Yes, very exciting! Between DH in 2020, the introduction of the Core Set in 2021, and now this, it seems like they're aiming for one "large" expansion each year. As we slowly creep towards the second decade of Hearthstone, game is still going very strong.
And I love that they managed to get one of the classic Lich King cards in there as an actual Death Knight class card - Obliterate!
I think Theotar is quite a bit different from Illucia. There was really nothing you could do about the latter, since your whole hand got taken. Theotar can absolutely be played around in the deck stage - either have multiple win conditions, or have your sole win condition be malleable enough that taking out one card doesn't destroy it.
That type of disruption is healthy for the game IMO. It prevents so-called "solitaire" decks forming, where the opponent can't really interact with you because it's all about gathering the perfect combo in your hand.
I enjoy opening the first 60-80 packs slowly, but once you're down to only needing to open Legendaries and the last few Epics, it starts to get a bit arduous opening them one at a time. I've been saving all the packs from the various skin bundles and have got both pre-orders, so that's over 200 packs. It definitely starts to take a toll towards the end.
So the obvious card to pair with this is Serpent Wig. This isn't a naga, but it boosts every use of Serpent Wig to a +2/+2 at minimum - its first use on a minion will likely do much more. Pelagos immediately becomes an 8/8 for 4-mana. In the late game, you can power up Blademaster Samuro to clear almost any board.
I think that part is just calling back to Ice Block, a card used to save you from fatal damage. This is a literal new ice block, albeit one that needs to be timed more carefully.
I really hope they add the "random hero skin" option soon, particularly since it seems to already be active in Mercenaries, where the game picks a random portrait for enemy mercs in PvE. I swap them over from time-to-time, but there are 20+ for each class now. It'd be nice to get use out of them all.
I love the solo content, whether it be adventures, dungeon runs or these books. I'm curious as to what makes this one replayable though. Presumably the characters have different decks and hero powers, but I wonder if there's more.
Nothing was changed. It was announced from the start that four of the months would give you a Legendary, and three would give you Standard packs. Additionally, if you happen to have all of the Standard legendaries, these could potentially be more useful. You can save them for the next expansion, so it's fifteen cards vs. the 400 dust you get from a dupe Legendary.
Keen eye, I didn't consider that reading. If that's the mechanic, and the other class cards synergise around generating a bunch of them like you and Nirast suggest, then I'd definitely reconsider this card. Could definitely be a worthy inclusion in a control/burn deck built around curses, if the other cards are good, of course.
Warlock already has Full-Blown Evil though, which is way more versatile, and deals with most boards without hitting your side, if that's relevant. And the curse is hardly anything. Your opponent is easily going to have 2-mana to spare before the curse builds up to any significant damage.
You generally overload as long as the spell goes off. Trick Totem overloads you, Stormcaller Bru'kan overloads you twice, so I wouldn't think casting a copy would prevent it.
Even if you overload by five mana from the spells, you'll probably be running two copies of Overdraft, so it's possible you play those three spells again the following turn, even.
It also presumably doesn't use the cards up, since it says it "casts a copy". If you've got three castable spells in hand, you effectively draw three cards.
The amount of card draw in the game right now is the biggest thing. The more card draw, the more matches begin to feel samey, as you can always guarantee you'll draw the cards you need, usually at the right time. Hearthstone has a smaller deck size than most CCG/TCGs, so card draw has a much bigger impact here.
Or, as is my case, you like to play around with every class so your wins get spread out a lot. Been playing since Vanilla and only just got my first golden hero last week.
I wonder if they do any real testing anymore before sending cards out into the wild, or whether they entirely rely on the data they get in the weeks to follow. I know balancing a game is not at all an easy task, but it's not a crazy, unforeseen combo we're talking about here. It was basic buff cards on the Trogg, which was the only thing you would reasonably do with it.
I've been playing Mercs at a pretty relaxed pace since launch week, so I only have a few Rare mercs maxed out. Most of the coins are useful to me, so I've still been opening my packs. But for sure, once I have about half my mercs maxed, I'll stop opening them until new content drops. Hopefully they'll have announced what they plan to do about excess coins by then.
I imagine it follows the same rules as completing quests - you have to make it to turn 10 (lol) or have one player go down to 15 health before it counts.
The Valeera bundle is definitely overpriced. Twenty minutes before the patch went live, I bought the "ten Mercs packs and a random Legendary" for $10, and waited to log on after the patch was active. Since Valeera is the only Legendary I'm missing, I got her. So it's literally double the price for an additional 150 Valeera coins.
Yes, very exciting! Between DH in 2020, the introduction of the Core Set in 2021, and now this, it seems like they're aiming for one "large" expansion each year. As we slowly creep towards the second decade of Hearthstone, game is still going very strong.
And I love that they managed to get one of the classic Lich King cards in there as an actual Death Knight class card - Obliterate!
I think Theotar is quite a bit different from Illucia. There was really nothing you could do about the latter, since your whole hand got taken. Theotar can absolutely be played around in the deck stage - either have multiple win conditions, or have your sole win condition be malleable enough that taking out one card doesn't destroy it.
That type of disruption is healthy for the game IMO. It prevents so-called "solitaire" decks forming, where the opponent can't really interact with you because it's all about gathering the perfect combo in your hand.
I enjoy opening the first 60-80 packs slowly, but once you're down to only needing to open Legendaries and the last few Epics, it starts to get a bit arduous opening them one at a time. I've been saving all the packs from the various skin bundles and have got both pre-orders, so that's over 200 packs. It definitely starts to take a toll towards the end.
So the obvious card to pair with this is Serpent Wig. This isn't a naga, but it boosts every use of Serpent Wig to a +2/+2 at minimum - its first use on a minion will likely do much more. Pelagos immediately becomes an 8/8 for 4-mana. In the late game, you can power up Blademaster Samuro to clear almost any board.
Maybe combo it with Shadow Word: Devour to make a giant taunt?
I think that part is just calling back to Ice Block, a card used to save you from fatal damage. This is a literal new ice block, albeit one that needs to be timed more carefully.
I really hope they add the "random hero skin" option soon, particularly since it seems to already be active in Mercenaries, where the game picks a random portrait for enemy mercs in PvE. I swap them over from time-to-time, but there are 20+ for each class now. It'd be nice to get use out of them all.
I love the solo content, whether it be adventures, dungeon runs or these books. I'm curious as to what makes this one replayable though. Presumably the characters have different decks and hero powers, but I wonder if there's more.
Nothing was changed. It was announced from the start that four of the months would give you a Legendary, and three would give you Standard packs. Additionally, if you happen to have all of the Standard legendaries, these could potentially be more useful. You can save them for the next expansion, so it's fifteen cards vs. the 400 dust you get from a dupe Legendary.
Keen eye, I didn't consider that reading. If that's the mechanic, and the other class cards synergise around generating a bunch of them like you and Nirast suggest, then I'd definitely reconsider this card. Could definitely be a worthy inclusion in a control/burn deck built around curses, if the other cards are good, of course.
Warlock already has Full-Blown Evil though, which is way more versatile, and deals with most boards without hitting your side, if that's relevant. And the curse is hardly anything. Your opponent is easily going to have 2-mana to spare before the curse builds up to any significant damage.
You generally overload as long as the spell goes off. Trick Totem overloads you, Stormcaller Bru'kan overloads you twice, so I wouldn't think casting a copy would prevent it.
Even if you overload by five mana from the spells, you'll probably be running two copies of Overdraft, so it's possible you play those three spells again the following turn, even.
It also presumably doesn't use the cards up, since it says it "casts a copy". If you've got three castable spells in hand, you effectively draw three cards.
Ah, but now you can't silence the minion with Defias Cleaner!
The amount of card draw in the game right now is the biggest thing. The more card draw, the more matches begin to feel samey, as you can always guarantee you'll draw the cards you need, usually at the right time. Hearthstone has a smaller deck size than most CCG/TCGs, so card draw has a much bigger impact here.
Or, as is my case, you like to play around with every class so your wins get spread out a lot. Been playing since Vanilla and only just got my first golden hero last week.
I wonder if they do any real testing anymore before sending cards out into the wild, or whether they entirely rely on the data they get in the weeks to follow. I know balancing a game is not at all an easy task, but it's not a crazy, unforeseen combo we're talking about here. It was basic buff cards on the Trogg, which was the only thing you would reasonably do with it.
Was every minion in your deck still cheaper than Vanndar, even with their cost reduced by three?
I've been playing Mercs at a pretty relaxed pace since launch week, so I only have a few Rare mercs maxed out. Most of the coins are useful to me, so I've still been opening my packs. But for sure, once I have about half my mercs maxed, I'll stop opening them until new content drops. Hopefully they'll have announced what they plan to do about excess coins by then.
I imagine it follows the same rules as completing quests - you have to make it to turn 10 (lol) or have one player go down to 15 health before it counts.
The Valeera bundle is definitely overpriced. Twenty minutes before the patch went live, I bought the "ten Mercs packs and a random Legendary" for $10, and waited to log on after the patch was active. Since Valeera is the only Legendary I'm missing, I got her. So it's literally double the price for an additional 150 Valeera coins.