The fine folks over at HSReplay released another popularity animation, this time looking at how class popularity changed over 2019.
- The year started out strong with Hunters, and they kept that up even after a dip when Rise of Shadows hit.
- After Rise of Shadows, Warlocks waned in popularity and never really recovered for long.
- Shamans exploded in popularity at the end of August and they stayed there thanks to Evolve being reintroduced and more OP Shaman "fun".
- Priests were popular prior to Year of the Dragon starting and tanked with Rise of Shadows. The class regained popularity around September and held it until Descent of Dragons.
- It is interesting to see Hunter so popular for so long, yet they were never really "overpowered". Cheap decks that work well are the foundation of the class, making it very accessible.
What were some of your favourite decks played during 2019?
What parts of the meta were standout favourites?
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 23 - Day 13 [Finished]](the-great-dark-beyond-day-13.webp)
Comments
Wow to see a visual representation of Shaman go over 30% due to evolve and it's effect on the played rates of the other classes.
Hope Team 5 have a similar graphic nice and large in the balance team office - if not they should have!
Thanks for posting this HSreplay graphic flux - was really interesting the see the rises/falls on the year.
priest 4 life
Cool graphic, interesting to see Shamanstone rise and fall.
Probably lucky that I like Hunter, then!
My poor boy Druid. A few brief efforts towards the top, and otherwise nothing :') I miss my OG Druid cards.
after what happened in 2018, can't say I feel the same way.
Cool animation, too bad i don't know what happen on which date that makes the popularity fluctuates like that.. maybe a little note in the video to show what event happen on a specific date (like nerf) would make it easier to read.
I don't think the meta class popularity fluctuations can be explained, a any given time, with a single event.
It takes awfully a lot of coincidence, momentum and sheer luck to start up a trend.
That's absolutely not true. Nerfs are but one example, expansion releases are another, and events like Doom in the Tomb can also be a reason. Even without these, there is no need for coincidence and luck. If a new deck rises that's able to beat other decks, it will rise in popularity, no ifs or buts about it (exhibit A: Quest Priest). If someone makes an entirely new deck then yes, luck is required for it to gain traction, but even still, it falls under the presumption of its matchup against the meta decks. If the said matchup is good, then the deck will rise in popularity, otherwise, it won't. There is no need for "momentum" or "coincidence" to change the meta.
My 2 observations:
1. I've felt like Warlock has been floundering for an identity all year (including DoD) - zoolock variants have been around, but beyond that not really anything to speak of. It's somewhat edifying to see that my experience wasn't unique. I really enjoyed Demonlock (post-Cubelock-ending-nerfs) so would be nice to see that make a reappearance sometime in 2020.
2. If you had no idea when expansions were launched, the mad scrambles would be a dead giveaway. It's pretty funny to see in this format: going along, going along, not much change, going alASOIA!@#!$FGDASGB!#&^SDG!)*$, not much change, going along....
Plot twist warlock with Dollmaster Dorian has been pushed hard this year, only getting no love from DoD. Its just not that popular or too inconsistent. I think there's plenty of potential here, but since the dollmaster himself will be leaving standard this April, it needs alot of support to get anywhere in the next expansion. That aside, having played both this and questlock, I can say with confidence both are good enough for standard, that 7 mana dollmaster tempo swing is particularly good, but it really suffers hard from warlock's lack of healing.
Its not like team5 doesnt have a vision for warlock, it just havent work out to be anything more than a meme deck.
I dunno man. Valdris HandLock feels pretty damn Good for me. Holding 12 cards and dropping a 2/2 and an 11/11 Taunt is pretty sick. I have a soft spot for Warlock and really like the fact that every expansion so far has featured a Zoo Type Deck.
They have nothing to loose by adding milestones for expansion launch and everything to win, also, there are other importants dates like nerfs, buffs and wild cards coming to standard. But hey, sometimes pride is bigger than logic.
Three months should always be remembered by Hearthstone players - the months expansions launch! Those are always April, August, and December. Every 4 months = an expansion.
I love the "lASOIA!@#!$FGDASGB!#&^SDG!)*$" aspect :D
Great vid! Would be nice to see some milestones like expansion releases, nerfs and other events on the timeline, I had to dig in my brain a lot to figure out what is what:)
EDIT: Or I should have read the article before watching the video, smh
Short memory? Secret Hunter was pretty op at the beginning of the year. Spellstone got a much needed nerf. After that, i'll agree that they haven't been oppressive to play against.
Ehhh they weren't too bad. There have certainly been times in the part where hunter was crazy good to the point where it felt wrong, but the start of last year didn't feel like that, at least to me. Could be a case of Hunter being more overpowered before then so any big advantage they had early last year didn't seem to be a big deal.
Bias is a funny thing.
Hunter and Mage always seem to get cards that just look really good on the surface regardless of any synergies or whatever, and most of them end up and auto-includes. The most vivid examples I have are cards like Candleshot, Deathstalker Rexxar and Flanking Strike; cards that just feel like "well I have the foundation of my deck, I'll just add these cards that are insanely powerful in any scenario". To me, Mage seems to always get cards that are "just good" regardless of synergy, but that may just be my bias (I hate mage with a passion).