Putting the cost of Diamond Drek’Thar aside, it’s still a strange choice. Most players already have an uncraftable version of the card, and in just one year he’ll rotate out of Standard. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the first paid Diamond card to be a brand new one right at the start of a year?
That’s a damn shame. I know that the player base was turning against Expeditions, but I really loved them. It was exactly what I want from a draft mode, and what Hearthstone’s Arena failed to provide: A streamlined drafting experience that helped you make a decent deck while still giving you real choices, the ability to improve your deck throughout the run, and enough free entries to keep me coming back. I think the free entries are why you could meet players of all skill levels in Expeditions. Unlike Arena, where the only players were dedicated ones who could crush me, Expeditions had good competition among normal players.
I wonder why I even bother with other decks. The Nozdormu Face Hunter that I haven’t changed since Forged in the Barrens just won me three ladder games for the second month in a row. One of them was against a Nozdormu opponent. Best of all, all three were 40 Honor kills.
My thinking is along the same lines as Flux’s: They shouldn’t give specific cards to everyone. What does “epic” mean if everyone got it for free? What does a cosmetic on a card mean if you know it’s universal?
I probably go farther than Flux, because I would avoid ANY pre-planned card. All awards from the track and events should be for random cards, or the resources to let the players choose a card. (Dust or a new resource to add cosmetics of your choosing.) They should make several Diamond cards with each set, and when you earn a Diamond card you choose which one you want. And they shouldn’t sell mini-sets directly. Instead, offer a one-time deal that gives you a certain number of legendaries, epics, etc from the latest set in general (with duplicate protection).
If they keep giving out specific cards, they’re going to keep having this problem. And if they think there’s an option other than giving full dust refunds or letting some players feel bad, then they must not understand the system they’ve created.
Edit: I’m curious about why I’m being downvoted? I don’t think I’m saying anything fundamentally different than the other comments here.
Nice! I opened both Drek’Thar and Korrak in my first 12 packs, and it was definitely a feelbad moment.
I’m not sure if it will help me much, though. I’m not buying the pass unless Bobby Kotick is fired or I see other real progress, and I doubt this will happen in the next week. And Drek’Thar turned out to be key to multiple decks that I want to play now.
I should have looked here first. I went straight to Vicious Syndicate, and I really wanted to play a Secret Hunter deck, so I crafted the Hunter Quest to use theirs. But it just felt like another boring Quest Hunter deck.
Old Guardian’s Secret Hunter is exactly what I wanted, and it looks like it’ll be strong enough to work while everyone figures things out in these early days.
Oh My Yogg is easy to play around because it’s one of two Secrets that a Paladin might cast. Hunter will (hopefully) end up in a place with 3 or 4 viable secrets. If you keep casting 1-mana spells to test for it, you’ll use a lot of spells inefficiently.
I agree with you that it can whiff, but I’m ok with that. Part of the risk of Secrets is that they might whiff or take too long to trigger, and the payoff is that other times you get a lot of value from them. I like this one mainly because it fleshes out the Hunter’s Secret package in general. Most of their secrets do damage and/or punish you for attacking. This one disrupts your turn, which is something new to consider.
Its fine on its own, but I think Dun Baldar Bunker is a better card, and there's only so many secrets you can put into your deck.
That’s largely true, but if you have enough cards that pull the secrets out for you, then you can handle having a lot more than normal. And while only a couple Hunter secrets are meta, most of them are still good. Definitely good enough to support a deck that cheats them out cheaply and thins itself in the process.
I’m looking forward to trying this out. And while I’m not sure about the viability of the deck NOW, I’m sure this and Dun Baldar Bunker will be part of a T1 deck sometime in the next year.
It’s “fair” because those other offers set our expectations. If packs in the store normally cost 3 for a dollar, we’d think that price was too much and wonder why we didn’t have more deals like the 5-for-a-dollar welcome deal.
Fair enough. If you are willing to pay for cards, the event pass will give you 2 Platinum Chests, 3 Diamond Chests, and I believe the Prismatic Jayce will come with a Jayce card. And though I haven’t tested it in this event yet, in the last event any duplicate cards you drew from chests gave you their FULL shard value instead of the normal reduced value. All of that is a decent deal for the cost.
(Maybe you don’t care about buying cards either. We get so much for free that a lot of players aren’t. But if you’re not interested in cards or cosmetics, then I’m not sure what deals the game could offer you.)
Putting the cost of Diamond Drek’Thar aside, it’s still a strange choice. Most players already have an uncraftable version of the card, and in just one year he’ll rotate out of Standard. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the first paid Diamond card to be a brand new one right at the start of a year?
That’s a damn shame. I know that the player base was turning against Expeditions, but I really loved them. It was exactly what I want from a draft mode, and what Hearthstone’s Arena failed to provide: A streamlined drafting experience that helped you make a decent deck while still giving you real choices, the ability to improve your deck throughout the run, and enough free entries to keep me coming back. I think the free entries are why you could meet players of all skill levels in Expeditions. Unlike Arena, where the only players were dedicated ones who could crush me, Expeditions had good competition among normal players.
The part that interests me is that his ability is on Summon. An event that is potentially so game-changing and swingy would normally be on Play.
That may not be too important, given that there aren’t a lot of ways to randomly summon a 9-cost unit. Still, it could lead to some big plays.
Did you copy the wrong deck in for the Pantheon and Shyvana one?
I wonder why I even bother with other decks. The Nozdormu Face Hunter that I haven’t changed since Forged in the Barrens just won me three ladder games for the second month in a row. One of them was against a Nozdormu opponent. Best of all, all three were 40 Honor kills.
My thinking is along the same lines as Flux’s: They shouldn’t give specific cards to everyone. What does “epic” mean if everyone got it for free? What does a cosmetic on a card mean if you know it’s universal?
I probably go farther than Flux, because I would avoid ANY pre-planned card. All awards from the track and events should be for random cards, or the resources to let the players choose a card. (Dust or a new resource to add cosmetics of your choosing.) They should make several Diamond cards with each set, and when you earn a Diamond card you choose which one you want. And they shouldn’t sell mini-sets directly. Instead, offer a one-time deal that gives you a certain number of legendaries, epics, etc from the latest set in general (with duplicate protection).
If they keep giving out specific cards, they’re going to keep having this problem. And if they think there’s an option other than giving full dust refunds or letting some players feel bad, then they must not understand the system they’ve created.
Edit: I’m curious about why I’m being downvoted? I don’t think I’m saying anything fundamentally different than the other comments here.
Nice! I opened both Drek’Thar and Korrak in my first 12 packs, and it was definitely a feelbad moment.
I’m not sure if it will help me much, though. I’m not buying the pass unless Bobby Kotick is fired or I see other real progress, and I doubt this will happen in the next week. And Drek’Thar turned out to be key to multiple decks that I want to play now.
Oh no. The fairy tale brawl was one of the most-played of the year. They think it was a success.
yes
Yes. Most of my achievements are progressing as they should, but my count of Honorable Kills still stands at 0.
I should have looked here first. I went straight to Vicious Syndicate, and I really wanted to play a Secret Hunter deck, so I crafted the Hunter Quest to use theirs. But it just felt like another boring Quest Hunter deck.
Old Guardian’s Secret Hunter is exactly what I wanted, and it looks like it’ll be strong enough to work while everyone figures things out in these early days.
And if you recall it with the God-Willow Seedling, you’ll spam the board with all sorts of cheap units!
Flux, has there been any progress in making these card backs show up when the page is viewed on an iPhone?
Your last point may be the most important one. Losing your turn can be a lot more devastating against a Hunter than it is against a Paladin or Mage.
Oh My Yogg is easy to play around because it’s one of two Secrets that a Paladin might cast. Hunter will (hopefully) end up in a place with 3 or 4 viable secrets. If you keep casting 1-mana spells to test for it, you’ll use a lot of spells inefficiently.
I agree with you that it can whiff, but I’m ok with that. Part of the risk of Secrets is that they might whiff or take too long to trigger, and the payoff is that other times you get a lot of value from them. I like this one mainly because it fleshes out the Hunter’s Secret package in general. Most of their secrets do damage and/or punish you for attacking. This one disrupts your turn, which is something new to consider.
That’s largely true, but if you have enough cards that pull the secrets out for you, then you can handle having a lot more than normal. And while only a couple Hunter secrets are meta, most of them are still good. Definitely good enough to support a deck that cheats them out cheaply and thins itself in the process.
I’m looking forward to trying this out. And while I’m not sure about the viability of the deck NOW, I’m sure this and Dun Baldar Bunker will be part of a T1 deck sometime in the next year.
The ice creams are the Mercenary characters! I hope this is a canonical part of their story.
Any chance of reviewing these games here? I know it’s only tangentially related to LoR, but I’m curious and not ready to buy them myself.
It’s “fair” because those other offers set our expectations. If packs in the store normally cost 3 for a dollar, we’d think that price was too much and wonder why we didn’t have more deals like the 5-for-a-dollar welcome deal.
Fair enough. If you are willing to pay for cards, the event pass will give you 2 Platinum Chests, 3 Diamond Chests, and I believe the Prismatic Jayce will come with a Jayce card. And though I haven’t tested it in this event yet, in the last event any duplicate cards you drew from chests gave you their FULL shard value instead of the normal reduced value. All of that is a decent deal for the cost.
(Maybe you don’t care about buying cards either. We get so much for free that a lot of players aren’t. But if you’re not interested in cards or cosmetics, then I’m not sure what deals the game could offer you.)