Hearthstone 19: Patches In All The Wrong Places

[Nerocite]

No. They already showed which existing cards will get the tag.

Are you referring to the announcement video? Because they don't have Water Elemental, Fire Elemental, or Frost Elemental listed.

[Fable Wright]

I thought that quest required 7.

...That makes it so much more balanced. Nevermind then, carry on.

[Gandariel]

Are you referring to the announcement video? Because they don't have Water Elemental, Fire Elemental, or Frost Elemental listed.

Whoops, my bad. But yeah, I don't expect Lightspawn to be an Elemental.

I mean, War Golem isn't a Mech

[PsyBomb]

Tavern Brawl just handed me an Un'Goro pack. Nice touch

[Rodin]

Tavern Brawl just handed me an Un'Goro pack. Nice touch

I didn't like the random party crashers though. If they attacked randomly it might have been okay, but they all go face. It makes the Crossroads format snowball even more than it already did and kinda makes it so I don't want to play it. This is despite the various Crossroads Brawls being my favorite type.

[Joran]

Tavern Brawl just handed me an Un'Goro pack. Nice touch

Except my OCD is kicking in for that 1 counter under my packs...

[Anarion]

The fact that it's difficult to complete the Priest quest before turn 10 is what will either balance it or destroy it. Reno is good mainly because he fulfills two conditions - lategame heal to prevent a Control deck from burning you down through attrition, and mid-game heal to make Aggro decks cry. If "new Reno" can't be played on turn 6 then that pretty much kills the archetype against Aggro.

It is worth remembering that it's a priest quest, which is a class that might be able to stall aggro other ways. Again, we don't know the Un'goro cards, but let's imagine for a moment. If there's a good aoe removal spell, a couple minions that heal you in addition to being presence on board, and more deathrattle taunts, then the class may be set up to do well running a very defensive, control-oriented setup.

I really, really hope that there's a good finisher though beyond just "play big minions." Maybe you'd run Ysera in the same deck, or run Velen double mindblast as a way to end the game after you've stalled out through your whole deck. Jade druid existing means that until Gadgetzan rotates out, there is no way to have a deck that relies only on control, you have to play something that wins the game for you past taunts and big minions on the other side.

Except my OCD is kicking in for that 1 counter under my packs...

Yeah, that's seriously bugging me too.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, not a fan of this Crossroads variant. The endless supply of 3/5 Taunts warps the board state around itself too much combined with the hyper-RNG of the deck itself.

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, the party crashers are pretty boring. I'm not hugely fond of the crossroads at the best of times, and this one isn't the best variant.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I was expecting the crashers to attack randomly too. With the randomness of the decks, this one just seems weird. What's the theme? Board control?

[PsyBomb]

I was expecting the crashers to attack randomly too. With the randomness of the decks, this one just seems weird. What's the theme? Board control?

Pretty much. Your goal is always to preserve your Crashers while taking down the enemy field. Some tricks include dropping buffs on them, since they always strike face, and ensuring minions with 4+ toughness go down ASAP on the enemy side, as these can attack a Crasher and live.

I have the Brawl quest, 2 to go.

[tonberrian]

Disappointed freeze doesn't stop auto attackers.

[Togath]

This brawl is... funky. I really don't quite get why they chose to use this theme now.
Is there some significance to the time of year I've missed? Something's anniversary?

[Landis963]

I think they're testing something for Ungoro, and reusing the chess piece code on the same. Obviously there are some kinks to work out still.

[Kish]

I think it's just a new brawl theme. Not the best (my choice for that would be one of the co-op brawls, followed by one of the adventure boss vs. adventure boss ones) but far from the worst.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I think it's just a new brawl theme. Not the best (my choice for that would be one of the co-op brawls, followed by one of the adventure boss vs. adventure boss ones) but far from the worst.

This would be my guess as well. For me, I think that it's a somewhat interesting mechanic, but leads to fairly unexciting gameplay. Perhaps they'll work some more with it for a later version, however.

[Togath]

Maybe they're using it to test out a mechanic planned for a card or two in Un'goro?

[Kish]

I don't think they're testing anything. I don't think there's more of a specific explanation for "why this brawl now" then there was when (just to pick one random example of many brawls I could say this about) the no-party-crashers version of Crossroads was the brawl.

[Togath]

I meant with the party crashers themselves. "Attacks automatically" isn't something that has been encountered in card format yet.

[Anarion]

I meant with the party crashers themselves. "Attacks automatically" isn't something that has been encountered in card format yet.

Uh, yes it is. It's the same as the chess cards in Karazhan (the animations are identical). The only difference is that they coded these guys to always go face, rather than to attack minions in front of them based on board positioning.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Uh, yes it is. It's the same as the chess cards in Karazhan (the animations are identical). The only difference is that they coded these guys to always go face, rather than to attack minions in front of them based on board positioning.

I really hope this isn't an exploration of future mechanics. It's...well, really boring, frankly. Even more boring than the usual choice of "kill a minion or swing face?" since they all have Taunt, and the game becomes "have more Party Crashers than my opponent, kill them with Party Crashers."

[Togath]

I meant, we have yet to see them in "actually usable in normal play" cards.
I mean, maaaybe I'm overthinking it, but some kind of auto minion could be an interesting tradeoff. Good stats for no control, sort of like how Ogre Brute was.

[Anarion]

I really hope this isn't an exploration of future mechanics. It's...well, really boring, frankly. Even more boring than the usual choice of "kill a minion or swing face?" since they all have Taunt, and the game becomes "have more Party Crashers than my opponent, kill them with Party Crashers."

I meant, we have yet to see them in "actually usable in normal play" cards.
I mean, maaaybe I'm overthinking it, but some kind of auto minion could be an interesting tradeoff. Good stats for no control, sort of like how Ogre Brute was.

I don't love it as a direction. There are other games with AI style minions, and typically people avoid them unless you make them a lot stronger than normal because the limitations of their AI always tend to cause trouble. I'd generally prefer more types of player control and decision-making rather than less.

[PsyBomb]

Starting to look through my stuff to see what, other than Pirate Warrior, I'll be able to put together post-rotation. Came to the conclusion that most concepts are currently taking critical losses (other than Pirate Warrior and Jade Druid, possibly also Miracle Rogue/Druid). So, instead, I got to thinking...

What cards do old archetypes need in order to live on? Sound off with what you're looking for. Me personally, I'm looking for efficient 2 and 3 drops for Warlocks, so that Zoo can come back. They'll also likely need a trading tool to recover from the loss of PO.

On a slightly different note, does anyone think that Kazakus could fit into a more traditional Handlock deck, with the intent of holding him for late game? You could easily have several duplicates if you don't intend to play him before turn 9-10.

[Zevox]

So, instead, I got to thinking...

What cards do old archetypes need in order to live on? Sound off with what you're looking for. Me personally, I'm looking for efficient 2 and 3 drops for Warlocks, so that Zoo can come back. They'll also likely need a trading tool to recover from the loss of PO.

Midrange Paladin needs a strong 2-drop and possibly 3 drop - while it could replace higher-cost cards it used to run like Boom, it has never recovered from the loss of Mini-Bot and Muster.

N'Zoth Paladin could use that as well - though really what it and any other Control deck needs now is a way to beat Jade Druid at the late-game. Currently that deck just dominates in Control matchups, due to Jade Idol ensuring an endless stream of big guys at the end.

...yeah, that's actually probably the biggest thing right now, thinking about it. So many decks, ultimately, just won't resurface because they can't guarantee the late-game value win as well as that deck. Unless there's some way to print a neutral card that disrupts Jade while not being too weak in non-Jade matchups, Jade Idol may need to be nerfed at some point if Blizzard isn't okay with it being almost the only Control deck in town for the next year.

On a slightly different note, does anyone think that Kazakus could fit into a more traditional Handlock deck, with the intent of holding him for late game? You could easily have several duplicates if you don't intend to play him before turn 9-10.

Hm, I'd be doubtful, since experiments in including even one duplicate in Renolocks always wound up worse than a full Highlander version - though perhaps there's something to be said for Reno specifically not wanting any duplicates so he can be played on 6 against aggro, which Kazakus doesn't need as much. I'm kind of expecting that without Reno, Warlock becomes the worst class for Kazakus, though, since Warlock was the one with the most need for his heal. Besides, Handlock has never recovered from all the losses it suffered when Standard was introduced, and it'll need at the very least some kind of heal (to replace Healbot) and some new big play with synergy with its existing strategy (to replace Molten Giant) - maybe also some extra cheap removal (to replace Darkbomb better than Shadowbolt or Soulfire do).

[TheNU]

To be honest, I like how they are trying to add more cards but I feel the way they have set up the ladder it just calls for people to want to play the fastest deck as they can.

The nerfs they did I feel didn't really do anything. After playing rank at the level I play at (20-15) which is likely the noobs level but I'm sure it's even worst at the higher ranks.

I switched to wild for more options but then when you run into a standard deck it's just heartbreaking really.


What I think they should do is just do away with the whole rank system and do something like WoW with personal loot. You get rewards at the end of every season base on how well you played so that winning or losing doesn't matter so much because right now I feel it doesn't anyways.


Here is what they should do, IMO.


Rank Mode, over ranks base on a level like Rank 20, etc they should sort of doing what they do in Overwatch. Give more Daily Quests that force you to play longer games, but not just longer games but have more fun. They need to make it so rank isn't the only way other than Arena to get cards and gold. Giving more than 3 daily quests and adding different rank play would be cool. Maybe even Heroic Rank play?


Don't know I enjoy the game for what it is, I have those games I just roll my eyes. I don't care to reach legend. I think it's really meaningless and doesn't really showcase your 'skill' just because of rank.

[Gandariel]

There's another "pick your champion" thing for an upcoming tournament.

You pick one guy, and get packs according to how well he does in the tournament. Packs are sadly Gadgetzan packs, but free stuff is free stuff.

[Gandariel]

They're revealing a bunch of stuff !! I'll post comments when I can.

Just a couple:
Warlock quest is discard 6 cards.
Reward is a 5 mana card.
You play it, and get an Enchantment that summons 2 3/2s at the end of your turn, forever. (This card can't be killed)

Also, and this one looks VERY strong, 3 mana 1/5 taunter with "+2 attack on your opponent's turn"

Edit: holy cow new Elise is cool.
5 mana 5/5: Battlecry "shuffle an Ungoro pack in your deck".
It is a spell card costing 2 mana with "put 5 random Ungoro cards in your hand".

Yes, it's exactly as it sounds.

[Weimann]

Just to follow up, they said on the Twitch card reveal stream just now that Lightspawn will be an Elemental.

Also had some cool cards.

[Fable Wright]

Warlock quest is discard 6 cards.
Reward is a 5 mana card.
You play it, and get an Enchantment that summons 2 3/2s at the end of your turn, forever. (This card can't be killed)

Laaaaaaaaame. I'm playing Discardlock, and discarding about 3 cards per game is my upper limit, if I get Doomguard. I have to lose my opening turn, get insanely lucky, lose a lot of card advantage, and in return get a 5-mana card that will just get ignored when Jade Druid goes face? Weak, Blizzard. Weak.