I'm doing my best to trust that Blizzard is working on this in earnest. It doesn't feel quite like the old system, but I mean it shouldn't because it's a completely different pacing and structure.
I keep reminding myself that the rewards track is supposed to last most of the expansion for most players, so I think once they do some more tweaks to gold and follow through with this XP adjustment, we'll be in a pretty good place.
Our community hates any change that doesn't offer straight up comically over-sized virtual bags of gold, and that's fine, whatever. The reaction to this rewards track has definitely landed solidly in the territory of hysteria for many players on Reddit and Twitter. It's not that the points aren't often valid, but that they're presented with such insane hatred. You can dislike the new system rewards and not send death threats over this game.
I personally think some of the biggest changes needed are QoL, many brought up by players like Zeddy. Some I think would be helpful in acclimating us to the new pace of rewards while we wait on better and more fair-feeling reward totals are:
Show XP progress after every match.
Just like seeing your progress toward 10 gold in the old system, seeing that bar creep up 80-130xp (random numbers, btw I don't have any data for the amount per average match in any given mode) would go a long way in reminding players that they are working towards a goal. Visual representation is important.
Redistribute XP requirements for levels.
The first 15-20 levels felt like I would get to level 50 in a week, then I hit what felt like a brick wall! The required XP for leveling up shouldn't ramp up so drastically that we feel like we're on the highway, one minute zooming at 70mph and then slowing to a 5mph crawl due to traffic. Later levels should require more xp, that's how pretty much all successful XP structures work in games using XP to gain something (power, rewards, anything). What it shouldn't feel like is a rocket to the bottom of a daunting hill. Shift that XP down a bit and pace the track better!
Don't tie achievements that carry XP to the expensive half of collection
F2P players shouldn't have to own specific cards to get XP. That's a sort of paywall conjoined with a time sink. If they're already going to spend time trying to, say, get lethal with Oh My Yogg!, why reward the players who can for sure afford to own the card either through pack or dust volume.
Make the achievement points matter outside of bragging rights
I'm not sure how to handle this but I have at least 1 or 2 ideas:
One way would be to create tiers on the rewards track that are unlocked as players gain achievement points. Higher tiers would allow for extra gold and XP, giving all players motivation for reaching for those weirder and higher value achievements.
A second way would be to have the set amount of total achievement points act as a currency that you can add to thru completing achievements. The points currency would allow players to buy packs, skins, adventures, etc. Once it is spent, the points are gone until the rewards track starts again with new achievements and a new expansion. When the new expansion comes, your achievement points refresh back to what you had at the beginning plus anything earn before the refresh.
To simplify: let's say you have 9500 achievement points as of today. You earn another 500 before April. You now have 10,000 points to spend (whatever that's worth). If you spend it all, you have 0 points available until April. In April, you get your 10,000 points back and can earn more with the new expansion.
Doing something with achievement points would really help the perception of the rewards track. Maybe you even allow players to spend achievement points on XP for the track!
Do I expect Blizzard to give out gold hand over fist? No. They built this to make money otherwise they'd have shut it down long ago. Do I expect them to streamline how it feels to players? Yes, to a point. At some point, Blizzard will say as nicely as they can "Get used to it" and stop making changes because the community will NEVER be satisfied. We got so used to a distant Blizzard that rarely responded to player requests that this new, more responsive Blizzard that nerfs fairly frequently and has promised to continually work on the free rewards the game offers isn't even noted because we're so used to bleating at them over every perceived offense.
Corrupt makes this sort of "eh" but if you can consistently get this corrupted, then equip Trueaim Crescent and drop Ace Hunter Kreen alongside this cobra, you have a solid big threat clear. Convoluted, but if those cards can work without each other in a deck, they'll come together nicely alongside a solid deck.
excellent card. The threat of this encourages suboptimal secret triggers, and to avoid secrets or fail to trigger them allows for two to three 3/3's that you have to deal with next turn.
Possible synergy with Tundra Rhino, but that seems too specific to rely on for now.
This is extremely good. Two random and free secrets and you still get to swing for 2 damage?
Not as slow as it seems. This can act as a soft tech depending on your secret RNG: an extra freezing or misdirection can often win games, and the synergy with Petting Zoo is awesome.
This will someday find a home in a hunter beast deck that goes aggro and buffs just a couple minions in hand, then there will be a rhino closer. either two of these into smaller minions or one of these and a couple Wolves for the attack buff.
Great option for over the top lethal, but not sure if/when it will go meta.
I think if Kathrena got support to go meta, Maxima can, too. idk about this expansion, but she's not a complete meme-only card if the support ends up forming to allow for her to be a dead draw or no-effect understatted minion if you draw heavy and miss the synergy.
expensive and dumb good. A standard "this won't happen" hunter minion that has a good chance of happening. Maybe the secret package carries enough to get to turn 6 Maxima or just dropping this on turn 8 and starting a short chain of Nine Lives plays.
I truly love this card. I'm going to have fun with this in wild, and if standard can sustain actual midrange value, this will be my new favorite hunter card of 2020
Overall it's an improvement that encourages more play from players, since you now have levels to reach in the pass, not dailies you can just hoard and re-roll to play out in the most efficient manner (should you so choose). It will bother some, since no one is ever happy in the HS community without another being offended/infuriated/disappointed/etc., but overall this is going to reward players that are on 4-7 days a week.
I'm only going off the principle, and of course the reality will be the real test, but in theory this is going to work out great for the vast majority of people who really care (and - most important to Blizzard - those who put money into the game).
They've already set up a far more welcoming atmosphere for F2P players, so I expect they won't shoot themselves in the foot for the whales who spend $200+ in an expansion, since they'd lose the middle base of pre-order only players or those who make infrequent purchases that add up to about a standard pre-order cost per expansion. I tend to buy a single pre-order per expansion, with the rare bundle purchase if the value is great enough to me, and I imagine I'm not in a particularly small group of players, so we have every right to expect a good experience here.
We will now see demon hunter (who still defines the meta after 5 rounds of nerfs) getting more tech and tools to support an already powerful aggro class (that has access to things other aggro has been purposefully denied to keep them from singularly defining the meta... hmmmmm):
I don't like demon hunter, but I don't think the class is misplaced. I think it's completely new and thus Blizzard wanted it out of the starting gates with a bang, and overshot the power levels quite a bit. It's more manageable now, but the class has an unbelievable array of tools that address almost every major problem an aggro class could deal with.
Can't rush the combo deck fast enough, or control really riding you every turn? Just glide that turn, slow them down and reset your hand and theirs. Worried the opponent has a key card in hand? Why worry when you can Stelina and throw it back in their deck! Taunt wall? Not if you play Kayn (he really shouldn't exist, not in his current state. He erases a whole keyword from every match he's in). Drawing cards? Hunter wasn't allowed but demon hunter - the faster version of hunter - gets to draw 3 at a time and discount them if the hand placement is right). Tough board? Blur and Warglaives of Azzinoth can take care of at least 12 health worth of minions, no penalty to your face. Wide token board threatening to run you over? Not if you have a single copy of Cycle of Hatred in hand.
It seems pretty unfair that demon hunter as a class is given such specific and powerful tools, all of which eliminate the weaknesses that we were told by Blizzard is part of the balance in Hearthstone (I won't get into the levels of RNG they're introducing every expansion since that's a separate but just as relevant issue).
As long as one class has access to tech like this - tech that negates the class's own shortcomings - it creates a design problem for every other class. The solution becomes an arms race, culminating in "Who drew/played their nuke card first?" which comes down to draw RNG.
Standard DH loves these nerfs. "Bringing Lord J back" is an absolute nothing argument. Rogue, hunter, demon hunter, even warrior can call knock 15 to face fairly easily. Zephyrs alone can swing a game away from a successful Lord J turn. He's not coming back (in a meaningful way) in an aggro centric meta that had one of the best counters to the leading aggro deck (DH) in Sac Pact.
Wild mages are laughing and laughing because 8 spells happens when they're on their way to 6 anyways. Two extra spells will slow them down, and that's great, but it's not going to kill quest mage overnight. Also, we kind of need quest mage to keep Raza priest in check. Btw, Raza never needed to get unnerfed, but wild isn't my main mode so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also: Albatross moving up one mana isn't a big nerf, just eliminates the big value 3-drop turn for aggro. Anyone looking to dismantle highlander synergy still has a hugely important card available to them that hasn't lost power.
Just got my $10 via Twitter DMs. Nice
I'm doing my best to trust that Blizzard is working on this in earnest. It doesn't feel quite like the old system, but I mean it shouldn't because it's a completely different pacing and structure.
I keep reminding myself that the rewards track is supposed to last most of the expansion for most players, so I think once they do some more tweaks to gold and follow through with this XP adjustment, we'll be in a pretty good place.
Our community hates any change that doesn't offer straight up comically over-sized virtual bags of gold, and that's fine, whatever. The reaction to this rewards track has definitely landed solidly in the territory of hysteria for many players on Reddit and Twitter. It's not that the points aren't often valid, but that they're presented with such insane hatred. You can dislike the new system rewards and not send death threats over this game.
I personally think some of the biggest changes needed are QoL, many brought up by players like Zeddy. Some I think would be helpful in acclimating us to the new pace of rewards while we wait on better and more fair-feeling reward totals are:
Do I expect Blizzard to give out gold hand over fist? No. They built this to make money otherwise they'd have shut it down long ago. Do I expect them to streamline how it feels to players? Yes, to a point. At some point, Blizzard will say as nicely as they can "Get used to it" and stop making changes because the community will NEVER be satisfied. We got so used to a distant Blizzard that rarely responded to player requests that this new, more responsive Blizzard that nerfs fairly frequently and has promised to continually work on the free rewards the game offers isn't even noted because we're so used to bleating at them over every perceived offense.
Ok I'm done. Send in the "UM ACTUALLY" responses.
Eh, this is OK but I don't know how impactful it will be. Maybe a solid setup for a lethal combo with Rhino and Wolf x2 + Wolpertinger?
Corrupt makes this sort of "eh" but if you can consistently get this corrupted, then equip Trueaim Crescent and drop Ace Hunter Kreen alongside this cobra, you have a solid big threat clear. Convoluted, but if those cards can work without each other in a deck, they'll come together nicely alongside a solid deck.
Pipe dream, but worth considering just in case!
excellent card. The threat of this encourages suboptimal secret triggers, and to avoid secrets or fail to trigger them allows for two to three 3/3's that you have to deal with next turn.
Possible synergy with Tundra Rhino, but that seems too specific to rely on for now.
This is extremely good. Two random and free secrets and you still get to swing for 2 damage?
Not as slow as it seems. This can act as a soft tech depending on your secret RNG: an extra freezing or misdirection can often win games, and the synergy with Petting Zoo is awesome.
This will someday find a home in a hunter beast deck that goes aggro and buffs just a couple minions in hand, then there will be a rhino closer. either two of these into smaller minions or one of these and a couple Wolves for the attack buff.
Great option for over the top lethal, but not sure if/when it will go meta.
I think if Kathrena got support to go meta, Maxima can, too. idk about this expansion, but she's not a complete meme-only card if the support ends up forming to allow for her to be a dead draw or no-effect understatted minion if you draw heavy and miss the synergy.
Fun card regardless!
expensive and dumb good. A standard "this won't happen" hunter minion that has a good chance of happening. Maybe the secret package carries enough to get to turn 6 Maxima or just dropping this on turn 8 and starting a short chain of Nine Lives plays.
I truly love this card. I'm going to have fun with this in wild, and if standard can sustain actual midrange value, this will be my new favorite hunter card of 2020
No this will be fine! This will be not a problem at all. Just like that brawl that makes all spells cost health. No problem here!
Hopefully priest isn't tier2 or higher, otherwise, we're gonna see some silly stuff. By silly, I mean tilting
HI TROLDEN
Beautiful. A new spin on my favorite Old God card.
N'Zoth is not dead, long live N'Zoth
This will ruin the pro scene! If only Blizzard had the power to ban cards from competition... wait.
Overall it's an improvement that encourages more play from players, since you now have levels to reach in the pass, not dailies you can just hoard and re-roll to play out in the most efficient manner (should you so choose). It will bother some, since no one is ever happy in the HS community without another being offended/infuriated/disappointed/etc., but overall this is going to reward players that are on 4-7 days a week.
I'm only going off the principle, and of course the reality will be the real test, but in theory this is going to work out great for the vast majority of people who really care (and - most important to Blizzard - those who put money into the game).
They've already set up a far more welcoming atmosphere for F2P players, so I expect they won't shoot themselves in the foot for the whales who spend $200+ in an expansion, since they'd lose the middle base of pre-order only players or those who make infrequent purchases that add up to about a standard pre-order cost per expansion. I tend to buy a single pre-order per expansion, with the rare bundle purchase if the value is great enough to me, and I imagine I'm not in a particularly small group of players, so we have every right to expect a good experience here.
Definitely the color scheme! I always do a double take to be sure before I go and ruin my mulligans vs a Sylvanas hunter.
anything but "Stroke Victim Rexxar"
My 1k wins feel like an active encouragement to use Sylvanas (best skin anyways, but still)
Ok so currently, demon hunter has arguably the best aggro in the game and is equipped with the following:
We will now see demon hunter (who still defines the meta after 5 rounds of nerfs) getting more tech and tools to support an already powerful aggro class (that has access to things other aggro has been purposefully denied to keep them from singularly defining the meta... hmmmmm):
I don't like demon hunter, but I don't think the class is misplaced. I think it's completely new and thus Blizzard wanted it out of the starting gates with a bang, and overshot the power levels quite a bit. It's more manageable now, but the class has an unbelievable array of tools that address almost every major problem an aggro class could deal with.
Can't rush the combo deck fast enough, or control really riding you every turn? Just glide that turn, slow them down and reset your hand and theirs.
Worried the opponent has a key card in hand? Why worry when you can Stelina and throw it back in their deck!
Taunt wall? Not if you play Kayn (he really shouldn't exist, not in his current state. He erases a whole keyword from every match he's in).
Drawing cards? Hunter wasn't allowed but demon hunter - the faster version of hunter - gets to draw 3 at a time and discount them if the hand placement is right).
Tough board? Blur and Warglaives of Azzinoth can take care of at least 12 health worth of minions, no penalty to your face.
Wide token board threatening to run you over? Not if you have a single copy of Cycle of Hatred in hand.
It seems pretty unfair that demon hunter as a class is given such specific and powerful tools, all of which eliminate the weaknesses that we were told by Blizzard is part of the balance in Hearthstone (I won't get into the levels of RNG they're introducing every expansion since that's a separate but just as relevant issue).
As long as one class has access to tech like this - tech that negates the class's own shortcomings - it creates a design problem for every other class. The solution becomes an arms race, culminating in "Who drew/played their nuke card first?" which comes down to draw RNG.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
DH getting another option to nullify taunt and lifesteal? Definitely what the class needed: more DH-only tech. big kappa
Standard DH loves these nerfs. "Bringing Lord J back" is an absolute nothing argument. Rogue, hunter, demon hunter, even warrior can call knock 15 to face fairly easily. Zephyrs alone can swing a game away from a successful Lord J turn. He's not coming back (in a meaningful way) in an aggro centric meta that had one of the best counters to the leading aggro deck (DH) in Sac Pact.
Wild mages are laughing and laughing because 8 spells happens when they're on their way to 6 anyways. Two extra spells will slow them down, and that's great, but it's not going to kill quest mage overnight. Also, we kind of need quest mage to keep Raza priest in check. Btw, Raza never needed to get unnerfed, but wild isn't my main mode so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also: Albatross moving up one mana isn't a big nerf, just eliminates the big value 3-drop turn for aggro. Anyone looking to dismantle highlander synergy still has a hugely important card available to them that hasn't lost power.