So sad. I quite liked this game mode, but its been in need of an overhaul almost from day 1. Far too grindy, far too little variety in the different regions and dungeons, not rewarding enough to re-play. There was real potential here that never had enough resources devoted to realizing it.
Probably, but do you want a third or fourth copy of any of these relics? I guess that gives the phantasms one a sort of Jade Golem aspect. That could be fun.
Hmm... I don't know. 3 mana do nothing, make your cards better 3 turns in the future? The deck is going to need a lot of tempo to overcome that. Maybe a combo deck that just uses the locations and the card draw relics?
Red Herring looks real strong. By the wording, your other minions wouldn't lose stealth when they attack. Looks like a card that people will want nerfed even if the deck its in isn't that good over all.
Seems a little underwhelming. If the cards upgrade in the expected way (+1/+1 on summons, +1 to mana reduction) then a single upgrade only results in a mediocre card. Does it make sense to run 2 bad cards that have to be played first in order to have 4 good cards in the deck? Might be too slow for Demon Hunter.
I think the ability to give extra stats to another minion, any minion regardless of tribe, is stronger than it looks. And the synergy with blood gems is very strong. Nagas will be much more powerful when quillboar are included. Without quillboar, they may only be decent in the early and mid-game.
mini-myrmidon has synergy with the dragon that doubles attack when you level up the tavern. could help azshara transform early. too bad you can't horde the spellcraft spells for a few turns.
Agreed. This implementation seems fine, it only seems ominous because of the implementation in other games.
I would prefer that the developers not copy elements from F2P games to avoid these sorts of comparisons. It makes it feel like they were considering making it worse, but dialed it back before launch. Hearthstone is pretty good all things considered, I just hope they don't backslide.
You're correct that a free to play game likely needs to incentivize some spending, and the mercenary coins certainly aren't as bad as some of the other mobile stuff. I'm personally happy that there's no "energy" requirement to play the game.
Really it'll be a personal opinion whether the rate of coin acquisition is fast enough. I watched some of Kripparian's videos of playing the mode. He was intentionally grinding for Cariel Roame and Milhouse Manastorm and nearly had them at max level. But he was only about half-way, maybe less for leveling abilities and equipment. Most of the abilities don't improve based on the Merc's level, only the ability's level. We don't know yet exactly how this will go, but I think grinding for Merc coins is going to take longer than we may think.
I don't entirely disagree you, my main point it that a system that allows you to skip boring parts of the game should be considered a red flag due to the large number of games that abuse such systems to try to get more money from their players. Even in this case, the developers are asking for pseudo money (gold) to give us this option rather than tying it to something like having one merc reach maximum level.
Personally, I'll be enjoying the slow grind in PVE, so I've got no skin in the game. I just don't like psychologically manipulative stuff in games.
If Blizzard wanted to satisfy PVP players without pressuring them to buy packs and such, there are routes they could go. All characters in PVP could be set to the same level. XP and coin rewards could be increased for playing PVP. Equipment that can only be used in PVP could be unlocked based on how many PVP games are played. There are lots of ways that don't involve spending money to speed up the process that would give PVP players a more fun experience. Blizzard has chosen not to go that route. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the game anyway, just be aware of what the developer has chosen to do.
The game could have been designed to be less grindy in the first place. By adding an ability to skip playing, they acknowledge that the game is to slow to be fun, but haven't fixed it. The implication is that the game is deliberately too slow so that some kind of booster can be sold for additional money. Its a red flag indicating that you should guard your wallet.
Seems pointless. We know mercenaries receive XP if they're in a party even if they aren't used. You should be able to add a few low level mercs to a high level party and run high level missions to power level them very quickly.
Its the coins that are important. It takes a lot of coins to fully upgrade a hero and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to cheese them. Just a ton of grinding or money for packs.
A lot of psychologically manipulative games will give you a resource relatively easily (gold or XP) so you feel invested, but will withhold a paid resource (dust or coins) to try to compel you to spend cash. They want you to look at your high level merc and think about how much better they'd be if you only had the coins to unlock better abilities. It'd be a shame to stop investing in the merc when they're already so close to being awesome...
I like the idea of changing the hero's starting health. That would allow for more precision in balancing.
If they want to make the minions do 1 damage each, they should also make token minions do no damage at all. Otherwise a token build would often be doing way more damage than a normal build. Perhaps normal minions could do 2 damage and tokens 1 damage?
So sad. I quite liked this game mode, but its been in need of an overhaul almost from day 1. Far too grindy, far too little variety in the different regions and dungeons, not rewarding enough to re-play. There was real potential here that never had enough resources devoted to realizing it.
Man, Greybough is gonna be OP with undead.
Probably, but do you want a third or fourth copy of any of these relics? I guess that gives the phantasms one a sort of Jade Golem aspect. That could be fun.
Hmm... I don't know. 3 mana do nothing, make your cards better 3 turns in the future? The deck is going to need a lot of tempo to overcome that. Maybe a combo deck that just uses the locations and the card draw relics?
Red Herring looks real strong. By the wording, your other minions wouldn't lose stealth when they attack. Looks like a card that people will want nerfed even if the deck its in isn't that good over all.
Seems a little underwhelming. If the cards upgrade in the expected way (+1/+1 on summons, +1 to mana reduction) then a single upgrade only results in a mediocre card. Does it make sense to run 2 bad cards that have to be played first in order to have 4 good cards in the deck? Might be too slow for Demon Hunter.
I wonder if Brann works when Young Murk-Eye triggers?
I think the ability to give extra stats to another minion, any minion regardless of tribe, is stronger than it looks. And the synergy with blood gems is very strong. Nagas will be much more powerful when quillboar are included. Without quillboar, they may only be decent in the early and mid-game.
mini-myrmidon has synergy with the dragon that doubles attack when you level up the tavern. could help azshara transform early. too bad you can't horde the spellcraft spells for a few turns.
Agreed. This implementation seems fine, it only seems ominous because of the implementation in other games.
I would prefer that the developers not copy elements from F2P games to avoid these sorts of comparisons. It makes it feel like they were considering making it worse, but dialed it back before launch. Hearthstone is pretty good all things considered, I just hope they don't backslide.
You're correct that a free to play game likely needs to incentivize some spending, and the mercenary coins certainly aren't as bad as some of the other mobile stuff. I'm personally happy that there's no "energy" requirement to play the game.
Really it'll be a personal opinion whether the rate of coin acquisition is fast enough. I watched some of Kripparian's videos of playing the mode. He was intentionally grinding for Cariel Roame and Milhouse Manastorm and nearly had them at max level. But he was only about half-way, maybe less for leveling abilities and equipment. Most of the abilities don't improve based on the Merc's level, only the ability's level. We don't know yet exactly how this will go, but I think grinding for Merc coins is going to take longer than we may think.
I don't entirely disagree you, my main point it that a system that allows you to skip boring parts of the game should be considered a red flag due to the large number of games that abuse such systems to try to get more money from their players. Even in this case, the developers are asking for pseudo money (gold) to give us this option rather than tying it to something like having one merc reach maximum level.
Personally, I'll be enjoying the slow grind in PVE, so I've got no skin in the game. I just don't like psychologically manipulative stuff in games.
If Blizzard wanted to satisfy PVP players without pressuring them to buy packs and such, there are routes they could go. All characters in PVP could be set to the same level. XP and coin rewards could be increased for playing PVP. Equipment that can only be used in PVP could be unlocked based on how many PVP games are played. There are lots of ways that don't involve spending money to speed up the process that would give PVP players a more fun experience. Blizzard has chosen not to go that route. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the game anyway, just be aware of what the developer has chosen to do.
The game could have been designed to be less grindy in the first place. By adding an ability to skip playing, they acknowledge that the game is to slow to be fun, but haven't fixed it. The implication is that the game is deliberately too slow so that some kind of booster can be sold for additional money. Its a red flag indicating that you should guard your wallet.
Seems pointless. We know mercenaries receive XP if they're in a party even if they aren't used. You should be able to add a few low level mercs to a high level party and run high level missions to power level them very quickly.
Its the coins that are important. It takes a lot of coins to fully upgrade a hero and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to cheese them. Just a ton of grinding or money for packs.
A lot of psychologically manipulative games will give you a resource relatively easily (gold or XP) so you feel invested, but will withhold a paid resource (dust or coins) to try to compel you to spend cash. They want you to look at your high level merc and think about how much better they'd be if you only had the coins to unlock better abilities. It'd be a shame to stop investing in the merc when they're already so close to being awesome...
"Deviate" instead of "Deviant"? What?
Seems weird that they didn't nerf Tough Tusk, that many stats on tier 2 and it can easily have a divine shield? Deflect-o-Bot is crying.
Zilliax of the set? Not as strong, but a neutral with this much synergy and taunt could end up in a lot of decks.
I like the idea of changing the hero's starting health. That would allow for more precision in balancing.
If they want to make the minions do 1 damage each, they should also make token minions do no damage at all. Otherwise a token build would often be doing way more damage than a normal build. Perhaps normal minions could do 2 damage and tokens 1 damage?
Has some synergy with Impbalming in a control deck. Turn the worthless imps into deadly shots.