I appreciate cards like this in Classic. It is nice not all the cards are big lore bombs but also a "hey I died to this guy" for those of us who played WoW.
Shoplifter Goldbeard is strange but I'm assuming it's set up for a Deathrattle Rogue in the future. Sahket Sapper like cards with this sound fun. Not sure why they didn't print something to showcase that potential here or in the core set. I looked at wild and there isn't much crossover between deathrattle and pirate. However, a Mid-range deathrattle pirates sounds like a fun and different approach for Rogue. I really hope that's what they do in the next set or two.
Overall, the Rogue set seems very scattered. Like they asked, "what does Rogue do?" and then put 1 of every idea into the set. There are some cool cards here, but it just doesn't give me the "oh I want to build that!" feeling other classes have this set. Even if those things are bad, they at least had a theme.
Fun idea. They've tried empty deck warlock before and it never really took off. Still cool that the card itself has kill potential and you "just" have to survive. If I get this I'll play around with it for sure.
I still have my original diablo and starcraft cds. Still play then from time to time. Warcraft 1 and 2 were my Uncle's. Might be fun trip to replay those with him.
I'm not a MOBA person either. 3 lanes is 2 more than I can handle. I think I've tried Conquest mode 3 times since Smite 1 beta. I just play it as an Arena shooter or the Assault mode.
I have every God (almost) at rank 1 mastery. The God's feel great to play and there is a nice auto builder for when I'm trying to learn a god and don't want to think about itemization.
Shame on the skin port but I get it. Their art team is 11/10 though so I can't wait to see what new ones they come up with.
This is a game to keep an eye on even if mobas aren't your thing.
The Skarr, the Catastrophe one is fun. That animation is beautiful. I got the card after watching his video so I had to try it myself. I also put in Ozruk because he had been buffed.
Neat cards. Reno looks great and the others look fun. I'll have to see how they actually work but still exciting. I'm not a battle grounds guy but Duo sounds silly to watch!
While I agree Aggramar looks underwhelming, I think he's still super strong. 6 mana 3/7 with a 5/3 Immune weapon is good enough. The cost of leaving him alive to empower future weapons is dangerous.
Aman'Thul though wow. Strike from History is just amazing never mind also discovering a potential threat as well. He'll be everywhere for sure.
.. it's more of a failsafe so you don't eventually just kill yourself because your opponent happened to be an aggro deck that just went face.
I kind of like that tension though.
And I get it they could go to far the other way. I just feel like if they print to many immunity cards the damaging cost then just doesn't matter. Mal'Ganis is one thing, expensive legendary, however Void Virtuoso just feels to easy.
I love taking damage = power. That's such a fun concept. Though if I'm immune and don't have to take the damage then that is just power and not as fun. I'd rather see warlock sustain come from lifesteal or big taunts rather than just be immune on their turn with a 1 drop. While I doubt it will be as strong as The Demon Seed it still pushes in that direction and it will be a shame if we get another set of warlock cards band in wild.
Big dreams and big boys. Love the hunter stuff. Also banjosaur is my new favorite art.
Weapon Rogue, interesting. Like the harmonic card. Rogue has a lot of choices for draw even with that finale I'm not sure it's enough. With all the classes getting weapons unless you are breaking a weapon with blingtron not sure +1 dmg is enough without a strong board.
Shame, I'm sorry to see someone leave but I do believe in the "put your money where your mouth is" thing. So you do you! Me I guess I'm a little different.
Corridor Sleeper being in the pre-order never bothered me. It was only early access for a week (month?). As long as they keep the free legendary at announcement it changes up the meta and gives people something new to mess with until release.
Harth Stonebrew I never realized his golden version was tied to a bundle. Strange but again I have the card I don't car about cosmetics so much.
Diamon Cards as I said I don't care about cosmetics, however, wtf! Why are these $40+? When I look at cosmetics like that I go, nope and just never check the shop again. At least in snap I can hoard gold and buy or two that I enjoy. and if there is one I REALLY want I can spend a couple bucks to get it. Diamonds in HS are just crazy priced. I can't believe anyone is buying them, but then again they must be to keep that price. That's sad. I want games to make money so they can make more content. I'm all for pre-orders and bundles and battle passes. Heck I play Smite as well, another game with a lot of Skins. But I'm not buying anything else but a skin every few months, if that. (you can't judge me for buying the TNMT skins!). I look at that and it cost me about 1 Diamond card to get 5ish skins I think it was (it's been a while). Hell in Hearthstone I bought the 3kingdoms bundle, 4 hero skins, for less than 1 diamond card. I am sure diamonds are more expensive to make but 4 to 1 seems obsurd. Anyway moving on...
Duels never really got into it. Though removing modes is not a good sign. Even if I didn't play/enjoy it I can't frame this in any positive light.
Weeklies I saw something about them changing. I really didn't notice a difference. I usually blast these out in a day or 2 either way.
Players, as you can see i don't fit in with the other players often. I play a lot of games were players do nothing but bash it so I've always been less impacted by player sentiment. Blizzard over all has had a lot of game issues and monitization problems recently. Diablo Immortal being the biggest heap on that pile. It wasn't even a bad game, at least what I played, but that monitization was monsterous. I play a lot of games with cash shops and I've never been that off put by one EVER. Horse armor was better than that crap. It does feel like Hearthstone is heading that way with just Diamond cards alone. However I've seen some positive changes in D4 and Wow Discovery has been doing some fun stuff with the IP.
Maybe my rose colored glasses keep me from seeing Blizzard as the monster it's become. Maybe I'm so used to these preditory cash shops that $40 a skin isn't so insane. Maybe i'm just so desperate for a card game I can play with friends and family from home that I stick around. I don't know. As a former MTG player seeing $70 decks for Fallout or LotR was a shock. Is this really our path?
For those of you that take your wallets and run, I respect that. Truly I do. If this path ever changes it is you dear fallen that I will be greatful. For now though I'll just be shaking my head and trying to enjoy what time I have left in this world gaming. This is my one joy and I am not ready to put it behind me yet.
Edit: Just adding I am MOSTLY F2P in hearthstone and have been since the start. I've bought a few Battlepasses for expansion themes I was really into and I did get the 3Kingdoms skins as I said (damn you Dynasty warriors!!). Otherwise I'ver never pre-orderd or otherwise spent money. 10 years I'd estimate it's about $5-10 per year if I spread it out over my time since Beta. Just last year I crafted my final card for Classic to get my Diamon Rag! Have no other sets even near completion but never felt I was short of cards or dust to play most of what I wanted each set.
I love these.
Lorewalker Cho I used back in Mean Streets in my handbuff paladin. It only had a few spells to maximize the handbuffs and Cho, once buffed, was annoying to remove without a spell, so you usually got something back. Fun times!
Millhouse Manastorm I had in a deathrattle DemonHunter deck. Using Piloted Reaper to pull him out and surprise people was funny.
Old Murk-Eye was kind of another Hogger. In Vanilla he wasn't elite but had a long patrol path on a beach. Him and his posse would sneak up on people making for some memorable deaths or sprints away from him while hearing that classic murloc battlecry. I appreciate cards like this in Classic. It is nice not all the cards are big lore bombs but also a "hey I died to this guy" for those of us who played WoW.
Opened about 50 packs between gold, track and freebies.
Packs: Dr. Stitchensew , Pipsi Painthoof , Shoplifter Goldbeard (g) , Inventor Boom
Crafted: The Galatic Projection Orb
Track/freebies: Li'Na, Jepetto (d), Colifero
Fun start. Boom and the Orb where high on my list the rest has been a blast to try out.
No minion mage casino mage! This might be my craft for the set. Looks fun.
Shoplifter Goldbeard is strange but I'm assuming it's set up for a Deathrattle Rogue in the future. Sahket Sapper like cards with this sound fun. Not sure why they didn't print something to showcase that potential here or in the core set. I looked at wild and there isn't much crossover between deathrattle and pirate. However, a Mid-range deathrattle pirates sounds like a fun and different approach for Rogue. I really hope that's what they do in the next set or two.
Overall, the Rogue set seems very scattered. Like they asked, "what does Rogue do?" and then put 1 of every idea into the set. There are some cool cards here, but it just doesn't give me the "oh I want to build that!" feeling other classes have this set. Even if those things are bad, they at least had a theme.
Wasn't in love with the signatures this round but Nemsi art is awesome.
Fun idea. They've tried empty deck warlock before and it never really took off. Still cool that the card itself has kill potential and you "just" have to survive. If I get this I'll play around with it for sure.
I still have my original diablo and starcraft cds. Still play then from time to time. Warcraft 1 and 2 were my Uncle's. Might be fun trip to replay those with him.
I'm not a MOBA person either. 3 lanes is 2 more than I can handle. I think I've tried Conquest mode 3 times since Smite 1 beta. I just play it as an Arena shooter or the Assault mode.
I have every God (almost) at rank 1 mastery. The God's feel great to play and there is a nice auto builder for when I'm trying to learn a god and don't want to think about itemization.
Shame on the skin port but I get it. Their art team is 11/10 though so I can't wait to see what new ones they come up with.
This is a game to keep an eye on even if mobas aren't your thing.
The Skarr, the Catastrophe one is fun. That animation is beautiful. I got the card after watching his video so I had to try it myself. I also put in Ozruk because he had been buffed.
Bonechewer Raider haha that's great. Love seeing underplayed cards getting used.
I've been trying out the buffed quests from Un'goro in wild. Been so fun with Jungle Giants and The Last Kaleidosaur.
Mill mage is not something I thought of and that looks hilarious. I'll have to dust off Archivist Elysiana!
That season of Discovery stuff actually looks fun. I look forward to the Blackfathom Deeps Raid. It might actually be a thing I come back for.
Neat cards. Reno looks great and the others look fun. I'll have to see how they actually work but still exciting. I'm not a battle grounds guy but Duo sounds silly to watch!
While I agree Aggramar looks underwhelming, I think he's still super strong. 6 mana 3/7 with a 5/3 Immune weapon is good enough. The cost of leaving him alive to empower future weapons is dangerous.
Aman'Thul though wow. Strike from History is just amazing never mind also discovering a potential threat as well. He'll be everywhere for sure.
That shaman deck is real fun. I had to swap out Bolner and Kalimos so I swapped them for Electra Stormsurge and Ozruk which is just silly.
That warrior might be next if I can get the new Voone. I play something similar in standard and it's real fun.
I kind of like that tension though.
And I get it they could go to far the other way. I just feel like if they print to many immunity cards the damaging cost then just doesn't matter. Mal'Ganis is one thing, expensive legendary, however Void Virtuoso just feels to easy.
Maybe that's just my Rakdos (MTG) side.
This is how I assume it works too.
I'd rather it be the other way and have the immune effects be for other self damage not fatigue like syracz said.
I love taking damage = power. That's such a fun concept. Though if I'm immune and don't have to take the damage then that is just power and not as fun. I'd rather see warlock sustain come from lifesteal or big taunts rather than just be immune on their turn with a 1 drop. While I doubt it will be as strong as The Demon Seed it still pushes in that direction and it will be a shame if we get another set of warlock cards band in wild.
Big dreams and big boys. Love the hunter stuff. Also banjosaur is my new favorite art.
Weapon Rogue, interesting. Like the harmonic card. Rogue has a lot of choices for draw even with that finale I'm not sure it's enough. With all the classes getting weapons unless you are breaking a weapon with blingtron not sure +1 dmg is enough without a strong board.
This set looks awesome. Razorscale is so my jam great use of the dual type minions.
Took a look at the rest too some great stuff. I loved the Secret Book for Rogue and Kologarn made me laugh. Keep up the good work.
edit: The video, amazing.