Unlabelled Hearthstone - Pavel Learning the new set at SSC

12/16/2017 01:35:00 am
A+ A- Print Email

Hearthstone - Pavel Learning the new set at SSC

Pavel Learning the new set at SSC

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 04:44 AM PST

Pavel lost his sense of professionalism

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 04:37 AM PST

The search bar is broken / bad UX

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 04:16 AM PST

Mulligan 2k17

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 03:14 AM PST

Now that Deathstalker Rexxar will be updated for K&C, Blizzard can finally release the last card of the expansion!

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 01:07 PM PST

TIL: Hovering over the Tavern Brawl Icon does this

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 03:58 AM PST

Probably the next best thing to Quel'Delar.

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 08:06 AM PST

TFW you've just found out that rogue has secrets

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 04:45 AM PST

And the Rage Nobel goes to...

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 05:10 AM PST

That's what I get for playing C'Thun...

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 08:37 AM PST

Kripp & hearthstone mechanics

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 09:59 PM PST

Shaman has ~40% winrate and less than 1% popularity above rank 5. Let's talk about why.

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 05:18 PM PST

In the new expansion, Shaman is performing extremely poorly. Here are some statistics sites:

https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/data-reaper-live-beta/

http://metastats.net/

VS used to show winrates by class (Shaman had 40%), but now they switched to archetypes and Shaman isn't even listed anymore. Metastats also doesn't have Shaman anywhere in tiers 1 through 4.

edit: It looks like Gaara and j4ckiechan brought Shaman to SeatStory. Both of them lost all their games on Shaman, and both were eliminated in the first round

Here are some reasons why Shaman is so bad right now:

Shaman is playing with 1 fewer expansion than other classes

Other than the DK, the Knights of the Frozen Throne Shaman cards might as well not exist because they're unplayable. Blizzard went all in on the Freeze Shaman archetype and then completely discarded it because it's a terrible idea (Shaman only had 1 freeze card to start with)

All the K&C Shaman cards are synergy cards for weak archetypes

If you look at Kobold Librarian, Voidlord, Duskbreaker, Fal'dorei Strider, or Emerald Spellstone, you'll see strong cards that require either no synergy or little synergy from packages that are already strong (like Trap Hunter and Dragon Priest). The cards that support them are cards that you want to play anyways because they're good like Draconid Operative, Gul'dan DK, Crystalweaver, Hunter Traps and Bow, etc.

Now, look at the Shaman cards. They require a LOT of supporting cards to pull of their synergy, for very little pay-off. You have to fill your deck with overload to support Sapphire Spellstone and Snowfury, and the overload cards are mostly not very good.

Shaman draw is really bad

Hunter draw cards used to be a meme, but honestly I think Shaman would gladly exchange its draw cards with Hunter at this point. Shaman has: Manatide, Farsight. Both will draw you one card most of the time. Stitched Tracker would be so much better in Overload Shaman than either of those two cards.

Shaman also can't make good use of auctioneer because they don't have 0 mana spells, unlike Druid and Rogue, and overload is constantly messing up turns

Overload Shaman

I'll quote what Kolento had to say about this archetype after considering making a deck for it: "No."

If you need more to understand why it's bad, watch j4ckiechan's games in SeatStory. He went 0-3 matches and made the ill-advised decision to bring Overload Shaman, which went 0-3 in its games played.

It's a combo deck with no draw and no ramp, so you just sit there pressing hero power and hoping you don't die. The dream is to do Lesser Sapphire Spellstone on an Earth Elemental or a Snowfury Giant with Ancestral Spirit, although doing it with Earth Elemental requires a minor miracle (it has to stick on the board unscathed or you have to get a Far Sight discount on both Earth Elemental and the Spellstone).

However, you have to overload a bunch of times WHILE Spellstone is in hand. You also can't overload on the turn before you do the spellstone combo (unless you use Eternal Sentinel, which adds another combo piece requirement to a deck with low draw), and because most of your cards overload, that basically means you have to do almost nothing on the previous turn. And even if you do get it off on Snowfury, the enemy can just kill you because you don't have taunt. The deck doesn't work.

Other Shaman Archetypes

Token/Evolve Shaman are still about as mediocre as they were before. Evolve got worse because of cards like Dragon Hatcher, and Devolve got better, but the blow to evolve is a lot worse to the deck than the buff to Devolve. They got Corridor Creeper, but that's used in basically every deck, so it doesn't do much to raise the deck up.

Freeze Shaman would need a card on par with the original Rogue Quest to make it viable.

How The Expansion Will Play Out

This isn't our first rodeo. If you've been paying attention to how Hunter was, how Priest was before that, etc., then you know how the pattern will play out.

1) "It's too early to say a class is bad." The class will continue to languish throughout the whole expansion, and its winrate will never improve

2) "There's a unicorn deck out there that's good." It's called a unicorn deck because, like unicorns, it doesn't exist.

3) "The class is alright because I win at rank 12 with it." "This one guy got to legend with the class, so it's fine". If enough people tried autofill decks, one of them would get to legend with an autofill deck. Below rank 4, you can play anything and win (although you'll win less often with a bad deck).

4) Blizzard may nerf some cards into the expansion. If this happens, the position of the top classes will change, but the bottom classes won't, because Blizzard never buffs cards.

Just like in KFT, Shaman will just be the same mediocre Token Shaman deck with some minor additions.

The fact that Blizzard only nerfs cards and refuses to buff cards, and the playerbase puts up with it, is mindboggling to me. It's such a transparently bad design decision that no other digital game developer follows, and they're clearly only doing it to make more money, but somehow the playerbase seems to be under a mass stockholm syndrome.

Expansion after expansion the bottom classes languish for months with no changes. Imagine you're a F2P player who followed the advice of focusing on a single class in the beginning to maximize efficiency, and you choose a dumpster class. You'd be stuck without a good deck for months. That's absurd, and Team 5's completely disregard for even attempting to balance is unparalleled in the game industry.

I'm not saying they need to buff right this instance, but if it plays out like every other expansion (and it will), then they will NEVER buff (outside of bug fixes).

It's not just Shaman right now; Warrior is also probably not so great. It's not a coincidence that these are the classes that got their souls (Hex and Fiery Waraxe) mana-nerfed with no compensation. They also both had very poor cards in the previous expansion.

TL;DR: Shaman is dumpster tier according to the statistics. Evolve Shaman will remain as a mediocre archetype, but overall the class will be dumpster tier for the next 3 months because of Team 5's refusal to buff cards.

submitted by /u/hororo
[link] [comments]

Hey guys. An update.

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 03:03 AM PST

I made a post a few weeks back about my struggles with self-deprecation over my failures in the game.

Since then, I've done a lot of reflection. In the mean time, I fell further into the trap of the game. I spent more and more money and wasted even more of my life in this game. I managed to do well in my finals, but every second not studying was spent on this game.

I want to thank all of you so, so much for the support. It has meant the world to me and I truly appreciate it so very much.

I've since come to the realization and acceptance of my addiction to the game. I have an intense family history of severe addictive tendencies, and I was unable to realize mine because it didn't involve drugs or alcohol. With this realization, I've decided to take the steps to quit Hearthstone.

This is an enormous piece of my life. I have multiple golden heroes, hundreds of dollars sunk into this game, and have lost much of my other parts of my life so I could make more time for this game. This will be an uphill battle, but one that I believe is worth it despite my mind trying to use the "sunk-cost fallacy" against me.

Blizzard, I love your content and believe it to have a beautiful story that I cherish, but your game design specifically preys on the addictive and gambling tendencies of people. I can never bring myself to condemn a company that has brought me so much happiness over the years of mental strain from outside factors, but I sincerely think that there is something deeply wrong with this system in place.

Sorry for the rant. Thank you all for your time and compassion.

TLDR; I have an addiction and am going to try and fix things. Thank you all for your kindness.

submitted by /u/keats-but-no-tb
[link] [comments]

Don't pick stealth let AI do what AI does best

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 06:45 AM PST

A few honest Kobolds and Catacombs Cards

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 08:13 AM PST

To anyone who uses Razer products and has a laggy Hearthstone client

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 01:29 AM PST

If you open Razer Synapse and change the Polling Rate in Performance to 125 Hz instead of 500/1000, it seems to fix any stuttering issues you might have. Thought I'd post this for anybody out there who has the same issue.

submitted by /u/Pissypoopoo
[link] [comments]

What Azari's hero power should really say

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 02:02 PM PST

How is the daily quest issue not gaining more traction?

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 05:15 PM PST

Seriously, it has been since the update I've logged in without issue. Seems I'm not the only one effected, but, to my knowledge, Blizzard hasn't said anything about it.

submitted by /u/rawbrewage
[link] [comments]

Didn't expect to beat Gutmook with spells as Garrosh but it was Millhouse's Wish

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 12:54 AM PST

Uther is real Oprah Winfrey of pyroblasts

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 01:50 PM PST

The most bestest Spellbender in the history of Hearthstone

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 09:38 AM PST

When River Crocolisk would have been actually better.

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 01:13 PM PST

I'm a Top Arena Player; Arena Meta is a Coin Flip

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 02:25 PM PST

Let me first introduce myself; I mainly post on ArenaHS and play under the name "FinalSlayer" on the Americas server. I have made the past 3 Arena leaderboards;

  • 122nd in September
  • 47th in October
  • 13th in November

I mention this partly to give credence to my title, and partly to indicate that I'm not a weaker player complaining about RNG.

Anywho, for me the allure of Arena has always been drafting, mulliganing, and playing optimally. Of calculating and seeing the game on a high level. A big reason I got so good was closely analyzing every single loss, no matter how "unlucky" it might have been, and seeing whether there was a way to improve.

Unfortunately, the newest Arena makes the skill component less relevant, and has reduced a lot of Arena to a coin toss.

Let me explain. In Hearthstone, you might have a choice between play A and play B on a turn. You will weigh the consequences of each, look a turn or two ahead, etc. You will conclude that A might be better 65% of the time and go with that one.

Now? Well, A gets punished by cards X1, Y1, and Z1, and B gets punished by X2, Y2, and Z2. The likelihood of those cards being in your opponent's hand is very similar too, so A and B essentially become the same. A coin flip.

On top of this, there are many snowball cards, random cards you can't play around similar to MC Tech, and cards with interactions very similar to Vicious Fledgeling; you either have an answer or you don't and lose.

Let me note some specific cards and interactions very unhealthy for the Arena meta;

  • Hunter being the best class and a slew of Hunter-Hunter mirrors.

I wrote about this in a topic on ArenaHS; https://www.reddit.com/r/ArenaHS/comments/7j71wa/hunter_mirrors_suck/

"I love the Hunter class, which I've played the most of in Constructed, including to Legend, and have always liked in Arena, despite the inconsistency. However, in my last two runs, both Hunters, once I got to 7 wins, I proceeded to play 3 straight Hunter mirrors in a row.

And in every game except one, the winner was decided very easily. Namely, the person going first. Most of the time, the Hunter going second, no matter how powerful their deck was, was completely helpless.

In fact, in one game, I went first, had a lousy draw, AND made a critical misplay...and I still won against an insane Hunter deck with at least 2 Call of the Wilds.

To a lesser extent, this is a problem with classes going against Hunter, too. Go second? Prepare for a forced loss.

Obviously, I don't need to elucidate on why having games at 7+ wins decided by coin flips when Hunter is involved (which is a lot of the time now) is bad."

  • Dragonslayer

Normally, a decent 3-drop, nothing more, a la MC Tech. But occasionally, it just wins you the game outright, like if your opponent just played a Cobalt in a fairly even position. Yes, Cobalt has a bad effect on Arena. But if this was meant to be a solution, it's the worst imaginable one. Cobalt will STILL be an awful snowball card. But then, some portion of the time, the other opponent will get a free win by playing Dragonslayer.

At least MC Tech sometimes only took over something worthless. Dragonslayer is even worse than a Golakka Crawler during the Un'Goro meta, since it targets a tribe with stronger cards useful across more classes.

Again, there is no way to play around this. If a Cobalt is the best play, you do it. But now, you might just randomly lose.

It's a very banal form of Rock Paper Scissors.

  • Stoneskin Basilisk

The interaction here is very similar to another 3-drop Beast, the now-banned Vicious Fledgling. Opponent has an answer? The game continues. Opponent doesn't have an answer? You probably win. Now, the differences are that

  1. It's a LOT more difficult to efficiently remove Basilisk than it is Fledgling.
  2. Basilisk doesn't snowball and win the game itself, in such an obvious highlight reel manner as Fledgling does. It just gives you an enormous advantage.

Think about it. If Basilisk kills your 3-drop and then prevents you playing your 4-drop, or kills the 4-drop too, that's Envenom Weapon territory MINUS the face damage.

And Envenom Weapon has been one of the strongest cards in Arena since it was released for Un'Goro, a major reason Rogue was #1 or #2 for two whole expansions. There are more counters to Basilisk, yes, but the non-ping hero power classes often don't them.

Again, this card just randomly wins the game against you no matter how optimally you play.

  • Dragon's Fury

Where to begin? Considering the plethora of full-board wipes Mage has at 6 mana and 7 mana, did they need one at 5 mana, too? One that is often a better version of Dragonfire Potion at one less mana?

That's irritating enough, leading to the old Un'Goro situation of "pretend Mage doesn't have any spells, play around nothing, do as much face damage before your board gets wiped". That's a brain-dead, coin flip playstyle I've never enjoyed.

But oh, there is even more randomness cooked in here! Often, as a Mage, you will have a bunch of big spells, but you might also have a Primordial Glyph or Frostbolt. Obviously, if you have an 80% chance of a powerful board clear, you go for it.

But then, you just lose 20% of the time. Yet another coin flip you have to take.

  • Playing around Explosive Shot versus Crushing Walls

These two cards have to be played around in diametrically oppposite ways. The first involves putting the least valuable in the middle, and the second involves putting the most valuable in the middle.

Which card is more likely? Well, one is a rare from a Classic set and the other is an epic from this expansion, so the offering rates are similar. However, one is more likely to pick Explosive Shot, often the best rare offered, over Crushing Walls, which has to compete against Call of the Wild. (The latter of which has seen a huge offering bonus from the "microadjustments", naturally not told to us by Blizzard)

Is there a way to make a read on whether an opponent has Explosive Shot versus Crushing Walls? No. They're both late game board clears. You would play similarly with either in hand.

So again, it's a coin flip. Play around Crushing Walls and you lose to Explosive Shot. Play around Explosive Shot and lose to Crushing Walls.

There are many other similar interactions, even if they're not as bad or game-changing. Like all the cards that summon random minions of certain costs, with some of those costs being random. (Spiteful Summoner)

And don't get me started on giving Paladin, already a good early aggro class, another coin flip forced win scenario with Unidentified Maul and Call to Arms.

I get the same feeling now playing against any class in Kobolds and Catacombs that I did playing against Mage in Un'Goro.

Namely, that I could be wiped out by some random nonsense at any moment, and there is absolutely no way to strategize or plan against it.

My mistakes or good plays don't matter much. My opponent's mistakes or good plays don't matter much. It's just a coin flip.

Hunter going first against me? Prepare for a loss. Opponent played Cobalt and I have Dragonslayer? Okay, I win.

Wins feel hollow and losses are annoying. It makes me want to stop playing Arena, a game mode I have loved and invested so much time and energy into.

Focus- What say you guys?

submitted by /u/DioriteDragon
[link] [comments]

Zetalot priest OTK

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 07:43 AM PST

Is anybody else as pleased as I am that Dungeon Run is Wild format?

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 08:56 AM PST

I think this was a good decision and opens up lots of opportunities for interesting gameplay. The mode itself is a lot of fun, but I can't help feeling this is complimented by access to all sets.

submitted by /u/MCPanda6969
[link] [comments]

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Games26 © 2015. All Rights Reserved.
Powered By Blogger
Powered by Blogger.