Be Excellent To Each Other

You've stripped all the bloody costs out again So now I can't sort them properly.

Ooops, sorry

TBH I may be a bit out of date on the Ranked meta because I've almost exclusively been playing Casual for weeks now, that said I have played a fair few Ranked games this season and there's no shortage of hunters and zoo locks out there as best I can tell.

A slower, more considered Ranked meta would be excellent though, so if that's the way it's gone/going and/or the GvG cards push it even more in that direction, then that's good news IMO.

Having loads of fun with the new cards. I feel like a noob all over again

But what a pain that the devs have, once again, broken ALT-TAB ...........

I got that one in my arena run as a Warlock - so tapping it gains 2/2 , playing a flame imp it gains 2/2 , killing an enemies leper gnome it gains 2/2 - both times i got to play it i won (one game it was a 10/10 by the end the other an 8/8)

I also got the 'weird portal' card which drops a random minion into your hand that costs 2 less and got 2 new legendaries , one of which was the one which goes back into your deck when it dies and the other was a Hunter only so with this you could get any card which you can play early

There is a theory that the portal card is bugged, as it is bringing back way too many legendaries for everyone at the moment.

Well I only drew the card twice , played it twice and got a legendary twice :-)

My version of the spreadsheet, updated for GvG. I've done a separate summary page for Classic and GvG and combined, for both normal and gold cards...

Mildly interesting stat of the day. Once GvG is released, you will need to collect 1008 cards in total, for a full collection...

I've used the Asia and NA accounts to do the free GvG Arenas. Middling success, many of the new cards do unexpected things, making the losses even more top-decking reversal bullshit.

Also had some stonking wins.

Also that 5-cost 8/8 that discards 3 cards when your opponent plays a card. DO NOT PICK IT. IT DOESN'T WORK GOOD.

Well Miracle Rogue is fucked. More fucked than it was before the Gadgetzan nerf of evil pointlessness.

Going from 5 to 6 mana doesn't sound like it'd necessarily be a big deal but it really is, especially with all the extra stuff the deck already has to deal with since Naxx (Loatheb, more taunts, Leeroy nerf, and suchlike).

A straight Gadgetzan > Conceal play is now Turn 7, and as you can imagine, that's often too late. On top of that you need to burn through more cards to maintain control early on, which leaves you less spells to play later in the game.

Also of course, your opponent knows early on he's up against Miracle, and Loatheb is an auto-include in so many decks, and your opponent knows when you can play Gadgetzan. Whereas before Loatheb was very dangerous to Miracle, now he's absolutely a game-breaker.

Also, in the past you could sacrifice one Gadgetzan or at least let him go for cheap if you had the other one in hand, but now the requirement for two 6 drops as opposed to two 5 drops, makes a major impact on the viability of the play.

Total exercise in frustration to play now, even in Casual.

So that's bye bye Miracle Rogue, one of most fun and skilful decks to play IMO, and congratulations to Blizzard for responding to the meta as it was about six fucking months ago. In the meantime Huntards get a fucking Flare nerf, amazeballs.

As such I've had to find a replacement deck for quests that demand Druid/Rogue wins, and I've decided to have a pop with this fast-ish Druid Naxx style deck (pinched from Icy Veins). Had to dust my golden Bloodmage Thalnos to make the Ancient of Lores (which amazingly I had zero of!), but it's a fun deck to play and seems pretty effective too.

Well, I've played four or five free Arenas and haven't gotten past a 3/3.

The match-up system seems to be, if you get to three wins, give nothing but fucking bullshit opponents that you can't beat, after the first three wins were very easy.

That's one of the MANY REASONS why Arena just does my nut in.

There's already a lot of RNG in this game, Arena introduces more to an unacceptably biblical extent IMO.

I've had games where I've won with awful decks and even awful plays, just because my opponent appeared to be a blind idiot. Then I've had an epic deck and played it well, only to be beaten by a deck and card draw bestowed upon my opponent by God himself. (And similarly I've had wins where I've thought to myself, 'Jesus, that was so damn perfect, no one in the world could have beaten me, but I just got lucky'.)

You also don't know how Blizzard are doing the adaptive shit behind the scenes, or when they're changing it, or how they're changing it, so in effect you're not even sure what the rules are. Maybe they have tightened up the match-making, or you just had a bad run - who knows? At least in Casual/Ranked the rules for the cards are the same for everyone, a mage isn't going to turn up with five fucking fireballs or three polys.

One thing I will say is Curio is right about the meta in Ranked, it does seem to have slowed down a fair bit, got some great games out in Ranked yesterday with that Druid deck (once I'd mostly got my head around it in Casual, that game you came into spectate was not a good example ), which isn't a deck I've had fancied last month with all the rampant hunters and zoo.

Looking forward to the GvG cards, got 2200 gold ready to spend on packs and putting on 50-80 per day depending on the quest I get, haven't had the 100 quest for ages now though.

I love the unpredictability of Arena, that's why I play it as it keeps the game interesting, rather than just facing the same cookie cutters builds game after game.
I've played a lot of Arena games and average over 3 wins, so skill does play a small part...

I'm 1-2 in the Arena, but have a lousy deck - my fault as I got some good cards at the start, but aimed to get some synergy and ended up failing miserably.

I'm normally 5 or 6 wins, but at the moment I'm dead at 3. Even watching Trump play GvG Arena, estimating 7, 8 wins, and he also gets 3.

Things are different, yes, but I think the match-up system has also been fiddled to be far more punishing.

Surely it can't be more punishing for everyone at once?

I could have been fiddled with to make it fairer. 3/3 should be the average for everyone, so if you regularly get above that and are now pushed down to that sort of level, then it would seem more punishing...

I think more like, if you get to 3-0 or 3-1, you're now put up against someone who is also 3-0, except they have a 12-0 deck and you have a 7-3 deck. Or they might put you up against someone who is already 7-0 because neither of you have lost yet.

Either way, the match-ups seem more disparate and go from 'challenging but managed to win it' to 'Fucking steamrollered without a chance in hell'.

Trump was blaming bad variance, but I'm not so sure. The release tomorrow is sure to be fun, as I'm only spending my gold on Arenas for maximum GvG play/pack value. You're all welcome to snoop on my progress in the new Observation mode

GvG now live in America!

Battle.net servers now down in America!

Every. Single. Time.

2310 gold is my final tally ready for tomorrow, so that's 23 packs of GvG cards to open, which will be rather exciting. Except I have no real idea of what's good and bad when I'm opening them, apart from the odd one that's stuck in my mind from the Trump commentary.

Should be an interesting few weeks in the game!

Don't do what apparently a lot of dickheads on reddit have done - accidentally bought classic cards. There's one guy that bought 29 with his saved gold...

Something must be live now - playing regular 'ranked' as a hunter and the random beast i got from a dead webspinner was one of the new cards (Gha'zilla which looks good if i can get to round 7 to play it)

That's been happening since the pre-launch event.

I played it on round 9 in the end onto an already won board (round 7 - longbow - round 8 - raggy - round 9 that plus a 2 point hit to the face with hero ability)



First time it happened to me but i've been playing Mage and Priest for the last few days instead of hunter since that was the quests i had

I must admit I laughed. There are loads of them doing it, surely it can't be that confusing?

http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/com ... any_major/

This is amazing. Blizzard say the EU release will be out on the 9th. It's the morning of the 9th and it hasn't been released yet. Hundreds of twats get all butthurt.

http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/com ... ble_check/

Apparently it is that confusing

This had better be released for us when I get home or I'm going to be REALLY REALLY ANGRY AND, y'know, just do something else for a bit instead.

The very definition of first world problems really, expansion pack for online card game not released in a perfectly timely manner, RAGE FOLLOWS.

They tweeted at 3pm to say 'It'll be at least a few more hours'.

Seriously, it's quite the fuckup. You say the 9th and people assume it'll be up after the early morning maintenance, as was the case for NA. Instead fuck all has happened, few updates, and no explanation. I can imagine people are pissed off because this is demonstrably not what Blizzard planned, and makes it very clear that the American region is their foremost priority, and everyone else in Europe and Asia has to wait.

I'm glad I'm F2P

Also I just watched totalbiscuit open about 300 GvG packs to get the full set. It was fucking bonkers.

Meh, EXPANSION PACK FOR FREE-TO-PLAY ONLINE CARD GAME FEW HOURS LATE, COMMUNICATION DEEMED SUB-STANDARD.

I think we should call for one of those days of anger things.

I mean, it's not even like the game isn't there, just play with the old cards and decks for a bit longer! I was looking forward to buying my packs when I got home and playing with them, but I'm sure I can fill the terrible void with something else.....

People can't even argue that they're not getting what they paid for, as the cards and game as paid for are all still there and playable.

You don't see me bitching, I'm just pointing out this is clearly quite unintended and subsequently badly handled. Rule 1 is keeping your angry fans mollified with pointless updates and vague ETAs.

I'm fuming! Took the day off work for this event! (seriously)

I have written a very stern letter, ALL IN CAPS (so they can see how angry i am).

bah, this sucks a bit doesnt it

New update: Maintenance at 9pm. Originally said it will last an hour, now says 'A few hours'.

So basically, not launching on the 9th at all. This is pretty bloody shoddy whichever way you look at it.

Never plan anything around a Blizzard launch date or time.

Even when they actually release when they say they will, there's a good chance whatever it is won't work properly for a bit.

It's finally up. Bought 10 packs on top of my starter 3. Got a host of stuff and quite a few dupes, no legendaries but a few epics.

I fear the 7 packs I have just opened have merely whetted my appetite. (got 3 Epics) This is exactly what the game needed imo. Good times ahead!

In my 3 'free' card packs I did not get any legendary cards but did get the warlock onethat gains 2/2 for damage so that will be good to use

There also seems to be an issue right now with arena wins giving out old packs rather than new ones

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/for ... t%3Dnav1#1

and I just got a GvG pack from an arena run I started before GvG was released.

This is soooo much fun. Bought 60 packs which was a bit silly as ended up with loads of dupes. Only got 2 decidedly average legendary cards, but the cards I did get are wreaking havoc on opponents! Put together a mech heavy Druid deck. Unstable Portal for Mage is massively OP, Only played it 4 times and got 2 ledge cards. Needs nerfing asap.

I suppose that's the best I could do with that deck... ah well...

The extra cards you can't see in that deck list were a Blizzard, a 2 Flamestrikes and a Ysera

Nice result there Trooper

I ended up with 26 packs to open (2300 gold plus three extra packs for some reason or another). The end result is I'm utterly bemused and confused and have no idea what's going on now so I'll wait until it all settles down a bit, unlike when Naxx came out I just don't have the time to learn my way around a load of new cards and decks (that's the WoW effect....), so I'll be totally reliant on net-decking.

Gonna take a break from the daily quest as well, as I have no effective decks at the moment and it'll take too long to do.

5/0 Arena to 5/3, because, as always, I hit the fucking bullshit wall of unstoppable opponents. 5 easy wins to 3 impossible-to-win defeats.

I just played a game against a Hunter. A pretty easy game. Afterwards, he wanted to add me as a friend - no doubt to congratulate me on a well fought game. I like friends, so I added him.



I find this kind of thing very amusing. Why do people get so angry? Griefing him at his loss was just too easy.

Why did you leave him hanging?

He unfriended me immediately after the last message. I thought we had some good banter going there too

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED.