Hearthstone thread

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

All done

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

I have to be honest and say I was having some trouble with the heroics last night. (Normals and class challenges were no problem.)

I can see what I need to do, but haven't quite been able to pull the strategy off.

i.e.

NOTH - I guess needs to be a spell heavy control deck so his hero power triggers as little as possible.

HEIGAN - Get something on the left that either benefits from the hero power or is effectively immune to it (that new Naxx card that heals itself every turn, for example).

LOATHEB - Obviously that minion he starts with needs to go down pretty much immediately, but it's still a hard fight. I did get very close on this one last night.

I'll come back to them with a fresh pair of eyes another day!

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

I went, Mage, Priest, Priest, if that helps you

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

I don't mind admitting it took me several attempts for each of them. My strategy was (LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW).

I think Noth was the most annoying - finding a deck where you can stay alive and control the board without playing any minions or having them die. For that I went warrior, slamming those bitches down with weapons and otherwise armouring up as much as possible, until I could drop Alex turn 9 to put him at 15. As before, the AI mostly goes for face, so Alex lives and a warrior can find 7 damage to finish him off pretty easily.

Heigan - actually lightwells pretty much won this for me. I had two out on the board and they either healed me or healed each other to help negate the hero power. If you can double up the health of the left-most one with a Shield or Spirit, that'll keep it alive for plenty long enough. I managed to drop an inner fire on one when it was a 12/12, so I smacked down most of his minions, buying time to find answers for everything else.

Loatheb: Shadow pain turn 2, and very often Mind Visioning on Turn 1 just for fun. Largely the same Priest deck. Lightwells again doing a fine job especially when fired up.

For each though, the draw had to be right, and I re-rolled on the last one several times.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

New season underway!

I'm going to try a load of my own bespoke decks out in Ranked and see if I can make some headway with the Naxx cards.

The Eggs are great if you can get them out early game but by crikey they're disappointing when drawn later on. I guess a warlock would be a good match for them with the extra card draw.

I think I might try to build some 'quick' decks that are by no means aggro decks, and may even toss the odd miracle rogue game into the mix to see what happens....

Trump has a very good F2P rogue deck on the go on YouTube, very effective deck and not an Auctioneer in sight!

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Hearthly wrote:

Trump has a very good F2P rogue deck on the go on YouTube, very effective deck and not an Auctioneer in sight!

Bad news there I'm afraid (YT is quite behind). That deck stalled out around Rank 4 and he started losing ground. In an effort to get up to Legend on Asia, he decided to switch to a F2P Zoo deck :'(

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

ElephantBanjoGnome wrote:

Bad news there I'm afraid (YT is quite behind). That deck stalled out around Rank 4 and he started losing ground. In an effort to get up to Legend on Asia, he decided to switch to a F2P Zoo deck :'(

Oh dear, that's rather disappointing - I guess he wants to get the legendary ranking but it's a shame he felt the need to debase himself like that.

Then again I have no expectation of ever getting close to legendary, if I can ever manage Rank 10 again I'll be happy, anything above that would be a mega-bonus - as such no need for zoo!

I suppose the meta won't settle down until all the Naxx wings are completed, all the new neutral cards are out there, all the new class cards are out there, and everything's had some time to bed in - so in the meantime it's sort of anything goes

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

I didn't catch his stream yesterday so I'm not sure if he made it. He was high rank 3 when I last checked and as you say, it rolled over today.

I only hit 15ish this month, but I've never really tried to climb seriously. Really must do that at some point.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:13

Had an arena run started the other day, but lost my first match and left it a few days.

had another go this morning and have gone from 0-1 to 7-1. Skillz.

Shaman, BTW.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:48

Needless to say, I lost the next two after posting that, but 7-3 is good, and netted me 180 gold and the obligatory 20 dust and a crappy rare card from the pack.

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Hooraaay!

Attachment:

hooraay.jpg

I checked my stats and it only says 928 wins, but then I realised this says 'any mode' so I guess thats 72 practice wins too.

This unexpected cashback puts me 35 gold short of 2100 - the rest I need for free Naxx. After I complete the current quests it's all pack and Arena money from then on

Curiosity · **Posted:** Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:03

After a good arena run and some daily quests, I find myself at just over 400 gold. Now I'm tempted to do Naxx F2P...

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Assuming you have til next Tuesday/Wedneday... you might get close to 700 before then.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q3aqM4 ... wanalytics

Mildly interesting reddit survey on Hearthstone.

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

16-30, predominantly single males. That's a shock.

33% rocking the F2P though, not bad. The last question demonstrates why surveys on the internet shouldn't allow open-ended responses.

Slightly Green · **Joined:** 26th Aug, 2010 **Posts:** 2069

New Wing is open.

Haven't done the heroics yet but the mechanics of the 4 horseman fight is going to be a total bitch with them suped up from norm

The heroic card you get for normal will be in most people decks, a 4 cost that causes death rattles to proc twice, he also has a fair bit of health, that ability paired with the eggs or even harvest golums/leper gnomes is going to be awesome.

The Warlock class challenge is awesome, shaman not so much (will do it again, maybe I just lucked out and got the perfect cards to make it a cake walk).

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

I didn't get a chance to give it a go last night. I'll try and get a few plays in this lunchtime

Spectral Knight is a monster of a card, it's going to be in every deck too, I suspect.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:52

Some of the new cards are pretty good. That one that is exactly the same as the Shieldmasta but with a death rattle to bring out another taunt is already a favourite of mine. Or most hated when someone else gets it.

Of course, I have none in my actual decks as I don't have that wing.

Blatant Pay To Win, Blizzard!!!

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Didn't get to it yesterday, and probably won't have time tonight either. I got a little excited and bought a few more packs with gold so I'll still need to earn about 600 before the last wing is out.

Managed to open a Harrison Jones though, so that's at least one legend crossed off the list.

Slightly Green · **Joined:** 26th Aug, 2010 **Posts:** 2069

ElephantBanjoGnome wrote:

Managed to open a Harrison Jones though, so that's at least one legend crossed off the list.

I have had 3 Capt Greenskins now

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

I'd take one of those, if only because it means I could get the 'Every pirate' quest unlock.

Slightly Green · **Joined:** 26th Aug, 2010 **Posts:** 2069

Wish we could trade, they just got dusted. Am on 2.5k dust now, and undecided on what to make.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Normal wing and challenges done this lunchtime, my TauntLegendary Priest deck destroyed the normal bosses. I suspect it will have a chance on the heroics too...

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14487

Trooper wrote:

Normal wing and challenges done this lunchtime, my TauntLegendary Priest deck destroyed the normal bosses. I suspect it will have a chance on the heroics too...

My regular priest deck completed the normal challenges for the last wing , I had time for 1 single game at lunchtime today on the new wing and failed (but not by much) on the first boss so will be planning to try those again tonight.

I liked the Hunters challenge from the last wing - I hope they can do similar things like that in the future.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

The thing that fucks me off with the Naxx stuff is you still only get the same nine deck slots, considering each level in each wing basically needs its own deck (at least on heroic), it's almost inevitable you end up overwriting decks you use in Constructed, or just constantly have to overwrite the same couple of slots for the Naxx solo campaign. (I know you can 'dispose' of each deck once you've downed a heroic boss but it's still sub-optimal IMO.)

And then on top of that you really could do with extra slots to start to work on new Constructed decks too.

I realise there has to be a limit as it's all stored server-side, but nine slots is well tight.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Aug 06, 2014 19:19

Don't you normally just play the same few decks though? I find nine restrictive as I use all classes about the same amount, but if you're concentrating on one class you should have a bit of wiggle room.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Curiosity wrote:

Don't you normally just play the same few decks though? I find nine restrictive as I use all classes about the same amount, but if you're concentrating on one class you should have a bit of wiggle room.

When I'm focusing on climbing in Ranked then yes I do tend to zone down to two or three decks, but even then I'll often try other stuff when the mood takes me, and generally in the early stages of a season (such as now) I like to mix and match a bit. (Plus I like to maintain a broad base of decks for all the various daily quests.) And then when I make a decision to properly get into something new (like miracle rogue) I don't want to have to nuke a previous favourite deck to make room for it.

So with the solo stuff needing unique decks, and all the new cards feeding into Constructed and needing trying out, and wanting to maintain my favourite decks as well - nine slots is really restrictive.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14487

Well my regular priest deck cleared out the normal bosses (and i even stole one of the powered up four horsemen in the last boss fight)

Completed the two class challenges as well (2 goes for the warlock but fairly easy the 2nd time)

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Jesus, I can't get close to any of the heroics this time!

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Finally got Gothik down, but I had to look online for some tactics...

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

Finally got Gothik down, but I had to look online for some tactics...

Google To Win whore!

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Yeah fuck these Heroics for tonight. Took a couple of attempts to do a couple of the Normals, and more than one attempt for the class challenges.

My priest isn't killing Heroic Four Horsemen anyway. Such fucking bullshit spell cards. The perfect one for every minion you might play. I think Warrior is required.

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Ok, balls to Warrior. Made modifications to Priest and went back and won it.

Fuck you, Four Horsemen, fuck you.

I actually said that quite a lot during the match.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14487

ElephantBanjoGnome wrote:

Ok, balls to Warrior. Made modifications to Priest and went back and won it.

Fuck you, Four Horsemen, fuck you.

I actually said that quite a lot during the match.

Whats their 'twist' when your playing them on Heroic ?

So far I've completed all the 'regular' bosses only using my normal deck (although that does throw up some duff cards - e.g. the card to play an opponents minion does not work against the horsemen as they have no minions !) , and i've completed each of the class challenges.

I've not yet beat any boss on Heroic

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Aug 07, 2014 9:26

Had another 7-3 arena run with a Mage, which was fun. Was 6-0 at one point though, so hoped for better!

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

zaphod79 wrote:

Whats their 'twist' when your playing them on Heroic ?

The Horsemen are 2/7 instead of 1/7, and the weapon hits for 2 by default, and goes to +6 when the horsemen are dead.

Basically, turn 1 you're 6 health down. Turn 2 he coins the weapon, and you're another 8 health down. It's quite the uphill struggle as when you play a minion he has a million bullshit spells and a dickload of Paladin secrets to fuck you up.

I watched Trump's video of him attempting it today. He tried to drop a Doomsayer and it instantly dies with some taunting voiceover from Naxx about how that won't work.

That to me is total bullshit. The point of the challenges is to build a winning deck from the available cards, and it just auto-kills your Doomsayer because it thinks its OP in that challenge? Fuck you, game.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

All done, heroics this week were a bitch compared to the other weeks. Had to get some strategy tips online for all of them!

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Trooper wrote:

Had to get some strategy tips online for all of them!

Doesn't that defeat the point of the challenge if you can't work it out yourself? No offense chap, but I'd rather smash my head against the buggers for a week while I try to work it out.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

ElephantBanjoGnome wrote:

Trooper wrote:

Had to get some strategy tips online for all of them!

Doesn't that defeat the point of the challenge if you can't work it out yourself? No offense chap, but I'd rather smash my head against the buggers for a week while I try to work it out.

Not in my mind, they are still fucking hard even after you know the best strategy, it's still quite a big challenger regardless.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Getting very bored of ranked at the moment. Every deck is either Zoo or Miracle, it's very dull.

I'm still averaging a 55% win rate in ranked, so I could push for a good ranking, but I just can't be arsed, I only play ranked to get gold for arena.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14487

Trooper wrote:

I only play ranked to get gold for arena.

Why ?

As far as I'm aware there is no difference between playing Ranked and playing Casual ?

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

zaphod79 wrote:

Trooper wrote:

I only play ranked to get gold for arena.

Why ?

As far as I'm aware there is no difference between playing Ranked and playing Casual ?

True, I should have said constructed rather than ranked. Casual is the same neverending Zoo and Miracle, or at least it was last time I tried!

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Aug 07, 2014 14:17

I've not seen too many of those in Casual recently, more people mucking about with the new cards that I don't have.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

I've taken my stupid taunt legend priest deck into ranked, this is more fun

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

I believe slightly more XP is awarded for a Ranked win vs. casual, so unless your class is already at 60, probably better to go for the ranked.

I'm chopping and changing all over the place lately, mostly playing to hit quests but I find myself doing a bit of Warrior or Hunter the rest of the time. I think a vested attempt to climb with Hunter might be on the cards (ha).

Mildly annoyed that none of the Naxx wins count towards the quests though, surely an oversight?

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

narrowly lost to another priest, but beat a mage who had no idea what to do. I had my cho up behind a taunt till about turn 6, he finally decided to fireball it after dithering for ages, then I played Loatheb so all his spells he had been holding onto cost 5 mana more

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Latest from Blizzard

http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/587-next- ... -cards-ben

Quote:

The next content patch will have more than thirty cards.
Observer mode is in the works. No details yet!
If you want something added to Hearthstone, talk about it to let the developers know! Observer mode is being added because the community wanted it.
There's no current plans to change cards. The team wants to change things as little as possible, they'd rather add new cards to counter them.

Naxxramas design timeline:
Design the cards which will be rewarded from the adventure.
Create the normal boss fights. Most time was spent here.
Make class challenges and create fun decks for each class.
The Heroic fights. How do we make these crazy while keeping them beatable.

Alexstrasza being denied on Loatheb was good and bad. It was great because it changes things up and makes it fun, but there's a drawback where the visibility of this mechanic wasn't good so you might craft a card like Alexstrasza to beat the fight, but then be punished for it.
Maexxna is a potentially scary card. They wanted to keep her attack low to prevent her from being overpowered.
Loatheb was created to be a meta-game tool to be good against decks which run lots of spells.
Webspinner is a great example of randomness being important, and when used correctly, it increases the skill required to play the game. You have to adapt on the fly to what card it presents you.
During the creation of the Naxxramas card set, no cards were specifically changed based on arena performance.
At the moment, it's too tough to say if Zoo is a problem. We need to see how Naxx changes things up and the game needs to settle down before any conclusions can be made.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Interesting bit of reportage there. I do like the way Blizzard have a tradition of giving you an insight into what's happening behind the scenes with their games, they've always done it with WoW (I loved Ghostcrawler's blog), they did it with SC2 and they're doing it with Hearthstone as well.

Also linked off from that is this rather splendid Hunter deck, I've currently just had probably my best win ever against zoo lock with it, beat him with 28 health left

Interestingly enough (sort of), I had put together a similar sort of hunter deck using the new beast cards but couldn't get it firing off properly, the secrets really make the difference.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/81065-sp ... ctics-naxx

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

That's quite a nice deck. I can't make it as I don't have the cards (no bows and few others missing) but i've been playing with a variant of that deck and it is pretty good

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Aug 07, 2014 19:22

Heh, my Priest deck got really favourable draw for the two wins I needed to get my quests.

Lightwell x2 + Inner Fire x 2 + King Mukla = paaaaaain.

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