My hunch is that just like how he is in LoL, Aphelios may seem confusing at first, but players will be able to get used to his weapons and use him with skill.
Reminds me of a hilarious LoL story I have: one time I played a One For All match and everyone voted for a different champion each. One guy voted for Aphelios and he was picked at random so we were all stuck with him. Since Aphelios has a completely different UI, we all struggled to play him and the enemy team (5 Veigars) beat us easily. Hopefully the same doesn't happen when he gets into LoR!
Here's hoping that they stick to their promises and keep up the progress. It won't be easy to fix the damage that has already been done to the community, but if they keep it up, the rewards may actually be enjoyable again.
You make some good points. When content that was once easy to get now has to be obtained by paying up, it loses its accessibility. So yeah, I can see why this is such a big deal. I was trying to cover a more reasonable approach by looking at both sides to the argument. There are people who are defending the new system by saying it's better than the one we had before, but from what I can see they're just insulting the complainers and making themselves look bad.
I'm posting this on Out of Cards, since this is the most decent and civil Hearthstone-related forum right now, and opinions about controversial subjects like this will probably be kicked on the floor.
Hearthstone's new reward system has left the playerbase up in arms, since gold and experience became harder to get and are rewarded in smaller quantities, and the Battle Pass is a scam. Forcing people to pay up only to get less rewards than they were promised. I've seen people against it, and some defending it. But as for me, the reward system has not hindered my enjoyment of the game, mainly because I don't play for the rewards anyway. I usually play Hearthstone to try out cards and witness all sorts of crazy RNG. But even with the new system ruining things, there are enough alternatives to keep Hearthstone enjoyable. Card packs are more expensive? No problem, I've got enough cards in my collection and even have plenty of legendaries. Singleplayer isn't appealing anymore? No problem, there are lots of single-player adventures to keep me occupied. Dalaran Heist and Tombs of Terror in particular, since the RNG starting decks mean you can try out any card in the game, even for a moment, without having to spend currency on packs. And besides, even Hearthstone's current gameplay is disappointing there's always custom cards in Hearthcards and the Out of Cards fanmade content, so one can still dream.
Ever since the system was implemented, I've seen AFK farmers in Battlegrounds. They boot up Battlegrounds and do nothing all game because they'll just gain rewards anyway. One time I was in a Battlegrounds match (playing as Jaraxxus) in which EVERYONE ELSE was AFK. I just played the match normally and had fun building my warband and defeating my opponents one hit at a time. And upon winning that match, I had just learned an important life lesson. I started seeing this situation in a whole new perspective.
I realized that generosity was enough to keep Hearthstone satisfying for me. Playing for fun rather than rewards made me feel genuine satisfaction, because for me winning or at least having a worthwhile match was the reward I needed. Ask yourself this: Were you truly satisfied by Hearthstone's rewards before the new system? Why do you want rewards in Hearthstone anyway? And finally the biggest question: It's only a game, why you heff to be mad? Okay, just kidding. The main point is: greed begets greed. The temporary elatement from a materialistic desire to get rewards in a game, this is what many monetized games exploit in their consumers. (EA is a notable offender.) They know that players will pay them to get more cool content, and they will make more profit. Even if you complain about rewards being harder to work for, you're probably just playing Hearthstone only for the rewards anyway. I'm not trying to riff on the people whose hate towards the system is understandable, nor force my opinions on everyone. I'm just talking about my own experience with finding satisfaction with the game anyway without paying a dollar.
Besides, blaming "Blizzard" and having them not respond is kinda... yeah. The players' rage is directed at this hivemind of an evil corporate game development company who swindles them out of their money. (Just don't pay them...) But like all companies, Blizzard is composed of employees who make bad decisions, but are still human. Are we going to forget about the developers who have made Hearthstone a better place for everyone? Ben Brode, Hadidjah Chamberlin, Dave Kosak, John McIntyre, etc. Don't put them under the blanket blame since they've only made the game more entertaining. Look at all the stories that they've come up with: the League of Explorers, Rafaam and the League of EVIL, the Book of Heroes... do the rewards undermine all of the adventures and events that have turned Hearthstone into a world of its own?
The image is broken, but I found out that it was meant to be Twilight Runner. I couldn't think of anything funny so far, but this one is still getting nerfed to 8 mana for sure.
How fitting that this review of the Shadow Isles was made on Halloween. Speaking of which, the trailer for the Ruined King game was released on the same day, which combined with the poetic teaser gives undeniable proof that the Ruined King himself will finally get a major role.
I'm not trying to sound like a toxic hater back here, but a lot of people believe the same. I hardly see anyone who likes these K/DA events other than the target demographic.
I think the reason why everyone hates the recent K/DA events is because of Riot starting to focus more than K/DA than the League of Legends lore since Seraphine's debut. League of Legends already has deep, complex lore and all of a sudden it gets shoved aside because "hey, we should appeal to the k-pop fans" and they drop everything to appeal to them, including making a pop star champion. They focus more on cashing in to the trend than considering the ramifications of picking up the pieces, such as having no idea what to do when bringing Seraphine to the Runeterra canon so they just rushed her lore and left lots of plot holes.
Even worse, they made a Twitter account for Seraphine (the one in the K/DA AU, not the canon) so they could promote her K/DA Seraphine skin set. They recently came under fire by making posts of her anxiety, which got a lot of backlash since while it would be relatable for a real person, Seraphine is a fictional character owned by a large company and all of that effort will ultimately go towards selling her skin (and as I said before, she isn't the canon version to begin with).
I'm just rambling now, but the fact that Riot is putting so much effort in glorifying the K/DAverse shows how they're so eager to cash in to a demographic that they make ill-thought choices they don't foresee the consequences of.
I tried to do all 3 at once, but I see that someone else beat me to it. Oh well, this one is a Priest card with Deathrattle (and potentially silence) synergy.
Most Hearthstone characters have uncredited, unconfirmed voice actors, but I bet everyone's probably speculating who they are. Some well-known characters are already credited in WoW and their voices are very similar in Hearthstone, others have their VA listed on other sites. Here are my guesses (NOT confirmations) on the unconfirmed voice actors, which I assumed from comparing characters with known VAs in Hearthstone or notable roles in other media.
Bittertide Hydra: Lani Minella (voice of Golakka Crawler) She was credited in the Un'Goro leak under several animalistic voices like Golakka Crawler, "Pterodactyl" (there are several in the expansion) and "Hydra". Bittertide is the only hydra in the expansion and sounds a lot like Golakka.
Seaforium Bomber: Nika Futterman (Luna Loud from The Loud House, Sticks the Badger from Sonic Boom)
I'm probably the only one who thinks this, but I didn't see Lulu's old art as being crazy and manic (and therefore retaining enough of her personality to justify her facial expression). Instead I saw it as being completely lifeless, as if she was wearing a mask, which only made it even creepier for me. But who am I to complain? After all...
It's hard to find good art of these races due to them being either new or obscure. The WoW TCG does have this picture of a bunch of angry furbolgs. I used it because I was desperate.
This is my first submission. I'm really excited to participate!
After seeing the artwork for Demonic Thanatos and how much it looks like a nathrezim, I made a redeemed nathrezim like Lothraxion as a Warlock/Paladin card. Karaak, Legion Redeemer can mitigate the damage of self-damage Warlock and give more options for self-heal Paladin (such as Rastakhan).
Glad they nerfed Kael'thas, this will slow down all of those Big Spell Druid combos. Illucia was a fun card, but I haven't played her that much so I'm not sure what to think of her nerf at the moment.
But how come they fixed only some bugs, and not other larger bugs like Lorekeeper Polkelt's animation shuffling the wrong deck, Ras Frostwhisper being too big and Keymaster Alabaster having NO ENTRY MUSIC? Seems Blizzard has their priorities in order.
My hunch is that just like how he is in LoL, Aphelios may seem confusing at first, but players will be able to get used to his weapons and use him with skill.
Reminds me of a hilarious LoL story I have: one time I played a One For All match and everyone voted for a different champion each. One guy voted for Aphelios and he was picked at random so we were all stuck with him. Since Aphelios has a completely different UI, we all struggled to play him and the enemy team (5 Veigars) beat us easily. Hopefully the same doesn't happen when he gets into LoR!
Here's hoping that they stick to their promises and keep up the progress. It won't be easy to fix the damage that has already been done to the community, but if they keep it up, the rewards may actually be enjoyable again.
You make some good points. When content that was once easy to get now has to be obtained by paying up, it loses its accessibility. So yeah, I can see why this is such a big deal. I was trying to cover a more reasonable approach by looking at both sides to the argument. There are people who are defending the new system by saying it's better than the one we had before, but from what I can see they're just insulting the complainers and making themselves look bad.
I'm posting this on Out of Cards, since this is the most decent and civil Hearthstone-related forum right now, and opinions about controversial subjects like this will probably be kicked on the floor.
Hearthstone's new reward system has left the playerbase up in arms, since gold and experience became harder to get and are rewarded in smaller quantities, and the Battle Pass is a scam. Forcing people to pay up only to get less rewards than they were promised. I've seen people against it, and some defending it. But as for me, the reward system has not hindered my enjoyment of the game, mainly because I don't play for the rewards anyway. I usually play Hearthstone to try out cards and witness all sorts of crazy RNG. But even with the new system ruining things, there are enough alternatives to keep Hearthstone enjoyable. Card packs are more expensive? No problem, I've got enough cards in my collection and even have plenty of legendaries. Singleplayer isn't appealing anymore? No problem, there are lots of single-player adventures to keep me occupied. Dalaran Heist and Tombs of Terror in particular, since the RNG starting decks mean you can try out any card in the game, even for a moment, without having to spend currency on packs. And besides, even Hearthstone's current gameplay is disappointing there's always custom cards in Hearthcards and the Out of Cards fanmade content, so one can still dream.
Ever since the system was implemented, I've seen AFK farmers in Battlegrounds. They boot up Battlegrounds and do nothing all game because they'll just gain rewards anyway. One time I was in a Battlegrounds match (playing as Jaraxxus) in which EVERYONE ELSE was AFK. I just played the match normally and had fun building my warband and defeating my opponents one hit at a time. And upon winning that match, I had just learned an important life lesson. I started seeing this situation in a whole new perspective.
I realized that generosity was enough to keep Hearthstone satisfying for me. Playing for fun rather than rewards made me feel genuine satisfaction, because for me winning or at least having a worthwhile match was the reward I needed. Ask yourself this: Were you truly satisfied by Hearthstone's rewards before the new system? Why do you want rewards in Hearthstone anyway? And finally the biggest question: It's only a game, why you heff to be mad? Okay, just kidding. The main point is: greed begets greed. The temporary elatement from a materialistic desire to get rewards in a game, this is what many monetized games exploit in their consumers. (EA is a notable offender.) They know that players will pay them to get more cool content, and they will make more profit. Even if you complain about rewards being harder to work for, you're probably just playing Hearthstone only for the rewards anyway. I'm not trying to riff on the people whose hate towards the system is understandable, nor force my opinions on everyone. I'm just talking about my own experience with finding satisfaction with the game anyway without paying a dollar.
Besides, blaming "Blizzard" and having them not respond is kinda... yeah. The players' rage is directed at this hivemind of an evil corporate game development company who swindles them out of their money. (Just don't pay them...) But like all companies, Blizzard is composed of employees who make bad decisions, but are still human. Are we going to forget about the developers who have made Hearthstone a better place for everyone? Ben Brode, Hadidjah Chamberlin, Dave Kosak, John McIntyre, etc. Don't put them under the blanket blame since they've only made the game more entertaining. Look at all the stories that they've come up with: the League of Explorers, Rafaam and the League of EVIL, the Book of Heroes... do the rewards undermine all of the adventures and events that have turned Hearthstone into a world of its own?
The new reward system in a nutshell
Gain 8 Armor. Summon Hir'eek, the Bat.
Gonna run it with this guy just for the memez.
The image is broken, but I found out that it was meant to be Twilight Runner. I couldn't think of anything funny so far, but this one is still getting nerfed to 8 mana for sure.
Next:
How fitting that this review of the Shadow Isles was made on Halloween. Speaking of which, the trailer for the Ruined King game was released on the same day, which combined with the poetic teaser gives undeniable proof that the Ruined King himself will finally get a major role.
I'm not trying to sound like a toxic hater back here, but a lot of people believe the same. I hardly see anyone who likes these K/DA events other than the target demographic.
I think the reason why everyone hates the recent K/DA events is because of Riot starting to focus more than K/DA than the League of Legends lore since Seraphine's debut. League of Legends already has deep, complex lore and all of a sudden it gets shoved aside because "hey, we should appeal to the k-pop fans" and they drop everything to appeal to them, including making a pop star champion. They focus more on cashing in to the trend than considering the ramifications of picking up the pieces, such as having no idea what to do when bringing Seraphine to the Runeterra canon so they just rushed her lore and left lots of plot holes.
Even worse, they made a Twitter account for Seraphine (the one in the K/DA AU, not the canon) so they could promote her K/DA Seraphine skin set. They recently came under fire by making posts of her anxiety, which got a lot of backlash since while it would be relatable for a real person, Seraphine is a fictional character owned by a large company and all of that effort will ultimately go towards selling her skin (and as I said before, she isn't the canon version to begin with).
I'm just rambling now, but the fact that Riot is putting so much effort in glorifying the K/DAverse shows how they're so eager to cash in to a demographic that they make ill-thought choices they don't foresee the consequences of.
I tried to do all 3 at once, but I see that someone else beat me to it. Oh well, this one is a Priest card with Deathrattle (and potentially silence) synergy.
Source: https://hearthcards.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/76/b4/4a/9c/76b44a9c.png
Most Hearthstone characters have uncredited, unconfirmed voice actors, but I bet everyone's probably speculating who they are. Some well-known characters are already credited in WoW and their voices are very similar in Hearthstone, others have their VA listed on other sites. Here are my guesses (NOT confirmations) on the unconfirmed voice actors, which I assumed from comparing characters with known VAs in Hearthstone or notable roles in other media.
Abusive Sergeant: Jamieson Price (voice of Lord Jaraxxus)
Warsong Commander: Melodee Spevack (voice of Ichoron, as well as Garudamon from Digimon)
Bittertide Hydra: Lani Minella (voice of Golakka Crawler) She was credited in the Un'Goro leak under several animalistic voices like Golakka Crawler, "Pterodactyl" (there are several in the expansion) and "Hydra". Bittertide is the only hydra in the expansion and sounds a lot like Golakka.
Seaforium Bomber: Nika Futterman (Luna Loud from The Loud House, Sticks the Badger from Sonic Boom)
New Secretkeeper: Karen Strassman (voice of Chromie and Jandice Barov)
Illidari Felblade: Sophia Amoss (voice of Squeamlish and Spellward Jeweler)
Silas Darkmoon: Bob Beal (Veigar from League of Legends) They sound so similar with the voice crack and everything, but it's unlikely.
I'm probably the only one who thinks this, but I didn't see Lulu's old art as being crazy and manic (and therefore retaining enough of her personality to justify her facial expression). Instead I saw it as being completely lifeless, as if she was wearing a mask, which only made it even creepier for me. But who am I to complain? After all...
The early days have seen worse.
Probably Abyssal Summoner? (Abyssals are subspecies to infernals)
It's hard to find good art of these races due to them being either new or obscure. The WoW TCG does have this picture of a bunch of angry furbolgs. I used it because I was desperate.
Card link: https://hearthcards.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/6b/e9/45/02/6be94502.png
This is my first submission. I'm really excited to participate!
After seeing the artwork for Demonic Thanatos and how much it looks like a nathrezim, I made a redeemed nathrezim like Lothraxion as a Warlock/Paladin card. Karaak, Legion Redeemer can mitigate the damage of self-damage Warlock and give more options for self-heal Paladin (such as Rastakhan).
Glad they nerfed Kael'thas, this will slow down all of those Big Spell Druid combos. Illucia was a fun card, but I haven't played her that much so I'm not sure what to think of her nerf at the moment.
But how come they fixed only some bugs, and not other larger bugs like Lorekeeper Polkelt's animation shuffling the wrong deck, Ras Frostwhisper being too big and Keymaster Alabaster having NO ENTRY MUSIC? Seems Blizzard has their priorities in order.
Oh wait! Now I remember who she looks like!
If Finders Keepers gets affected with this nerf, its flavor text will be outdated and it will be Literally Unplayable™.