There's a known adage stating that "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." Well...
Let's just say that I think there are some issues with the Twist Format. And judging by the amount of Legend players on Blizzard's leaderboards, the format isn't exactly enjoying a widespread popularity when compared to other Constructed formats. But why is that? Let's discuss!
Be wary, the following walls of text will contain personal opinions of the writer, a substance known to have the ability to cause strong emotional reactions.
A Lost Focus?
Where to begin? The issues I see are interlinked, so I'll probably repeat myself a couple of times here.
First question Blizzard should ask themselves is "Who is this format aimed towards?". Right now it seems that it tries to lure in both new players who haven't played in the past metas that the "Wonders" Twist tries to replicate to some extent, as well as older players who want to relive the past eras. However, I don’t think either group has been enjoying the format too much.
For newer players who have closer to no old cards to begin with are tasked to acquiring yet another (and even larger) set of cards in an era when there are more card releases than ever before. Blizzard has made some “ready-made decks” to be bought right out of the shop, and even if we wouldn’t think of that as a cash grab attempt, they aren’t exactly too cheap, especially if you don’t wish to commit to a single deck/strategy for all eternity. All in all, not too enticing.
For older players like myself, the nostalgia is a definite factor and I was very excited to relive the Gadgetzan era. As I remember it, Kazakus and his Highlander Kabal were trying to stop the aggression spearheaded by a certain Demon-Pirate and I re-joined the battle with my old Highlander C’Thun Warlock. Was it the same? Not really. Blizzard decided to buff a ton of old cards while also creating a new card set with some brand new cards, some of which are definitely affecting the meta. At least for me personally, an unaltered meta would’ve been much more fun.
What were these, Blizzard?!
Getting Stale?
Alright, maybe it’s just this season that wasn’t quite to my taste, at least the mode was supposed to have something new and exciting every season (= month), I’ll just wait for the next… oh, same card sets, but with 30-40 card decks. And the third season will be the same too, but with (buffed) Un’Goro cards added to the mix.
Maybe I misread their original intentions, but I expected a big card pool change each season to keep the format fresh. Admittedly, even the current “XL” season has seen some new experimentation, but for me personally, it feels like yet another stale format where you have to wait for up to 3 months to see if things change when your interest in the current state of meta drops. A missed opportunity when you think what could have been, if you ask me. But why did it get so stale? Allow me to blame the old favorite…
Monetization
Circling back to the new card set created for the format, as well as the purchasable decks. Those things wouldn’t have the slightest chance to sell well if they had a “not necessarily valid in the Twist Format next month” label on them. Thus, in their attempt to cater newer players, Blizzard forced themselves into making Twist a slowly changing format.
Another aspect of the format’s monetization that I see unhealthy is the addition of a handful of brand new cards for the older players to collect, i.e. a reason to buy the new packs. Naturally, there had to be relatively many Legendary cards too (7 out of 34 new cards), because you should buy a lot of those packs. You can’t just expect to be able to use your existing collection towards which you already spent a lot of time and/or money, no… okay I might be getting too toxic here, so let’s move on.
"Yes, these were necessary additions" - Bobby Kotick, probably
Power Creeping
This is a very “doom and gloom” view of things and not a reason for the unpopularity of the format, but I see the mass buffing of old cards problematic for more than one reason. We already discussed #1: robbing some of my nostalgia. The second one is power creeping: by raising the power level of already existing cards, they’re limiting the design space for new ones (the best of which, in order to see play outside Standard, should be similar or greater in power level).
I was indeed annoyed when I saw my beloved C'Thun deck buffed. Some people are just impossible to please.
To be fair, there are some cards in the buff list that won’t see play even after the changes but there are several cards on the list that did see play back in the days, so purely in the context of Twist they probably wouldn’t have needed buffs in the first place. But yet again, Blizzard is trying to cater two audiences at once – trying to show Wild players some love by attempting to make the cards playable there and risking making them meta-defining in the more limited Twist.
My Wishlist
Well, maybe that's enough complaining for one day. Now it's time to give constructive suggestions.
If you read the text above, you're probably not surprised that my first act as the Twist dictator would be to make large card set changes each month. I'd construct the Twist seasons via one of the following two ways (or use them interchangeably):
- Historic Twist (using the sets of a previous Standard era)
- Random Twist (using sets from a variety of Hearthstone Years).
The latter would definitely be fresh whereas the former would be a more nostalgic option. Making a special card pack containing the most useful cards for the season would be acceptable, but no adding brand new cards! We have enough yearly card releases as is.
Additionally, the idea of mass buffs should be dropped. There are thousands of cards in Wild, you can't simply make them all playable. Should there be any power outliers in Twist, Blizzard should just ban them. Or if you want to spice things up and get some community engagement, let players vote before/during the season for X cards to be banned. That could lead to interesting "what if" metas in the Historic Twist, giving the weaker cards a chance to shine without the need of buffing them.
Am I ignoring the new players here? Yes. I feel like any new format that requires a player-owned pool of cards is not going to be easy to enter for new players, so I wouldn't even try too hard to market the format for them. I would be willing to add a free trial period of X days to each of the preconstructed shop decks to let players get an idea of the format/current season without having to invest right away. That could also help with queue times of the format.
Rant over. Do you agree with my points above or did I miss something that's bothering you? Or perhaps you've been enjoying the mode greatly? Let us know your experience with the mode so far in the comments below!
Comments
I'm really liking this season of Twist because the deck to play (and beat) seems to be old-style Handlock, which is still one of my favourite decks in HS history. My main problem with it is that it doesnt seem like there's many people playing it, so whenever i hop in it takes a while for a game to actually start, meanwhile on Standard i get games almost right away.
Normally it's not that big of an issue, but i get the bulk of my HS time during my lunch break.
I see some people asking who the mode is for, well for me it's the mode I've always wanted and I'm having a great time, since it came out I've split my time fairly evenly between twist and wild.
The things I'm interested in with hearthstone are inventing decks and trying new combinations of cards. I especially love making decks around old cards that never saw play at the time they were released. That used to be possible in wild and sometimes it still is, but as the years have gone by it's been getting harder and harder because the power level of the top decks has been going through the roof. If I have a fun idea for a deck that is great at fighting for board, I will just get killed from hand on turn 4.
In twist I've been having a great time experimenting with old cards that have been buffed like Explorer's Hat. The list of buffs is like a challenge to make decks around. I would have zero interest in the format if it was just an exact recreation of what the game was like when these old sets came out. I already played that at the time, and by the end of each set I couldn't wait for a new expansion to come out to shake things up. When classic came out I think I played 3 rounds and then never touched it again.
From the article, I assume that the "Random Twist" is something that they're going to do anyway? I've been under the impression that the main reason they are buffing cards is so when they put older sets with newer ones, the average power level of newer ones don't make all the old sets unplayable.
The main problem I've had with the format was how slow they were to nerf discard warlock. I know it was for technical reasons, but I think they need to get things in order so they can do it faster in future. I know a lot of people who were enjoying it at first, but lost interest because of how powerful that deck was and lost faith that they would balance it properly in the future. Going forward, I hope they have a system in place where they can just quickly ban cards from the format that are vastly over performing for that month. It's unrealistic to expect them to fine tune balance multiple cards just for a one month meta and we wouldn't want a lot of cards permanently nerfed in wild for the sake of twist.
I think twist was designed to be a niche mode and perhaps it's even more niche than they hoped. I don't think there will be many players who don't have a wild collection, but I expect there are enough of us to keep it going as a mode for veterans.
I think the main problem here is beyond simple explanations like monetization, staleness, both of which are valid points. But the main issue to me is simply burnout. There's just no reason why I would want to play twist more than I would standard or wild. Certainly not both, unless youre a particularly obsessive player of hearthstone. Many times I'd boot up hearthstone, play like 5 games then turn it off. Sometimes when there's interesting decks or events Id go beyond that, but very rarely so.
Take a look at duels, which is pretty much just twist except with progressive deck building elements. People still play that format, but substantially less than both standard or wild. Even at its heyday it'll take about 2-4 minutes to find an opponent, and that's putting it mildly. Lose two games and the wait extends further. I dont expect twist to do substantially better than that.
But of course, another big reason to be pissed off over that game mode is simply monetization. New players would be easily 6 sets off, and some old players would have dusted those cards ages ago. Re-crafting them, or worse still, buying those packs, is a slap in the face. You cant even justify buying the pre-made decks because its blatantly obvious that these decks arent the optimized versions of the decks being played. Even the bundles are a joke, because the CoT packs are being bundled along with expansion packs you may not want, not to mention the sheer number of legendaries available, making each pack worth a hell lot less, yet charged at a ridiculous sum of real life cash.
Its just my opinion that hearthstone is no longer in that state where there's throngs of players rushing in, that a new mode can even be justified. But if team5 really wants to milk that format, I would recommend simply making a different reward system for it. For example, winning 3 games a week nets you a pack for each of the sets available. These packs are old, very old, some would even say very nearly worthless; giving it away improves interest in the game, while really having little to no impact to the monetization for standard or wild.
At this point, interest in the game is worth way more than any amount of money in real life.
I was hoping Twist would go more into the Tavern Brawl Block style where they had very limited card sets (5 max) and all random, like suggested with the random Twist. Add in some wacky rule each month and Twist would've been my main mode. I loved the first reason of the Wonders Format and playing Jade Rogue again reminded me just how much I missed the old (more balanced) Hearthstone. Unfortunately, as many ppl have mentioned, the implementation of Twist has felt like an after thought, especially with these 3 month long seasons with very little change. Guess we can blame Caverns of Time for such small changes. Also the obvious manipulation to milk every devoted player of their money/gold.
The main issue I feel that's gonna bury Twist is the marketing and timid implementation. Why can't the next season of Twist have Un'goro AND another rule like no duplicates or neutrals for example? Adding in an extra expansion and banning 1 card shouldn't count.
Also what site even displays any Twist meta decks? Seems more of a hassle now trying to find the best decks in the meta (even HSReplay don't have decks) The meta is already solved so there's no point in theorycrafting your own decks. Also on the EU servers, my queue times are 5 min+ so it's definitely already dead there :/
Overall, 100% agree with everything mentioned in the post and just hope Blizzard do some more crazy Twist rules like with Tavern Brawl.
It might be a little hard for them to go too crazy right now since they already have Anomalies live in all formats. But they could always exclude Twist from stuff like that to implement some wacky rules to the format. Perhaps future Twist iterations will do just that.
I think you're onto something with the Historic Twist vs Random Twist approaches. Currently, the people who want to relive old metas are not getting what they want because of the buffs and new cards. Meanwhile, the people looking for new experiences are also not getting what they want because the format does not change quickly enough from month to month.
As someone who is much more interested in Random Twist, I don't mind the buffs. A lot of cards and archetypes in the old sets were unplayable even back in the day and it's nice that they get a second life. Also it will allow mixing old sets with new sets without the new sets always dominating the meta. However, I expect fans of Historic Twist to have a different opinion here.
I agree that monetization is holding Twist back: players without a Wild collection may skip the mode entirely because it's too expensive. And for those that do buy into it, Blizzard has to slow down rotation to not upset them.
They can't make the packs and pre-made decks super cheap, since then they'll be selling discount dust for Standard players to use (although the pre-made decks could be cheaper than they were without breaking the HS economy). Maybe a new type of set is needed, that is sold as a full set for a reasonable price, but is not disenchantable.
ive greatly enjoyed twist in all its forms so far. i love getting to have this temporary format with all this insanely broken nonsense competing against each other involving old cards that have been improved so that they can be used in new unique ways. i personally much prefer having some kind of crazy new concept modifying the season (the current one is fine but no neutrals from season 1 was really where it was at) since it creates opportunities to play ridiculously strong decks that would never be able to exist otherwise (e.g. haleh mage my beloved).
i also really appreciated how the format was balanced in season 1, which is to say it wasnt. at all. i think twist can be such a fun place to explore insanely strong decks since balancing the format matters much less if at the end of the month it'll be a completely different format anyways. that being said, the fact that season 3 and now looking like 4 as well have not properly shaken up the card pool or added any insane modifiers definitely worries me for the future of the format, as things are starting to get stale as they are.
overall though, ive really loved twist. now, its possible ive just gotten lucky since i adore otk mage and discolock, two decks archetypes that have gotten a TON of love in twist, but i think its been a really positive addition to the game. heres hoping they dont find a way to fuck it up!
I agree with your analysis. The new cards felt like a burden.
Random Twist is definitely the way to go. Here’s how I’d set it up.
Regarding your points 1-3, I either agree or don't have a strong opinion. About point 4:
Hard agree. Everyone knows Standard is what most people are playing, so give that a huge pool at the start of the month and you've got a better chance mid-month to have a big pool for Twist.
Again, this is where Blizzard has dropped the ball. Announcing rules in advance removes the surprise factor. Plus, it's not like if I find out Mean Streets of Gadgetzan is going to be a part of the new format I can go and start earnings their packs a week or two in advance - time doesn't matter here, I can buy the packs today or tomorrow, the results are the same.
Tavern Brawl rarely being a deckbuilding experience should have been something they learned from.
I understand that they want to help Wild out so you will sometimes see Twist getting changes because of it, but I do feel that the reason for most of Wild's balance changes were because they had Twist in mind.
No balancing is the correct move though. The format exists on a monthly rotation. If people figure it out within a couple of weeks, it's effectively already over anyway so let it ride out and let people return to Standard if they get sick of it. Like you said, people have fun in different ways, let them have fun. If there's something so stupidly overpowered that it's going to cause a day 1 problem, a ban is better than balancing cards. Balancing cards for a single month's format has longer-term problems.
Much as with Classic, I enjoyed my time with Twist for about a month. It was fun to play with old cards, and I didn't even mind too much that there were only about four meta decks - knowing your opponent's likely cards and really eking out advantages where you can in the match-ups was fun.
But playing it long-term? For me, it's always going to come back to the fact that Standard is simply the format that gets the most attention. Why would I choose to play Wild, Classic or Twist as my main focus when Standard is clearly the priority?
I really enjoyed these past twist formats, though mostly because of the lower powerlevel. It's refreshing to see minions survive for more than one turn. I also have a lot fun by experimenting with failed archetypes of the past. Turns out Krul the Unshackled is actually a decent card in the current format. The current queue times are also quite surprising for me. I rarely have to wait for more than 30 seconds to find a match.
In the end I too expected more crazy "twists" for that format, but right now I prefer it over standard. The less swingy nature of the current and last format just feels right to me.
Played a lot of Twist in the first Wonders season, but not as much this season. To be fair though, I haven’t played a ton of Hearthstone in general this month.
But I think it’s a great mode for Wild players who want to try and play older decks that might not be viable for the power level of Wild, as well as nostalgic older Standard players who haven’t dusted their collections. I couldn’t see Twist being very fun for brand new players or players that dust their Wild cards. Sure you can buy the busted premade deck if there us one. But if a premade deck is truly busted, it’ll probably get nerfed.
In the long term, even if the big changes only happen every 3 months with small changes in between, the format should have longer staying power than it’s predecessor of Classic. My biggest issue with the precedent they set with Caverns of Time is the straight to Wild sets. I don’t have a problem with the idea of adding support for old archetypes, but rather I have a problem with the potential frequency of these added Wild cards which are essentially mini sets packaged with reprints!
If this is going to become a constant, at least give those of us with fairly complete Wild collections the option to buy only the brand new cards as a mini set package for the same $ or gold as a regular standard mini set.
For me, the main issue with the new cards is the large percentage of legendaries. I don't mind buying a few packs to get all the new commons and rares, but the amount of money/gold/dust it would cost to acquire even just a few of the new legendaries is just too much, especially since it's unclear how long those cards will remain usable. I agree that a mini set approach where you can just buy all the new cards for a reasonable price would be much better.
TWIST doesn't make any sense.
If you are a new player or a player that enjoy new expansions, then go for STANDARD
If you are an old player, with most of old cards and enjoy to use them go for WILD
TWIST is in the middle ... I don't see who can be really interested in it
Standard is only new once every 4 months. The mini-set and balance changes generally shake up the meta a bit, but they don't introduce fundamentally new decks. It's nice to have another mode to play when Standard gets stale or the meta is not to your liking.
Wild is not a place where you can play your old cards. The Wild decks are composed of the strongest and most synergistic cards plucked from all over Hearthstone's history (although more from recent sets, because of power creep). It's nice to have a place where you can play old archetypes, without getting slaughtered before you can summon C'thun or a Jade larger than 3/3.
In my opinion, the idea of Twist is good, but the execution has some issues.
The problem is that Wild, especially Wild at the time that Twist was first introduced, was that it was not a good place to play with old cards. Wild is consistently dominated by new cards that are supported by a handful of very powerful cards from old sets. No one was playing a C'Thun deck or Jade Rogue in Wild, even after the buffs. It was just too slow in a format where many decks can kill you by turn 5. Twist actually lets players use those old cards.
Wild is a sweaty, extremely high-power version of Standard. Twist is an actual nostalgia format.
I'm mostly parroting MartianBuu and Dane here, because I don't play this game anymore and I also never played Wild. But they love Twist.